Centrist Democracy Political Institute - Items filtered by date: April 2017
Wednesday, 19 April 2017 09:14

Fight over fundamentals

Last Monday, the Holy Week hangover was briefly interrupted by reporters scrambling to confirm the scuttlebutt that Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. had finally thrown in the towel and resigned. Evasco denied it. But not before he had spent a week wailing to the media that he had been reduced to seeing President Duterte only during Cabinet meetings, practically with no access. There was a pitiful tale of his waiting for hours at the airport to show the President some papers, only to be required to hand them over to Special Assistant to the President Bong Go, instead.

For the presidency, the coin of the realm is access. Put another way, you can have an impressive mandate on paper, but if you do not have access to the president, then the paper is worthless. Your mandate requires people to implement it, and guard it against other personalities and agencies eager to expand turf at your expense. Someone’s access to the president’s ear can wield a veto of your mandate and, thus, hamper your ability to function. This is the dilemma of Evasco.

With his communist background Evasco dreamed of a movement that would create a new political vehicle entrenched in government through the proposed reorganization of the bureaucracy—a movement able to operate independently of the coalition of local barons whose loyalties are both expensive and fickle. Go, a skillful bureaucrat in his own right, seems to represent the political pragmatists and entrepreneurs who are not just skeptical but also hostile to such grandiose plans. Evasco was denied the funds to make his movement a reality; he was exiled to Mabini Hall, then buried under an avalanche of paperwork—the consequence of his equally grand empire-building which placed 12 agencies under his direct control—while being denied access to the President.

On the other hand, Go, as the gatekeeper to the president and head of the Presidential Management Staff, has unlimited access and has been using it to great effect versus Evasco (see my columns, Dec. 7, 14, Jan. 18, 25, Mar. 1). The scorecard? Evasco, Go, 2-all: Evasco was knocked out by Sueno on the question of building a movement with the support of Go; Sueno, failing to deliver on rallies and unwilling to give way to Chinese firetrucks, was knocked out by Evasco (perhaps with some help from Go); but Evasco’s person Halmen Valdez was knocked out of the National Food Authority (NFA), although it seems NFA people will also, uh, have to go (if so, a draw: a pyrhhic victory for Go, face-saving for Evasco).

The fight as it is played out in the papers is typically messy but has escalated beyond being mere intramurals over political resources. It is now about that absolute essential for living—rice. Evasco is for allowing private traders to bring in rice, even during the harvest season both for efficiency and as a safeguard against any possible shortfall in the harvest. Go and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, are against this, to protect farmers’ incomes, and on the principle that government should retain its import monopoly on rice.

The problem is, government policy has basically been fixed for 81 years, ever since the National Rice and Corn Corporation (precursor of today’s National Food Authority) was established—that is, government monopoly on importing rice. Repeated controversies –and shortages—and bloating debt have led to calls for government to embrace the free market instead of continuing what has been proven time and again: sinking resources—to the exclusion of other programs—into the pipe-dream of rice self-sufficiency, and being unable to competently warehouse and distribute rice (not to mention moving too slowly, and often too late, to fill shortages when they occur). The Foundation for Economic Freedom and individual economists have recently spoken up forcefully on this.

A case in point: Since the 2016 campaign, much has been said about how millions have emerged from poverty, thanks to programs like the Conditional Cash Transfer, but how easily those individuals could become poor again. Most of all, how despite the growth in the economy, poverty remains entrenched. One reason suggested for this is, gains in income are essentially canceled out by high food prices fostered by the continuing political obsession with rice self-sufficiency.
Published in Commentaries
Tuesday, 18 April 2017 17:15

A PLEA TO MY COUNTRYMEN

For the love of our country, let us always bear in mind the good of the majority and always give everyone due respect. We may differ in our outlook or opinion but we should always try to see each other’s point of view without bias, in order to understand the reality of the situation.

One example of such clash of perspectives was the burial of Ferdinand E. Marcos. I, among others, was against his burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. I did my part by writing letters to people who may be instrumental in reversing the decision, including the president himself. I even tried to call one of the family members- Sen. Bongbong Marcos, to convince him to make good his campaign slogan to “Unite the Filipinos”, and instead bury his father in Batac, Ilocos Norte among the people who have been faithful loyal to President Marcos. Unfortunately, I failed to contact him in the telephone number they gave me. Now that it has been executed, maybe we can initiate a movement to request the Congress to pass a law changing the name of the Libingan ng mga Bayani to “Libingan ng mga Pangulo at Sundalo”. That would be a more practical approach rather than the un-Filipino call for “Hukayin.”

Some people wanted to rally and show their objections to the Marcos burial. So be it. Let us stick to that and not take advantage or make it political by including President Duterte. He, as any other persons, is entitled of his own opinion which is the legality of the vote of the majority of the Supreme Court Justices. Our President may have his own shortcomings (But who does not?). Let us not forget that he now represents the Filipino people. He won by an overwhelming 16 million votes and perhaps even much more. A lot of the working people I know (security guards, department store sales personnel, waiters, grocery attendants, etc.) were not able to vote and some were disfranchised. I know because many raised their complaints to me. Not to mention the possibility of a “dagdag-bawas” scheme.

President Duterte possesses the qualities of a strong leader. He has a strong sense of love for the country. He is a simple, honest, and an action-oriented person. His genuine concern for the poor is unquestionable, and he is sensitive to the well-being of his people, may he be a lowly soldier, a policeman and especially the youth who are the future of our country.

Do we have to repeat history by staging rallies in the streets whenever we are against a ruling administration? Take for example the time of President Cory, where there were several rallies held by Marcos loyalists and people who were recruited, and paid to mobilize. This event recurred during ERAP and Arroyo’s terms. These events depicted how poor losers are unaccepting of the will of the people. We should not emulate what had happened at EDSA in 1986 when we rallied for one worthy purpose- ousting a dictator for Freedom and Democracy. We should give President Duterte more time to perform his fight against drugs and corruption, to fight for the rights of every Filipino, and reform the problems that beset our society.

