There’s outrage over the result of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight. Experts have said that the fight was rigged against Pacquiao, it was lopsided against him. Inquirer columnist Conrad de Quiros said that it was cheating, plain and simple – Pacquiao wasn’t just fighting Bradley, he was fighting against organized crime.
I wish Manny justice, and may he get the victory that he deserves. People assume that as a bakla, I must have wished him ill or defeat. I said on Twitter that I can’t find the desire to give him moral support, but that’s different. It is not for the lack of national pride on my part (mine is not anchored on our celebrity boxers or singers, although that’s not the point), but I can’t, for the life of me, cheer for someone who can’t do the same in my daily struggles.
I did not wish him defeat in this fight, or in any other fight, but I wish that he acquires the capacity to feel for others, that he realizes that there’s a lesson bigger than the WBO welter weight championship that could be won from this game: that for any decent person, for any hardworking Filipino, all that matters is basic fairness and a level playing field. Continue reading A lesson for Manny
“Strike because they are trying to squeeze the life out of you.” (Harvard Strike Poster, 1969)
We are a nation in need of more revolutions. The first was not enough, the second didn’t even get us there. I am not saying that we were wrong, but I think that we folded our banners too soon.
We need more revolutions. The lady known for her shoes, the wife of the tyrant, found her way back to the halls of power. Look up to the heaven, you’d find the answer there, she once said in a congressional hearing. In Batasan she heads a committee that aims to improve the lives of the people. She is part of the majority that supports the administration of her nemesis’ son. Meanwhile, her own son, who thinks that the revolution changed nothing, dreams of living again in Malacanang.
Yes, if you ask me, the banners were folded too soon.
A revolution followed another revolution, and another President was deposed and convicted for corruption and abuse of authority. In the spirit of national unity, he was pardoned by his successor, a little lady who is now detained – for now – because of charges of corruption and other abuses. A revolution is reversed when banners are folded too soon.
Two bloodless upheavals, the toppled finding their way back to the top of the political food chain. No, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we made a mistake. But we need more revolutions – another EDSA to topple the oppressors and the thieves, the false prophets and their false queens, and ten more to bring down the tyranny of forgetting.
We have free elections after EDSA. One type happens every three years, and another happens everyday. For the former all you’re told to do is to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. To qualify for the latter, you have to study nursing, medicine, caregiving or engineering. You need a passport to register. For both types of elections, it’s easy to know who gets to sit, but once the votes come in, can you tell me who exactly wins?
Every three years we need a revolution in our ballots, and everyday, a revolution to stop voting with our feet.
Don’t use EDSA for your personal interests, a good Bishop warned. Like the others, he’d like to believe that it was the Church that brought down the tyrant. With all due respect, I’d like to object. I was too young then and I wasn’t there, but I’d like to think that the day we can no longer distinguish the prayer from the faith is the day we begin another EDSA, one that would not pit the rosaries against the roses. A revolution that would scream in all personal colors: in yellow and red, in purple and pink.
We need a revolution that would help us, to borrow the words of an esteemed writer, to betray our own class, an upheaval that would give power to the alienated and make the wealthy share their wealth. We need an EDSA that would make us betray our own gender, an EDSA to liberate the vagina and keep politicians out of our ass. We need an upheaval that would keep the preacher in the pulpit, one that would kill the poverty in our soul.
Don’t fold your banners yet, I say two is not enough, we need more.
This June, UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon will announce that HIV is on the average stabilizing or declining all over the world. That is, except in seven countries – including the Philippines.
Being part of this ‘Horror Roll’ would lead many Filipinos to ask why this is happening. We actually know the explanation. Right now, the right question to ask is this: Mister Health Secretary, where is the money?
In the same UN General Assembly this June, the Philippines will give an update on its commitments to combat HIV and AIDS. The initial commitment was done in 2001, with targets that were set for 2003, 2005, and 2010. While the epidemic was raging in many countries, the Philippines had been considered to belong to the ‘low and slow’ category. Continue reading Dear Secretary Ona: where is the money?
Last Monday, Rep. Walden Bello of Akbayan Party delivered a scathing speech condemning former President GMA for high corruption. He said that corruption was the signature of the Arroyo government. He condemned the allies and cohorts of the previous government, whose acts he called porcine. He said that GMA should be brought to the National Penitentiary, and that she doesn’t deserve to be in Congress. (Download the speech here)
The speech was delivered shortly after former President GMA had her oath-taking before the members of Congress as the representative of the 4th district of Pampanga.
