Criminal-Friendly

I was checking my draft entries here and I noticed this one with just the title above but I forgot what I was writing about. Fortunately, my nightly  TV Patrol World fix last night fixed the temporary amnesia.  I did start this entry back in October of last year, at a time when the news over the pardon of convicted murderer Manuel Teehankee Jr was raging.   With the news of pardon to the remaining soldiers involved in the Aquino-Galman slay case, I was transported back to that time. The remaining suspects were finally freed yesterday. Much to the dismay of Sen. Noynoy Aquino, son of the murdered national hero Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.

I was around four years old when Ninoy was killed. I remember it because even when we were living in Marawi City, a rather isolated  moslem-dominated city way down south, news of such magnitude traveled fast. My dad was in the military and I remember the huge tension it caused them. I vaguely remember  the red alert status issued within the camp and their battalion’s preparation for shipping out to Manila. Alas, they didn’t have to join their fellow soldiers, to fight and defend Marcos. That must have been quite uncomfortable, for a decent soldier like my dad.

Anyway, that particular episode in 1983 stayed with me. And as Ninoy’s death and martyrdom were incorporated into the history books,  I was able to connect these two circumstances like a puzzle completely pieced together. I understood why it caused so much tension at  home and in my dad’s workplace (the military camp), why people were scared for many years under that dictatorial regime, why speaking out could mean your life, or your loved ones’ lives, snuffed like a candle in a howling wind. Yes, I’ve pieced the puzzle of that childhood curiosity.

But a bigger puzzle is yet to be solved. And with the news of these men being pardoned without bringing anyone to accountability, I feel VERY doubtful if we ever get to solve the mystery of whoreallydunnit. It’s a shame to give Ninoy and his family a decision like this one and not being able to bring the mastermind/s and the real criminals to justice. Without prejudice to those who were truly innocent of the crime they were accused of, isn’t twenty six long years enough time to solve one murder case?  Especially if the case involves somebody we call our national hero?

To the person who granted the clemency, I kind of feel that she’s pushing her luck. I do remember when she first took over as President, after Erap was ousted, when she said she doesn’t aspire to be a great president, but will be content being a good president. At the rate she’s going being chummy with criminals, she might just end up being the worst person to occupy the presidency.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I think she’s the only one to have freed so many criminals during her terms e.g. Erap for plunder, Teehankee for murder, and now the suspects for the Aquino-Galman murders. These were the only ones in the news because these are high-profile cases, I wonder how many more lesser known drug addicts, murderers, rapists, thieves she has freed and will pardon before her term ends.  What kind of message is she sending the citizenry? It boggles the mind.

Recession or Regression?

All these talks about the global financial crisis, recession, and bear economies have brought out this mom-to-two-precocious-toddlers from her rather domesticated state of mind.

Being home-bound for about six months now, I have slowly adjusted myself to the humdrum of domestic life; fulfilling my roles as primarily my daughters’ love- and care-giver; my husband’s not-so-dutiful-but-he-still-loves-nonetheless-wife; and overall in-charge of the household’s physical and physiological needs.

But adjustments also include me getting into a conscious effort to keep myself up-to-date with what’s happening politically, culturally, and economically, not just in the country but also around the world. Thank god for the Internet, getting informed is as easy as clicking the mouse. It’s also the best way for me to continually sharpen my mind and resist the possibility of dullness brought about by the monotony of keeping house. But oh, my girls always keep me on my toes. With growing naughtiness and smart alecky-ness by the day, I often need new strategies and tactics, ergo they keep my mind sharp and alert.

So it was with anticipation that I watch the news for updates and breaking news. Company after company are closing down, laying off staff, or asking for bail-out. It does not even matter no more that most of these companies have been in business for a very long time. You’d think they are the more stable, more dependable, least likely to go down but no, one cannot really tell anymore. Moreover, US companies where investments from all over the world are put into them drag down these companies with them when they collapse.

Having presented this situation, I was disgusted to find out that at this difficult time some businesses that are in financial trouble,  which by the way resulted from years of selfish, opulent spending, would take advantage of this bland opportunity to find the perfect scapegoat.  Governments, as well, who have plundered and corrupted their citizens now simply blabber off the perfect excuse why they cannot do what they are supposed to do. It’s preposterous!