President Duterte is so passionately against drugs because it destroys the very fabric of a person’s being. When he started the war against the drug lords, pushers and users, he specifically gave his instructions that if a policeman’s life is in danger in pursuit of his/ her duty, they have to shoot first before they get killed by the criminals. Of course one cannot control the drug lords, pushers or protectors from killing each other to protect themselves from possible exposure, nor the scalawags in the ranks of the PNP who take advantage of the situation by taking the law into their own hands. The President has to continue his fight to protect our country from narco-politicians, bearing in mind the destiny of our youth who are the future of our country. This is the main objective. Let us not lose track of this. It is better to get rid of the drug lords, pushers, protectors and rehabilitate the victims who are then users than to sacrifice our country’s future, only because of the collateral damage caused by this war on drugs.

How come those that are “Holier than thou” and the Human Rights Advocates fail to condemn those human rights violators who are clearly against and destabilizing the administration? Why are not they taking on and criticizing nations that propel unnecessary wars and kill many innocent people and children? Countries where killing of babies and children to sell their organs is a thriving industry. There are people who are dying of hunger and are getting all kinds of sickness. While richer countries could be more sympathetic of them, they instead spend their money betting the race for destruction and world supremacy. Where are the human right advocates and the church leaders?

Let us now focus on the present situation. President Duterte told the human rights advocates criticizing his war on drugs, “If I stop this war on drugs which will be the only way to avoid some incidental killings, what would happen if the drug situation becomes worse and drug users increase from 3M+ to 4M? And why be more sympathetic with the criminals rather than the victims?” Moreover, he said that maybe those who are against the war on drugs should adopt a drug addict! He only said this to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. Collateral damages are unavoidable. The criminals within government law enforcement agencies are scared to be exposed, so they take the law into their hands and kill informants.

In the case of Vice President Leni Robredo, we all saw how the President showed his gentleness during the campaign debates. He did not have to offer the Vice President a position being flag bearer of the opposing party. Despite it all, he offer her a position as the head of housing project, a position where she could expand her relationship with the poor. I cannot even recall a time in history when a President humbly broke protocol to go downstairs to meet the Vice President during their first meeting in the Palace. For one reason or another, in which I would not like to make any judgment, the President ask her not to join the cabinet meeting anymore instead of terminating her services. One probable reason is her active engagement in LP rallies that are critical to the President when in fact she is now the Vice President and should be supporting the present administration. Even worse was her speech in the United Nations wherein she spoke about the dreadful events happening in our country because of alleged EJK. This would likely affect tourism and investments in our country. Instead of directly telling her about these things, he just gently told her not to join the cabinet meeting anymore.

Why can’t the opposition look at the other side? It is clear to many of us, but they refuse to accept the triumph of people power thru the ballot.

At the very least we are proud to have a working President who is really trying his best to fulfill his campaign promises. Keeping us all safe as what he did in Davao (to be able to walk even in the wee hours of the night in the streets). He was able to initially launch the housing projects in Leyte in just 18 days for 827 families. He established a huge rehabilitation center of drug users in Lahur, Nueva Ecija. He tried his best to eradicate red tapes in the different government agencies, allocating 1 billion of fund for each region for small scale financing for the poor, increased the pension of SSS beneficiaries, uplifted the morale of the military and police force and also increasing gradually their take home pay, and many other achievements done under his administration in just little more than 100 days. There have been many positive changes since then, changes that affected the lives of many ordinary people. He recently removed two of his close friends from their appointed positions due to accusations of corruption. He reshuffles agency and department heads when he thinks they fail to perform the expected deliverables for the tasks. He always states his zero tolerance to corruption or incompetent persons saying that there are no sacred cows under his administration.

Why can’t we accept the will of the great majority who voted for him? We need a strong leader. We feel the pulse of the people (ordinary citizens in the streets, OFW’s, business sectors, clerks, housewives, etc.) and the great majority agreed that the best choice was President Duterte. He is a true leader and true public servant.

The following is an anonymous description of a leader which I believe describes him, and I quote:

“Leadership is first and foremost about character, one who is in power but not subordinate to it. One who has control of money but is not lured by it. One whose position opens all doors but prefers the simplicity of a lifestyle, and one who is followed by many but takes the heart of a servant.”

Let us continue to give him our full support and the chance to perform his promises during his reluctant campaign for President. We are yet caught in a crucial crossroad for real change in our country, led by a leader who is helping to transform “People Power” to “Power of the People”.

* * *

CHRISTOPHER L. CARRION, CHRISTOPHER L. CARRION, Founding Chairman & CEO of a few companies that have pioneered in the introduction of the latest technologies being utilized today and established telecoms infrastructures milestone in our country, such the first Philippine Satellite launch and the first SMS or text messaging technology, among others.

An ardent and active Green Archer graduate of De La Salle College from elementary to college and served as Class President for four (4) years, as well as, recipient of several awards on integrity, fairness, patriotism and humanitarianism, as further evidenced by his successful multi-year involvement in the National Peace Process during the Cory Aquino administration as a Peace Mediator with the MNLF Reformist Group in the mid-80’s.

Published in Commentaries
Tuesday, 18 April 2017 12:06

Get the bureaucracy moving

WHENEVER a new administration comes to power, we often see reorganization as its first action. Reorganization is made the reason to weed out the vestiges of the previous administration. Clearly, the new administration would want to put its own people, the so-called workhorses, to be the catalysts of the reforms it plans to pursue. A new administration needs to pump the engines early in order to gain traction so that the people feel the change happening.

In an earlier column, I wrote about frontline services as the key to feel the sudden rush of new blood, new programs and the different brand of service being implemented. Yes, that change was palpable in the first 100 days of the Duterte administration, the challenge is to make it sustainable and to grow roots in the bureaucracy. But after 10 months in office, reorganization has to be considered so that some bureaucratic paralysis is attended to. Let us begin with the Office of the President (OP) which is composed of the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES), Presidential Management Staff (PMS), Cabinet System and the Office of the President proper. These agencies serve the President and it is vital to clean the stables (although battling with a snake pit is hard) to stop the erosion from within.

