Will the real party list group please stand up?

by Sherrie Ann Torres
fromVERA Files

http://www.malaya.com.ph/03292010/news5.html

In 1998, the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives or APEC decided to plunge into Philippine politics through the party list elections.

That year happened to be the first time that Filipino voters would be electing a party list group, on top of an individual politician in their congressional districts, to the House of Representatives. Approved three years earlier, Republic Act No. 7941 or the party list law had sought to include “marginalized” sectors in lawmaking.

But the leaders of APEC, composed of electric cooperatives based mostly in Mindanao, only thought of joining the race five months before the May 1998 polls, and nearly everything—from the name of the group to its list of nominees for congressional seats—was done hurriedly, admits Edgar Valdez, APEC’s current representative to Congress.

“Noon turo-turo na lang. Parang it was all a joke (We just pinpointed who would be the nominees. It’s as if it was all a joke),” said Valdez, who was at the time the group’s No. 5 nominee.

The last-minute formation of the party list organization and the absence of a track record are enough grounds for APEC’s disqualification under an administrative order of the Commission on Elections.

APEC’s accreditation, admits Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, is one big blunder committed by the Comelec.

But the poll body has not acted to correct its mistake. Save for a petition filed by another organization before the Supreme Court questioning the qualification of APEC’s nominees—a case the electric cooperatives later won—no one has disputed APEC’s presence in Congress.

The party list group representing electric coops has consistently landed a seat in Congress since the 11th Congress. Today, in the 14th Congress, it holds two seats, enjoying the perks of lawmaking, including the infamous pork-barrel funds placed at Congress’ disposal every year.

Comelec’s apparent laxity in accrediting party list groups, coupled with a Supreme Court order allocating seats to party list groups that garnered only 1 percent of votes instead of the 2 percent required by RA 7941, has led to a deluge of party list group aspirants, with a record 293 applying and an unprecedented 158 accredited for this year’s elections.

Among the party list groups that have sought accreditation are those that claim to represent tricycle drivers and security guards, miners, itinerant vendors, barangay tanods, golf course caddies, and even jail inmates. Some have nominees or representatives who are actually traditional politicians or former government officials.

“It’s a mockery, it bastardizes the principles of the party list system,” said former Akbayan Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales.

The original intention of the party list system was to open up the legislative system to sectors whose views and voices have been excluded. The law originally lists categories of these “marginalized,” among them peasants, labor, youth, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, and women. And part of the intention was to bring these sectors into Congress from the parliament of the streets where they have been holding rallies for decades.

But Rosales said most of the party list groups applying for accreditation are fake: they were nonexistent before the elections, have no nationwide membership, no clear legislative programs to implement, and even have “bogus” nominees.

Among the nominees in the current crop of applicants are First Son Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, who is the nominee for a group representing security guards, and former Armed Forces Chief of Staff and environment and energy secretary Angelo Reyes, who is the nominee for a transport sector group. Rosales said the two are proof that traditional politicians are using the party list system as a backdoor to Congress.

“The first thing any clear thinking Comelec should do is to question. We know that this (Mikey Arroyo) is a very rich person who owns property all over the world, including California which he didn’t declare in his Statement of Assets and Liabilities,” said current Akbayan representative Walden Bello.

On the other hand, 1-Utak, the transport sector group that is adopting Reyes as a nominee, came under fire for allegedly being a front of the big oil firms. The jeepney drivers and operators’ group Pagkakaisa ng Samahan ng Transport at Operator Nationwide finds it suspicious that 1-Utak’s legislative program is centered on the pricing of petroleum products rather than the welfare of jeepney drivers. 1-Utak has denied the accusation.

Last week, the Comelec issued Resolution No. 8807 which may yet disqualify Mikey Arroyo and Reyes from the party list race. The resolution stipulates that party list nominees have to submit documentary evidence to prove that they “belong to the marginalized and underrepresented sector/s, the sectoral party, organization, political party or coalition they seek to represent.”

To qualify, a party list group must not be funded by a foreign government or the Philippine government, must renounce violence and represent a marginalized sector, must have track record, and must show proof of “national constituency” (regional chapters in at least nine regions in the country).

Despite Comelec’s supposed strictness, many groups with questionable records have passed its scrutiny. For one thing, the sheer number of applications has forced the Comelec to hear 10 to 15 applications—25 at times—a day.

But a more inherent problem is R.A. 7941 itself. “(T)he law passed by Congress has many gaps, has many vague provisions,” Sarmiento said.

Others, however, chiefly blame Comelec and its interpretation of the law.

APEC’s Valdez, who was president of the Sultan Kudarat Electric Cooperative for 17 years before becoming a congressman, insists there is no really case against APEC and faults the Comelec for the late issuance of implementing rules and regulations for R.A. Act 7941 in the 1998 elections.

He also said the track record required of party list groups is not found in the law but was just imposed by Comelec.

“Gawa-gawa lang ng Comelec ’yang administrative order nila (Comelec just made up that administrative order was only made up by the Comelec). It did not exist in 1998. If it’s illegal now, it would be faux facto (false fact),” Valdez said.

Comelec’s definition of “marginalized” is also unclear, said UP professor and former National Treasurer Leonor Briones.

Sectoral parties, organizations, political parties pursuing ideologies and ideas, and coalitions can be accredited as party list groups.

But Briones said the criteria being used by Comelec in legitimizing such groups are so vague that one could no longer identify which is indeed marginalized and which is just projecting itself to be so.

She cited An Waray, a regional organization based in Eastern Visayas whose advocacy is to uplift the plight of poor Visayans.

Briones, who is from Dumaguete City, takes issue with An Waray’s insinuation that all Warays are poor and helpless. “What is the basis to say who is marginalized? The Warays as Warays or as fisherfolk? Is it according to livelihood? Is it according to region? Is it according to economic sector like fishermen or farmers?” she said. “If you are from Samar, therefore you are marginalized? I would dispute that.”

Briones also scored the entry of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s son, Narciso II, as a party list representative of the rural communities.

“How can the son of Miriam be a representative of the farmers?” she asked of Narcisco II, who used to be a member of his mother’s legislative staff.

“The party list system is in a mess. It’s supposed to give representation to marginalized sectors, but if you look at the present party list representatives, it’s very obvious they are not marginalized,” Briones said.

The composition of the 32 party list groups now sitting in Congress underscores the imbalanced representation of marginalized sectors in the legislature.

Abono, Anakpawis, Aba-Ako, ARC and AGAP represent the agricultural sector. Groups formed to lobby for the poor are the An Waray, Alagad, Bayan Muna, Akbayan, Ang Kasangga, Gabriela, Akbayan and Aangat Tayo. For the barangays or villagers, there are Banat and Ang Bantay. TUCP and 1-Utak represent the public transport sector, and A-Teacher and Abakada-Guro the teachers. Cibac and Yacap are anti-graft watchdogs. Cooperatives are being represented by the Coop-Natcco, Butil and APEC. The elderly has the Senior Citizens and the Veterans Filipino parties.

Ironically, Kabataan is the sole representative of the youth even if more than half the country’s 89 million population belong to this sector. The indigenous peoples are represented only by Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino.

No party list group represents the physically impaired or overseas Filipino workers whom the government calls its “modern-day heroes.”

