PNoy’s New Year message and ‘delicadeza’

BY DUCKY PAREDES

MALAYA

‘A return to the ways of governance that we had in the last nine years would be tragic!’

THE President’s New Year message shows a PNoy who has gained a lot of confidence. He has taken steps with great risks attached and has pulled them off, with the support of most of the people. Clearly, he has gained from this support. Clearly, too, we appreciate a President who will never steal and will never use his position for personal gain.

Clearly, if the adverse Supreme Court decision on Hacienda Luisita was supposed to test him, the President has passed all the tests strewn in his path with flying colors. As he says, the people’s support, has emboldened him and will make him work harder for his people. Here is his New Year’s Message:

“Sa mahigit isa’t kalahating taon nang pagbagtas natin sa tuwid na landas, nakikita na natin ang pagbangon ng bansa, mula sa malubhang katiwalian at kahirapan. Unti-unti na po tayong nagtatagumpay laban sa mga problemang ating dinatnan.

“Ikumpara po natin ang kasalukuyan sa mga panahong lumipas.

“Gaano man po katindi ang pagpipilit na magtanim ng agam-agam sa ating isipan, wala naman po sigurong makakapag-dudang nagbago na talaga ang Pilipinas.

“Ngayon po, ibinabalik na natin ang piring ng katarungan. Ang kaunlaran ay natatamasa hindi lamang ng mayaman at makapangyarihan, ramdam na rin ng mas nakakarami nating kababayan.

“Nakikita naman po natin ang bunga ng ating ipinunlang mga reporma: may maalab na sigla at pag-asa, mataas na kumpiyansa, at malawak at mas maraming mga oportunidad sa bansa. Ang taon na papasok ay hindi lamang pagpapatuloy ng ating naumpisahang mga reporma, ngunit ng mas mabilis pang pagbabago.

“Salamat po sa patuloy ninyong pagsuporta at pagtitiwala. Manalig po kayong hindi kailanman kukupas ang matingkad nating hangarin na umasenso ang Pilipinas at ang mga Pilipino.

“Hindi tayo patitisod sa nais pa ring umagrabyado sa mga Pilipino. Sa bayanihan ng ating pamahalaan at mamamayan, wala pong makakahadlang sa ating pag-angat at sa tuloy-tuloy na katuparan ng ating mga pangarap. Magpasalamat at bigyang-halaga po sana natin ang mga grasya ng Panginoon ngayong taon.

“Hangad ko pong makatamasa pa ng maraming biyaya at tagumpay ang mas nakakaraming pamilyang Pilipino.

“Isang masaganang Bagong Taon po sa ating lahat.”

***

What I see in PNoy is a president who genuinely wants to reform his country, not for any personal agenda but because he realizes that going the way that we have been going is a continuing injustice for the majority of our citizens. This is also why he continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of majority of his citizens.

In a few more short years, Noynoy Aquino’s term will be over. To make sure that he will be leaving a true legacy for his country, he has to make sure that the next president (and the next one after) will be as straight and still committed to staying on the Daang Matuwid.

A return to the ways of governance that we had in the last nine years would be tragic!

***

The expose by Maritess Dangilan-Vitug on the top honors and doctoral degree (with honors) given to Chief Justice Renato Corona during ceremonies commemorating the University of Santo Tomas’ quadricentennial is a story of moral corruption.

As with his acceptance of the post of Chief Justice given him by a President during a time when the Constitution prohibited a president from doing so, what this clearly shows is a moral lack: He seems to have no concept of “delicadeza.”

Corona even said on receiving his undeserved PhD, relishing the moment: “This great educational institution … the oldest existing university in Asia … has made it possible for me to realize my dream of appending the hard-earned degree of Doctor of Civil Law to my name.”

But, where is the honor, when what a position to which a lawyer is posted is done clearly in violation of the constitution? Where is the honor when the PhD degree is not supported by a dissertation that counts for 15 units of the total required for the doctorate, which is supposed to be done over a period of just two years, not the ten years of unfinished schooling that Corona took to do so (and never actually finished because he actually lacked 15 units which he could have only if he had finished a formal dissertation)?

Contrast this to President Erap who turned down an honorary degree from another university when he was president because President Estrada reasoned, at that time, he had not yet done anything to deserve the honor!

That shows “delicadeza.”

On the other hand, Maritess Danguilan-Vitug, in her book, on the Supreme Court entitled “Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court,” found that Renato Corona’s claim that he graduated with honors from his Bachelor of Arts degree at the Ateneo University “is not recorded in the university’s archives.”

