Vice President Noli de Castro admits government housing program failed

The hourly TV ads telling everyone to avail of housing loans from Pag-IBIG Fund have another purpose apart from displaying the mug of Vice President Noli De Castro. That is to hide the massive failure of the government's housing program, a task given to De Castro who sits as the Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

If you didn't know, the HUDCC is comprised of the heads of Key Shelter Agencies (KSAs), namely: the National Housing Authority (NHA), the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC), the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (HGC), and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB); The Heads of three (3) funding agencies, namely: the Social Security System (SSS), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF); The Heads of seven (7) government support agencies, which include the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA); and Two (2) private sector representatives from Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and private developers.

As HUDCC Chairman, Vice President Noli De Castro has the complete run of everything that has to do with providing homes for the poor as well as providing low income families with a means to avail home loans. He has the financing agencies to fund the housing projects and he has the implementing arms of housing programs as well. With massive powers at his disposal, one wonders why a large number of working people still do not own their own homes.

Today, Senator Richard J. Gordon (Ind.) was led to conclude that the government has terribly failed to implement an effective housing policy. This, apparently, resulted in alleged housing-loan auction anomaly currently being investigated in the Senate.

Vice President Noli de Castro himself admitted that the housing program is a failure under the unified housing loan program.

Gordon laid bare the state of the government's housing program, saying that “The record is very clear. You lend money and people do not pay under a unified housing scheme. If it is not a success, if it is not paying then you are depriving the government. Pinapabayaan natin na hindi makabayad ang mga taong ito. Hindi nababawi ang capital, hindi napapaikot para makapagpautang pa sa mas maraming tao. Ilan lang ang nagpapasasa dun sa pinahihiram ninyong bahay. Iyan ang nakikita kong sitwasyon dito.

“That is why I consider the housing policy of the government an abysmal failure. Mabuti nakita ngayon na malaki pala ang bukol (housing loan problem) na ito, lalaki pa ang bukol na ito, magiging cancer, eventually malulugi tayo. That is why walang nangyayari sa pabahay natin.”

Gordon also cited that the housing programs of by-gone years had proven to be more successful.

“In the 1950’s, in the 1930’s, gumawa ang gobyerno ng mga Roxas District, Quezon City, Quirino District, Pandacan, Project 1 to 8. Mukhang nakabayad lahat iyan. That is a successful housing program.

“Ngayon, nagpapautang tayo, meron pa tayong socialized housing, merong low-cost housing pero hindi tayo makasingil. Something is wrong with the housing policy. We have to have a better policy and you in the executive should give us better policies here.”

The blue ribbon panel and the committee on urban planning, housing and resettlement are jointly conducting a further review of a joint-venture deal between the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporations (NHMFC) and Deutsche Bank Real Estate Global Opportunities (Global) amid concerns over violations in the auction of delinquent loans affecting 53,000 families listed as beneficiaries of a government-backed housing program.

But, why am I picking on this bit of news? Ask me where the Blue Ribbon investigation will lead to? Ask me, which real estate corporation earns BILLIONS from government housing loans and home loans from Pag-IBIG Fund? Ask me about the Wednesday Club!

ABS-CBN and GMA 7 should stop accepting ad money from Presidentiables

If ABS-CBN and GMA7 really want to help the people make smart choices in the 2010 polls, they should do the following stop accepting TV and Radio ad placements from recognized or even rumored Presidential candidates. In fact, make it a policy not to accept money for airing TV and radio commercials that have political personalities in them.

This will really make their campaigns for Boto Mo, I-Patrol mo or whatever bullshit it is they are advertising REALLY mean

something more than a self-patronizing and self-aggrandizing play at showing everyone that they

"good" companies.

Huwag na tayong magbalat kayo at magkunwari na walang agenda ang mga news media. Halatang-halata naman eh.

Noli de Castro for President, Ronnie Puno for Vice

As things are shaping up, it looks like the emerging Lakas-Kampi super party might field DILG Secretary Ronaldo "Ronnie" Puno as its Vice Presidential candidate and current Vice President Noli De Castro as its Presidential candidate.

Following the route of incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,would be a great tact for Puno if he's aiming to succeed Noli WHEN his Presidency flails and his term gets cut short.  Puno would then take over the Presidency and, still following President Gloria's steps, rule the country for about 10 years.

Then again, just think about it and you'll see that there is a real possibility that Vice President Noli De Castro may just win.

But what has Vice President Noli really shown the people in terms of real leadership?

Appearing on television in the Pag-IBIG TV commercials (bought and paid for by the members of Pag-IBIG Fund, most of whom still do not have their own homes) is one thing, but leading a country is a whole other thing.

And would we really want to have the fair haired boy of the Lopezes to have full control over the highest office in the land?

Think about it.  It's not Noli Boy who will hold reign over the power of Malacanang, it will be the Lopezes.

They already own Meralco which supplies electricity and Maynilad which supplies water.  Just try to imagine what they'll own next.

Your mind?  You may not be aware of it, but they already do.  Wowowee, endless melodramas, and  showbiz talk showsl have all but completely addled the already atrophied intellect of the masses that partonize their TV shows.

I wonder if we really have a choice in the 2010 elections.  I wonder if what the Merovingian in Matrix says is true: Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without.

Vote for a VET

Just today, I read that the administration is supporting Gilbert Teodoro as its Presidential bet for 2010.

Surveys have Noli De Castro in the lead followed by others like Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero and Erap.

It seems powerful and moneyed forces are trying to make up our minds for us.

Perhaps, apart from values, our choice of who we will vote for as President reflects how we see our country and the situation we are in.

When we vote, we are not voting just for ourselves, we are voting for someone who will do what is right for the common good. We are in dire straits.

In two or three years, we will begin to feel the real effect of the global financial crisis.

Corruption is everywhere. Crime is being perpetrated in broad daylight. Both the corrupt and the criminal are unafraid of law enforcers and judges. They know they can get away with it and this makes them bolder, more brazen.

Disasters. We get hit by 20 typhoons, at the very least, every year. Yet every year, we see nothing being done to stop the cycle of disaster and poverty. The same people who got hit by a typhoons last year are the same people who will get hit by typhoons this year. Those whose possessions got swept away by floods will the same ones whose possession will get swept away by floods this year. Fire? Where else but in the Philippines does the declaration of a Fire Month result in more fires than in any other time of the year.

Our people are either unemployed or trying to make ends meet with a job they are overqualified for. But that's nothing new and what is new is the ends to which desperation brings our countrymen. Afghanistan. Iraq. Name a place where there is a very high risk of getting killed, you'll find Filipinos working there.

