Impressions from a brochure July 27, 2006

THE demonstrators fought off rain, the hostile presence of riot cops and the smug indifference of the cows, also called Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's allies, being fattened inside the Batasan complex of the House of Representatives. I sympathized with them mightily not merely because I shared their sentiments and cause, but also because I too had to fight off something heroically. I had to fight off sleep.

The only reason I couldn't do something else was that I had committed to comment on Arroyo's speech on ABC-5 television. That wasn't a speech, that was a brochure. A brochure such as you may find in the Department of Tourism, with its idyllic and completely hyperbolic description of the lay of the land. The brochure is more interesting. It keeps you awake.

I seriously wondered if Arroyo hadn't discovered a new offensive strategy, which was to bore people to death. That is by no means completely facetious or metaphorical. I took a lot of coffee to keep myself from falling into Morpheus' embrace and frayed my nerves that night.
At the end of my mighty struggle, I came away with several impressions. A coherent response was not what that brochure provoked.

My first impression was hearing all over again the "Hello, Garci" tape. That was so not just because it was the same unique DNA-imprinted voice being conscripted for pretty much the same reason, which was to put the wool over the public's eyes. It was also because the speaker showed the same passion for micro-management. It answers the question of why she personally called up then-election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano with a persistence that tried the patience of Garci himself, rather than had a minion do it for her, thus giving her space for deniability. She just had to sink to that level.

My second impression while looking at the reporters and announcers at the Batasan being besieged by wind and rain, their hair tousled furiously this way and that, was that God was making a comment on the proceedings. I remembered that shortly before that, Arroyo had just repeated her favorite line, which was that God put her there. The real God, who is not Garci, must have heard, and decided to send a storm at least, if not athunderbolt, in her direction. The caption that rose in my mind at the scene at the Batasan was: "A lot of wind."

My third impression was that Arroyo's intro in her State of the Nation Address (Sona) showed exactly what was wrong with it. The Sona would later turn out to be a division of spoils, or a sharing of loot with her favorite allies under the guise of breaking the stranglehold of "imperial Manila." Or at least it was a promise of a division of spoils or sharing of loot. I don't know if the congressmen or congresswomen bit into it hook, line and sinker, but they seemed to be a gullible lot. The collective IQ of most of the people there could not have exceeded the speaker's weight. As newly elected Senate President Manuel Villar would say later on, they seemed ready to applaud anything. The image that leaped to mind was a live comedy show where the props-people intermittently and frequently raised signs before the audience that said, "Laughter" and "Applause."

But as I was saying, Arroyo began her speech by talking (all too briefly) about the plight of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon. It reminded me of Fr. Agustin Advincula's plaintive cry about where the OFW billions have gone. You have P7.6 billion in cash reserves of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and you have P100 billion in savings, and you can spare only P150 million to evacuate an entire horde of Filipinos trapped in a war-torn country? And give the rest-or at least promise to do so -- to loyal lieutenants. Punish the "modern heroes" and reward the modern heels? Story of this nation's life.

My fourth impression was that, then as now, Arroyo has a habit of crediting herself for all the good that happens in this country and exculpating herself from all the bad in it. At one point, she even took credit for Jollibee Foods Corp. putting up a place in the southernprovince of Basilan. But what did she say when it came to the killings? "I condemn the political killings in the strongest terms." And she went on to cajole the witnesses to come out and testify.

That is not unlike saying, "I condemn crime in the strongest terms." But, madam, it is precisely the task of government to stop crime and extra-judicial killings. It is precisely the task of government to create the climate that stops crime and extra-judicial killings. When they happen, and to the extent they do today, government is to blame as surelyas the direct authors of these crimes themselves. You are to blame as surely as if you pulled the trigger yourself. The inability to stop these things by itself voids your claim to existence. What are you saying -- these things are the fault of the witnesses who do not come out to damn them? Government is excused if they never do so?

Acsa Ramirez came out to tell what she knew, and look what you did to her. Francisco Gudani and Alexander Balutan came out to tell what they knew, and look what you did to them.

My fifth impression was déjà vu. Arroyo ended her speech by saying: "After three years, 11 months, and six days, I shall relinquish the presidency, with much if not all that I have outlined completed." Three years, six months, and 24 days before, that was nearly exactly what she said too: "If we achieve these, my successor as president will be in a good position to lead the Philippines through the next decisive steps for the strong and modern society." She said that in her (in)famous speech about not running again and instead leaving her successor a nice legacy. She never had a successor. She ran again and stole the elections.

Ask yourself seriously: Will she really relinquish her position in 2010? Indeed, will she ever do?