There are institutional memories in the OP. The PMS for one is key because this is where complete staff work, or CSW, has been drilled in its operating procedure across administrations. The President does not utter a word until it has been studied and vetted by the PMS. The OES ensures that directives are written clearly and are sent out to agencies that will implement them. Critical in any issuances are the implementing rules and regulations. The OES transforms Cabinet decisions and presidential directives into formal orders. I understand that today the OES is more focused on general services than ensuring that integration across departments are established. Of course, a vital cog in the Cabinet system is a cluster system that is operating well. Before issues are calendared at the Cabinet, the cluster system should have studied and recommended options. During weekly meetings, it is critical that the Cabinet gets to exhaustively discuss options and scenarios so that the President can make informed choices.

Proof that PRRD has a kind heart is his willingness to hold on to officers and staff of the previous administration. Some are not even career people but are masters in buttering up to presidents (aka political survivors. Imagine in critical departments, there are still remnants of the previous dispensation who until today handle core plans, programs and activities. Imagine leaks being made by design and some innocuous documents getting out in the public arena. Imagine decisions already made but are not downloaded so the whole organization does not move. Imagine unfilled positions not being made known to the rank and file so they can apply for promotions or to the public, so they can submit their applications. Imagine a bureaucracy that is so used to “noynoying” and is now being asked to work 24/7because the new leader works to the brink of exhaustion. Imagine decisions not cascaded to national agencies, regional offices and the local government units.

Imagine the expansive communications network of government at the national and local government units not being used to battle the propaganda lines of the so-called opposition. Imagine all the heaving done by the President and a few of his men and women when there is a full gamut of national and local networks to do this. When one needs to create the space and make it big, you just see the President and some of his people doing it on their own, albeit the Davao way. Why?

Do we have a deep state in our midst that it seems every push is countered, every act, opposed? Every framing, repositioned? Every utterance, painted as being uncouth? Every sincere effort to build is questioned? Perfect example is the apparent failure of the military and police establishments as well as the national security adviser on security threats and the war against illegal drugs. The Abu Sayyaf leaving Sulu and going to Bohol is a perfect example of failure of intelligence. When we are hosting Asean, we should be on critical red alert. Back-to-back travel warnings all made during the busiest days of Holy Week were not reassuring.

A deep state is a “political situation in a country when an internal organ such as the armed forces and civilian authorities do not respond to the civilian political leadership.” When they do, one needs to transform them. It may sound conspiratorial but a deep state can also take the form of entrenched unelected career civil servants acting in a non-conspiratorial manner, to further their own interests and in opposition to the policies of elected officials, by obstructing, resisting, and subverting the policies and directives of elected officials. Time to shake the bureaucracy. Remove the laggards and promote the honest rank-and-file who can do the job better. And get the search committee to do a deep search so the vacancies are filled up.

One management author once said, “reorganization to me is shuffling boxes, moving boxes around. Transformation means that you’re really fundamentally changing the way the organization thinks, the way it responds, the way it leads. It’s a lot more than just playing with boxes.” Start with the OP and the departments doing frontline services. Get them running well, get them servicing the people more.
Published in Commentaries
Tuesday, 18 April 2017 11:56

Get the bureaucracy moving

WHENEVER a new administration comes to power, we often see reorganization as its first action. Reorganization is made the reason to weed out the vestiges of the previous administration. Clearly, the new administration would want to put its own people, the so-called workhorses, to be the catalysts of the reforms it plans to pursue. A new administration needs to pump the engines early in order to gain traction so that the people feel the change happening.

In an earlier column, I wrote about frontline services as the key to feel the sudden rush of new blood, new programs and the different brand of service being implemented. Yes, that change was palpable in the first 100 days of the Duterte administration, the challenge is to make it sustainable and to grow roots in the bureaucracy. But after 10 months in office, reorganization has to be considered so that some bureaucratic paralysis is attended to. Let us begin with the Office of the President (OP) which is composed of the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES), Presidential Management Staff (PMS), Cabinet System and the Office of the President proper. These agencies serve the President and it is vital to clean the stables (although battling with a snake pit is hard) to stop the erosion from within.

There are institutional memories in the OP. The PMS for one is key because this is where complete staff work, or CSW, has been drilled in its operating procedure across administrations. The President does not utter a word until it has been studied and vetted by the PMS. The OES ensures that directives are written clearly and are sent out to agencies that will implement them. Critical in any issuances are the implementing rules and regulations. The OES transforms Cabinet decisions and presidential directives into formal orders. I understand that today the OES is more focused on general services than ensuring that integration across departments are established. Of course, a vital cog in the Cabinet system is a cluster system that is operating well. Before issues are calendared at the Cabinet, the cluster system should have studied and recommended options. During weekly meetings, it is critical that the Cabinet gets to exhaustively discuss options and scenarios so that the President can make informed choices.

Proof that PRRD has a kind heart is his willingness to hold on to officers and staff of the previous administration. Some are not even career people but are masters in buttering up to presidents (aka political survivors. Imagine in critical departments, there are still remnants of the previous dispensation who until today handle core plans, programs and activities. Imagine leaks being made by design and some innocuous documents getting out in the public arena. Imagine decisions already made but are not downloaded so the whole organization does not move. Imagine unfilled positions not being made known to the rank and file so they can apply for promotions or to the public, so they can submit their applications. Imagine a bureaucracy that is so used to “noynoying” and is now being asked to work 24/7because the new leader works to the brink of exhaustion. Imagine decisions not cascaded to national agencies, regional offices and the local government units.

Imagine the expansive communications network of government at the national and local government units not being used to battle the propaganda lines of the so-called opposition. Imagine all the heaving done by the President and a few of his men and women when there is a full gamut of national and local networks to do this. When one needs to create the space and make it big, you just see the President and some of his people doing it on their own, albeit the Davao way. Why?

