Noynoy's Taliban

When Cory Aquino created the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), it seemed everyone lauded the move to seize all the supposedly "ill gotten" wealth of the Marcoses and return it to the people. 

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is responsible for the recovery of ill-gotten wealth accumulated by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, his immediate family, relatives, subordinates and close associates, whether located in the Philippines or abroad, including the takeover or sequestration of all business enterprises and entities owned or controlled by them, during his administration, directly or through nominees, by taking undue advantage of their public office and/or using their powers, authority, influence, connection or relationship.

- Department of Budget and Management

More than 20 years after its creation, the success of the PCGG in fulfilling its mandate seems to be plagued with a fair amount of doubt. 

To be sure, when the PCGG was created, there were those who scoffed at the idea that the PCGG could actually fulfill its mandate.  Those who were very well aware of how most disputes over the ownership of property had commented that the PCGG would be tied up with legal cases for decades and by then, the assets it was supposed to have recovered would have been greatly diminished in value or eaten up by the cost of litigation. Those who criticized the PCGG back then said that it was bound to fail to accomplish the more important part of its mandate, which was to return the ill gotten wealth supposedly stolen by the Marcoses back to the government's coffers within Cory Aquino's term as President.

Of course, back then, these people were either ignored or in some cases, eventually silenced - probably cowed by being branded as a Marcos loyalist, therefore a target for persecution.

In my mind, I tend to look at Cory Aquino's creation of the PCGG not really as a means of recovering Marcos' hidden wealth but as a way to economically cripple the Marcoses and their supporters.  Viewed this way, one could say that the PCGG had served its purpose and nothing more needed to be done.

One very telling indication that Noynoy Aquino will take on a hidden wealth recovery crusade was what he said during an interview after he declared his intention to seek the Presidency.

Justice. We talk about the hidden wealth of the Marcoses, with all due apologies to the innocent. It has been 23 years and there is still no closure to all of this. I don’t think justice is swift in this country, and as they say, justice delayed is justice denied.

This time around, if and when Noynoy Aquino becomes President, we can expect his government not to go after just the Marcoses but the Arroyos and their supporters.  As in Cory Aquino's time, this will be hyped up as a quest for justice and a means of getting back ill-gotten wealth so that it can serve the people, but in the end, it will be encumbered by the same problems that the PCGG faced during Cory Aquino's regime and perhaps fail in the same way.

However, the circumstances right now are vastly different from the circumstances during Cory's time and Noynoy may find himself having to resort to "dictatorial means" to speed up the delivery of "justice".

I am not at all fairly certain about how Noynoy Aquino will deal with opposition to whatever he is going to do to apply "political will" in order to deliver "swift justice".  However, just basing it on how Noynoy's propagandists and allies respond to criticisms of their candidate, I think the general approach would be to attack the people putting forward contradictory views and branding them as 'paid hacks' of the former administration - just like what Cory Aquino's minions did to those who opposed her regimes actions, branding them as Marcos loyalists and allies of the deposed corrupt regime.

The article by Jose Montelibano in Inquirer dot Net may be a sign of things to come and certainly, it's only a foretaste.

One wonders if Noynoy Aquino, in order to protect himself from critical members of the online community, will use the powers of the NTC to regulate or in effect, censor content on the internet.

If you haven't noticed it yet, there are a lot of bloggers out there who are becoming openly critical about Noynoy Aquino and his campaign is hurting so much from this negative blogstorm that he has employed Google Ad buys to drive down all dissenting, negative content in Google search results.

A more powerful means of regulating the internet is already present in an NTC circular that requires content creators to register with the NTC.  I can't seem to access the copy of that particular circular right now, however, here is a blog entry from Zaldy Dalisay written in January 2009 that describes it.

According to this document (I don’t know who the hell created this, he should be the first to pay when it’s implemented..lol) – http://portal.ntc.gov.ph:9081/wps/_mc/MC2009/electronic_games.html, this will be the fees:

a. Filing Fee : PhP 300.00
b. Annual Registration Fee: 6,000.00
c. Surcharge for late : 50% of the annual registration fee if application filing of application is filed within six (6) months from date of expiry for renewal 100% if filed after six (6) months from date of expiry

In that BS document, you’ll come up with a broad explanation of a “content developer” that includes blogging, commenting, posting pictures, uploading ringtones, and the likes, wherein the person doing it have to secure a license first. Imagine millions of Filipino youtube users, millions of friendster, myspace and facebook members lining up in the NTC office trying to secure a permit, that’s horrible and very unacceptable….lol

The ability to create content on the internet at will is a valuable tool in a democracy.  But requiring people to get a license first before one could join social networking sites like Facebook or start up a blog could effectively stifle discussions on the internet, at the very least. 

I don't know if the circular has been revised to take out any ambiguity in its application, but it could be just as easily revised in order to come up with a more draconian policy which may include being locked out of your blog, twitter account, or Facebook account until you supply a license number from the NTC.

All clear for first nationwide automated polls in RP

Yesterday, the Philippine Supreme Court's decision in favor of allowing the conduct of automated polls nationwide on May 2010 was leaked ahead of the high tribunal's official announcement. But it created nary a stir among those claiming to be champions of democracy and inheritors of one of the country's oldest political parties.

Instead, the Philippine media blasted the airwaves and flooded front pages with the sugar-free rush delivered by Senator Noynoy Aquino's buckling announcement of seeking the Presidency in the coming elections next year.

Today, this major development in Philippine politics would have goneby unnoticed until activist lawyer Harry Roque found it necessary to pick nits over the decision.

