Alleba Politics

contributed by Ryan Maboloc

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should be happy that the most insensitive and the most stupid government in the world exists not in the Philippines but in Myanmar.

The decision of the military junta in a country of 47 million impoverished people defies all laws of logic. It renders the meaning of human dignity useless and buries the hope of the Burmese people more than a thousand miles beneath the core of the earth.

While tens of thousands are dead and a million people are homeless and are at-risk of losing their lives from diseases, the junta chose to continue with holding a constitutional referendum, which reports say guarantees a quarter of parliamentary seats to the military. “It is not important”, claims one man, who says that he is more concerned about where he will get his next meal.

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Once again, this country is in a crisis. The Arroyo administration is faced with the task of deciding on the fate of the so-called Magdalo mutineers. Now that the mutineers have been convicted, the palace, probably hoping to gain favors, is looking at pardoning the mutineers.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Editorial “Tough Decision” opposes the pardon of the mutineers:

But there’s no getting away from the reality, indeed the enormity, of what they did in July 2003. Some of the country’s most elite soldiers, with top-of-the-line equipment and superior training, rose in arms against the duly constituted authority and took over a luxury high-rise in the middle of the country’s prime business district. Regardless of the justness of some of their demands, their mutiny cannot be countenanced. Their kind of adventurism must be punished—or else it will erupt again.

Twice in the past two years the country came under threat from the same kind of military adventurism. Perhaps the inordinate length of the trial of the Magdalo soldiers may have been an additional factor in encouraging the latest adventurism—which is all the more reason then to uphold the court’s convictions. Behavior, psychologists will remind us, is reinforcement.

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The Philippine Daily Inquirer Editorial today describes MMDA’s current campaign for “beautification” as “Ugly.” It points out the complaints that Bayani Fernando is clearly politicking by dressing up the entire Metro with posters prominently displaying his face and name:

No one can be so naive as to believe this is nothing more than a campaign to educate citizens. It has politics written all over it, just like Fernando’s long-running radio ads on a similar theme. All are plainly political propaganda intended for Fernando’s self-promotion. And he is doing it all at taxpayers’ expense.

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After braving a journey from Bukidnon to Malacañang to reclaim their land, the Sumilao farmers have finally reached a settlement with San Miguel Corporation. 50 hectares will be given to the farmers, while San Miguel will acquire 94 hectares else where.

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by Ryan Maboloc

The continuing saga of the ZTE controversy reveals something not so extra-ordinary in Philippine political culture and that is, that the lives of poor Filipinos are controlled by “a few good men”. Sad to say, but this sin against democracy is embedded in our culture, beginning in the early 19th century, with many of its victims now enshrined as national heroes, i.e. Andres Bonifacio, the GOMBURZA, Ninoy Aquino, etc. Democracy is supposed to be about “the governed governing themselves”. Alas, right now it simply is about being governed by the chosen few. There’s a boss, and he has his men. This reminds me of “The Godfather”. Michael, Vito Corleone’s son, after ascending to the throne, is keen about eliminating one savvy enemy in the business. The “family” lawyer, playing it safe, says that it would be very difficult. Michael now turns to the consigliere, who quips, “difficult, but not impossible”. Whatever the boss wishes, he gets!

Filipinos need to grow up. What is happening now is all about “the family”. Whether it’s the most powerful of all nations, the church, a city, or any decent institution - there is a small circle who decides for the governed. A former student of mine, as a feedback to the stuff I have been writing, calls them aptly, “the powers that be”. “The family” is the greatest threat to liberal equality. This is the one and single reason why the poor remains poor, the destitute remains voiceless, and the worker still suffers from a kind of confusion, “whether his life is about his career or whether his career is his life”. Because of the president’s men, he neither has one. As Thomas Nagel says, “we do not live in a just world”.

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The Senate has issued subpoenas to members of the “Greedy Group.” The “Greedy Group” is composed of the alleged brokers of the controversial NBN Deal. The group is composed of COMELEC Chairperson Benjamin Abalos, retired general Quirino “Torch” Dela Torre, Leo San Miguel, and Ruben Reyes.

Abalos, the most prominent or notorious among the group, has been embroiled in countless controversies, scams, and issues as COMELEC Commissioner. Notable of which are his involvement in the “Hello Garci” scandal, and the NBN Deal. And yes, there was an official impeachment complaint against him.

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It has been reported that the Justice Department led by Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. is now studying the statements made during last Friday’s inter-faith rally for the possibility of charging speakers of sedition.

Articles 139 of Title 3, Chapter One of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines states…

Art. 139. Sedition; How committed. — The crime of sedition is committed by persons who rise publicly and tumultuously in order to attain by force, intimidation, or by other means outside of legal methods, any of the following objects:

1. To prevent the promulgation or execution of any law or the holding of any popular election;

2. To prevent the National Government, or any provincial or municipal government or any public officer thereof from freely exercising its or his functions, or prevent the execution of any administrative order;

3. To inflict any act of hate or revenge upon the person or property of any public officer or employee;

4. To commit, for any political or social end, any act of hate or revenge against private persons or any social class; and

5. To despoil, for any political or social end, any person, municipality or province, or the National Government, of all its property or any part thereof.

If so, I think Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband, and allies are more guilty of numbers 1, 2, and 5 than the Makati rally speakers.

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Full Text of the CBCP Pastoral Statement on Truth And Integrity

I received this forwarded email by Ryan Maboloc, a 32-year old Filipino currently taking up Masters in Applied Socio-Political Ethics in Sweden:

From a descriptive point of view, Mr. Hadji Balahadja’s analysis of Philippine politics (The Call for Social Democracy) is right. There is corruption in government, bad leadership, the same genes are in power, etc. From a prescriptive point of view, I think the solution lies somewhere else. Not in politics. Not even in changing the system of government. Democracy is only instrumental to people’s freedom; it is not freedom in itself. Democracy, at best, in the way it is practiced in the Philippines, in our dear country, secures only, through mass protests, the negative rights of people, i.e. freedom from an oppressive government, freedom from corruption, freedom from violence, etc. But, at the end of the day, when JDV wakes up in the morning, when GMA reads “There’s the Rub” in the Inquirer, still, they’ll be sitting in their verandas, their coffees served in imported porcelain, and mind you, they won’t even touch their salamis. Now, the same is true to some wanna-be-heroes, i.e., businessmen, priests, professionals, the so-called civil society. But the real issue is, if you know where and what, is the fact that the common tao will wake up thinkin’ “unsa ug asa ko mangita ug pamahaw para sa akong lima ka anak?”.

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As a lame attempt to respond to the CBCP Pastoral Letter, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has formed a team to scrap EO 464.

According to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the team will be composed of

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol, Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, the deputy executive secretary for legal affairs and the head of the government corporate counsel.

They will meet this afternoon to “study” the scrapping of EO 464.

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