ACT teachers partylist #39

Para sa Partylist!
radical chick

All this vote requires is common sense, and maybe one Google search. The partylist system is supposed to “enable Filipino citizens belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties, and who lack well-defined political constituencies <to> contribute to the formulation and enactment of appropriate legislation that will benefit the nation as a whole.”

Operative word marginalized. Operative phrase the nation as a whole.

One weekend from election day we should not forget these important facts about the partylist; more importantly we should not think this vote irrelevant. The partylist vote is a national vote after all, one that those in power, i.e., GMA have manipulated to her benefit. The value of the partylist system for GMA and those in power is clearly proven by this: there are 187 organizations listed on your ballots as partylist groups. How many of them are GMA-funded partylists? Take a look at this and this.

Of course even organizations that aren’t in those lists of GMA-planted partylists shouldn’t easily be seen as valid partylist groups. Many of these organizations work on the level of representation by putting the sector in their names, but really, many of them are not organizations at all, i.e., have no members. Google them and you’ll see.

Many others, while with organizations, do not clearly represent the sectors they say they do, i.e., there’s a teachers partylist that’s about protecting private school owners (who are rich therefore not marginalized at all) when the only people they should be protecting from oppression are public school teachers. Obviously, the goal for partylist groups such as this is to protect one’s business interests in Congress, and side with the majority in the process – how’s that for being marginalized?

Even more obvious? Partylist groups that say they represent OFWs, when that is in no way organized as a sector; those that represent cooperatives, when these are organizations within government institutions that do nothing but “help” workers by giving them loans and unilaterally subtracting those loans from monthly salaries, until workers have no otherchoice but take on another loan; those that are ambiguous about representation but say that they will provide jobs, give free education, allow Filipinos to go abroad and pay later, and even (goodness gracious!) give free cataract treatments.

The partylist system is not about civic duty; this is not to excuse government from the things it should be providing its people.

The partylist system is about representation in lawmaking, its premise is that the real marginalized are not protected by existing laws. Real marginalization is about economic mobility, the ability of a sector to spend, given how much they earn; their ability to improve their lives given their impoverished limitations. The real marginalized are those who suffer every day, given who they are, and the concrete conditions that forget their rights.

And please, those partylist groups that are about the regions? Realize that they are represented to begin with. There is already a Congressman for every city, yes? Then why are people from Bicol or the Warays marginalized sectors still?

The question therefore for anyone who’s voting for a partylist group is: do you know these people you are voting for? did these organizations exist before they joined the partylist election? Most importantly, if you aren’t marginalized, then which organization are you voting for?

I am by no means economically marginalized: I am middle class after all. I was teacher in a private school for five years, but it was my experience in a public university that has changed me fundamentally. As a member of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, I have met/spoken to/worked with public school teachers; as treasurer of ACT Teachers Partylist this experience in the public school would resonate with the truth of marginalization.

It was here, in the halls of the public school that I lived what I once only knew in theory: little pay, barely enough to live decently, unprotected rights for the most part, oppressed in many ways with nowhere to go, and to do but stay. As someone who had the choice to leave, there was no reason for me to feel I was one of them. But it was here, in these spaces of laughter and friendship in the midst of the sadnesses of a public educations system that does, without a doubt, oppress its own teachers, I came to know compassion more than I ever have. More importantly, I came to know the value of change and revolt, and the power of the oppressed and marginalized to see those chains and break free.

And this is why the vote for partylist is as important as any other. It is here that the real marginalized sectors, as represented by real organizations and groups, and real people, actually do gain representation. It is here that bigger and better changes are made possible. Imagine a Congress where the partylist minority is united in representing economic marginalization – that would protect the majority in this nation more than anything else.

This is why the partylist vote is important to me, not so much as a member of the marginalized, but for the many others who I know are. This is why it’s important to me that I know the function of the partylist and why they want to be in Congress. This is why it’s important that I know these organizations and people. This is why it’s important to me to know that when the people who represent the marginalized enter Congress, they do so as members of the marginalized: as farmer and labor leader, as activist and activist lawyer, as teacher, as activist youth.There is no place here for lawyers and educators, doctors and president’s children, and military officers.

