PARENTHESES

In our political culture, who would believe that there is a Congressman who will go up the roof of his house to fix a leak or do repairs?

In our mind is fixed an image that every Congressman lives like a King in a Castle, surrounded by bodyguards, servants and other subalterns. To shine his own shoe has become an almost impossible feat by any Congressman, how much more that of fixing a roof.

But alas, there was such a Congressman. He died because he went up the roof of his house to fix a leak and do repairs.

In the jungle called the House of Representatives, there are those who truly live the life of those they represent – the marginalized sector of our Society. Among them was Rep. Crispin Beltran, or Ka Bel, as he was popularly known and called by his comrades and enemies alike. In the records of the House of Representatives, as per declared Statement of Assets and Liaibilities, Ka Bel ranks as among the poorest Congressman. But if wealth and Honor is measured upon the consistency and conviction to one’s belief and principle, Ka Bel would stand as the richest among his Honorable colleagues who would all be the have-nots.

Anakpawis Partylist Representative Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, was seriously injured after falling from the roof of his house which he was fixing. He died today, May 20, 2008, from cardiac arrest while being operated for his injuries. A death which he most likely detest. For it is known among his comrades that Ka Bel, a fighter that he was, prefered to die in action. To take a bullet from a fight in the people’s struggle for justice and democracy is what he hoped would put an end to his life. But death is a swift thing that comes like a thief in the night.

During my youth activist years, Ka Bel was one of our proletarian idols. I had the opportunity to met him personally, albeit in fleeting moments, in the early 90’s, before the Great Divide of the left happened. We have chosen opposite sides and went separate ways then. I might disagree with Ka Bel’s chosen ideology, but I respect his firm conviction to the worker’s welfare and struggle. I believe that like all militant Labor Leaders before him, Ka Bel’s resolve in the worker’s struggle was drawn not from the intellectualization of their plight, but from their own actual experience as workers themselves.

Ka Bel’s death is a great loss in the Labor Movement. It will take perhaps another decade round of worker’s struggle to produce the likes of, Ka Bert Olalia, Ka Simo Carullo, Ka Bel…

Pagpugay at Paalam Ka Bel! Mabuhay ka tunay na lider Manggagawa!

kung ikaw ay naglingkod sa aping sambayanan, ang kamatayan mo’y sing-bigat ng bukid Apo

*Photo taken from http://kalovski.blog.com/

Our government, when faced with an intense political pressure and crisis would simply cry, uphold the rule of law. As if those who are questioning its corrupt practices are not following the rule of law.

Through this “Uphold the Rule of Law” dictum, MMDA’s Bayani Fernando draws mandate for his URBANIDAD campaign — a campaign of instilling discipline in Metro Manila citizens. As if to help remind people about law and order, Bayani Fernando has used tax-payers money to print and mount his gigantic portraits with a few wordings about law and order, on the columns of MRT covering the long stretch of EDSA. At the bottom of these Bayani Fernando portrait-posters are written, “Government property do not remove. Mere possession of this sign is punishable by law. – MMDA.” So for all of you taxpayers out there, there goes your hard earned money.

Remember people, Uphold the Rule of Law!, those are the marching orders with the whiplash in the background. But wait, what law? And whose Law?

For two days now, the MMDA (again!) had grabbed the Metro news with its new antic—the spray painting of buses they caught to be out of line and had no chips (whatever those are). They lined up the impounded buses and this MMDA honcho named Roberto Esquivel happily led the spray painting spree. The buses were spray painted with the scarlet letters, “Out-of-line, Colorum”—as if it was the poor vehicle’s fault.

Not so long ago, this shame campaign was used by Alfredo Lim in his anti-drug campaign. He used to mark houses of suspected Drug Users and Peddlers with warning signs, without effect but only to put people to shame. Mayor Alfredo Lim did not paint his son’s house. But just recently, his son was busted for narcotics.

This shame campaign has drawn flak because it is in violation of the constitutional rights of due process of law. The Court of Appeals, in a decision issued in 2000, ruled that the shame campaign was ‘invalid.’ That decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2003.
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I thought no one’s going to hit the Superlotto jackpot draw last night. No one was able to win this lotto game for the past weeks draw, thats why its pot reached the highest in the history of Philippine lotto – Php 249,005,120.04.