Our education system is in shambles and it has been that way since time immemorial.

And those who are tired of this ought not to get sick as well. If you're poor, just waiting for treatment and medicines will bring you closer to the grave.

So, who do you vote for as President given these circumstances?

Young guns like Chiz Escudero and Gilbert Teodoro?

TV personalities like Noli De Castro and Loren Legarda? How about Manny Villar?

How about Mar Roxas or former President Joseph Estrada?

Or are you going to think and look for someone who has actual experience in lifing people out of desparate situations?

Do you think you need someone who has a track record for following through every commitment he has made?

Do you think we need someone with a clear vision for what ought to be done for this country at a time of crisis?

His name is Dick Gordon.

He turned Olongapo from Sin City to Model City.

He turned Subic from wasteland into a haven for tourism and investment.

He turned Philippine tourism from a lackluster department to the brightest beacon in the economy, with 2 million foreign tourists coming to the Philippines in 2003 from a low of just 900,000 in 2000.

As Senator, he authored, pushed for the enactment, and implementation of RA 9369 or the amended AUTOMATION LAW. This is the reason why we will have automated elections in 2010, no more hello garci. He now heads the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

In his committee report on the P732 Million Fertilizer Fund Scam he implicated President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, recommended plunder charges against Bolante and others, and filed 7 bills to plug up loop holes in the laws exploited by the group he referred to as a pack of wolves.

If you want the country to get through these dire straits, look for someone who knows how to navigate treacherous waters and who knows where to go.

In 2010, don't look for a good candidate. Look for a good leader. That's Dick Gordon.

Making change happen since 1971.

For shame, will it be Philippine politics as usual in 2010?

Perhaps, the only other thing that can save us at this point from Philippine politics as usual in 2010 is if the news media abandons its penchant for horse race chronologies and encourage more debate among the Presidential candidates about the difficult problems confronting our nation today.

Granted that the greatest problem we have or have had for as long as anyone can remember is poverty.

Let's ask Manny Villar how many people he has lifted out of poverty. Sure, we all love seeing him holding an obviously drugged duck as much as we loved seeing Mar Roxas holding bangus by the tail with his thumb and forefinger. But what of it? Is there any truth to his advertising? Does he really know the duck raiser he is seen with? Was the duck raiser given a talent fee?

Moreover, let's ask Villar, how many OFWs has he really helped out. Is it more than five? Ten? Twenty?

Let's ask why Mar Roxas raised a howl over cap and not other pre-need firms. Sure he is offering lawyers NOW, but what did he do then? Did he help out sans publicity?

How about Noli De Castro. What about him? Well, it's one thing to take credit for something you didn't do and another to use other people's money to brag about it.

Pag-IBIG Fund and the billions of pesos it has all belong to the people who contribute to it. Doesn't it sicken you to have this former TV broadcaster going around and claiming or insinuating to claim that he has made Pag-IBIG Fund perform better? Hello! That's largely the work of one Miro Quimbo, the President and CEO of Pag-IBIG Fund.

The other thing that perhaps will save us from Philippine politics as usual in 2010 has already commenced and it is the AUTOMATION of the 2010 POLLS.

This is more than just a claim of helping people in need. This not an advertisement. This is REAL CHANGE brought to you by the same man who brought you Olongapo City and Subic.

How many people has he helped?

In Olongapo alone, count the entire population from the time that he became mayor to the present.

In Subic? Their names are engraved in stone, all 8,000 volunteers who stood up to 'Preserve, Protect, and Prosper'. You can add another 80,000 for all those who got jobs when Gordon successfully made Subic into a major tourism and investment hub NOT JUST in the Philippines but in the WHOLE OF ASIA.

Tourism? By the end of his term as tourism secretary, he successfully brought in 2,000,000 tourists a year in 2003. Every foreign tourist coming to the Philippines supports the job of at least 10 Filipinos. Do the math.

As Philippine National Red Cross Chairman? He started out as a Red Cross volunteer when he was 17 and we have no way of listing down all the people he has helped. But just recently, he was able to build 15,000 homes in a span of three years for victims of several typhoons. Name a disaster and he has surely played some part in helping victims out.

Remember typhoon Frank? He was all over Iloilo and other other provinces, delivering high capacity water sanitation equipment, medicine, food, doctors, nurses, and a whole lot of other stuff people will need to survive.

If you want a list of all the disasters he has helped people out of, I can furnish you a list and its quite long. Just post you e-mail address in the comment section.

The question you really have to ask is this: Does this country need a great Presidential Candidate or a Great Leader?

If you want a Great candidate, any of the moneyed and popular aspirants will do.

If you want a Great Leader, there is only DICK GORDON.

Abu Sayyaf wants survey frontrunner VP Noli De Castro to negotiate for release of ICRC hostages

It would be a mistake for Vice President Noli De Castro to agree to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf Group for the release of the three ICRC workers they are holding hostage in Sulu.

The Abu Sayyaf group are mere bandits and if De Castro makes the mistake of agreeing to negotiate with them, he will only encourage and embolden these bandits to continue their kidnap for ransom activities.

That's all I have to say about this piece of news.

Abu Sayyaf want De Castro in talks

Veep close to Arroyo, say Sulu abductors
By Arlyn dela Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:06:00 02/04/2009

MANILA, Philippines—The kidnappers of the three aid workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are ready to negotiate for the release of their captives and want Vice President Noli de Castro to lead the talks.

Albader Parad, a commander of the Abu Sayyaf, told this reporter on the phone on Monday night that he and his comrades were holding Andreas Notter of Switzerland, Eugenio Vagni of Italy and Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines—the first time it was confirmed that the bandit group was behind the Jan. 15 kidnapping.

To prove his statement, Parad said in Filipino: “You want to speak to the three? They’re here beside me,” and passed the phone first to Notter and then to Lacaba.

Notter and Lacaba said they were in good condition. But this reporter was unable to speak with Vagni because the phone signal turned weak when it was his turn.

Parad named nine other persons as part of what appeared to be a negotiating “entourage” to be led by De Castro: Sen. Richard Gordon, the ambassadors of Switzerland, Italy and Qatar, Rep. Mujib Hataman, Assemblyman Hatimil Hassan, lawyer Muktan Suhaili, Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan and Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Anne Sahidullah.