I can’t help but think that the economic recessions of the past have not helped abate the same situation to happen again. Finding ourselves in the midst of a global economic meltdown at this age and at this time, only somehow shows we never learn the lessons history always tries to teach us. When nature’s course is supposed to bring us to progress, this crisis proves otherwise.

Economists call this current economic state “recession”. Darn, might as well call it Regression from everything we ought to learn! Sigh. We never learn.

To Make History

…must be one of the most rewarding experiences anyone can do in her or his lifetime. And today, we all witnessed a historical moment as citizens of the US elected, in a most sweeping fashion, the first ever African-American president of their country. This is in spite of the ‘colorful’ history of the US and its painful and shameful past on Segregation. Now, more than ever, I realized that Time is the solution to all of the world’s ills. It’s Time that makes maturity, reconciliation, and yes, healing, possible.

I am personally glad that young americans have redeemed the past sins of their ancestors to elect a black president to the white house. Looking past the color of his skin, they took matters into their hand and chose him to lead them out of their present quandaries: the impending recession; the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan; and the continuing struggle to bounce back and re-claim the american dream for so many others. Barack Obama gave them hope for a positive change. I watched his president-elect speech ( he is very good at it ) on CNN and I noticed the sudden weight on his shoulders. He must have realized the gravity of the responsibility of his job to fulfill his promises to the people. And he had no time to be jubilant. But with the trust and faith that the majority gave him, yes he can. I will be watching him and so will the rest of the world.

I first became interested in the US electoral process back in 2000 while working for a political consultant in Iloilo City. My ex-boss was a hard-core republican though not a member of the party since he chose to be a Filipino citizen but he had the option since his dad’s american. We followed the republican and democratic conventions of Bush & Gore, respectively, but most times our office TV was glued to Fox channel, a known staunch supporter and defender or anything and everything republican. On the side, our office subscription to Time magazine provided a much-needed boost to my fledgling education of the american electoral process.

In a nutshell, I learned that the US has two main parties: the Republican (conservative) and the Democrat (liberal). As you might expect, the former’s ideals are of family, tradition, and ideally oppose gay marriage, abortion and anything that threatens the basic component of the society. While the latter advocates pro-choice, gay marriages and partnership, and welfare system. The beauty of this two-party system is people aligning themselves with the party that speaks for their personal ideals. You are either one or the other. You can’t be both. But you can be neither.

During election season, each party holds a convention to choose their standard bearer. Those interested within the party can run and gather support. But at the end of the day, he who has the most funds, has the most support to gather the funds needed to run a  presidential campaign prevails. And that’s just step one.

Step two is the campaign proper. It’s usually a rigorous process, the candidates spending most of their time jet setting from one State to another. You can’t just sit in your office and call a Garci to buy the votes from. You have to get out. Voters have to see you, feel you, talk to you, take pictures with you etc.

Then on election day, people go out and vote. And it’s usually not a mind-boggling process. If you belong to a party, you will most likely vote for your party’s candidate through the state Electors.  But this is a conservative assumption.  What’s interesting here is that they have what they call a popular vote AND an electoral vote.  Popular vote is obviously the direct vote from the masses while the electoral votes come from the representatives of the 538-member electoral college. They are tasked to vote for the candidate that won the people’s mandate. Each state has a corresponding number of electors. But in the end, if a candidate wins the popular vote but loses the electoral vote, he loses the election. And it’s been that way since 1964.

Going back to the present, I was amazed at the turnout of  voters and the speed by which the result was released. While watching the news on CNN, I found myself day dreaming of an election day similar to that of the US. I have to admit I am envious of the americans’ ability to turn things around. When they don’t like what’s going on they clearly manifest it through their votes. And that’s very powerful. That reflects the citizens maturity and the political leaders as well. You can absolutely say and express your disgust for any sitting president there and you won’t be afraid to do so.

Well, for one thing they don’t have a justice secretary that blabbers off EOs threatening sedition, libel to sue you with. They don’t have a person like Bolante who obviously loved to ‘fake it’ and get away with it. And a president non-elect’s husband going on TV expressing pity and sympathy to an old friend who stole from our farmers!  Stupid!

