Go back to the community

The current economic situation demands more than macromanagement. We all have a responsibility, and in this context, we all ought to pay attention on how we micromanage our resources: from the water we consume, the carbon footprint we make, the waste we produce.

Paeng has succinctly pointed out that this crisis was born of consumerism: of that oh such a lovely feeling of having new things to play with every three months or less.

Technology has indeed made our lives faster, and in more ways that we can appreciate, has also made our lives efficient. The Information Age has revolutionized sharing (like what wifey says in this post). We should share more than culture (the songs, the stories); we should also share among our societies technologies that lead the way to sustainable development.

Community-based management programs seem to be effective in sustaining development and at the same time, stewarding efficient management of resources. We can view Wikipedia as a community-based project; community-based companies such as Canonical (for Ubuntu) and Mozilla Foundation (for Firefox and Thunderbird) are proving to be competitive against profit-driven companies such as Microsoft and Apple.

This crisis is clearly a result of global greed. Our lives right now prove that the world is a small, global village: we are all interconnected, more than we can ever know. Share more, then you live more, then you earn more... more than monetary rewards.

A conspiracy among Kapampangans

Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio is having a severe headache right now. Make that severe headaches.

Compared to Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, Governor Panlilio seems to be facing a wall of guns, goons, and gold -- all coming from gambling.

You see, Governors Panlilio and Padaca have similar histories. They were elected on a wave of change, of hope, just like the path US President-elect Barack Obama took to Washington DC.

photo grabbed from pcij.org

Currently, Governor Panlilio faces a stubborn group of truckers. Just yesterday, they backed out of talks with the governor on resolving issues about an anti-overloading ordinance.

I'm not really in a position to explain what that ordinance means, but if it's an anti-overloading ordinance, then it's about preventing overloading, right?

However, these truckers, who previously had stormed the Pampanga governor's office (as provincial policemen huddled in their desks), do not like the idea that they cannot bring as much sand and gravel out of the province's quarries.

Talk about leveling mountains, literally.

photo by dan zen

Perhaps it's a conspiracy. One can never know how fast money can change men's souls. Remember who Among Ed came up against during the elections? The gambling kingpins, the damned idiots, and their patron, the thief-liars. Perhaps these three families have gotten their act together to pull down the second priest to be elected as a public official.

Good thing Governor Padaca has only one family to beat in Isabela. But Among Ed? He faces three families of despots.

How about lower fares?

And so, tonight, oil prices will again be reduced, and according to reports of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, oil prices have been slashed by as much as PhP 8.50 for gasoline and PhP 6.50 for diesel and kerosene.

Still, fares stand at a minimum of PhP 8.50 -- a very unfair fare considering the lowered oil prices. Added to the commuter's burden is the delay in the Implementing Rules and Regulation of the amended Income Tax Law, which is supposed to "relieve" the common taxpayer.

We have mechanisms for increasing fares... do we have mechanisms, though, for lowering fares?

It is but high time that we be relieved of this tremendous pressure to work more for less income. We are not slaves, we are not carabaos.

I am just dumbfounded by how much b*llshit we can take from this illegal regime. I am really dumbfounded, discombobulated, knowing that the Court of Appeals can be bought, that a government official can easily escape to the United States with millions of pesos tucked away somewhere, knowing that we have a liar as a leader.

How much sh*t are we really willing to take as a people?

The poor die poor.

Mang Pandoy is now dead.

The foremost symbol of poverty remained a symbol of poverty to the very end. He is so poor his family cannot even have him buried.

All those unkept promises. All those short-term support. All those tokens. All for naught.

He had started poor, and he had died poor. Was it his choice -- to die of tuberculosis, to have an indefinite interment?

This is how the government (and in extension, our politicians) treat our poor -- as pawns in their indefinite struggle to be at the top of the heap.

How magnanimous.

Inhumane

Our government's failure to integrate our unique Pinoy psyche in development programs is one reason why our country's progress remains, as a whole, stunted. Trapped in a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society, coupled with a very pervasive system of client-patron relationships, our country will never be an industrialized country.