A lone lucky soul hit the jackpot last night. According to a news report this lucky bettor is presumably a Luzon area resident because he placed his or her bet somewhere in Luzon.

Well, some guys have the luck, while others just continue to place their bet on the lottery or run for public office. It seems these are the only two short cuts to riches in our country. The former you win by sheer luck and the latter you can surely win by connection and by guns, goons and gold. Let’s just pray that the one who won the Superlotto is not also a winner of the latter game. I wonder where that somewhere in Luzon area location is, I just hope it’s not somewhere located along the north bank of the Pasig River in Manila.

I’ll just try my luck next time. Some of my friends tell me that the probability of being struck by lightning twice is greater than that of winning the lotto. I tell them in return, that is why it’s a game of chance, you grab it however slim the probability of winning is.

Many in our country today would have it, that if you bet and don’t win you die of hunger, you don’t bet, you still die of hunger. So just take the chance of winning by betting. At least you can have something to pray for and win, than being robbed by politicians in broad(band) daylight and getting back nothing from it except rice shortages and oil price hikes.

There’s no official proclamation that would say that Summer is “officially” here. Malacanang Palace will not announce on TV that summer has arrived. If you’re old enough, that is if you’ve passed forty (plus) summers in your life, you know how to read the signs and can easily feel it. One barometer for summer is the weather. But the weather lately is freaking out. It’s already the month of March but you can still feel the chills at night. This might be what PAG-ASA had warned about earlier, that we will be having a wet/cold summer this year.

Ah, but there are other signs that will tell you that summer is here. For one, Congressmen are already gearing up for summer vacation to who knows where. Congress had scheduled an early recess on March 14th, so by next week, it’s going to be quiet in the House of Representatives.

Also, another sign is our neighbor’s star apple tree begins to become abundant and its branches bow down by the weight of its fruits. A certain portion of that tree’s branches find our backyard a suitable place to bow to the will of gravity. This never escaped Maia and Ate Bebing’s attention. And so they had their first taste of summer by harvesting the starapples that gracefully offers itself for their taking.

The other signs that Summer has come? Observe the political climate and you’ll know its summer. The political upheaval brought about by the NBN-ZTE Deal that took its peak during the massive rally in Makati weeks ago, will now be hushed again in silence, as if nothing happened. Everyone, from the Senators to the protesters, will then be busy preparing for their next summer vacation. After all its summer, and you are in the Philippines. Like there’s Siesta. Like it has become an accepted reality that nothing happens in our country during weekends – have you notice that there are no news programs in the primetime during weekends?

So if you’re in the Philippines, enjoy the summer… nothing bad will happen in the Philippines when its vacation time.

Just when we thought the ZTE-NBN deal was the only thing … read this…

Far Eastern Economic Review
January/February 2008

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

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.
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So that others may know.

Here’s a primer about the ZTE-NBN Deal made and published by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC). Download and copy this primer by clicking here or on the image below.:

I am not a religious person, I communicate with my God directly, up close and spiritual. As a consequence, I seldom go to Church, that is if I ever choose to go. Reading the CBCP’s Pastoral Letter about the present political upheaval, just affirmed my notions about the institutional church. Amidst the wide clamor for the ouster and resignation of GMA because of plunder and corruption, the CBCP instead is asking Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) to lead the campaign against corruption in Government. This position betrays the CBCP’s real existence of being out in the cold distance and not in touch with reality.

Asking GMA to lead the campaign against corruption in Government is like asking the Abu Sayyaf to lead the campaign against kidnapping, Jovito Palparan to lead the campaign against Human Rights violations, Virgillo “Garci” Garcillano to lead the campaign for a free and honest elections, Jose Pidal to lead the campaign against money laundering, or simply put, asking the wolf to watch over the flock. By this single act, the iota of credibility still left of the CBCP for me is now completely washed down the drains. The CBCP sees no evil, hears no evil and speaks no evil and got the pResident evil smiling and congratulating them for their position. The CBCP as an institution has now shown the people its worthlessness and has proven its irrelevance.
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