For all of these, I can only think of one resolution: We should shorten the presidents’ term to three years, with an option for re-election, just like the current terms for representatives. That way, we won’t be vulnerable to people power or coup d’etat. Three years is bearable when dealing with a corrupt president, we can kick her ass after three years but six years is agonizing, torturous and we are giving her more time to plot and scheme  and steal more.

Oh, sorry. I’m still dreaming.

Close Call

I have been aware of the china-made milk scare the first time CNN broke the story. The next day, TV Patrol World reported the same incident. In the beginning, I thought it was isolated in that country. Imagine my horror when a couple of days later, I learned that RP could also be affected as there are several companies importing milk from China.

I checked our food products one by one and a trip to the supermarket now involves checking the labels to make sure nothing is made in China. That’s exactly what we did on a trip to Crossing supermarket last Thursday. While there, I looked at several options for their snacks.In the end, I picked up a pack of Nissin choco wafers and Oreo cookies.

At around 3PM, Maia had a pack of Nissin choco wafer; she went to take a nap right after that. When she woke up at around 6PM she had dinner, with Ube ice cream for dessert. Then she started throwing up, every 20 minutes or so, until she started vomiting this frothy, yucky, icky, yellow-greenish discharge. At about 10PM, she started to look dehydrated so we rushed her to the ER, leaving Lilaa with the yaya who was understanding enough to stay when I explained that we had to bring her sister to the doctor.

The St. Luke’s Medical Center ER was a mad house, and a full mad house at that. Maia was admitted and immediately hooked up to an IV line. We had to wait in one of hubby’s department office rooms meanwhile waiting for an available room. We finally got one at around three in the morning. We were so tired and sleepy, we slept like babies for a few hours. I’m glad I did because looking back, it prepared me for something worse.

Early Friday morning, after hubby left to get more stuff from home, I checked my phone for messages. I was so shocked to get a SMS from my yaya relating that Lilaa’s been up the whole night throwing up also. I called but hubby, Lilaa and the yaya were at the door already. My heart was racing and I didn’t have to ask anymore questions. The yaya volunteered that she fed Lilaa the Nissin choco wafer right after we left so she can bribe her to sleep early.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what the culprit was. Tracking the household’s food intake the past forty-eight hours, we realized that only Lilaa and Maia had the wafer, and they’re the only ones downed by whatever was in it. My next action is sending a sample of the Nissin choco wafer to BFAD for testing. I read the label and it does say it’s made in RP but of course, no information is given on where the raw ingredients like milk comes from.

We were discharged after lunch today. Despite it all, my girls were in high spirit most of the time. Except when Lilaa was being hooked up to an IV, she cried so hard and kept saying “no way, no way!”. My little girls grew up overnight having subjected to these torturous episodes.

Indeed it was a close call. We yet have to find out what really caused these, we hope we do so, soon.

China’s Trick or Treat

Too early for Halloween? China doesn’t think so. As a matter of fact, they’ve been scaring the wits out of people from all over  when the first in the series of product scandal broke out early last year. Development in the news have included processed meat products as among the products contaminated with melamine. It looks like China is just about poised to poison the world and it has been a trick (get it?), for every unwitting consumer.

In early 2007, a recall was made on pet food (Purina Alpo & Del Monte) made in China when it was found to have high levels of melamine. Pet owners in various message boards and fora where up in arms when they traced their pets’ death and sickness to this chemical.

Later that year, major toy companies also recalled products made in China when they found out that the toys made there contained lead, a potentially deadly component for children to play around with.

And now the milk scandal.  With four babies dead and the number of sick babies growing, I cannot just imagine how these unscrupulous businessmen risk their reputation for this. For more profit? You think after this scandal and the millions of recalled product, they’d still be able to earn a cent? For a quick million bucks, maybe? It boggles my mind how they would even think on mixing this substance with food; food we feed our pets, our children and ourselves.

