by Gemma Cruz Araneta

In the past days, colleagues in the media reminded
the public about the 109th anniversary of the Malolos
Constitution and the First Republic. The Manila
Bulletin never fails to feature editorials about
historical turning points. The province of Bulacan, no
matter the governor’s political affiliation, always
celebrates with solemnity and pomp the astounding
achievements of those Filipinos who Jose Rizal
described as the “brains of the nation”. This year,
Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim (originally from San
Miguel de Mayumo) was the guest of honor at Barasoain
Church.

A couple of radio commentators, notably Mr.
Ted Failon, did lament that many of their
colleagues were ignoring the 109th birthday of this
republic as they anticipated bloody clashes between
police forces and grassroots groups commemorating
the 1987 Mendiola Massacre (Thirteen farmers were shot
by government forces at Mendiola Bridge). To this
writer, the non-government organizations and
grassroots associations that had painstakingly
planned marches and memorials missed an excellent
opportunity to place their protest in the proper
historical context. Had they connected the 1987
Mendiola Massacre to the 109th birthday of this
country, they could have enlightened us and made us
understand that their struggle is historical and
affects all Filipinos. .

As we all know, the teaching of Philippine
history , even after 109 years, is still a highly
polemical issue. On one hand, colonial mentality
prevails so the teaching of history is a low priority
and official hesitation prevails specially about
delving into the revolutionary period , the invasion
of the USA and the ensuing colonization. On the other
hand, the Left, which is supposed to be the purveyor
of change, seems to have disengaged itself from the
very march of Philippine history by quickly
dismissing anything they consider “bourgeois”
(burgis). The National Democratic Front has its own
flag design. In my opinion, instead of rewriting
history and/ or suppressing it, in lieu of denigrating
the the Malolos Constitution and the First Republic or
pretending that these never existed, an effort should
be made to connect our current peasant problems to
the non-fulfillment of the Articulo Adicional of
the Malolos Constitution—the forgotten legacy. .

Even before the Mendiola Massacre, many Filipino
peasants and agricultural workers had already shed
their blood because of the land issue. While the
“brains of the nation” were deliberating on the
Malolos Constitution and inaugurating Asia’s first
democratic government, peasant farmer groups were
already clamoring for land as the birth of a free
nation had awakened great expectations. The delegates
of the Malolos Congress did not forget that and proof
is the last article of the Malolos Constitution, the
unnumbered ‘adicional’, which declared that friar
lands and estates that were “taken from the people”
had reverted to the nation since the 12 June 1898
declaration of Independence.

Peasant groups marched to Malolos because they
felt the new government was not moving fast enough to
distribute those lands. Moreover, corruption was
already rearing its ugly head; historical records show
that peasant groups were accusing some generals of
the Revolutionary Army of appropriating large tracts
of land for their personal use. Apolinario Mabini,
chief adviser of Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo wrote
numerous memos telling him to punish those officers.
After the Philippine-American War, the American
colonial government had other plans for the
distribution of the friar estates, the rest is bitter
history. (gemma@601@yahoo.com)

by Gemma Cruz Araneta

Some years ago, Assistant Secretary Jake Ortega, then Air Transport Office (ATO) chief
restored my faith in humanity and, to a certain extent, in the bureaucracy. For that reason, I was
perplexed when the current ATO head seemed lost when he was heaped with insults and blame after the US
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suddenly announced that the Philippines had been demoted from
fourth to fifth in safety standards.

One fine Saturday, shortly after I was appointed Secretary of Tourism, I received an angry
phone call from a tour operator based in Clark, Pampanga, accusing “The Government” (to use her
words) of jeopardizing the tourism industry. Apparently, she and her foreign partner, a Mr. Cuerno,
had a plane load of passengers, securely strapped to their seats, ready to fly to Hong Kong , but could
not take off because they had no ATO permit.

