Sambayanan, maki-alam! ~ Mareng Winnie

So far November has been heartbreaking and enraging — sobrang saklap ang mga bahâ na sumalanta sa Cebu at Negros, Samar at Palawan — and sobrang nakakanerbiyos itong bracing for Typhoon Uwang that’s blowing in over Luzon this weekend that’s expected to be even worse than Typhoon Tino.

“We’re flooded to the max,” Gov. Pamela Baricuatro lamented, despite P26 billion allocated for flood control in the province. She called for probes to determine accountability for what many Cebu residents described as their first brush with torrential flooding.

Malacañang said yesterday that 343 flood control projects were recorded in Cebu between 2016 and 2022, and 168 more from 2022 to 2025. https://www.philstar.com/

That it had to come to this, full-scale over-the-top killer floods destroying lives and homes, sweeping off and literally piling-up parked vehicles… That it had to come to this, before we stopped blaming just climate change and super-typhoons for the megafloods and finally started seeing the harsh consequences not just of government’s corrupt and “pretend” flood-control schemes (all three branches complicit) but also of environmental degradation, defying all laws of nature, in the name of “development”.  What development?

This has to be the pits. And I wish it were true that things could only get better, now that we’re informed enough about who are to blame.  And yes, we wish that PBBM and the ICI and the DOJ and the Ombudsman would get their act together more speedily and effectively, we want, we need, to see heads roll already, the higher in the conspiracy, the better.

But we have to be patient, without letting go of the anger. “Due process” ang mantra ng accused, “innocent until proven guilty” daw, kayâ wala ni isang senador o congressman na umaamin, baka makalusot pa uli. I imagine that the authorities are moving as fast as they can, pero hindi madaling magkalap ng ebidensiya laban sa mga konektadong tiwali na marurunong at sanay dumiskarte para walang huli.

Lubay-lubayan din natin ang mga panawagan na pababain sa puwesto si PBBM. And then what?!? The VP takes over, and then what? Lalo lang magkakagulo. I haven’t heard her or anyone in the DDS camp offer an alternative lawful procedure that would speed up the process of holding accountable, and jailing, corrupt government officials. If anything, I imagine that a Duterte presidency would focus only on the Marcoses and their cohorts (sweet revenge) and exonerate the likes of Escudero and Villanueva and Estrada atbpang kaalyadong akusado. At least, with PBBM, if we push hard enough and angrily enough, maaaring pati si Romualdez ay mapilitan silang imbestigahan.

Which is why hindi ko gets ang Iglesia ni Cristo three-day rally Nov 16-18 sa Luneta to call daw “for transparency and accountability in government”. Three days? Maybe hoping to entice non-INCs na DDS and retired military coup-ists to join? Praying for an Edsa in Luneta baga? And then, what?  https://www.philstar.com/

Besides, Mercury goes retrograde from the 10th to the 29th of November. Not a good time to try anything different, rather, a good time to simply continue what we’ve been doing — pushing pa rin for accountability and heads to roll — while paying attention to the Senate and ICI hearings, the better to sustain the anger and the advocacy.

***

I was about to publish this yesterday when I heard Winnie Monsod live on Storycon | OneNewsPh saying basically the same, about keeping informed and keeping up the pressure on government, and more, with lessons from PNoy’s time, when asked for her reaction to the drop in GDP (economic growth) July – October.  https://www.youtube.com/

Regina Lay: On a scale of one to ten how angry are you?

Winnie Monsod:  Not angry. That’s what was expected. Considering what has all been going on with our government, how can you expect anything to happen. Our government infrastructure expenditures went down by 26.8 % — that’s a hell of a big decline over last year. Ang maganda rito … hindi naman maganda … but what is noteworthy is that [a similar] decline … happened 14 years ago, in 2011, during Noynoy Aquino’s term as president, in the beginning years…. What is notable is that after that government fixed its public works problem, with Babes Singson at the helm, the Aquino government went on to grow at a pace which has not been matched so far.

