Free Ericson Acosta now!

A campaign statement of the Free Ericson Acosta
January 23, 2012

Detained artist Ericson Acosta ended his hunger strike December 10, amidst initial assurances that government is heeding the demand to look into his case and that of other political prisoners. Acosta was visited in jail by representatives of the Commission on Human Rights-Region 8 (CHR-8) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Acosta’s family and the network of artists, friends and advocates behind the Free Ericson Acosta Campaign (FEAC), appeal once again to concerned Philippine authorities to free Ericson Acosta and all political prisoners immediately.

In August 2011, the Amnesty International (AI) released a statement urging authorities to “end Acosta’s detention without trial.” After six months in detention, the international human rights group expressed concern that Acosta, like “anyone subject to arrest or detention is ‘entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release.’” The AI also pointed out rights violations in the conduct of Acosta’s arrest and detention.  “Death threats and prolonged sleep deprivation for the purpose of interrogation violate the international prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment. These practices violate the Convention against Torture, which the Philippines has ratified… The Philippine authorities must investigate these allegations and hold the perpetrators accountable.”

Pending before the Department of Justice (DOJ) since September 1, 2011 is the Petition for Review of the illegal possession of explosive complaint against Acosta. Aside from the Petition filed by his counsel the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), the FEAC network also submitted before the Office of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, several statements of support for Acosta’s release signed by hundreds of artists, journalists and human rights advocates; and publicly released by different groups and individuals. The filing of the Review Petition and the artists’ protest held outside the DOJ premises that day were supported by no less than then-Executive Director of the government-run National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), acclaimed playwright Malou Jacob.

While detained in a civilian facility, Acosta continues to suffer harassment and intimidation from the military. Since July, a platoon of soldiers from the 87th IB was deployed near the Calbayog sub-provincial jail in the pretext of military operations. Today a squad of soldiers from the 14th IB, apparently deployed to guard Acosta, has literally set up camp within the jail compound. The prosecution’s recent motion to transfer Acosta’s custody we believe is based on an imagined, if not engineered threat, and tramples upon civilian authority. Acosta’s court appearances are all scheduled to be held in Calbayog City, making the motion obviously impractical as Catbalogan is hours away from Calbayog. Transferring Acosta will make visits more difficult and prone to military surveillance for his family and supporters. Military deployment inside the civilian facility is highly irregular as it is, and the plan to transfer Acosta to a soldier town like Catbalogan is completely unacceptable. Acosta has had enough suffering in detention to be violated several times over with overkill security arrangements.

Human rights groups have long called on President Aquino to free all political prisoners in the country. They lament the continuing practice of criminalization of political offenses, and cite the campaign for unconditional amnesty as goodwill measure for the peace talks between the government and rebel groups to move forward. Some 38 congressmen have already signed House Resolution 1956 citing the case of Ericson Acosta and urging President Aquino to grant unconditional amnesty to all political prisoners.

Acosta’s family and supporters continue to appeal to concerned Philippine authorities, along with the Amnesty International, the NCCA, the University Council of University of the Philippines, Diliman, the Philippine Center of the International PEN and several other artist and human rights organizations and institutions around the world such as the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines-United Kingdom, the Rice and Rights Network in the Netherlands, Habi Arts USA, etc., have all made public their appeal to the Philippine government to release Acosta and to look into the irregularities and rights violations in the conduct of his arrest and detention. Acosta was even cited finalist of the 2011 Imprisoned Artist Prize at the Freedom to Create Awards Festival in Cape Town, South Africa in November, for the contribution of his work in promoting the creative spirit while highlighting injustice.

Nearly a year has passed since cultural worker Ericson Acosta was arrested by the military in Samar on February 13, 2011. He was tortured, interrogated for 44 hours straight and held incommunicado for three days before a fabricated charge of illegal possession of explosive was levied against him to justify his arrest and continued detention. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying only a laptop and some personal belongings and was accompanied by a local barangay official as a volunteer researcher of the peasant group Kapunungan han Gudti nga Parag-uma ha Weste han Samar (KAPAWA), a member-organization of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). Philippine authorities must end his unjust detention.  FREE ERICSON ACOSTA NOW!

Dawning of the vultures of freedom and democracy!

A Press statement by ANAD Partylist Cong. Pastor M. Alcover Jr.
January 21, 2012

The country is now made to bear witness to a very important political development that might alter the historical track of our freedoms, democratic well being, and institutions. The Filipino people is forced to a very serious situation purposely and meticulously culled by those whose ulterior motive is to institute political change: from a republican-presidential to the violent and inhuman communist dictatorship, either through the sheaths and swords of the brutal Maoist terrorist Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF); or the so-called Smiling Communists in Akbayan Partylist perceived to be less violent but still is efficient in using the dreaded iron-fist rule once they get hold of the reins of governance.

The ‘Impeachment Trial’ of Chief Justice Renato Corona is but a tip of an entire ingenious plan designed to stir public opinion away from and against government thus fueling mob rule to hasten the establishment of a revolutionary government by way of sharing the power and authority of government between the constitutionally mandated officials of government and the Maoist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF.

This game plan was ably laid down and set into motion by the wily Maoist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF political operators, particularly those that succeeded in infiltrating Malacañang and the pedestal of power and governance in the country. Not to be outdone are the equally deceptive yet cunning political operators of the Smiling Communists that are currently nestled in equally influential positions in the executive and constitutional offices of government.

Our sources in the pedestals of power and authority revealed that among the distinguished actors in these scheme are: then Akbayan President Ronald Llamas who is now PNoy’s Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs; Secretary Teresita ‘Ging’ Quintos-Deles head of the very influential Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP); and Loretta Ann ‘Etta’ Rosales, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a constitutional office; among others. Equally wagging their Maoist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF influence and lies are Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, cousin of the wife of CPP chairman Jose Ma. Sison, Juliet de Lima; Atty. Alex Padilla, chief negotiator of the GPH panel; panel members: Atty. Pablito Sanidad, Maria Lourdes Tison, and Jurgette Honculada; Jose Luis Martin Gascon, and Eugenio Roberto Cadiz of the GPH Monitoring Committee; and Fr. Albert E. Alejo SJ, Secretariat Head, GPH Monitoring Committee.

This is aside from the many Maoist terrorist legal/front sectoral organizations that are currently stirring the sentiments of Filipinos and fomenting public outcry against government. By far, these groups and individuals are one in carrying out Mao Tse Tung’s doctrine: A good communist is one who has mastered the art of creating a revolutionary situation!

Now, their forces are joined because they’ve just one common objective and enemy – to create disgust and hate among our people eventually causing the fall and capitulation of the duly constituted free and democratic government of the Republic of the Philippines and replace it with their brand of communist dictatorship!

The Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) Partylist is fully aware that the debilitating communist worms and viruses are all over. One staunch political leader was quoted saying – “They are all over the place!”

What then is the scenario that they’ve unfolded? While the Maoist sectoral KMP-AMGL are boisterous in their call for the distribution of Hacienda Luisita to the thousands of its farm-worker beneficiaries and at the same time strongly opposed to the Motion for Reconsideration filed with the Supreme Court by the management of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), Bayan Muna and other Maoist terrorist sectoral front organizations are behind the anti-Chief Justice Corona campaign to kick the latter out of the Supreme Court.

