Is The Philippine Government Really the Problem? Or is it.. the Pinoy?

“Like people, like government” – thus spoke Rizal. Voters, meet thy government. Government, screw thy voters.

Pinoys wonder why despite the changes in personalities, regimes, presidents’ mayors, councilors, governors, senators, congressman, even ballot counting systems – the Philippines remains the joke of Asia – and the world.

Take for instance the latest government scams.. este programs supposedly to reduce poverty and promote economic development in the Philippines.

Agribusiness

Aquino Government sez: Modernization pushed to boost farm incomes

The Catch: DA “modernization programs will only benefit VENDORS of equipment to the DA… it’s a SCAM!!!!

Aquino Government sez: Government to develop rubber industry.

The Catch: Business partners of Aquino are interested to enter the rubber industry – and will use the government to expand their operations – supply of rubber seedlings; purchase of rubber products; rubber exports – without improving the quality of life of rubber farmers.

Aquino Government sez it is bullish about rice sufficiency in Philippines in January 2012

* Government OKs 3 rice-sufficiency projects – March 2012

* Rice sufficiency program in jeopardy – May 2012

* Agriculture chief: Philippines on track in achieving rice sufficiency – June 2012

* Philippines eyes Vietnam for 100000 tonnes rice supply deal – June 2012

* Philippines to strictly enforce rice tariffs. – June 2012

* “First, an end to over-importation that only serves to benefit the selfish few. Second: we want rice self-sufficiency – that the rice served on every Filipino’s dinner table is planted here, harvested here, and purchased here.” – Aquino SONA

The Catch: How many years has the DA been talking about rice sufficiency? Forever, that’s what. Should we be addressing rice sufficiency or rice security?

Will it ever solve the issue of rice sufficiency? NO. Why? Because high production and export subsidies in developed countries and high protection in both developed and developing countries have distorted rice trade.

Take for example, the impact on Indonesia – which has effectively banned rice imports:

Consider the economic effects of a policy of restricting the quantity of rice imports, as under Indonesia’s ‘leaky’ import ban. The policy acts directly on the quantity of imports but its effect is to raise the domestic price by reducing the availability of imported rice. How much will the domestic price increase? A quantitative restriction on imports acts on the volume imported and lets the domestic price adjust accordingly. The domestic price will increase until the difference between the quantity demanded domestically and the quantity supplied domestically declines to the lower volume of imports now permitted under the quantitative restriction. When both the demand for rice and the supply are price inelastic, as is the case with rice, a large price increase is necessary to achieve this reduction in the volume of imports.

Obviously, people who are net consumers of rice are harmed by an increase in the price. But which consumers are harmed the most? Unfortunately, the answer is: the households for which rice is the highest proportion of their budgets – the poorest consumers. This includes not only the urban poor but also most of the rural poor, a surprising majority of whom are net buyers of rice. For example, this includes all landless agricultural labourers – people who sell their labour and buy rice.

What about the effect on producers? Obviously, anyone who is a net seller of rice benefits. Who benefits the most? The answer is obvious: those who sell the most – the largest farmers. Small farmers are both consumers and producers of food. Their net sales of rice might be positive or negative or, if they are subsistence farmers, zero. But if their net sales are positive they are small. Price changes have very little net impact on this group of farmers, one way or the other.

Who are the Philippines’ largest rice farmers? Don’t look now – but they are in Central Luzon, in the province of Tarlac. And by the way, the rice market in the Philippine is quite representative of any agricultural market in the Philippines.

Tourism

Aquino Government sez: PAL flies to $2.4-billion Las Vegas terminal.

The Catch: Air France and KLM end direct Manila-EU flights. Apparently NAIA Terminal – and all the folks behind it, SUCK!

Could PAL have been motivated to fly to Vegas after the Tongressmen of the Philippine Tongress, played hooky with taxpayers money, and flocked to Vegas to watch Paquiao?

Education

Aquino Government allies sez: Allocate portion of ‘sin tax’ for public schools.

The Catch: The “sin tax” spent on public schools will be spent on more sins. Bloated cost of schools. Bloated cost of school supplies. Teachers will remain UNDERPAID and OVERWORKED. Classrooms will remain congested. Students will remain STUPID and functional illiterates.

And that’s just for starters.

It’s the same MODUS OPERANDI folks. Let me spell it out exactly:

1. Craft a law – under the pretext of “protecting” or “promoting”.

2. Create an “authority/board”.

3. Impose regulation/taxes to fund the board who will enforce the “protecting” and “promoting”.

4. Vested interests then corner the market by doing business with the regulators.

This happens in ALL agencies that “protect” all industries -at all levels – NO EXCEPTIONS.

The scale of the corruption is mind boggling. Worse, Filipinos glorify this pathetic and repugnant state of affairs – from the boardrooms of Makati, to the halls of Malacañang – and down to our living rooms.

Then, we wonder why things have come to such a sorry sordid state?

Was it government who caused all these?

Or was it because, we, the citizens have defaulted, abrogated, ran away from the responsibility to run our lives and rise to the challenge of providing for our health, education, well-being – and delegated the task to government.

For short – we gave up on ourselves – and delegated the task to a nanny. The problem with having a nanny is – the nanny wants to expand her job – and, we never grow up.

On all counts – the solutions provided by big nanny government have been monumental failures which only make the matter worse. Imho, the biggest faux pas of Pinoys wanting change – is to look at politicians and government as saviors. I guess Pinoys still have to hear the adage – physician heal thyself.

We don’t need the DA’s mechanization programs – an open thriving economy with prosperous farmers who can trade with the rest of the glove without government restrictions can do the job better.

We don’t need the Aquino’s rice self-sufficiency -not when all it does is raise the cost of rice to consumers – and favor the big domestic rice farmers of Central Luzon. What we need is rice security – access to rice markets which provide the best prices to consumers – not a half assed government agency which only wastes taxes and STRANGLES rice consumers.

We don’t need headlines about PAL flying to Vegas, we need an open thriving tourism market that allows both foreign and local companies to provide jobs and services to Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike.

