Pambansang Kamao; Pambansang KAMOTE?

Many were disillusioned with Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao in the run up to what has been touted as the biggest boxing event in years –which in fact, lived up to its billing. Believe it or not, many thought it was good lesson if he lost, so that he would reassess his direction viz-a-viz what path the Filipino people had always laid down for him. Sure, he is entitled, just as anyone else, to live his life his way: Pursue whatever dreams he has for himself and outside of himself; Gun for whatever he aspires to.

But people sense when one erstwhile humble and lowly hero had drowned in the intoxicating sea of egotistical fame.

Whatever he says or does, he sounds and looks like saying or asking MORE, MORE, MORE!!!

The reason why Pacman alienated so much of the affection of his Filipino fans is the same reason that alienated people, in general, from the Arroyos (Gloria et al.) when the latter tried to fill every nook and cranny of the political and government landscape with one of their own. In other words, no matter what the real intention is, it smacks of, reeks of, and betrays, GREED.

Whoever buys this RELIGION “overdo” thing? To that extent, people want to see the Manny they used to know: straightforward, unembellished, and genuine.

Well, he is well way into it. He is in Congress, although arguably, the wrong place for him –It’s all self-aggrandizement. He is better off in the local government, where direct action makes the difference. How the hell can he contribute in legislation? Hire consultants for every bit of his work? Now he wants his wife as governor, who’s just as clueless in local government as he is in congress. One had better know when to say “no thanks, I don’t have the aptitude for it.”

Obviously, Pacman obstinately and defiantly sees himself more than most people do, to say no. Why he even intimated in a CBS interview, “60 minutes,” his interest in occupying Malacanang, by saying, when asked, “it’s still distant into the future, we’ll talk about it when the right time comes” or words of that idea.

This is when celebrities abuse their popularity. Oh it’s very familiar in Congress, would you agree?

My golly, it gives me beehives. It gets me queasy. Again, we had all better know our limits.

I love the guy for the hero that he was, he is, and he ought to be. Just get out of cunning maneuvers, duplicity, and just be Manny.

Remember, he had the world in his palm, when he was simply Manny.

Even when buffer twists his tongue to say “peykyeow!”

We are happy that he is safe, now he ought to come down a little. Touch base with his faith and real values. Not the values he admired for others and so he also wants for himself.

People know the score: He sees his life as a fairy tale; rags to riches. He wants to continue to leave us in awe by proving he could do and be more; congressman…. President…

Manny, you don’t have to. You already have us in permanent awe. To do more, much more, as you’ve been seen or perceived doing for a time now, is to DISILLUSION the fan in many of your compatriots and friends around the world.

 

Mr. President Make Me a Proud Taxpayer

In the world of the employed, meaning withholding tax taxpayers, payday is both a day of thanksgiving and a day of curse. Thank God the worry of whether there will be food on the table the next meal time will vanish in the meantime (short meantime, that is). Curse hell and all when you see that up to over-a- third of what you sweat and literally give up sleep for is lopped off your pay purse without the courtesy of asking.

A worker is forced to give up as much as 32% of hard-earned pay for the so-called civilized society. I would have been a happy taxpayer if I got my money’s worth. But it’s no civilized when your own home gets burglarized, when you get attempted for robbery or robbed, when people lose lives and limbs simply because they attempt to protect what is rightfully theirs. We have to understand that attempts for and robberies or burglaries are always a circumstance away from homicide.

Our laws are just as good as their enforcement.

Our Congress is just as good as the congressmen comprising it.

Let me break it down, we have in congress… Manny Pacqiao, Tito Sottto, Ramon Revilla… Now you know what kind of laws will come out of it. Think RA9344, the law that pampers cold-blooded fifteen-year-old criminals with complete irresponsibility, meaning they cannot be imprisoned even if they kill you.

And a general’s son is attempted for extortion by police officers themselves… It could not have hit him closer than home. Now he’s told “in your face” what he has long already known: The police is riddled with misfits it’s tempting to think it’s more accurate to generalize than make exceptions. That’s the kind of enforcement we’re treated to.

I am talking about personal experience when I talk about the house being broken into, and being attempted for robbery. These are hardly any justification for giving up so much in taxes. I feel like being robbed twice every time; every payday.

 

Justices Boycott CJ Sereno’s First En Banc Session as SC’s Presiding Officer: Big Boys Behaving Like the Court is their Playground.

Justices Boycott CJ Sereno’s First En Banc as SC’s Presiding Officer: Big Boys Behaving Like the Court is their Playground.

CJ Sereno is not my personal choice for CJ, not because I discount her capability, but because the appointment had never ventured into this kind of excursion before: we have always predicted the most senior nominated associate justice to get appointed. That Pnoy’s appointment of her went against the long-running tradition should not be seen as politicking.

The constitution reserves to the president the power to appoint, from the shortlist of at least three nominees dutifully vetted by the multi-sectoral Judicial & Bar Council, who will lead the 15-man Supreme Court; the president did just that.

There should be no occasion to cry foul over the appointment, regardless of her (Sereno’s) record of voting on any case.

That the senior justices themselves had absented from Sereno’s maiden session as CJ portends of an ever factious Supreme Court. I can bet that people picture a grumbling bunch of justices protesting Sereno’s appointment like kids snatched of candies in their hands. The whole thing reeks of immaturity on the one hand, and belligerence against the appointing president, on the other.

Sadly, neither way augurs well for the Court that needs to restore its credibility, coming off a beating from the impeachment and eventual ouster of erstwhile CJ Renato Corona.

