No relief

By Katrina Stuart Santiago

It was in August of 2012, when the Habagat rains hit, that my older brother Joel and I, wanting to volunteer but not knowing where to go, did what we both knew we could do well. Build a relief website.

Read on

AFTER THE RAIN

By Victor Penaranda

After several days of relentless rain
Words came back neatly to me in sans serif
So I can pronounce words like “blue sky” clearly
Without being threatened by rising floods
Or becoming disaster in the making.
There are no wicked typhoons or fierce monsoons;
Only the imagination of the seasons
Influences the weather beyond reasonable doubt
Contract workers drive this morning to be dazzling
So evacuees can return home safely
To reconstruct techniques of quiet survival
And ponder with a sense of emergency
How those in power have made an occupation
Of privileged speeches and stealing taxes
Without drowning in the effluence of lies.
I’ve been made to choose between acquiring
Gravitational strength or the ability
To absorb light and express “lightning” surely
So I can declare both houses of Congress
In a state of shameless calamity.

22 August 2013
Bay, Laguna

august 21, 1983

It had been three years since Ninoy first declared that the Filipino is worth dying for, and he proved it on the 21st of August 1983 when he came home, was escorted off the plane by Marcos’s military, and assassinated in broad daylight, allegedly by an ex-convict.

Ninoy never saw the yellow ribbons adorning trees and street posts or heard the people, anonymous no longer, sing “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” in welcome. Ninoy is dead, long live Ninoy! Yellow was the color of the movement and Radio Veritas the voice of the opposition. Veritas, owned and operated by the Catholic Church, was the only station that dared broadcast the assassination and relay the nation’s shock and dismay. No one doubted that Marcos was to blame, never mind who pulled the trigger. Even the elite minority was offended – if he could do it to Ninoy he could do it to them.

The message of Ninoy’s sacrifice was not lost on the people. Ninoy’s courage touched them, roused them from their apathy, rekindled their sense of collective worth. The Filipino is worth dying for. Then and there, thousands of his admirers who joined the ’78 noise barrage under cover of darkness dared step forward in the light of day and be counted among the grieving. They came in droves to Ninoy’s and Cory’s home in Times Street, Quezon City and quietly, bravely, lined up for a glimpse of his bloody remains and to bid their fallen hero goodbye. On the day of the funeral, millions left their homes and workplaces to march and line the streets where Ninoy’s casket would pass, and they raised their fists, sang Bayan Ko, cried “Ninoy, hindi ka nag-iisa [you are not alone]!”

from the chapter “EDSA Roots, Marcos Times” of EDSA UNO, A Narrative and Analysis with Notes on Dos & Tres to be launched September 1, if the heavens permit.

let a MILLION PEOPLE MARCH

this has been going around facebook since yesterday, so far reposted 633 times and counting.  a call for a major major march vs. the pork barrel on aug 26, monday, a holiday commemorating the start of the 1896 revolution.

This is a REPOST from Ito Rapadas
Please repost kung mamartsa kayo. Salamat at mabuhay ang mga tunay na Pilipino!

“What we need is a MILLION PEOPLE MARCH by struggling Filipino taxpayers- a day of protest by the silent majority that would demand all politicians and govt. officiials (whatever the political stripes, color they may carry) to stop pocketing our taxes borne out from our hard work by means of these pork barrel scams and other creative criminal acts. They don’t want to investigate themselves, they remain relaxed and unperturbed because they believe it will die down in time. Let’s make them feel that this time is DIFFERENT cause we are all sick and tired of it! PLS. REPOST IF YOU AGREE!”

sounds good.  government needs to get the message that we’re angry, we’re fed up, we want an end to the pork barrel system.  a million or more marching would grab their attention.  but for a stronger, more emphatic, delivery of the message, let’s not march to luneta, which is a dead end.  let’s march to EDSA instead, on a workday, just because we want traffic, lives, schedules disrupted, we want people to stop and ask, what’s going on, and to see why this is every pinoy’s and pinay’s fight for responsible spending by government.  we want media spreading the word, we want as many people as possible, from gated villages to the grass roots — across classes, across ages, across genders, across ideologies, across seas — discussing the pork barrel, and expressing soldiarity with the million marchers.

but we cannot, we should not, stop there. do we want an investigation, i.e., televised public hearings? do we want to know what senators and reps have been really spending their pork barrel funds on in the last two years, and how much goes back to them in the form of commissions / kickbacks?  if found guilty, do we want them punished, ousted?  do we want them to give the money back?  YES to all of the above, i would think?  but all these should be very clearly articulated, because if we leave it up to government to act on the issue, their lawyers will plead due process, i.e., innocent until proven guilty in a proper court, while the senators and congressmen will just get creative and start calling the PDAF by another name / other names, with the complicity of the palace, of course, and tuloytuloy lang ang ligaya.

what if we make DEMANDS such as these:

1. THAT CONGRESS FREEZE ALL SPENDING OF PORK BARREL FUNDS;

2. THAT THE PALACE FREEZE ALL SPENDING OF “SPECIAL FUNDS” OF WHICH THE PDAF IS BUT A SMALL PART;

3.  THAT THE PRESIDENT ISSUE AN EXECUTIVE ORDER CREATING A TRUTH & CONSEQUENCE COMMISSION WITH SUBPOENA POWERS THAT WILL INVESTIGATE THE COMPLICITY OF SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN WITH NGOS AND CONTRACTORS, AND HOW MUCH GOES BACK TO SENATORS AND REPS IN COMMISSIONS/KICKBACKS;

4. THAT THE TRUTH & CONSEQUENCE COMMISSION BE COMPOSED OF MULTICOLOR MULTISECTORAL STALWARTS OF CIVIL SOCIETY, YUNG PRO-PEOPLE NA MERONG CREDIBILITY, SUCH AS: CHRISTIAN MONSOD, RENE SAGUISAG, MELINDA QUINTOS DE JESUS, HEBER BARTOLOME, RANDY DAVID, LEONOR BRIONES, CONRADO DE QUIROS, LENI ROBREDO, SATUR OCAMPO;

5. THAT THERE BE TWO MONTHS OF DAILY TELEVISED PUBLIC HEARINGS, SIX DAYS A WEEK, TO DETERMINE WHO HAVE ENRICHED THEMSELVES ON PORK BARREL FUNDS, AND DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED AND/OR PENALIZED.  TWO MONTHS, THREE MONTHS TOPS.  WE WANT THIS RESOLVED BY CHRISTMAS:  PAMASKO SA BAYAN.

6. THAT SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES WHO ARE FOUND GUILTY OF ENRICHING THEMSELVES ON PORK BARREL FUNDS A) BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE?  B) SUSPENDED LANG?  FOR HOW LONG?  WITHOUT PAY?  A POSSIBLE EXCEPTION FOR SENATORS / REPRESENTATIVES WHO MIGHT STEP UP AND VOLUNTEER INFORMATION THAT HELP, HASTEN, THE INVESTIGATIONS, A LA STATE WITNESSES, MAYBE ONE MONTH SUSPENSION LANG?

7. THAT STOLEN MONIES  BE RETURNED, AND TURNED OVER TO BIR COMMISSIONER KIM HENARES FOR SAFEKEEPING UNTIL THE PRESIDENT IS PREPARED TO AUGMENT THE BUDGETS FOR HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND ENVIRONMENT, THE BETTER TO ADDRESS INCREASINGLY URGENT NEEDS NATIONWIDE.

and that’s my two cents.  here’s hoping that serious plans are afoot to organize and unite behind this exciting advocacy, and to dare take the leap from social media to the parliament of the streets.  mabuhay!