Category: politics

glorietta, media, and blogs

it was not unexpected that the philippine national police would find for a gas explosion, not for an explosive device. matagal na nilang sinasabi that evidence was pointing to a critical build-up of gases that could have been prevented if the guys in charge were doing their job.

but it was unexpected that the police would recommend charges only against the engineers, operators, and fire prevention officers who were immediately responsible for safety measures, and not against the mall owner nor city hall. unexpected because matagal na silang naghi-hint that the the pnp was not beyond charging even ayala land and mayor binay for command responsibility if warranted. kaya na nga panay ang press release ng ayala land before this, contesting findings of a gas explosion and negligence.

puno‘s excuse:

“. .. it was just that repairing the malfunctioning sewage system was not the job of the owners while those who had been charged had immediate responsibility for the repairs of the sewage system.”

pero kaya nga tinawag na “command” responsibility, di ba. kahit hindi ka directly responsible for repairs, pero kung mga tao mo ang pumalpak – june july august pa lang daw me problema na ang sewage system – ibig sabihin may pagkukulang ka rin. kasi kung on-top-of-the-situation ka, kung maayos ang palakad mo, wala sanang pumalpak, wala sanang namatay at nasugatan.

i smell a rat. maybe a backroom ex-deal (puno style) between ayala and malacanang. hmm. maybe re charter change? or maybe that is still to come, and nagpapapogi lang ang palasyo sa mga ayala.

not that i’m completely sold on the negligence charge.

i was expecting that anc, as is usual with important developments, would have some resource persons, maybe an engineer or two, to share their expert opinions, but no, not this time. later in the evening ricky carandang devoted the whole hour of the big picture to the same story, but again we had to listen to the same pnp guys rehashing what we had already heard, with ricky just clarifying the double blast, the ayala investigations, and the rdx angle.

the biggest let-down of all, not just from anc but from all media is that no one has yet asked the BIG question posed by some bloggers and, i hear, science e-groups, soon after the blast: conceding, for the sake of argument, that it was indeed not a bomb but a gas explosion. WHAT IF it was not a matter of criminal negligence but, rather, a matter of creative criminal engineering? surely it is humanly possible to orchestrate such a blast? what would it take? why is it not being considered by the police as a distinct possibility?

nakakadismaya our media. no time to read, no time to research, no time for critical thinking. paano kasi, ang he-hectic ng buhay. bread trip. one show after another, one deadline after another, no time to read read read and google and surf the internet, much less to turn on to pinoy blogs, where some of the discourse is remarkably (happily) higher than in broadsheet and broadcast media.

enough of erap!

i was all for erap’s pardon because of the questionable circumstancesof his ouster by gma, but it was always on the condition that he would not run again for public office, least of all the presidency. after all, he’s been there, been that, and he did a lousy job of it, so why should he be given another chance, pray tell?

the daily tribune’s alejandro lichauco says that erap is the only relevant presidentiable because he is the only one who is addressing the issue of poverty, and that if elections were held today erap would run away with it because poverty is the only issue that matters with the masses.

ano ba yan. poverty has always been an issue, and what did erap achieve in the two and a half years before he was kicked out? nada. so now he’s going to china to get lessons on how to lift the masses from poverty? haha. magkaintindihan kaya sila ng mga intsik? o baka naman type lang niyang pakabahin ang mga kano?

speaking of the kano, interesante ang kuwento ni manilabaywatcher anna de brux. diyata’t may kinalaman ang kano sa pagkakatalsik ni erap? hmm. siguro nga kaya siya pupunta sa china: para ma-praning si bush. ganyang ganyan ang style ni imelda nuong mid-1970s, nakipagsosyalan sa mga komunistang mao tse tung at fidel castro, sabay irap sa amerika. kuno.

but to get back to erap and his plan to run for president IF it’s the only way to unite the opposition. methinks he overestimates his popularity. fielding him as the sole oppositionist vs. gma’s annointed one is not a formula for success, rather it would be a reason to boycott elections.

the pattern has been set. erap messed up the first time, he’ll mess up again bigtime.

scandalous silence on sumilao

totoo namang nakakaiyak ang nangyari at patuloy na nangyayari sa sumilao farmers. malinaw ang karapatan nila to that agricultural land. kaya lang, talaga naman, iba kung dumiskarte ang big landowners tulad ni quisumbing. basta ayaw nilang mag-share, period. at ang ating gobyerno, ang ating mga presidente in particular, mas sympathetic to big landowners talaga, big contributors kasi sila to presidential campaigns? how else explain fvr’s overturning dar after the sumilao farmers had already been awarded certificates of land ownership? ang lakas lang talaga ni quisumbing, di ba?

and how else explain the findings of dar’s research team headed by the very credible arsenio balisacan, summarized by solita monsod for inquirer, that after almost two decades of the comprehensive agrarian reform program:

most private landowners, representing 82 percent of the lands that should have been given to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), are still holding on to their land 19 years after the law was passed.

grabe. yan ba ang rule of law? obviously, rule of law does not apply when it does not serve the interests of the ruling elite, no?