In the House of Gloria, what Walden did cannot be tolerated. Walden was interrupted several times during his speech, with one veteran representative saying that it was taking too long. Another representative – remember him, his name is Rep. Marcoleta of Alagad – complained that Walden, a professor and a public intellectual, was tackling too many issues, and it was too much for his brain to handle. Continue reading The House of Gloria
Rep. Abante during the Anti-Discrimination Bill hearing
Here’s some good news: three candidates from the conservative bloc lost in the senatorial and congressional elections. Bienvenido Abante, an incumbent representative in District 6, Manila City, lost to his rival Sandy Ocampo, a former congresswoman and currently Manila’s deputy mayor. Atty. Jo Imbong, legal counsel of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, ran for senator under the Catholic church-backed Ang Kapatiran Party, is among the bottom-dwellers in the senatorial race. Another pro-life bet, ex-senator Kit Tatad, has been unable to surpass the Top 20 benchmark.
He also opposed the enactment of the RH Bill, a controversial measure that provides access to reproductive health information and contraceptives.
Atty. Imbong, on the other hand, is the CBCP lobbyist that has rabidly campaigned against the RH Bill and Anti-Discrimination Bill in most congressional hearings. A “pro-life” advocate, Atty. Imbong has labeled the above bills as part of the Church-opposed DEATH bills, a cluster of measures promoting divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total reproductive health, and homosexuality (same-sex marriage). Continue reading The homophobes lost, but…
Elections is fiesta season in the Philippines. And if we truly are what we eat, then Filipino politicians are aptly symbolized by pork and grease.
The culinary theme is not green, yellow or orange, it’s cholesterol. Everything is deep-fried, served with fat and layered with oil. When politicians speak of the vote-rich L to L corridor, they actually mean liempo to lechon.
Grease is a main-stay in Philippine politics. Political affiliations shift – expect the entire Lakas machinery to go to Villar (ok, some are LP-bound) – but what isn’t going to change is grease. Once, in a sortie in Tarlac, the whole LP entourage went to the ancestral home of the Aquinos for lunch, which consisted of tocino, homemade corned beef swimming in oil, and fried hito. My face is the epicenter of oiliness, but these dishes make my face seem fresh and healthy.
If it isn’t homemade grease, it’s fastfood oil – with MSG. If the L sign means ‘Lechon’, then V is vetsin (or Vitter Villitants, but that’s another story). When meals are not hosted by local politicians, we get our regular dose of fat and MSG from Jollibee or McDonalds. Breakfast at McDonalds in SLEX, late-night post-sortie dinner in KFC NLEX. Gone were the days when you carry bags of local pasalubongs at the airport; I actually found myself carrying in Davao City’s airport McDo take-outs that we bought from a drive-thru in Gen San – and it didn’t feel absurd.
In a solo sortie in HK, what started as a silly wish – eating dimsum filled with broth – ended up becoming an obsession as the day began transforming into a classic monster. There was the usual high-energy activities, the small crises that required troubleshooting, coordinating with Manila for other events – everything was Multitasking 2.0. Eating dimsum became a rallying point, my own liberation day, and maybe a cry for help. But the chance to go to a dimsum house didn’t come. I remember having breakfast, lunch didn’t take place (there was some time for snacks, but that was it), and soon after, Risa and I were at the airport, tired, each nursing a cup of warm drink from Starbucks, sitting quietly while waiting for our flights. Dinner was out of the question, and dimsum was, well, a figment of my own chismis.
I was tired and hungry when I finally reached home a few hours later. But the moment I stepped inside my apartment, next day’s sortie was already there, waiting. I opened my laptop, googled McDonald’s, and, by opening a new document, started a new day.
(Epic fail for the that one-entry a day challenge. No excuses, but hey, it’s 15 days till election day. Next blog should be about preparing for debates. I’m blogging from Legaspi City, and we’re waiting for Ms. Kris for a sortie in Legaspi and Tabaco.)
So what does it mean to be Rep. Jules Ledesma of Negros Occidental?
As a member of the House of Representatives, he received P4.2 million a year for operational expenses, the so-called Representative’s Block Fund (RBF). Since they don’t have to report to Congress how the RBF was spent, you may actually say that it is their discretionary fund. That’s P12.6 million in one term, and that’s on top of his monthly P35,000 salary.