***

“Just want to let you know Filipino-Americans in Hawaii, Nevada and Seattle, Washington support the reform program of Pnoy… they believe that he is the only president that has the guts to charge and have arrested government officials for ripping off the country… No other president has done what he has achieved.” – Lucho Singh from Seattle, Washington

***

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

http://www.malaya.com.ph/01022012/edducky.html

Hopeful, fearful 2012

CITIZEN Y 

By Yoly Villanueva-Ong 
The Philippine Star

How many still set New Year’s resolutions after a span of unfulfilled promises? Year after year the usual pledges would be to lose weight; stop smoking; get more sleep and exercise — all the habits that we know are good for us but never become part of our lifestyle. Before we know it, the months flit by unnoticed and another year has gone by. It’s time to write those same resolutions all over again.

But we do it anyway, because it’s worse if we don’t even try. That’s tantamount to giving up and losing the hope that keeps us alive and striving against all odds. Hope makes us believe in a brighter tomorrow. This year, 95 percent of Filipinos are optimistic that life will be better for all. We are brimming with positivity notwithstanding the fear of Nature’s fury.

2012 is filled with faith and foreboding. Doomsters mark the last day of the Mayan calendar, December 21, 2012, as an omen that the end is near. Mayan scholars have disputed this avowal, submitting that it augurs a new beginning not an ending. A cleansing that heralds a brand new day giving us the chance to correct past wrongs so mankind can redefine and reset “civilization” where it has gone awry.

In our country, purification, especially one that is targeted, is most welcome. As we evaluate the various shapers of nationhood, resolutions come to mind. Mustering enough political will is both a good beginning and a happy ending. Apprehend the corrupt, unmask the frauds, and cancel out the mercenaries. If it is indeed the countdown to apocalypse, here’s a cheery wish list of unsolicited resolutions for selected prime movers and shakers.

GMA: I resolve to atone for all the wrongdoings that I allegedly inflicted on the Filipino people. I promise to return every centavo that I reportedly amassed during my nine-year stint as a Palace Informal Settler. I am sorry. I will not run…away.

Marcos Children: We promise to read the authoritative, unexpurgated biography of Ferdinand Marcos. If proven beyond reasonable doubt, we will write “My-father-was-not-a-hero” 100 times.

Abalos: My commissioner-days are over. I resolve never to cook any deal from A-to-ZTE. I will just cook Ben’s burjers. Hmm, maybe I can expand and franchise it to China’s golf courses?

Corona: Ok! I will relinquish my Tribunal throne. Its so true that “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. But can I get back my name now? Its just Corona not Coronarroyo!

Joker: Why are the Filipinos disappointed with me? They keep saying, “Bad ako, lagot ako!” But I haven’t changed. I’ve always been an ideal-less.

Miriam: I will stop describing my inferiors as insects. I will use only words with less than five syllables to eschew obfuscation.

P-Noy: Ipagpatuloy ang matuwid na daan na susulong sa kaunlaran. I will try to stop smoking and level up my love life from zero to regular.

Cabinet: We will do our jobs even better. We will keep our eyes on the ball, not on the 2013 election. We will not feud among ourselves but not shirk from righteous fights.

Politicians: We promise to stop making promises we never intended to keep. Next year we promise not to tell a lie.

Judiciary: We resolve not to tolerate plagiarists or hide behind judicial independence. We will be more transparent as to where our budget was spent and how we make decisions. We will try not to reverse ourselves too often.

Church: We kept quiet about pedophiles, the excesses of the GMA administration, and the Mitsubishops. We were practising the separation of Church and State. But from now on, hear God’s voice bashing the RH bill from the pulpit every Sunday!

PNP: We resolve to change public perception. The paraks and Eurocops will be excised from our ranks. We will arrest only real criminals and shoot only real carnappers.

Big Business: We will curb greed and share profits more equitably with our employees. We will stop unfair labor practices and keep reminding ourselves that we can’t take it with us or buy heaven. We will prevent being “occupied” by seriously considering the double bottom-line.

Military: We will do away with the pasalubong and pabaon practices. With better pay and proper equipment [which we promise not to sell to our enemies], we can restore the tarnished AFP luster.

Media: The Fourth Estate needs a good purgative. Paid hacks, polemicists and gossips that don’t check the facts should be deleted from self-respecting publications. But without sensationalism, will readers still buy the paper?