This ingenious plot is not known to many. But ANAD is fully confident in saying that there is “more than meets the eye” in this. One must not miss that time when Bayan Muna and their ilk decided to support President Aquino III despite the fact that the KMPAMGL campaign in Hacienda Luisita is directly opposed to the consciousness and heart of the President. Many would then ask: Why are they doing this? The answer is but simple: Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino et. al. are more than serious and hell-bent in asking PNoy for the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill that was then endorsed by PNoy to Congress as a priority legislative measure.

As far as the communists are concerned, the FOI measure is far more important than the Hacienda Luisita farm-workers’ interest. They know for a fact that with their present influence in Malacañang and their efficient infiltration of the structures of government, the FOI bill, once it becomes a law, could best serve their intentions by the informations and documents that their hands could lay on, e.g. political, economic, and security concerns, to hasten the collapse of our government.

On the other hand, obvious is the fact that once CJ Corona is ousted from the Supreme Court, the communists are seeing better prospects for the denial of the HLI’s Motion for Reconsideration. It is just like hitting two birds at the same time. But still and always, the passage of the FOI bill remains on top of their priority.

The widely circulated “The Philippines Communist Creeping Invasion”, though discreetly among well-meaning pro-democracy Filipinos, bared all of the machinations, lies, and plays that the communists, e.g. Maoist and Smiling communists, planned and unfurled to serve their devious ends. Even the so-called rightist forces, either in the AFP, PNP, and the civilian sectors, were effectively co-opted for their devilish ends.

The big question left for us would then be: What happens when Jose Ma. Sison makes his triumphant return to the country and later on given a Cabinet position, under the guise of the so-called National Unification Plan that reportedly is supported by PNoy? Isn’t this the ‘Dawning of the vultures of freedom and democracy?

ANAD Rep. Jun Alcover recently warned, “Our cherished freedoms and democratic life is definitely fading out and about to be lost, and the situation is getting murky in cadence with the developing political landscape of the country. Power sharing in government is a prelude to the eventual take over of government by the Maoist terrorists!

Once this happens, because of our willful refusal to protect and preserve our freedoms and democratic institutions, only God know what will happen to us!”

The next step or steps to be made largely depends on what every peace and freedom loving Filipino shall commit and do amidst the sounding of the bells for us to wake up and do our share for the preservation of our freedoms, democracy, and the protection of our people!

Impeachment: What to Expect?

By SENATOR PIA S. CAYETANO
January 15, 2012

As all eyes turn to the Senate, to watch the impeachment trial unfold, an understanding of the procedure and the intent of the Constitution would help everyone understand this process better.

Role of the Senate

Article XI, section 6 of the Constitution states:

The Senate shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. When sitting for that purpose the Senators shall be under oath or affirmation.

Following the above mandate, last December 14, 2011, we took our oath as judges of the impeachment court. A perusal of the Senate’s Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials (“Senate Rules on Impeachment,” for brevity), reveals that indeed we sit as a trial court with the “power to compel the attendance of witnesses … punish in a summary way contempts of, and disobedience to, its authority, orders …” and others. The same rules further state that witnesses shall be examined and then cross-examined (Sec. V and XV).

Because we sit as a trial court, we are not there to use our personal relations nor our political affiliations. What is required is that we go through the trial, calling witnesses, listening to their testimonies and the cross-examinations. We are even allowed to ask questions (Senate Rules on Impeachment, Sec. XVII). Then as trial judges we are required to weigh the evidence presented and make a decision.

If the intention of the framers of the Constitution were to make this a purely political process, then why go through an impeachment trial? The Constitution could have then just allowed the President or provided for some other means to remove the defendant-official subject of the impeachment.

How then are we suppose to judge the case?

Our jurisprudence states that:

[A]ll suitors are entitled to nothing short of the cold neutrality of an independent, wholly free, disinterested and impartial tribunal (Luque v Kayanana, 29 SCRA 178 [1963]).

Impartial judgments are described as decisions “on the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, without any restrictions, improper influences, inducements, pressures, threats or interferences, direct or indirect, from any quarter or for any reason” (The impartiality of the judiciary and the effectiveness of the justice systems, quoting Principle 2 of the Seven key principles on the independence of the Judiciary. Wilfried de Wever. Effectius)

Because of the dearth of materials on the impeachment process, I looked at books authored by American legal luminaries. Our Constitution is patterned after the US Constitution and our provisions on impeachment are similar. In “Impeachment, A Handbook,” author Charles Black, Jr., Sterling Professor Emeritus at Yale Law School and adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School opines that the fact that the senators take a separate oath emphasizes that the Senate “whether for this occasion you call it a ‘judicial’ body or not- is taking on quite a different role from its normal legislative one.”

He further states “The fact that the Senate is to ‘try’ all impeachments, not simply vote on them, implies that it takes on the nature of a judicial trial, because the word to ‘try’ is a word used almost invariably in regard to judicial trials.”

Thus, the all-important question of the impartiality of the judges arise. As noted by Black, and as I am sure, many are also aware, “senators find themselves either definitely friendly or definitely inimical to the [accused]. In an ordinary judicial trial, person in such a position would of course be disqualified to act, whether as judges or as jurors.”

And thus Black, further states:

“It cannot have been the intention of the Framers that this rule apply in impeachments, for its application would be absurd; a great many senators would inevitably be disqualified by it, and it might easily happen that trial would be by a quite small remnant of the Senate. The remedy has to be in the conscience of each senator, who ought to realize the danger and try as far as possible to divest himself of all prejudice (emphasis provided).”

Thus, there is no doubt that when the Senators sit as judges we do so separate from our function as law makers. We sit as judges in the impeachment trial and we are required to act with the cold neutrality of a judge, devoid of bias and partialities.

The Role of Every Filipino Citizen

The Constitution provides for various ways in which the citizens can participate in our democratic process, one of them is the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression. Filipinos have been very vocal about their support or disdain for anything from public personalities to political decisions made by incumbent officials. Clearly, we want to have a role in the impeachment process.

It has been said that “[O]ne of the demands of a democratic society is that the public should know what goes on in the courts by being informed by the press what is happening there, to the end that the public may judge whether our system of administration of justice is fair and right (Trial by Publicity, Arsenio Solidum. Philippine Law Journal, September 1959).

What then can our citizens do?

- Support the process set out by the Constitution

- Patient but vigilant observation

- Critical but fair analysis

In the formation of one’s opinions, Charles Black states:

“We ought to try to take the same stance of principled political neutrality that we hope to see taken by the House and the Senate as they go about their work."

Given the above, what is expected from a senator-judge? That he or she listens to every single opinion offered by friends, strangers or media? Or that we stay true to our oath and base our decisions on the evidence presented? I humbly submit, that despite the interesting theories and conclusions that will surely come out of this trial, we are required to pass judgment based on the evidence presented in the impeachment court.