Migrante International, an OFW party list group and the only organization identified with migrant workers, was disqualified by the Comelec along with 25 others. The reasons: it had failed to obtain 2 percent votes and to participate in the 2007 elections.

RA 7941 clearly prohibits religious groups from becoming party list groups. Yet questions linger as to why Cibac (Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption), which is allied with Jesus is Lord Movement’s Eddie Villanueva, and Buhay, which is identified with the El Shaddai’s Mike Velarde, have been accredited by Comelec.

Villanueva’s son, Joel, even represents the minority bloc at the powerful Commission on Appointments. Velarde’s son Rene, on the other hand, is the deputy majority leader. Both are on their third and final term. In the 2010 elections, the elder Velarde himself is listed as a Buhay nominee. No one has ever questioned their groups’ seats in Congress.

Sarmiento said the Comelec has noted all these violations but is caught in a dilemma on how to address it. He said only Congress can end this recurring problem.

“I think the law has to be fine-tuned. When you say supported by a religious sector, what does it mean? There are groups in Congress that are being supported by a religious group,” Sarmiento said.

As disturbing as party list groups backed by Church groups are those affiliated with giant political parties or with nominees related or identified with political figures.

As early as the 1998 congressional elections, the Lakas-NUCD-CMD, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Liberal Party and Kilusang Bagong Lipunan have been banned from joining the party list elections.

These groups, however, have tried various tacks to slip into Congress via the party list route, aided by what used to be a policy of Comelec against disclosing the names of the nominees of party list groups. (The Supreme Court has ordered the Comelec to disclose the nominees of every party list group that is participating in this year’s elections.)

The groups included GLOW (Gloria Arroyo); NCWP (National Council of Women of the Philippines), with the sister of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. as the second nominee; Bagong Bayani, with former congresswoman Andrea Domingo who was also head of the JDV Foundation; Kampil (Kabataang Masang Pilipino) of JV Ejercito, and Lakas-CCW. Some of them, however, lost during the electons.

In the 2007 polls, the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalistang Pilipino attempted to enter Congress. Its first nominee then was Norberto Gonzales, who was already in the Arroyo Cabinet.

Ang Kasangga sa Kaunlaran (Ang Kasangga) was formed in 2005 and succeeded in putting presidential sister-in-law Ma. Lourdes Arroyo as the representative of vendors and other small-time entrepreneurs in Congress. She is the fourth Arroyo in the House.

Kakusa, founded by convicted child rapist former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos, is also part of the 14th Congress. Kakusa is also affiliated with Gonzales’s PDSP.

The brother of former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, Dr. Arsenio Abalos, nearly made it as a party list representative of tricycle drivers through Biyaheng Pinoy. Public outrage forced then Comelec Chairman Abalos to scratch his brother’s group from the list.

Agbiag is an Ilocano group connected with Thompson Lantion, former chair of the Land Transportation Land and Franchising Regulatory Board, while Ahon Pinoy has Dante “Klink” Ang Jr. as its first nominee. Ang is the son of Dante Ang, Arroyo’s former publicist who now heads the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.

Resolution 8807 should aid the Comelec in deciding who should be a party list group’s nominees. The law allows an “advocate” of a sector to pass as a group nominee, but the resolution now states that the nominee must come from the sector he or she seeks to represent.

“If the group or sector is really marginalized, the representative must be marginalized also. Because that is the best,” Sarmiento said. “But what’s happening is there are advocates who are millionaires. Is that acceptable? For me it’s not acceptable.”

(The author is a television reporter who submitted a longer version of this article as her master’s project at the Ateneo de Manila University’s Asian Center for Journalism. Her adviser was VERA Files trustee Luz Rimban. VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look into current issues.)

Pacman and Pekman

Balitang Kutsero
by Perry Diaz

It must be destiny that brought them together. Both claimed they came from dirt poor families. Both became filthy rich. They’re tocayos, named Manny. And they believe that they’re destined to make history. Yup, Manny Pacquiao already made history punching his way to fame. Meanwhile, Manny Villar’s critics were saying that he wants to make history by faking poverty — or as one columnist said, “PEKENG MAHIRAP” — to become president. Pacquiao’s fans call him “Pacman” while Villar’s critics call him “Pekman,” like in “fake man.”

Pacman and Pekman hit it off and off they hit the road entertaining enthusiastic crowds. But it’s beginning to look more like a Pacman show when the people shouted, “Pacman! Pacman! Pacman!” Poor Pekman, he should have brought the octogenarian comedy king Dolphy instead of the macho and mean-looking Pacman who’s getting all the attention especially from the women. Hey, his friends didn’t call him “chickboy” for nothing.

***

The other day, the fearless Sen. Jamby “Indiana Jones” Madrigal accused Villar and Bro. Mike Velarde — head of the religious sect El Shaddai — as “partners in crime” in the controversial C-5 road extension project. Jamby said that Villar made P6.2 billion from the realignment of C-5 while Bro. Mike made P1.2 billion in right-of-way payment. Indeed, Villar is very good in mixing business with politics while Bro. Mike is very good in mixing business with religion. Now, they can be called the “Villarde” partners.

Gloria’s “kiss of death” is hurting Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro’s presidential bid. The word is that Gloria is now supporting Villar… secretly. And guess what? Villar is now called “Money Villarroyo.” But it seems like he’s been smacked by Gloria’s deadly kiss because his poll rating has mysteriously began to go down.

Gloria didn’t like the talks about “Villarroyo” so she ordered her PaLaKa party members to stop talking about “Villarroyo.” But the problem is that most of the PaLaKa party members have already defected to the Villarroyo camp. PaLaKa was designed like the “unsinkable” Titanic but it turned out to be more like Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose, a humongous seaplane that couldn’t fly.

And then Gibo quit as PaLaKa’s chairman when he heard that First Gentleman Mike Arroyo had been calling PaLaKa members to switch to Villarroyo. And guess who took over the chairmanship? Gloria’s good friend, House Deputy Speaker Amelita Villarosa. Gibo is now seeing “VILLAR” written all over. And when Gloria ordered the PaLaKa troops to “circle the wagons” around him, Gibo knew the end is near. Wasn’t that what the Seventh Cavalry did for Gen. George Armstrong Custer at the battle of Little Big Horn? The buzz now is: “Giba na si Gibo” (“Gibo is finished”).

With Villarroyo’s poll rating lagging behind Noynoy Aquino, Noynoy would likely be the first bachelor president of the Philippines. Noynoy said that he’s not going to marry right away. Lucky for his sister Kris, she’d be the First Lady and, sadly, Noynoy’s girlfriend Shalani Soledad would have to contend as the First Lady-in-waiting. And if there’s another one, Second Lady-in-waiting and so on. However, I don’t think Noynoy is that kind of a guy. I could be wrong though ‘cuz I used to say the same thing about Tiger Woods… and Pacman, too! Didn’t someone once say, “All men are the same”? Yup, but different sizes… ahem, I mean… like heights and weights.

Reminds me of former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada. Before he became president, he reputedly built identical houses for his five — or was it six or seven? — mistresses. He could then sleep in any one of them and he’d always feel at home. But when he moved to Malacanang when he was elected president, his real wife moved in, too, and immediately took the title of First Lady. Like they say, “it comes with the territory.” His mistresses had to settle for First Mistress, Second Mistress, and so on.