He said that while he was the physical custodian of the captives, other Abu Sayyaf leaders would be present at the negotiation, including the current amir, Radhullan Sahiron, and the other top commanders, Abu Jurdain (also known as Dr. Abu) and Isnilon Hapilon.

Asked why his group wanted De Castro as the government’s chief negotiator, Parad said simply: “Isn’t he the official closest to the President? He can tell her the assistance that we want.”

“Why not ask for President Macapagal-Arroyo if it’s her help that you want?” this reporter asked.

Parad replied: “Why, does the President go to Sulu, or to the mountains? Noli has gone to the mountains and knows the terrain.”

In 2000, De Castro played a role in the negotiation for the release of women and children snatched by the Abu Sayyaf from an elementary school in Basilan and dragged to Puno Mahadji. He was instrumental in the release of some of the captives.

Search for the Lakas party standard bearer -- down to four!

The Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) party gained prominence during the administration of former President Fidel Ramos. Some would argue that the party continues to hold influence today. Some would argue that, as with most parties whose highest leader is no longer in President, it has already faded and is now merely trying to show signs of life.

Becoming the standard bearer of Lakas CMD is by no means a small thing, certainly. But perhaps it will be more of a psychological advantage, more than anything.

Lakas shortlists 4 for standard bearer
By Christine Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:32:00 02/01/2009

MANILA, Philippines -- As President Macapagal Arroyo’s allies in Lakas and Kampi move to merge for the 2010 elections, Lakas officials have narrowed down to four its choices for possible standard bearer in the 2010 presidential election.

The four are "all perceived to be presidentiables" and "included a lady," according to Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who is also Lakas secretary general.

Zubiri declined to identify the four persons now in the Lakas shortlist for possible presidential candidate.

"We don’t want to expose our hand…it’s too early," Zubiri told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview on Sunday.

Aside from indicating that one of the four was a woman, he said one of them also was a "home-grown talent" and "maybe a dark horse."

Zubiri said that the four were chosen from a shortlist of 10 possible candidates by Lakas officials led by party emeritus chair, former President Fidel Ramos, during the party’s executive committee meeting held at the Holiday Inn Resort in Clark Field in Pampanga, last week.

President Arroyo attended the meeting but did not stay long enough to participate in the group’s discussion on the presidential shortlist, Zubiri said.

Indeed, he said President Arroyo "may take a backseat in the choice of the presidential candidate so that she could concentrate on her work, especially the crisis the country is facing."

"Once Lakas and Kampi get together, we can make our own decisions…and eventually we will present to the President the possible candidate," the senator said.

In the meeting last week, President Arroyo said the two parties should "fight side by side" in the 2010 elections and sought for the merger of Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi).

Ms Arroyo is both Lakas incumbent national chair and Kampi’s founder.

Prior to the Lakas executive committee meeting, Lakas members had been mentioning as possible presidential bet Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr., Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando, Senator Richard Gordon, and Vice President Noli de Castro.

Zubiri said the session where Lakas officials considered the party’s choices for standard bearer became a "free" discussion as "we got the sentiments of our colleagues."

"There were those who lobbied for their candidate and others who questioned these candidates," he said.

In the end, Zubiri said the four choices passed the four-point criteria that were set by presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio in the party’s search for its standard bearer.

Among the criteria were the candidate’s “winnability” and if he or she would be able "to gel with party principles," Zubiri said.

Zubiri said that the four choices would undergo a "series of interviews and consultations" and described the process to be an "exciting" one as the party intended to follow the "US presidential style" in finally choosing its two final candidates.

He said that Lakas officials agreed they would have to pick its presidential bet before June.

"We may have a standard bearer by May," the Senate majority leader said.

The party had not talked about a possible vice presidential candidate as its final choice would "depend on who will be our standard bearer," Zubiri also said.

He reiterated that the 2010 presidential election would not be a battle between the administration and the opposition but a battle among "party-backed candidates," since several from the administration and opposition camps have been mulling running in 2010.

Asked whether the Lakas-Kampi merger would signal that the Arroyo administration had shelved Charter change for good, Zubiri said he could only speak for his party and that it was a "consensus" among leaders of Lakas that the presidential election in 2010 should push through.

He made it clear that Charter change was not in the agenda nor was it discussed during the party leaders’ meeting last week.

"My personal opinion is that the people are so ready for the 2010 presidential election…Otherwise, they would get angry if no election is held," Zubiri said.

Does the Philippines have a leader like US President Barack Obama?

I've got two answers right now: No and maybe.

My answer is NO, because all the comparisons made between President Obama and any politician running for the Philippine Presidency is going to end up as a joke.

On one hand, I've heard enough jokes about Jojo Binay being a Philippine analogue to Obama. The idea is so revolting it's enough to make me snort squid ink and dance the Macarena in a bikini in the middle of EDSA at high noon.

On the other hand, can any of SWS Presidential Survey frontrunners lay a claim to being the bringer of hope and change? Of course they can! Silly! They can claim anything under the sun but will it do us any good to believe them?

My answer to 'Does the Philippines have a leader like Obama?' is also MAYBE, because there are still choices outside of the current crop of Presidential survey frontrunners.

I don't think money and popularity should be considered when making a choice for President. The only thing you have to think about is if the person presenting himself or herself as a Presidential candidate can do the job.

You can look at the Philippine Constitution and it lists the basic qualifications for a President. The qualifications aren't that hard to measure up to, because apparently all you have to do is to be born a Filipino and reach a certain age. This is both good and bad because it means anybody can be a President and that anybody can be an individual with exceptional qualities or it can be just the worst choice anybody can make.

In anycase, what a President actually does or what a President ought to do depends largely on the situation that the country is in.

It's not hard to figure out what kind of situation our country is in right now because we've been in the same situation for decades and most of our problems stem from this situation.

The situation is easily described with four words: The Philippines is poor.

The job, therefore, of the President (at least in my opinion) is to lead the country out of poverty.

Have any of the so-called frontrunners in Presidential surveys proven that they can lead people out of poverty?

How many people has Senator Manny Villar helped out of poverty? How about Noli De Castro? Loren? Lacson? Bayani Fernando? Mar Roxas?

Obama in the Philippines

I missed the live TV coverage of President Barack Obama's Inauguration last night.

After waiting around two hours for it (switching between CNN, Fox, and BBC), I found myself fighting vainly against what would become the irresistible pull of sleep.

I snored through the first black US President's inaugural address and now have to content myself with just reading the text of his speech.

It is a great speech and from the snippets being replayed on TV news, I can gather a sense of how truly thrilling his delivery was.