Roque, though unknown for winning any of the high profile cases that he has filed, has thought it best to ask the Supreme Court to cite Comelec Chairman Jose Melo in contempt for allegedly leaking the decision on the case he filed against Smartmatic-TIM -- the lone winning bidder for the electronic voting machines that will be used in the May 2010 elections.

In a five-page motion, the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), through lawyer Harry Roque, said Melo committed an improper conduct that tends to directly or indirectly impede, obstruct or degrade the administration of justice.

“If public respondent Melo can flaunt his commission or illegal acts in obtaining confidential proceedings of the Supreme Court, then, how can he be trusted with the sanctity of the electoral process,” petitioners said.

source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

The CCM pointed out the case of retired Supreme Court Justice Ruben Reyes, who was indefinitely suspended by high tribunal for leaking an unpromulgated court decision.

Senator Richard Gordon, who authored RA 9369 and steered the Oversite Committee on Electoral Reforms in order to assure funding for automated polls in 2010, bristled with optimism over the Supreme Court's decision.

In a statement released this afternoon, Gordon said:

The Supreme Court’s decision in favor of the automation of the may 2010 presidential elections is a very welcome development. It will pave the way for clean, honest, credible elections.

The decision effectively removed the legal barrier to the automation of next year’s elections. The ruling would allow the commission on elections to go full throttle in the preparations and implementation of poll automation.

An automated election will be a game changer. It will prevent those with Ph.ds in ‘daya-logy’ (cheating) from perpetrating their evil deeds. Years and years of cheating-ridden elections have already allowed them to acquire ph.ds in election manipulation.

Its speed and the fact that it will be the first nationwide automated elections in the country will ensure that the holders of ph.d in ‘daya-logy’ (cheating) will not have time to prepare for this system.

RA 9369 or the Amended Automated Election Law has enabled the country to hold automated elections in 2010 by taking out the barriers to its implementation.

When Gordon was pushing for this vital piece of legislation, other Senators deliberately delayed its passage by not participating in its interpellation and the sessions stalled a number of times because of a lack of quorum. Among those who stalled the passage of RA 9369 were Senator Mar Roxas, former Senator Cerge Osmena, and a couple of others.

As a result, the law was passed around January 23, 2007 with a mandate that allowed Comelec to immediately implement automated elections. However, the Comelec decided not to implement even the pilot phase of the automated elections -- a decision that this year became the basis for Attorney Harry Roque's petition against Smartmatic-TIM.

As far as discerning between those who pay lip service and those who actually work for a stronger democracy, it might be a good idea to consider what one Presidential candidate has done and what another Presidential candidate is just PROMISING TO DO.

Noynoy or Mar Roxas, for that matter, will not harp on their track record or the lack of it.

Transcript of Noynoy Aquino as he TRIES to talk about his Platform

What follows is a transcript of Senator Noynoy Aquino's interview after his short speech wherein he declared that he is running for President.

I will not make any comments on this in the body of my post Aquino, but instead, invite you to join me in discussing it in the comments section of this blog.

Question: I am the national president of aksyon Mindanao, What is your peace agenda for Mindanao, and what is the difference between you, Estrada and GMA?

NOYNOY Aquino:

Well, can I say what I hope to do if I am given that opportunity.

Number one, when I was studying, they said the first step to knowledge is to admit that you do not know and then you seek to know.

I have just recently been to Davao and Zamboangga. And I have talked to, shall we say, both sides of the issue with regards to the MOA-AD (Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain) and afterwards, my impression was that they were too far apart.

Therefore, the need for more dialogue, the setting up of a (unintelligible)... whereby we can communicate better with each other.

Perhaps if the intermediaries are not enough, we need to find better intermediaries.

And I will follow the advice of a man more learned than me, to not stop talking because if we stop talking it becomes war war war.

Pia Hontiveros: (inaudible)

Aquino:

Governance. I think my political career is very, very clear. I want to make democracy work not just for the rich and well connected but for everybody.

I would just like to give two examples of my pet peeves as of today and there are a lot of peeves.

One, when you talk about the tradition every time it is the start of the school season, we have the person who finds all the errors in the books that makes it seem that the DEPED is uneducated because they cannot find the errors.

It seems to be as symptomatic of the love of the Filipino, in colloquial terms, they say… Ang Pilipino ba just-tiis, walang justice.

I do not understand why we have to settle for substandard materials with which to educate our youths, year in and year out, that should not be a tradition. That should be a tragedy that is not repeated again.

Justice. We talk about the hidden wealth of the Marcoses, with all due apologies to the innocent. It has been 23 years and there is still no closure to all of this. I don’t think justice is swift in this country, and as they say, justice delayed is justice denied.

And for that, I have asked my legal consultants to find out if political will, will really matter in speeding up the wheels of justice in this country. And they assured me that political will is necessary to afford justice to each and every one in this country.

As an economist by training, the efficiency and maximization of resources is a priority.

Last night, I had a briefing of how unwise the utilization of resources of the state have been for the past nine years of this current dispensation. Unfortunately, this professor of mine seems to have forgotten the lessons she taught me. I kept my notes.

There are other things, but I’d rather not spend the entire day talking about the platform…

Question: (Inaudible)

I will be a president that will be missed by the time I step down

Announcer: Last question...

Aquino:

Let me just emphasize, when I step down and I do look forward to the time that I will step down. I want to say that these are the list of our accomplishments, I will be there because of the people and I will stay there because of the people and hopefully, I will be true to my word to serve the people

There were a number of times that Aquino made odd pauses in his speech, I'll