If the justices would be true to their professed allegiance to constitutional supremacy, they have to learn to respect the mechanism (president’s power to appoint) laid down therein regardless of their personal preferences.

 

Floods And The Bucks That Wash With It

Guess who makes big bucks off flooding...

The media (incidentally) in the guise of public service. Tragedy and catastrophe inherently mean viewership. And a lame government obliges in cunningly specious gratitude.

Susmariosep! It takes two to tango? Tangoed, done, kaput!

Ever wonder why each media outfit has its own “foundation”company? That’s where the bucks fall, say funneled. Reminds me of that brave& proud one-liner… “The Buck Stops Here!” Yikes!

Is there ever a truly independent audit to see where the big bucks go? Doubt it!

Should there be one? YES! But the government may not be the best party to do that. An NGO would better fit the task.

Now, do you still wonder why we can’t really plug the “loophole?”Did you say “It is by design?”

Project NOAH, relief goods, and flood mapping and monitoring are NOT “drilling down to the heart and bottom of the problem.” It’s a superficial, quick fix, and band-aid approach that has taken us to where we are right now.

We have to be outraged! How much of what we sweat for do we helplessly give up to taxes? I can hear groan, grouch, and whine! Yes, outrageously MUCH! We should make the government account for every peso of it.

How about addressing deforestation? Trees are being mowed down by the hundreds of hectares each year.

How about dealing with the dilapidated, antediluvian drainage system which has clearly seen its days? While house-size drainage tunnels have become an international standard, we’re downsizing the definition of “house” to fit the standard.

How about dealing with the perennial and nagging problem of trash and its proper disposal? What makes the last one difficult is there’s always political consequence to it. Whatever you do with it, somehow the squatting problem always gets in the picture, and politicians never had the will to dare antagonize "their" votes, thus, the IMPASSE.

Until we see resolute moves in the foregoing, media will continue to be flood’s incidental beneficiary, and the public, a character to this “reality” blockbuster agony.

 

It's Our Own Trash, Stupid!

 We never learn!

Time and again we've been confronted, and we've understood.

It's always our own trash rushing its way back to us!
But as always, we talk BIG like it (THE PROBLEM) has finally seen its end, then we retreat and leave things the same way they were.

Then again, we even have the gall and temerity to act surprised!

As our own place teeters in ominous floods of terrifying magnitude, I can guess out the next events of BIG TALK, LAY LOW, and SAME O SAME O, with better-than PAGASA forecast precision.

Hell, we had better learne to fend for ourselves.

I started seeing fashion in paper bags taking the place of plastics. It's no rocket science; paper dissolves and bio-degrades, plastic brings half the trouble we face today.

 

Happy Father's Day....

Fathers love their children the way the kids will forever never understand, never match, but feel and feed on. Happy are the fathers in most parts of the world who have the peace and grace to hug, kiss, and share moments of love with, their children.

In places of conflict like Syria where children are used as shield against attacks, may God send down His angels to pull them out of this grisly mess. May God restore humanity on both sides of conflict to spare and respect the innocent.

May God comfort the fathers who've irreparably lost their sense of being when they've powerlessly lost their children to the barbarity of human frailty.

For the lucky fathers in places of peace that we are, let us offer them our fervent prayers that they too, in time, may find a reason to celebrate this day.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.

Happy Independence Day! Let's Work!

METRO MANILA, METRO CEBU, ARE NOT THE PHILIPPINES

 

Two years ago, I thought it was timely to post on the the subject. Now, I have yet to feel any difference, so I am reissuing the same post with sigh, fatigue, and hope as well.

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Four months into the Pnoy presidency, it’s not surprising that Pulse Asia’s poll on trust rating for the president yielded a high 80%. That, despite the controversies that hounded the fledgling administration. No doubt the president enjoys the trust of the people. In fact, it is that trust argument that catapulted him to the presidency.

The president, on several occasions, has been trumpeting the inroads and headways on reforms that his administration has made. That’s welcome news, but I’m afraid that’s only true in Metro Manila, and so in behalf of the people in the provinces, I would like to remind the president that Metro Manila and Metro Cebu are not all of the Philippines. Whatever reforms his administration intends to implement must be implemented, save for any legal or other reasonable limitations, across the entire Philippine archipelago.

Take for instance his Daan na Matuwid, Pag Walang Kurap, Walang Mahirap challenge. That does not even reverberate in the provinces. The provinces are completely out the national government’s radar, I’d suspect and like to believe, judging by how “business as usual” it is out there.

Pnoy’s administration must implement a sweeping investigation on all aspects of local government in the provinces: branches and agencies of government, particularly agencies that rank high in the corruption scale, including Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs). Start with lifestyle checks, and proceed with thorough investigation: assets vis-à-vis capacity to acquire.

The agencies tasked to watch and check for, or prosecute public officers for offenses and abuses, are mum for reasons known only to them. They, too, must be checked on and prosecuted for conspiracy, complicity, nonfeasance, malfeasance, misfeasance or whatever legal justification the administration's legal bright boys and girls can find to make sure that their acts or omissions do not go unpunished. If a true prosecutorial investigation is conducted by operatives that have the required integrity and grit, they’ll find that laws have different standard of enforcement in the provinces.

People in the provinces are sick and tired of being excluded in the government’s real reform agenda. Before they become completely dismissive of the administration's so-called programs for reform, the president had better include them in his Philippines. It’s not enough to say that he does, it is more important he get people on the ground that will make his reforms felt.