Dear Gemma: A Rejoinder by Herman Tiu Laurel

Below is a rejoinder/reply to an open letter circulated on the internet attributed to a Ms Gemma S. Dimaculangan. Daily Tribune columnist, Herman Tiu Laurel, wrote the following on his March 28, 2008 Die Hard III column. He offered a more deeper and somewhat detailed analysis to what ails this country of almost 90 million people, more than half of which lives in poverty while a great percentage of its middle class are overseas workers.

"Dear Gemma,

Your heartbreak letter pouring your disgust over corruption in the Philippines has circulated all over the Internet and returned to Manila as a piece in one of the mainstream newspapers. You rail as a “taxpayer” against the “criminals in ‘barong’” stealing the 30 percent from your income you pay as a citizen, expressing disgust over the senators associated with crooks (referring to Gloria’s gang).

I especially liked your snide remark on Joker Arroyo for “making a joke of his own ‘pag bad ka, lagot ka!” You missed the mark somewhat when you allowed Gloria leeway in saying “PGMA time and again turns a blind eye to her husband’s financial deals” — as if Gloria weren’t the mastermind of the entire caboodle of corruption.

You correctly lamented the attitude by some expat Filipinos: “They say the few stupid ones like me who remain in the Philippines are no longer capable of showing disgust.” It’s good you said you “…don’t agree” and “Many like me feel anger at the brazenness of men we call our leaders, embarrassment to share the same nationality with them… But I am writing this because I need to do something concrete… I want to make it known that there are also Filipinos who dream of something better … I want them to know that my country is not filled with scalawags and crooks in every corner, and that there are citizens left who believe in decency, fairness…” You called for Filipinos to summon the power of good and implored “mothers out there to raise your children the best way you can…”

Ms. Dimaculangan, your letter struck a powerful chord among Filipinos abroad that they circulated it until your plaintive cry came all the way back to your home country. It rang a powerful bell in the hearts of your countrymen to your call not to be cynical but to let “… your voices be heard” to do “what you can for this land of your ancestors and your heritage.” But the question you have not provided an answer to is “what to do?” Before I proceed to give my response to your cries, Gemma, let me say this country — along with its government — is really replete with good, self-sacrificing and honest citizens — the vast majority of its soldiers and policemen are honest and faithful to their service despite living in pitiful hovels in squatter areas while the elite they protect wall themselves off in Forbes or Dasmariñas Village, or in Makati condos aeries.

There are over half-a-milion Filipino public school teachers and many, like Teacher Julie of Patubig Elementary School in Bulacan and Teacher Deo of Krus na Ligas High School in Quezon City, who work in oversized classes of up to 70 students. Underpaid and they often foot the bill for what the schools lack — such as a busted fluorescent light tube or even electricity payment the provincial and education funds can not cover because 60 percent of the National Budget goes to payment of external debt. Which really brings us to the international dimension of our crisis and the corruption of the country’s top government echelons: we are country endowed with natural bounties other countries covet and exploit while we grow poorer, but we never elected the most corrupt leaders like Arroyo who was installed by foreign powers with their local collaborators.

Take Edsa II which deposed a national leader elected by 11 million Filipinos in only two-and-a-half years in office; Estrada was not even given a chance to fail; he was never given the opportunity to prove the viability programs. Who did him in? This is what most people now know: A combination of local oligarchs in the power, water utility and telecommunications businesses aided by local church potentates like Cardinal Sin, trapos par excellence like FVR with the most corrupt police and military generals and proclaimed by a Supreme Court unfaithful to the Constitution. What few Filipinos realize is that Bush and corporate America were behind it too, to push the “War on Terror” and privatize and plunder the national wealth.

Like many Filipinos, you do not see the methods of the foreign predatory powers that have plagued the country from Lapu-Lapu through Gabriela Silang, to Jose Rizal and Bonifacio down to this day: the foreign powers use their economic and political clout to put in their “gobernador-general”. The foreign powers were appointed to her “Council of Foreign Economic Advisers” Gloria. The foreign powers love corrupt leaders like Mrs. Arroyo because they are “buyable”, and if the financial price becomes too high like Gloria’s (the Chinese are bidding higher) then they are “blackmail-able” like in ZTE-NBN. Worse comes to worse, the foreign power can oust a leader by Filipino generals trained in Fort Bragg staging a “coup” disguised as “people power.” It was in the hope of ousting the foreign powers that Rizal, Bonifacio, Mabini et al dedicated their lives to national revolution.