In other words, it’s not all bad news. Even though it comes out of this corruption scandal, if it really takes root, yung anti-corruption measures…  It will be bad news if after all these scandals, wala ring nangyari. Ayan ang talagang bad news. But itong corruption scandal na ito, good news because at last we have found out, at least the Filipino people have found out, who are to blame. Now, whether that gets translated into justice for the Filipino people, I don’t know. If it does, you can expect very good things to happen to the Philippine economy. If it does not, we are doomed to continuous failure.

Amy Pamintuan: What’s a reasonable time frame….

Winnie: In 2011, ang problem yung government spending. By 2015, four years later, the Philippines was one of the top 10 investment destinations of international investors. By 2015 the Philippines’ corruption perception index had improved… the rule of law index had improved to an extent not seen afterwards. In other words, when Duterte came, and then when Marcos came, bumaba lahat ‘yan.  And remember … it was during Noynoy’s time yung Napoles [scandal], maraming na-jail, maraming kinasuhan. That improved international investor confidence in the Philippines so much…

So what do you make of that? I’m saying that if we handle this corruption scandal accordingly and really get people to jail instead of for cosmetic purposes, then we will do very well. Pag hindi ito nangyari…. In other words, it’s up to us. It’s up to us to make sure that what is happening now continues to a good end.

Regina: Are things going in the right direction vis a vis ICI?

Winnie:   I know what they’re going to do but up to now I still haven’t seen any transparency in their hearings. Meron na ba? … The people should be kept abreast of what is going on so that they will know how to react to it and how to, themselves, act. Because the people now have to be proactive. Sila ang tinatamaan, sila ang dapat may information as to what is going on so that they will know how to coordinate their actions… about rallies and whatever is is that’s going on. … We have to keep the public pressure on the government as heavy as possible so that the government will do what they have to do. … It is up to us, the people, to carry this forward to make sure that the government is forced to act the way we want them to act. Kailangang kailangan ang participation ng sambayanan.

Amy: What’s doable by way of institutional reforms?

Winnie: Who is ultimately responsible for what is happening? Is it not Congress, the Legislature, ang may problem dito? All right. We want institutional reforms in Congress. We already have our case before the Supreme Court asking the Supreme Court to do [something about] the political dynasty law. That’s one.

Number two. E sino bang nag-e-elect ng mga taong nasa Konggreso ngayon? Hindi ba ang sambayanan? In other words, they bear a lot of the responsibility here. Not just government. If we want good people in Congress, we have to elect them. Hindi ba? So you know, we have to make sure na ang tao realize that the people they elected to Congress were really bad eggs. And if they don’t realize that, then we are doomed to having that kind of quality of Congress in the future. So a lot depends on the Filipino people.

KEYWORDS: Keep abreast. Be proactive. Coordinate actions. Keep up the pressure on government. Demand transparency. Jail the guilty.

Let Supremes decide Villanueva dismissal

​In 2013 pork barrel-fixer Janet Lim Napoles named Joel Villanueva among her 100 congressmen-accomplices. In 2016 then-Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales ordered him, then a newly-elected senator, dismissed from public office. 

Karen Davila: In 2016 when you ordered his dismissal, the Senate refused. Should the Senate have followed…?

Conchita Carpio-Morales: They should have. Otherwise everyone wants to be a senator… because any infraction of the law that you commit, you will still remain a senator.

Davila: The Ombudsman ordered a senator’s dismissal, hindi sumunod ang Senado, as a body. They all cooperated as an institution. Anong nagging epekto  nito sa atin?

Carpio-Morales: We are the laughingstock of other countries because we don’t know how to  enforce our law, we don’t know how to implement the decisions that are spawned from legal  proceedings. https://www.facebook.com/

The interview happened October 5. Two days later, Oct 7, DOJ Sec Boying Remulla was appointed Ombudsman. He took his oath of office Oct 9. Two weeks later, Oct 23, he announced that he would write to Senate President Vicente Sotto III and ask him to enforce Villanueva’s dismissal from public office. But before he could do so, ex-Ombudsman Samuel Martires announced that he had reversed the order, clearing the senator of all charges back in July 2019. But why did he not make it public then?