***

Presidential wannabe Richard “Flashy Dick” Gordon asked voters to make a principled choice on May 10. For once, the voters believe him. Yup, his poll rating is still stuck at one percent, never went up a bit. Maybe, he should tell voters to forget about their principles and vote for him. But that’s too risky though, he might end up with zero vote.

Recently, Flashy Dick and his side kick Bayani Fernando met their supporters at Barbara’s Restaurant, owned by Flashy Dick’s sister, in Intramuros. I’ve been to that restaurant before and I believe it only has a seating capacity of no more than 50 people. His event was graced by comic Moymoy Palaboy (who?) and several other lesser-known celebs. Well, it really takes money to get known celebs like Dolphy. Supposedly it cost Pekman P30 million to get the octogenarian comedy king to just wave his hands at his rallies.

But Flashy Dick has been winning in mock elections in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, two countries each the size of Intramuros. Seriously, I think he should expand his campaign to big cities like Quezon City and Davao City.

Former prez Fidel V. Ramos, an octogenarian who looks like a young tiger in the woods as he puffs an unlit Churchill cigar, gave advice to the “tailenders” like Flashy Dick, Gibo, and Jamby Madrigal. He said they shouldn’t be discouraged by their poor performance because he too was a tailender when he ran for prez in 1998. And he won!

***

After clobbering Joshua Clottey but failing to knock him out, Pacman hinted that he might be retiring soon. While Pacman earned billions of pesos punching other people’s faces, he must have figured out that there was a better way of becoming rich without getting hurt. I’m beginning to suspect that Pekman had been mentoring Pacman on the “fine art” of grabbing land and building homes using other people’s money. My investigative reporter James Macaquecquec found out that Pacman has been going to Norzagaray, Bulacan lately looking for land to grab. Attaboy, Pacman, you’re learning fast!

Watch out, folks! Here come Pacman and Pekman! Rockin’ and grabbin’!

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)

The New Government of 2010: by Election or Revolution?

by Charles Avila

The cyclical patterns of regime change

One question crossing many people’s minds as they hear talk of election failure in the wake of a new way of voting and counting is: where are we headed this time? The Marcos years are way back in the past, and who remembers them? Right after independence we had twenty-six years of elite democracy, followed by 14 years of authoritarian rule.

The past twenty-four years may yet be referred to by future historians as merely “the post-Marcos years” to emphasize that, in our country, as in a few others that have been swept by various waves of democratization over the past century, the pattern of regime change has often been “cyclical” or a mere alternation between so-called democracy and authoritarianism. Weak democracy gives way to authoritarianism only to be replaced in turn by seemingly stronger democracy.

Political legitimacy inevitably declines over time, and both authoritarian regimes and oligarchic democracies – the only political dispensations we’ve known in our country in our lifetime – have no mechanisms for self-renewal: hence, the cyclical patterns of regime change – with state power moving from a few holders to one main holder and back to a few thereafter but hardly to a real participative majority – not till now, unfortunately.

History has time and again demonstrated this iron law that without the empowerment of the majority populace – in other words, without social democracy or the rule of the many – that is, without people’s ownership of government and the means of production – oligarchy or the rule of the few always leads to monopoly rule. It may be time then to break the impasse and move out of this exasperatingly monotonous alternation that has only produced at best a poor Third World country.

The dismantling of the second republic by the Marcos auto-golpe (“coup-me” or the “revolution from the center”) was also the culmination of a longer political-economic process managed by international powers towards dependent “Development” as a goal, and the acceptance of external guidance such as the World Bank’s and the IMF’s as “the best method” of achieving that goal. Old-style imperialism had morphed into neo-colonialism. It is interesting to note that the countervailing power, in the famous studies of Harvard’s Samuel Huntington, was “Catholicism” or changes in the political alignment of the Roman Catholic Church that repositioned herself from accommodating authoritarian regimes to opposing them.

In fact, it was also this realignment that saved the Arroyo administration from collapse in 2005. Cory Aquino was calling for people power to get GMA to resign and Cardinal Sin was no longer in the political scene. Only the CBCP or the Catholic Bishops as a whole could make the crucial difference. Fortunately for Arroyo, the Bishops’ collegial decision was clear –not to favor regime change via extrajudicial means at that time. But what is the situation now?

The character of our political system

There is very little debate as to the essentially oligarchic character of what passes for Philippine formal “democracy”. Our democracy is more an instrument masking oligarchy or plutocracy than anything else. And the chief instrument of deception or the mask mutually embraced by both the ruled and the ruling class is our peculiar electoral system that never fails to excite the nation more than any national sport ever could. Despite the fact that people buy and sell, kill and die for electoral victory, they would never, for all that, in their heart of hearts and in their sober moments, deny that the whole electoral exercise is anything but a true manifestation of the people’s will. Philippine electoral politics, it can never be denied, is about so many Tweedledums and Tweedeledees telling the Filipino people how free they are to choose between anyone of their same kind.

In their studies political scientists tend to be more kind. They say that prior to 1972, the Philippines’ main political parties were “clientelistic” parties. This meant they were vehicles that merely reflected patron–client ties involving exchanges of favors between prosperous patrons and their poor and dependent clients. The system of exchange was always particularistic, non–programmatic, non–ideological, and often but not necessarily always personalistic.

After 1972, during the period of “constitutional authoritarianism” the political party system that was meant to underscore the regime’s “legitimacy” became a cruel joke. Political scientists invented another word: parties were no longer just “clientelistic”; they were now “patrimonialistic” deriving from the word “patrimony” because the ruling party did not only have effective monopoly over state power but maintained itself with the plunder of state resources.

The post-Marcos years “restored” democracy, i.e. brought back oligarchic democracy. Unintelligently over-reacting to the negative features of authoritarianism, we restored a “weak state” captured by the oligarchic elite whose open factional differences were baptized as democracy’s “freedoms” – of the press, of assembly, of court remedies and due process, etc. but excluding what Ninoy Aquino wrote about from his solitary cell – to be: “free from the imprisoning walls of ignorance, poverty and disease; free from the exploitation of a privileged and propertied few; free from the entangling webs of super-power hegemony, imperialism and neo-colonialism.” His dream was “of a community of liberated citizens enjoying the full benefits of a Free Society” including the freedom “to choose, criticize and remove our duly elected governors.”

Lately, however, quite a few have realized that the Philippines is not all elite politics. The Philippines is a contested democracy where the oligarchic elite is being challenged by the lower and middle classes: “elite democracy” versus “democracy from below,” or – in other words – “liberal democracy” versus “social democracy.”

The insatiably predatory elite look for ways, say, via manipulations in the electoral system, to maintain the dysfunctional type of formal democracy that it can always dominate. On the other hand, adherents of broader or social democracy desire not just good governance and transparent, accountable government, but also popular empowerment and social justice. Formal democracy must be reformed to become more substantive, to deepen it into a more participatory and egalitarian democracy. How is this going to happen?

The ways of change

The normal way is through a long process of gradual change in the systems and subsystems of Philippine society, bringing us, say, to a level of social justice, political sovereignty and economic prosperity that characterized Ninoy’s “Malayang Lipunan” which is equivalent to becoming a First World country of our own type. This presumes the presence of a strong state backed up by the support of an enlightened citizenry who have organized themselves into strong social organizations.