That brings me to my last, and lasting, impression. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=11930

Pack up and go July 26, 2006

IT WAS a plaintive cry from the bowels of a desperate land and the pit of a desperate heart. "Where have all the OFWs' [overseas Filipino workers'] billions in remittances gone?" That was the cry that issued from the mouth of Fr. Agustin Advincula, who runs the Church of the Miraculous Medal in Beirut, where thousands of tired, frightened and desperate Filipino domestic helpers in Lebanon have sought shelter from Israeli bombs.

It struck a painful contrast, the way other countries were sending ships and other modes of (quick) transport to pluck their nationals out of harm's way and the way the Philippine government was telling its overseas workers to "hitch a ride" to save themselves. The image that flashed in my mind with that advice was the kind of public transport in our provinces in the south, called "habal-habal," that ferries as many as a dozen people.The contraption is just a motorcycle that has a couple of wooden boards strapped behind the driver where passengers sit on both sides, balancing themselves. Sometimes it takes in more than a dozen passengers, the desperate finding miniscule spaces left in the thing to plant foot or toe on to it. It's the perfect image of the Filipino's plight, the balancingact he has to do to survive. Unfortunately there are no habal-habal in Lebanon.

Later the person-occupying-Malacañang-who-likes-to-call-herself-president would tell the OFWs to "just pack up and go." Nobody seems to have told her that unlike the folk at the foot of Mayon Volcano, no one is waiting to see if a bomb would fall nearby before they leave. Certainly, no one is waiting for their employers to give them their wages first before they leave; many have been abandoned by their employers right at their doorstep, "bahala ka na sa buhay mo" -- each (wo)man to (her)himself. All of them would like nothing better than to go, never mind pack up.

Question is: How?

Which brings us back to Father Advincula's plaintive and thundering question: Where have all the OFW millions gone? Advincula wasn't being accusatory when he asked that, as the reports clarified, but his question itself remains a finger pointing at the crooks in furious indictment.

There are many answers to that question, but one of them is the transfer of funds of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) to the government's PhilHealth Insurance Corp. some years ago. The mandate of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, as its name suggests, is to give welfare assistance to OFWs and their families. But on Nov. 24, 2002, PhilHealth president Francisco Duque proposed another use for its funds. He wrote a memo to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo saying that the diversion of Owwa Medicare funds to PhilHealth would bear significantly on the 2004 elections. Arroyo believed him and issued Executive Order 182, transferring the Medicare Funds of the Medical Functions of Owwa amounting to P530,382,446 to PhilHealth.

The transfer was approved by the labor department, with the exception of Corazon P. Carsola, whom the OFWs may truly thank even if she fought for a lost cause. She refused to sign, objecting to the use of medical funds badly needed by the OFWs for patent electoral purposes. The very design of the new PhilHealth card proclaimed it to be so: It metamorphosed from a simple one bearing the picture of the beneficiary to one showing Arroyo cradling an infant. The infant was not its beneficiary.

Subsequently, Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas declared that OFWs who had incurred medical expenses would no longer be reimbursed by Owwa.

The ironic note here is that Arroyo did not win even with that ploy. She still needed to call up Garci no less than 15 times to do so -- if one may call the result winning.

Where did the OFW millions go? That was one of its destinations. The others, well, as Franklin Drilon, a former labor secretary, points out, the Owwa has cash reserves amounting to a mind-boggling P7.6 billion. Why Arroyo should choose to allocate only P150 million to rescue the Filipinos in Lebanon from dire straits, only she can say. It is so much less than the amount she took from the Owwa, funds meant to keep OFWs alive and healthy, just so she could remain politically alive, never mind healthy, or indeed just so she could rescue herself from her desperate plight. Which didn't work anyway; she still needed the sea-unworthy vessel MV Garci to get her out of her Hezbollah.

The nationals of other countries who were promptly evacuated by their governments were not the lifeblood of their country. They were people whose jobs, bureaucratic or civilian, had simply brought them there. Yet, if you saw the footage in BBC and CNN, there they were at the docks, filing out without hurry, children and elderly in tow, some with pretty heavy luggage, climbing up the stairs in waiting ships. This was no Dunkirk. Their governments were giving them this service for no other reason than that they were citizens, their governments owed it to them for being so.
By contrast, the Filipinos who could not be evacuated by their government,who were being told to hitch a ride by the Department of Foreign Affairs and just pack up and go by the person-occupying-Malacañang-who-likes-to-call-herself-president were the lifeblood of their country. They were the maids, drivers and canal diggers whose blood, sweat and tears were keeping their country alive and its crooks fat. Their government was scrimping on them for a reason other than that they were cannon fodder. There were more of them back home eager to brave war, famine and natural and human disasters for a crack at living. A crack at living by dying, the ultimate balancing act.