Internet: It’s the wild, wild, west. Self-promotion is the name of the game. The breeding ground for narcissists, identity thieves, vicious cowardly trolls hiding behind aliases, SN-addicts, cyber-bullies, and twits who believe the world wants to know what they ate for breakfast. But it also gave the world Arnel Pineda and Charice Pempengco. Resolve to use it well or be unfriended.

Civil Society and the Militants: Go beyond rhetoric and statements. Action and manifestos are not equal to results. The struggle and the attendant publicity are not the objectives. Stay focused on your reason for being. It is supposed to be about the cause you believe in, not about you.

Every Filipino Citizen: The days of sitting back, watching the country go astray and then criticizing when the problem begins to affect vested interests is long gone. We don’t have the luxury of time. Apathy is the shortcut to perdition.

Those who profess to love the country from a distance should put their money where their mouth is. Don’t just blog about the Philippines. Visit and invest. Those who have chosen to stay, better roll up your sleeves and work more than carp.

Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld once said, “We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears.” That’s the perfect description of 2012. If this is our last new year, by hope or by fear, we should be the best version of ourselves.

* * *

citizenyfeedback@gmail.com

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=64&articleId=764390

Corona’s ‘Achilles heel’

PerryScope

By Perry Diaz

Last December 14, 2011 at the steps of the Supreme Court between two imposing Grecian columns, embattled Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona rallied his supporters and warned them that President Benigno Aquino III’s move to remove him could lead to a dictatorship.  And in a display of personal emotion, Corona expressed his “undying love” to his wife Cristina as she embraced him while other family members and supporters surrounded them.  At that moment, Corona must have felt like Achilles preparing to go to battle against Hector of Troy to protect his honor.  And like Achilles, he probably felt an aura of invincibility as he openly declared war on President Aquino.

Indeed, with all the protective layers of legal “teflon” built around the supreme magistrate of the land, Corona – like Achilles – would be a formidable opponent at the Senate impeachment trial where he is charged with eight articles of impeachment.  And with a battery of high-powered defense lawyers enlisted from among the cream of the crop, Corona could indeed be a formidable opponent as Achilles.  But like Achilles, Corona might also have an unprotected heel, which makes it the most vulnerable spot in his defense.

While Corona was sharing the limelight with Cristina at the steps of the Supreme Court, a series of events began to unfold.  After the articles of impeachment were filed against Corona in the Senate, Cristina became the focal point of government investigation that delved into her stint at the Camp John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC). On that same day, JHMC received a subpoena from the Department of Justice (DOJ) requiring Mrs. Corona and Frank Daytec Jr., former operations group manager, to attend a preliminary hearing set for December 22, 2011 on the alleged abuse and misuse of JHMC funds by Mrs. Corona during her tenure as Chairman of the Board and President of JHMC.

Allegations

The investigation sprung from an affidavit filed by Daytec on July 16, 2010, who alleged that Mrs. Corona showed a pattern of abuse and misuse, and disbursed JHMC funds as though they were her personal funds.

In his affidavit, Daytec claimed that he noticed first a payment document dated March 14, 2008 in the amount of P14,560, which covered a stay at the Baguio Country Club supposedly for then-Associate Justice Renato Corona and his wife.  Daytec said that the stay was paid for by JHMC although there was no official activity there.  These hotel accommodations happened on several occasions even when there was an option for Mrs. Corona to stay at the nearby Manor Hotel, which is owned by JHMC.

In the last few days of June prior to her resignation on July 10, 2010, Daytec claimed that Mrs. Corona sent a set of receipts totaling P93,576.56 to the Finance Department with a verbal instruction to process her “reimbursables”expeditiously, which were supposedly for personal billings such as expenses for massage, driver’s accommodations, etc.

But this amount is peanuts compared to what Mrs. Corona was compensated during her employment at JHMC.  Her monthly basic salary as President was P78,000.  In addition, she received P10,800 monthly representation allowance, P20,000 monthly for communication expenses, and P40,000 per board meeting appearance.

In her last six months in office in 2010, data from the Commission on Audit showed that Mrs. Corona received P972,148.30 in salaries and allowances, which included a bonus of P154,962.30.  In 2009, the previous year, she received a total of P1,915,002.79 in salaries, allowances, benefits, and bonus.