Just consider our society's food security. We rely on our neighboring countries to supply us with our basic staple, rice. Consider, too, how our government treats sidewalk vendors, jeepney and bus drivers, and the lowly commuters.

I find it inhumane for a government to have its citizens walk almost a kilometer to get a bus ride along Edsa, what with all the pollution, and the weather we're exposed to (the heat of day during summer, or the blazing rains during the monsoons).

This government must adapt its traffic management policies to the Filipino psyche, instead of the doing the other way around. For as long as I can remember, this government has relied on Western methods to educate its citizens, enforce economic policies, and plot development goals.

The only thing that remains Asiatic in our society are the political structures we derived from the archaic and clannish datu system, which exists to this day in Mindanao, and in its highly evolved form, in Congress.

This government has forgotten obviously forgotten for whom it works for.

Inutile.

This inutile regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have cut off themselves from reality. They have effectively numbed themselves from the real situation happening in the kitchen, in the living rooms, in the bedrooms of all Filipinos.

And now, this regime is offering loans to poor families, the loans coming from the VAT that has been mining billions of pesos from our shallow pockets.

And even then, loans are STILL loans -- they are meant to be paid, meant to be returned to the very regime that offered help.

And she even has the gall to say that these ready billions came from the well to do! Oh my, does she know that VAT covers almost everything? VAT covers a can of sardines. VAT covers a packet of instant noodles. VAT covers a small, plastic tube of cooking oil. VAT covers a teaspoon of salt. And who consumes a can of sardines, a packet of instant noodles, a small tube of cooking oil, a teaspoon of salt? The well to do? Ask any Elizalde, Ayala, Araneta, Tantoco, Prieto, or Arroyo if lately they have eaten a can of sardines.

I have this theory. This regime, elected out of sheer dishonesty, will cling to power just as they did in "endearing" themselves to the military.

Almost all Cabinet members are former members of either the armed forces or of the national police. Our true, bemedalled military officers are languishing in jails, imprisoned for speaking their minds out.

This regime has also "endeared" themselves to local chieftains, err, local government officials by doling out millions of pesos in paper bags and IRA funds.

And now, this regime is taking the opportunity, taking this very golden opportunity, of "endearing" themselves to the "poorest of the poor" by doling out cash, doling out loans, doling out gifts in the midst of a world financial crisis.

Who stands to lose if we were to scrap the VAT on oil and basic goods?

Who else?

Are we really too tired to wage a revolution against these nincompoops calling themselves "our" leaders?

Have we succumbed to apathy, to turn a blind eye to this scandal-wracked government?

Questions and more questions. It is up to us as a nation to answer these questions.

The Electric Bill Paradox

This e-mail came in forwarded through my inbox. This should circulate not only among email addresses, but among Web addresses. The scandal over Juday's endorsement of the ludicrous Meralco bill is just the tip of the iceberg. Please read on to know more. I didn't trace from whom this email came from, but the reasons it gave convinced me to make this a blog entry.

----------------------------

Pakibasa po ng malaman nyo gaano ka-corrupt ang govt. natin sa electric bill natin!

Bilib ako sa commercial ni Juday, biro mo naipaliwanag niya in 30. sec ang masalimuot na system loss na yan..:)

Tama si Juday sa kanyang paliwanag ng system loss, pero kung tayo ang bibili ng yelo at ayaw talaga nating mabawasan ang yelong binili, siempre magdadala tayo ng styrofoam ice box o Coleman..

Ang tawag diyan ay increase the efficiency. Kung baga sa mga distribution utilities ayusin nila nang husto ang electrical network, pati na ang mga substation and step-down transformers para nagooperate sila sa maximum efficiencies. Kung lumang-luma na, palitan o di kaya imaintenance. Tapos, ireduce, at kung maaari ay alisin, ang mga administrative inefficiencies, tulad ng wrong meter readings, pilferage ! at kung ano ano pa...

At alam ba ninyo na hindi lang meralco ang nagpapasa ng system loss? Pati ang TRANSCO na government owned at siyang nag me maintain ng power grid. Balak ipasa or naipasa na ng TRANSCO ang 2.98% ng system loss nya sa meralco.. at shempre kanino pa ba naman iyan sisingilin ng meralco..