Sometimes, we citizens make it difficult for “The Government” to do its duty. My Cabinet colleague,
rhe Secretary of Transportation was out playing golf, but fortunately, his assistant secretary, Jake
Ortega, was already at the helm . Confidently, he promised to look into the matter and after a few
minutes he called back to say that the ATO cannot possibly allow Mr. Cuerno’s aircraft to fly because
the latter had consistently refused to have it examined and tested by the ATO. Mr. Cuerno had leased
an old Illusyn plane from Russia and under pretext that it had already been certified in its place of
origin, he felt there was no need for the ATO to examine the aircraft. However, it was clear to me
that the ATO was abiding by its mandate. It must have been heroic to work at the ATO in those
days. When an Air Philippines plane crashed somewhere in the wilds of Davao in 2000, the worst insults were
hurled at Mr. Ortega but his explanations were concise and straightforward. The public was shocked to learn
that among the eighty or so airports in the Philippines, only the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport (NAIA) had an “approach terminal radar” which covered only Luzon and Visayas and that the
equipment was already seventeen years old. If memory serves, Mr. Ortega also said that the ATO was about to
receive a grant from the Japanese government to remedy that pitiful and dangerious situation. I do not know
if that ever materialized. Mr. Ortega and I would see each other in the numerous committee hearings
conducted by both legislative chambers to determine the state of civil aviation in the Philippines.
Going back to my story, Mr. Ortega suggested that I immediately call a meeting at the Department of
Tourism, which I did, so he could explain to Mr. Cuerno, in my presence, about the importance of
abiding by ATO regulations. To my surprise, Mr.Cuerno did appear and looked rather debonair in a
gray morning suit. Mr. Ortega told him that the ATO Aviation Safety Division staff members in Clark (
where the Ilusyn was parked) were waiting for his go-signal to have the aircraft examined. With cell
phone in hand, he was poised to make a call right at that moment. Mr. Cuerno agreed, finally, and the
meeting ended quite amicably.

However, I later found out that that was all for show. Mr. Cuerno’s people did not allow the ATO to
even peek into the engine of the Ilusyn so, naturally, no flight permit was issued. “Can you
imagine if something had happened to that plane after it had taken off from Philippine territory!” Mr.
Ortega exclaimed, “ The image of the Philippines would have suffered.”

Yet, I was summoned to appear before a senate hearing because then Senator Francisco Tatad had
received a verbose letter of complainat from– guess who?– Mr. Cuerno himself. But when I told the good
senator how the ATO saved the day, he quickly dismissed the case and went on to the next issue.

by Antonio C. Abaya / For the Standard Today, January 22, 2008

By the year 1482, the Moorish caliphate in the Iberian Peninsula (what is now Spain and Portugal) had shrunk to a small perimeter around the city of Granada in southeastern Spain.

At its zenith, the Muslim armies from North Africa that had invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the years 711 to 718 AD, had conquered most of what are now Spain and Portugal, and had sallied forth into France, where they were finally defeated and driven back by Christian armies led by Charles Martel in the Battle of Tours in the year 732. AD.

The Muslim occupation of Spain and Portugal lasted for several centuries leaving an indelible imprint on Iberian culture and civilization. To this day, many modern Europeans sniff that “Africa begins at the Pyrenees.”

But by the end of the first millennium (1000 AD), incessant quarrels and fighting among Muslim chieftains – a common enough phenomenon that persists to the 21st century – allowed the Christian kingdoms to fight back and recover lost ground.

By the year 1482, the Christians had re-conquered the kingdoms of Toledo, Sevilla and Cordoba.. In the year 1492, when the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus – Cristobal Colon – was sent by the Spanish king on his epochal voyage to the Americas, the Christian kingdoms of Aragon and Castille, reunited by the marriage of their sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, fielded their combined armies and defeated the quarreling Muslims in Granada.

The last Muslim caliph in Iberia, Boabdil, was sent weeping into exile back to North Africa. Legend has it that his aged mother bitterly reproached him: “Weep like a woman for the city you would not defend like a man1”

Seven years ago, on a scale not quite as grandiose as the events that unfolded in Iberia in 1492, a pretentious rajah – historically the inheritor of the Muslim outpost of Maynilad – also gave up his throne on the banks of the Pasig River as a band of unarmed street demonstrators noisily descended on his Alhambra.

His son, the Datu Jinggoy, was weeping openly, and Rajah Erap was teary-eyed, as they and their entourage boarded a motor launch to the rear of their Alhambra that would take them to the relative safety of not quite North Africa, but their scruffy ancestral fiefdom of San Juan.

History did not record Erap’s aged mother saying anything quotable during the Teary Escape, but she could just as justifiably have uttered the same humiliating lines hurled at Boabdil in 1492: “Weep like a woman for the city you would not defend like a man.”

Whatever happened to Filipino Machismo so often personified – or so I am told – by Erap in his Tagalog movies? Why did he not stand his ground and defend his Alhambra to the death? What was he so afraid of from an undisciplined but unarmed mob?