On making comments and statements about the impeachment

Senators:

Like a judge in a judicial court, Section XVIII of the Senate Rules on Impeachment requires that the Members of the Senate “refrain from making any comments and disclosures in public pertaining to the merits of a pending impeachment trial.”

The same rule applies “to the prosecutors, to the person impeached, and to their respective counsel and witnesses.”

And to the public and those in media. Yes, we each have own opinions. In fact, the press have their Constitutional guarantees on freedom of the press. Does that mean we can all say anything we want about the impeachment trial?

As a judge, I need to shed myself of all impartialities and take on the neutrality of a disinterested person. In addition I am barred from making any comments on the merits of the trial.

For every other citizen, the Constitution and our rules are silent. But if you expect fairness from your judges, then perhaps the same principle of political neutrality will go along way in helping each other understand the issues without being swayed by personal or political leanings. This will then elevate the discussion and would go a long way to help the Senators focus on the evidence on hand and not on public perception.

Conclusion

If we accept that we are a democratic society governed by our Constitution and our laws, then we must submit ourselves to the systems that have been put into place. And be vigilant about observing it properly and guarding against abuses.

We all have a role to perform. If we do it well, we can reach a different level of political maturity and democracy. And in the process, strengthen our institutions which will make for a stronger nation.

Police fail in their obligation to investigate journalist killings

A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission
January 6, 2012

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by police investigations into the murder of journalists Christopher "Cris" Guarin and Alfredo "Dodong" Velarde, Jr. in General Santos City. Not only have the Philippines’ police failed in their duty to protect citizens from harm, but they are compounding this failure by their indifferent and casual attitude towards holding the killers accountable.

Guarin, publisher and editor-in-chief of a daily community newspaper Tatak News, was shot dead at 10pm on January 5, 2012 along Conel Road, Barangay Lagao, General Santos City. He was in his car with his wife, Lyn and nine-year-old daughter, on their way home, when they were attacked by gunmen riding on a motorcycle. His wife and daughter were not hurt, but were deeply traumatized to witness his murder.

Guarin's murder followed the murder of another journalist, Velarde, in November 2011. Circulation manager of another daily community newspaper, Brigada News, Velarde was shot dead on November 11 in front of his office. Although the AHRC have learned that the motives for Velarde and Guarin's murder were related, the police have been more focused on dispelling public expectations and any sense of urgency, rather than ensuring proper investigations into the deaths.

A day after Guarin's murder, Senior Superintendent and city police chief Cedric Train, concluded that "the motive for the killing was likely not work-related". Earlier, the police also concluded that Velarde's murder was nothing more than "an ordinary shooting incident" common in the city. The police also rejected Velarde's background as related to journalism or media work.

The AHRC is deeply concerned that the Philippine National Police (PNP), particularly the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO), have completely misunderstood their responsibilities and obligations in conducting adequate criminal investigations into murder cases. Whatever the motive of the murder, and whatever the profession of the victim, it is the police’s responsibility to investigate and hold the perpetrators accountable.

Prior to Guarin's murder, he had been receiving threats via SMS. In fact, a few hours before his murder, on air in his radio programme, Guarin read an SMS he had received warning him he would be killed once he left the radio station premises. It has become common for radio broadcasters to read threatening messages on air, not only to share this with their listeners, but also to alert the police authorities.

Guarin, a veteran radio broadcaster prior to publishing his newspaper, received similar threats in the past. His failure to make an official police record of these threats is not evidence of him ignoring the threats; rather, his practice of revealing the threats in public reflects the absence any protection mechanism. Most threats received by local journalists, newspaper or radio reporters are not taken seriously by the police.

Prior to Velarde's work as circulation manager of Brigada News, while he was working as a newspaper dealer to a defunct daily bilingual newspaper in the city, Super Balita, he did not require body guards or escorts. Staff of a community newspaper needing body guards to deliver the newspaper has become a common practice in the city. Those who can afford to pay for bodyguards or security escorts do so, while others ask for the issuance of firearms for their protection from the police or military.

The local police have clearly failed in ensuring that local journalists are given protection in performing their duties. The routine, widespread and systemic lack of protection and security in many communities in the Philippines is such that those who hire killers, premeditate murder or commit crimes, have a complete disregard for any notions of crime, law and punishment. They do not fear the police or the law.

For public confidence in the law and its protection, as well as for the necessary deterrence of crime and criminals, it is crucial that the Philippines’ police demonstrate their utmost compliance to legal obligations, and their capacity to ensure crimes are adequately investigated and perpetrators held to account. Their failure to do so will only aggravate people’s uncertainty and sense of security.

Handling temptations

By FR. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
January 3, 2012

THOUGH we have to face big issues and bigger challenges this year, especially in the areas of economy and politics, we should never forget to develop and strengthen our personal skills in handling temptations. This concern never goes passé, and it touches a basic, indispensable aspect of our life in all levels.

These days, temptations come to us in the subtlest and trickiest of ways. This can be due, at least in part, to the increased level of sophistication both in people’s thinking and in world development, especially in the area of technology and ideology.

With these developments, temptations can easily come undetected, and sin can be committed in most a hidden way and even easily rationalized. How important therefore it is for us to always grow in humility and simplicity, finding aggressively practical ways to achieve them! If not, we would just be lost.

The healthy fear of God is disappearing. In its place, a most heinous sense of self-importance is dominating. The criteria to determine what is good and bad have become blurred. They have gone almost completely relativistic and subjective, declaring total independence from any absolute and objective rule or law.

Some psalms can give us helpful ideas on how to handle temptations.

- “Surrender to God, and he will do everything for you.” (Ps 36)

- “Turn away from evil and learn to do God’s will. The Lord will strengthen you if you obey him.”

- “Wait for the Lord to lead, then follow in his way.”

Truth is, we always need God in our battle against temptations. We should disabuse ourselves from the thought that with our good intentions and our best efforts, we can manage to tame the urges of temptations.

We cannot! That’s the naked truth about it. We only can if we are with God. And we have to be with him in a strong, determined way, not in a passive or lukewarm way. Do flies flock on a hot soup? No. But they do on a cold or lukewarm soup.

We need to do everything to be with God. Our mind and heart should be fully and constantly engaged with him. We always have reason to do so – at least, we can thank him for what we are having at the moment: health, food, air, work, etc.

We should never take things for granted. Remember that our Lord asked the only leper who returned to him to thank him out of the ten who were cured, where the other nine were. Our Lord expects us to thank him for everything that he has given us.

From there, let us try our best to figure out what his will for us is at any given moment. We have to have the sensitivity to ask him, even if we are already doing our duties and responsibilities which are part of his will for us, how what we are doing at the moment is part of his will, of his abiding providence over us.

That kind of mentality helps us greatly in avoiding sin and in keeping our love for him. Just the same, we should not be surprised that in spite of this attitude, temptations still come. Jesus himself was not exempted from temptations.

That’s because temptations also play an important role in our spiritual life. They point to us where we are weak. They encourage us to develop the virtues that correspond to them. They remind us to be humble always and to depend always on God rather than on our powers.

Temptations can come because of one’s temperament, as in if one is passionate yet weak of will. He is not well-balanced and energetic. They also come because one has been reared in love of pleasure or in an atmosphere of pride and envy. They also come because of God’s providential designs.

