Human and right August 16, 2006

LAST week, the notorious Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan was asked by the media if he had not in fact personally declared martial law in the Nueva Ecija-Bulacan corridor of Luzon. The reason for the question was that his soldiers were accosting folk in the streets and making house-to-house searches looking for NPA rebels. The beleaguered folk were being asked to account for themselves in the form of IDs, "cedulas" [community taxcertificates] and other means of identification. This sent them scrambling to city hall to get cedulas, causing the forms to run out.

In reply to the question, Palparan raised his voice and said heatedly: "Why martial law? Aren't people supposed to carry IDs with them?"

That's the quality of mind of the person Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has tasked to keep people free and safe from their enemies.

Last I looked, in a democracy people were still presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. Of course, people are supposed to carry IDs with them. That is so they can go about their daily transactions and not so they can satisfy the curiosity of cops and soldiers who may accost them at will. Last I looked, in a democracy cops and soldiers may not stop anyone without probable cause and they may not enter houses without a search warrant. Last I looked, in a democracy the equation was not unless people can show proof they are who they say they are, they must be New People's Army rebels. The equation was, unless the authorities can show proof people are not who they say they are, they must be honest citizens.

It's in a dictatorship, or tyranny or martial law -- three words for the same thing -- where people are presumed guilty until proven innocent. That is what we now have in concentrated form in Nueva Ecija-Bulacan and in more diluted form in the rest of the country. That is a recipe for a bloodbath. And a bloodbath is what we've been having of late.

You want a more reasonable presumption, try this: Palparan is a mindless thug and a vicious cutthroat unless he can prove himself otherwise.

This was shortly before the London authorities uncovered a plot by terrorists to bomb airplanes going to the United States. Since then, the United States and Britain have gone on a new wave of terrorist alert, which almost inevitably has been picked up by this government. Which threatens to do to the rest of the country what Palparan is already doing to parts of Luzon.

I am glad that Sen. Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. opposes the new terror bills that Arroyo's hatchet men have promptly laid on the floor of Congress, saying he will not support any terror bill unless today's killings stop. That is the only position any Filipino in his right mind can have. This government's qualification to fight terror is nowhere inevidence. It is not merely that it is incompetent to fight terror, it is that it is directly and obdurately responsible for the terror that grips the land today. Or never mind that abstraction, it is responsible for Palparan. That is terrorism pure and simple.

There is a very real cause for alarm. I saw Benjamin Defensor on TV last weekend, and the things he was saying made my flesh crawl. We have to follow America's lead and take the fight against terrorism very, very seriously, he said, because terrorism is a global threat. One of the things we have to do in that light, he said, is to reexamine our conceptof human rights because we have a "parochial view" of it.

At the very least, Defensor seems to have forgotten that one of the most respected institutions in his favorite country, The New York Times, no longer considers his favorite boss, Arroyo, an ally in the fight against terror. It considers his favorite boss a liability, if not an enemy, in the fight against terror. Her drift toward dictatorship, following in thefootsteps of Ferdinand Marcos, it said in a March issue, was not dissuading terror, it was abetting terror.

Pray, what is so parochial about not being stopped on a road or not having soldiers barge into your house in the middle of the night for no other reason than routine inspection? What is so parochial about not being jailed, tortured or killed for no other reason than that you cannot produce a cedula? What is so parochial about having the right to assemble, to speak freely, or just plain be able to live and breathe unless you've committed a crime?

It's time we stopped that idiocy about curtailing human rights – or indeed deeming human rights an enemy -- each time we talk of fighting terror. Human rights are not an impediment to fighting terror, they are a weapon in fighting terror. No, they are the only way to fight terror. Dictatorial, tyrannical and fascistic ways do not douse terror, theyinflame terror. They are the best assurance terror will not go away but riot like the mind of Palparan.

It's plain common sense. The only way you can effectively fight terror is to have the people with you. The military cannot stop terror, only the people can. It is a people working collectively, determinedly and enthusiastically to thwart terror at every turn that can stop terror. You cannot get a people working collectively, determinedly and enthusiastically to thwart terror if you deem them terrorists until they can prove themselves not to be so. You can only get them working commonly, resolutely and angrily to stop you.

Human rights, a democratic order, the sweet air of freedom -- three ways of saying the same thing -- are the only reason people can have to want to fight terror. You offer as reason for fighting a threat something far worse than the threat itself, and people will prefer the threat itself. You offer as reason for fighting the New People's Army the kind of world Palparan and Arroyo represent, the people will embrace the NPA like a long-lost child.

That's why they call them human rights. They are human and they are right.