We don’t need decrepit public schools or the equally intellectually bankrupt private sectarian schools, we need world-class cost effective innovative schools that don’t waste tax money and are fully accountable to parents and students.

For short, In the coming local elections, instead of wondering why government has not done the job, – when you choose a candidate, are you voting for a nanny – or are you voting to reclaim your liberty?

In the coming local elections – are you choosing subsidies or jobs and prosperity?

In the coming local elections – are you choosing hunger or a full stomach?

In the coming local elections – are you choosing an open economy – or the perpetuation of the hacienda economy?

“Like people, like government” – Your government is a reflection of your values as a person.

The question is WHO ARE YOU – WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?

About the Author

BongV has written 390 stories on this site.

BongV is the webmaster of Antipinoy.com.

Is compassion misapplied in Philippine society?

July 2, 2012

by FallenAngel

The definition of compassion that is common to several sources is that it is a feeling of deep sympathy and/or empathy for the misfortune of others. If we want to further go down this line of thought, then eventually we find ourselves face to face with the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Compassion is considered a great virtue among many belief systems. Let me give as an example a few of these systems and how they embody it.

For the Chinese, the Confucian system holds it in very high regard. Although the concept of ren is more closely translated as benevolence, the essence is similar. It is how two people should treat another, and can also be regarded as the good feeling a virtuous human experiences when being altruistic.

Christianity too stresses that compassion should be extended to all, even enemies. Every follower of this faith will be familiar with the parable of the good Samaritan. Let us not also forget to mention the passage “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.”

Islam, too, has its own ways of emphasizing compassion. It is but one of many of Allah’s attributes. In fact, the invocation that starts almost every chapter in the Quran, the Bismillah, is the ultimate declaration of it. “In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful.”

The three (3) belief systems I mentioned above all exist in Filipino society. Often times they even come into contact with each other and clash. That having been said, I felt curious about examining a particular comment in the GRP threads: Is there a history of misapplying compassion in the Philippines?

When Gloria Arroyo pardoned Erap in 2007, my educated guess is that she was doing it to get back popular support which Erap had always enjoyed even in jail. Given how the media had painted her into someone to be detested and to be blamed for all the people’s ills, did she really have much of a choice? She still needed public support for her programs, and she wasn’t getting it. Erap issued a statement three years later in 2010 that he didn’t owe Arroyo anything. Seems like he never got over being convicted, but it’s the people who fell for his “Erap para sa mahirap” slogan who really paved the way for most of the events that followed after he got elected.

PNoy won the 2010 elections due to the “sympathy vote”. It was really good timing for his supporters that his mother died. If Cory hadn’t kicked the bucket PNoy would have remained a non-performing unknown nobody of a senator whose only claim that he could boast was that he had revered parents. He had no platform back then when he ran, he still doesn’t now, and his “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” tagline is proving to be false under close scrutiny.

PNoy granted amnesty to convicted mutineers Danilo Lim and Antonio Trillanes IV. The former is an unrepentant advocate of military adventurism, and I don’t think it was a coincidence that he was granted amnesty because the target of his uprisings happens to be PNoy’s favorite scapegoat for all his failures, Gloria Arroyo. Trillanes, on the other hand, is now one of PNoy’s most rabid attack dogs in the Senate. He will always be remembered as the soldier whose line of questioning in the Senate inquiries a few years ago possibly drove Angelo Reyes to suicide.

The Senator-judges who voted to convict former Chief Justice Renato Corona are now calling for PNoy to stop filing cases against the former CJ and GMA. An obvious question to ask: were they THAT NAÏVE in thinking that PNoy did not set up the whole show just to get back at his political enemies for taking away his beloved estate? It is evident, and painfully clear that all PNoy wanted to do was satisfy his vindictiveness; there is nothing related to “justice” about railroading cases, defying Supreme Court TRO’s, and meddling unnecessarily in impeachment trials.

PNoy is not letting GMA get the treatment she needs for her condition. GMA is being kept in the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) and there is hardly a word about the severity of her condition lest sympathy be generated for her. If I were in PNoy’s shoes, I would assume that if she is allowed to go abroad she would escape “justice”. However, there’s one thing missing: the charges against her have already been dropped by the Ombudsman. Unless PNoy has anything else that is substantial, he has to let her go. If she does indeed escape, it is a function of his lackey’s incompetence as much it is of her resourcefulness.

What are some of the things common to these cases? Simple: compassion was applied because it was the popular thing to do.

As mentioned above, GMA needed popular support, but it backfired, possibly because Erap couldn’t care less.

PNoy’s supporters thought he was a compassionate man given that he was Cory’s son; his “hindi ako magnanakaw” slogan not only resonated with them, it fished them in for six (6) years of arduous torture!

It was ironic that Trillanes painted himself as a victim of persecution by the Arroyo government even if it just happened that his mutiny was put down. He was rebelling against a government, so was Danilo Lim.

In PNoy’s case, as long as it has something to do with his personal enemies, there is no compassion. Those aren’t even enemies of the Filipino people, mind you; PNoy made it personal and he insisted that the Filipinos do so too. Where are the supposed criminal cases that are going to be filed against Corona and GMA, hmm? It’s getting clearer that he not only wants to drive the dagger into his enemies’ wounds, he wants to twist it too. And here I thought he was a devout Catholic.

The Filipino is known for his/her pusong mamon. Translated into English, it refers to soft-heartedness. Is this necessarily a bad thing? No, it isn’t, but keep in mind that there will always be Pinoys who aim to take advantage of others simply because they can, and/or because they feel the need to. After all, some Pinoys have a very shallow sense of self-security, and it seems inborn to them that they feel schadenfreude to feel good about themselves. Soft-heartedness is a bad thing only if one allows himself/herself to be taken advantage of. If one is gullible enough to fall for the victim ploys or crocodile tears of a charlatan, then it is not only unworthy of pity, it is detestable.

Does the pursuit of justice necessarily come into conflict with applying compassion to one’s enemies? The simple answer to that is also no. However, what exactly is the standard of justice that Pinoys want? It seems that many of them are stuck with the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” standard, which is very…primitive. The Golden Rule has been twisted: Do unto others before they do unto you. There’s no more compassion in there; it’s pure vengeance and vindictiveness speaking. Couple it with the Pinoy obsession of putting one over his/her enemies, and you’ve got a lethal mix.