Ngayon alam na natin kung bakit natunaw ang yelong binili ni Juday... pero part pa lamang yan ng equation kung bakit mataas ang singil ng ating koryente, kunin ang electric bill.. at heto ang component ng ating electric bill...

Generation charge
Tax on Generation charge
Transmission charge
Tax on Transmission charge
System loss
Tax on System Loss
Distribution, Metering and Supply charges
Lifeline rate subsidies
Tax on distribution, metering and supply charges and lifeline rate subsidies
Local franchise tax
Universal charges

I-add mo lahat yan at yan ang total electric bill mo... pero napansin nyo ba sa isang electric bill 5 tax ang babayaran natin?

Para lalo nating mapansin, ganito ang flow ng kuryente bago dumating sa bahay naten... Ang napocor or IPP ang mag po produce ng koryente...bago pa makaalis ng planta ang koryente, magabayad na tayo ng tax na 51 cents /kwh.

Ang koryenteng iyan ay padadaanin ngayon sa TRANSCO, papunta sa distribution utility natin gaya ng meralco.. Muli tayong bubuwisan ng gobyerno, this time 11 cents/kwh

Pag nakarating sa meralco ang kuryente, muli sisingilin tayo ng buwis ng gobyerno, ng distribution tax at franchise tax...

At dahil magbabayad tayo ng system loss muli na naman tayong bubuwisan ng gobyerno... ng system loss tax..

A eto pa ang kwela sa lahat, after i total ang iyong electric charges.. papatawan kang muli ng tax.. t! his time yung 12% e-vat. Imagine 5 Tax na binayaran mo, yung tax na yun eh bubuwisan pang muli ng isa pang tax...

Ang alam ko po sa batas bawal ang double taxation... pero sa ginagawang ito ng gobyerno.. cguro naaayon na sa batas kase lampas na sa double eh (sarcastic lang po).

At upang madagdagan pa ang sama ng loob nating mga filipino... Ang napocor, ayon sa batas ay kinakailangan mag imbak ng supply ng coal na tatagal ng 5 taon.. pero ano ginagawa ng napocor... sasairin nila yung supply nila ng coal upang tumagal lamang ng isang taon, at dahil paubos na, mapipilitan silang mag conduct ng emergency purchase na di na dadaan sa bidding.. or kung dumaan man, dahil sa ikli ng time table, walang makakapag bid.

SO si napocor bibili ng coal, hindi sa lowest bidder, kundi sa kanilang preferred suplier.. ang masaya pa neto, anlaki na ng patong... higit pa sa doble ng actual price ng coal sa market... idagdag pa jan ang arkila ng mga barko na gagamitin sa pag ta-transport ng coal... na shempre muling pagkakakitaan ng mga napocor executives...

Sobra na nga pinapataw na tax sa atin ninanakawan pa tayo ng gobyerno natin..:( ansaya ng buhay sa pilipinas no?

Kaya bago natin husgahan si Juday, sa kanyang paliwanag ng system loss, at bago natin awayin ang meralco sa taas ng singil ng kuryente.. tignan muna natin ang pinag uugatan ng mahal na singil... si meralco lamang ba ang salarin? or ginagamit rin lang sila ng corrupt na gobyerno para lalo tayong pahirapan?

Kabayan, please dont keep this message!

Pakipasa sa iba...

Ain't Creative

Featured in tonight's TV Patrol (ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network's flagship news program) is Rogue Magazine's latest issue, featuring on its cover model Joey Mead in her birthday suit, albeit painted on with the Philippine flag.

Oh, this is indeed a rant against the magazine's cover. Not only against Joey Mead's beauty itself (and I find her rather fugly, given her insane past), but also for the magazine's defense of what they find creative.

Lemme give you an idea where I come from. I now find myself working for a company that outsources graphic design services to overseas clients. Every day, every night, we're called upon to be creative. Immersed in such an environment, I am confident about what creative means.

I digress. Let us go back to what I'm trying to point out.