The question now on my mind is what this historic US Presidency will mean for the Philippines.

Being great at mimicking or aping whatever fad there is in the US, I am sure our own politicians will present us with their INNER OBAMA and certainly, they will find a way to make the masa lap it up or at least, make it seem that they are lapping it up.

Will the Philippine Presidential Elections in 2010 be like a talent show where the winner will be the candidate who can come up with the best imitation of Obama?

It was a joke then and still is now, but Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay referred to himself as the first Black Filipino Presidential candidate. He refered to himself as Jejoma and the joke got a few laughs before people got tired of it.

Other politicians who are eyeing the Philippine Presidency are trying to project an Obama-like image, with some blatantly claiming to represent change. From the top of my head I can cite at least Loren Legarda and her pagbabago TV Ad, Mar Roxas and his Oras na campaign (Our time has come), and perhaps even Chiz Escudero.

Survey frontrunners Vice President Noli de Castro and Senator Manny Villar haven't associated themselves or their looming candidacies with the message of change. De Castro is or was largely seen in TV ads hawking Pag-IBIG Fund (though it was unnecessary to spend tens of millions of pesos sourced from contributions of members on a tri-media campaign just to have his face all over the country). Villar crows about helping OFWs (about a few dozen out of the 8 million Filipinos that have sought employment abroad).

Bayani Fernando, the pink loving MMDA Chairman, was last seen on TV hanging on the barong sleeves of Former President Fidel Ramos. As to what this signifies is something that I have yet to decifer.

Former President Joseph Estrada is still peddling the idea of running again for the Presidency and it seems that this is gaining some traction in the surveys.

Given the way things are, I doubt if we will have a President like Obama with the way a great number of our people think about how the political game ought to be played.

Politics in the Philippines, for the most part, is not based on values or ideals but opportunism -- which some times is brazen and sometimes is well camouflaged as a sincere bid to help people out.

If there was someone among our politicians who is truly like Obama, I doubt if people will vote for him.

Filipinos in the Philippines love having it easy and having their way (even if it is the wrong way) about things. Filipinos here will vote for a politician depending on what they can get from the politician whether it's a few hundred pesos for voting for them or a job after they are elected or a fat government contract.

(More later, I have to give my kid a bath)

Supreme Court Chief Justice Puno as Philippine President?

Thank God he nixed it.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno turned down an offer to be a Presidential Candidate in 2010 and said that he would be content to be the catalyst for the creation of a "moral force" movement to help solve the country's problems rather than seek the presidency in next year’s elections.

Yesterday, Senator Panfilo Lacson was on DZMM saying that he would gladly step aside and abandon any Presidential ambition he had if Puno would run for the Presidency in 2010.

Puno, thanked Lacson for his endorsement but said:

"I don't want to be pretentious. I will be happy if I will just be a catalyst of this movement. I am willing to be one of the foot soldiers. But perhaps it may not be appropriate to take leadership while I am in the government acting as Chief Justice."

Fine, except for his use of the word 'pretentious' instead of the more correct 'presumptious'.

Nevertheless, what he said may be indicative of the Supreme Court Chief Justice's view of what will be best for the national interest. Perhaps he knows that it takes more than morality to lead a country as morality can always be questioned. Also, if you want strict morality in government, you'd be in the same basket as Islamic fundamentalist states -- think Afghanistan before the US invasion.

Perhaps, also, he saw through the political gimmick pawned and pumped through the media by Senator Lacson. After all, it was Lacson who donned the image of Mr. Clean when he ran against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after refusing to relinquish his Presidential bid in favor of supporting actor Fernando Poe Jr. The ploy (if it is a ploy) would have been aimed at making people remember what Lacson stands for -- anti-corruption, an end to criminality, etcetera.

This comes at the beginning of the year before the 2010 elections when Presidential Candidates (declared and undeclared) are now all trying to place themselves in the minds of people.

If the SWS survey results on choices for Presidential Candidates are to be believed, Lacson is fifth (with 14 percent drafting him as they choice for President) from pole position which is currently owned by Vice President Noli De Castro. Coming in second and third were Senators Loren Legarda and Manny Villar with 28 percent and 27 percent, respectively, followed by Senators Francis Escudero (19 percent), former President Joseph Estrada (11 percent), and Sen. Mar Roxas (10 percent).

Going back to Puno and the idea of a moral Presidency, Cory Aquino was the moral choice in governance, but the years that followed her rise to power proved that mere morality will not cure all that ails our government. It takes so much more.

We've had moral choices offered to us too in the 2004 elections. When Lacson ran in 2004, there were other moral choices including Raul Roco and Eddie Villanueva. The immoral choice was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the popular choice was Fernando Poe Jr., and the insane choice was Eddie Gil.

But were these choices really choices? Did they represent real options and real directions for governance?

I am not saying that morality has no place in politics, the romantic ideal of a benevolent and powerful leader still appeals to me. However, morality ALONE does not make for effective political leadership.

If you asked me, I'd rather go for a candidate with a track record for being a builder of new beginnings rather than one with an image of a destroyer or preserver of a status quo. I'd go for a candidate with a clear plan, a vision, for the country's future.

That's Dick Gordon.

Sure, he isn't in the surveys and the Pedestrian Observer may chide me -- as he or she already has for comparing Gordon with Obama.

Was it a story in the Bible or a often quoted phrase that says he who can be trusted with a portion, can be trusted with the whole.

Gordon began his political career as a Constitutional Convention delegate in 1971, the youngest ever to be elected. He had no political backing (which should have come from his mother, Amelia Gordon) and no funds, but he won and became the youngest delegate.

He didn't run for his own sake. He was actually part of the generation that led the First Quarter Storm and in the Con-Con, he opposed a term extension for then President Ferdinand Marcos. This was apart from introducing the idea of the Philippines sharing control over the US Naval base in Subic, which in those times was considered visionary.

He became Mayor of Olongapo and everybody knows about how his small town became a model for city governance. If New York City had Rudolf Giulliani, the Philippines had Richard 'Dick' Gordon in the very real sense of transforming a filthy and crime infested town into a model city that had color code jeepneys, effective neighborhood anti-crime patrols, a garbage collection and segregation system that was the first in the country, a good samaritan program where all the rich citizens of Olongapo generously gave to the needy, and other city programs that were emulated all over the country.

He became Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman. When he was put in charge of Subic, it was a wasteland with almost nothing in it. After a couple of years of hard work with no guarantees, he turned the former Naval base into what then President Ramos called a new engine for growth and a magnet for investment in industry and tourism.