It’s ironic that for all the Chinese influence we claim to have absorbed over the years, we have not practiced ren enough. As I defined at the start of this article, ren refers to benevolence or compassion. Even in practicing martial arts, Chinese still observe ren. In theory, you stop attacking your opponent when he/she no longer poses a threat.

Is PNoy justified in how he has been pursuing his cases against GMA and Corona relentlessly? If he is, why did he have to subject them to such humiliating circumstances? Why did he have to bend his constituents over to get what he wanted? Why doesn’t he have airtight cases on both of them until now? If PNoy were really compassionate, he would have let them get the treatment they need, and ,as he doesn’t have any really case against them that could stand up in a court of law, then he has to stop pursuing them.

Then again, there is no compassion in the vocabulary of a vindictive Pinoy. Remember, PNoy embodies everything that the Pinoy is notorious for. He is vindictive, shallow, reliant on popularity, incompetent, closed-minded, insensitive, impervious to criticism and advice, and he is unwilling to change.

A society without compassion is one that unnecessarily makes it hard for its inhabitants to live in, I believe. Pinoys are not naturally devoid of it, but they’ve applied it to the wrong people so long and so many times that they no longer trust anyone anymore. Are we counting on the ones in power, the oligarchs, to be compassionate to the rest of the Filipinos? No, to them we are their source of power and of income; nothing more, nothing less. As long as we maintain such a soft, forgiving, and pusong-mamon culture, we can always expect to be taken advantage of by wolves in sheep’s clothing.

The worlds greatest thief nga ba si Marcos?

Philippine Warship. Lagot ka China!

Madami nang nasabi tungkol kay Marcos. Magnanakaw, human rights violator, diktador. Grabe daw mga ninakaw niy na napunta pa siya sa Guinness Book of World Records as the greatest thief in the world. Undisputed, pound for pound, the greatest in the world daw ayon sa putanginang Guiness na yan. Putanginang mga brits yan, dapat sa mga yan patayin!

Para sa inyong mga bobong tanga, ang Guiness Book of World Records na yan ay British. Malaki galit ng mga Brits sa atin dahil sa Operation Merdeka noong panahon ni Marcos.

Ang Operation Merdeka ay ang plano ni Marcos na bawiin ang Sabah sa mga putanginang mga Malayshits. Nag training ng mga commandos si Marcos noong mga 1966-67. Mossad ang nag training sa kanila. Nag padala na ng mga operatives ang Pinas sa Sabah, nakatanim na sila doon at sa takdang oras, kikilos sila.

Oo, mga bobong tanga. Atin ang Sabah, sa Pilipinas! Pinarentahan ang Sabah ng Sultanate of Sulu sa British North Borneo Company noong 1878. Binabayaran ang Sultanate of Sulu ng 5000 Malaysian dollars kada-taon at binibigyan sila ng mga armas. Pero ang kakapal ng mga mukha nito nang ibalik nila ang kalayaan ng Malaysia, sinama nila ang Sabah. Kaya nagkaroon ng Operation Merdeka. Operation Freedom!

Binulgar sila ni Ninoy Aquino sa isang privilege speech niya, at ayon sa hari ng traydor may minasaker daw na mga 28-30 na mga Muslim sa Corregidor. Nagrecruit daw ang gobyerno ng mga Muslim na sundalo para masali sa elite soldiers natin. Tuwang-tuwa daw ang mga muslim dahil maganda daw ang sahod. Pinadala daw sila sa Corregidor para sa advanced training, at nang malaman nila ang nature ng Operation Merdeka ay nagmutiny daw sila. Ayaw daw nilang makipaglaban sa kapwa nila Muslim. Nasa Sabah din daw ang kanilang mga kamag anak, ayaw nilang madamay ang kanilang mga kamag anak sa gera. Minasaker daw ng mga sundalo ang mga bagong recruit nila, na tinawag ni Ninoy na The Jabidah Massacre. Nakalabas daw ang balita dahil may isang nakaligtas, nabaril daw siya sa binti, pero nakakapit daw siya sa lumulutang na kahoy sa dagat at lumutang-lutang daw siya hanggang masagip siya ng mga mangingisda sa may bandang Cavite.

Tarhata Kiram, Princess of Sulu

Putanginang Ninoy hindi talaga nauubusan ng mga kwentong barbero. Bakit kukuha ng muslim na sundalo ang gobyerno para gerahin ang Malaysia? Hindi naman bobo si Marcos, alam niya na hindi magpapatayan ang kapwa muslim, baka nga barilin pa nila mga kapwa nila Pilipino sa likod. Yung kwento pa lang kung paano nakaligtas yung survivor, na kumapit sa kahoy at inanod hanggang Cavite ang hirap na paniwalaan. Ang totoo niyan, may mga pinadukot si Ninoy na mga teenage muslims sa Mindanao. Siya mismo ang pumatay sa mga yan. Kagaya na lang ng pangbobomba sa Plaza Miranda, na siya din ang may plano. Tapos sisihin na lang si Marcos. At yung driver niya na dinurog niya lahat ng mga daliri dahil lang sa isang pagkakamali. Ganyang klaseng tao yan si Ninoy.

Isa-isa tinumba ng mga Malayshits ang mga special agents at sundalo natin sa Sabah dahil sa privilege speech ng putanginang Ninoy na yan. Isa-isa silang pinatay. Putanginang traydor talaga. At sinabi pa niya na the Filipino is worth dying for? Gago putangina ka! Putangina ka mag huhurumentado ako pag nakita ko yang panot na anak mo putangina ka! Hayop ka papatayin ko kayo at magkikita-kita tayo sa impyerno at magpapatayan ulit tayo doon! Buti nga at namatay si Cory, lahing insect!