The extraordinary way is through a non-violent revolution as a fast-track entry into the universe of change. We went through this methodology twice the past four decades occasioned by certain ruptures in the “normal” process of Philippine politics. And we also blew it twice. Can we hit a home run on the third attempt?

Our first experience of such rupture came with Presidential Proclamation 1081 in 1972. Marcos’ second term as president would have ended in 1973, but, having hijacked the ongoing Constitutional Convention, he did not transfer the reins of government at the end of his term in 1973. Proclamation 1081 “legalized” his continued stay in office. He did all this before the scheduled elections in order to forestall any claimant to the presidency.

This “revolution from the center” was simple although long prepared for: Marcos informed the Filipino people that there were, in existence, lawless elements intending to overthrow the government and supplant it with one based on Marxist-Leninist-Maoist teachings and beliefs and that these lawless elements had organized and established an insurrectionary force known as the New People’s Army (NPA) to pursue a relentless and ruthless armed struggle against the duly constituted government of the Philippines. Earlier, he had suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and commanded the armed forces to suppress lawless violence; however, he supposedly found these two courses of action insufficient in order to end the chaotic situation, citing Supreme Court cases to attest to the existence of rebellion and insurrection in the country; thus, he said that his only remaining option was to declare martial law.

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested upon me by Article VII, Section 10, Paragraph (2) of the [1935] Constitution, do hereby place the entire Philippines as defined in Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution under martial law and, in my capacity as their commander-in-chief, do hereby command the armed forces of the Philippines, to maintain law and order throughout the Philippines, prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as well as any act of insurrection or rebellion and to enforce obedience to all the laws and decrees, orders and regulations promulgated by me personally or upon my direction.”

Marcos overthrew liberal democracy “to save the Republic and to form a New Society”. Not having accomplished either after so many years, people became restive. Here was a real chance to have mounted a revolution with very little bloodshed – but Marcos blew it.

Our second experience of rupture happened in 1986. The snap election that Marcos was forced by the United States to call in February that year paved the way for Cory Aquino’s unexpected rise to the presidency. Ninoy’s widow did not draw her mandate from the election, but rather from the people’s urban insurrection that broke out in the aftermath of that stolen election.

Her “Proclamation No. 3,” which equaled Marcos’ Proclamation 1081 fourteen years before, was about “DECLARING A NATIONAL POLICY TO IMPLEMENT THE REFORMS MANDATED BY THE PEOPLE, PROTECTING THEIR BASIC RIGHTS, ADOPTING A PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION, AND PROVIDING FOR AN ORDERLY TRANSITION TO A GOVERNMENT UNDER A NEW CONSTITUTION.”

Who could quarrel with that kind of policy statement? The people were asked to forget the election that had just happened. A revolutionary situation, objectively speaking, had at last obtained in the country, and the Filipino people seemed to have been more than ready to oblige. They set aside legalisms and looked again at the WHEREASES of Proclamation No. 3 and were properly impressed for they were all non-controversial and factual:

“WHEREAS, the new government was installed through a direct exercise of the power of the Filipino people assisted by units of the New Armed Forces of the Philippines [insurrection, not election]; WHEREAS, the heroic action of the people was done in defiance of the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, as amended; WHEREAS, the direct mandate of the people as manifested by their extraordinary action demands the complete reorganization of the government, restoration of democracy, protection of basic rights, rebuilding of confidence in the entire government system, eradication of graft and corruption, restoration of peace and order, maintenance of the supremacy of the civilian authority over the military; WHEREAS, to adequately respond to the mandate of the people and to achieve a transition to a government under a New Constitution in the shortest time possible and WHEREAS, during the period of transition to a New Constitution it must be guaranteed that the government will respect basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The clear mandate of the people’s insurrection was for change, and urgent change. Under the circumstances Aquino could not institute change without first dismantling and demolishing the entrenched apparatus. If the President had to follow the normal constitutional and legal procedures contemplated “by law”, change would never happen or could only come too late. Anyway, the revolutionaries argued, the true spirit of all constitutions in the world recognizes extraordinary situations calling for dispensing with the niceties of law.

In any case, while the majority populace tended to always side with their “Tita”Cory, some military conspirators did not. Seven failed military coups, including two very serious ones, challenged the new president’s right to govern and prevented her from focusing on governance so that it sometimes looked like her biggest achievement was her political survival.

A third rupture in the offing?

Today’s election fever actually had an early start last year, months before the death of Cory Aquino. As wannabes took front stage, people were often heard to say, ““We cannot have ‘more of the same’ because ‘the same’ has been tried too many times and It simply doesn’t work.”
That is why they could not even get excited over ‘opposition’ posturing in any given crisis. And heaven knows how many crises we have had for the opposition to take advantage of.

Long ago people had developed a natural aversion to false change, where they saw that the more something changed the more it remained the same… the same poverty if not worse, the same corruption, the same insensitivity to both human and non-human rights, the same inadequate infrastructure, the same escape from misery to work in distant lands, the same Third World conditions when all the other nations we had helped in the past had now reached First World status.

After Cory died, however, the initial election fever became yellow fever. In whatever manner it came about, people must have thought Ninoy and Cory good (“mabait”) and great (“dakila”) and concerned for them (“para sa kanila”) because they were so very sad when he was killed and she died. They felt orphaned.

So, there they were…under the rain, hungry, thirsty, walking, walking for hours on end, praying, experiencing the living unity of individual persons who, thus bonded, felt nothing less than the peace and unity of Be-ing. This was a socio-religio-cultural act, not necessarily a political approval of all that Cory was and had done in the political realm but a unitive act transcending the finitude and divisiveness of partisan politics among a people who had had enough of cynicism, nihilism and despair – a people who, through centuries of oppression, had been habituated to periodic hope and undefined faith.

This explains the Noynoy phenomenon today that seems to persist against all advertising odds. But how is all this going to convert to electoral victory when the rules of the electoral game may have been changed enough to almost guarantee no winners?

Some three months ago, the COMELEC had reported to the nation the existence of 44,009,069 registered voters, up more than seven million from the last national election. They projected the figure to rise to an estimated 47,000,000 in all, plus or minus. It turns out that the plus is a lot more. There are 50, 723, 734 voters registered for the May 10 elections. These voters will be organized into 329, 389 voting precincts organized further into 75,471 clustered precincts in 37,226 voting centers. Now the total Philippine population per official NSO report is 88.57-million as of August 1, 2007. If it were an estimated 93-million now, which is what we read all the time, we are being asked to believe that some 55% of all living Filipinos are now registered voters, including the big majority under the voting age of eighteen (18). And we thought the Garcis of the world had gone extinct?! Wanted -honest mathematicians. There’s a few million “registered voters” around ready for an electronic “dagdag-bawas” such as has never been imagined heretofore. A former COMELEC Commissioner privately claims there’s some ten million in all padded for the “plus-minus” exercise that will be occasioned easily by the COMELEC-acknowledged 30-percent rejection of votes cast in the automated manner.