He became Tourism Secretary with no promotion budget and all sorts of negative news about the Philippines. Instead of saying 'Kawawa naman tayo', he shouted 'Wow Philippines' in almost every major tourism marketing event there was and brought in a whopping 2 million tourists a year by the end of 2003-- straight up from less than 1 million a year in 2001.

Right now, he is a Senator who is known for a couple of important things --

He is the father of Automated Elections in 2010. He virtually dragged his colleagues at the Senate to amend the existing Automated Elections law to make it work and dragged a couple more people in the Comelec to make sure we will no longer have Hello Garci in 2010. He is working to make sure that every body's vote will be counted in the coming elections.

He is also the author of the Text for Change bill, a proposed law that will get 10 to 50 centavos out of every peso earned by Smart, Globe, and Sun and pour these funds into public education. At the current P 2 Billion text messages a day, this will generate as much as P70 Billion in funds that will be added to the budget for public education. This means an end to classroom and teacher shortages, better books, science and computer laboratories in all public schools, higher teacher salaries, free food all year round for students, free medical and dental services, and to top it all off, scholarships for 100,000 college students -- 10,000 of which will be sent abroad to study in Ivy League Universities.

A crazy Presidential ambition

IF SHE DOESN’T MAKE ICJ:
Sen Santiago running for president to ‘terrorize’ foes
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:50:00 06/27/2008

NEW YORK CITY -- If she is not elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she might run for president “just to put terror in the heart of my enemies.”

But if she does get a seat in ICJ, Santiago said she would resign as senator.

“I would have to resign [as senator] because the term [of an ICJ judge] will begin by about the first week of January and I would miss about one year of my term. So if that happens, I hope that the electorate will forgive me,” Santiago told reporters here at a reception for her candidacy on Thursday.

“If I don’t make it, then I’ll probably run for president of the Philippines. That is just to put terror in the heart of my enemies,” she said.

This reason for running for public office ranks next to Chavit Singson's "I am running for the Senate so that Jinggoy Estrada will have a sparring partner!" or something to that effect.

Brave and loud words which later got muffled by his resounding defeat in the 2007 polls.

When Miriam Defensor Santiago ran for President in 1992, I was one of the many college students that rallied behind her. We believed that she could succeed where the Aquino Administration had failed and that was in the continuing fight against corruption in government. She ran and lost, she screamed that she had been cheated by President Ramos and we believed
her.

The college kids that supported her candidacy moved on, the overriding concern on our minds at that time was getting a job -- which meant minimum wage, even for college graduates. Two or three years later, during President Fidel Ramos' term, I became an Associate Producer and Scriptwriter for Radio Television Malacanang (RTVM) which is an agency under the Office of the Press Secretary. I still saw her on TV and read about her in the newspapers, usually spitting bile at Ramos. It was the constant exposure to this that somehow made me forget the reasons why I voted for her in 1992.

Sixteen years later, during turnover ceremonies for medical equipment in UP PGH, I head her speak again and it reminded me of at least one reason why I voted for her.

She railed against the TV Ads being run by would-be Presidential contenders. While most media organizations focused on the part of her speech where she called the Senator endorses 'ugly', my mind fixed on her challenge to would be presidential candidates to just hold an auction for the country's presidency. This was an obvious jibe at Senate President Manny Villar and possibly Senator Mar Roxas -- billionaires, one on his own account and the other, owing it to his family's fortune.

It's the thought that the Presidential candidate with the most resources will win the Presidency that really gets to me. Will the 2010 elections proved that Manny (as in Villar) and Manny (as in Roxas) can buy everything?

If the 2010 elections were about interviewing job applicants for the highest office in the land, shouldn't we at least look at their records and the policies they are pursuing to get an indication of how they would fare as Presidents of the country -- as the highest, most powerful leader of this country?

So far, in my view, Villar and Roxas are of the same feather. Politically, they have swung wildly from being anti-Gloria to pro-Gloria to anti-Gloria several times over.

As House Speaker, Villar banged the gavel on President Joseph Estrada to impeach him and nearly ten years later, he was seen in Bataan with Estrada after the latter's conviction for plunder by the Sandiganbayan.

Roxas came into the limelight, not as congressman of Capiz, but as DTI Secretary of Joseph Estrada. When the Estrada fell from power, he came back as DTI Secretary of Gloria Arroyo and in 2004, ran in Gloria's line up of Senators. Then, years later, declared he was now with the opposition and was running for President. He'll probably point to the Hello Garci incident as a turning point for deciding to be an opposition candidate.

In fact, almost all presidential contenders in the 2010 race will be either opposition or independent with the exception perhaps of Bayani Fernando (as Vice President Noli De Castro, having won the Presidency as an independent candidate, will probably not yield easily to be part of a party of which he is not its leader).

But what do these Presidential candidates have to offer the people?

What should President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo do now?

In Metro Manila, the number of students that staged protest actions against along Katipunan avenue, Espana blvd., Taft Ave., and Recto must have reached a thousand or more. Bearing placards and streamers, they expressed their outrage against corruption in the highest office of the land and support for NBN deal whistle blower Jun Lozada.

Metro Manila schools hold noise barrage
Students from various colleges and universities in Metro Manila carried out noise barrage in an effort to encourage those involved in the ZTE-broadband scandal to tell the truth.

The Ateneo de Manila University and Miriam College along Katipunan in Quezon City expressed their dismay over Malacañang’s alleged cover-up to conceal the truth by using car horns. At the St. Joseph’s College in E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City, an estimated 200 consisting of priests, faculty members and students joined the noise barrage followed by a candle lighting event to support Lozada.

Students of the University of the Philippines meanwhile expressed their support to Lozada with a walkout from their classes. Lozada was warmly welcomed by students during his visit at the UP Malcolm Hall. From the balcony, Lozada delivered a short speech about his testimony "in the name of truth" which aptly applies to the theme of the gathering set by organizers which was for "truth, accountability and reform." A short program was followed by a candle-lighting ceremony to condemn the series of issues against the Arroyo administration.

At the UP Manila campus, students went from room-to-room to encourage other students to join the protest while the White Ribbon Movement and Health Alliance for Truth and Justice tied white ribbons along Taft Avenue. At 6 p.m. around 500 students from De La Salle Manila, College of St. Benilde and St. Scholastica’s College also gathered and used car horns to create noise as they called for the resignation of President Arroyo.