At dahil nga nalaman nila na gusto nating bawiin ang Sabah, nagalit ang mga Brits. Pinarada nila mga war ships nila sa harap ng Palawan kasama ng mga war ships ng Malayshit, Australia at New Zealand. Talagang nangatog din sila sa atin. Hindi na nag escalate ang sitwasyon dahil sa mga Amerikano, pero hindi kinalimutan ni Marcos ang Sabah. Kukunin pa rin ng Pilipinas yan sa ibang panahon. Sana. Eh nangyari ang EDSA Revolution. Naging presidente si Cory, Reyna ng mga amoy baktol na may anak na pokpok, at abnoy. Ngayon huwag na tayong umasa pa. Baka nga ibigay na ni Abnoynoy yung Mindanao sa mga Malayshits.

Sayang talaga ang pagkakataon. Nakuha sana natin ang Sabah kung hindi dahil sa traydor na Ninoy na yan. Mahinang bansa pa ang Malaysia noong 1960s, talagang pipitsugin yan mga tao diyan puro mga nakapaa lang, walang nagtotoothbrush, at tumatae lang sila sa diyaryo. Nawala pa sa kanila ang Singapore, at may border dispute sila with Indonesia!

Binigay naman kay Marcos ang title na the worlds greatest thief, ng walang kwentang Guiness Book of World Records para makaganti naman. Dahil nangatog talaga sila. Nangatog sila sa Pinas at umurong ang mga bilog na bayag nila na parang mga santol.

Puntahan niyo itong link na ito para alamin ang tungkol sa Sabah at kung paano tayo niloko ng mga traydor na Brits na yan. Putanginang mga gago talaga yan! http://filhistorybuffs.multiply.com/journal/item/42

Posted 2 days ago by TheClockworks

Source: http://philippinesthesickmanofasia.blogspot.it/2012/07/worlds-greatest-thief-nga-ba-si-marcos.html

KFC Cheese Top Burger and the pointless things under the Aquino administration

July 2, 2012

by Arche

As if to serve as some sort of an unsolicited comic relief, the Philippine branch of widely known fast food chain KFC recently came up with a new, amusing value meal: the Cheese Top Burger. The name speaks for itself; the cheese, instead of being between the buns together with the burger patty, is above the top bun instead.

Among the great number of pointless things mankind has conceived throughout the course of history, perhaps the idea of a burger with cheese on top is one of the most striking. First, it will probably just make holding the burger more difficult. After all, I’m quite certain anyone dirtying their hands with hot, melting cheese while eating their burgers won’t find it a pleasant and comfortable experience. Second, even with the misplaced cheese, the Cheese Top Burger might well still be your regular burger. You can put the patty above the top bun instead and call it Patty Top Burger, but it’s still sure to be your good ol’ ordinary burger, only with a different configuration. You can try the following combinations at your leisure:

1. Bun-Bun-Cheese-Patty (Twin-Bun Top Burger)
2. Bun-Cheese-Bun-Patty (Alternate Bun Burger 1)
3. Bun-Patty-Bun-Cheese (Alternate Bun Burger 2)
4. Cheese-Patty-Bun-Bun (Twin-Bun Bottom Burger)
5. Cheese-Bun-Bun-Patty (Buns As Your Patty Burger)

So on and so forth, but you’ll still end up with a messed up regular burger. Giving them new names won’t make the idea any creative. Needless to say, the whole concept of rearranging a burger in the guise of making a new value meal is, ultimately, pointless. Then again, Filipinos have a knack for the pointless.

Look no further than our very own circus politics, valiantly spearheaded by head clown Noynoy Aquino. For the duration of his time, PNoy, together with his cronies, has filled the nation with a vast array of flashy theatrics which were quick to die down in the perspective of critical observers, yet has remained well alive in the hearts of many citizens. Still, the fact remains that most, if not all, of what had transpired in PNoy’s term as president are, in actuality, pointless.

1. It’s pointless to make campaign promises you’re not sure you can keep.

It just gives you unnecessary liabilities. Like how PNoy embarrassed himself by refusing to sign the waiver to waive his bank secrecy rights when it was one of his most memorable promises, making promises you can’t really keep will simply put you in a very awkward position in front of the ones from whom you extract your political power. Then again, whether it is due to severe lack of foresight or a very fine mixture of arrogance and ignorance is of no consequence. After all, many Filipinos have forgotten the issue altogether to give it a shred of thought, too preoccupied with their coping with PNoy’s increasingly ridiculous governance and believing in their “stalwart protector of democracy” mental construct.

2. It’s pointless to mask your statistics when it can be easily decoded.

The alleged 6.4% Q1 growth was the cause of much celebration among the Filipino population, where PNoy got roses and praises for bringing prosperity to the Filipino people. It was said to be the product primarily of efficient and robust government spending, and, if the Yellows had their way, the sheer divinity of the Aquino-Cojuangco clan. Then again, not all economics-savvy intellectuals are cooped up within the government halls, and it was only a matter of time before someone came up with a rebuttal of PNoy’s claims. It then leads you to ask: why bother masking your flawed statistics when there are free intellectuals who can blow off the covers at any minute? The answer might as well lie in the masses, which seem to be impervious towards this revelation. It’s because there will always be people (and lots of them) who will believe PNoy.

3. It’s pointless to pretend you uphold what is good when your actions contradict it.

Nothing could be more vivid an example for this pointlessness than ex-Chief Justice Renato Corona’s recently concluded impeachment trial, which evidently showed the beloved president’s near-infinite capacity for vindictiveness. And yet throughout the duration of the trial, PNoy remained steadfast in his claim that he and his administration are for rule of law, transparency and democracy. Never mind the fact that the prosecution violated a truckload of laws and guidelines in their desperation to convict Corona. Never mind the falsified documents that miraculously made their way to the courtroom, coming from altruist fairies and gnomes. Never mind the massive “trial by publicity” conducted by the Palace to condition the minds of Filipinos regarding the guilt of the embattled ex-Chief Justice. Never mind the continuous persistence of the president to hound the now-convicted Corona until the end of time. What’s the point of claiming you’re good when what you do (which is seen and read by practically everyone) is nowhere near it? Once again, it could be said that the answer might be found in the Filipino people, many of whom are actually as vindictive as their beloved president. Hardly a surprise if one is to think about it.