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=15469

Logic 101 August 15, 2006

EXECUTIVE Secretary Eduardo Ermita says the computerization of election canvassing will make the counting of votes in the 2007 elections faster and cleaner. It won't eliminate cheating entirely, he said, but "I'm sure it will be minimized -- the integrity of the elections will be recognized." Toward this end, he said, Malacañang is aggressively pushing for the use of Mega Pacific Consortium's counting machines. "We wish these things could be used because it is one of the wishes of the President."

What is wrong with that statement? Two things.

One is, why on earth would anyone, much less the presumptive president, even think of using the machines and/or services of Mega Pacific? If it hadn't been for Mega Pacific, whose winning bid was voided by the Supreme Court after it found it to have had no legal qualification to bid, and for the members of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) who to a man and woman awarded the prize to Mega Pacific though they probably knew it had no qualification to bid, the last elections would already have been computerized. Neither Mega Pacific nor any of the commissioners (the "probably" before "knew" is to allow that some of the commissioners made an honest mistake) has been punished for that heinous crime, which resulted in the restoration of the old, laborious and cheater-friendly ballot-box system and the continuation of rule of an unelected president.

It's bad enough that a culprit isn't punished. Do we have to reward him, too? But I can understand why that would be "one of the wishes of the President." She knows what it means to be a culprit and be rewarded.

Two, I agree wholeheartedly with Ermita's contention that computerization will make elections cleaner and faster. Yes, even in this country whose people seem to have a talent for getting around anything. Delay is an engraved invitation to cheating. The longer counting takes, the more likely it can be tampered with. Indeed, the more likely administration candidates can call up Garci or his equivalent and demand that they win by a million votes. I've been pushing for computerization from the start, having observed elections in other countries, where the winners are known within hours after the polling places close. That only highlights again the gravity of the crime the election commissioners and Mega Pacific committed, for which they have not been punished.

But there is one thing more than computerization that will guarantee clean and honest elections in 2007. That is for us to have clean elections in 2004. Or since that is no longer possible, for us to correct the dirty and dishonest elections of 2004. Frankly, I don't know why we're even talking about how to make the 2007 elections clean when we're still laboring under the weight of elections that were not. We don't correct the 2004 elections, we won't have clean elections in 2007. We don't correct the 2004 elections, we will never have clean elections even after 2007.

What's to prevent administration candidates from using government funds to campaign, talking to Comelec officials, and tinkering with the counting machines (most of them can't be cracked from the outside, only from the inside) so that they can win by a million votes or -- greed having no limits -- more? History shows all you have to do is say you made a lapse in judgment and apologize. And go on as your punishment to seize the position and silence activists and protesters, preferably permanently.

We don't correct the 2004 elections, we can forget about elections. They won't mean a thing. The purpose of elections is for us to have the leaders we elect. We don't get them anyway, let's trash the trash. We have no lack of less expensive and more amusing forms of entertainment. "Philippine Idol" is one of them. The winners there win honestly.

That's the reason I've been calling for "snap elections" since the "Hello, Garci" tape came out. It's the only way to correct the 2004 elections. It's the only way to restore faith in elections. There are two ways to go about it: You can either call for snap elections before the 2007 elections, or if that's too expensive, include the position of president in the 2007 elections. Otherwise we'll just have the kind of elections Ferdinand Marcos trotted out during martial law, the zarzuelas (my profoundest apologies to the zarzuelistas who produced grand music in their works) that nobody took seriously. For good reason: They were being held under the auspices of an illegitimate leader who was murdering people across the country with help from thugs in military uniform to prop up illegitimate rule.

I'm almost tempted to mount a signature campaign in this respect, if nobody else will. I have no doubt I can get more signatures in one week than the proponents of Cha-cha have gotten in one year. There is no clamor to change a perfectly genuine Charter, there is a clamor to change a perfectly fake president. Never mind the survey figures that show the majority of Filipinos believe the wrong president is living in Malacañang, mind only the survey figures that show the majority of Filipinos no longer find hope in this country and want to live elsewhere.

A signature campaign for snap presidential elections on or before 2007 could give them hope.

* * *

Tonight is Bicol Poets Night at Conspiracy and James Taylor Night at '70s Bistro -- whichever is your cup of tea. You can always shuttle to one and the other and get to have your cake and eat it, too, get to have your poets and folk it, too. Those places can do with some help. The whole country is feeling the pinch; everyone I talk to says business is the pits this year. At least last year, they still made some money. This year, nada. A lot of places have already closed. Be patriotic. Do your bit for God and music.

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=15266

State of the nation: Evacuation August 14, 2006

BARELY HAD THE SPIT DRIED ON GMA’S mouth (after she delivered her State of the Nation Address) when several things happened to reveal the true state of the nation. The state of the nation is not the Enchanted Kingdom. The state of the nation is: Evacuation.