Just pack up and go? It's very good advice, but wrong adviser and wrong advisee. Arroyo shouldn't be telling that to the Filipinos in Lebanon. The Filipinos in Lebanon should be telling that to her.

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=11742

Thank God for Bishop Tobias July 25, 2006

YOU just have to stand up and applaud. Where the other people being implicated by the coup plot have denied the charges against them, Bishop Antonio Tobias has gone right out and freely admitted he gave aid and comfort to Lt. Lawrence San Juan. Why shouldn't he? At the time he did, San Juan was still a very idealistic young man who wanted to change the world. Or at least who wanted to change his country by way of putting an end to an illegitimate government. Bishop Tobias did say with absolute candor when he admitted his "crime" that it was Church practice to give sanctuary to those who sought it, a practice that dated back to when the enemies of the governors-general would seek refuge in churches during Spanish times. Even the governors-general balked at the thought of violating the sanctity of churches and left well enough alone. Certainly, the last thing they did was punish the sanctuary-givers, even if they seethed at the thought and contemplated all sorts of ways, not least more taxes, by which they might get back at the priests. Subsequently, Bishop Tobias (some prelates truly deserve to have that sublimely lofty title permanently affixed before their names) has refused to justify his deed. And rightly so: Why should he justify it before someone like Raul Gonzalez who needs to justify his existence, personal as much as official, before God and man to begin with? Unlike Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Bishop Tobias did not say, "God has put me here." He is not that presumptuous. He has merely said: "I will not put up any defense. Let the country be my judge." Unlike Arroyo, Bishop Tobias knows that in a democracy at least it is easy to hear the voice of God. The principle is not, "vox Dei, vox Garci," or "the voice of God is the voice of Virgilio Garcillano," it is "vox populi, vox Dei," or "the voice of the people is the voice of God." I was tempted in light of this to have a T-shirt made with the words, "I . am . guilty" printed on it, the serial dots meant to recall the monotonic "I . am . sorry," in order to admit equally freely that I am as guilty as Bishop Tobias of the "crime" in thought if not in deed. And to cajole the rest of the world to wear the same T-shirt to express the judgment they have rendered upon the good bishop. Well, maybe somebody who has the time can do it. But, yes, I am guilty of the "crime" too. I have never bothered to hide the fact that I most earnestly want the present illegitimate government, or more accurately the current coup regime, ended. My own preference is through people power and/or civil disobedience, but I do not mind other means on the (all-important) proviso that what ensues afterward is snap election and not any government or council, permanent or transitional. I have no wish to help end an unelected authority only to put up another one. The only solution to an unelected government is an elected one. Had San Juan sought shelter in my 72-square-meter tenement housing in the Pagasa area of Quezon City (grandly called "condominium" by the National Housing Authority, probably with much ironic glee), I'd have gladly given it to him. Our two bedrooms might not hold enough space for him, but he would have been welcome to the sofa in the sala, its wear and tear amply hidden by a thick cotton cloth, in the company of excellent CDs, excellent DVDs, and even more excellent books. The offer remains good for other "coup plotters." Which brings me to the one thing that is totally outrageous in all this. Frankly, I would like for Gonzalez to summon me to shed light on anything, including his ignorance, because I would like to say to him that unless he and his cohorts can produce anyone of the patent lowlife the Senate has been summoning to shed light on brazen wrongdoing in this country, I see no reason why I should. Frankly, I cannot understand why the people being summoned by the civilian and military authorities to shed light on the Danilo Lim's withdrawal of support shouldn't just say that in lieu of agreeing to it. To this day, despite the Supreme Court's finding Executive Order 464 illegal, the government refuses to allow witnesses, both unwilling and willing, to materialize before the Senate to testify to humongous perfidy. The excuse of the unwilling is that they are busy doing important government work. Like what -- lying, cheating and stealing some more? I don't know why the people being summoned by the justice department and the National Bureau of Investigation shouldn't just say they have better things to do than humor the ill-humored. Or that they are busy plotting some more. More than that, Gonzalez is threatening Bishop Tobias with jail for giving succor and sanctuary to lawbreakers? My dear man, wasn't that what you, the whole of Malacañang and the whole of the Department of Foreign Affairs, just did to Garci and that joke, Joc-joc Bolante? Aid and abet fugitives from justice? No, more than that, appropriate, employ and devote the entire resources of government to hide criminals from justice. Just look at their faces, man, and see if "mandurugas" [cheater] isn't written on their foreheads. If Bolante's arrest by US immigration authorities hadn't been leaked to media, it would have remained unknown to the public. The only thing we may be thankful about in his case is that he at least cannot say that he was never hiding abroad, he was here all the time, it's not his fault if no one could see him. Though the way things are, I don't know that even that is guaranteed. Bolante can always say, it wasn't him that was arrested in the US, it was the impressionist Willie Nep. He was here all the while -- Garci can testify to it, they were together. There was one thing Gonzalez told Bishop Tobias that went past being execrable to being execrably funny. "No one," he warned, "is above the law." If only he would grasp the concept. http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=11535