Thomasians also did their part by persuading motorists to join in their noise barrage along España. The University of Sto. Tomas will also hold a Mass for Truth scheduled on March 2. However, the turnout on the planned meet among law students from different universities in Metro Manila was less than expected.

People in other provinces of the Philippines have more or less the same sentiments but not much was seen on television last night.

On Monday, a rally in Mendiola is all set to take place. Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has granted permits to rally to various groups following a rule that mass actions would only be permitted in the area on holidays.

Will all of this amount to something more than hoarse voices and weary feet?

It is a romantic notion that the minutes or hours spent marching on the streets bearing placards and shouting on the top of our lungs will somehow fix our broken government.

Protest actions are just the first stage of action towards change as it has the capability of making people aware of the wrongs that are being done. But, assuming that all 80 million Filipinos now know the wrongs and ills of government, what do we do next? Does our quest for change stop when we leave the streets? Do we really have a vision, as a people, of what we want our country to be?

Professor Randy David, in his Saturday column titled 'Bonfire of Institutions', had begun describing all the things that are going wrong in our country today.

MANILA, Philippines -- Because it is easier to imagine it, corruption has taken center stage in the public’s appreciation of the current national crisis. Against the backdrop of mass poverty, the quantities are truly mind-boggling: $130 million in kickbacks for a government project worth $329 million, a bribe offer of P200 million for a single signature, cash gifts of half a million pesos each for politicians who attend a breakfast or lunch meeting with a President facing impeachment, half a million pesos in pocket money for a government functionary who flies to Hong Kong in order to evade a Senate inquiry, and many more. But it would be a mistake to think this is just about corruption. This is, more importantly, about the long-term damage to a nation’s social institutions.

The damage to government institutions has been the most extensive. Far from being a neutral arbiter of disputes and a source of normative stability, the justice system has become a weapon to intimidate those who stand up to power. Far from being a pillar of public security, the military and the police have become the private army of a gangster regime. Instead of serving as an objective referee in electoral contests, the Commission on Elections has become a haven for fixers who deliver fictitious votes to the moneyed and the powerful. Instead of serving as the steady backbone of public service through successive changes in administration, the government bureaucracy has been turned into a halfway house for political lackeys, misfits and the corrupt. Instead of serving as a check on presidential power, the House of Representatives has become its hired cheering squad.

We know the many things that are going wrong with this country, but do we know or do we even have an idea of how things should be? (Simply figuring out the opposite of each wrong stated will not amount to a vision for our country.)

Supposing, against all probability, that we can get Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to do what we think should be done... What would we tell her to do?

Do we tell her to step down and allow Vice President Noli De Castro to assume the Presidency? Okay. Fair enough. But then what? This is when romanticism meets realism and probably begins to fester into skepticism. (This ain't as sexy as storming the Bastille, my young ones.)

Nevertheless, let's imagine one foreseeable consequence.

Perhaps the order of the day will be to clean up government, probably meaning that people will be fired and new people taken in. (This was done in 1986. Then again in 2001.) Maybe this time around the Secretary of the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman will be the first to go, their replacements would then be tasked to lodge cases against those involved in various government transaction anomalies including the NBN deal. Breakthroughs will be announced at various intervals while the cases go through Sandiganbayan. Gloria, along with the first gentleman, Abalos, Neri, Lozada, DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza, etcetera will be indited.

Joseph Estrada will be smugly issuing statements against Gloria, probably with Senate President Manuel Villar.

Mar Roxas won't be too far away.

Meanwhile, the case will plod on... or meander for five years in various issues of technicalities. Lawyers will have their heyday (and I know a few who will want to make their name from some of the cases that will be lodged.)

Perhaps the Senate and Congress will also try to get into the 'New Deal' spirit of things and brand itself (since ito ang magiging uso) as bastions of the new morality in government. Hahaha!

Anyway... my baby is in need of some fatherly attention. will blog some more when time permits.

LAKAS to endorse VP Noli De Castro for 2010? A story of a fading party's survival.

Here's a bit of news from the Philippine Daily Inquirer which shows a political party's struggle to maintain its existence:

Executive Director Ray Roquero of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) Wednesday told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the stage was being set for (Vice President Noli) De Castro to be endorsed by Ms Arroyo as her presidential candidate in 2010.

News of De Castro topping an SWS survey on who Filipinos prefer among 'Presidential Candidates' for 2010 is riding on the tail of the NBN investigation in the Senate. LAKAS-CMD's avowal of an endorsement comes at a time when De Castro's 2004 running mate, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, seems to be barely maintaining her white-knuckled hold on the reins of power by sheer dint of will as opposition personalities fire broadsides at her administration with charges of corruption amounting to tens of billions of pesos. The impending endorsement from the so-called ruling party may be a minus, instead of a plus for De Castro and the former top rating newsreader, radio commentator, and public affairs TV host will have to math with integers - where the impact of the positive value of De Castro's SWS survey may be weakened by the negative value of an endorsement from either LAKAS-CMD OR Macapagal Arroyo.

LAKAS-CMD and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo are two separate entities as political parties and the politicians who declare their membership to it often become diametrically opposed on certain issues sometimes leading to break away factions under the same name. As in the case of the Liberal Party when it came to the crossroads of the 'Hello Garci' scandal, thereafter splitting itself into the Atienza wing (allied with Macapagal Arroyo) and the Drilon wing (opposed to Macapagal Arroyo).

We have to remember, also, that in the 1998 Presidential elections LAKAS-CMD (then fielding Jose De Venecia as Presidential Candidate) joined up with KAMPI (who fielded Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Vice Presidential Candidate) to form the RAINBOW COALITION against LAMP (which held up Joseph Estrada and Edgardo Angara as its standard bearers). De Venecia lost to Estrada in that Election where as Macapaga Arroyo was elected as Vice President. The LAKAS KAMPI coalition however had all appearances of continuing on through Estrada's impeachment which ended in his ouster and Macapagal Arroyo's assumption to power in 2001. In 2004, Macapagal Arroyo ran for President under the a broader coalition (K-4 as it was called, this time including the Liberal Party and other parties) but as early as 2005 the seams of the coalition seemed to give way with Macapagal Arroyo declaring herself being more KAMPI (her real party, who also had former Tito Sotto as Macapagal Arroyo's Vice Presidential Candidate in 1998 before he was linked to drug dealer Alfredo Tiongko) than LAKAS.

In anycase, LAKAS is no longer the ruling party it used to be when former President Fidel Ramos was in power. It's endorsement virtually has no real strength when it comes to the number of party members and is probably trumping up to the media that it holds influence over Macapagal Arroyo, suggesting that it can convince her to bestow her endorsement on De Castro.