The Comelec expects a relatively high voter turnout—80 percent or 40.5 million voters. Assuming this number turns out to vote, will all their votes be counted not only properly but expeditiously? In the mock polls (a simulation of the voting, counting of votes and transmission of results) conducted by COMELEC in various places the past few weeks, the rejection of ballots cast by the machine was rather high. In fact the Comelec earlier put the percentage of voters who might have problems because of the machines at a “mere” 30 percent!! That’s a mere 12, 150, 000 votes: perfect window for the electronic dagdag-bawas of the alleged ten-million reserved.

This can only mean trouble. This means the high probability of a revolutionary situation. This means, therefore, the great probability of a rupture that may lead to the declaration of a revolutionary government for the third time in recent memory. Who will make the declaration – towards what ends? And will such a revolutionary or provisional or transition government (choose your phrase) be able to govern – and for how long? Will it run right smack into “people power” or fuse with it or be born of it?

Some political analysts have pointed out that over the past three years no less than the current Secretary of National Defense and National Security Adviser, Norberto B. Gonzales, has been unapologetically “conditioning” the public (in the words of Ramon Casiple) for a possible transition government if the automated elections in 2010 won’t be successful. Casiple himself admits that if the elections won’t be credible, there would be no president-elect, thus the possibility for a caretaker government.

The sudden altercation between Villar and Enrile was really not about the Senate Presidency per se – for how many more days would they be in session? Rather it was about the probability of election failure and the crucial role the Senate President may play in a transition government. Defense Secretary Gonzales who is also Chairman of the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas has been unabashedly proposing a transition government in 2010, reiterating his assessment that the way the nation does politics is the “greatest threat” to its future.

“Because of our dysfunctional politics, which is also the mother of corruption in government, many of our people are going hungry, our children are poorly educated, the poor do not have health and social securities, and the desperate are driven to crime or rebellion,” Gonzales time and again has said in many official statements. “We need Charter change, but we will never get to doing it until we have a transition president who is willing to carry it out and call for a new election under a new political system afterwards,” Gonzales has repeatedly said, adding the transition period may take two to three years.

“But the way I see things, we just may have more of the same in 2010. We will not have the societal change that we need to finally put an end to our recurring political crisis and to move our people on the path to a new Philippines,” Gonzales also publicly stated many times. “One big reason is our electoral system. It is almost useless to have elections if your electoral system continues to be flawed. Yes, because I am a member of the cabinet, some people think that my proposal is about extending the term of the president. No, my idea has nothing to do with her. And I don’t think this president is seeking an extension. I think she’s not that stupid. My idea goes beyond this administration. The Philippines has to move toward social democracy to satisfy the people’s hunger and slake their thirst for justice and the common good, for peaceful, productive, and meaningful lives with frugal comfort.”

Whatever – the questions won’t go away. In the highly probable election failure brought on by defective automation, isn’t the role of the AFP high in the mind of the Defense Chief? There is no stronger or more powerful institution in crisis situations than the AFP because, gross as the statement may sound, in such situations political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Now, however, Gonzales would have us believe that “the AFP, while it participates in its own way in the national crisis, can also be an important part of the remedy and it can play a major role in the social democratic transformation of Philippine society. The recovery and transformation of society is a national task that requires the broad unity of all key guardians of democracy and other democratic forces as well. The importance of the AFP in this task stems from its more than considerable human and material resources, its capacity to employ force, if necessary, in pursuit of its purposes, and its significance as the strongest symbol of the nation,” said Gonzales in a recent speech.

He also stated: “Most of the men and women of AFP are born of the ordinary people—the peasants, fisherfolk, urban and rural workers, and small professionals and businessmen. As such, they are sensitive to the conditions of life of the majority of our people. There is much hope that the AFP will contribute in a major way to the reform, renewal, and transformation of Philippine society, thus fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of their fellow patriots.”

Need we say more? There will be a new government for the Republic of the Philippines in just a few more months. But will it be the result of an election or the product of a revolution that was necessitated by an objective revolutionary situation?

Central Bank mysteries

by Lito Banayo
from MALAYA

There are certain government institutions we ought to repose full trust upon. One is the Supreme Court, as the trustee of our justice system. In a recent shoot-the-breeze joust with lawyer and Senator Francis Escudero, I questioned the total subservience of lawyers to the highest tribunal. Why must the Court be right even when it is wrong, I asked? His quick retort was — “because otherwise we will have anarchy”. Well said. But then, are the fifteen appointed justices of the Court aware at all times and without mental reservation whatsoever that they carry such a formidable burden upon their individual and collective conscience? Or do they take their lawful authority as final arbiter of the law as lightly as Gloria Macapagal Arroyo says “I am sorry”?

Another institution the trust upon which is taken as matter of course is the Bangko Sentral. It is after all, the bank of all banks, upon which we entrust our savings, our financial assets. It is the issuer of legal tender. In fine, it is the fiduciary of our monetary system. But is the Bank always acting in our best interests? Once our Congress had to save it from financial collapse, saddled with the collective onus of a banking system used by the politically powerful to feather their illegitimate nests. Re-capitalized, what was then the Central Bank metamorphosed into the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, re-energized by massive infusions from the “kaban ng bayan”, and we the people could do nothing but approve in silence. Congress legislated much, much higher salaries and emoluments to the “professional” managers and even the rank-and-file who populate the fortress-like block upon Roxas Boulevard and A, Mabini so that they shall be less susceptible to the temptations of that scourge called corruption. Congress decreed that they shall be independent of the president even after his or her appointment, just as much as the Federal Reserve Board conducts monetary policy in the United States.

Well, let me tell you about the Central Bank of Nigeria, and if you have been following this column and two articles on the outsourced printing of our banknotes last month, you will likely appreciate this writer’s concern.

On October 5 last year, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, was named as one of the CBN officials who received bribes allegedly paid officials of that country by the Australian printing company, Global Securency. Soludo denied the bribery allegations, but it has emerged that the central bank under his leadership did award the contract for the printing of polymer notes because the CBN controlled 77 per cent of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Ltd. Plc. which officially awarded the buy orders in 2006.

Five companies bid for the printing of the re-designed naira banknotes: Global Securency of Australia; Gieesecke and Devrient of Germany; De La Rue of the UK; FC Oberthur of France and the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company. The bid was opened on March 27, 2006 and concluded April 4, 2006. The contract was awarded on May 2, 2006.

The documentary trail that has since been uncovered shows that Global Securency made a series of multi-million dollar payments into offshore bank accounts of two British-based businessmen linked to the currency printing deal. Early in 2009, the Australian Federal Police Authority sent a high level confidential memo to the presidency through the national security adviser detailing bribery investigations centering on a series of multi-million dollar payments to the two British-based businessmen which were later transferred onward to Nigerian government officials. Australian Federal Police had been investigating Securency for possible breaches of Australia’s criminal code which outlaws kickbacks to officials of foreign countries.

Prominent among the recipients of said bribe monies is the former CBN governor, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, other senior officials of the Nigerian finance ministry, and even it’s former president. Soludo reportedly demanded and received bribes from the firm before steering contracts through the CBN-controlled Nigerian Mint to mass-produce polymer currency. (Polymer banknotes, like the Thai baht, is a new innovation, where thin plastic or polymer is substituted for security paper because it is supposed to last longer given torrid and tropical temperatures and humidity levels).

The new polymer naira banknotes were launched in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on September 30 last year by Pres. Umaru Yar’Adua, to coincide with Nigeria’s 49th Independence Day celebration. Yar’Adua is currently ill, and his vice-president, a man named Goodluck Jonathan, took over in February 2010.