This is the rightful place of people and organizations that have proven themselves, outside Congress, and within it. And here are the ones I know, the ones who have the work they do on record, the ones who, even with their pork barrel cut-off by this government, have been able to serve nation and people.

Bayan Muna Partylist represents a broad organization of the working class and the poor; Anakpawis Partylist represents farmers; Gabriela Women’s Party is a broad alliance of women; Kabataan Partylist represents the youth in the many issues of and in education, among others; Katribu demands representation for the indigenous peoples. And then there is ACT Teachers Partylist, #39 on your ballots.

Click here for incumbent partylist organizations and representatives in Congress, to read up on what they’ve done.

third world automation, way to go :(

kaya ba talaga ng comelec / smartmatic na i-replace ang flash cards ng bawat PCOS machine nationwide in the next two days, for testing and sealing immediately?   that’s a big job, and with mercury still retrograde — paatras pa rin ang takbo ng maraming bagay-bagay — sobrang nakakaduda, lalo na’t, according to a tweet by mlq3 today:

From Bacolod friend as of 11:48AM PCOS machines not yet distributed to precincts. No testing done yet.

hay naku.   how third world lang, ‘no.   our best efforts just aren’t good enough, i fear.   daryll delgado‘s fb status 5 hours ago says it all:

These errors, machine failures, inaccuracies have been the subject of reports by third-party observers months ago. That they’re only being paid attention to now, just days before the elections, may be a means of, is certainly effective at, creating a collective sense of doom and dread, and worse, resignation.

ngayon, kung flash cards lang talaga ang problema, here’s a suggestion from my brother louie:

if (!) it is true that PCOS works well enough for national positions on ballot front, and problem is limited to local posts behind: logical best move is to continue national polls on may 10 and postpone local polls alone for however many days it takes to correct the glitch, whatever additional cost may be.

sounds good to me.    though i really wish we were holding a parallel manual count nationwide, just because it’s the first time we’re automating, and we need to see for ourselves that it works better and faster and no cheating can/will happen.    the only way we can be sure of this is if we had manual counting to compare results with.   but no, say ng isa (di ko na maalala kung sino), kung merong sabay na manual and automated counting of votes, at nagkaroon ng discrepancies sa results, lalo daw magkakagulo!    oo, ganyan sila magisip.   insteadof, kung may discrepancies hanapin natin kung saan, sino, ano ang nagkamali at ating iwasto immediately and for the longterm.   hindi kailangang magkagulo, basta malinaw sa electorate kung bakit natatagalan ang proseso, and that we need to go through something like that to develop confidence in the comelec, and in voting/counting machines.

likewise, if the may 10 elections push through, hindi kailangang magkagulo.   not if we all practise patience.   there are going to be all kinds of glitches, nothing will go smoothly, patience is a virtue.   who knows, we might end up doing manual counts in many places, and that’s going to take time.   so, let’s all be vigilant pa rin, but reeeaally patient, lalo na the presidential candidates, winning and losing, and their avid supporters.   hindi magkakagulo, basta walang tawagan ng people power, please lang, hangga’t maaari.

yellow naif disses land reform :(

nakakadismaya the 5-minute video produced and posted by newbie blogger felicity tan entitled Ang nangyari sa Hacienda Luisita, ayon sa mga magsasaka.   it’s a cut-to-cut talking-heads kind of quickie production featuring just 7 former farmworkers / laborers / tenants of the hacienda saying they miss the old feudal days when the cojuangco-aquinos took care of their needs — complete with free health care, weekly allowances for the kids — and that they went on strike not for land — what would they do with land without capital and knowhow — but for better pay, except that the likes of satur ocampo and teddy casino made pakialam and satur even made millions of bucks, so please, leftists, stay away, we don’t want you meddling in our affairs.

i could not but react when i first saw it posted in facebook via carlos conde:

the video by itself is rather slanted against land reform and against the left, almost like an advertisement for oligarchic rule.  but let’s rewind to the part where these few farmers are saying that they went on strike for better pay, so obviously things had deteriorated since the happy past when the hacienda took care of all their needs.  sana ilagay naman sa context.  oh and the accusation that satur got a lot of money out of some deal should have been followed by a statement from satur either denying or confirming, in fairness lang.