4. It’s pointless to ramble on and on about your love life when your job is not even remotely related to it.

We’ve all had the experience; watching the president in his all-too-nauseating kilig moments with his alleged girlfriends. We’ve had Shalani Soledad. We’ve had Grace Lee. And for all we know, PNoy’s romantic escapades are nowhere near the finish line. While I do believe everyone deserves a break and enjoy his time with a special someone, it is simply impossible in an objective point of view to justify PNoy’s increasinglyshowbiz love life. First off, PNoy is a politician, not a celebrity, and so the news about him are expected to be about, well, how good things in the country are under his administration.

But then, who am I kidding? Here at our place, politicians are not just politicians; they’re also stars! And being stars on par with the celebs in the actual entertainment industry, one can only expect the masses to see some drama in their little personal lives; hence, the persistent documentation of our president’s sour love life.

5. It’s pointless to whine about your decision when you’ve already decided.

Recently, drama queen Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, after an eternity of playing hard-to-get with the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), finally gave in and accepted her nomination for the position of Chief Justice after Renato Corona’s removal from office. Still, her needless emotional display didn’t end here, as she went on and described how agonized she was as she consulted her candidacy with her family and friends, how she treated this as a calling from God, and many other sentiments in tow. The emotional confession degenerated into nothing more than a hubris speech, as she even had the gall to assert the following:

Following the controversies generated by Corona’s removal from office last month, De Lima said “what the judiciary needs is an effective and trusted leader capable of transforming the institution into a citadel of hope.”

“That, to me, is the call of the times,” she said. “I sincerely believe that, at the minimum, I have my character and resolve as a person, and my track record and passion as a public servant, to offer for such a crucial and revered post.”

(Source: Link)

So what was the point of acting like a wimp about your acceptance of the nomination, when you decided to go for it yourself? Heck, what was the point of all that drama prior to accepting your nomination, anyway? Then again, we all know a bunch of people who can’t live without a little drama playing outside the television.

6. It’s pointless pretending to make judicial reforms when the one who’ll pick the Chief Justice has already something in mind.

The supposedly momentous outcome of Corona’s impeachment trial allegedly pushed politicians to actively fight for a more transparent, accountable and apolitical Judiciary. As a result, news and media outlets are teeming with tidbits about the progress of the current nomination for the position of Chief Justice alongside endless commentaries from politicians regarding who should take the job, which kind of defeats the purpose of their newfound advocacy. Furthermore, the JBC was forced into allowing media coverage of the goings-on in the nomination process. Apparently, it was to promote transparency in the judicial branch. Then again, whether these reforms are sincere or not, it will be ultimately pointless. No matter how many aspirants you nominate for the top job, it will be of no consequence when the president has already something in mind.

President Aquino convinced Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, during a recent meeting, to accept her nomination as Chief Justice.

A Palace source and a government official privy to the President’s consultations for the CJ position told Rappler that De Lima is among President Aquino’s top choices for the job.

(Source: Link)

If Rappler is to be believed, it would seem that nominating more and more people for the job of Chief Justice would be for nothing, and so would the enforcement of judicial reforms, not when the president has basically narrowed down his choices to a handful of friends. I mean, if the president is already choosing even if the nomination process isn’t over, then what’s the difference between the current Judiciary and the one reformists allegedly envision? In the end, the selection will only lie on the caprice of the president, so why bother?

Unless, of course, there is an audience that need to be satisfied by giving them the illusion that change is on the way.

Indeed, if one would think about it, most of the things that happened under PNoy’s rule are nothing but pointless. It served no productive purpose whatsoever, and, as expected, produced nothing of value. But they happened all the same; why? Perhaps, it’s because something actually gave them a purpose. Something gave them meaning which wouldn’t be possible if this “something” didn’t exist… or to be more specific… this “someone.”

The Filipino gave these pointless drivel meaning. The Filipino gave these ridiculous ideas a purpose. The way all of these things happened, and the way they always involved the masses, you couldn’t help but arrive at this very conclusion. It would seem that the reason why pointless things happen in our politics… is because Filipinos, willfully or not, give them an opportunity to happen.

If one would look back at the aforementioned list of nonsense that took place in PNoy’s presidency, the logical conclusion would be: it is pointless to keep PNoy president. And yet he is still seated in power. And the long chain of hullabaloo continues to permeate the essence of our society. The people gave this hullabaloo value.

Just like how the pointless Cheese Top Burger is starting to penetrate the consumer market, we Filipinos let pointless things to invade our lives, because somehow, we manage to give them value. We manage to make them important in our lives. The laws of economics ring true; the supply is more or less an accurate reflection of what people demand. Given the pointless nature of many things existing in the Philippines, nothing more needs to be said in behalf of the demand side.

This leads me to asking a single question: is it becoming pointless to reason with the Filipino people?

President Benigno Simeon Aquino’s 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA 2012)

July 3, 2012

by Ilda

President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III will be giving his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) soon. Like his first and second SONA, his speech will most likely be full of motherhood statements similar to all the previous speeches he had delivered since he announced his plans to run for the Presidency in 2009. You’d think that two years after winning the 2010 election, the tone of the President’s speech would change from empty slogans to something with substance, but no; it seems someone forgot to tell President BS Aquino that he doesn’t have to be on campaign mode anymore, specially since most members of the public already realized that he is incapable of fulfilling his promises anyway.

Instead of giving the Filipino people an accurate report of his administration’s achievements so far, we can expect the incumbent president to offer some “feel good” platitudes at the resumption of the joint session of Congress this month. His duty to deliver a SONA might be stipulated in the 1987 constitution; however, President BS Aquino’s predilection for indulging in triumphalist rhetoric is something the public will have to put up with for the next few years until he finally steps down. He probably thinks that the Filipino people are still good with him; well at least the recipients of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program — over 3 million of them — can be counted on to grin and bear with his mediocre performance until the funds for the program run out or until the program is put to an end, whichever comes first.

