ninoy’s letters

my father was a great fan of ninoy aquino, which is why i have a copy of the small yellow book of Ninoy Letters from prison & exile published by the aquino family and la ignaciana apostolic center in october 1983.

the six letters and two speeches span 10 years, the first from his prison cell in june 1973, the last the speech he would have given upon his return from exile 25 years ago, had he not been assassinated.

I have decided to challenge death. I do not believe I’m sinning against my creator because in the end, I am not really my own executioner. By my example, I hope I can inspire two others. Like the dominoes, one has to fall to create the chain reaction.”

cha-cha 2010 ALERT

what a relief it was to see national artist bienvenido lumbera and activist sister mary john mananzan o.s.b. on tv news protesting malacanang’s latest call for charter change and announcing that concerned artists with civil society are holding a rally, a truth festival, sa baywalk 3 p.m. august 22 to 6 a.m. august 23 (should be interesting kahit no alcohol allowed ;)

and what a relief it is to hear that the senators are in no mood to be pushed, manipulated, or intimidated by the palace into a con-ass and a quick shift to federalism for the sake kuno of peace kuno in mindanao.

but why do i get the feeling that we’re being toyed with? why do i get the feeling that the palace does not really expect charter change to happen in time to extend her term? why do i get the feeling that the palace is happy enough that fvr and the senators are all saying, “not before 2010”?

it’s like we’re being conditioned to think to accept that chacha is inevitable, even, that there’s a popular clamor for cha-cha, so it’s going to happen once gloria’s gone, make no mistake about it.

BUT BUT BUT there is no popular clamor for charter change. the clamor for charter change is not coming from the people, it’s coming from the political elite – elected government officials like presidents and senators and congressmen and governors and mayors (and of course their networks of political suppporters across classes and sectors all the way down to the grassroots) who are known to look after self-interests first before the people’s.

and if i’m right, that it’s the political elite behind all this talk of federalizing government and, incidentally kuno, liberalizing the economy, can foreign interests be far behind? more like, breathing down their necks.

the conceit . . .

MALAYA‘s editorial today asks if, and thinks, yes, the bangsamoros’ demand for a homeland in mindanao is just.

The conceit of the Ilocanos, Kapampangans, Tagalogs, etc.

It’s probably not news to most people that among the poorest regions of the country are the Au-tonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Western Mindanao and Central Mindanao. The first is predominantly Muslim, the second (covering the Zamboanga peninsula) has also a significant Muslim population while the third (composed of the Cotabato provinces, Sarangani and Cotabato City) is where Christian and Muslim communities have a history of engaging in communal violence.

This fact should give pause to those rallying around the Republic in the name of national sovereignty and territorial integrity in opposing the grant of genuine autonomy to the Muslims. The national government has long neglected the Muslims. Were we the victims of such abandonment and discrimination – not to speak of outright exploitation – we probably would take up arms against the government too.

Let us be frank with ourselves. While we tend to see ourselves as members of a liberal, pluralist and secular society, what is the reality?

Even as our attention is focused on the rebellion in the South, theRepublic remains threatened by a communist insurgency that is fundamentally rooted in the poverty and injustice that mock our deeply held pretensions to a modern, prosperous and progressive society. Let’s leave aside Gloria Arroyo and her delusion that she could defeat the communist rebellion within two years. As long as poverty and powerlessness remain the lot of the mass of our people, we will not see the end of rebellion in our lifetime.

Most of our people have already tuned themselves out from our leaders’ stirring speeches about democracy, civil liberties, the rule of law and equal opportunities for all. Many have voted with their feet to repudiate their allegiance to the Republic.

A minority with a distinct way of life and inhabiting a well-defined territory have chosen to carve out through armed means a homeland for themselves. They are, for the moment, willing to stay within the Republic, or so they say, under a framework of autonomy. But they are also prepared to secede if their demand for self-rule is frustrated.

Is their demand for a homeland just and fair? We think so. And our belief springs from what we feel is a more principled adherence to the ideals that our forked-tongued politicians spout during historic occasions such as our Independence Day celebrations.

We have made a mess of our country. If we cannot clean it up, let us not stand in they way of other people who want to carve out their own destiny. They would probably end up under the misrule of their equivalent of a Gloria Arroyo. Or worse.

But at least they are fighting for what they believe is right. They should shame the far bigger conglomeration of Ilocanos, Kapampangans, Tagalogs, Visayans, etc., who have quietly acquiesced to the rape of their hallowed institutions, the plunder of their patrimony and the robbing of their dignity as a people.”

mindanao muddle

what a mess. it would seem na si gma-in-china lang ang maligaya about the grp-milf ancestral domain deal.

almost everyone else is unhappy, especially muslims and christians living in lands that government is willing to cede to the milf: muslims and christians who were not consulted – where’s the democracy nga naman. hindi man lang sila tinanong kung payag sila, at walang paliwanag kung bakit nararapat (kung nararapat man) at paano narating ang ganoong desisyon.

the grp-milf deal simply gives away too much to an armed milf, to the detriment of other muslim groups and lumads and christians, rightly raising fears of more terrorism, rather than none, which could be the point of the whole thing.

seems like the grp-milf deal (or no-deal) isn’t meant to settle anything, rather it is meant to UNsettle things further, which lends credence to theories that in her “last two minutes” gloria is out to create an environment that would give her reason to declare martial law, or congress reason to change the charter, both of which bode ill for the nation.

as always, i have a hard time giving gloria and her congress the benefit of the doubt. it’s hard to believethat she did not anticipate this kind of fall-out. she is, after all, neither stupid nor naive.