I have been following the local news and international news websites about this subject. On TV Patrol World last night, they reported that a private testing laboratory Qualibet Lab, conducted an independent testing of several food products and their results showed that even canned food from China is tainted with Melamine! Watch the video clip below:

At about 7PM, I switched to Tony Velasquez’ Prime News on ANC. He was able to interview BFAD Director Leticia Gutierrez. When asked about the findings of Qualibet, Gutierrez expressed…hesitation? I can’t be sure but she wasn’t being straightforward. Pressed for comments if BFAD would now issue a ban on the products tested positive for Melamine, or if BFAD will now do an urgent/immediate testing to confirm/thwart Qualibet’s findings, Gutierrez could not, or rather would not give a straight yes/no answer. Tony didn’t give up and asked if her answer meant that in the absence of confirmation by BFAD, consumers can still go and buy these melamine-tainted products, she can only say: “BFAD is prioritizing milk and milk products testing for now…”

I understood that to mean: “In the meantime, the public can go buy and poison themselves…”

Today on ANC’s Dateline Philippines with Ricky Carandang & Lynda Jumilla, DOH Secretary Duque was interviewed right after the press conference where he announced that two china-made milk products are positive for Melamine. When asked the same question Tony asked Gutierrez, Duque somehow resented the fact that a private testing laboratory beat them to the media with their findings. He added that how can they be so sure of their reference standard when DOH/BFAD’s equipment just arrived?

Ah, Mr. Duque, we are sorry to disappoint you but private companies actually are more efficient with their resources? I mean, they don’t get millions in budget (or maybe they do) but their money goes where it should go. And you hated that?  That was just so irritating. Here is one entity trying to help the public by informing them on which products to avoid and DOH/BFAD are being myopic on power play!

I understand Mr. Duque’s concern that BFAD has to be the sole, reliable authority with regards to this issue . But then everyone knows, except maybe for DOH/BFAD, that they are short on resources. And may I add, that if they were only doing their job i.e. checking, assessing and testing every product coming into the country, we wouldn’t even have this problem now!

I’m beginning to think that this year’s gonna be the scariest Halloween ever!

Filler: What is Politics?

I posted this in one of my egroups about three years ago. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember anymore who the original author was and where it was first posted. If anyone here knows, let me know so I can give the proper credits. Enjoy!
———————————————————————————————————————

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, “What is politics?”

Dad says, “Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I’m the
breadwinner of the family, so let’s call me capitalism. Your Mom,
she’s the administrator of the money, so we’ll call her the
Government.
We’re here to take care of your needs, so we’ll call you the people.
The nanny, we’ll consider her the Working Class. And your baby
brother,
we’ll call him the Future. Now, think about that and see if that
makes sense,”

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what dad had said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to
check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper.
So the little boy goes to his parents’ room and finds his mother
sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny’s room.
Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father
in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed. The next
morning, the little boy says to his father, “Dad, I think I
understand
the concept of politics now.”

The father says, “Good son, tell me in your own words what you think
politics is all about.”

The little boy replies, “Well, while Capitalism is screwing the
Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being
ignored and the Future is in deep poo.”

Giving up?

In Gloria’s dreams.

I have to admit it’s been a while, a little less than a month since I last wrote an entry. Summer sorta got in the way and I have a family to spend time with. We went home to the province and went on out-of-town trips when the kids aren’t sick. It’s nothing serious, just the usual colds and fever and are manageable with Tempra. 

Anyway, I came across this blog entry and I was reminded by my previous entry here. A parallelism can be drawn because if you really think about it, arrogance has no room in public service. Hello, it’s like tolerating your yaya or maid to be arrogant to YOU, the Amo.  Where else can you encounter such things but only here in the Philippines!

Arrogance in public SERVANTS is like the biggest misnomer of all. I think DILG needs to re-educate its public servants of their true calling, that it’s actually humility that they should display. After all, it’s our money that they’re spending.

Self-inflicted Crisis

While having a late breakfast this morning, I caught the TV program Mornings @ ANC . Coincidentally, Marieton Pacheco was reporting about the present rice ‘crisis’ while the yayas were feeding the girls. After the report, one of the yayas related her younger siblings in the province have been getting 1 kilo of rice rations and grocery packs with Pacquiao’s name on it, EVERYDAY since January this year. She added that even the children of the agency owner who lives in Quezon City have also been receiving rice rations. She also told me that her siblings’ Principal at school have been hoarding sacks of rice and boxes of noodles intended for these students. That part doesn’t surprise me at all, I bet the principal idolizes Gloria as far as corruption is concerned.