Straight from the horse’s mouth July 24, 2006

TODAY, GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) WILL SAY MANY things and promise many things in her State of the Nation Address. In the past, she said many things and promised many things in seminal speeches and statements. These include:

* * *

“I believe that we can create a strong and modern Philippine Republic, but it will take personal sacrifice from each one of us.

“As we honor Jose Rizal today, it is fitting that I ask each Filipino to also sacrifice for our country. Our country needs our help.

“In recent years, our fundamental weaknesses have been revealed in ways that are worrisome to broad sectors of our citizenry.

“In the economy, ever since the Asian crisis in 1997, our public revenues have been steadily declining in relation to the size of our economy. This has led to persistent budget deficit.

“In society, we have become a nation deeply divided, symbolized by the polarity between Edsa II and the May 1 siege barely three months after Edsa II.

“And in governance, there is now too much politics hampering good, productive governance.

“The convergence of the national stresses such as these has led to the sense of gloom that many of our citizens now talk of. There is a feeling of too much negativism and conflict in our society.

“In the coming weeks, we will be launching a series of powerful, positive actions that will improve the life of our people.

“Major announcements will be made in January.

“However, we also know that we will soon enter the political period leading up to the elections in 2004. My reading on the political winds tells me that the 2004 election may well go down in history as among our most bitterly contested elections ever. This is because of the deep social and political division that we now have.

“If this is true, then sincere efforts to launch programs will run the risk of being derailed by political fighting leading up to the elections.

“The government in place after 2004 may merely end up inheriting a country as deeply divided as ever. Consequently, we may end up stalling national growth for a few years more as a result of lost momentum.

“In view of all these factors, I have decided not to run for President during the election of 2004.

“If I were to run, it will require a major political effort on my part. But since I’m among the principal figures in the divisive national events for the last two or three years, my political efforts can only result in never-ending divisiveness.

“On the other hand, relieved of the burden of politics, I can devote the last year and half of my administration to the following:

“First, strengthening economy; to create more jobs and to encourage business activities that is unhampered by corruption and red tape in government.

“Second, healing the deep divisions within our society.

“Third, working for clean and honest elections in 2004.

“If we achieve these, my successor as president will be in a good position to lead the Philippines through the next decisive steps for the strong and modern society. United, we can see this dream come true within our lifetime.

“Thus, I appeal to each Filipino to help in this endeavor. Following the example of Jose Rizal, let us think of country and not just of self.” (December 2002)

* * *

GMA: “So will I still lead by 1 million overall?”

Garci: “Pipilitin ho natin ’yan.” (“We will do everything to make it so.”)

(“Hello Garci” tape, May-June 2004. GMA made no less than 15 calls to Garci for several weeks after the elections. As a result, she got a lead of more than half a million in Muslim Mindanao, universally regarded as FPJ’s bailiwick.)

* * *

“I was anxious to protect my votes and during that time had conversations with many people, including a Comelec official. My intent was not to influence the outcome of the election, and it did not. As I mentioned, the election has already been decided and the votes counted. And as you remember, the outcome had been predicted by every major public opinion poll, and adjudged free, fair and decisive by international election observers, and our own Namfrel.

“That said, let me tell you how I personally feel. I recognize that making any such call was a lapse in judgment. I am sorry. I also regret taking so long to speak before you on this matter. I take full responsibility for my actions and to you and to all those good citizens who may have had their faith shaken by these events, I want to assure you that I have redoubled my efforts to serve the nation and earn your trust.” (July 2005).

* * *

“President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is willing to face any impeachment complaint in order to quell the political turmoil in the country, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said on Tuesday.

“Bunye said even if they perceive the impeachment complaint as a complete waste of the ‘people’s time’ the President would be more than willing to face the charge as Malacañang sees no other way to end the ‘political grandstanding and mudslinging.’

“‘The President did not violate the Constitution. But if this move is the only way to put a stop to the prevailing political grandstanding and mudslinging, then we welcome (it).’” (news report, July 2005)

* * *

Today, GMA will say many things and promise many things in her State of the Nation Address. Question is: Do you still believe her?