We have to be ready for them. Always with God’s grace which we have to continually ask, we have to develop the skills and other tricks of our warfare with them. We should learn to ignore them, reject them outright, never entertaining them, and even ridiculing them.

We should learn to pray more intensely, immerse ourselves more in our work and duties and with greater love. We have to grapple with temptations in the little things, never allowing them get into our big things or close to the heart of our spiritual fortress. It might be a good idea too to go to confession once temptations come.

Lastly, never to lose hope even when we fall.

Ripping up calendars

By JUAN L. MERCADO, juan_mercado77@yahoo.com
January 1, 2011

New 2012 calendars will now be tacked up and those of 2011 shredded.  In Year 153 BC, two Roman consuls then set January 1 as the New Year – for hard-nosed military reasons. Since then, various customs evolved since to mark the passing of five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.

Relax.  Besieged Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona didn’t get a second more than Torio, our neighborhood beggar. “Time is the one thing given to everyone in equal measure,” Seneca wrote.

The optimists, among us, itch to see the new year in.  The pessimists would make sure the old one finally beat it.  “The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year,” G.K. Chesterton reminds us. “It is that we should have a new soul”.

Thus, some heed the ancient counsel: “Be still.” They give thanks in quiet prayer. Many carom into the usual noise barrage. As dawn breaks, exhausted doctors in emergency rooms will still be treating those blasted by firecrackers – and stray bullets.

On January 1, Catholics mark the “Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God”. “Mary is Islam’s most honored woman,” the Economist points out.  She’s the only one to have a whole chapter named after her in the Koran.

“Christians and Muslims see, in Mary, an affirmation that there is no limit to the proximity of God that any human being can attain…Surely, that is reason enough for people of any faith to feel reverence for history’s foremost Jewish mother.”  She is our fallen nature’s “solitary boast”.

Blogs are the new kids on Media Avenue.  Some now run individual yearend reviews, just as newspapers, radio and TV traditionally do. These summaries tally the past year’s issues.

“Life can only be understood backwards,” Soren Kierkegaard insisted.  “But it is best lived forward.”  Crystal bowl features are a standard of yearend media reports. “In times like these, it is helpful to remember there have always been times like these”.

Discerning the future has never been one of mans special strengths. How do you Crystal-balling is about making educated guesses of what lies beyond the horizon.  From today’s realities, one sifts the trends likely to endure – and reshape tomorrow. “In today, tomorrow already walks.”

Nonetheless, the drill to glimpse ahead usually reaches fever pitch on New Year. “If you could look into the seeds of time / and say, which will grow and which will not,” Shakespeare wrote.

“Death keeps no calendar” yearend.  Reviews list prominent individuals who passed away in 2011.  That includes Czechoslovakia’s “Velvet Revolution” leader Vaclav Havel, the paranoid Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, computer whiz Steve Jobs to Fr. Fausto Tenorio, the selfless priest of Mindanao lumads.

Shouldn’t media do also a yearend listing of “unfinished business.”?

This is, after all, a country of few closures. We waffled on the Japanese collaboration issue.  Few were punished for martial law abuses.  Look at Imelda.

Among issues that 2011 will leave unresolved are: desaparecidos Jonas Burgos, Shireley Capadan and Karen Empeno, unresolved murders, such as that of publicist Bobby Dacer, SVD Fr. Franciskus Madhu, SVD to scores rubbed out by vigilantes in Davao and Cebu, the coconut levy, tracking down former General Jovito Palparan, etc.etc.  This lack of accountability will spill into 2012.

The year that was saw Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales whack a Supreme Court decision that blinked at Eduardo Cojuangco. He pocketed 16.2 million San Miguel Corporation shares, by dipping into levies squeezed from indigent coconut farmers. “The biggest joke to hit the century”, she wrote before retiring.

Did this Court crack the “second biggest joke to hit the century?  Voting 7-6-2, the tribunal ruled “with finality” that creation of 16 new cities, didn’t fracture the Constitution. All 16 flunked tax collection criteria of P100 million, average for two consecutive years. That’s set by the Local Government Code (LGC).

The Court cartwheeled repeatedly, within three years, over a "final decision" that had become, in its own words, "executory". “Oh No! Not Again!", Inquirer headlined February’s flip-flop.

By then, vertigo afflicted everybody. That includes the League of Cities. Its 120 members protested the 16 “upstarts” siphoning their Internal Revenue allotments. “League of 16” members were also strapped to this “judicial yoyo”.

Persisting emergencies uncoil below the radar screen during delivery or a day maternal death rates here are triple that of China. We won’t meet the Millennium Goal target number 6: to reduce by three-quarters the number of mothers’ deaths.

Under-five children death rates are down to 29 today from 59 two decades ago. That is still behind Malaysia’s 12. Many will not “comb grey hair,” as William Butler Yeats wrote.

Shriveling from chronic hunger is not the stuff of headlines. Neither are the 700,000 abortions yearly due to lack of family planning alternatives. Few fret that the country’s capacity to feed itself dwindles as the thin top soil erodes. “Reversing soil erosion will make fighting insurgency seem like child’s play,” the late National Scientist Dioscoro Umali once said.

Don’t be fooled by the calendar,” our grandmother used to say. “You have only as many days as you can make use of.”

Happy New Year.

PCID welcomes the appointment of Congressman Mujiv Hataman as ARMM governor

A statement by the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy
December 21, 2011

The PCID welcomes the appointment of former Anak Mindanao party-list Congressman Mujiv Hataman as the regional governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

We fully support Hataman based on his track record in pursuing the Bangsamoro struggle and background in development work.

Hataman’s active legislative work as member of the House Committee on Human Rights together with then Rep. Benigno Aquino III as chairperson. Hataman led investigations on the spate of kidnappings in the Basilan and Sulu as well as sponsored resolutions condemning the killings of Moro activists and detainees suspected of being Abu Sayyaf. He also primarily sponsored the declaration of March 18, anniversary of the Jabidah massacre, as a Bangsamoro historical event.

Hataman has strong support from the non-Muslims inside and outside of ARMM and is well-known among civil society groups involved in advocating for reforms in the ARMM. Thus, his appointment sends a strong signal that genuine reformists would steer ARMM in less than 20 months before the May 2013 elections.

Hataman has both the administrative and legislative background having worked in the provincial government under Gov. Wahab Akbar and later as a three-term legislator. The fact that he is President Aquino’s personal choice to lead the reform process means that Hataman enjoys the trust and confidence of the President that is precisely needed by an OIC regional governor. He is seen as a non-trapo with progressive Left leanings where he can well appreciate the dysfunctions of clan and insurgency-related conflicts.

PCID also congratulates the appointment of Bainon Karon as ARMM Regional Vice-Governor. A well known civil society leader and MNLF leader, Bainon has served as ARMM Secretary for Social Welfare. She will be able to support the Regional Governor in ensuring that the basic needs of the people of ARMM are served and that the Millennium Development Goals are attained.