Do we have a deep state in our midst that it seems every push is countered, every act, opposed? Every framing, repositioned? Every utterance, painted as being uncouth? Every sincere effort to build is questioned? Perfect example is the apparent failure of the military and police establishments as well as the national security adviser on security threats and the war against illegal drugs. The Abu Sayyaf leaving Sulu and going to Bohol is a perfect example of failure of intelligence. When we are hosting Asean, we should be on critical red alert. Back-to-back travel warnings all made during the busiest days of Holy Week were not reassuring.

A deep state is a “political situation in a country when an internal organ such as the armed forces and civilian authorities do not respond to the civilian political leadership.” When they do, one needs to transform them. It may sound conspiratorial but a deep state can also take the form of entrenched unelected career civil servants acting in a non-conspiratorial manner, to further their own interests and in opposition to the policies of elected officials, by obstructing, resisting, and subverting the policies and directives of elected officials. Time to shake the bureaucracy. Remove the laggards and promote the honest rank-and-file who can do the job better. And get the search committee to do a deep search so the vacancies are filled up.

One management author once said, “reorganization to me is shuffling boxes, moving boxes around. Transformation means that you’re really fundamentally changing the way the organization thinks, the way it responds, the way it leads. It’s a lot more than just playing with boxes.” Start with the OP and the departments doing frontline services. Get them running well, get them servicing the people more.
Published in Commentaries
Sunday, 16 April 2017 07:52

Supreme Court on Marcos

On Feb. 26, I discussed the case of Estate of Marcos vs Republic (Jan. 18, 2017), which labelled as ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the State the “pieces of jewelry known as the Malacañang Collection.”

Plundering regime. I also pointed to two other cases: 1) Republic vs Sandiganbayan, (July 15, 2003) which forfeited $658,175,373.60 in Swiss banks, and 2) Marcos Jr. vs Republic (April 25, 2012) which forfeited $3,369,975 “as of 1983.”

Readers (notably, some history teachers) asked: Apart from these, were there other decisions showing how Ferdinand Marcos accumulated ill-gotten wealth? Yes, the Court, in Yuchengco vs Sandiganbayan (Jan. 20, 2006), said:

“In PCGG v. Pena, this Court, describing the rule of Marcos as a well-entrenched plundering regime of twenty years, noted the magnitude of the past regime’s organized pillage and the ingenuity of the plunderers and pillagers with the assistance of the experts and best legal minds…”

Ingenious plan. In that early case of PCGG vs Pena (April 12, 1988), the Court cited an example of how Marcos ingeniously hid his ill-gotten wealth: “In the ongoing case filed by the government to recover from the Marcoses valuable real estate holdings in New York and the Lindenmere estate in Long Island, former PCGG chairman Jovito Salonga has revealed that their names do not appear on any title to the property. Every building in New York is titled in the name of a Netherlands Antilles Corporation, which in turn is purportedly owned by three Panamanian corporations, with bearer shares. This means that the shares of this corporation can change hands any time, since they can be transferred, under the law of Panama, without previous registration on the books of the corporation. One of the first documents that we discovered shortly after the February revolution was a declaration of trust handwritten by Mr. Joseph Bernstein on April 4, 1982 on a Manila Peninsula Hotel stationery stating that he would act as a trustee for the benefit of President Ferdinand Marcos and would act solely pursuant to the instructions of Marcos with respect to the Crown Building in New York. Were it not for this stroke of good fortune, it would have been impossible, legally and technically, to prove and recover this ill-gotten wealth from the deposed President and his family, although their ownership of these fabulous real estate holdings [was] a matter of public notoriety.”

In other cases, the Court described the Marcos years as “a dark chapter in our history” (Licaros vs Sandiganbayan, Oct. 18, 2004) and a regime of “national trauma” (Republic vs Tuvera, Feb. 16, 2007). Worse, in Galman vs Sandiganbayan (Sept 12, 1986), the Court charged Marcos with stage-managing court proceedings:

Mockery of judicial process. “The Court … holds … that the then President (code named Olympus) had stage-managed in and from Malacañang Palace ‘a scripted and pre-determined manner of handling and disposing of the Aquino-Galman murder case;’ and that ‘the prosecution in the Aquino Galman case and the Justices who tried and decided the same acted under the compulsion of some pressure which proved to be beyond their capacity to resist, and which not only prevented the prosecution to fully ventilate its position and to offer all the evidences which it could have otherwise presented, but also pre-determined the final outcome of the case’ of total absolution of the twenty-six respondents accused of all criminal and civil liability.

“The record shows suffocatingly that from beginning to end, the then President used, or more precisely, misused the overwhelming resources of the government and his authoritarian powers to corrupt and make a mockery of the judicial process in the Aquino-Galman murder cases.

“Indeed, the secret Malacañang conference at which the authoritarian President called together the Presiding Justice ofthe Sandiganbayan and Tanodbayan Fernandez and the entire prosecution panel headed by Deputy Tanodbayan Herrera and told them how to handle and rig (moro-moro) the trial and the close monitoring of the entire proceedings to assure the predetermined ignominious final outcome are without parallel and precedent in our annals and jurisprudence.”
Published in News
Wednesday, 12 April 2017 12:13

Disrespecting our Catholic faith

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is now on a state visit to three Middle Eastern Islamic countries—the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Qatar—while majority of the Filipino people and the rest of the Catholic world observe the penitential season known as Holy Week. There is nothing wrong about visiting these Arab countries. But he could not have chosen a more inappropriate date.

Indeed, he could not have done worse had he chosen to spend Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Black Saturday and Easter Sunday with his natural or official family sunning themselves on a sandy shore somewhere off the South China Sea or the Pacific, while most Filipino Catholics meditate on the suffering, death and resurrection of the crucified and risen Christ whom they profess to be the center of their faith.

For reasons far beyond me, the point seems completely lost on PDU30. I cannot imagine any of his hosts—Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, or Qatari Emir Tanim bin Hamad al Thani—making a pilgrimage to a non-Islamic place during Ramadan while the Muslim world is doing its month-long religious fast. No serious Filipino Catholic therefore can possibly understand the outrageous timing of this Arab junket.