Plum appointments

When then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo named Mrs. Corona to the board of directors of JHMC on May 19, 2001, it was a plum appointment too good to refuse.   The following year, Gloria appointed her husband, Renato Corona — Gloria’s former legal counsel, chief of staff and executive secretary during her vice presidency — as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.  Then on April 12, 2007, Gloria appointed Mrs. Corona as Chairman of the JHMC Board.  A year later, Mrs. Corona assumed the position of JHMC President concurrently. On May 17, 2010, despite the constitutional ban on “midnight appointments,” Gloria appointed Corona to the post of Supreme Court Chief Justice.  On July 10, 2010, Mrs. Corona resigned from her plum posts at JHMC.

On July 16, 2010, Daytec filed criminal complaint against Mrs. Corona for misuse of public funds.  Within hours of filing his complaint, Daytec and his family left for Canada where they took up residency.

Conjugal complicity

Mrs. Corona failed to show up at the preliminary hearing of the graft case last December 22.  However, she submitted a 17-page sworn counter-affidavit before the start of preliminary hearing.  She disowned charges of unauthorized use of public funds and claimed that the revival of the Daytec complaint by DOJ was linked to the impeachment trial of her husband.  She said that the allegations were “all bare-faced lies” and “purely black propaganda.”  However, Mrs. Corona did not offer any specific proof to disprove the allegations made by Daytec.  Instead, she said, “The Chief Justice is clearly the target, not me.”

While, one may agree that her husband may have been the target, she cannot deny that she too is the target of the investigation.  Both of them are complicit to the alleged crime.  They’re in the same act together.

Both of them should know – as every government official should – that the use of public funds for personal or private use is corruption.  In the case of Chief Justice Corona, this was a clear violation of the Judicial Code of Conduct.  As the supreme magistrate of the land, he should – nay, must! – act in a manner that sets example for all public servants to emulate.  He must be at the apex of moral purity and the epitome of judicial wisdom.

But at the end of the day, it would all come down to a conjugal decision on how Corona should play his hand at his impeachment trial.  Corona and his wife are both in this together.  If one went down, the other would go down, too.  Or, they can cut their losses and move on with their lives.  And all it would take is for Corona to take the fall – resign — in order to protect his Achilles heel… Cristina.

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)

# # #

“The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people!” – Napoleon

Resurrecting dagdag-bawas

HIDDEN AGENDA 

By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
The Philippine Star

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Advisory Council recently held a weeklong vendors’ demo for technology providers as part of its early preparations for the automation of the 2013 mid-term elections.

Upon learning that Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) — the Comelec’s private partner in the country’s first-ever computerized balloting last year — had taken part in the demo, a civil society group styling itself as a poll watchdog quickly issued a statement urging the Comelec to ban the firm in the bidding for the automation technology in the mid-term polls, even with the elections still a good 17 months away.

Smartmatic-TIM was the firm that provided the automation technology and machines in the May 2010 national and local elections, which delivered an overwhelming victory for the opposition presidential bet, as well as accurate poll results, not in weeks, but mostly in just hours or a day or two.

We already know about all these, because many of us took part in this first-ever, yet highly successful, automated national elections in the country, which received accolades not only here but abroad as well, and for a brief moment, made us all proud to be democracy-loving Filipinos once again.

The civil society group-cum-election watchdog that has called for Smartmatic’s disqualification brands itself as the AES Watch (with AES standing for Automated Election System). Its members include the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), NAMFREL, the Philippine Computer Society Foundation, and transparentelections.org.ph.

This is the group of information technology experts whose Open Elections System (OES) was rejected by the Comelec as Smartmatic’s AES technology emerged winner in the public bidding for an automated system for the 2010 elections.

CenPEG et al had pushed for OES — a rival technology combining manual counting of votes at the precincts with computerized canvassing — that the Comelec deemed was not only inadequate, but also contrary to the provisions of Republic Act 9369 or the Automated Elections Law.

Now that we’re looking at this story in the right perspective, we can more or less gauge the reason why AES Watch wants AES and its Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines disqualified. It’s actually a simple strategy to eliminate the competition this early in the game.

AES Watch is apparently banking on the fact that it now has a formidable ally inside the Comelec who could turn the tide in its favor, despite the flawed automation technology it is pushing for the 2013 elections.

Augusto “Gus” Lagman, a prominent member of this group, is now a Comelec commissioner. Lagman was among the 12 architects of the OES technology that AES Watch wanted the electoral watchdog to use in the 2010 elections.

Very briefly, the OES provides for manual voting and counting and manually produced Election Returns encoded by different operators into a semi-automated Canvassing System.