The Australian police has uncovered evidence showing that as much as 10 million dollars were wired to accounts, including some in secretive tax havens, by Securency. The current CBN governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has promised that the federal government of Nigeria will investigate CBN officials past and present who may have received the alleged pay-off.

* * *

In the previous articles in this space, we have asked the Bangko Sentral to explain why it has resorted to outsourcing the printing of our banknotes for the past seven years when we have a Mint at East Avenue, the machinery and facilities of which could be replaced and upgraded at a fraction of the cost of outsourcing printed money. With a population of 93 million where paper currency gets easily soiled and worn-out, the annual number of banknotes imported over so many years averages some 700 to 900 million pieces a year. The 1976-established security printing facility at East Avenue is partially idled, its administrative costs running high despite less than optimal utilization.

I hate to think the Nigerian scandal has parallel in this benighted country. The Bangko Sentral governor is a career official known for his probity and professionalism. But our Bank is shrouded with mysteries, one of which is the strange acceptance of spurious titles as payment for emergency loans extended to a family-owned bank when it was haemorrhaging in 1998 due to DOSRI accommodations turned sour. Surely these could not have happened without red flags being raised by middle management, yet the Bank strangely closed its eyes, and remains as mysteriously silent now as it was then. While the present leadership may have been clueless about the misjudgement of predecessors, is it now maintaining a Sphinx-like stance because the culprit may yet become president of the land?

Recently, a deputy governor, Diwa Gunigundo, announced that the Bank will go ahead with the outsourced printing of newly-designed banknotes, which it hopes to bring out in circulation before the holiday season this year. Why the rush? Is there a desire on the part of the Arroyo regime to put its indelible stamp on our legal tender, as it once shamelessly issued a 200-peso note to celebrate its illegitimate power grab from a duly-elected president of the land? Or, has the regime used the Bank to launder ill-gotten wealth? Or perhaps, as no institution and no project is conceivably freed from corruption by the present regime, the “Arrovos” along with their imbedded conspirators in the Bank are also into the same racket the Nigerians have embarked upon?

I hate to cast aspersions, but the amount of outsourced banknotes, and the rush to come up with new designs, unmindful of the fact that there will be a new president by June 30 this year, seems fishy and smells similarly. Juxtapose this bullheadedness about issuing new legal tender with the cancellation of a tender for new printing machines announced last October 2009, and you cannot but wonder why the Bank is way too fond of mysteries.

In the well-chronicled book, Shadow of Doubt by Maritess Danguilan Vitug which I finally found time to finish reading during the Lenten holidays, she pierces the shroud that has enveloped the legal holy of holies that is the Supreme Court. “I did not idealize the Court as a perfect place. But I did not expect it, either, to be a place that is tolerant of men and women who take integrity lightly”, Vitug wrote.

During the same annual season of penitence, I found time to read what Klaus W. Bender in his 2006 book, Moneymakers (The Secret world of Banknote Printing) describes as the “obsession with secrecy” (characteristic of) banknote printing, which “involves the massive use – and often waste – of taxpayers’ money”.

We pause for a response from the Bangko Sentral.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

Abolish the PASG

by Ducky Paredes
from MALAYA

‘Mangila admitted that of the 10 apprehended, three are PASG operatives. He was silent about the seven others.’
– Ducky Paredes

WHAT do Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, Jr. Gregorio “Greggy” Araneta III. Jose “Joe” Taruc have in common? These are three individuals with widely disparate backgrounds.

Danding is chairman of corporate giant San Miguel Corporation and founder of the Nationalist Citizens Party (NCP). A very rich man, really. He is also the uncle of two presidential candidates – Benigno “Noynoy” Cojuangco Aquino III of the Liberal Party and Gilbert “Gibo” Cojuangco Teodoro of the Lakas-Kampi CMD.

Greggy is a scion of the equally wealthy Araneta clan and while he is the husband of Irene Marcos, daughter and youngest child of President Ferdinand Marcos, he seems to be a very private person.

Joe is the famous broadcaster with that unique, sonorous voice who is now a senatorial candidate of the Lakas-Kampi CMD.

I am assuming here that they are the same persons I know. Unless, of course, I am terribly mistaken.

So why am I mentioning them in this piece? Because of a very strange thing that they seem to have in common. The three of them are listed as agents or operatives of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG). This is according to official documents that the PASG sent to the Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP) of the Commission on Elections. The documents, which asked for the exemption of PASG personnel from the firearms ban, contained the roster of its agents and operatives and were signed either by PASG chief Antonio Villar Jr. or his deputy, Gen. Danilo Mangila.

Why would Danding Cojuangco and Greggy Araneta apply to be appointed as agents of the anti-smuggling agency, a position that must carry a monthly pay of P20,000 at best and is looked on with derision by most? To secure personal exemptions from the firearms ban? I can assure you that the real Danding and the real Greggy have no need for that.

As for Joe Taruc, he is a broadcast journalist of long standing and it is very possible that he may have earned the ire of certain people in the practice of his profession. It is not unthinkable that he may have acquired a gun or two for his own protection. But I believe he can secure a Comelec exemption on his own recognizance, without going through the pretense of being an agent of this highly controversial agency that has been repeatedly accused of harassment and extortion by local and foreign businessmen.

Of course, certain unscrupulous parties may have simply used their names, which is not improbable judging from the anomalies that Comelec uncovered in connection with PASG’s request for gun ban exemptions.

In its January 11, 2010 request for exemptions for instance, the PASG submitted a list of 10 supposed operatives, namely: Clemente Olaivar, Jose Olaivar III, Jesus Olaivar, Cesar Camiso, Rosalino Gulle, Jesus Olandria, Egay Dy, Danny Dologmanding, Benjamin Agliam and Abraham Borinaga.

However, the Comelec received reports that these people, all residents of Candijay, Bohol, are not regular plantilla personnel of the PASG. They were apprehended by police on Feb. 2 but presented Certificates of Authority exempting them from the gun ban. Upon request of Candijay Mayor Sergio Amora, the Comelec asked the PASG to submit their appointments and payrolls indicating that they are indeed PASG agents.

In his reply, Mangila admitted that of the 10 apprehended, three are PASG operatives. He was silent about the seven others. Yet he had the insolence to castigate police authorities when he said thus: “Upon verification with our records, it appears that Danny S. Dologmanding, Benjamin B. Agliam and Abraham G. Borinaga are in fact operatives of PASG. It is quite unfortunate that despite presentation of proper identification and Certificate of Authority, said operatives were still apprehended and their membership in the group questioned by members of the Candijay PNP.”

Talk about gall!. And what about the seven other fake PASG operatives in the list you submitted to the Comelec, General Mangila?

A similar case of anomalous use of the agency to cover illegal requests for gun exemptions was uncovered when a certain Cecilia Claire Reyes asked the CBSFP to verify the status of supposed PASG agents identified as Romeo Bulos Mariano, Carmelito Lopez Cagayan and Roderick Rubia, all of Alicia, Isabela. These three always carry long and short firearms and whenever questioned at check points, they show IDs issued by the PASG and are let go by the police.