That’s nothing, of course, compared to unpopular pork barrel. Rep. Ledesma received at least P70 million a year for his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and his lump sum DPWH fund for hard or infra projects. I said at least because the pork barrel that you receive depends on your proximity to the powers that be, so if you are a member of the majority there’s a huge chance that you’d get more. You may also clinch more projects through congressional insertions, which means that while the annual General Appropriations Act (the national budget) is being crafted by the Executive, you insert certain items in the budget of government agencies. There is just an agreement between the line agency and the representative that the allocation would be released to the solon because it was included at his behest. Since it is hard to determine if Rep. Ledesma got additional porks from Madam President or if he was able to insert any items in the past three budget cycles, let us assume that he got at least P210 million for the entire term.
(Do the PDAF and the DPWH lump sum fund go directly to the solons? Not really. But they have a say on how it will be used. Corruption happens when, in the case of hard or infra projects, the solons intervene in the awarding of the project to contractors that they favor and get a kickback from the deal. Soft projects are easier to pocket, since they are usually given in cash to local government officials close the solon thru financial assistance, livelihood projects, etc. How much actually goes to corruption requires investigation, but Budget Sec. Rolando Andaya once said that as much as 40% of the pork barrel goes to the pockets of politicians. Coming from a cabinet secretary, we can say that 40% is an underestimation.)
Rep. Jules Ledesma got at least P222.6 million for this term.
If he was only present thrice for the session, then the presence of his highness in the august chamber of Congress cost taxpayers P74.2 million a day. He said that he was actually busy performing his duty in his district. FTW, mister. In the Rules of Congress, it is clear that his main duty is to legislate and attend plenary sessions.
Our hard-working solon filed three bills, all of which are local:
HB03057 – AN ACT RESERVING CERTAIN PORTION OF PUBLIC DOMAIN AND DECLARING THE SAME ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE FOR TOWNSITE USE OF THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF SALVADOR BENEDICTO, PROVINCE OF NEGROS OCCIDENTAL AND FOR OTHER PURPOSE
HB04150 – AN ACT DECLARING A PARCEL OF LAND OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AN AGRICULTURAL LAND FOR TOWN SITE PURPOSE OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF SALVADOR BENEDICTO, PROVINCE OF NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
HB06254 – AN ACT DECLARING THE 1ST OF JULY OF EVERY YEAR A SPECIAL NONWORKING HOLIDAY IN THE CITY OF SAN CARLOS, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL IN OBSERVANCE OF THE CITY’S CHARTER DAY
Taxpayers paid him P74.2 million per bill. Expensive bills. Grab a copy, they’re probably laced with unobtanium.
There you go, the perks of being Jules. Shocked? Don’t be. After all, Rep. Jules Ledesma is just one out of many.
Is it ok to include infant milk formula in your relief packs?
The issue sparked a debate in Twitterworld a few days ago after the Department of Health refused to accept infant formula donations from pharmaceutical companies. The law actually prohibits any government agency from promoting milk substitutes for infants, thus it cannot accept the donation.
In light of the Ondoy disaster, some relief aid groups feel that this is inappropriate. Even though that I see myself as a breastfeeding advocate (yeah, raise your eyebrows, but I am a breastfeeding advocate), I can understand where this frustration is coming from.
So what I did was ask for clarifications. Iona Jalijali, one of our legislative staffers and a breastfeeding supermom, explained that in disaster-stricken areas where clean water is inaccessible, infant formula increases the risk of exposure to diseases. Only when there are very young babies (6 months and less) and there are no sources of breastmilk or breastfeeding mothers should infant formula be used as the last resort PROVIDED that the distributed infant formula is accompanied by clean water and other supplies for safe preparation (clean bottles, etc.)
The ideal scenario is to make it easy for mothers in evacuation centers to breastfeed their children. A room may be designated for nursing mothers, and their own babies should be prioritized. If possible, after feeding their babies, they can wetnurse for other babies or express their breastmilk for other infants.
Infant formula is perhaps the most convenient way to feed infants in evacuation sites or disaster-stricken communities. But I agree with breastfeeding advocates: it is certainly not the safest.
(In this video: Proponents of the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Navarro-Gutierrez, among them AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros and Walden Bello, protest the railroading of the dismissal of the impeachment complaint)
While some were still drowning, while some families were still stuck on roofs, while those who were not badly hit were sacrificing their lives to save those who need rescuing and while others were volunteering their energy to provide relief to those who lost almost everything, some of our honorable congressmen and women were busy saving Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, protector of Big Boss Mike Arroyo.
Today, the impeachment complaint against the Ombudsman was dismissed by the House justice committee with a vote of ‘absolute majority’. It was a surreal hearing. After being delayed for several weeks because of lack of quorum, the House committee was suddenly able to force its members to attend the hearing, disaster and all.