Evacuation is what’s happening to the OFWs in Lebanon, for the most part maids, many of whom are back home richer only in experience—of the harrowing kind. They are impoverished otherwise, having managed to scramble to safety only by the skin of their teeth, bringing home only the pasalubong of being alive. My heart went out to that mother who was sobbing over her daughter, her youngest, who was being wheeled out of the airport, the girl’s body broken and bruised after leaping out of a building to escape a master who refused to let her go. The mother was thankful her daughter had at least come home breathing, and kept vowing that, money or no money, she wasn’t ever going to let her go back abroad. I wondered how long her vow would hold.

Evacuation is what’s happening in Albay in the areas around Mayon Volcano. Mayon is threatening to blow its top once more, thick smoke billowing out of its crater of late, the roiling magma underneath pushing upward demanding to be released. Many folk have already packed up their belongings and gone to evacuation centers. Some others refuse to go. As one woman—who was coolly pedaling her sewing machine while all the fuss was going on around her—put it, why should she? They were already used to Mayon threatening to blow. If worst comes to worst, they could always run away. They were confident they could outrun Mayon’s fury. It was the story of their life: outrunning life’s volcanic explosions.

It’s not altogether hard to understand the reticence to go. It’s precious little choice dying instantaneously from molten fire or in slow-motion from losing one’s livelihood. As far as I know, few people in this country really die from being swallowed up by onrushing burning rock. The casualties pile up more from the effects of the volcanic explosions, as in Pampanga, when lahar and mudslides came to quite literally bury the hopes and dreams of thousands of farmers.

I remember that when natural disasters struck in great plenitude during Cory’s time, folk began to whisper, “Malas si Cory.” (Cory is unlucky) Life wasn’t at all that hard at the time—certainly it wasn’t the miserable thing it is today. What can you say now with disasters, natural and man-made, striking this country with even more wanton plenitude? Bwisit si Gloria? (Gloria brings bad luck?)

And evacuation is what’s happening to people of this country itself. To go by Pulse Asia’s latest survey, 3 out of 10 Filipinos now want to evacuate from this country. Or specifically 32 percent, which is close to a third of the population wanting to leave the country. It was 1 out of 5 (19 percent) or close to a fifth of the population only a few years ago. The stated reason for this massive threatened evacuation was not unlike the unending war between Arabs and Jews and the impending explosion of Mayon Volcano. Most Filipinos felt threatened in their own country. They were fleeing for dear life, or wanted to.

Specifically, more than half of Filipinos no longer felt hopeful about their country. The number of Filipinos who still felt hopeful fell from 69 percent in July last year to only 49 percent this year. At the time Pulse Asia took this survey, the newspapers had carried the following headlines: the impeachment cases filed against GMA, including that of a bishop (Deogracias Iñiguez), GMA’s declaration of “all-out war” against the NPA, the abolition of the death penalty, the probable filing of impeachment charges against Comelec commissioners, and the capture of six Magdalo officers.

Clearly, most Filipinos did not find the idea of GMA attempting to crush the communist and military rebellion a source of elation. They found it a source of dismay—or even more reason not to hope.

Misery the GMA government did not invent, but hopelessness it did, and does. The misery has been there for a long, long time. The sense that this country has no future, that the only way out is out, is new. Gaze at the plight of Filipinos today: being evacuated from Lebanon, being evacuated from Mayon, wanting to be evacuated from their own country. And we thought the Jews were the people condemned to wander the earth forever in search of a home!

I don’t know though why more and more of us think the solution to the current hopelessness is to evacuate to foreign, or indeed hostile, shores. The solution in fact is so much simpler, less expensive and longer lasting. That is to remove the source of hopelessness. A people can have no hope when they are being led by someone they never gave their consent to. A country has no hope when it is being turned into a “killing fields” by someone whose crown sits uneasily on her head. A nation has no hope when honesty, justice and decency become crimes and lying, cheating and stealing become presidential virtues. Remove the source of those things and hope will gush from the heart of this land overnight, like oil being struck in the arid deserts of Arabia.

We Filipinos have always prided ourselves on our ability to come together and rise to heroic heights when confronted by a common threat. Our compatriots are threatened with mortar fire in Lebanon and we all come together to do our bit to help them. Our compatriots are threatened with volcanic fire in Albay and we all come together to do our bit for them. We are all threatened by hellfire right where we are, and all we can do is think, each man for himself the devil take the hindmost or last one to catch the boat to America?

Gaze at the state of the nation: Evacuation.