Jarius Bondoc: Martires’ claim is queer. He never publicized his exculpation of Villanueva supposedly to “protect a person’s dignity.” Duh! Doesn’t absolution from a crime restore a person’s dignity? So why hide it? Baligtad na ba ang mundo?

Queerer is Villanueva’s silence all these years. His graft buster image was tarnished 17 years ago in 2008 when as Citizen’s Battle Against Corruption party rep he was linked to P10-million sleaze. https://www.philstar.com/

Queer, and lame. It was more likely because, after 17 years, parang nakalimutan na ng madlang pipol ang kaso, so why even remind us. News of such a dismissal would certainly have scandalized, and triggered debates anew. The question now is: valid ba ang Martires dismissal of the Carpio-Morales dismissal? Former solicitor general Florin Hilbay doesn’t think so:

The order of former ombudsman Carpio-Morales dismissing Senator Villanueva for the PDAF scam was a public act. Former ombudsman Martires had no authority to reverse that decision in secret, thereby depriving the public or any interested party from questioning his decision before the Supreme Court. Therefore, Ombudsman Remulla can treat the secret memo as having had no effect and can proceed with his intention to request the Senate to enforce the original order of dismissal. https://www.facebook.com/AttyHilbay/

Pero huwag nang ibalik sa Senado. Ayon kay Senator Ping Lacson:

“The jurisdiction of the Senate committee on ethics does not cover offenses allegedly committed by the members of the Senate before being elected as senators,” Lacson explained in a Viber message on Tuesday. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

Derecho na dapat sa Supreme Court ang appeal. Here’s hoping the Supremes don’t fail us yet again. But if they do — puro mga DDS nga pala ang nakaupong mahistrado, except for one, okay, maybe two — huwag tayo magugulat. Matinik ang mag-amang Villanueva; they knew exactly how to play Digong 2016-18, which led to that dismissal. This time, I wouldn’t put it past them to make it a DDS issue vs BBM. I hear Mocha is already on defend-Joel mode. Who’s next, that meowing Rep?

Why Quezon?

Biglang may nagbabasa nitong September 2018 post ko asking why si Quezon at hindi si Aguinaldo ang kasunod nina Luna (2015) at Goyo. And now that it’s in theaters and the rave reviews are in — congrats naman sa TBA Studios for a Quezon that’s not hagiographic and, even, quite timely — here’s wishing pa rin for a film on that tragic conflict between Bonifacio and Aguinaldo that historian Glenn Anthony May sees as “but one brief skirmish in the perennial struggle between the charismatic and the bureaucratic  …  Bonifacio, the charismatic leader, had succeeded in raising the flag of rebellion, but it was left to a new bureaucratic authority, exemplified by Aguinaldo, to attempt to finish the job.” I’m certain we have much to learn, too, from that “skirmish.”

Si Luna, si Goyo, at si … Quezon?

Kung sabagay, antihero naman silang tatlo in real life.  As in, lacking truly heroic attributes.  For all their dramatics in reel life, neither Luna nor Goyo nor Quezon is in the league of Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio.

One thing, however, that Rizal and Bonifacio, Luna and Goyo have in common is that they were killed, they died, for country in the prime of their revolutionary lives.  Rizal in 1896, Bonifacio in 1897,  Luna and Goyo in 1899.  Freedom was non-negotiable.