Not the Middle East, please

Some of my friends have suggested that DU30 has decided to spend the Holy Week in a place where the Holy Week is not formally observed, precisely because he does not believe in it. This is excessively cynical, and I refuse to accept it. I am aware of DU30’s casual attacks on the Catholic Church, the Pope, bishops and priests, but whether he means what he says or says things purely for political or mass media effect, the Filipino people, majority of whom are Catholic, have a right to demand that he respect their cultural sensibilities and their faith.

Supping with pagan monarchs during this holiest of Christian seasons, in places where that season is not recognized by the people and their religious leaders, is nothing less than an act of disrespect. DU30 may declare himself a non-believer or pagan who has convinced himself that the Catholic Church would disappear, as he recently said, “in 30 years,” but for as long as he is the President of Filipinos who are mostly Catholic, he cannot be publicly and officially associated with any act hostile to their faith.

The Philippines is one of the last truly Catholic Christian countries, after the tragic dechristianization of the Western world. It would be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the islands in the next four years. This is an irreplaceable treasure to many, if not most, Filipinos. As their President, DU30 has a duty to safeguard that wealth, whatever his religious belief or non-belief. Either he is part of the culture or he is not; he cannot lead the nation if he is not.

What Saudi owes our OFWs

Saudi Arabia employs the most number of Overseas Filipino Workers in the Middle East. While accompanying then-Vice President Jejomar C. Binay as presidential adviser on OFW concerns on some of his trips to the Middle East, I heard some of the King’s ministers say they would take it as an unfriendly act if the Philippine government prevented Filipinos from working in Saudi households. But the Saudi government has done nothing to allow Filipino Catholics working in the kingdom to exercise their right of religious worship. Only in Doha has Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, father of the current Emir, provided the Filipinos and Catholics from other countries a church where they could freely worship.

In spite of DU30’s mistake in spending Holy Week in these three Islamic countries, he could still make amends by asking King Salman in Riyadh to make it possible for Filipino Catholics to practice their faith in their places of work. This could help mitigate his unnecessary offense to Filipino Catholics. He could then come home and call on Filipino Catholics to help him unify the nation behind his government. We could then move as one regardless of our religious differences to confront the monumental problems that have piled up. Many of these problems uniquely belong to the President, but if we stand as one, we could lend him a helping hand wherever he needs it.

The brutal war on drugs has gone south; threats are mounting to drag DU30 to the International Criminal Court at the Hague; he is facing an impeachment complaint in the House of Representatives that could still prove treacherous; two of his closest Congress allies are quarrelling, together with, and on account of, their mistresses; some of his lackeys want to impeach the Ombudsman and the Vice President to give way to various political motives; his Cabinet is rent by bitter and insidious feuds about turf, contracts, loot, and illicit privilege; his personal interventions have resulted in the firing and shaming of a few officials, unfortunately before all the parties could be thoroughly investigated.

Wrong calls?

The wrong people have taken the rap, while the apparently guilty ones have remained more deeply entrenched. These include former National Irrigation Administrator Peter Lavina, former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno, and former Cabinet Undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Valdez, all of whom may have been fed to the lions without a fair process. I do not know any of these individuals, but based on my own inquiry, I have to ask whether they got a fair deal.

Lavina, for one, was accused of trying to benefit from a P5 billion irrigation project that ballooned into P14 billion long before he was appointed to his post. He appeared to be less sinning than sinned against. In fact, the persistent scuttlebutt is that he was trying to stop the alleged corruption, but was outsmarted by better positioned parties. Someone snitched on him, before he could put together the necessary paperwork on his adversaries.

In the case of Sueno, it appears that a member of his family got herself involved in some minor official transactions. These raised a question of propriety, but not enough to constitute corruption. What broke the camel’s back, sources close to the story said, was the P18.5 billion appropriation for “Assistance to Disadvantaged Municipalities” which Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. would like to see transferred from the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) to his communist-oriented quasi-political party, “Kilusang Pagbabago” (KP), for which no official funds are provided in the General Appropriations Act. Of this amount, the Department of Budget and Management has released P3.5 billion for 547 municipalities. But Sueno reportedly bucked the move, and got cooked for it.

With respect to Halmen, whom DU30 fired after she collided with National Food Administrator Jason Aquino on the question of extending the rice importation deadlines, her gravest offense, the same sources said, is that she is not only a native of Maribojoc, Bohol, where Evasco comes from, but above all the Cabinet Secretary’s personal protege. The fact that Evasco has become more powerful than any Cabinet member has made it difficult for other members of the DU30 government to be objective about him on many issues. But it seems wrong to fault a subordinate official just because she is a subordinate and for no other reason.

It is to be regretted that grave allegations of corruption now seem to confront the very government that has vowed to expose and punish the unpunished corruption of others; that supposedly incorruptible communist appointees, who were supposed to be models of honesty, dedication and efficiency, are now being linked to questionable activities involving large sums of money and fat contracts. This is truly tragic, but it is a reality DU30 and the nation must now face.

The best way for us to face it is by calling upon our strongest moral reserves as a people with a strong political resolve and an authentic Christian faith. And this we do not fritter away by doing the silliest things for the silliest reasons in the most important of all seasons in our Christian life.
Published in Commentaries
Wednesday, 12 April 2017 11:32

What religion robs us of

THIS week, the only time when we think of things beyond, even as rituals of Christianity dominate our days, perhaps is a good time to critique, as modern man has to, what centuries or even just decades ago, we could not question at all religion.

Evolutionary scientists have pointed out that even without religion, homo sapiens through millions of years of its biological and cultural evolution had to develop—or perish—what clerics mystify as God-given values of charity (cooperation) and love. (See for example, Michael Shermer’s The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom.)

Indeed, there hasn’t been found yet a tribe or society built on the values of selfishness and cruelty. Of course, no such society will ever be found since the members of such a tribe or society would have over the centuries killed each other to extinction. In the long run, as archaeologists have argued quite rigorously, the selfish member of a tribe gets to be exposed as such and either exterminated or banished.