He had his heavily armed Presidential Security Group janissaries, backed up by armored personnel carriers, who would have sent the unarmed mob scurrying for cover with a few shots fired in the air. They may have stopped being under the command of Erap after AFP Chief-of-staff Gen. Angelo Reyes had “withdrawn his support,” but surely Erap’s magic would still have worked wonders with the masa of whom the soldiers were a part…

By ignominiously fleeing from the seat of power, Erap gave the Supreme Court the excuse to concoct what only Filipino lawyers could have invented, namely that he had “constructively resigned” from the presidency, thus justifying swearing in his vice-president, Gloria Arroyo, as the new president.

Barely five months later, in May 2001, another unarmed mob descended on Erap’s former Alhambra, egged on by the likes of Juan Ponce Enrile and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, this time seeking the “constructive resignation” of Gloria.

But unlike the easily frightened Rajah Erap, the steely-nerved Gloria, who has all the intimidating persona of a Girl Scout selling cookies, stood her ground and, in effect, stared the mob eyeball-to-eyeball until they blinked.

By hastily abandoning the seat of power without a fight in January 2001, Erap showed himself to be a coward, the exact opposite of the two-fisted Macho Man he liked to portray in his movies and, no doubt, his personal fantasies.

Of course, Rajah Erap was following in the footsteps of another Filipino Macho Man, Rajah Ferdinand, who famously but falsely promoted himself as the Most Decorated Filipino Soldier in World War II, with most of his medals awarded to himself decades after the War, when he was already senator……who also abandoned the seat of power without a fight in February 1986.

Erap says Jan. 20 2001 was the “death of democracy in the Philippines.” That would have been convincing had he stood his ground and fought heroically to the death. Instead, he “weeps like a woman for the city he was not man enough to defend.” *****

Reactions to tonyabaya@gmail.com. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com.

by William M. Esposo / Thursday, January 17, 2008

After discussing the virtues of democracy in the Movement for Unity in Politics International Congress last November in Loppiano, Italy, Lucca Fazzi of the University of Trent delved on the vices of democracy.

He said: “Apart from these plausible explanations of the current crisis in representative democracy, however, there are other reasons for this process both inside and outside the democratic mechanism. We could define these elements as “private vices” of elective democracy that interfere with its public virtues.

The first vice of democracy is synthesized by the fact that political decisions in an elective democracy system are based only partly on the people’s will. After being elected, the political representatives are more committed to holding power than to fulfill the promises made during the electoral campaign, taking advantage of the average citizen’s short memory and that new and more appealing promises can be made in the next electoral term.

The threat is that Rousseau’s prophesy in “The Social Contract” might come true: “the idea that people elect representatives who rule in their own name is the denial of freedom itself.”

The second vice of elective democracy is linked to a more formal concept of universalism. In theory, universalism can be achieved only when all citizens vote; however it is impossible because only some citizens vote. If in theory everybody can vote, in practice only more interested and organized citizens tend to do so. Modern political systems tend to be universal in writing but selective in practice and the issue of getting citizens to vote is still unsolved. (Young 1991)

A third vice in the elective democratic system is that the interests represented by the elected politicians are those of the majority of voters and not of the ones who weren’t able to elect their own representatives. Minorities and marginal groups tend to be less important than the members of majority groups.

Substantial representation of the electorate is nullified and democracy is in fact more formal than real.

Elective democracy’s fourth vice is that it doesn’t have antibodies to avoid instrumental use of power and real control of power-holders’ accountability. This is limited by information imbalance between citizens and power-holders. In order to achieve this condition citizens need sufficient and uniform dissemination of information, education and awareness.

Lower information levels are associated to easier exploitation; higher levels of education foster participation in voting. The struggle of modern democracy to control the media by political parties is a clear example of how the outcome of general elections is significantly dependant on the ability to manipulate information and influence public opinion.

The fifth vice of elective democracy regards the lack of responsibility of citizens towards the res publica. Tocqueville wrote that citizen “apathy” was democracy’s worst risk, questioning the citizens’ feeling of belonging and spirit of initiative needed to make society and civic spirit work.

Participation pressure exists but is weak, and as time goes by might determine a separation from the institutions, favoring the development of “apathy” and lack of interest towards the common good and institutions.