DepEd in its website states there are more or less 12 million elementary students enrolled in public school for SY 2006-2007. Given these, let’s do some mathematical operations, shall we?

12,000,000 elementary students

x 5 kilos of rice a week

x 12 weeks (Jan-March period)

————————–

720,000,000 Kilos of Rice distributed since January 2008

Before you pro-Gloria start wagging your tongues, let me just say that I am not hitting the program itself. I think it’s a big help to the majority of filipinos who receive these rations. Who knows how many millions of Filipinos are subsidized by these and politics aside, they must be grateful. I’m just wondering why this was implemented when there is a pending crisis. I’m sure Gloria’s advisers knew and were adequately warned ahead. It’s odd to know that they pushed through with the program at this time when they know they won’t be able to import more to replace what was distributed.

My question remain: was this a self-inflicted crisis? A desperate act to wag the dog?

A Virtue

…patience is.

The Cynical Filipino

I wrote “Reflections” a few weeks back after contemplating on the Pinoy’s current state of mind and why, even after the blatant cheating, stealing and lying, you don’t hear the majority ranting and raving about it. The rage is simply not there, which made me realize that there must be really be a collective spiritual and intellectual crisis in our midst.

I do not understand the apathy, but I am trying to find a glimpse of understanding.

Amid all these happenings, Brian Gorell happened. In all instances, we should be like him. Somebody he trusted cheated on him, lied to his face, stole his money and hell hath no fury like a person’s intelligence insulted this way! He put up a blog and turned against his ex-lover. He is enraged. He wants to get back what was supposed to have been stolen from him and unless the Ex pay up, the blog will continue to run, and the high society ’secrets’ will cease to be… secrets. Meanwhile, the Pinoys went crazy over it, blog traffic was incredible in today’s standard for a personal blog. Some even left comments to commiserate, support, offered sympathy and best wishes. Nothing wrong with that, really.

But the way I see it, what happened to him is simply a microcosm of what this nation of Filipinos needs to do, now. You see, the collective Filipinos are in Brian’s shoes: cheated, lied to, stolen from by the person he trusted, in our case it’s Gloria and her government. But while he created a storm with his revelations and his fight to get back what was stolen from him, we did nothing of that sort.

Another observation. Take a hard look at Brian’s case. He’s a foreigner but he gets more sympathy than this country could ever get. How can we rant and rage to give him justice when we couldn’t even stand up against the real thieves and cheats in our own backyard? I am not saying he doesn’t deserve to get his money back, in every respect he should and must and with it, his sense of pride and self-esteem.

But if we can rally behind a foreigner against our own kababayan who he alleged to have duped him, why can’t we do that for the country and the future generations? If we could believe his allegations, how come it takes a lot more evidence and time to believe the exposes and investigations against gloria and her cohorts?

The answer came to me from where else but my trusty best friend, a book.

In the Foreword of his book, Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People he enumerated the present society’s Challenges, Blame & Victimism as one of them. He wrote that

“…the children of blame are cynicism and hopelessness. When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation”.

He added that so many bright and talented people feel this and suffer the broad range of discouragement and depression that follows and that the survival response of popular culture is cynicism:

“Just lower your expectations of life to the point that you aren’t disappointed by anyone or anything.”

I believe this has got to be the best explanation of this pitiful condition.

Sad, but true. Now, my next question is how do we get back our collective sense of pride and fight the cheat, the liar, and the thief like Brian did?

The Fall of the Last Bastion of Decency

Am talking, of course, of the government’s cheapest trick so far, using the great SC to hinder the truth from coming out.  

I have to be honest I don’t get Romulo Neri. He’d sacrifice people’s time, effort and money  to prevent the truth from coming out! What kind of mentality is that? When it’s so easy to just spill the beans, tell the truth, say what he knows and damn the consequences because at the end of the day, it’s all for the greater good!

You have to ask the highest court of the land to decide whether you can tell the truth or not? And the Supreme Court actually decided to his defense?   

What has this country gotten into? Eversince Gloria illegally became president, the worst traits in a human being surfaced! 

Oh, when will we see the light at this very dark, dank, smelly tunnel?