They were there, the President’s allies. Mikey Arroyo was likewise there. When the roll call was made, the secretariat declared that 35 members of the committee were present.
When they railroaded the vote to junk the impeachment complaint, they counted 37 in favor of dismissal. Who cares about the discrepancy, they have the numbers after all. That’s their version of ‘absolute majority’: 35 in attendance, 37 voted in favor of junking, and those for impeachment were not counted. They even cheered after the vote.
They did not even bothered to count the votes of those who wish to impeach Merceditas Gutierrez, who needs to be held accountable for letting COMELEC officials involved in the Mega-Pacific deal go scot-free. She is St. Mercy after all, the patron saint of the Arroyo family.
Who cares about having a sound decision on the matter, who cares about an honest-to-goodness debate, one that sharpens the intellect, and one that sieves wisdom from insanity: they have the numbers, and the Chair alone could simply gag the opposition. Appeals and protests were ignored. There were calls to have the vote postponed for the meantime, so that the counter-arguments could be studied and so that all could focus on what is crucial: relief work.
But why worry, when the President’s son was there to cheer the vote and make sure that the stooges will do her bidding. And so the good Presidential son did what he was told to do – enforce the marching orders, and dismiss the complaint.
And like the rest of them, when the complaint was junked, he clapped and cheered, shamelessly overjoyed and gloating while you were drowning.
GMA’s surprise visit during AKBAYAN’s National Congress
So President GMA – Gloria Macapal Ayoko – paid AKBAYAN a suprise visit during the Opening Ceremonies of its 4th Regular National Congress and the launching of Risa Hontiveros’ senatorial bid. Below is the speech she delivered.
Senator Jovy Salonga; Senator Noynoy Aquino; Professor Randy David, my future opponent in the second district of Pampanga (sarcastic) good luck to you; members and officers of AKBAYAN na alam ko naman na ayaw nyo talaga sa akin; ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant (pause) hellooo.
For the longest time AKBAYAN especially your representatives in congress have been a pain the ass but I have found ways to get back at you guys. But past is past. Natutuwa ako dahil sa wakas ay natanggap na ng AKBAYAN that I am, after all, a great president. This opportunity to speak to you today is a concrete step towards national unity, reconciliation, beautification, glorification and evaporation. Salamat AKBAYAN at na-realize nyo na that I am not really guilty of any crime (winks). Ang Hello Garci, NBN-ZTE at fertilizer scam ay mga minor lapse in judgment lamang. Very minor lang yan at wala naman talagang malisya tulad ng pagpili kay Carlo Caparas bilang national artist at ang one million pesos na bill para sa dinner sa New York. In fact, kahit ang pagpunta ko dito ay lapse in judgement din. For this, please allow me to say (slowly) I am sorry.
Let me tell you that I am not looking forward to the senatorial candidacy of this Risa Hontiveros. Nasa kongreso palang siya, masakit na siya sa bangs. Pati ang statement of assets and liabilities ko pinakikialaman. Don’t get me wrong I have no ill feelings for this Risa Hontiveros. Its just that she is not my type. She represents everything that I am not. I have feeling she is my anti-matter. She is tall on virtues while I am short (pause) on everything. St. Scholastica siya noong high school, Assumption naman ako. Si Risa laging nakikiisa sa sambayanan, samantalang ako laging pinagkakaisahan ng sambayanan. Si Risa nakulong na, ako (teasing) hindi pa. Si Risa byuda, ako (pause) sana. FG I love you. At higit sa lahat, si Risa magsesenador na, ako naman magkokongresista.
But I have to give this Risa Hontiveros an A for persistence. Kahit binomba ng bumbero sa mendiola, kahit hinuli ng mga pulis sa welcome rotonda at kahit tinggalan ko pa ng pork barrel ay hindi pa rin natitinag at tuloy parin ang paglaban sa akin. Risa Hontiveros kung sa mga SONA ko hindi ka nakikinig, pwes ngayon makinig ka. I have three words for you, (slowly) “I will never endorse you for senator in 2010.”
I, thank you.
*Speech was written by Percival Cendana, Deputy Secretary of AKBAYAN, a certain “Wilma Mae”, and Josel Gonzales, a salingkit in AKBAYAN’s Gay and Lesbian Collective. Photos by Marlon Cornelio of AKBAYAN-Youth.
There’s outrage over the result of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight. Experts have said that the fight was rigged against Pacquiao, it was lopsided against him. Inquirer columnist Conrad de Quiros said that it was cheating, plain and simple – Pacquiao wasn’t just fighting Bradley, he was fighting against organized crime.
xfullman 