What will LAKAS' endorsement mean with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's endorsement? Nothing, at best.

The ruling political party, for the past several elections, is the party of the elected President. Local officials and so called 'political operators' immediately join the party of the winning Presidential candidate. There is no real support for political parties from the citizenry, all it actually is can be likened to an IPO -- when it is hot, people buy and when it is going south, people sell their shares. Right now, the ruling party is not Lakas but KAMPI and without a winning Presidential candidate in 2010, Lakas will probably just fade away.

And one more thing, VP Noli De Castro's belongs to one of the most powerful political parties -- the Lopez Group of Companies.

In the final analysis, it is LAKAS who needs to De Castro more.

NBN investigation tops Pinoy karaoke music charts

Political observers looking at the Philippine situation right now might as well gauge how seriously affected the country is by the Senate investigation into the anomalous NBN ZTE just by listening to the songs being sung by national figures and politicians.

Perhaps this can give birth to the rise of a blockbuster musicale of epidemic proportions.

During his first appearance at the Senate NBN investigations, Engr. Jun Lozada was memorably quoted as saying he had been given instructions by former NEDA Secretary Romulo Neri to 'moderate their greed' or moderate the greed of Benjamin Abalos and Joey De Venecia. Senate Press Corps reporters were quite inventive in singing the popular phrase 'moderate their greed' to the tune of Billy Ray Cyrus' popular line dance song 'Achy Breaky Heart'.

Last week, while Lozada was at the Senate telling how he was forced by law enforcers to take a tour of Laguna after he arrived from Hongkong, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo broke out into song with no less than Richard Carpenter on the keyboards.

The President, who even as Undersecretary at the DTI, was known for her singing prowess sang the refrain of “I Have You” -- one of the more memorable Carpenters songs. She went solo with the memorable refrain: “Sometimes/ When I’m almost to surrender/ Then I stop/ And I remember/ I have you/ To save my day.”

She says that the song was dedicated to the First Gentleman. Really?

Over the weekend, on Sunday, Lozada was at a Catholic mass in La Salle Greenhills together with EDSA 86 icons former President Corazon Aquino et al and together they sang one of the favorite songs of sandal clad patriots, 'Ang Bayan Kong Pilipinas' with lyrics penned by Jose Corazon de Jesus Melody by Constancio de Guzman. With fists clenched and arms raised, they sang 'Ang bayan kong Pilipinas, Lupain ng ginto't bulaklak, Pag-ibig ang sa kanyang palad, Nag-alay ng ganda't dilag. At sa kanyang yumi at ganda, Dayuhan ay nahalina, Bayan ko, binihag ka, Nasadlak sa dusa. Ibon mang may layang lumipad, Kulungin mo at umiiyak, Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag, Ang di magnasang makaalpas! Pilipinas kong minumutya, Pugad ng luha ko't dalita Aking adhika, Makita kang sakdal laya!'

I don't know when this song was first sung but there are some references to it being sung by nationalists in the thousands of struggles and uprisings Filipinos had to fight in order to gain freedom. I remember hearing Freddie Aguilar singing this song in the heady days after the assasination of former Senator Ninoy Aquino, I was just in Grade 7 then. (Having heard it sung again under current circumstances sends shivers through my very core.)

Anyway, one sentiment in the song refers to the Philippines being pillaged by foreigners. If you think about it and maybe loosely apply the idea to the NBN deal mess, you can probably say that Abalos et al are selling off our people to penury through the NBN loan. It is, apparently, no longer necessary to attack and subdue a nation through military might in order to compel it to give up its resources to the invading country. All you have to do is to bribe Filipino government officials and they'll hand over the lives of 80 million Filipinos to you.

The other day, one her former Tourism Secretary and now Senator Richard Gordon raised a poignant point with regard to the NBN investigation.

Gordon said "We want something to happen in this investigation and I am afraid that we are headed towards nowhere again." and reminded everyone that other investigations launched in the Senate had gone nowhere quickly, even after making recommendations to prosecute people involved in other anomalies.

Senator Gordon could have also burst out into song (and he has a pretty good singing voice), this time with a Diana Ross classic, the Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To?) composed by M. Masser and G. Goffin. The first two stanzas may as well be dedicated to the Filipino people, 'Do you know where you're going to?/ Do you like the things that life is showing you /Where are you going to?/ Do you know...?/ Do you get/ What you're hoping for/ When you look behind you/ There's no open door/ What are you hoping for?/ Do you know...?'

Which brings me to the point of this latest entry in my blog and allow me to address my countrymen in Tagalog.

Mga Kabayan, saan ba tayo patungo nito?

Ayoko nang pumunta sa EDSA ulit, kabayan. Tama na iyong original na EDSA nung 1986. Nung ikalawang beses nating ginawa ito, eh klarong klaro na mali ang pinaupo natin -- mas masahol pa dun sa pinatalsik natin.

Heto ako ngayon kabayan, nagsimula na akong mag-proseso ng papeles para sa Seaman's Book ko at nagdesisyon na akong sumampa ng barko bilang Broadcast Operator sa isang cruise ship. Wala na akong makitang pag-asa para umasenso sa sarili kong bayan.

Kapag natuloy ako, walong buwan akong mawawala sa piling ng kaisa-isa kong anak. Walong buwan sa buhay ng anak ko ang ipapagpalit ko sa dolyares na kikitain ko. Mukhang wala na yata akong ibang pagpipilian kasi, sa tingin ko, kung gusto natin ng pagbabago eh dapat ngayon pa lang lumilitaw na ang magagandang options.

Tignan mo na lang ang mga pangalan na lumilitaw bilang Presidentiable sa 2010, ayon sa pinakahuling survey ng SWS.

"Thirty percent of Filipino adults named Vice-President Noli de Castro, 27% named Senate President Manuel Villar Jr., 23% named Senator Loren Legarda, and 20% named Senator Manuel Roxas II as recommended successors to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, according to the November 30 - December 3, 2007 Social Weather Survey which asked for up to three names they recommend."

Okay lang sana kung parang pagpapatakbo ng isang palabas sa TV ang pagpapatakbo sa bansa. Ano ba ang alam ni Ka Noli sa pagiging Pangulo? Mayroon ba tayong nakitang batayan o track record niya bilang isang government executive? Nag-iisip kaya ang 1,200 na tinanong para sa survey na ito? Malamang, hindi.