Impeachment of chief justice is watershed for judicial accountability

A Statement by the the Asian Human Rights Commission
December 20, 2011

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the commencement of impeachment proceedings on the Philippines' Chief Justice Renato Corona. We view this as a constitutional process that protects the independence of the judiciary rather than a process that constitutes an attack of the independence of the judiciary. We are also pleased that he has submitted himself to the impeachment process but express concerns at some of his comments that distort the Constitutional intention of the very process.

There is no other way for Corona, whose credibility and integrity have already been questioned in the impeachment complaint, to be held accountable than to have him impeached as required by the 1987 Constitution. The Philippine congress complied with this Constitutional provision after the votes required were obtained to approve the articles of impeachment on December 12, 2011. This anticipated impeachment trial in January 2012 would rather strengthen the Filipino people's confidence of an independent judiciary as they would see that indeed, it is possible to hold court justices to account.

The country's 1987 Constitution protects judicial independence, not only from undermining by other branches of the government, but also from its own people who are part of the judiciary from abuse of their power. Like the country's president, the chief justice is also not immune from being held to account from allegations of wrongdoing in the performance of his judicial duty by way of an impeachment. They cannot occupy a judicial position on assumption that whatever they do – either as an individual judicial officer or as part of the judicial institution – are all absolutely accordingly to law.

Whether the allegations in the articles of impeachment on Corona have no basis or are politically motivated, it is for him to defend himself; and for the Senate's impeachment court to decide base on facts and merit. Thus, those who sit as judges in the impeachment proceedings must also prove themselves as independent and impartial in deciding the case. Senators who will sit as judges but who have already openly supported or questioned the merit of the impeachment, must seriously considers their withdrawal as judges in the trial if the trial is to be credible.

While it is true that procedurally, under the impeachment trial, judges are not confined to the strict rules of judicial process as in courts. But this trial is beyond the issue of procedural matter. It is about the substantive rights of Corona, a person who now stands accused of committing wrongdoing in performing his duties. He is entitled to a fair and impartial trial like any other individual defending their self in any court of law. The Senate must eliminate itself of any molecule of doubt of its independence and impartiality in dealing with Corona's impeachment case if their decision is to be acceptable and legitimate to comply with the fundamental rights of an individual to a fair trial.

The allegation on Corona is not entirely unique for him as some of the members of Philippine judiciary have been for many years also accused of having been involved in judicial corruption, incompetence and impartiality in their decisions. However, even though this has been common knowledge, there have been negligible numbers of court judges and their personnel who were held to account to the serious allegations of wrongdoing. There is a variety of reasons as to why this is so.

Judicial independence does not mean the absolute immunity by members of the judiciary or the institution they are attached to when there are factual and meritorious evidence that they committed wrong doing. However, due to the lack of clarity and substantive discourse in the ongoing legal debate on what 'judicial independence' means there is a taboo if not assumptions that the impeachment of Corona and for any other members of the judiciary in future is itself already a form of an attack against judicial independence. This is wrong. Those who stand accused for any wrongdoing should also refrain from dragging the judicial institution to their defence.

To hold court judges accountable is a matter of great importance. It would have a consequence in their individual's capacity to make impartial and independent decisions in making judgements; however, when there is doubt as to their credibility and fairness in deciding cases, then this should require a rather more stringent measures to ensure impeachment proceedings or prosecution of court judges are not done in abuse or mere retaliation in their exercise of judicial duties. Thus, it is utmost to ensure that due process and fair trial is observed in Corona's impeachment proceeding.

The AHRC therefore urges the public to be thorough and observant in the substance and merits of the impeachment complaint on Corona. They should also be cautious on any attempt that is divisive to the Filipino people, particularly the legal community that is presently divided on this issue. It is expected for anyone charge of serious allegations to make his own defence; however, they should not be to the extent of ignoring or undermining the Constitutional process of impeachment. Also, public discourse on this matter should not be distorted on pretext of protecting the independence of judiciary.

Corona, like any other ordinary individual, has the fundamental right to be presumed innocent and has the right to be heard. This does not mean that it would be justifiable that the impeachment trial is itself already biased or taking place purely for political reasons before they could even perform their Constitutional process of hearing the complaint. This argument is particularly dangerous as a court judge would be assumed to be invincible and given an unjustifiable immunity from any allegations of wrong doing. In which case there would not be any way to hold any court justices accountable and no other way to resolve the conflict between three branches of government.

In cases involving persons occupying high positions in the government it is inevitable that politics is involved; however, this notion should not be used as justification to get away with serious allegations of judicial corruption, nepotism, political patronage and abuse of authority. In any impeachment trial, it is the individual and not necessarily the judicial institution that is being tried. Again, the Senate impeachment court must observe the fundamental principles of fair trial and due process if they want the impeachment trial to be credible and legitimate.

Agenda item for 2012

By JUAN L. MERCADO, johnnylmercado@gmail.com
December 16, 2011

Call this the “Deadbeat Bill”. When Congress reconvenes after the Christmas break, it should make time for House Bill No. 2009, despite the impeachment trial for Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona If approved into law, the measure could help stem today’s flood of government officials who welsh on settling cash advances.

Failure to settle, within a whittled-down period, becomes “prima facie proof of malversation of public funds”.  That’d call down jail terms and fine for deadbeats.

Cash advances that national government officials failed to settle exceeded P4.8-billion in 2005 alone, says bill author Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo “This is a disturbing situation… What about the succeeding years to the present?”

Consider the advances that then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took out for foreign and local travel.  In 2009, the Office of the President exceeded P594 million allocated by Congress for this purpose. Worse, over P367.3 million in cash advances for travel remained unliquidated as of August 31 this year, Commission on Audit records show.

“Efforts to identify officials, who whelshed on payments, were hampered, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr. admitted.  Lists of those who traveled with the President were not available. Some former disbursing officers quit.

National officials do not command a monopoly on this reluctance to pay back what government advanced.  Flip through the latest Commission on Audit’s latest annual financial report on Local Governments (Vol III).

This documents an epidemic of local officials, thumbing their notes at government bill collectors. The contagion cascaded from Tugegarao in the north to Tawi-Tawi in the south, from Palawan in to west to Samar in the East.  Here are some telling excerpts from the auditors:

On the western Philippine flank, Puerto Princesa city accumulated a staggering P180.4 million worth of unliquidated advances. That whooper is the biggest bill in all 136 cities.

In eastern Philippines, Samar racked up P25.8 million in unpaid advances. Calbayog City outstripped that at P59.9 million.

Up north, unliquidated cash advances in Tugegarao City amounted to P5.77 million. Management proved lax “in monitoring their liquidation.” It shied away from clamping on sanctions such as “withholding of salaries to settle cash advances.  Of P836,207 disallowed, only P73,167 was paid.

In southernmost Tawi-Tawi, unliquidated cash advances totaled P2.3 million. And Marawi City granted cash advances even before previous releases were settled. Unliquidated cash advances in Zamboanga Sibugay climbed to P34.4 million.

Surigao del Norte accumulated P43.8 million worth of IOUs because previous bills were not settled.   Cotabato City’s bill stood at P31.8 million.

“A small debt produces a debtor,” the Roman author Publius Syrus once noted. “A large debt creates an enemy.”