The notion of responsiveness as the “ability of power-holders to respond to citizens’ demand” is fundamental in defining the quality of democracy. “Responsiveness of power-holders to citizens” is an essential value to be acknowledged for the good functioning of a democratic system and fundamental for “democratic quality” because it involves the satisfaction of demands focusing on the outcome, that is the “capability of a true answer to people’s problems” and concurrently the assessment of the representation in action”, thus “responsiveness is the ability to respond by satisfying the need of the citizens and social society.”

In contrast with democracy, the quality of democracy relates not only to the form but to the essence in the management of power and response of politics to citizens’ needs: a society can be democratic, but with low-quality democracy; in this case democracy is no longer the ideal solution in managing relations between power-holders and citizens, but a solution which must be urgently improved,” Fazzi concluded.

Vices dominate the Philippine model

Fazzi’s vices of democracy strikes very close to home in the Philippines. Political power here is viewed by our politicians as their ends rather than their means to improve lives and develop the country.

Fazzi also echoes this Chair Wrecker’s assessment that democracy can only thrive with an enlightened electorate. The Information and Education gaps that we suffer from prevent us from enjoying the full benefits of democracy. These two gaps allow the oligarchs to manipulate and exploit the majority who are clueless as to how they are being taken for a ride.

Not able to understand what our role is as citizens of a democracy, we are easily driven towards cynicism and apathy. It is difficult to operate a democracy that most Filipinos do not understand.

The Movement for Unity in Politics where Fazzi delivered his talk is another initiative of the Focolare Movement. Politicians from all over the world are attracted to its goal of promoting unity and the noble aspects of politics.

Chair Wrecker e-mail and website: macesposo@yahoo.com and www.chairwrecker.com

GMA’s Successes

January 17 issue

There should be no doubt or argument about it. The Philippine economy has done better under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo than under any of her predecessors since Ferdinand Marcos.

In the last two years under President Marcos, the economy contracted or shrunk by about nine percent. The assassination of the beloved Ninoy Aquino on August 21, 1983 spawned massive capital flight, which in turn caused the exchange rate to balloon, if memory serves, from about 20 to 60 pesos to one US dollar.

As wealthy families and investors, both domestic and foreign, scrambled to change their pesos into dollars, inflation soared to double-digit levels, the likes of which have not been known by most Filipinos now living, except during the Japanese Occupation.

This economic meltdown, combined with moral outrage over such a dastardly act, moved the usually complacent middle-class to political activism, which manifested itself in weekly street demonstrations against the Marcos Regime. The presence of a well-known figure around whom the middle-class could rally – Ninoy’s widow, Cory Aquino – gave the public protests the animus it needed, as it snow-balled into the snap elections of February 1986.

Under Cory, the Philippine GDP grew 3.5 percent in 1986. 4.3 in 1987, 6.8 in 1988, 6.2 in 1989. The coup attempt in December 1989 by then Col. Gringo Honasan and then Capt. Danilo Lim dragged the GDP down to 4.4 in 1990, and subsequently to negative 0.6 in 1991. The average GDP under Cory was 4.1 percent.

Under President Fidel Ramos, GDP grew 0.3 percent in 1992, 2.1 in 1993, 4.4 in 1994, 4.7 in 1995, 5.8 in 1996, and 5.2 in 1997. The Asian Financial Crisis that started in July 1997 dragged the GDP down to negative 0.6 in 1998 as it devastated economies all over the world. The average GDP under President Ramos was 3.1.

It should be mentioned that the low GDPs in 1992 and 1993 were due, not just to the coup attempts of Honasan-Lim in December 1989, but also to the daily power outages of up to 8-hours that plagued the economy.

And the power outages were due largely to the mothballing by President Aquino of the 620 mw Bataan nuclear power plant just before it was to be commissioned, a concession to the anti-US bases and anti-nuclear agitation of the Communist movement. The slack would have been taken up by the 300 mw Calaca plant and the 300 mw Masinloc plant, both coal-fired, but the commissioning of these plants was blocked by environmentalists.

The net effect was that thousands of businesses and industries, and tens of thousands of families were forced to buy and operate their own generators, thus creating as much pollution as, or even more than, Calaca and Masinloc put together. There is a lesson to be learned here, but I doubt if Filipinos have learned it. But I digress.

Under President Joseph Estrada, GDP grew 3.4 percent in 1999 and 4.0 in 2000, until he was deposed from office in January 2001 by a military coup d’etat pretending to be people power. The average GDP under President Estrada was 3.7 percent.