tan’s reply:

my purpose was just to air the other side para mailabas naman, yun lang, if you visit HL you will see it is impossible that the farmers demonize the cojuangcos as it is seen in the media.  in any case, i put in the UP clip from TV patrol because the general sentiment is “give what the farmers what they want.”  So I asked them.  We already heard the farmers who want the land.  How about the others?  Lahat ba sila land ang gusto?  Looking at reports, it seems that way. Inside  HL is a different story.  if you change your opinion on it or not is besides the point and not my purpose.  I think Caloy’s blurb above says it all: “the OTHER side that ought to be heard as well” (thanks again C!)

soon after, men sta. ana also posted the video in fb with a comment, and we had this exchange:

men : Sad to say, this cannot be the full story. Some Noy campaigners, specifically those who work with the farmers, even think that the video might have been produced by the Luisita management (which is not the case, I think). So whoever produced this video only complicated the issue even for Noy supporters. The story is more complicated than what the video offers. I myself went to Luisita more than a month ago, accompanied by a young academic researcher doing his postgrad in Australia, a local organizer, a national peasant organizer, and a farmer who heads a national peasant organization (they are all pro-Noy), and the stories we received from the farmers differ from those interviewed in this video. In other words, there are many voices in Luisita, which this video does not capture. But what is clear is that different forces have used the farmers as pawns. What a tragedy.

me : men, i so agree.  carlos conde also posted the video and i commented that it’s practically an advertisement for oligarchic rule, sabay banat kay satur.  the video producer says it is simply meant to air the side of luisita farmers who continue to be unemployed, as if there were only this one side and only these few farmers. and she claims to be a journalist, even blogs about ethics of journalism.   absolutely, support like this noynoy doesn’t need.

men : Oo nga, Angela.  She committed the mistakes that she was railing against.  Actually, I don’t have any problem re opinionated journalism.  Just be honest about it.  Hunter Thompson is my idol because of his gonzo journalism.  Problem here is she becomes holier than thou.

worse, she’s getting a lot of kudos in her blog, i assume from political naifs like herself, who are thankful that she has cleared the air, so now they get it, the farmers don’t really want land, they just want the good old feudal days back, so now they WILL vote for noynoy.   susmaryosep.   i don’t get it.    why isn’t she practising what she preaches re journalism ethics?  maybe she thinks these ethics don’t apply sa blogosphere?    she’s been blogging for just a month, so let’s give her the benefit of the doubt?  LOL

pero sige na nga, maybe she didn’t plan for the video to stand alone, maybe she thought her “blurb”, where she says she didn’t bother airing the other sides because they’ve had enough exposure in media, presuming, incorrectly, that her readers all know the big picture already, would be posted around along with the video.  still, the blurb said hardly enough.   and besides, that’s not the way it works in the blogosphere.   you have no say in what or how much gets picked up and posted around, so a video has to be complete in itself, airing all sides, unless hindi naman talaga credible journalism ang drama kundi partisan sensationalism.

salamat na lang at meron din siyang commenters na mas marunong sa kanya, like jonas and the penniless sitar player:

Jonas :  medyo may intellectual dishonesty dito sa ginawa mo, ms. tan.  una, binanatan mo ng todo ang report ng gmanews.tv dahil sa tingin mo mali-mali at iisang panig lang.  tapos sinabi mo, pupunta ka sa luisita para hanapin ang katotohanan.  pero ano ang ginawa mo?  you just presented a few farmers na kontra kina lito bais, at napaka-tendentious pa ng mga argumento at totally without basis or proof (lalo na ang akusasyong binigyan si satur ocampo ng 6m).

in the final analysis, propaganda din ang ginawa mo na ang makakabenepisyo ay si noynoy at mga kalaban ng ulwu at catlu.  true, pinresent mo ang side ng ilang mga farmers pero what they said didn’t help the discussion of the issue. they  merely vented their ire.

medyo tuso ang posisyon mo na ang ginagawa mo lang ay ang side ng mga farmers na di naririnig.  ok lang sana ito kung hindi mo pinipresenta ang sarili mo na journalist.  e kaso, napaka-self-righteous pa nga ng dating mo about journalism, as if you are god’s gift to journalism in this part of the woods.