Reyes also said there are many other unidentified men who are wearing PASG jackets and pins. She said “they are close-in security of Mayor Napoleon Dy of Alicia, Isabela, his wife Ana Cecilia Dy and son, councilor Ian Paul Dy.”

Even more damning is the revelation that Mariano is facing criminal charges for the death of a certain SPO3 Jonathan Buan but is out on bail.

In view of these complaints, the CBSFP decided to investigate. It said that after verification of its records and due evaluation of the veracity of the complaints, “there exists a well founded belief that there are private individuals listed in the roster submitted to the CBFSP who are not occupying plantilla positions in the PASG.”

In the meantime, a CBSFP Order was issued March 3, 2010 suspending the January 11, 2010 Authority issued to the PASG that exempted the agency from the gun ban and authorized its personnel to bear, carry, and transport firearms during the election period.

The suspension took effect March 8, 2010. The Order was signed by Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle as CBSFP chairman, and AFP Brig. General Rolando C. Hautea, Jr. and PNP Chief Superintendent Arnold R. Revilla as members.

The Order directed Villar and Mangila to file a verified answer to the CBFSP Secretariat on the complaints of Reyes and Candijay Mayor Amora within seven days from receipt of the Order. It also directed the PASG to submit within the same period, “the certified true copies of the appointments of their elements/operatives, identify from what agency they are attached, payrolls covering the period of December 2009 to February 2010 duly attested and certified by the Finance Officer of the PASG.”

Significantly, the CBSFP reminded PASG of Section 2 of Executive Order No. 264 which created the agency. This provision specifies that: “The PASG shall be composed of elements from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), National Food Authority (NFA), Philippine Maritime Authority (MARINA), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Philippine Navy (PN) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) as well as from other government agencies that may be needed by the PASG in the performance of its functions, as may be determined by the Head of PASG.”

***

Arroyo’s pet monsters

Friend or foe: Arroyo’s pet monsters
by Mark Willacy
from ABC, North Asia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/06/2864692.htm

Mark Willacy with the Philippine’s Bravo Company approach a village known to be home to Ampatuan supporters. (ABC News: Mark Willacy)
For centuries Mindanao in the Philippines has been called the Land of Promise. But in recent years it’s become notorious for promising, and delivering, a stomach-turning array of bombings, beheadings and bloodshed.

This is an island infested with Islamic insurgents, Communist guerrillas, separatist rebels, and feudal warlords – men who control vast private armies and even more portentous arsenals. As one Filipino joked to me, on Mindanao there are more unregistered guns than registered voters. Unfortunately the joke is true, and thousands have died as a result.

This jagged island in the southern Philippines is also infamous for being a slaughterhouse for journalists. That’s what drew Foreign Correspondent to Mindanao to begin with – the biggest massacre of reporters in recorded history. It was a crime that exposed the putrid and some say corrupt policies of the Philippines government – because, as we found, this was a massacre allegedly carried out by close friends of the president.

It had been years since the ABC had been to Mindanao. Going to this island was like voyaging into the mythical heart of darkness without a map, into a wilderness crawling with bloodthirsty killers straight out of Conrad’s novella. I would soon meet Mindanao’s very own Kurtz – a man mad with power, protected by fanatical warriors prepared to kill at his behest.

Andal ‘Lolo’ Ampatuan had only made it to grade three. But what he lacked in formal education he more than made up for with Machiavellian cunning. Famed for his frontier-style brutality, Lolo rose to be the governor of the western province of Maguindanao. Once in power he began to fill every position – from police chief to pot-hole filler – with his equally uneducated relatives.

At last count there were 44 officials in Maguindanao with the surname Ampatuan. Lolo’s burgeoning political clout soon caught the attention of the president in Manila. Gloria Arroyo would become firm friends with the Ampatuans, who were in turn nicknamed the president’s “pet monsters”. These monsters from Mindanao would tear Mrs Arroyo’s opponents to pieces – in 2004 Lolo helped the president hang on to power by delivering her 99-per cent of the votes in his fiefdom. From then on Lolo Ampatuan was unstoppable, transforming himself from a backwoods thug to a frontline warlord.

Gloria Arroyo always pays her political debts. Under her administration, the Ampatuans would be rewarded handsomely in cash, guns, and ammunition. They would soon boast 20 mansions dotted over the island – these obscene white-washed fortresses were often built next door to the stinking slums of Lolo’s unfortunate subjects.

“The Ampatuans are worth $300 million,” lieutenant-general Raymundo Ferrer told me.

The top military officer in Mindanao, he’s watched Gloria Arroyo’s “pet monsters” turn on their keepers. I asked the general where all the money came from.

“The government,” he replied.

It was general Ferrer’s task to turn the Ampatuans from a yokel militia into uniformed comrades-in-arms, to help the Philippines military fight a mutual enemy – the separatist guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. But when the MILF and the government began talking peace last year, Lolo and his legion of armed thugs had nothing to do and no-one to kill. But on November 23, 2009 a whole convoy of people would drive right into the Ampatuan heart of darkness, and they would pay with their lives.

Like Lolo Ampatuan, Toto Mangudadatu is a Mindanao warlord – although, he’s not in the same league as the old man. Once, these two clans were allies. But then the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus had a falling out. So Toto did the unthinkable, and decided to run for governor. But to do that he had to lodge his candidacy papers in the heart of Ampatuan territory.

Fearing he’d be killed for his treachery, he sent along his wife and some female relatives to submit his papers. In Mindanao culture, women are supposed to be immune from attack. This was a big news story, so more than 30 journalists joined the convoy. Reporters too are meant to be off-limits.

At nine o’clock on the morning of November 23 last year, the seven cars and vans set out. About an hour later they were stopped at a checkpoint by more than 100 armed supporters of Lolo Ampatuan, including uniformed police. They were then ordered to drive to a remote hilltop where all 58 of them were massacred.

“I told him you don’t have to go there, it’s very dangerous. Especially the place, the Ampatuans… I really miss him so much. Very, very much.” Myrna Reblando wipes her eyes with a white handkerchief.

Her husband Bong Reblando was a respected Mindanao journalist. He was in the convoy that November day. A gunman, allegedly belonging to the Ampatuan militia, shot Bong Reblando in the face. Some of the Mangudadatu women were shot in the groin before being finished off. Some of the bodies were then crushed into giant pits. Others were left where they fell.

Winding our way up the dirt road towards that lonely hilltop I imagined what was going through the heads of those journalists. Why didn’t they jump from their vehicles and run? There was plenty of scrub and long grass they could hide in. Did they think they were merely going to be chastised and then released by this bunch of armed goons?

Escorting us to the massacre site was a unit of Philippines soldiers bristling with high powered rifles. As we filmed, army snipers would peer through their sights spotting for Ampatuan militiamen in the valleys below. This is still dangerous territory. Despite rounding up hundreds of Lolo’s men after the massacre, the military says there are at least a thousand of his supporters on the run – most are armed and dangerous. But Lolo is ailing and detained.

“I will walk you to the hospital, but I will not go in,” general Ferrer ushered me towards the hospital at his army camp in General Santos City. It is clear the general doesn’t want to be seen or filmed anywhere near his most notorious inmate. But Lolo isn’t inside the hospital. He’s enjoying the sun in a gazebo outside, surrounded by fawning family and friends. I walk up to him and introduce myself. I am the first journalist allowed to meet the warlord since his arrest. He looks a little stunned.