The supreme irony is that landowners, having successfully staved off the compulsory acquisition, are demanding that CARP be terminated, since it is a failure (which means they get to keep their land). It is also clear that 72 percent of the ARBs are operating their farms with one arm tied figuratively behind their backs — since they don’t have individual titles; not only are the incentive effects of ownership not present, the farmers also have difficulty getting credit and are more prone to selling their rights or abandoning their lands.

so, wonder no more kung bakit di na umasenso ang pilipinas. talagang di tayo aasenso habang ang mayayaman ay puro tipong quisumbing at san miguel foods inc. kung dumiskarte. sa kanila, what’s good for (their) business is good for the country, which is pure hogwash, um, propaganda.

most scandalizing of course is the silence of the pork fiends in congress, particularly of the senator presidentiables and vice-presidentiables. nagkakabukingan tuloy. malamang, kabilang kasi sila o may pinoprotektahan silang campaign contributors na kabilang sa BIG landowners who just refuse to give up their land in the name of social justice. social justice? not in their vocabulary.

what say mar roxas and manny villar? what say jinggoy estrada and chiz escudero? what say loren legarda and ping lacson?

what kind of opposition party is it that remains silent on agrarian reform and the sumilao farmers? parang hindi opposition, di ba? more like the other side of a bad coin.

cheche & censorship

what does it say about philippine journalism when one of its top icons, a multi-awarded veteran broadcast journalist, producer, educator, and talkshow host (also maria ressa’s idol) says that art for art’s sake is secondary to the will of the man with the purse, and that artists give up freedom of expression when commissioned to do a work of art.

or something to that effect. cheche lazaro’s scripted wrap-up in the last 15 (10?) seconds of media in focus last thursday was so rushed, i may have heard wrong, i hope i heard wrong, because how could she be so okay about censorship?

says john silva, senior consultant to the national museum:

“The cavalier and contemptible manner by which the National Press Club blithely desecrated a work of art is evidence enough that these so-called journalists haven’t a clue about freedom of expression. In a free society, contending thoughts, contending works of art are allowed and respected despite its inherent inclinations and viewpoints. The National Press Club’s actions has just put their profession to ridicule, painted themselves as cowards, and now insinuates itself as being in-the-pay of the powerful. Fellow journalists who abide in the freedom of expression should call for the immediate dismissal of the club officers.”

says raul pangalanan, dean of the u.p. college of law:

“The National Press Club (NPC) apparently thinks that just because it paid for the mural, it has the power to alter it as it wishes. The NPC must realize that ownership of the thing does not mean ownership of the copyright. Granting that the work was commissioned by the NPC for P910,000 and assuming that there was no other agreement, ownership of the thing itself would belong to the NPC but copyright remains with the artists. The ownership of the NPC is limited to the physical thing, which it may sell like any other property — but only the artists, as copyright owners, have the right to transform their art work. The owner may only keep the work ‘as is.’ Transforming it is an exclusive ‘economic right’ of the artist.

“In addition, the artist has ‘moral rights’ to maintain the integrity of his work and oppose ‘any distortion, mutilation or other modification of … his work … prejudicial to his honor or reputation.’ Indeed, moral rights may not be waived entirely, especially if the effect is ‘to use the name of the author with respect to a work he did not create.’ The NPC may be liable for damages, criminal penalties and fines for the infringement of their intellectual property rights.”

says luis teodoro, former dean of the u.p. college of mass communication:

“The NPC leadership was not being ‘apolitical.’ It was being crudely, brazenly political – first, when it asked press freedom’s worst foe since Ferdinand Marcos to inaugurate the mural, and second, when it censored it. What’s even worse, what the NPC did was not to expunge ‘leftist’ elements from the mural, but to deface it so as to hide the truth.

“Truth-telling is the fundamental value and responsibility of journalism. But here’s the NPC suppressing such truths as that Jonas Burgos was indeed abducted by military agents, and that the anti-terrorism law, deliberately misnamed the Human Security Act, has grim implications for press freedom. These are neither leftist nor rightist claims, but facts – the very stuff of which competent practice and ethical journalism are made. Has the NPC leadership even heard of either? Anyone engaged in the suppression of facts has no business calling himself or herself a journalist, the appropriate word being ‘hack’ – preferably with the words ‘bought and paid for’ attached to it. ‘Quack’ also applies.”

ah, how i wish we had writers like john silva, raul pangalangan, and luis teodoro hosting tv public affairs talkshows, thinkers who as a matter of course go beyond he-said-she-said, truly probe into issues, and dare take a stand, no matter how anti-establishment.

but it ain’t gonna happen. they’re not pretty enough or popular enough, and they are neither hacks nor quacks.