Under President Arroyo, GDP grew 1.8 percent in 2001, 4.3 in 2002, 4.7 in 2003, 6.0 in 2004, 5.1 in 2005, 5.6 in 2006 and 7.1 in 2007. The average GDP under President Arroyo was 4.94 percent. Forecasts for 2008 range from 5.0 to 6.7 percent.

(It takes GDP growth rate of at least 8 percent per annum for 20 years for an economy to reach First World status. This is the level of the achievement of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, from the 1970s to the 1990s.)

Under President Arroyo, the economy has developed an upward momentum. And the biggest element in this upward momentum is the remittances from overseas contract workers, which will reach $14 to !5 billion in 2007, compared to practically zero in the 1970s..

The corollary is that if Presidents Aquino, Ramos and Estrada enjoyed a $10 to $15 billion annual OCW windfall during their watch, the GDP during their presidencies would have been substantially higher. (If any reader has the annual figures for OCW remittances staring in 1980, I would appreciate receiving them.)

The other corollary is that if President Arroyo did not have this $10 to $15 billion annual OCW windfall, the Philippine economy under her management would not have grown as much as it has in the past five years.

This is not to say that President Arroyo did not make any substantial contribution to economic growth from her own initiatives. Far from it. Her biggest success, in my opinion, is the growth of the call center-business outsourcing industry, which now employs more than 200,000 young, urban middle-class Filipinos, and is still growing fast.

If one were to revisit her Mid-term Development Plan, which was drafted at the start of her presidency in 2001, one would note that it had three major foci: agriculture, tourism and information technology or IT. So the call-center phenomenon was an Arroyo initiative and it is a major success, for which she deserves full credit.

The passage and implementation of the EVAT. is also an Arroyo success, which substantially increased government revenues, enabling it – theoretically at least – to invest more in infrastructure and social services.

But this has its limits, which may have been reached already, judging from the frantic efforts to sell government assets, such as those in the power sector. Without the sale of government assets, the government seems to be running out of money. Economists tell us that a government’s tax collection efforts should amount to at least 16 percent of GDP.

Even with his dictatorial powers, President Marcos could manage only 9 to 12 percent. Presidents Aquino and Ramos were able to raise it to 13 to 14 percent. President Arroyo may have been the first president to raise that percentage to 15-16 percent, but apparently not much more than that, which suggest unresolved problems from chronic tax evasion and smuggling.

President Arroyo has also achieved moderate success in tourism, one of the three foci in her Midterm Development Plan. Tourist arrivals topped three million in 2007, for the first time ever. I say ‘moderate’ because Thailand drew 13 million tourists, Malaysia 16 million, in the same period.

In 1991, Indonesia and the Philippines drew more or less the same number of tourists: one million. Since then, Indonesia’s tourist arrivals have reached five million, despite the Bali and Jakarta bombings, while we are celebrating only three million. Don’t look now, but tiny Cambodia just topped two million in 2007, and Vietnam is investing heavily to develop its entire South China Sea coast into a tourist magnet..

President Arroyo’s third economic focus: agriculture is, in my opinion, a mixed bag. Even assuming that production has increased in some sectors, the stark fact remains that we are not self sufficient in such staples as rice, corn, sugar, poultry, etc and must import several billion dollars worth every year to meet domestic demand.

This by the country that set up the UP College of Agriculture in Los Banos (when the Americans were running this place), and hosts the International Rice Research Institute (also established by the Americans), both of which trained the agriculturists of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia etc, which ironically now surpass us in agricultural production.

Perhaps the weakness of our agriculture is not a paucity of modern technology, but an oversupply of people, because of a galloping population growth rate. In the 1970s, the Philippines and Thailand had more or less the same population size: 45 million.

Because it had a population management program all these years, in 2007 Thailand had only 65 million people, while the Philippines had 89 million. By any yardstick of commonsense, it is easier to feed, clothe, house, educate and find jobs for 65 million people than 89 million.

For this, President Arroyo must share the blame with Presidents Marcos, Aquino and Estrada, for their wishy-washy attitude towards population management and their fear of offending the Roman Catholic bishops. (Only the Protestant President Ramos dared to defy the bishops on this issue.)

In summary, it can be said that President Arroyo’s relative success in managing the economy can be credited largely to the $10-$15 billion windfall from OCW remittances.

Therefore it is not accurate to claim that there is no alternative to or substitute for her. In fact it can be said that the increase in workers deployed abroad – about one million a year – is due to her failure, and the failure of her predecessors, to create enough jobs in the domestic economy, forcing millions of Filipinos to seek employment abroad.