“No questions about the charges or what happened that day,” warns one of his grandsons, a chubby young man with a bum-fluff moustache. So I start off with some small talk.

“How’s your health?”

But Lolo is playing the Godfather, keeping his mouth shut and leaving it to his family to do all the talking.

“He has high blood pressure,” answers a man behind me.

“His heart is not so good,” says a woman sitting opposite.

Eventually cameraman Wayne McAllister reminds me why we are here and I ask the question Lolo Ampatuan doesn’t want to hear, let alone answer. Is he confident that he can defend the murder charges against him?

Lolo mumbles something. His grandson answers for him. “Definitely.”

So what does he make of the charges against him?

“They are only rumours,” says his grandson. “There is no evidence to the charges they have filed [against] my grandfather.”

So why would his allies in the government do it?

“We don’t know.”

I prod further. The prosecutors say they have all the evidence they need to convict him.

The woman pipes up again. “They want to [bring] our Lolo down… but they can’t because our Lolo is very strong.”

Up in Manila, those in power are aware of just how strong Lolo remains. The Philippines defence secretary, Norberto Gonzales, tells me he worries that the Ampatuan Godfather may even buy his way out of jail.

“I can say that we cannot guarantee that that will not happen. Given the situation in the Philippines, these things do happen. I cannot deny those cases.”

Already the Philippines media is reporting that the Ampatuans are funneling hush money to witnesses to the massacre. Those who don’t or won’t take this blood money are intimidated, or worse.

“Some [witnesses] are even being killed. We know the consequences. This is a very serious case for us,” says defence secretary Gonzales.

Under the Arroyo administration, warlords like Lolo Ampatuan have been empowered by government guns and engorged by public money. Now, only the Philippines’ enfeebled justice system stands between Lolo and impunity. For some, the warlord’s blood money will never buy justice.

“For me, money is nothing if your husband is murdered,” says Myrna Reblando.

“I will not accept money if they tell me that I [must] stop seeking for justice. No way.”

Mark Willacy is the ABC’s North Asia correspondent.

His report can be seen on the Foreign Correspondent website.

How Manny Villar lied and used the death of his brother Danny

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
by William M. Esposo
from The Philippine Star

Nakaranas na ba kayong … mamatayan ng kapatid dahil wala kang pera pangpagamot (Have you experienced losing a brother because you did not have the money to provide him proper medical care)? — Manny Villar asked in his “PANATA (Advocacy)” TV commercial. Villar was referring to his younger brother Danny who passed away on October 1962. In the same commercial, Villar’s 1962 photo with his younger brother was shown.

This portrayal of being poor once upon a time is a fantasy which comes in a series of similar attempts by Villar to create empathy with the nearly 90% of voters who belong to the socio-economic classes D and E. However, this particular attempt to use his late brother Danny to further his political ambition showed that Villar is as capable of lying just like Madame Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA).

Two public documents — the death certificate of Danny B. Villar and the Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT number: 135396/3194) of the 560 square meter property in the upper class San Rafael Village of Navotas where the Villars had lived when Danny died — shattered this ONCE POOR fantasy that Villar has been peddling.

What the San Rafael Village TCT presents:

1. Before 1962, the Villars bought 560 square meters (SQM) of high valued real estate on Bernardo Street in San Rafael Village where the more affluent folks in the Tondo-Navotas area resided.

2. The DEATH CERTIFICATE of the deceased Danny B. Villar established that they were already residing there in 1962.

3. Based on 2009 prices, the P16,000 GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) mortgage mentioned in the TCT — not necessarily the total cost of the two 280 SQM lots — is now the equivalent of P1,140,000.00. Poor people today cannot even borrow P200,000. Those who are familiar with the subdivision say that the cost per SQM in San Rafael Village today would be around P10,000 per SQM or an equivalent of around P5,600,000 for the entire property.

4. Jun Borres, the present owner who is using the 560 SQM property as offices of his firm, Jumbo Fishing, stated that when they bought it in 1987 — it had a one and a half floor house. The ground floor was made of concrete while the upstairs was made of wood. This was typical upper middle class and upper class dwelling in the 1960s.

Implications of the San Rafael Village ownership

1. Together with established Manny Villar bio information, they could not have been dirt poor to be able to move to San Rafael Village before 1962. His mother was a seafood (shrimp, crab and fish) dealer in Divisoria Market, not a fish vendor as what Villar tries to project. A seafood dealer supplies the vendors. For a family of 11, they ate canned corned beef — which Manny Villar admitted on his earlier TV ad. His father was a government official, said to be a Budget Officer of the then DANR (Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources) under which was the Fisheries Bureau. Manny Villar studied in private schools — the Holy Child Catholic School for elementary and Mapua Institute of Technology for High School. Poor folks send their kids to public schools.

2. Villar’s parents must have had a sizeable combined income to be able to buy the San Rafael Village property. The 560 SQM size demonstrates their financial capacity. If they could, poor people buy lots sized less than 100 SQMs. Villar’s father must also be making a sizeable income from the government to be able to borrow P16,000 from the GSIS. In 1962, senior executives in big corporations made monthly salaries of about P2,000.

What Danny B. Villar’s DEATH CERTIFICATE reveals:

1. It is NOT TRUE that Danny died because they were poor and could not afford proper health care. The stated residence in Danny’s death certificate was the San Rafael Village property.

2. The BIG LIE is further proved by the fact that Danny stayed 13 days at the FEU (Far Eastern University) Hospital where he expired at age 3 years and 8 months. If they were really poor, the PGH (Philippine General Hospital) would have been the affordable hospital to bring Danny. He was definitely given proper health care. FEU Hospital was one of the top hospitals in 1962, before the establishment of the Makati Medical Center and St. Luke’s Hospital.

3. Danny died from CARDIAC and RESPIRATORY FAILURE resulting from COMPLICATIONS OF LEUKEMIA. In 1962, there was no bone marrow transplantation and chemotherapy yet and everyone whether rich or poor died from contracting leukemia.

4. Upon Danny’s death, his remains were turned over to LA FUNERARIA PAZ — then, until now, considered one of the top two mortuaries (Funeraria Nacional, the other). This further disproved Manny Villar’s claim that Danny died because they did not have the money to take care of him.

When Iggy Arroyo was seen as having taken the Jose Pidal rap for his elder brother Mike, many folks felt that it was rather low of Mike Arroyo to place his younger brother at risk. Our culture expects the older brother to protect the younger brother.

In that regard, we can consider Manny Villar as having done worse than Mike Arroyo. At least, Iggy Arroyo was alive and kicking and he could have opted to stay out of the Jose Pidal controversy. But in the case of Manny and Danny Villar, Danny was used to promote a myth when Danny was in no position to agree to his elder brother Manny’s portrayal of his death.

With the propagation of this ONCE POOR fantasy, don’t you think that Manny Villar also desecrated the memory and honor of his parents who strove to be able to provide their children quality education and an upper class domicile?

If Manny Villar can lie and use his dead younger brother like this, what makes you think that he will really improve and not worsen your life? What makes you think that he is not as greedy as he is being charged in this presidential campaign? What makes you think that you can trust Manny Villar?
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Chair Wrecker e-mail and website: macesposo@yahoo.com and www.chairwrecker.com