Ms. Dimaculangan, this aspect of foreign corruption of our national affairs is what you miss in your otherwise comprehensive review of corruption in our society. Putting the moral of the story in a nutshell, I turn to the current rice supply problem, which is a food supply issue. Arroyo’s regime used the agricultural budget for fertilizers to buy the 2004 elections while letting rice smuggling go unchecked the past seven years; President Estrada put as top priority food security, certified an irrigation expansion bill into law and prioritized other food programs — like milk production. The next food crisis is the global shortage of milk which is already felt everywhere in rising prices. Estrada put into law the Carabao Breeding Program, anticipating this milk crisis by a decade. Gloria has done nothing on this score, and it is the youngest Filipinos who will suffer.

President Marcos prioritized irrigation and food productivity while Cory Aquino canceled almost all major irrigation dams Marcos initiated, yet to this day Marcos is demonized while Cory Aquino is lionized by the Western and local elite-controlled media. The fact is, in many surveys, the pining for the “good old days” of tangible economic development and benefits of the Marcos era is growing in the hearts of many poor Filipinos. It is not easy to sort out the truth after the “demonization” of Marcos and Estrada by international and local media, and even by the educational system directed by those in control today. Over time truth will out and the un-Filipino character of the puppet leaders of the foreign powers are sure to be exposed completely while the pro-Filipino will stand out: deposed Marcos and Estrada had Filipino welfare at heart while Cory, FVR and Gloria who have enjoyed Western support have brought us to the present dire straits.

Corruption is always an issue, but not all corrupt countries get poorer and poorer like the Philippines. China and India are corrupt, higher than the Philippines in many corruption surveys but they are growing as economic dragons. You see, Gemma, the greatest corruption is betrayal of your country’s welfare. I have news reports on the milk crisis now in the US, Britain, India and many other countries. Like the early warning the past years on the growing rice shortage, I am alerting Filipinos to the impending milk crisis for the Philippines — but as usual, few will take heed; while the country rails and flails about ZTE-NBN and corruption the next famine is creeping into every crib in every home: the milk shortage."

Gloria and Cory: A Study in Contrast by Conrado de Quiros

"Corazon Conjuangco Aquino came to power by being the Asian Joan of Arc, the housewife who rose from obscurity and stormed the ramparts of tyranny. When those ramparts fell, others tried to seize the crown, chief of them, Juan Ponce Enrile, who figured that his change of heart at the 11th hour had given him a claim to it. The public did not buy it and gave the mantle to Cory.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power by hiding behind the skirts of Cory and Sin while the battle raged, and emerging when the smoke had cleared to claim the throne. It was the nation’s misfortune that Cory and Sin did not read the signs early on. Cory gave up her office when her time was up, like she said she would. She could have gotten around the constitutional ban on a second term on some pretext or other, but she did not. She believed in giving a good example; she believed that the democracy she helped restore rested on institutions and not on individuals, on the people and not on messiahs.

Her example was lost on her protégé. Gloria said she would not run again because if she did she would bring upon this country “never-ending divisiveness.” She lied about the first, but she told the truth about the second. Cory is held in the highest esteem abroad, having achieved world-class status by birthing the political phenomenon of People Power, which countries like Burma are desperately trying to imitate. When she adds her voice to the universal call for Aung San Suu Kyi to be released from house arrest and for the Burmese junta to hold free elections, the world applauds and Suu Kyi herself is eternally grateful.

Gloria has achieved world-class status by turning the Philippines into the most corrupt country in Asia and the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists.

Cory is loved by her people, and though she is no longer the political force she once was (the loss of Sin has diminished her), she continues to command respect where politics meets morality. She has stepped into that role without trying.

Gloria is loved by, well, her family and pets. As to the rest of the country, Pulse Asia’s latest survey sufficiently shows how Filipinos feel about her: three out of five of them distrust her, the other two probably being deaf and mute. Elsewhere in the world you get ratings like those, whether you are the legitimate leader or not, you slink away in shame and never show your face in public again.

Cory will not hide her plight from the nation, telling it she has colon cancer. Of course, she has also asked the nation to respect her privacy and not inquire too closely about her condition or the medical regimen she means to go through. She is a profile in courage.

Gloria will not tell the nation that it is being ravaged by a cancer of her making. Of course, she keeps asking the nation to give her more time to find the cure, when an instant one can be had by her disappearing from view. She is a profile in outrage."

– Conrado de Quiros, Inquirer

To read the full article, please click main title or here. To read opinion maker Conrado de Quiros' other essays, please click here to go to Philippine Inquirer's column "There's The Rub".