This means that she can be replaced by such reasonably qualified wannabes as Mar Roxas, Manuel Villar, Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda, or Panfilo Lacson – even by Governor Fr. Ed Among Panlilio or Antonio Meloto – and the economy would still chug along at least at the same pace as it does today, as long as whoever succeeds her enjoys the $10-$15 billion windfall from workers’ remittances.

The $64,000 Question is: who among the actual or potential contenders can provide the MORAL LEADERSHIP that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has so spectacularly failed to provide. *****

Reactions to tonyabaya@gmail.com. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com

Martial Rule, January 2008.

(Herman Tiu Laurel/ Infowars/ 1-18-2008 FRI.)

Let’s not beat around the bush anymore, January 22 is the signal for the first step towards the Gloria-Esperion Martial Rule. All government pronouncements about so-called “destab” moves by the Magdalo or General Lim’s men are BS. The arrest of the five discharged Scout Rangers is nothing but a “Rambo” act scripted and directed by Esperon and the Military Intelligence Group. They are victimizing innocent brave soldiers to use as unknowing props for their stage-managing of the pretext for their martial rule, punishing the innocent families of these heroes of the AFP who’ve certainly done more for the cause of the country than such election-cheating and crooked generals like Esperon et al.

They have drummed up the fake “destab” (or what the media calls “destab me”) to justify the systematic installation of the materiel for martial rule: scaring media from doing its solemn duty to get to the truth of every crisis situation (the Iraq “embedded journalists” Raul Gonzales spoke about in the government corporate directorship holder Alvin Capino’s radio interview are controlled journalists as proven by the discredit CNN and BBC has earned for that); the 2,000 to 10,000 troops by Esperon’s minions for January 22 is not “overkill”, it is ridiculous and clearly meant to position troops to use in suppression of whatever dissent that may arise when their iron rule is imposed.

The political opposition’s response to the unmistakable moves of Gloria and her corrupt military centurions has been muted. If they could ratchet up the decibels of protest against these moves they may be of some help in averting the dire scenario. Right now, it is up to the democratic and progressive forces of dissent to take action against the mounting actions of the Gloria regime towards the imposition of martial rule. This started with the legal assistance and press conference the former fellow detainees of Sen. Trillanes and Gen. Danilo Lim (whose men were the discharged five seized again by the MIG) Attys. JV Bautista, Argee Guevarra, myself, and lawyer Atty. Trixie Angeles.

The wife of Sgt. Orlando Valencia made an indignant and emotional appeal yesterday at the press conference at the Treehouse in Quezon City, demanding to know why the authorities have arrested her husband who had just started on a family driver job and could not possibly have any involvement in any illegal activities. Sgt. Valencia drove for a Medal of Valor awardee Scout Ranger colonel who is also detained with fellow awardees Cols. Querubin and Parcon in Tanay, and Valencia had been in the crucial military encounters that made them heroes in the eyes of other soldiers. The wife of Sgt. Perania joined the press but restrained herself due to her hypertension.

Both Mrs. Valencia and Perania expressed the desperate straits their family are in, without the head of family to earn their daily bread. “How”. Mrs. Valencia asks, “can my poor husband be expected to be running around in destab activities when he is trying eke out a living.” The alleged firearms taken from the five men consists of three weapons that don’t even work, apparently just taken out of some MIG warehouse. Mrs. Perania asked how her husband can be involved in anything illegal when they live right inside a military camp. To support the lame charges, the counsel of the five believe the MIG is preparing through torture one of the five arrested to “squeal.”

The insidious designs of Gloria and her corrupt cabal to hold on to power are being pushed forward due to the apparent improbability of getting the Cha-cha through, while the opposition to Gloria in various institutions such as the Catholic Church is rising – and a march of some religious groups and leaders from La Salle Greenhills to the People Power Monument is expected for today, January 18. At the same time, the media is becoming alert to the threat posed by the scare tactics Gloria’s minions repeat with increasing frequency to intimidate the press and media; while some may be threatened, others will resist and the Gloria regime will ultimately pay a huge price for this.

The Gloria regime will never be a source of peace and stability because of its illegitimate, bloody and perfidious origin and character: it rape of the Constitution, its trampling of the Will of the People from the 1998 elections, it illegal grab of power, it murder of dozens in the 2001 May Edsa Tres which has now grown to hundreds killed in the Gloria-Palparan “summary killings”, it impoverishment and starvation of the people over the years, its destruction of the national economy, its rapacious plunder of the national coffers, its fire sale of our national crown jewels, its complicity in the highest power and water rates in Asia, it breeding of the national culture of corruption, ad nausea.