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=15081

Foulness August 10, 2006

EXECUTIVE Secretary Eduardo Ermita exudes confidence. "If they think they want to bring us to court again, we are prepared for them." That was what he said in defiance of the Senate summons for several government officials, chief of them from the labor agencies, to appear before the Senate to explain what they were doing with money of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Al Francis Bichara, the Philippine ambassador to Lebanon, had complained a couple of weeks ago that he was powerless to aid the fleeing overseas Filipino workers because he had no money. Which prompted everyone, including the Senate, to echo the question that rose from the mouth of Fr. Agustin Advincula, the Filipino priest in Beirut: Where have all the OFW billions gone?

So far we have heard about Father Advincula doing everything in his power to get relief goods from the Red Cross and other relief agencies to feed the horde that has flocked at his door. So far we have heard about a Greek tycoon who is so thankful to Filipinos for having helped him build a fortune in shipping he wants to help them any way he can. So far we have heard about the OFWs themselves, mostly women, mostly maids, by dint of luck and daring, escaping from their employers who refused to let them go, climbing down floors and climbing up walls, hiding in ditches and hitching rides till they found their way to safety.

So far, all we've heard from government is that it sent $150,000 to our embassy in Lebanon. And that was four days after Bichara complained that credit was good but he needed cash. Cash might not move mountains, it might not even move hearts, but it moved butts. Which brings us back to the question: Where have all the OFW billions gone?

Ermita exudes reasonability. He had asked the Senate to defer the hearing on the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) fund, he said, because the officials the Senate wanted to question were busy with the relief effort.

Like how? How many people do you need to carry out the relief effort? What can you do in the coffee shops of hotel lobbies in Metro Manila to carry out the relief effort in Lebanon? I'll buy Ermita's proposition if we actually see Labor Secretary Arturo Brion, Owwa Administrator Marianito Roque, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr., Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz and Palace Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor winding through the rubble of Hezbollah looking for OFWs to rescue, while bombs fall all around them and bullets zip by their sides. While at this, I'll buy Ermita's proposition if the entire Cabinet, three-fourths of the House of Representatives and their boss in Malacañang -- the one who did not win the election -- were shipped off to Lebanon toconduct the operations there. They would truly be carrying out a relief effort: they would be giving monumental relief to their countrymen, at home or abroad.

In fact, until Bichara complained of not getting any money, until Father Advincula asked where the OFW billions were, and until the Senate echoed his cry, all we saw of the relief effort being frantically mounted by these same government officials came in the form of the advice: "Go hitch a ride" and "Pack up and go." You'd think the OFWs who stood to be turned into a permanent feature of the wasted land hadn't thought of it.

A Senate hearing, in fact, is the only guarantee government officials would lift their asses to rescue the people whose toil is rescuing their country. A Senate hearing is the only guarantee the money the OFWs raised with their blood, sweat and tears -- they pay a fortune in fees -- will go to them in their hour of need and not to Pidal in his hour of greed.

In the end, Executive Secretary Ermita exudes neither confidence nor reasonability, he merely exudes foulness. At the very least that is so because he owes the OFWs an explanation for where their money went. We do know where part of it went: P530 million of it in Medicare funds meant solely for OFWs went to PhilHealth to campaign for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the last elections. That is so notwithstanding PhilHealth's repeatedclaims they got the checks only after the elections. Francisco Duque's letter to Arroyo saying that the transfer "will bear significantly on 2004 elections," Arroyo's executive order transferring the funds, and the labor department's approval, all done before the elections, supply the motive, opportunity and means for the crime.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Where there is this theft (there is no other word for it), there will be more. Who cares if Owwa officials recite like a mantra that the OFW billions are intact? Intact for whom? It can't come as a comfort to a depositor that his money is in the bank but he can't touch it -- ever. Government officials continue to snub the Senate, and the OFWs may safely assume that their billions have been stolen fromthem. And rage, rage, against the dying of this light.

At the very most, what is Ermita saying? That Bishop Antonio Tobias is not above the law and may be punished for giving refuge to rebels, but Arroyo is and may be rewarded for giving sanctuary to rogues and blackguards? Didn't Arroyo just say in her State of the Nation Address that the witnesses to today's killings should step forward so that she could stop the runaway mayhem, which is the one thing -- and not Charter change -- that's truly runaway in this country? Surely, my dear Madam and Sir, you know that there are witnesses aplenty to some of the most heinous crimes ever committed in this country and that they are hiding behind the curtains of Malacañang or indeed under your beds?

Frankly, I don't know why the citizens, the OFWs at the forefront of them, shouldn't fight back. Malacañang won't account for your money? Then don't pay your fees. I really hope Malacañang would summon me for advocating that. I won't appear.

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=14392