Sige, kung hindi okay si Noli, paano naman kaya si Villar? Sinasabi niyang yumaman siya sa Sipag at Tiyaga, ang nakalimutan niyang mabanggit eh iyong parte na yumaman siya sa Sipag at Tiyaga ng ibang tao. Tandaan niyo sana na si Villar ang nagpasa ng impeachment case laban kay Estrada nuong 2001 bilang House Speaker. Nuong 2007 bilang Senate President, siya naman ang humingi na patawarin na si Estrada - kahit pa convicted si Estrada sa salang plunder at ni isang araw ay hindi nakatikim ng buhay kulungan. Tapos nitong 2008, umikot pa sila ni Estrada sa Bataan para ibandera ang kanilang mistulang samahan.

Hindi ba, ayaw natin sa balimbing at higit sa lahat, ayaw natin ng oportunista? Anong paninindigan ang pinapakita ni Villar? Sunod lang ng sunod sa agos ang mamang iyan at kapag ganyan ang naging Presidente natin, ang papanigan niya ay hindi iyong mga kababayan natin -- ang papanigan niya ay ang interes ng mga malalakas, mayayaman at may kapangyarihan. Sabihin na natin ang tutoo, maraming pumapanig kay Villar kasi may nakukuhang grasya at ang grasya na ito ay galing sa kabang bayan -- galing sa bulsa ng taong kinakaltasan ng witholding tax, sa taong nagbabayad ng EVAT, at sa lahat ng taong nagbibigay ng pera sa pamahalaan sa pamamagitan ng samu't saring mga sinisingil sa bawat transaction.

Ano ba alam ni Villar sa pagpapalakad ng bansa? Senado nga eh walang direksyon at walang prayoridad. Basta may magandang sakyan na isyu, yun ang pagtutuonan.

Eto namang si Loren Loren Sinta... Ewan. Halo halo na ang pronounciation (hindi malaman kung British o American), mali-mali pa ang mga idiomatic expressions... Umiyak nuong impeachment laban kay Estrada, tumakbo na katambal si FPJ, at kelan lang nasabing babasbasan naman ni Presidente Gloria para sa 2010. Tingin ko, bopols din ito pag naupo bilang Presidente.

Si Mar Roxas naman na hindi talaga namamalengke sa tutuong buhay, kwelang kwela talaga. Iyon lang. Gaya naman din ni Villar, parang hipong tulog at tinatangay lang ng agos. Dating DTI Secretary ni Erap, tapos nung nawala si Erap eh naging DTI Secretary naman ni Gloria. Tumakbo bilang Senador, ka-linya ni Gloria. Tapos, nung makapwesto na bilang Senador, binanatan na si Gloria at nagdeklara na miyembro na siya ng oposisyon dahil sa 'Hello Garci'... Hello, Mr. Palengke, huwag mong sabihin na wala kang alam tungkol sa 'Hello Garci' nung mga panahong nangangampanya kayo ng Ma'am mo na si Gloria. Iyong tinatawag na integrity, ginagawa at pinapakita iyan sa oras na nakita mong may pagkakamaling naganap sa kapaligiran mo.

I know a lot about integrity because I have suffered for it countless of times in my youth and there are many instances in my life today that I have stood up for what is right and what is true.

Dalawa lang ang itinuro sa akin ng buhay:

Una, ang huwag magsinungaling at tratuhin ng patas ang lahat ng makakasalamuha ko.

Ikalawa, ang manindigan ng walang takot o pag-aalala sa sarili para sa tama at para sa katotohanan.

O siya, kabayan. Hanggang dito muna. Sana lagi mong tignan ang blog ko kasi magiging madalas na ang pagsulat ko dito. Sana mag-comment ka din at para maramdaman ko na hindi ako nag-iisa.

EDSA and Proclamation 1017

It's 8.14 am

I just woke up and turned on the AM radio.

In Vice President Noli de Castro's weekly radio program, there was mention that the newspaper Daily Tribune was raided by the Philippine National Police. Details have yet to follow.

Yesterday, after the declaration of a State of National Emergency by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the National Telecommunications Commission met with KBP member TV and radio stations for dialogue. In that dialogue, managers of TV and radio stations were told that the government was empowered to seize their stations in pursuit of national interest. This would be done, apparently, if the TV and radio stations would broadcast calls or appeals that would be tantamount to inciting to rebellion. Or, if it is perceived that they would be sympathizing with enemies of the state.

In the Philippine Daily Inquirer, an article gives an account by an undisclosed source that AFP Chief of Staff Generoso Senga had been approached by General Danny Lim, purportedly to recruit him to move against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo by breaking the chain of command, withdrawing support from the President and joining anti-Gloria protestors in a rally at the EDSA Shrine. This is what had triggered yesterday's panic attack.

Talk among news reporters is that General Lim was only the spokesperson of the group aiming to oust Gloria. The actual group that would mount the coup d'etat was still in hiding.

Right now, there are people calling Proclamation 1017 or the declaration of a state of National Emergency, an attempt to enforce an undeclared martial rule.

Brewing changes in the Philippine Government

Political tensions are still on the rise, with the future leadership of the Philippines being a subject of much speculation and political uncertainties being everyman's staple -- along with inflation and unemployment.

My wife, who is a reporter for ABC5 here in the Philippines, just texted me that 10 cabinet members had asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign. Radio reports have named a number of them, including DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, and Trade Secretary Juan Santos. Others include Education Secretary Butch Abad, Guillermo Parayno of BIR. This follows the earlier resignation of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

In a statement read by Finance Secretary Purisima (former head of SGV), in a statement read before the Press at the Hyatt Hotel along Roxas Boulevard, in essence, called for Arroyo's resignation, that her continued stay in the office shunted economic development and debilitated the economy, it called for Vice President Noli De Castro to assume office -- as mandated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

At around 8:00 PM July 7 (last night), President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had announced that she had asked all her cabinet members to quit. This fueled speculations that Arroyo had made this announcment to pre-empt a formal press conference by 10 cabinet members to announce their resignation today July 8, where the cabinet members would also make public their calls for the President's resignation.

Just now, a radio news report based on a undisclosed source says that the Cabinet Members clarified that their resignation was not a courtesy resignation. They said that they were fired.

Police and military have been placed on full alert.

Former 2004 Presidential Candidate Brother Eddie Villanueva had just a few days ago, that based on a very reliable source in Malacanang, President Arroyo would announce her resignation on Monday (July 11). This is supposedly to coincide with the Catholic Bishop's and Businessmen's Conference's call for the President to resign.

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