Quezon, who was 3 years younger than Goyo and lived to a relatively ripe old age of 66, did not take part in the 1896 Revolution (his family in Baler is said to have remained loyal to mother Spain), hardly engaged in military battle in the Fil-Am war, and post-Fil-Am war was principal collaborator in the, sadly, successful campaign to suppress the nationalist clamor for immediate independence from America. [Michael Cullinane. Ilustrado Politics: Filipino Elite Responses to American Rule 1898 to 1908. Ateneo de Manila Press, 2003; Alfred W. McCoy. Policing America’s Empire: The United States, The Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State. University of Wisconsin Press, 2009]

Kumbaga, Quezon was America’s Boy all through the American occupation and the Commonwealth — he came to dominate and shape local and national politics to his liking, creating the template for political ops, with the approval, of course, if not with some maneuvering on the part, of imperial America.  This is not to say that Quezon does not deserve a film, he absolutely does, he was quite a colorful figure, on so many levels. But he belongs to another time in our history.  He belongs in a different trilogy.  Or puwede ring stand-alone.

But wait.  The Quezon film daw will cover the 1935 elections where Quezon trounced Aguinaldo in the run for president of the Commonwealth.  So, iyun na mismo ang thread of the trilogy?  A three-punch swing at Aguinaldo for ordering the execution of Bonifacio, I suppose, and for selling out to Spain with the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, I guess, and for naively trusting that the Americans would withdraw once the battle against Spain was won?

In fairness, after Luna and Goyo, Aguinaldo deserves his day in court.  Let’s hear his side of the story.  Why did he have to have Bonifacio killed?  Why was it so difficult giving Bonfiacio credit where credit was due him.  What made it so impossible for him and Bonifacio to get their act together, that is, to work conspire fight together against a common enemy?  What was he thinking when he agreed to stop fighting Spain?  How surprised was he by the Treaty of Paris whereby America bought the Philippines from Spain for $20M?

We don’t need more historical fiction.  We need facts and intelligent conjecture.  We need to learn from our history — not just from juicy details but from the big picture that reveals the patterns we need to break away from so we can blaze new trails.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

I Dare Say, Now More Than Ever In Our History, Politicians Are Suspects!
People have lost trust in government and government officials.
Honestly, who can blame them?
So here’s a thought: WHAT IF we all just resign and allow a Snap Election.
From The President, Vice President, Senate, and Congress. With One Important Addition – No Incumbent From The Above Can Run For 1 Election Cycle.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano‘s call for a snap election, while unconstitutional and politically fraught, is quite noteworthy in that he “honestly” concedes that they all deserve our distrust — an indirect implicit tacit admission of Guilt.

Of course walang nag-second the motion sa mga pinaparinggan niyang opisyales. Because why nga naman should they resign, lalo na yung mga newly-elected, and what about the truly innocent (if when where) any?

As for the guilty, why nga naman would they admit Guilt, when the Law says “innocent until proven guilty”, and experts as they apparently are at corruption, they were are uber careful not to leave behind any signatures or footprints, literal or digital, that would tie them to the crime in any way. No receipts signed, no photos/video showing them personally in the act of receiving bags and bags of cash, because, you know, they have trusted staff for that, who know exactly what to do, as does everyone positioned and greased along the bureaucratic hierarchy of corruption, all the way up to the “proponent” | sponsor | “funder” ng project who-must-not-be-named, who secretly gets anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of those funds, who is are the Most Guilty for not caring about the substandard and the ghost, which means not caring about the well-being of the people they’re supposed to be serving, whose taxes and loans they steal from in the millions, billions, trillions of pesos. Cunning and unscrupulous and greedy, yes. But innocent? In what world?

Believe it or not, the legal maxim “innocent until proven guilty” is based on the long-impugned premise that humans are inherently good, therefore one accused of wrongdoing is more likely innocent and less likely guilty, and so it is the burden of the accuser to prove the guilt of the accused. Pero hindi ba kabaligtaran iyan ng Catholic premise of “original sin” na ating kinagisnan kinlakhan pinaniniwalaan, the basic premise being that humans are inherently evil, as demonstrated by Adam and Eve when they ate of the “forbidden fruit”, which is why mayroong Baptism, Confession, and Communion, even Extreme Unction, ang simbahan as cleansing sacraments?