Focus on Filipino Americans: The Best Kept Secret - Philippine Culture 101 By France Viana

"Textbooks say that the Philippines is composed of 7,100 islands. The truth is, no one knows exactly how many there are at any given point, it depends on the tide. So it is with Philippine culture. There are so many different influences that come into the mix that a homogenous culture is hard to define and I am not going to even attempt to do so.

Instead, what I will do in the next 10 minutes or so is give you a quick psychographic handle on the culture by speaking on the top 4 influences on our culture and some marketing dos and don'ts. To do so I am going to have to make some sweeping generalizations to which there are many many exemptions, so please keep that in mind. I will end by teaching you two tricks to find out if someone is Filipino and to actually pass for one yourselves.)

You’ve heard our historical backdrop: Four hundred years under Spain, 50 years under the U.S. and 4 under Japan. In fact, our being named one people is a fairly recent artifice. The term Filipino originally referred to Spaniards born in the Philippines.

To understand what all this colonization has done to us as a people, imagine what is like spending 400 years in a convent followed by 50 years in Hollywood. This is why as a culture we have so many contradictions and are both sophisticated and superstitious, conservative and flamboyant, sheltered and sexy. We wear the latest sexiest Victoria’s Secret lingerie to bed but under the pillow we will hide a rosary."

To read the full story, click main title (or here). I believe this was first published in Filipinas Magazine, an oline magazine.

Manila’s Bungle in The South China Sea By Barry Wain

As published in the Far Eastern Economic Review (January/February 2008 edition).


"When Vietnamese students gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi last December to protest against China’s perceived bullying over disputed territory in the South China Sea, it signaled Hanoi’s intention to turn up the heat a bit.
And Beijing reacted in kind; instead of downplaying the incident, a foreign ministry spokesman complained, “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands.” The bluster on both sides, while just a blip in this long-running feud, is a timely reminder that the South China Sea remains one of the region’s flashpoints. What most observers don’t realize is that in the last few years, regional cooperative efforts to coax Beijing into a more measured stance have been set back by one of the rival claimants to the islands.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s hurried trip to China in late 2004 produced a major surprise. Among the raft of agreements ceremoniously signed by the two countries was one providing for their national oil companies to conduct a joint seismic study in the contentious South China Sea, a prospect that caused consternation in parts of Southeast Asia. Within six months, however, Vietnam, the harshest critic, dropped its objections and joined the venture, which went ahead on a tripartite basis and shrouded in secrecy.

In the absence of any progress towards solving complex territorial and jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea, the concept of joint development is resonating stronger than ever. The idea is fairly simple: Shelve sovereignty claims temporarily and establish joint development zones to share the ocean’s fish, hydrocarbon and other resources. The agreement between China, the Philippines and Vietnam, three of the six governments that have conflicting claims, is seen as a step in the right direction and a possible model for the future.

But as details of the undertaking emerge, it is beginning to look like anything but the way to go. For a start, the Philippine government has broken ranks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which was dealing with China as a bloc on the South China Sea issue. The Philippines also has made breathtaking concessions in agreeing to the area for study, including parts of its own continental shelf not even claimed by China and Vietnam. Through its actions, Manila has given a certain legitimacy to China’s legally spurious “historic claim” to most of the South China Sea.

Although the South China Sea has been relatively peaceful for the past decade, it remains one of East Asia’s potential flashpoints. The Paracel Islands in the northwest are claimed by China and Vietnam, while the Spratly Islands in the south are claimed in part or entirety by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. All but Brunei, whose claim is limited to an exclusive economic zone and a continental shelf that overlap those of its neighbors, man military garrisons in the scattered islets, cays and rocks of the Spratlys.

After extensive Chinese structures were discovered in 1995 on Mischief Reef, on the Philippine continental shelf and well within the Philippine 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, Asean persuaded Beijing to drop its resistance to the “internationalization” of the South China Sea issue. Instead of insisting on only bilateral discussions with claimant states, China agreed to deal with Asean as a group on the matter.

Rodolfo Severino, a former secretary-general of Asean, has lauded “Asean solidarity and cooperation in a matter of vital security concern.”
Asean and China, however, failed in their attempt to negotiate a code of conduct. In the “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” signed in 2002, they pledged to settle territorial disagreements peacefully and to exercise restraint in activities that could spark conflict. But the declaration is far from watertight. A political statement, not a legally binding treaty, it doesn’t specify the geographical scope and is, at best, an interim step.