As sociologists using game theory have pointed out, the best game plan is to be sometimes selfish, sometimes selfless—which is after all how most rational people live their lives. Even the most selfish individual in his twilight years gets to be good.

Is it just a coincidence that nearly all religions that flourished in humanity’s history were not just state religions, but religions of empires — Christianity that of the Roman Empire since Emperor (“Saint”) Constantine, and its successor the European states; Islam that of the empires of the caliphates and sultanates up to the modern era’s Ottoman Empire. No wonder Zen Buddhism — whose teachings rulers can’t use to subjugate peoples — never got to be a widespread religion.

Is it coincidental that that kings and their nobles claimed and ruled as God’s representatives on earth which allowed them to live off the blood and sweat of the toiling tenants? Did Spain get to rule over us for three centuries through force of arms and its higher level of culture, or through religion that convinced the people that they were children of God, whom the friars and the Spanish conquistadores represented, and therefore must obey?

Real problem

Humanity’s real problem has been the penchant of a tribe or a nation, because again of human evolutionary history, to exploit and even exterminate the other tribe or nation. The reasons for this run deep, perhaps ingrained in our DNA from the time millennia ago when resources were so scarce that a tribe’s survival required it to take the other’s hunting and foraging lands and get rid of the other. Or because it is etched in our collective mind that strangers bring disease to a tribe, which has not developed the immunities required.

Religions seem powerless to solve this problem, and may even have worsened it. Religions, which most tribes use as one of their distinguishing feature as against other tribes, have been used as justification for the cruelest wars in history.

How many times have we heard in YouTube videos that spine-tingling cry “Allahu Akbar!” while humans are beheaded, or even torched. But wasn’t it Christians and their Crusades in the Middle Ages who invented the notion of a Holy War, in order to expel the Muslims and recapture where Yeshua their founder walked the earth?

It is only religion, and nothing else, that can prod a young man to kill scores of infidels with the bomb that also blows him to smithereens, since he believes that there will be an afterlife for a mujahideen like him where he will enjoy 72 virgins.

The most basic appeal of religion is that it brainwashes one into believing that he is immortal, that he will be merely moving to a different kind of existence when he dies; for Filipinos perhaps, just like migrating to the US or Canada.

That’s certainly an attractive notion for one of the exploited class who has lived a life of misery and pain. Death will mean his moving to a better world.

That’s also great news if you’re with the exploiting class, that your huge donation to build your local church would get you the visa to enter that territory Christians call Heaven.

Recurring belief

It’s a recurring notion in most of the world religions: Muslims call it Jannah, the Hindus Swarga Loka, Romans the Elysian Fields, and the Vikings Valhalla, with its giant beer-drinking hall. But it is no longer a universal belief: ask a Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or a Scandinavian and he’ll reply a bit embarrassingly, “We hardly think of that.”

Still, the notion of a heavenly afterlife is so powerful that modern man is unable to shed it off, even if it goes against his rationality. There has been in fact a resurgence of the fantasy, with the plethora of best-selling books on “heaven” that have made millions of dollars for their clever authors in the US.

This is despite the fact there is nothing in the “heaven” they depict that hasn’t been in Christian depictions of it in art and fiction for centuries. A book written about a mujahideen’s encounter with 72 virgins in the afterlife, I bet, would probably be an instant hit. (The doctor who attended to best-selling “Proof of Heaven” author Dr. Eben Alexander when he claimed that he had died, reported in Esquire that he was in a medically induced coma, and was hallucinating.)

New scientific discoveries understood really only by professional physicists through abstract equations have been hijacked by creative writers to propound a theory that when one dies, he lives “alternate lives” – a la quantum physics’ “multiverses”– as a recent movie, The Discovery, dramatized.

What religion robs us of with its fiction that we are immortal is life itself, the enjoyment of the here and now.

Is it so terrible that in this vast cosmos, this unique creature, because of random events in immense stretches of time we cannot comprehend, has been given the opportunity, even if only for a limited time, to become aware of himself and of the universe, to enjoy life, love, family, friendship and achievements?

Why is that void in the future so fearsome when we really came from a void we don’t even remember?

“Be here now” is the mantra not just of mystics through the centuries, like Ramana Maharishi, Osho, and now Eckhart Tolle, but of a scientist like Sigmund Freud, who wrote:

“A flower that blossoms only for a single night does not seem to us on that account less lovely.”
Published in Commentaries
TWO agreements will be signed between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia as President Rodrigo Duterte embarks on the first leg of his three-country swing to Middle East countries this week.

Duterte met with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and other high-ranking Saudi officials Tuesday to discuss the plight of Filipino workers there and to strengthen the cooperation between Manila and Riyadh to combat the drug scourge.

Among the agreements signed are a memorandum of agreement on labor cooperation on general workers and employment between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Development and the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment; and a memorandum of understanding regarding political consultations between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.

Saudi Arabia is the first leg of President Duterte’s first foreign trip to the Middle East and is the home and destination of work of the largest number of overseas Filipinos in the region.

In an interview at Riyadh, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella clarified that Duterte cannot bring home Filipinos on the death row, but he can bring those who sought amnesty before the Saudi government.

“He was asked about the death row matter. We need to clarify that first the process has not yet reached the level of the king, in which case there is no place for us asking for clemency at this stage so let us wait for the process regarding the death row issues,” Abella said.

He said the President could bring with him those who had taken advantage of an immigration amnesty by Saudi Arabia.

Philippine Consul-General to Saudi Arabia Iric C. Arribas urged Filipinos to avail of the amnesty for undocumented foreign workers declared by the Saudi government last March 29 to resolve problems in their papers to come clean with their government work permits.

Philippine Embassy officials said they were expecting around 5,000 undocumented Filipinos here to avail of the amnesty the Saudi government announced for illegal migrants.

“For this amnesty 2017 we are hoping that all of them will avail but we expect around 5,000 to avail, more or less. We are urging undocumented Filipinos here to avail of the amnesty,” Abella said.