Imagine how this would go on any Election Day, along with the countless potentials for cheating, and you get a general idea why the Comelec rejected this proposal. In plain and simple language, it means a return to the dagdag-bawas scheme that failed to make a comeback in last year’s balloting. Naturally, Lagman, a rabid OES proponent, would counter any attempt by other companies to provide the Comelec with a more sophisticated means of automating our election system. Along with his allies in civil society, Lagman can make a case out of Smartmatic, or any other technology provider for that matter, which is seen as a potential competitor of the OES.

In its statement, AES Watch had alleged that the technology used in the May 2010 polls “failed to deliver according to the Terms of Reference and the basic technical requirements of transparency, accuracy, reliability, and auditability as provided for by the poll automation law.”

Can AES Watch dispute the fact that leading members of the international community, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had heaped praises on the Philippines for the successful conduct of the 2010 elections?

Did they forget the fact that then Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal reported last year that officials from different European states and countries like Kenya, Nigeria and Liberia were planning to visit the Philippines to find out how it had successfully carried out the country’s first-ever automated national elections.

As for public approval of the automated system used in the May 2010 elections, separate surveys done by prominent and highly credible polling firms (Social Weather Stations, Pulse Asia and StratPOLLS) show that majority of Filipino voters had lauded the conduct of the polls insofar as protecting the integrity of the ballot and dramatically improving the Comelec’s credibility with the quick delivery of results in most electoral races.

Is AES Watch aware that its insistence on scouting for a new technology provider for the 2013 elections puts the Comelec in a tight bind because of its limited budget?

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr., in disclosing the Comelec’s precarious situation at a recent Kapihan media forum at the Diamond Hotel, pointed out that they had asked for a P10.2-billion budget for 2012 to prepare for the following year’s political exercise, but only got P7 billion from Congress.

If the Comelec bids out the technology for the 2013 elections and gets a new provider it would have to work around a P7-billion budget, which Brillantes said would not be enough for the number of voting machines it wants to procure.

Brillantes explained that the Comelec wants to increase the number of voting machines from 80,000 to 146,000 units, to avoid the long queues experienced by voters in the 2010 elections.

The long queuing problem was actually one of the complaints of AES Watch about the 2010 elections, which does not say anything about quality of the technology, but more on the quantity of the machines used during the balloting.

Remember that the Comelec would have to pay not only for the technology of a new provider, but also for new voting machines, the training and familiarization workshops for election officials and inspectors, expenses for the technical requirements, voter education programs, maintenance expenses for the machines, new sets of voting materials and other incidental costs.

The Comelec cannot go back to manual balloting because the law provides the mandatory conduct of automated elections.

Brillantes had also pointed out that the shortcomings, if any, of the PCOS units used for the 2010 elections could be corrected, especially because the machines have already been road tested, so to speak.

Incidentally, the Carter Center, founded by former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, has released the final report of its international election observation mission on the Philippines’ first-ever computerized balloting held last year.

This mission lauded the Comelec and the other parties responsible for the clean and orderly conduct of the elections, which it said was “marked by relatively high public confidence and trust on the use of the optical mark recognition technology.”

Incidentally, the Carter Center’s reputation does not just rely on having the name of an esteemed former American president on its marquee, but on a sterling track record that includes 80 election observation missions in 30 countries over the past two decades.

For comments, e-mail at philstarhiddenagenda@yahoo.com

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=760538&publicationSubCategoryId=66

Day of retribution

Backbencher

By Rod P. Kapunan
Manila Standard Today

Jovito Palparan, Jr., a.k.a. “The Butcher”, would not have reached the rank of major general in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and shame its reputation had he not found a patron who would applaud his strings of criminal acts against those he arbitrarily perceived as “enemies of the State.” The butcher managed to build his notorious reputation and cash in on it to win the trust of an equally notorious political hijacker and political swindler who by twist of fate is now detained, and made to answer for the crimes that allowed her to style herself as President of this Godforsaken republic.

Such is the observation for if the previous government was kin in observing the law, Palparan could have been weeded out that early as a bad egg and charged before the military courts for his crimes. In wanting to earn his laurels, he opted to play the dirty game, confident he would be rewarded for his deranged efforts to make good the rubbish slogan “Ang matatag na republika.” Yes, he is only made to answer for the disappearance of the three persons, but it cannot be discounted he had a hand in all those operations that caused the disappearance and killings of more 800 persons that all took place during the reign of the political usurper, and that includes Jonas Burgos, the son of the former Malaya publisher, Joe Burgos.