Since the issuance of the declaration, a tenuous stability has descended on the South China Sea. With Asean countries benefiting from China’s booming economy, boosted by a free-trade agreement, Southeast Asian political leaders are happy to forget about this particular set of problems that once bedeviled their relations with Beijing. Yet none of the multifaceted disputes has been resolved, and no mechanism exists to prevent or manage conflicts. With no plans to discuss even the sovereignty of contested islands, claimants now accept that it will be decades, perhaps generations, before the tangled claims are reconciled.

Recent incidents and skirmishes are a sharp reminder of how dangerous the situation remains. In the middle of last year, Chinese naval vessels fired on Vietnamese fishing boats near the Paracels, killing one fisherman and wounding six others, while British giant BP halted work associated with a gas pipeline off the Vietnamese coast after a warning by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. In the past few months, Beijing and Hanoi have traded denunciations as the Chinese, in particular, maneuver to reinforce territorial claims. Vietnam protested when China conducted a large naval exercise around the Paracels in November.

China’s decision in December to create an administrative center on Hainan to manage the Paracels, Spratlys and another archipelago, though symbolic, was regarded as particularly provocative by Hanoi. The Vietnamese authorities facilitated demonstrations outside the Chinese diplomatic missions in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to make known their displeasure.

Friction can be expected to increase as the demand for energy by China and dynamic Southeast Asian economies rises and they intensify the search for oil and gas. While hydrocarbon reserves in the South China Sea are unproven, the belief that huge deposits exist keeps interest intense. As world oil prices hit record levels, the discovery of commercially viable reserves would raise tensions and “transform security circumstances” in the Spratlys, according to Ralf Emmers, an associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

President Arroyo’s agreement with China for a joint seismic study was controversial in several respects. By not consulting other Asean members beforehand, the Philippines abandoned the collective stance that was key to the group’s success with China over the South China Sea. Ironically, it was Manila that first sought a united front and rallied Asean to confront China over its intrusion into Mischief Reef a decade earlier. Sold the idea by politicians with business links who have other deals going with the Chinese, Ms. Arroyo did not seek the views of her foreign ministry, Philippines officials say. By the time the foreign ministry heard about it and objected, it was too late, the officials say.

Philippine diplomats might have been able to warn her that while joint development has been successfully implemented elsewhere, Beijing’s understanding of the concept is peculiarly Chinese. The only location that China is known to have nominated for joint development is a patch off the southern coast of Vietnam called Vanguard Bank, which is in Vietnamese waters where China has “no possibly valid claim,” as a study by a U.S. law firm put it. Beijing’s suggestion in the 1990s that it and Hanoi jointly develop Vanguard Bank was considered doubly outrageous because China insisted that it alone must retain sovereignty of the area. Also of no small consideration was the fact that such a bilateral deal would split Southeast Asia.

The hollowness of China’s policy of joint development, loudly proclaimed for nearly 20 years, was confirmed long ago by Hasjim Djalal, Indonesia’s foremost authority on maritime affairs, when he headed a series of workshops on the South China Sea. Mr. Hasjim set out to test the concept of joint development, taking several years to identify an area in which each country would both relinquish and gain something in terms of its claims. In 1996, he designated an area of some thousands of square kilometers, amounting to a small opening in the middle of the South China Sea, which cut across the Spratlys and went beyond them. Joint development, unspecified, was to take place in the “hole,” with no participant having to formally abandon its claims. Beijing alone refused to further explore the doughnut proposal, as it was dubbed, complaining that the intended zone was in the area China claimed. Of course it was, that being the essence of the plan, without which it was difficult to imagine having joint development.

China’s bottom line on joint development at that time: What is mine is mine and what is yours is ours.

Beijing and Manila did not make public the text of their “Agreement for Seismic Undertaking for Certain Areas in the South China Sea By and Between China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Philippine National Oil Company.” After the agreement was signed on Sept. 1, 2004, the Philippine government said the joint seismic study, lasting three years, would “gather and process data on stratigraphy, tectonics and structural fabric of the subsurface of the area.”

Although the government said the undertaking “has no reference to petroleum exploration and production,” it was obvious that the survey was intended precisely to gauge prospects for oil and gas exploration and production. Nobody could think of an alternative explanation for seismic work, especially in the wake of year-earlier press reports that CNOOC and PNOC had signed a letter of intent to begin the search for oil and gas.