If Gloria and Esperon manage to succeed in foisting martial rule, it won’t last long anyway. Marcos managed to make it last because of the cohesion of the military community under his leadership at that time, anda governance that really reflected a desire for national development and industrialization. Gloria has done nothing to give meaning to her leadership and inspire the military institution, and she has managed only to soil the good name of the institution by making it complicit in election cheating and national corruption. Marcos eventually went down in ignominy, Gloria will burn when she goes down. (Tune to 1098AM, Mon. to Fri. 8:30-9am) ###

There Is Hope
GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano

After Christmas, there is hope. Every New Year, there is hope.The most powerful and celebratory season for Filipinos has just ended, but the goodwill lingers on. If we have to speak about hope, now is the best time to do so. Hope seems so real in the midst of family and friends.It then dims as the year marches on and the usual political and social dynamics begin to once again dominate the atmosphere.

Already, reports on media are getting more negative, picking up from where we were before the Christmas spirit lifted us from the darker concerns affecting us. But I cannot help but notice how much optimism remains in the air. It might be because so many family reunions just took place, so much gift-giving expressed the innate generosity of a culture, and food became a centerpiece in our lives more than politics. Filipinos are truly expert in shrugging off negativity and replacing it with festivity during Christmas and New Year.

I was fortunate enough to attend many homecomings, and even a death in the family that was a social event as well. I mingled with long lost friends, ones I have not seen for many years, and others whom I see only once a year. Many came from abroad, jolting me to realize that millions of Filipinos now work or live in foreign lands. As I went to several places in different provinces during the last month, I saw the unusually heavy human traffic in airports and sea ports. I could not help but overhear many speak in English with foreign intonations, indicating they have been, or are, living abroad.

The huge numbers of Filipinos visiting from their different countries, mostly from the United States and the Middle East, also made me realize that new influences will definitely penetrate Filipino values and lifestyles. One OFW influences many times his number, starting with family, relatives and friends who may be benefiting from his income or network. Millions of OFWs, therefore, influence the majority of Filipinos.

While some amount of despair has taken over the lives of Filipinos, Filipinos abroad who precisely left in order not to be totally overwhelmed by it are now singing a very different tone. While they remain in emotional pain because of the physical separation they endure, they are also discovering hope. Many of them see their sacrifices bear fruit, not as much as they want, but enough to see their homes being refurbished or new houses being built.

Among overseas Filipinos, Fil-Ams are the most influential.The United States, despite the anti-American rhetoric of activists the past several decades, remains the most desired country of Filipinos – to visit or to migrate to if given the chance. In America, Fil-Ams are among the highest earners as an ethnic group and doing better than their Caucasian counterparts. After succeeding in their adopted country, Fil-Ams have shown that they can defeat despair because they chose to hope and work for their dreams.

The journey of Fil-Ams over the last fifty years has given them confidence, and their second and third generations are more than competitive with other ethnic groups. many have become multi-millionaires, and I will not be surprised if a few will soon break into Billionaires Row. Confidence breeds optimism, and optimism among Fil-Ams spreads to their extended families in the motherland. More and more, Filipinos with relatives in the United States somehow feel more secure with the thought that they have a financial, social and political cushion.

It remains true that there are fundamental flaws in the Philippine environment that invite intermittent crises despite the strong peso and robust economy. The political landscape is unstable and pronouncements about destabilization plots come from senior government officials. After several statements after the Trillanes-led Peninsula caper which boasted of a military in total control, even generals still warn of possible military adventurism from the ranks of the discontent.

Another round of Cha Cha gambits give the sense that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants intently to extend her administration. When coupled with warnings from key members of the presidential family, it is easy to speculate that even emergency rule or martial law remains an option by which an extension of power is achieved. Perhaps, if Gloria will openly and decisively work for the candidacy of a chosen one, speculations of radical options can be diffused.

At the same time, the poverty of millions of Filipino remain as defiant of bullish economies. The great gap between the haves and the have-nots simply does not allow a trickle down impact on at least the bottom third of the population. Even after slight improvements, hunger incidence still affects three million families. Poverty and hunger, an unpopular president, a serious decline of trust for practically all political and governance institutions are a deadly combination.