Of course BS Aquino will be boasting about his achievements in the fight against corruption particularly since he had succeeded in removing former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. Never mind that the conclusion of the five-month trial did NOT even prove that Corona was corrupt. But it did prove that majority of the members of Congress can be bullied by the executive branch into railroading an impeachment process. The impeachment of Corona will not even benefit the public in a positive way. It could have negative repercussions considering some of the “favorites” on the list of nominees to replace Corona include those who are perceived to be rabid BS Aquino supporters who are not even the most qualified for the job.

If I were in the president’s shoes, I would be very careful in picking Corona’s replacement as Chief Justice. The last thing President BS Aquino needs is to make the mistake of choosing someone who is unpopular with his critics or someone who does not have the respect of the other members of the Supreme Court. After all, it is a documented fact that despite his tainted image with the public, Corona was actually well-respected by most members of the judiciary – from his fellow justices down to the court clerks. Most of them do not have anything bad to say about Corona. If they had, the media would have had a field day with it.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary, Leila de Lima who is vying for Corona’s vacated post reportedly does not feel she will be welcomed at the high court. Her decision to defy the Supreme Court late in 2011 has a lot to do with her unpopularity with the SC. And saying things like “I could lend the face to be the rallying leader (of the Judiciary)” can only annoy them even more. If someone like De Lima ever gets the job, the low morale at the judiciary will go even lower. A situation like that will not be good for the justice system in the country. As the saying goes, BS Aquino will have to live and die by his own sword when that happens.

Speaking of justice, I don’t know why De Lima has high hopes of getting a higher post when there has been no improvement in her own department in terms of prosecuting human rights violators in the country. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that failure to arrest alleged human rights abusers “highlights broader problems that do rest with the administration.”

HRW deputy director for Asia division Elaine Pearson said most cases involving human rights violations failed to reach trial stage while the police fail to follow up and arrest suspects and the military continued to “obstruct” investigations into human rights cases involving members of the Armed Forces.

The HRW in a statement last Thursday said Aquino failed to prosecute a single case of extra-judicial killing and enforced disappearance in his two years in office.

“The government needs to move beyond simply identifying suspects and obtaining warrants to arrest the suspects, gathering evidence and providing protection to witnesses to allow them to come forward,” Pearson added.

In other words, BS Aquino’s preoccupation with his political enemies in the last two years made it possible for suspects in more heinous crimes to escape justice. The public doesn’t even hear the president talk about the Maguindanao massacre the way he used to talk about the details of Corona’s case during his trial — which is really interesting considering Corona wasn’t even accused of grave crimes like murder or plunder. Many Filipinos wish that he do more to bring justice to the massacre victims.

Perhaps when BS Aquino and his army of handlers come down from their ivory tower, they can give a better assessment of their so-called “achievements”. It’s highly unlikely to happen soon though since deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte strongly believes that the administration’s “biggest achievement so far, is the change in mindset of our people.” She thinks that “there is now a shift in attitude towards government as a partner and not as an oppressor.” She said it with so much conviction that the gullible lot of Filipinos will be likely to believe her. One wonders where she gets that impression. She could be getting feedback solely from the beneficiaries of the CCT program. But with crime rates and utility bills going up, those who are in the middle class could end up applying for the government hand out too.

It’s too bad the President’s speechwriters might have to cut out the part about his pledge to lend $1 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in his SONA. Most members of the public including “illiterate” public servants in Congress cried foul when they first heard that the Philippines, a Third World country, will provide loans to help “poor countries” and “distressed economies” in the Euro zone.

A lot of folk can’t understand the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) explanation because most Filipinos are too ignorant to comprehend the purpose of the dollar reserves. I would be very surprised if BS Aquino still includes this in his SONA because it would just highlight the fact that the BSP is now in a position to lend only because our country’s own loan with IMF was paid during former President Gloria Arroyo’s (GMA) term in 2006. Besides, militants who think that this pledge to the IMF is a good opportunity to make noise will not let this slip by. So I guess they can scrap boasting about this.

Even though BS Aquino’s pledge to the IMF is legal, it still leaves a bad taste in some peoples’ mouths because their excuse for lending is 1) just fulfilling the country’s requirement as a member of the IMF and 2) self-serving. It seems as long as overseas foreign workers (OFWs) can send money, the government doesn’t have to worry about creating jobs at home.

Yes, bailing out countries in Europe that are in financial crisis will also help Filipino OFWs in Europe keep their jobs as well; however, it is not sustainable because we are not in control of how these countries will spend the funds provided to them. If they do not spend it wisely, the OFWs can also end up unemployed and become our government’s problem.

This brings us to the bottom-line. Whatever achievements BS Aquino might enumerate during his SONA, we should all take note of how he is going to address the lack of jobs in the country. He might talk about how the Philippine economy had grown by a surprising 6.4% in the 1st quarter of 2012, but at the end of the day the effects of that haven’t translated to prosperity for the rest of the public because it is partly a result of increased government spending, which is again unsustainable. And as pointed out before, economic growth rates are usually offset by population growth rates.

At the rate the population is growing, the pressure is on to keep the economy growing. One way to keep the economy growing is to create more jobs for the people. This will move more people out of poverty. The government’s CCT program will not be enough to increase the number of people who can spend and stimulate the economy but providing permanent jobs can do that. It’s too bad that a few weeks before his SONA, Ford Philippines announced it would “shut down its vehicle assembly operations in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, by yearend due mainly to lack of a broad supply base and economies of scale. The closure will result in the loss of 250 jobs.” Now that’s 250 people who will not get the same benefits from any local employers.

Think tank Ibon Foundation Inc. claims that the Aquino government failed to create quality jobs for Filipinos and its efforts to lick poverty continued to be insufficient.

Ibon said the country continues to have a jobs crisis, which saw the total number of unemployed and underemployed Filipinos has increased by 780,000 in the last two years to 11.7 million in April 2012 from 10.9 million in April 2010. As of April 2012, there were 4.4 million unemployed and 7.3 million underemployed Filipinos.

I wonder how the president will address that in his SONA? It might be too much to expect BS Aquino to address the real issues facing the country today but we can expect more “wang-wang” statements though.