Vietnam immediately voiced concern, declaring that the agreement, concluded without consultation, was not in keeping with the spirit of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties. Hanoi “requested” Beijing and Manila disclose what they had agreed and called on other Asean members to join Vietnam in “strictly implementing” the declaration. After what Hanoi National University law lecturer Nguyen Hong Thao calls “six months of Vietnamese active struggle, supported by other countries,” state-owned PetroVietnam joined the China-Philippine pact.

Vietnam’s inclusion in the modified and renamed “Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in the Agreement Area in the South China Sea,” signed on March 14, 2005, was scarcely a victory for consensus-building and voluntary restraint. The Philippines, militarily weak and lagging economically, had opted for Chinese favors at the expense of Asean political solidarity. In danger of being cut out, the Vietnamese joined, “seeking to make the best out of an unsatisfactory situation,” as Mr. Severino puts it. The transparency that Hanoi had demanded was still missing, with even the site of the proposed seismic study concealed.

Now that the location is known, the details having leaked into research circles, the reasons for wanting to keep it under wraps are apparent: “Some would say it was a sell-out on the part of the Philippines,” says Mark Valencia, an independent expert on the South China Sea. The designated zone, a vast swathe of ocean off Palawan in the southern Philippines, thrusts into the Spratlys and abuts Malampaya, a Philippine producing gas field. About one-sixth of the entire area, closest to the Philippine coastline, is outside the claims by China and Vietnam. Says Mr. Valencia: “Presumably for higher political purposes, the Philippines agreed to these joint surveys that include parts of its legal continental shelf that China and Vietnam don’t even claim.”

Worse, by agreeing to joint surveying, Manila implicitly considers the Chinese and Vietnamese claims to have a legitimate basis, he says. In the case of Beijing, this has serious implications, since the broken, U-shaped line on Chinese maps, claiming almost the entire South China Sea on “historic” grounds, is nonsensical in international law. (Theoretically, Beijing might stake an alternative claim based on an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf from nearby islets that it claims, but they would be restricted by similar claims by rivals.) Manila’s support for the Chinese “historic claim,” however indirect, weakens the positions of fellow Asean members Malaysia and Brunei, whose claimed areas are partly within the Chinese U-shaped line. It is a stunning about-face by Manila, which kicked up an international fuss in 1995 when the Chinese moved onto the submerged Mischief Reef on the same underlying “historic claim” to the area.

Some commentators have hailed the tripartite seismic survey as a landmark event, echoing the upbeat interpretation put on it by the Philippines and China. The parties insist it is a strictly commercial venture by their national oil companies that does not change the sovereignty claims of the three countries involved. Ms. Arroyo calls it an “historic diplomatic breakthrough for peace and security in the region.” But that assessment is, at the very least, premature.

Not only do the details of the three-way agreement remain unknown, but almost nothing has been disclosed about progress on the seismic study, which should be completed in the next few months. Much will depend on the results and what the parties do next. Already, according to regional officials, China has approached Malaysia and Brunei separately, suggesting similar joint ventures. If it is confirmed that China has split Asean and the Southeast Asian claimants and won the right to jointly develop areas of the South China Sea it covets only by virtue of its “historic claim,” Beijing will have scored a significant victory."

Mr. Wain, writer-in-residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, is a former editor of The Wall Street Journal Asia.

Treason: By Ricky Carandang

"Allow me to expound a little on a story I did for The Correspondents on February 19th.

Seven countries claim ownership of the disputed Spratly Islands, just off of Palawan. China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines all claim to own part or all of the Spratlys. These overlapping claims have been a source of tension over the years since the Spratlys (we Filipinos call them the Kalayaan Islands) are believed to contain significant reserves of oil and natural gas. China was the most aggressive in pursuing its claim. In 1999, the Philippines–under President Joseph Estrada– led an effort to prevent tensions by getting all the claimants to agree not to take actions to provoke other claimants.

But in 2003, the Philippines–now under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo– rocked the boat that it previously steadied when it signed an agreement with China to jointly undertake seismic studies of the Spratlys and explore for oil and natural gas. Naturally, the other claimants were angry. After getting them to agree not to rock the boat, the Philippines sucker-punched them with the China deal. China's traditional ally, Vietnam was so angry they it had to be let in to the deal to
appease them.

Aside from angering our neighbors and potentially undermining regional stability, Arroyo's action may also be illegal. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez–who was then acting justice secretary–told former Senator Frank Drilon, who was then allied with the administration, that she believed that the deal violated the constitution, because while it was a deal between the state owned oil firms (PNOC of the Philippines and CNOOC of China) of the two countries, it implicitly gave China access to our reserves. Officers of the Foreign Affairs Department were also upset because the deal effectively strengthened China and Vietnam's claim to the Spratlys.