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=11359

Under the volcano July 20, 2006

QUITE uncannily, the front page of the Inquirer last Tuesday told a story that went well beyond the individual stories contained there. Taken together, those stories gave the nation to see the true state of the nation, complete with a most graphic and startling image. That image may be captioned: "Under the volcano."

The volcano in this case is both literal and metaphorical. The literal volcano that is all set to explode is Mayon. It's been smoking this past week, regaling or intimidating the mortals below with its deadly fireworks. Folk there recall that the last time Mayon blew its top, which was in 1993, it devastated the land, killing people and livestock andburying crops in rock and dust.

Still, they persist in staying there now despite pleas for them to evacuate. Why is that? Well, I remember that when the Ultra tragedy happened, several interviewers asked me where I thought the Filipinos' passion for gambling came from. From many things, I said, but chief of them from desperation. It's not just our money we gamble with, it's ourlives. Look at the folk living at the foot of volcanoes, like Mayon. They are making the high-stakes bet that somehow when the volcano gets fretful it will eventually calm down or spare them when it blows. What else is there? They do not leave and the volcano explodes, they die, by hellfire. They go and the volcano explodes, they die anyway, from hunger.

That is how the poor, who are most Filipinos, live today.

The figurative volcano is the one everyone was talking about before some of you were born, which was before martial law. That is the "social volcano." Everyone warned then that it was all set to explode, the magma in it being violently roiled by two things. One was the "spectaculardivide between rich and poor," which daily became even more spectacular. Two, was oppression and injustice in the form of abusive landlords and employers, deaf judges and a corrupt government.

Those things don't just remain today, they've gotten spectacularly worse. Today, the oppression and injustice are supplied in concentrated and venomous form by the person who is about to apprise the nation of the state of the nation. The injustice has to do with that person having deprived the real winner of the last elections, Fernando Poe Jr., hisrightful seat in Malacañang. And the oppression has to do with the efforts to stifle the truth, which has taken a murderous turn in past months.

Our front-page story last Tuesday about that not very funny joke, Joc-joc Bolante, reminds us that the burning issue in the country today remains Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's legitimacy and her frenetic efforts to douse the fire by preventing every witness to the lie, ally or enemy, from blurting out what he knows. And our story about the investigation of the people behind Danny Lim's "coup" shows how the injustice is being corrected and the oppression resisted. If Lim's action was a coup at all, then it was,or would have been, the most popular coup in the world. Unlike past coup attempts, it wasn't one that expected to meet public consternation, it was one that expected to meet universal jubilation.

The spectacular divide between rich and poor was right there in our story about the plight of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon, apart from our story about the folk at the foot of Mayon. Before martial law, everyone was saying that a situation not unlike France before 1789, where a Marie Antoinette could afford to throw cake to the hungry, could never hold. It was ripe for revolution. The social volcano was far too advancedin its fury, it was going to explode.

It did in part, but not in whole. Two things held it back. One was the petrodollars, the Ali Baba treasure the Opec countries dumped into the Western banks, which the banks in turn dumped into the hands of Third World tyrants, including Marcos. By mortgaging the future through loans, Marcos managed to calm down restiveness throughout the 1970s. His doom came when the petrodollars stopped flowing into the banks and the banksstarted collecting. He suddenly saw he was in worse shape than Faust: Banks are more implacable collectors on debts than Beelzebub.

The second was overseas work. That would prove to be the longer-lasting safety valve, one that has not only lasted till today but has become the country's very source of salvation. It's no longer just the safety valve, it's the engine itself. I remember someone asking me once in a forum abroad, "What's your country's main export?" I answered, "People." He laughed, thinking I was joking. I kept a straight face.

But as our story about the plight of our OFWS in Lebanon shows, that safety valve, or engine, has a steep price to pay. The source of salvation is also the source of perdition -- for the saviors more than the saved. It is paid for by alienation, rape, death by bomb or bullet abroad and broken families at home. Indeed, as the case of Lebanon shows, there are limits to how far we can send our whole population to find glory abroad while fleeing Gloria at home. The global labor market is contracting, not expanding, while the competition is expanding, not contracting. We may have no limits to how far we are willing to turn from doctor to nurse, from engineer to canal-dredgers (don't you just wish our lawyers and politicians would do the patriotic thing and turn into drivers and forklift operators in Saudi?) but other countries have limits to how much of them they want. The Arab countries may also recall that not too long ago the head of this country was egging other countries to follow America and invade Iraq. Muammar Qaddafi might forget, but the Iraqis and Iranians won't.

There's the true plight of the Filipino, there's the true state of hisnation:
Under the volcano.

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=10712