To quote the now-detained Mrs. Arroyo in her 2006 State of the Nation Address, “…we will end the long oppression of barangays by rebel terrorists who kill without qualms, even their own. Sa mga lalawigan sakop ng 7th Division nakikibaka sa kalaban si Jovito Palparan. Hindi siya aatras hanggang makawala sa gabi ng kilabot ang mga pamayanan at maka-ahon sa bukang liwayway ng hustisya at kalayaan.” Indeed, it was weird because no sane political leader would publicly commend a creature like Palparan, unless the leader himself has the criminal instinct to do it. He could not have earned his notorious reputation, and seemingly get away with it had he, in the words of Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, not been “lavishly coddled by the previous administration.”

For that matter, wherever Palparan and his men are assigned they move in like pestilence. In Samar, Mindoro, and Central Luzon their arrival could spell out the death of those they arbitrarily tagged as “enemies of the State.” He took on his criminal activities as his way to fame and glory, and was consistently rewarded instead of being court martialed. Palparan was promoted twice, from colonel to brigadier general in 2003, a promotion seldom achieved by decent but dedicated soldiers who would rather stick to the rules of civilized warfare than earn their medals stained with the blood of suspects and innocent civilians. The following year, he was again promoted to major general after serving as commander of the Philippine contingent to Iraq in 2004, and it came barely two months after his previous promotion.

True to his color as a wayward soldier, he tells the investigating panel of the Department of Justice, “What will you admit if you have done nothing wrong?” As one who has been used to interrogating people by the methodological way of torture, he failed to surmise that his general denial amounted to an admission, which contradicts to what he stated in his counter affidavit that, “as the commanding general of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, the other military officers accused with him were not under his control and supervision. That said abduction of the students was a ‘police matter’”.

Palparan has become arrogant to trivialize the order of the court despite the writ of amparo issued by the Supreme Court for the Court of Appeals to proceed in hearing the case. Indeed, he and his co-accused have all their reasons to bask much that the questionable Arroyo government was still in power to afford them to brush aside the search warrant insisting that it amounted to a “shotgun search warrant.” Such defense would not suffice for the fact that two brothers-witnesses have surfaced with Raymond Manalo testifying he first saw the two missing UP students, Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, at Camp Tecson, Bulacan, in September 2006. Raymond said he and his brother Reynaldo together with Cadapan, Empeneo and Merino were all tortured. One could imagine how brutal it was to see Palparan’s soldiers setting Merino on fire. He said the last time he saw the students was in June 2007 in Limay, Bataan, where they were taken.

What Palparan committed were atrocities not war by resorting to such reprehensible means of abducting suspects, and summarily liquidating them in isolated places to be ultimately classified as desaparecidos. Such barbaric conduct is self-defeating to the counterinsurgency efforts of winning the hearts and minds of the people. Human rights violations can never be made a substitute to victory reminiscent of the unbridled brutality waged by the generals headed by Jorge Videla of Argentina where more than 20,000 civilians disappeared under that infamous Operation Condor ordered by the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Palparan’s arrogance has gotten into his head that right after retiring from the service his formed his own party-list, the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy. According to some sources, the leading personalities behind ANAD, a word in waray which means domesticated, is made up of the same henchmen that joined him in his criminal activities. Being one who has become an egotistical maniac, that in the words of British writer Christopher Hitchens sick with solipsism or of seeing himself as the only reality, the doggone soldier is now advocating nationalism without thinking that the barbaric war he has been waging against his own people is a proxy war to protect the interest of a criminal state that is as guilty of savagery in attacking many countries in our time.

He could not even comprehend that democracy can never exist alongside violence. While the measurement of democracy is based on what constitutes the majority, the decision of that majority is nonetheless always guided by the free will of the individual on which to side. Soldiers hooting for democracy can never defend that political principle by the use of violence for then what takes place is the “barrel of the gun” something stupid Palparan failed to analyze. If Mrs. Arroyo has the nerve to classify the rebels as terrorists, her patronage of Palparan doubly reduced her government to that of a terrorist organization made worse because it uses the very instrumentalities of the State she grabbed to intimidate the people.

rodkap@yahoo.com.ph

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideOpinion.htm?f=2011/december/24/rodkapunan.isx&d=2011/december/24

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

MAY THE NEW YEAR GIVE US NEW HOPE AND USHER GOOD TIDINGS.