Whether humans are born good or evil has been debated by philosophers for centuries. Aristotle argued that morality is learned, and that we’re born as “amoral creatures” while Sigmund Freud considered new-borns a moral blank slate. Anyone who has read “Lord of the Flies” will expect children to be fully-fledged sociopaths just waiting to be freed from their adult-imposed shackles to (spoiler alert) start a cult and brutally attempt to kill each other.

Maybe the two most famous opposing views on this debate are those of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Hobbes describes humans as ‘nasty’ and ‘brutish’, needing society and rules to reign in their instincts in order to thrive; later Rousseau openly criticised him, arguing instead that man would be gentle and pure without the corruption of greed and inequality caused by the class system imposed by our society. https://www.bbcearth.com/

In this light, and given the incontrovertible Evidence : of miserable killer floods that we are all witness to, and victims of, the ruling elite of senators and congressmen so far named cannot blame us for judging them as Hobbes would, i.e., Guilty Until Proven Innocent,

Thanks to Senator Ping Lacson‘s investigations and Blue Ribbon Committee hearings, the systemic corruption in government ay pinatunayan ng isang Usec at dalawang engineer ng DPWH at ng mag-asawang contractor — corruption that goes all the way up to the proponent senators and congress reps, na halos mangalahati ang kabig na kickback o komisyon sa bawat proyekto, kung kaya’t kinakapos ang pondo, kung kaya’t mumurahin at kulang-kulang ang materyales na ginagamit, at di matibay o maayos ang disenyo, kaya’t lalo pang grumabe ang problema: konting ulan, lubog agad!

These are eye-opening consciousness-raising times when the Law is not held in high esteem, not when there are ways around it for the rich and powerful in Congress and everywhere else in government. These are mind-boggling times, an occasion to change mindset, from innocent-until-proven-guilty to Guilty Until Proven Innocent.

Let the burden be on the accused senators and congressmen — first come first served — to prove that they’re innocent, and if they cannot, likely because their SALNs and bank accounts and maybe new whistleblowers say otherwise, then ipagkukulong sila. No ifs or buts, no house or hospital arrests, No Mercy.

I’m not saying the buck stops with the Senate Prez and the Speaker, but I’m giving whistleblower PBBM the benefit of the doubt vis a vis flood-control corruption. Besides, he has immunity from suit while he is president. But here’s hoping he submits to the people’s clamor that some of the ICI hearings be livestreamed.

PROF. ANTONIO CONTRERAS: The ICI must avoid ,,, extremes: the opacity that breeds suspicion and the spectacle that breeds distortion. A hybrid model offers the best path forward. Under this approach, the committee would conduct closed-door technical sessions to examine sensitive documents, hear confidential testimonies, and cross-check data free from external pressure. These sessions would prioritize accuracy, witness protection, and legal integrity. Once the committee has verified facts and established findings, it should then hold public hearings focused on questioning top officials, presenting major evidence, and explaining conclusions in plain language. These open sessions would allow the public to witness justice in action without jeopardizing the investigation’s integrity. https://www.manilatimes.net/

Above all, we want to see heads roll.

JAKE MADERAZO: The scandal does not end with DPWH officials and contractors. The accusations leveled by  (Roberto) Bernardo, (Henry) Alcantara and (Brice) Hernandez against Senators Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada, Chiz Escudero, former House Appropriations Chair Zaldy Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez must be held to the same standard.

The Filipino people are tired of watching the powerful walk free after orchestrating grand heists against the nation. The law must be enforced without fear or favor. There can be no bail, no backdoor deals, no escapes through technicalities. Those implicated—whether DPWH officials, bagmen, contractors, or lawmakers—must be prosecuted to the fullest extent and  jailed during the trial without bail. https://opinion.inquirer.net/

Guilty until proven innocent! Whistleblowers welcome!