Rogue Magazine's cover featuring an old naked model with the Philippine tricolor painted on her is simply fugly. I find their Cherie Gil cover better, placing the audience in the shoes of the soon-to-be-wet Sharon Cuneta.

The cover is not creative. It is not creative at all. Pandering, that's what it is. They just sought to pander to the erotic interest of the male audience. Honestly, when I found their latest issue on the magazine racks at MegaMall, I was surprised to find Joey Mead still at it. Or maybe the editors had "something" to do with ancient Ms. Mead.

And according to the TV news report (so forgive me for basing my logic on the faulty boob tube), the pictorial was part of Lawyer Argee Guevara's take on the mire our society is finding itself boiling in.

Whatever political point the article was trying to say, it had drowned in the depiction of a naked ancient model with the Philippine flag painted on her. How tasteless.

The last thing on anyone's mind who is interested enough to find this society educated and enlightened is the image of a naked woman, the painting only serving as a loophole to label it creative. Oh, let me clarify that last statement: they wanted it labeled "creative." It ain't creative.

At least with the reaction they're getting about their latest cover, they got to live up to their magazine title. Maybe even a boost to their circulation.

Critical times

So many scandals have racked this once proud country, so much corruption has maligned even the lowliest of public servants. The cancer is ever-growing, never stopping, as if Jose Rizal the national hero had not written his novels describing the prevailing social malaise.

A decade ago, when I was wailing my head off writing for college papers, I was already writing against the apathy that was engulfing my generation, and the generations after me. It was like finding a needle in a haystack if ever I knew someone who was thinking of the same problems I was thinking, and who shared the same views I held.

Nevertheless, I am not losing hope that we'll get out of this mire alive. It has always been that way. I do believe, though, that as a people, and as a forgetful civilization basking in the tropics, we will never walk outside the shadow of a colonizer, be it the United States of America or the People's Republic of China.

Step Down, GMA.

Reclaim EDSA

February 25, 1986 is no special day. February 25, 1986 is an historical day. I shall never forget a day when hundreds of thousands of my countrymen converged along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (or Highway 54 to the ancient ones) in a rare display of nationalism -- a virtue I have always viewed as lacking in us.

At that historical intersection of EDSA and Ortigas Avenue now stands a figure of religion. And under its wings a platoon of battle-ready soldiers always stands guard. An obvious desecration of hallowed ground, where prayers, tears, and sweat mixed with the heady air of nationalism.

We, as a people, have allowed bastards to step on our hallowed grounds, on the very spot where our race as one country found expression.

We are a masochistic race. We revel on our despair, on our woes. We want progress, but we are cowards, afraid of sacrifice for our own kin, afraid of confronting the bastards who corrupt our society.

What else can be said about a people who allow themselves to be trampled upon, to be spit upon, to be treated like animals?

We pay for the salaries of policemen who regularly violate our rights for peaceful assembly and free speech. We pay for the very bullets of soldier-assassins that maim and kill activists, priests, and journalists. We pay for the the special no. 8 license plates of our so-called honorable representatives, for their bullet-proof cars, for their arrogant security detail and for the luxuries of their wives, mistresses, and spoiled kids.

And of course, the very cash that flows from the bloodied hands of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to her minions comes from our pockets lined with fear and abuse.

All of these, we fight with prayers, we fight with protest rallies, we fight with text brigades.

Let us heed Engr. Jun Lozada's call for truth to overpower all the profanities of the present regime. Truth shall set us free, truth shall power us to resolve this maddening crisis.

GLORIA RESIGN!

Hard fall for JDV

We should not blame Representative Joe de Venecia for spilling the beans at the very last moment. The former Speaker is not known for his vindictiveness, and certainly, the only time I remember him shouting in the chambers of Congress was last night, as I sat there seeing someone facing the gallows.

By his own reckoning, by his own interpretation, by his own acts anyway, we can define that JDV is a classic politician -- an intelligent man who manipulated and used power to make everybody happy and ingratiate himself to his audience, but in the end, it was still the happiness, the satisfaction of the majority that mattered (of course, including the politician's own happiness).