How big are the IOUs of local government officials? The latest COA does not provide sum totals.  You can, however, guess the bill by looking at the number of LGUs.

As of today, there are 43,356 cities, provinces, towns and barangays. Can we say: Each one, without exception, has unsettled bills with with Juan Q. Taxpayer?

“We have to resolve this issue”, Rep. Romulo said.  HB 2009 would amend Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code. It would thereby stiffen the curbs that Presidential Decree 1445 already imposes on cash advances. How?

First, it’d make refusal or failure of a public officer or employee, to settle cash advances, prima facie proof of malversation or misappropriation of the fund received.

Second, the Bill would clamp on tougher penal clauses.  Persons who dodge settling cash advances “shall suffer the penalty of perpetual special disqualification”. He may not get a government job. Nor can he run for public office.

Third, there would be a jail term too. ”Depending on the amount involved, the penalty of imprisonment ranges from prision correcional to reclusion perpetua.

Fourth, there will be stiffer fines too. Official found guilty must cough up a sum “equal to the amount of the funds malversed or equal to the total value of the property embezzled.

Capacity of LGUs, however, is sapped by its failure to collect what should be its main financial prop, namely real estate taxes.

Flabby collection by LGUs has now ballooned unpaid real estate taxes to P1.29 billion, says the Commission of Audit.

An analysis of audits conducted on 81 provinces, cities and towns, reveals “failure of LGUs to intensify collection efforts,” notes COA in it’s latest financial report on provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays (Vol III).

Local officials shrink from clobbering real estate tax deadbeats. Often, these belong to political elites.  Yet, administration of judicial sanctions are available.

High time LGUs revise obsolete assessments on land. The treasurer’s list of delinquent taxpayers should be published. More important “enforce remedies” to collect overdue levies.

Selling charity today

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
December 15, 2011

SELLING charity today is like selling rotten fish. You would have more success selling it to a wall. Charity has become a total outcast, hardly known, ignored if not ridiculed by many who are driven only by their so-called sense of justice.

This actually has always been our universal human problem. The root cause is that we pursue justice outside of charity. We make it subject only to our feelings and passions. Or to purely human criteria and laws that cannot go far from the eye-for-an-eye law of Talion, and the tit-for-tat logic of our wiles.

It’s a justice that is mired in legalism, very prone to manipulations, to knee-jerk reactions, to the mob rule dynamics, that cannot free itself from the motive of vindictiveness, and the temptation to gloat over the misfortunes of others, to insult and do all sorts of below-the-belt actuations.

Without charity, it’s a justice that is not an organic extension of divine justice, but its caricature. It covers only a biased part of the over-all picture of true justice, and its main if not sole purpose is to punish and demand restitution, rather than to heal the offender, the sinner.

It considers only the externals, and hardly the inner drama in men’s hearts. Its judgments are therefore based mainly on appearances and impressions. Those who dispense it tend to get hasty and rash in their decisions, often abusing the discretionary part of law.

If possible, what injustice damaged, wounded and killed, justice should repair, heal and resurrect to life. If possible, justice should go against the law of nature, of biology and physics, etc., if only to recover what was lost. It finds it hard to move on without satisfying its lust for revenge.

We have to understand that without charity, justice can go unhinged, and can simply follow the madness of a heart deprived of God who is precisely love, charity. We have to understand that justice is never enough when we deal with people, especially those who may have offended us.

Without charity, our justice can only spring and strengthen our self-righteousness, or that of the world, in its different forms. It’s a justice that cannot understand the workings of grace, the value of the cross, the need for forgiveness and the transcendent providence of God.

Still, no matter how hard it is to sell charity today, we just have to make an act of faith and hope that one day, people will realize we need charity, the charity of God and not just our own version, when we pursue the cause of justice. We just have to run the gauntlet.

Nowadays, the Church, that is, the bishops and priests, gets accused for not doing enough of justice. Some contributors of public opinion claim that the Church gets quiet when one of its own gets involved in some crime, or when it does not make any clear pronouncements on the volatile political issues wracking the nation today.

Aside from mistaking the Church to be composed only of bishops and priests (the Church is hierarchy-clergy-and the laity and consecrated religious men and women all together), they want the Church to follow their kind of earthly justice. They want the Church to shame the suspect or the culprit, for example. They cry for blood.

Perhaps, it’s partly the fault of our Church leaders for not providing concrete Christian guidelines on how to resolve problems and issues when they erupt. They should do this as promptly and as clearly and strongly as prudently possible.

But the truth is all of us, clergy or lay, if we are to be genuine Christians and living members of the Church, should practice justice always within the sphere of the charity of God, revealed and lived by Christ.

Certainly, there are loopholes in how cases of criminal offenses within the Church human structure may be handled, or there can be cases of clerics overstepping their competence and are falling already into partisan politics, etc.

These should be repaired and corrected. But these are not excuses for the Church to pursue justice without charity, just like what these Church accusers want it to do. These accusers are making themselves the final authority of what justice is and how it should be lived.

Granted, to preach about justice within charity may be hard, but definitely it’s not impossible. If we just learn how to be humble, if all of us just try to assume the mind and heart of Christ, as we Christians ought to do, then the ideal can be made real!

Christmas is Christ with us

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
December 14, 2011

JUST in case we forget, Christmas is about Christ born to us. The reminder has become necessary because proofs of the disfiguring of Christmas are increasing.

No less than the Pope reminded us not to be dazzled by the shopping lights of the season but to keep focused on the coming of Jesus Christ, the “true light of the world.”

In a town in the US, a controversy erupted because a group put street signs saying, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” Obviously when messages like that have to be put up in public, there must be something quite wrong in that place.

This was verified when another group precisely kicked up a fuss about it citing legal provisions. Instead, the group wanted their own banner to be hung in the streets, saying: “At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

Ah, ok. No problem. We have freedom of expression and of consciences. If atheists want their messages publicized, that’s just fine. But let’s not deny believers their right also to show their faith in public, as long as public order is observed.

The legal basis of the group’s complaint is that the “Keep Christ in Christmas” signs were put on public property, which turned out to be false, since they were on private property. But that legal basis raises the questions like, should public property then be devoid of religious signs? Would religious signs already create public disorder?

I’ll leave the people concerned and their public authorities to resolve that issue, but I, frankly, just find the reasons behind the ban of religious signs on public property funny. To me, it’s taking the principle of Church-state separation to its ridiculous conclusions.

Truth is, for Christian believers, we need God, we need Christ, who is the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God who became man, to save us, to complete our creation, to give us a way to attain the fullness and perfection of our human dignity.

God is our creator. We, and the universe around us, just did not come to exist on our own, quite spontaneously out of nothing, since from nothing, nothing comes. We are not our own creator.

In our case, since we are creatures of reason and will, our creation by God has to be corresponded to with our reason and will also. Paraphrasing St. Augustine, we can say that if God created us without us, he cannot complete that creation without us. We need to correspond to God’s creation of us. We need to cooperate and bring it to its completion.

In other words, our creation by God is still a work in progress. And our life here on earth is precisely where that “progress” has to take place, where the lifelong drama of our correspondence or non-correspondence to God’s work becomes the ultimate purpose of our life.