hindi mo pueding sabihin na kaya di mo nilagay ang side nina lito bais ay dahil masyado na silang sikat sa media.  tusong pag-iisip yan.  kung totoo kang journalist, give us the complete picture.  otherwise, don’t pass yourself off as a journalist na walang kinikilingan kundi ang katotohanan.

in the final analysis, walang pinagkaiba ang ginawa mo sa mga puntong ayaw mo sa story ng gmanews.tv.  bagkus, mas maganda ang ginawa ni stephanie dychiu dahila at least mas throrough ang research, mas maayos at mas complete ang picture, kahit na sabihin mong one-sided. April 24, 2010 2:22 PM

penniless sitar player :  it only shows that redistribution should not be the only concern of land reform.  a finite resource such as land, should be managed sustainably (considering the economic, social and ecological dimensionsof it.)  unlike the virtual land in farmville (he he he) further subdividing it to smaller portions would not optimize its eco-social contribution. with the chains and layers of people and processes involved in production (farmhand, farmhelp, capital and service providers, irrigation providers, traders, buyers) agricultural production is actually one big enterprise. and with that, only a sustainable business model could answer the increasing needs of people dependent on it.  new forms of ownerships and/ or profit/fruit sharing should be set in place.  I also abhor the idea that control remains in the hand of a mega-family corporation but individually distributing it would even marginalize the people at the far end of the value chain.  the idea of setting up cooperative, interdependent structures and mutually reinforcing agro-enterprises, owned and managed by the farmers, could be explored and it should be coupled with efforts to build the capacity of farmers to deal with it in a businesslike way. April 26, 2010 3:47 AM

cory’s comprehensive agrarian reform program failed (and carper, its extension, will fail) because of loopholes designed to allow old-rich hacenderos to be creative about finding ways of holding on to their hundreds of thousands of hectares of land instead of being creative about sharing the bounty with landless farmers in national food production.   meanwhile, small middleclass landowners, like my nanay who inherited a mere 20 hectares or so of hard-earned riceland from her parents, had to give up all but 7 hectares some 20 years ago, ora mismo, agad-agad, grabe  :(

amBisyon 2010: Blurry vision, message lost…

By ISKHO F. LOPEZ

The growing popularity of independent movies (indies) is seen to be a trend towards the resurrection of the local movie industry. The successive gains local filmmakers have achieved at international film festivals most recently compliment the idea. Maybe so or hopefully, it does follow this positive trend. But certainly, an event like amBisyon 2010 is no occasion for Indie enthusiasts to gloat.

Ambitionmeans aspiration, desire, or the goal an individual wants to realize. Thus, ambisyon in the vernacular would be an appropriate name for a project aimed at encouraging the liberal expression of ideas. With the project focused particularly on the potential of the film medium as communication tool, amBisyon lends itself to a clever, more refined redefinition and becomes “ang vision.”

As reported, ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel intended amBisyon 2010 for young aspiring filmmakers, for them to have a venue for their craft, as it would likewise be an opportunity for the network to “contribute to the national election awareness effort.” Where programming was concerned, the idea sounded rather innovative, which was fine, as it would be an act of benevolence or gesture of compassion for the filmmakers as well. (Applause!)

Its implementation would be an entirely different story, however. Participants were invited. Some 14 from a list of active filmmakers, with the six others culled from aspiring filmmakers who were encouraged to apply, which involved submitting scripts of their short films. Finally, a total of 20 short films led to a semblance of a festival of sorts. One could imagine that all these looked good and feasible on paper. Ambitious, too, but it was manageable.

Grand premiere

ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs head Maria Ressa didn’t mince her words during the grand premiere of the network’s 20-film project at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on April 6. “We need to see the world in a different way and we need to have thefreedom to express it,” she said during the opening ceremonies. (Shivers.)

The poster for the event graphically presented the concept and paid tribute to the participating film directors. Each of the 19 filmmakers who gracedthe occasion (one was out of the country and could not attend), was called onstage and presented with a poster for keepsake. The formal proceedings was such that one participant quipped, “Parang awards night. Sana isinama ko ang nanay ko.”