The President is also expected to meet members of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry where Filipino business leaders would meet their Arab counterparts to explore trade and investment opportunities.

Duterte supporter and starlet Margaux “Mocha” Uson is part of Duterte’s entourage as a “morale booster” for Filipinos abroad, the Palace said Tuesday.

Also joining Duterte’s trip abroad is Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino, two of Duterte’s closest allies despite having no connection at all to the President’s trips.

Defending Uson’s inclusion in the official delegation abroad, Abella said that Uson will serve as the Philippine delegation’s “morale-booster.”

“The appointed official of The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board is part of the Philippine delegation. She has a large following among the overseas Filipino communities, especially in the Middle East, and it is in their interest that she has come to help boost morale and well-being,” Abella said.

In an interview at Davao City before leaving for Middle East, the Ilocos Norte governor said she asked the Palace to join Duterte’s trips to check on the condition of Filipino workers in the Middle East.

“I really requested to join because among the overseas migrant laborers in the Middle East, many are Ilocanos and women, so it’s important for me to know if their situation is improving because as far as I know, many of them were left behind, so we have to work on it,” Marcos said.

Marcos joined the President’s trips to China and Singapore last year.

Another official spotted joining the President’s trip was Tolentino, whose sister Analyn is currently the President’s Social Secretary.

In a press briefing at Riyadh, Abella admitted that the government is paying for the accommodation of all officials included in the President’s trip to the Middle East.

He said he could not explain how Tolentino was able to join the official delegation, even though he holds no government position.
Published in News
Wednesday, 12 April 2017 09:50

Govt troops corner ASG rebels in Bohol

14 dead in fierce clashes

SOLDIERS clashed with heavily armed members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) spotted in a town in Bohol on Tuesday, a day after security officials confirmed the existence of a terror threat in Central Visayas.

The fierce firefight left 14 people dead, four of them government troops.

At least one policeman was confirmed killed in the fight, national police spokesman Senior Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said in a statement.

Officials said the fighting erupted in the village of Ilaya in Inabanga town where civilians reported to the police the presence of Abu Sayyaf rebels who arrived in several speedboats.

The firefight occurred two days after the United States Embassy in Manila issued a travel advisory warning its citizens against travelling to Cebu and Bohol because of the threat of kidnapping.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald De la Rosa said the rebel group’s early detection stopped the rebels from carrying out their kidnapping plan.

“We reacted to the information, our operatives checked it and the troops managed to corner them,” he said.

The clashes that started at 7 a.m. continued until late Tuesday afternoon. More troops from the Army, Air Force and the Navy were deployed to reinforce the security forces in Inabanga.

Intelligence reports said that the armed men were led by ASG sub-leader Muammar Askali alias Abu Rami, whose group was initially monitored in Sindangan, Zamboanga Del Norte. The rebels reached Inabanga Monday night.

The incursion would be the first on a major tourist destination in recent years by the Abu Sayyaf, which has long engaged in kidnappings for ransom—often targeting foreigners.

Bohol is a major tourist destination, where foreign tourists swim with whale sharks and marvel at tiny primates called tarsiers, go on cruises aboard boats on crystal-clear rivers and lounge at white-sand beaches.

Five bodies have been recovered at the scene of the fighting, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said in a talevision interview.

Padilla said the army had received information over the past few weeks about “a potential activity on the part of some lawless elements to disturb the peace” in the area.

“The clearing operations are ongoing and we are pouring in more forces to help and assist. We hope to finish this by the end of the day,” the spokesman added.

Armed Forces chief Eduardo Año said that prior to the encounter, members of the Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion and the Bohol Provincial Police Office and the Regional Public Safety Battalion were sent to the area after intelligence information revealed the presence of heavily armed men.

“The security operation was launched in relation to the monitored presence of 10 armed men with three pump boats along the riverside of Sitio Ilaya, Barangay Napo in the area of Inabanga, Bohol. The information came from alert residents and other citizens who were watching over their respective communities,” the AFP chief said.

“Security forces reported that the group was armed with heavy caliber weapons but (is) now cornered in an isolated section of the Sitio,” he added.

The Abu Sayyaf, also blamed for deadly bombings, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State movement that holds large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Over the past year, the Abu Sayyaf has been expanding its activities, boarding commercial and fishing vessels off their southern island stronghold of Jolo, near Malaysia, and abducting dozens of foreign crew members.

They beheaded a German tourist earlier this year and two Canadian tourists last year, all three of them having been seized at sea.

In May 2001, Abu Sayyaf fighters raided the posh Dos Palmas resort and seized over a dozen tourists, including American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and California man Guillermo Sobero. They brought the hostages in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, and ransomed off some of their wealthy victims.

Guillermo and Martin were killed separately while Gracia – although shot and wounded during a firefight between troops and jihadists – was rescued in Zamboanga del Norte province.

Heightened security

The presence of Abu Sayyaf rebels prompted the island-province of Camiguin, a popular tourist destination in Northern Mindanao, to heighten its security.

Superintendent Reggie Oñate, Camiguin police deputy provincial director for operations, said the police and the local government units in the island intensified their security as they closely watch the development in Bohol in anticipation of the possible spill over of the gunfight to the island.

Mambajao Mayor Jurdin Jesus Romualdo that the local government was monitoring the situation in Bohol as tourists visiting the White Island and Mantigue Island, two of the popular tourist spots in Camiguin, were not evacuated.

Camiguin island is about 182 nautical (535 kms) southeast of Bohol island. It is four hours away from the southern town of Jagna, Bohol by boat.

Oñate said that the eruption of violence in Bohol will have “no effect” on the religious activities in Camiguin, particularly the yearly “Panaad” (vows) that is part of the observance of the Holy Week in the area. With AFP and
Published in News
Thursday, 06 April 2017 07:53

My legitimate wife and girlfriends

Part 1

“Everyone does it, so what’s the problem?”