This is a truth of faith that is actually meant for everyone, but especially more for believers than for non-believers. For the latter, we need a different tack that uses reason and philosophy more than faith and theology. This piece is addressed more to believers.

We need to be reminded that as Christian believers, we need to be ‘alter Christus,’ if not ‘ipse Christus,’ another Christ if not Christ himself. That’s because Christ is the very pattern of our humanity. We cannot live properly without him. Remember Christ saying, “I am the truth, the way, and the life…”

We become another Christ through God’s grace, but also through our cooperation, when we let our mind and heart, our intelligence and will to get engaged with Christ in the spirit.

In short, we need to assume the mind of Christ, following what St. Paul said that “we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2,16) We need to train ourselves for this ideal, realizing that our thoughts should not just be our thoughts, but also those of Christ. The same with our will, our desires, our plans, etc.

Our life is always a shared life with Christ. It’s a reflective life driven by reason and faith, and not just a life animated by the senses and reason alone.

For this, we need humility, otherwise we won’t allow faith to guide our reason. We need to study, develop virtues, so that Christ becomes alive in us, and true Christmas becomes a reality!

Inability to protect has created a 'parallel system'

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day
December 10, 2011

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today published its 25-page report containing its analyses on what it has observed as the irreparable 'social and systemic impact' of the ongoing violations of human rights in the country. The government remains incapable of providing the most rudimentary forms of protection to its people despite the growing intolerance of the public towards human rights violations. On the other hand the improvements in the legal framework to protect rights, has created the situation where despite the laws being in place to protect the citizens they resort to an emerging 'parallel system' from which they now seek remedies and redress.

The full report is available for download at http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2011/AHRC-SPR-009-2011/view.

The ongoing phenomenon of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, with the government admitting to the poor record of convictions, raises a serious question as to whether the country's justice system is capable of ensuring the protection of rights. While there remains the shared perception in the notion of justice and democratic space victims are rapidly losing confidence in the institutions of justice. They no long see the importance of registering complaints.

For the possibility of a remedy to be obtained, 'complainants' and their 'complaints' are two indispensable elements in order that the process of seeking justice, remedies and redress could take its course. However, due to the government's failure to, for example, ensure those responsible for killings and disappearance are held to account, the importance of investigations, prosecution and the adjudication of cases in court, has been severely questioned by victims and their families in recent times.

Here, police investigations, because of its flaws, themselves becomes the obstacle in seeking possibilities of remedies and redress; the prosecution, because of its apparent vulnerability to political control and public pressure, becomes a political tool rather than a method of pursuing the violations of victims' rights; and the court, because of its failure to ensure cases are resolved promptly, has become complicit in the deprivation of the possibilities of remedies.

As a result, when the complainants file their complaints they do so without the expectation that it will result in to something. This increasing absence of confidence in the system of justice: the police, the prosecutors and the courts, has resulted in victims resorting to a 'parallel system'. Here, the report observes the phenomenon of 'remedy by publicity'.

By way of remedy by publicity, possibilities of remedies or redress are there depending on how the victims or their families apply pressure to influence public opinion for the government to take action in their favour. Witnesses or complainants at risk now prefer to expose their risk to journalists, rather than to the police for them to investigate and to provide protection; torture victims who are illegally detained, tortured and falsely charged would rather employ public pressure for their release than legal action.

In some parts of the country, particularly in conflict areas such as Mindanao, the military has virtually assumed civilian police powers and these go unchallenged. In these areas, the notion of civilian policing, civilian power above the military and due process hardly operates because of the military's complete disregard to due process and legality. This practice has since become commonplace to the point where it obscures what is legal and what is illegal. Also, the military establishment has been intruding into the civilian's way of life unchallenged, on the pretext of terrorism and insurgency.

It explains the practice of soldiers inspecting people before they board public buses, in entering commercial establishments and conducting operations, not in conflict areas, but in the urban areas heavily populated by civilians. However, the tolerance, by way of agreement and memorandums, by local elected officials, has justified the ongoing intrusion of the military establishment into the people's civilian life.

Thus, this practice has also obscured who are the police and not the police. The military establishment, by the day, has obtained a certain legal or a de facto legitimacy in their practice of routinely arresting, detaining, torturing and investigating persons under duress, with complete disregard to rules of criminal procedures.  The courts tolerance of their practice has also cemented the military's authority and control over, not only of the police, but also in ordinary way of life of the Filipinos.

The AHRC has observed this is probably because; firstly, this practice has become heavily embedded as a social norm--meaning, there is nothing new in it. Also the widespread arbitrariness and disregard to elementary due process and legality that protects the rights is lacking if not completely absent. There must be a substantive discourse on the irreparable impact of how the flawed country's system of justice operates to this day.

The AHRC therefore urges a discourse on the protection of rights by examining how the country's system of justice actually functions when compared to how it should function. The discussion should be more than a mere description of the violations but rather raise questions as to why these violations are taking place.

The full report is available for download at http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2011/AHRC-SPR-009-2011/view.

What a Difference Years Make!

By DANIEL ESCUREL OCCENO, danielocceno@ymail.com
December 9, 2011

I was able to visit Metro Manila. There are no automobile dealerships in the small town of Gubat, Sorsogon Province so we had to go to Metro Manila and it was pretty costly getting the Toyota Revo serviced by the dealership supposedly to be serviced once a year with a local mechanic beforehand and we needed a place to stay for the two days with a two day drive there and back; but my mother decided to live a little so we stayed at a nice hotel instead of roughing it.

I almost did not want to go because I was involved with NaNoWriMo 2011; the “National Novel Writing Month is an annual internet-based creative writing project which challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel between November 1 and November 30.” – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on the Internet.

The trip meant four days of the 30 days during November while not writing on my novel entered with the NaNoWriMo writing contest because I did not own a tablet personal computer with a “word processor” software that I could have brought with me to write even while riding at the front passenger seat of the “Revo” during daylight.

I realize NaNoWriMo is a personal challenged to write a novel in 30 days with no prize money involved just personal satisfaction of writing a completed novel in 30 days and it might take me another ten years to publish a novel and get paid for it, but it was the principle.

My father needed wheelchair access so it was mandatory for me to accompany my parents. I felt like one of the police officers on the old “Ironside” TV show (1967-1975) wheeling around my father at the hotel, just to eat at the breakfast buffet restaurant inside the establishment.

My mother hired a driver that knew the “South Road” and the Metro Manila area, since I could not drive the 14-hour one-way drive to Quezon City and I could not drive the “Revo” to the Cubao commercial shopping area for the yearly service at the dealership and I could not drive the 14-hour one-way drive back to Gubat.

We stayed at The Sulo Riviera, a landmark hotel, in Quezon City to make the trip a somewhat costly vacation for my elderly parents in their mid seventies just to have a personal automobile serviced by a dealership. The last service was on June 2006 and (this time) I was very impressed with The Sulo Riviera Hotel make-over.

The last time I witnessed in person, not just on TV news events, the progress of the Metro Manila area was on December 2008 when my father celebrated his Golden Anniversary from graduating from Medical School at University of Santo Tomas.