Many are asking, "Why only now, JDV?"

JDV is, I say again, a politician of the classic mold, of the Political Science 101 sort. He naively believed that GMA could right the wrongs she and her allies were making. He naively believed that his colleagues would see the light someday, would steer Congress to the right path, and he, as Speaker of the House, would lead them, not as dictator, but one among peers -- primus inter pares.

We have seen dictators in other Southeast Asian countries make tiger economies of their dictatorships, but the Philippines have always suffered from greedy intellectuals like Ferdinand Marcos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We can surely blame JDV for naively hoping that Macapagal-Arroyo will take care of him out of gratitude; however, as her regime clearly manifests, Macapagal-Arroyo is no politician who uses power to make everybody happy.

She is the great dragon lady, the firestarter, the mother of all cowards -- just look at what she did when she married a scion of one of the country's oldest, richest, and nastiest landlords; just look at her alter egos as Cabinet secretaries, most of whom are former generals (makes me wonder whether GMA had harbored wishes to enter the Philippine Military Academy as a cadet... she wouldn't make it, anyway, considering her height); just look at her having three close relatives in Congress, two of them her own sons; just look at her lying straight-faced, saying "I'll never run for President," and "I'm sorry."

If there's any consolation to JDV's wails last night as he was being stabbed by his honorable "friends" by the ides of February, it is his grand act of standing by his son. In the first place, he could have told his son long ago to shut up, to go to Europe and keep a low-profile as ZTE constructed the NBN and Abalos enjoyed his millions.

There is so much to do for this country, JDV, aside from making circuitous routes to avoid assassins. Finish what you had begun, this battle of yours and of the people.

Lost in time

Veritably, our government is lost in time. Either the military has resorted to its primitive roots, or Raul Gonzales has really lost his head (which is, in reality, far from impossible). To say that communists are behind attempts to topple the government is to ask innocently that oh my golly, Rizal is dead?

In the first place, why are there peace talks behind the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)? Why are our troops commissioned to do patrols in our sparsely populated countryside? Isn't it because of the decades-old communist insurgency, which has always threatened to encircle the capital region and topple the regime in Manila?

To issue press releases like this is to pre-emptively suppress the constitutional right of citizens to free assembly and freedom of expression. And I thought the military vowed to protect the constitution, as declared in their humongous billboards along the white walls of Camp Aguinaldo along EDSA?

How silly of me to believe anything the military says.

On January 22, farmers will be commemorating the massacre of their kin on Chino Roces Bridge on Mendiola. Our honorable secretary found it convenient to declare that this memorial, this remembering of kin senselessly murdered for crying out loud, is an event that destabilizers will take advantage of.

Of course, mister honorable secretary. I'm no lawyer but I'm no fool. The farmers will be out there, protesting on the streets, risking their lives, their farms and their families, to hurl invectives at the government for always reneging on its promises to improve the agricultural sector.

And the people you call destabilizers, mister honorable secretary, are people who keep on helping and protecting the people you have forgotten -- the farmers, the fisherfolk, the urban poor, the out-of-school youth, the displaced, the women and the children -- compared to your government's mercenary armed forces who pillage the countryside and maul the urban landscape in the guise of protecting the Constitution.

Monday take on the Thursday stand-off

Several days have passed now since that fateful Thursday stand-off at the Manila Peninsula. That very day, as I monitored newsfeeds from the boobtube, the radio, and the Web, I also looked around Technorati to see what bloggers were saying about the mutiny.

Many were still holding their voices on what was happening, but I was already seeing various vicious comments about Philippine Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier General Danilo Lim, former commander of the country's elite First Scout Ranger Regiment.

This is saddening to note, that these commenters have access and all to the web but can't seem to see the bigger picture into which the puzzle of the failed mutiny of Trillanes et al. fits in.

Let me share anyway what my fellow blogger Paeng had also shared -- a much better explanation of what had transpired, courtesy of the much-admired sociologist, Professor Randy David. Don't forget to visit, too, the renegade soldiers' instant website.