Future Chief Justice: Leila De Lima can still rescue Hacienda Luisita from the Filipino peasantry

July 2, 2012

by benign0

It’s the cop out of choice of Filipinos. God made me do it. Current Philippine Justice Secretary Leila De Lima reportedly “agonized” over the decision on whether or not to accept her nomination to the seat of the Supreme Court Chief Justice. According to her, she spoke to Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III twice — the first time he told her that he “would rather keep her in the Department of Justice (DOJ) so she may follow through on the programs she started,” and the second time the President indicated that he would respect her decision if she decided to accept the nomination.

Ultimately, as it turns out, it wasn’t really up to De Lima after all…

She prayed hard for it, and got her answer — to give it a shot

Like boss, like minion. Recall too that President BS Aquino also decided to accede to “insistent public demand” that he give the presidency a shot after he came out of some sort of prayer “retreat”. Then again, prayer is a subjective activity. Who’s to know that in the midst of such an activity that it is really your own voice that you are hearing in your head and your own personal biases confirming your own thoughts.

Holy conflict of interest Batman!

How different is an assertion that “My prayers were answered!” from claiming the imagined self-evidence of one’s own good looks? Obviously that irony is lost on the sort of people who adamantly attest to their own blessedness before God’s eyes.

Fortunately in the age of ready-access to digital information, one need not go far for insight on the sort of person Leila De Lima is and what seems to be a bizarre personal contempt for the Supreme Court that she harbours. Our own Leila De Lima archive is one such treasure trove of information. Any argument against a character like De Lima becoming the top magistrate of the land stems from a single act of defiance she perpetrated a short time back in late-2011 when her office violated the civil rights of former President Gloria by barring her from travelling abroad without any legal basis.

And following that, De Lima also defied a subsequent order issued by the Supreme Court to desist from enforcing that travel ban on Arroyo. The effects of such outrageous acts by a top officer of the law such as De Lima still ripple across Philippine society and the precise nature of its ultimate impact on modern governance and the stability of the country still remain uncertain. To actually consider such a character for the post of Chief Justice is laughable at best. Then again, this is the Philippines.

The common denominator, it seems, is the endurance in the Philippines of a very Medieval regard for the source of political power…

The uproar over the uncharged and unconvicted former President Arroyo’s being prevented from leaving the country for medical treatment has finally shaken at least a part of this country out of its torpor to realize there is something very undemocratic and very wrong with the way High Chancellor Sutler President Aquino is discharging his office. But the woeful “State of the Nation” described by former Senator Ernesto M. Maceda last week on the occasion of Pee-noy’s 500th day in office didn’t just happen overnight. Everyone should have seen what was coming when Aquino coyly suggested – almost before his mother’s corpse had a chance to cool off – that his presidency would be ordained by God.

Back in the old days, monarchs depended on God — or more specifically — his very mortal representatives in the Holy Roman clergy to keep their peasants and underlords beholden to their crowns. It was common — no, essential form — for a bishop to be the last person to touch a crown before it is laid upon the head of a newly-ascended king for the first time. So this whole business with answered prayers and post-retreat epiphanies are, indeed, very effective in the woefully backward society that is the Philippines.

Suffice to say, no Medieval king was truly “good” in the modern sense despite these quaint symbols of divine endorsement. They ruled by the sword and taxed their subjects to wretchedness in order to wage wars fueled by their vanities and family squabbles. The Philippines is a modern-day analogue of these old Medieval dynamics that Europe had long since painfully extricated itself from. At the centre of President BS Aquino’s singular campaign to purge the country of the legacy of his predecessor’s rule is his clan’s family jewels, the vast Hacienda Luisita estate — a fiefdom that all but defines the Second Aquino Administration…

The fate of control over the vast estate by the Aquino-Cojuangco clan in the face of deadlines to fully implement the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by 2014 presents what could be the single biggest plausible motivation for the massively-funded engineering of a Second Aquino Administration from 2009 to 2010. Noynoy, being the culmination of that investment, is unfortunately living his worst nightmare — finding himself face-to-face with a monumental roadblock to his singular mission as President: Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona who was appointed at the eleventh hour by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Well, half of the roadblock is gone. Former Chief Justice Corona had since been removed from office in a political extravaganza that took up more than six months of the already stunted attention span of the Filipino. The trouble is, the CARPing of Hacienda Luisita is already well underway, its inititiation approved by the Supreme Court in the midst of Corona’s impeachment trial.

As President BS Aquino’s top commander in the crusade to save the Holy Land — in this case, Hacienda Luisita — from the infidels, Leila De Lima still has a job to do in the remaining two years before the 2014 deadline mandated by the law as the deadest deadline for the full implementation of the CARP. She just needs her bum to warm that coveted seat in the Philippines’ highest court.

An alternative personification of the Pinoy: the spoiled brat

July 1, 2012

by FallenAngel

The symbol for the Filipino everyman is called Juan de la Cruz. In that essence, it is similar to the way Americans use John Doe to refer to people whose identity is unknown. Juan de la Cruz is also particularly used in the sense that it a very common name here in the Philippines. He is usually depicted wearing a salakot, a Barong Tagalog, long pants, and native slippers.

There is also yet another personification for the Pinoy. This one is less flattering.Juan Tamad (John the Lazy) is depicted as a guy who is waiting for the fruit to fall from the tree instead of climbing up to get it. This is analogous in the way that Pinoys are stereotyped as being too lazy to get off their bums and start working. In fact, if you remember the Noynoying fad, that itself is an extension of Juan Tamad. Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) has been described as a do-nothing president. Juan Tamad plus Noynoy Aquino equals Noynoying!

If you look at recent events, though, you may be able to find yet another aspect of the Filipino psyche that is equally disconcerting and even more disturbing. We may not realize it, but we may have all acted like one of these at one time or another. Definitely we can see that many of our politicians and the showbiz celebrities we watch on television exhibit the behavior of one of these.

The term itself is not particularly difficult nor is it technical psychological mumbo-jumbo. The behavior I’m highlighting here is that of the spoiled brat.