What would compel Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to sign a deal that potentially undermines regional stability, possibly grants China parity rights to oil reserves in
the Spratlys that we claim to be ours, and likely violates our constitution?
How about $2 billion a year? After the Spratly deal was signed, the Chinese government committed $2 billion in official development assistance a year to the Philippines until 2010, when Arroyo is supposed to step down from office. My sources tell me that the Spratly deal was an explicit precondition to the loans.

A sizable amount to be sure, but for the Arroyo administration the China loans is particularly appealing. Not so much because the interest rates are so low and the repayment terms so lenient, but because Chinese loans do not have the cumbersome requirements that loans from the US, Japan, the EU, and big multilateral lenders have. Requirements for documentation, bidding, transparency and other details that make it very difficult for corrupt public officials to commit graft. In fact, in November of last year, those cumbersome requirements made it impossible for some government officials and private individuals with sticky fingers to avail themselves of the World Bank's generosity.

It had gotten to the point where a corrupt government could no longer make a dishonest buck. That is until China's generous offer came along. Given China's laxity with certain conditions, its no wonder why almost every big ticket government project funded by Chinese ODA has been the subject of allegations of graft and corruption. There's Northrail, Cyber Education, the Fuhua agricultural projects, Southrail, and of course the ZTE National Broadband project.

Until the ZTE National Broadband scandal, the Chinese government has had little official reaction to any of these allegations. Why should they? The $8 billion is a loan, not a grant. It enhances their influence in the region, strengthens their claim to the Spratlys, and expands their influence in the Philippines. The best part is, regardless of what Philippine officials do with the money–whether they put it to good use or steal it–it still has to be paid back. Its no wonder that anytime some midlevel Chinese official comes to the country, congressmen and adminstration officials literally trip over themselves to roll out the red carpet.

For corrupt Adminstration officials and their cronies, $8 billion represents unprecedented opportunities for graft on a scale that would shock ordinary Filipinos.
And at the end of the day, that $8 billion is going to be paid back. Not by the grafters in and out of government; not by the Chinese citizens; but by the millions of ordinary middle class Filipinos who go to work everyday, pay their taxes, struggle and to keep their small and medium businesses afloat. The price will also be paid indirectly by tens of millions of poor Filipinos who will not have access to health care, quality education and a functioning court system because those resources are not going where they should be going.

There's a word for that. Its called Treason."

My comment: Ricky Carandang's has outdone himself again with this very succint view of what our present "leaders" are doing.

It reminded me of the Bataan Nuclear Plant fiasco in my school days in the 80's. I was against the project then as I am now of the broadband so-called "project". For the nuclear plant to be viable, we should have at the very least sited it in a "safer" place, away from the earthquake prone areas of our nation. Choosing the lesser of two evils, I would have like to seen the plant operable, at least, so we can have at the very least made use of it. The only people who benefitted from it are those who received hefty commissions and General Electric.

See also article re: Singapore's Private Banking enterprise, a magnet for ill-gotten wealth. A private closer to home, one need not go to Switzerland.

We have been sending our poor countrymen and women abroad as virtual slaves. Now we are again (remember the US bases) selling our patrimony by giving access to our territories. What's next?

A Very Eloquent & Deep Sharing of a Very Concerned Fellow Filipino: By Gemma S. Dimaculangan

"To all Filipinos Everywhere:

I used to think that corruption and criminality in the Philippines were caused by poverty. But recent events tell me this is not true.

It is one thing to see people turn into drug addicts, prostitutes, thieves and murderers because of hunger and poverty, but what excuse do these rich, educated people have that could possibly explain their bizarre behavior? And to think I was always so relieved when petty snatchers got caught and locked away in jail because I never fully realized that the big time thieves were out there, making the laws and running our country. Can it get any worse than this?

Every night, I come home and am compelled to turn on my tv to watch the latest turn of events. I am mesmerized by these characters. They are not men. They are caricatures of men - too unreal to be believable and too bad to be real.

To see these "honorable" crooks lambast each other, call each one names, look each other in the eye and accuse the other of committing the very same crimes that they themselves are guilty of, is so comical and appalling that I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It is entertainment at its worst!

I have never seen so many criminals roaming around unfettered and looking smug until now. These criminals wear suits and barongs, strut around with the confidence of the rich and famous, inspire fear and awe from the very citizens who voted them to power, bear titles like "Honorable", "Senator", "Justice","General" and worse, "President".