Defacing The Truth

Although I really do believe that the National Press Club (NPC) is one historical institution, it is with difficulty to say that they can have an ounce of my respect.

The recent hullabaloo with the mural they had commissioned is only symptomatic of what the NPC really is, or what composes the NPC today.

And to call lowly artists as "ingrates," as described in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, reeks of arrogance.

What else can be said about what they did, defacing a work of art? Collectors of paintings pay millions of dollars for an artwork, but for the love of art, never did any of them (as much as I know of) vandalized the artwork they bought. Have you seen a Van Gogh painting with the name of its owner written on it?

Only one thing is clear, outrageously clear, disgustingly clear, frustratingly clear -- they were trying to please the heck of a human who had unveiled that monster of a censored mural.

Lest we forget

The Palace spin doctors are working overtime. We have seen information overload, and even a humongous fart that had claimed precious lives.

However, in the midst of all these issues, we should never forget that Malacañang tried to bribe our local officials. We should never forget that Malacañang tried to ram down our throats as taxpayers a very costly (ahhh... it is still an understatement) project that our telcos can do for us at lower prices. We should never forget that Malacañang, through the AFP, murdered journalists, priests, and activists in their pursuit of dictatorship, deftly disguised as the "strong republic."

The damned must be damned.

We should never forget. We must not forget.

the road towards entrepreneurship

Among our plans on our return to Manila is to pursue commercial endeavors. Just last night, I was talking to two very good friends about establishing a company that will sell exclusively-designed shirts.

Countless hours will surely be devoted in designing sample shirts, and of course the requisite permits and licenses must be applied with the corresponding government agencies.

How I wish establishing a business is just as easy as buying a prepaid SIM card. Yep, I know, there are reasons behind the difficult path towards entrepreneurship, but I don't think the government, with its penchant for exporting Filipino workers (and an irrepressible urge to kill those left behind), appreciates a darn thing about Filipino entrepreneurs.

We shall count blue cars

Tell me all your thoughts on God... 'cause I'm on my way to see Him

Counting Blue Cars, Dishwalla

The twenty-four hour window has passed, still, we (the authorities and us all) are clueless as to who was responsible for the Glorietta blast that has claimed ten precious and irreplaceable lives.

I can only weep for the families that lost those ten precious and irreplaceable lives -- weep for the vacuum created by Death, weep for the insensible end that those ten precious and irreplaceable lives were made to meet.

And if those ten precious and irreplaceable lives only knew that they would be on their way to meet God, surely they would have done more than ask our thoughts on God.

This is our undoing as a people, as a civilization -- the Philippines beset with an arrogant society, who bespeak of glory and honor, only to be bound by hands and feet to humongous rocks of corruption and greed. How else can we describe ourselves?

We shall count blue cars on the very rocky path towards true democracy, towards a mature (inexplicably, the government confuses maturity with the word "strong") republic. And as we count, we shall allow ourselves bedeviled by a government that kills its own citizens for its own ends.

Unfunny

We can’t seem to find a way to fight off this menace that imposes its unfounded authority on us.

Why is it? To what unseen, unexplained, unbelievable sickness have we succumbed?

The violence this election season is so mind-boggling. The COMELEC, the armed forces and the police seems to have no power whatsoever to stop those unseen, trigger-happy hands. God help us in condemning those fools (the powers-that-be, and their gun-wielding idiots) to the abysmal depths of Hell.

This country is definitely, and unbelievably, sickening. For what can we be proud of as a people? People Power? That was ages ago. Manny Pacquiao? Yeah, as if boxing with lotsa advertisements weren’t enough for him.

We as a people should be proud if we have our pride in the first place. However, we have no pride as I speak, considering the unfaltering count of killings that take place around the country, from the rural streets to the urban jungles. We have an unelected president who has surrounded herself with retired generals posing as civilian Cabinet secretaries. We have honorable, bemedalled soldiers languishing behind bars. We have dishonorable former government officials running for elective posts. We have a former president, morally ascendant over all her predecessors, being wiretapped for unknown reasons.

This country is no longer funny. We have all these paradoxes, and they are not at all funny.