Back then, I went around saying that other than Makati City, the Manila area and Quezon City looked dirty or old buildings needed paint or the entire area needed renovation; but it was not poverty and it certainly was not world hunger.

What a difference years make!

The new TOLL highways and the new retail outlets to attract domestic tourism are comparable to any major city of First World countries. It will attract tourism throughout the world and more businesses will develop because of the ambiance so I am so happy for my birth country. The Philippines has ended its poverty.

The capable of success Filipino kids want the small midsize four-door luxury automobiles instead of motorcycles. Last time, the streets were scattered with motorcycles. This time, I probably saw two or three motorcycles zipping by during the various times while we drove around. There were hardly any motorcycles parked on the side streets.

Because of tourism and retail and entrepreneurship, the young upwardly mobile are finding success early instead of waiting for middle-age to work overseas for success.

I was really impressed with the new toll roads and the renovation of the business buildings and the construction of new retail outlets of mega stores.

Yes, there is congestion but city planning has organized the congestion and it did not appear to be a free-for-all of every which way was the right away.

Luxury small four-door midsize automobiles dominated the streets compared to the SUVs of gas-guzzlers of before. I did not think the capable of success wanted the two-door subcompacts promoted for preventing Climate Change, but the midsize designed for families is a step in the right direction.

The luxury small four-door midsize automobiles were what I wanted to manufacture in the Philippines if I had success in America after college and I could afford to buy General Motors to bring a manufacturing plant to Subic Bay, Post Cold War industrial zone, after the Berlin Wall fell. I knew; it was providence to eventually convert the American military bases to commercial properties.

I ruined my college education so not all dreams happen. I have a new dream; I would rather write fictional novels. I can make up the success with words; however, it might take years for reality to catch up, life imitating art.

My desires to be a Filipino-American billionaire saving the Philippines from poverty have fizzled so you Filipino kids capable of success should start an automobile company in the Philippines similar to General Motors, manufacturing luxury small four-door midsize “electric” automobiles or ethanol blend from sugar cane or soy bean diesel motors, which can run on current diesel engines using 100% soy bean diesel, especially for delivery trucks and passenger “jeepneys” and commercial bus services and the rail transits and power plants.

With the change over from SUV gas-guzzlers to luxury small four-door midsize automobiles, I can see sustainable growth for the next ten years with tourism and retail in the Philippine Islands, but eventually the fear of gasoline shortages and the need for alternative energy would be a thunderstorm cloud waiting to happen someday, named Climate Change caused by Global Warming from the fossil fuel discharge of waste gases.

The poverty is definitely over. We have high unemployment. More job creations are needed to prevent new poverty in the future, for without jobs an educated society will only go backwards.

I am often criticized that I promote the retail industry with the low wages in my quest to end the poverty in the Philippines with my freelance writing of articles, but I will again point out that retail products have to be manufactured or grown, creating more jobs, so I hope small manufacturing are flourishing in the Philippine Islands and local farmers are making a living, not to mention those that deliver the products or those that warehouse the produce.

I noticed several new high-rise buildings but with the growing need for automobiles the parking lot problem will be inevitable at locations of limited space. I thought; I saw one building having a first floor indoor parking or open sides for ventilation.

Solid cement molded old buildings could always be renovated with the first floor for parking and with escalators to the next level because of possible power blackouts, but carrying packages might be a burden without elevators powered by electricity.

I know; some of you Metro Manila residence want my opinion on how I feel about the toll highways for building new roads and maintaining better highways because personal transportation vehicles are needed to expand beyond living at metropolises.

I would prefer non-tax revenue for government responsibilities in taking care of the people in society.

Like what?

How about nationwide legal “jueteng” and nationwide legal “mahjong” for non-tax revenue to repair roads and to maintain highways, especially in the Bicol Region? The potholes were vicious after the suggested yearly service from the Toyota dealership at Cubao on the 14-hour drive back at night.

There is no doubt in my mind; the Republic of the Philippines has ended its poverty.

Running amok

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
November 26, 2011

WHEN things are not inspired by charity, when we fail to keep a supernatural outlook in life, when we just depend on our reasoning and feelings, then most likely we end up running amok, killing everyone we meet.

This cruelty can easily be seen when political issues and controversies erupt. They erupt in the first place because many people think politics is outside the domain of charity, faith and religion.

The underlying mentality is that prayer and sacrifice have nothing to do with politics. One would be accused of living in a different planet if they behave along lines of charity and religion. He would not be “getting real.”

This attitude has been demonizing us for quite some time now that I’m afraid it has become part of our culture. Proof to that is the openness with which this inhumanity is expressed in public, and hardly anyone complains. On the contrary, a great majority applauds it.

I thought, for example, that gossiping and backbiting are done in whispers, quite hidden in some corner and in small groups. No, it’s not like that anymore. Gossips, backbiting, all sorts of impertinent ad hominems can now be broadcast on radio, TV and the Internet, with many people stoking them to their maximum viciousness.

What is worse – and I hope I’m wrong – is that they think they are doing the right thing, that their reaction is what is just and fair. They have lost the sense of balance, and charity is, of course, regarded as an outcast in the discussion.

In this kind of discussion, the targets are painted all in black. They do not seem to have any saving grace. They seem to be beyond redemption.

This does not bode well of us as a people. We will be hooked to divisiveness and to a spiral of vindictiveness if we exclude charity and the finer requirements of religion in our political discussions.

Let’s remember that our Lord himself told us to love even our enemies. He himself forgave those who crucified him. To the repentant thief, he also promised the Paradise. He told us to forgive not only seven times, but seventy times seven. He asked us to be merciful, because our heavenly Father is merciful.

We need to consider these words as the perfection of our humanity, a way to purify and heal us of our spiritual and moral wounds. They serve none other than to reconcile us with God and with one another. These commands and counsels are not optional. They are necessary.

The truth is that we are all sinners. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 Jn 1,8) We need to understand each other, and forgive each other. No use getting entangled with our sins, mistakes and failures. We just have to move on, doing all to make that possible as soon as we can.

I was both amused and bothered when I heard a radio commentator say that since justice is supposed to be equal, then everyone has to be treated in the same way whether the one involved is a high official or just an ordinary Juan.

In the first place, equality in justice is never to be interpreted as uniformity in treatment. This is commonsensical. Even in our family life, parents love their children equally but treat them differently, simply because the children are different from one another.

Wherever we go we try to be fair with everyone, but we always treat everyone differently, because people are just different. We don’t make a big fuss about this, unless there is clear injustice.

I froze in disbelief when the commentator said that if a public official who happens to be sick already has been arrested, he should go to prison with all the other criminals who had to bear with all the inconveniences of prison life, like hard labor and exposure to sickness because that is simply a prisoner’s plight.

That, he said, is equal justice. There should be no privileges like a hospital arrest. Then he launched into personal attacks on the public official involved, taking jibes at the physical defects of the person. All this at prime time and in a major media outfit. Unbelievable!

He forgot that everyone has a right to protect oneself, his name, his dignity. If many prisoners are treated inhumanly, it’s not because of some discrimination. It’s because of the imperfections of our human justice and legal system.

Last updated: 01/26/2012