Ironically, these lawless individuals practice law, make our laws, enforce the law. And we wonder why our policemen act the way they do! These are their leaders, and the leaders of this nation, “Robin Hoodlum" and his band of moneymen. Their motto, "Rob the poor, moderate the greed of the rich."

It makes me wonder where on earth these people came from, and what kind of upbringing they had to make them act the way they do for all the world to see. It makes me wonder what kind of schools they went to, what kind of teachers they had, what kind of environment would produce such creatures who can lie, cheat and steal from an already indebted country and from the impoverished people they had vowed to serve.

It makes me wonder what their children and grandchildren think of them, and if they are breeding a whole new generation of improved Filipino crooks and liars with maybe a tad more style but equally negligible conscience. Heaven forbid!

I am an ordinary citizen and taxpayer. I am blessed to have a job that pays for my needs and those of my family, even though 30% of my earnings go to the nation's coffers. Just like others in my lot, I have complained time and again because our government could not provide enough of the basic services that I expect and deserve. Rutty roads, poor educational system, poor social services, poor health services, poor everything.

But I have always thought that was what all third world countries were all about, and my complaints never amounted to anything more.

And then this. Scandalous government deals. Plundering presidents pointing fingers. Senators who are crooks. Congressmen who accept bribes. Big time lawyers on the side of injustice. De Venecia ratting on his boss only after his interminable term has ended, Enrile inquiring about someone's morality! The already filthy rich Abalos and Arroyo wanting more money than they or their great grandchildren could ever spend in a lifetime.

Joker caught red-handed. (Joker making a joke of his own "pag bad ka, lagot ka!"). Defensor rendered defenseless. General Razon involved in kidnapping. Security men providing anything but a sense of security. And it's all about money, money,money that the average Juan de la Cruz could not even imagine in his dreams. Is it any wonder why our few remaining decent and hardworking citizens are leaving to work in other countries?

And worst of all, we are once again saddled with a power-hungry President whose addiction has her clinging on to it like barnacle on a rusty ship. "Love (of power) is blind" takes a whole new meaning when PGMA time and again turns a blind eye on her husband's shady financial deals. And still blinded with all that is happening, she opts to traipse around the world with her cohorts in tow while her country is in shambles.

They say the few stupid ones like me who remain in the Philippines are no longer capable of showing disgust. I don't agree. Many like me feel anger at the brazenness of men we call our leaders, embarrassment to share the same nationality with them, frustration for our nation and helplessness at my own ineffectuality. It is not that I won't make a stand.

It is just that I am afraid my actions would only be futile. After all, these monsters are capable of anything. They can hurt me and my family. They already have, though I may not yet feel it.

But I am writing this because I need to do something concrete. I need to let others know that ordinary citizens like me do not remain lukewarm to issues that would later affect me and my children.

I want to make it known that there are also Filipinos who dream of something better for the Philippines . I want them to know that my country is not filled with scalawags and crooks in every corner, and that there are citizens left who believe in decency, fairness, a right to speak, a right to voice out ideas, a right to tell the people we have trusted to lead us that they have abused their power and that it is time for them to step down.

I refuse to let this country go to hell because it is the only country I call mine and it is my responsibility to make sure I have done what I could for it.

Those of us who do not have the wealth, power or position it needs to battle the evil crime lords in government can summon the power of good. We can pray. (We can offer petitions every time we celebrate Mass). We can do this with our families every night. We can ask others to pray, too, including relatives and friends here and overseas, just so we get the message to Him of our desperation in ridding our nation of these vermin. After all, they cannot be more powerful than God!

I implore mothers out there to raise your children the best way you can. Do not smother, pamper, or lavish them with too much of the material comforts of life even if you can well afford them. Teach them that there are more important things in this world.

I beg all fathers to spend time with their children, to teach them the virtues of hard work, honesty, fair play, sharing, dignity and compassion right from the sandbox till they are old enough to go on their own. Not just in your homes, but at work, in school, everywhere you go. Be good role models. Be shining examples for your children so they will learn to be responsible adults who will carry and pass on your family name with pride and honor.

I call on educators and teachers; we always underestimate the power of your influence on the minds of our youth. Encourage them to be aware of what is happening in their surroundings. Instill in them a love of their country, inculcate in them the value of perseverance in order to gain real, worthwhile knowledge, help us mold our children into honorable men and women.

Encourage our graduates, our best and brightest, to do what they can to lift this country from the mire our traditional politicians have sunk usbecause of you, our educators, that we will be able to into. The youth is our future and it would be largely repopulate the seats of power with good leaders, presidents, senators, congressmen, justices, lawmakers, law enforcers and lawful citizens.