A spoiled brat is someone, usually a child, who exhibits behavioral problems due to overindulgence by parental or role model figures. They are usually described as “overindulged”, “narcissistic”, or “egocentric”. The “spoiled brat syndrome” is characterized by “excessive, self-centered, and immature behavior”. It includes lack of consideration for other people, recurrent temper tantrums, an inability to handle the delay of gratification, demands for having one’s own way, obstructive behavior, and manipulation.

Possible causes of “spoiled brat syndrome” include:

1) The failure of parents to enforce consistent, age-appropriate limits;

2) The shielding of children by the parents from normal everyday frustrations;

3) The provision of excessive material gifts even when the child has not behaved properly;

4) Improper role models provided by parents

There are even a few local terms that are rough equivalents to this. The more familiar one to us can be found in the lyrics of Mike Hanopol’s song:

Laki sa layaw, laki sa layaw, jeproks!

The other one that may be less familiar is the idiomatic expression “mahaba ang buntot”, literally someone who possesses a long tail.

Now that we’ve defined what a spoiled brat is, and what it does, let’s provide a few examples, particularly those in our local setting. Recent news easily provides us with two (2).

The first instance in recent news comes from none other than Ruffa Gutierrez. For those following TV5, Ms. Gutierrez has formally left the cast of the show “Paparazzi” after an incident occurred during her birthday celebration with the show. In this show, there is a section called “Bulong ng Palad” where the hosts take turns whispering a question, usually naughty, to the guest, who afterwards answers it out loud. Since it was her birthday celebration, Ruffa was the guest, and the hosts were Cristy Fermin, Zoren Legaspi, Mr. Fu, and guest co-host Mariel Rodriguez.

Ruffa received a set of questions the answers to which were all men previously linked to her: Aga Muhlach, Zoren Legaspi, and Mariel’s husband Robin Padilla. Of course, Ruffa appeared uncomfortable with it. She even had the following things to say on Twitter after the whole thing was over:

”Binastos ako ng #Paparazzi on my birthday. I’m so sorry but THE BUZZ would never do this to me. EVER!”

“From this day on, I will no longer be part of Paparazzi. I will never tolerate DISRESPECT in any form done to me, to my children or to my beloved viewers.”

“I refuse to be part of trashy reporting that degrades people or shames others. #Paparazzi”

Call me naive, but if you’re a showbiz personality, you should expect to be the subject of intrigue, all the time. This is true, especially in a place like the Philippines where tsismis is the national pastime. While I don’t condone what the show does, nor do I take its side, Ruffa’s tirade has spoiled brat written all over it. Having a palengkera mother certainly didn’t help to curb that behavior, either. How does it feel like being on the other side of the hosts’ table? Ruffa certainly had no qualms about doing such “degrading reportage” to other celebrities, but she felt entitled to be immune from it? Seriously, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

The second instance comes from local politics, naturally. Koko Pimentel’s huffing and puffing about Juan Miguel Zubiri being in the United Nationalist Alliance ultimately led to his departure from that political coalition. According to him, he couldn’t stand to be in the same party with the man whom he blames for “denying him of his rightful place in the Senate”. Never mind that the allegations against Zubiri, also initiated by Pimentel, were never proven; Koko put his pride first before everything else, especially serving the country. Not surprising, though; nobody loses fair-and-square in the Philippines, they just get cheated. In addition, they whine and cry about it like spoiled brats, but never do anything to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

The aftermath was even more dramatic. Count on the ever pakialamero men in cloth to issue statements about Pimentel’s move “being principled” and “a sign of protest against cheats”. I mean, whatever. It’s hard to believe such a statement coming from an irrelevant and antiquated institution that refuses to be progressive in their ideas. RH Bill, anyone?

Then finally, look who is coming to the rescue of the drowning partyless Koko? This person is none other than the most prominent spoiled brat in the country, who happens to be the highest ranking government official, Benigno Simeon (BS) Aquino III. Presidential spokeperson Ronald Llamas announced that the LP would “graciously welcome” him. Even the Philippine Daily Inquirer termed the potential alliance as the coming together of a man who has declared war on corruption and a man who cannot stand alongside an “election cheater”. Yes, you know what they say about birds of the same feather. Again, the cheating was never proven, only alleged. Of course, it has remained vague as to whether Koko Pimentel was really against the cheating, or against Zubiri, who happens to be associated with the Arroyos?

That’s the thing here in the Philippines: people have not graduated from wrapping their discussions around people and have not proceeded to making people believe in ideas.

The Philippines itself is a spoiled-brat nation. We were under the care of our surrogate father Uncle Sam for more than 40 years, and he laid the groundwork for what amounts to infrastructure here in the Philippines. From him came our national obsession, basketball, as well as the exposure to and obsession with all things Western. Yet how do we act towards him now? We blame him for everything gone wrong with our country but refuse to accept that we copied poorly and without thinking. We throw temper tantrums at our surrogate father in the name of nationalism, but come crying to him as soon as any neighborhood power flexes her muscle. In the most recent case, it happened to be China. PNoy has never been good at diplomacy, and the whole nation suffers because of it. This whole incident with the Scarborough Shoal could have been resolved sooner had the Philippines not come out playing the victim card.

Underneath it all, the Pinoy ego has come to the forefront yet again. We have been repeating here ad nauseam about the warped, distorted, and bloated self-centered behavior of the Pinoys. Our sense of entitlement and tendency towards victim mentality has graduated from ridiculous to irritating. We refuse to accept that the world does not revolve around us; that we are not the greatest people in the world. We do not take rejection very well; we have a bloated ego but a very hypersensitive one.

Name at least one collective achievement of the Filipino people; no, Manny Pacquiao, Charice, Arnel Pineda don’t count. And hell no, Cory Aquino and her two bratty offspring don’t either.

If there is any hope left for the Philippines to progress, the attitude of its people has to change first. First and foremost, we need to let go of being a spoiled brat and adapt to the rest of the world. We need to let go of our pettiness and focus on the bigger picture. Then we must prove to the world that we can come up with a collective accomplishment. Only then can we ascend to a higher place in the global arena than the one we currently occupy now.

It’s not too late; it’s never too late, but it’s not painless.