Yet, hope springs eternal and finds more basis to be so beyond the Christmas-New Year season. The desire to help the motherland is fast becoming a universal sentiment among Filipinos abroad. Frustrations can run high at how corruption and inefficiency dominates governance, but not nearly enough to stop an emerging tidal wave of positive intervention by overseas Filipinos.

The political dilemma of Pampanga governor, Among Ed, who is the alleged bruited target of three R’s – Recall, Recall, and Requiem – is drawing massive sympathy from Filipinos around the world more than from his fellow Kapampangans. Powerful forces in Pampanga may be discouraging many from the province from showing their support for their Among Ed but are only serving to intensify the resolve of overseas Filipinos to become one in order to help a favorite symbol of new politics.

Complimenting the efforts of overseas Filipinos to encourage local political reforms is a youth sector from developed countries, including that of Filipino blood, who are showing clear signs of wanting a better world one where higher ethics will define global behavior. Many of them find their way to Africa, if not physically, then at least in their sympathy and material support. But the Filipinos among them look to the motherland and become more determined to contribute themselves to building a nation they can be proud of.

There is hope. The fresh winds of change carry it. It is a moment in history when drama builds up to a climax. Indeed, a new dawn is about to break.***

Landscape
Gemma Cruz Araneta

Senator Mar’s list

Fans of Mar Roxas should get his list of
“sayang” items. We always criticize our political
leaders for being clueless, because most of them do
not even bother to draft a plan of action that is not
stuffed with motherhood statements. If they do not
know what the people want, they should at least have
an inkling of what we do not want. Here is one
senator, a presidential aspirant, who at least knows
what he does not want for this country. At a recent
meeting of the formidable Foreign Correspondents
Association of the Philippines, (FOCAP) Mr. Palengke
read his “sayang” list

Naturally, the good senator had to explain what
we Filipinos mean by “sayang” and tried to
translate it into the English phrase “What a waste,”
which also connotes regret, forlornness, over what
could be and might have been. Not quite, but that is
as close as one can get to ”sayang”, a word in
Filipino “that so captures the sentiment of the
average person on the street.”

The “saying” : (1).” As the first colonial
people to regain our freedom, we had a head start in
the race for development among the new nations. At
Independence , thanks to a comparatively benign
American colonialism, our individual incomes were
among the highest in Southeast Asia . Then, after
having led our neighbors in GDP growth in the
post-Independence period, we soon started to lag
behind.. Thailand passed us by in 1981. Now the
average Thai has per capita income twice that of the
average Filipino. Malaysians have per capita four
times that of Filipinos. Singaporeans almost 20 times
more than the average Filipino. Indonesia and Vietnam
are breathing down our necks”.

2. The day-to-day erosion of the people’s trust in our
institutions has resulted in an increasingly
dysfunctional political system. The senator said trust
in all top four government institutions has
significantly declined compared to the previous
quarter. “From a net positive 32 rating in September,
the Senate has declined 13 points, to a positive-19 as
of year-end.The House of Representatives’ net
satisfaction score fell from positive 18 to only
positive 3. The Supreme Court dropped from positive 24
in September to a neutral net positive 5 in December.
This is more glaring, given the fact that it has
enjoyed double-digit positive approval ratings over
the past four quarters. The Cabinet went from a
neutral net positive 1 to a negative 9, a steep plunge
that reflects the President’s own negative trust
ratings.”

However, Mr. Palengke remains optimistic and
determined . He said: “A silver lining though is that
business continues to exist and in some instances
thrives in what is its own parallel universe. A
stronger peso and a shrinking pool of qualified
workers could slow down the pace of growth in this
sector. In spite of this, though, we continue to hope
that this will remain a shining star of the Philippine
economy…. The service sector will continue to lead
the way in terms of opportunity and employment …
Mining will continue to draw in foreign investors …
and or once, the stars are aligned for the agriculture
sector

On the other hand, Senator Roxas said , nearly
three thousand citizens leave the country everyday to
work abroad. More than a hundred Filipinos per hour
are packing up and leaving to secure a brighter future
for their families. They prefer two-year job contracts
elsewhere than to face unemployment and
underemployment here at home. Young Filipinos have
learned to plan their lives around self-contained exit
plans as migrant workers, …”Development and
nation-building is all about hope; ake that hope away
and the smart ones use their energies not to build
their nation but to escape from
it”.(gemma601@yahoo.com)