I ask all students, young people and young professionals everywhere to look around and get involved in what is happening. Do not let your youth be an excuse for failure to concern yourselves with the harsh realities you see.

But neither let this make you cynical, because we need your idealism and fresh perspective just as you need the wisdom of your elders. YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU! Let your voices be heard. Do what you can for this land that gave you your ancestors and your heritage.

Use technology and all available resources at hand to spread good. Text meaningful messages to awaken social conscience. Try your best to fight moral decay because I promise you will not regret it when you become parents yourselves. You will look back at your past misdeeds and pray that your children will do better than you did.

Remember that there are a few handful who are capable of running this country. You can join their ranks and make their numbers greater. We are tired of the old trapos. We need brave idealistic leaders who will think of the greater good before anything else. Do your utmost to excel in your chosen field. Be good lawyers, civil servants, accountants, computer techs, engineers, doctors, military men so that when you are called to serve in government, you will have credibility and a record that can speak for itself.

For love of this country, for the future of our children, for the many who have sacrificed and died to uphold our rights and ideals, I urge you to do what you can. As ordinary citizens, we can do much more for the Philippines than sit around and let crooks lead us to perdition. We owe ourselves this. And we owe our country even more."


Gemma S. Dimaculangan

P.S. Pls translate in your dialect and forward to provincemates!"

End of quote: Received via email from a brother Mason. Moderator. Posted previously but recently managed to trace background and author Ms. Gemma S. Dimaculangan, a medical technologist working for Unilab in Metro Manila. With the popularity of her plea via email, this article was picked up by Philippine daily newspapers, and a rejoinder is also re-posted here. Some additions to the "original" email are enclosed in parentheses.

NSCB Data Validates RP's Worsening Poverty Situation by IBON Media

Poverty incidence could actually be higher, says think-tank.

"The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) report that poverty in the country worsened in 2006 only proves that the claim of Malacañang of an improving economy is false, said independent think-tank IBON Foundation).

It also validates the research group’s findings that poverty in the country is actually worsening for the past seven years.

According to the NSCB, 32.9% of the population, or 27.6 million Filipinos, are poor, nearly three percentage points higher than the 30% reported in 2003. This was computed using an annual poverty threshold of P15,057.

But says IBON executive editor Rosario Bella Guzman, “The poverty incidence could actually be worse than reported due to such low poverty threshold.”

Using official figures, a Filipino needs just P41.25 a day to meet his or her food and non-food basic requirements and stay out of poverty, a figure that is obviously insufficient for all but basic subsistence needs. “In fact, poverty in the Philippines could be so widespread that the NSCB is using these low threshold figures to understate the actual extent of poverty,” says Guzman.

In the IBON’s self-rated poverty survey conducted last January, 7 1.7% Filipinos considered themselves poor. The NSCB data is not the only evidence that validates the growing poverty in the country. Images of poverty still pervade the daily lives of millions of Filipinos, as shown by other government statistics.Real wages in the country (taking inflation into account with 2000 as the base year) have actually fallen from P340.80 in 2001 to P141.97 in 2007.

Even worse, the daily minimum wage in the NCR of P362 is just 40% of the estimated family living wage of P806 (as of December 2007).

Further, according to the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the country’s poorest families (some 13.9 million) found themselves with less income than in 2001. The situation is worse for the poorest 5.2 million households who remain mired in debt, with an average of P1,700 debt per household in 2006.

Inequality also remained severe in 2006, as the richest 20% of Filipino families (3.5 million) accounted for 52.8% of total family income, while the poorest 80% (13.9 million) had to share the remaining 47.3 percent. The income of the richest 10% of Filipino households was equivalent to 19 times that of the poorest 10 percent."

IBON Foundation, Inc. is an independent development institution established in 1978 that provides research, education, publications, information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues.

(Sent via email by Mr Henry Ruiz)

My Comment to my good classmate:

Thanks for the data. Actually it is no surprise, you just need to walk around Manila and other environs and find that PHP41.25 (or about an A$1.00!) could not sustain a person's needs! Let alone a daily minimum legal wage of PHP362.00 can sustain a person, let alone a family of three.

Yet, our politicians and their cronies (yes they are back) are still full of greed and not too happy with the millions and billions of kickbacks from government deals.

In a related topic, our politicians and their businessmen cohorts does not even wait for the actual money to come into the national coffers before robbing our government. They just dream up of projects (NBN) and ask for a loan! A loan that our childrens' children will have to pay.