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Philippine Star, March 31, 2017

I HAVE to come clean too. I am a married man and I have a girlfriend. In fact, I have two girlfriends. I can justify this since I am not an elected official and not even part of the Deegong bureaucracy. So, I don’t use government funds for my ladies.

I am not discreet about my liaisons. In fact, I flaunt them and have their photos with me plastered all over my FB wall. You can “friend” me on my FB if you want a glimpse of these gorgeous girls. The fact that no one has so far “un-friended” me on FB shows that my friends and readers have accepted my lifestyle.

Recently, I had one of them (by the way, she’s an American) accompany me to Davao, for a four-day vacation. Her name is Sylvie. I intend to also bring my other girl, Claudia, to Davao (she too has a Fil-American mother). In fact I plan to bring both to my home in Davao, if my wife, Sylvia, can handle them. The logistics are, however, formidable.

You see, both need their bottles every few hours and there is always the problem of diaper change in the plane which I can’t handle. Sylvie is turning three years old next month and Claudia is practically a toddler at one year and five months. And I can’t afford to pay for the plane fare of their nannies.

Lately, mainstream and social media have been inundated by news stories of married government officials with ladies on the side distracting our political leadership from the all-important task of governance.

What is upsetting is that we have these queridas (a more appropriate description), not congressional wives, accompanying these bureaucrats on official government trips, presumably paid for by public funds.What is even more appalling, is that these mistresses’ statements have been given credence by the mainstream press, invariably picked up by social media and go viral. And apparently, these paramours are relishing their newfound notoriety. Their principals, unable to restrain them, as I assume such women can’t be restrained as they hold their men by the balls (pardon the pun), use them as tools in their political disputes.

We, the ordinary taxpayers, are left wondering to what extent these concubines are exerting influence on the political actions and decisions of their partners, our elected lawmakers. Admittedly, these could also be said of their wives; except that these are not wives, but proverbial “kept women”. The difference is that wives are legally and morally bound by certain legal, cultural and religious precepts. Perhaps, this is a good argument as any to support a divorce law in the country, a law which the Catholic church is still hypocritically opposed to, effectively exacerbating this kind of “arrangements of convenience”.

This brought me to google famous mistresses in history who may have exerted influence on their powerful partners, some even changing the course of history. I hope to at least elevate the discussion of these openly illicit relations from the level of gossip. Here are some types of mistresses and examples of relationships, ancient and contemporary.

Hetaera of Athens, 400 B.C.

These were women who at a young age were brought to the Athenian court to be educated in the arts and letters for the sole purpose of entertaining and keeping company with Greek men—married or unmarried. One such hetaera was Aspasiathe, the “live-in partner” of Pericles. She was known to have been consulted by Pericles on political and military matters. Pericles, considered the greatest Greek of the ancient world, ruled Greece during its Golden Age with Aspasia by his side.

Courtesans in 17th and 18th century France

These women were mostly also the wives of lesser nobility or functionaries ambitious for juicy sinecures in the French courts. Two of the famous courtesans were Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV’s mistress from 1745 to 1751, and Madame du Barry, who occupied the exalted position of “maitresse-en-titre” (chief mistress of the King) from 1768 to 1774.

The former was the perfect mistress as she was reportedly sensitive to the status of Marie Leszczynska, the Queen of France and was even made her lady in waiting. Aside from her being a patroness of the arts, she was known to carry on an intelligent exchange with Voltaire. Louis XV granted her wide latitude in determining France’s foreign relations. Before her usefulness as the King’s lover ended, Madame de Pompadour arranged for other mistresses for the royal bedchamber. She died at the age of 42, leaving the king bereft.

Madame du Barry, the last French official royal mistress became a victim of the French revolution and was beheaded in 1793. In contrast to Madame de Pompadour, she never had a good relationship with the king’s family, carrying out a feud with the future wife of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette. She was not very influential in political and military matters but she was known to persuade the king to pardon friends of her friends from the guillotine. On one such occasion, the monarch declared graciously, “Madame, I am delighted that the first favor you should ask of me should be an act of mercy.”(Wikipedia)

Geishas of Japan

In traditional Japan, Confucian custom permeates cultural relationships between couples and love was not the primary consideration in marriage. The typical wife manages the home and children and the husband seeks sexual delights outside of the marital bed. This gave rise to the saburuko (serving girls) from whence the more educated of this class of women eventually morphed into the geisha. This was more than a thousand years of cultural acceptance. They are not technically mistresses in the contemporary sense of the word. Geishas go through years of rigorous training in the classical arts and the use of musical instruments to entertain men, married or single, and on occasion, women guests.

Powerful men in government and business repair to these houses of leisure for entertainment and intimate relations and when inebriated are wont to spew secrets as men do. One can just surmise the countless business tips and state secrets spilled out by these men to their favorite courtesans.

One famous geisha was Mineko Iwasaki, whose life was depicted in a book, Memoirs of a Geisha. She was an articulate and accomplished woman who became an author, famous throughout Japan. She retired at the age of 29 at the peak of her popularity.

Papal mistresses

There is evidence supporting the notion that men of great power and status are more often prone to having extramarital affairs. A study by Todd Shackelford from the University of Michigan found empirical evidence to support the positive correlation of infidelity and old age with having a higher status in life. Married men who are politically powerful are likely to have extramarital affairs. This does not exempt the papacy. Some of the popes from centuries back were themselves married, like Rodrigo Borgia who became Pope Alexander VI. Borgia was a scion of a prominent Italian family, the nephew of Alfonso Borgia who was later elevated as Pope Calixtus III. The latter created Borgia as Cardinal of the Catholic Church at the age of 25. He had several mistresses but his favorite was Vanozza dei Cattanei (1442-1518), who was married to a minor church functionary. She bore him four children, two of whom were the famous Cesare and the infamous Lucrezia. Pope Alexander VI’s children by Vannoza were lavished with honors and riches. When she died at the age of 76, she was buried with honors in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo.(Part 2: The implications of the open but illicit relationships of elected officials on good governance.)
Published in LML Polettiques
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