To say that amBisyon “is about the dreams of a nation, the vision of a future in the context of a country locked in poverty” is a loaded statement. That it is about “hope, possibility, and truth – through the lenses of those who tell its stories” is, to say the least ambitious, indeed.

Even contextually pretentious, considering the corporate profile of ABS-CBN, a television network that enjoys the popularity of its commercial program packages.

This is not to downgrade the well-meaning effort behind the concept but to underscore the irony.

The project, amBisyon 2010 may have laudable objectives but to say that it succeeded with this initial venture is highly debatable. What appears rather clear is that its implementation is confused, its organizers rather vaguely familiar with the efficacy of its structure. There may have been comprehensible moments but sophomoric should best describe the effort. To generalize it as successful can be downright misleading, in effect offering filmmakers and the public false hopes.

No amount of window dressing will sufficiently camouflage the shortcomings of the project. It was generous for the likes of Brillante Mendoza, Jeffrey Jeturian, Erik Matti, and Raymund Red, among others to have shared their prominence with amBisyon thus lending it a veneer of legitimacy. Unless the idea is to revel in our shortcomings, then that’s another story.

Rated X

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) may have unwittingly boosted viewer interest for amBisyon 2010 when it gave “Ganito Tayo Ngayon, Paano Tayo Bukas” (Jeturian) and “Ayos Ka” (Mendoza) an X, which prohibits the public screening of both. The board eventually reconsidered the rating of Mendoza’s music video and changed it to an R. Network management is reportedly inclined to seek a legal way out of the predicament.

Jeturian’s short film shows a newspaper with itsheadline heralding the administration’s economic prospects eventually being trashed literally, as a man wipes feces off his foot with it. Evidently, the board resolved the shot as repulsive with the newspaper page carrying a photograph of the incumbent President. The graphic rendering may have been considerably irreverent but the metaphor undeniably relevant as it echoes the public disenchantment for the current leadership. Expectedly, the MTRCB was not amused and its members will argue to no end its right to censure such a filmic dare.

The music video is easier to justify. Mendoza opts to document a prevailing scene – utter depravation, grime and squalor interestingly contrasted it with rap tempo and innocent smiles in the faces of children. Besides such an offering, what else?

Disarray, disorder, and confusion

A variety of 20 short films, from four to eight minutes in length, translate to a diversity of views and treatments of pressing national issues like justice and human rights, education, health, economy, environment, population, poverty, security, corruption and democracy. Twenty film directors, 10 issues and a marathon screening of the short films at the CCP Dream Theater, and the result was expectedly disarray, disorder, and confusion.

Erik Matti chooses to be lyrical in his treatment of the population issue in “The More, The Meniyer,” tracing its beginnings with the inhabitants of a cartoon paradise and the first couple’s simplistic interpretation of the multiplication dictum from an almighty.

A documentation of events following the Maguindanao tragedy with scenes shown in reverse suggesting the wistful thoughts and anxieties among the relatives of victims. Balloons fall from the sky, petals briskly fly into waiting hands; people walk backwards indicating the futile desire for events to return to wherever it started in “Requiem for M,” a short film by Kiri Dalena.

Memories of martial law moving onwards to a regime change are recalled in a short film titled Wasteland by Paolo Villaluna with a family losing just about everything in the process, with their sense of values in shatters as well. Concentrating on style, “Wasteland” offers charming vignettes, a lot of melodramatic moments with Snooky Serna and Gerard Madrid, while its message as empty as the household of its characters.

Villaluna, who conceptualized the project with fellow director Emman Dela Cruz, said he hopes to answer his own questions about the country through this project. “Not only is amBisyon 2010 supposed to inspire but more importantly, it’s supposed to provoke people into thinking again about their future,” he explained.

The amBisyon 2010 films are being shown via a five-part TV special on ANC (SkyCable channel 27) at 11 p.m. every Friday until the week before the elections. For more details on the project, just visit www.abs-cbnnews.com/ambisyon2010.

A multi-media practitioner, Ishko F. Lopez has worked as feature writer, columnist and editor in several major publications. He scripted TV material in the ’70s and is credited as screenwriter of about 20 movies.