Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Impossible Man

To commemorate the Supremo, Andres Bonifacio, Evan Yap wrote an interesting piece entitled What Filipinos Should Know. It's a brief account about the life of Bonifacio. What got me interested is the part describing Bonifacio as the "impossible man" of the revolution.

Deemed “the impossible man” by Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil, Bonifacio was the person least likely to stir the course of Philippine history. Orphaned at an early age, “he had nothing going for him,” writes Guerrero-Nakpil, “except that he liked to read books.” With perseverance and passion for learning, Andres rose out of hardship finding work as a bodeguero-the modern equivalent of an inventory keeper-in Fressels and Company, a German trading firm.

In the streets of Tondo where he was born, the seeds of the revolution were planted even before the fateful year of 1896. As a member of the Masonic Lodge and La Liga Filipina, Rizal’s patriotic society, Bonifacio nurtured his patriotism and developed his thirst for revolutionary change in the Philippines. Disgusted with the society’s division along economic lines, of rich and poor, Bonifacio dreamt of a true Filipino brotherhood that would be the spectacle of his shining dream of a new Philippines.

And so the Katipunan came to be.
[via The Weather Store

Could I be another impossible man? That's a nice one.



For those who are interested in learning more about the life of Supremo, here is an interesting documentary by GMA's i-Witness a year ago.



Part 1




Part 2




Part 3

I got to read my post last year entitled A Gift for Supremo. I can still remember that day. It was the first time that I met the Sumilao farmers. That was the day that I joined Sir Soc and some of my DS friends as we went to Laguna to rendezvous with the farmers. That was my gift for Supremo last year. I have my own gift for him this year. But it will come a bit later - as late as December 10. I hope he likes it and I hope that I pull it off.

I enjoyed helping my brother code in C++. I can't believe I still got it. Maybe I'll try to code as a hobby next time. I just don't know what language is nice to learn/re-learn.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Need for Aletheia

Today's edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer has finally put the spotlight on the continuing moves to change the Philippine Constitution.

MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) THE NO-EL GAMBIT has been revived by supporters of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to postpone the holding of the 2010 elections.

No-el refers to no elections.

A resolution extending the term of Ms Arroyo beyond that year has quietly found its way into the powerful House committee on constitutional amendments.
[via Inquirer.net]

It appears that as civil society has focused efforts on the 2010 elections, our insidious solons have been plotting a cha-cha that would render these election preparations moot. To make matters worse, the plot remains well hidden from public scrutiny. As echoed by the other student leaders that I met yesterday to discuss this issue, the unavailability of facts make our case merely speculative.

What those changes are, no one quite knows except in the broadest strokes—and depend strictly on whom you ask. So the public cannot figure out if this is truly for the sake of reform or purely for the promotion of self-interest and the convenience of incumbents. And House members wonder why there is a deep unease throughout the land concerning what they’re up to?
[via Inquirer.net]

Like I mentioned in my previous post, the signs of consolidation for this move are there. All we need to do is connect the dots. But I know that the people are tired of "politics" and would rather wait for hard evidence - the actual House resolution, the actual copy of the document that contains all the claimed signatures of the congressmen, etc. to surface before actually lifting a finger. People are still waiting for an aletheia, a state of not being hidden. But when will our waiting end?

It is obvious that the House intends to pursue Charter change, relying on its expectations that it will get a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court and that public opinion would not matter because the public is powerless to do anything to stop it. It is keeping the discussion vague precisely to prevent people from organizing or acting—at least not until its cause is armed with a favorable Supreme Court decision.

A clear constitutional menace is presenting itself. A smokescreen of dissembling, combined with the expectation that the holiday season will dull public interest, has been thickly laid.
[via Inquirer.net]

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Reporma at Demokrasya, Huwag Cha-Cha

We are facing a crisis marked by a corrupt and illegitimate government's capture of our democratic institutions. The illegitimate chief executive is in the verge of fully controlling our judiciary. The Commission on Elections continue on its turtle-paced reform. The House of Representatives are gathering numbers for an upcoming insidious plot. The new head of Senate is the right-hand man of a new Marcos.

These orchestrations done in the Palace and in Batasan are attempts to pave the way for the changing of our Constitution. Our solons claim that changing the charter is necessary for a better economic development. But would changing the charter of the sovereign Filipino people really give a dramatic impact on development? Randy David says otherwise.

We don’t need to amend the Constitution to put our country back on its feet. We only need to free ourselves from the scourge of corrupt and incompetent politicians. In many other societies, the people have done that either by the rules of an existing constitution, or extra-constitutionally, by the direct exercise of their will.
[via Inquirer.net]

Conrado de Quiros echoes this sentiment.

Where’s the sense in changing a constitution that nobody follows anyway, least of all the government? Where’s the sense in producing more and more laws everybody flouts anyway, most of all the government? First, obey the Constitution, and then change it. First, stop the killings, stop the lying, cheating and stealing, stop Arroyo. Then—and only then—change the Constitution. Making a new constitution won’t stop the killings, stopping the killings will make a new constitution, in the fundamental sense of what constitutes us.
[via Inquirer.net]

If we can accept the assumption, with some extended amount of imagination, the change is for economic development, how come is it being rushed like there's no tomorrow?

It is not hard to draw the impression that behind all these proposed amendments are vested interests with no regard for the national good. Not one of them seems in any way crucial to the fundamental problems of poverty, inequality, or corruption. But they are there, presented in urgent tone, and in full awareness that there is nothing that cannot be made to look good or necessary by simple re-description. They may draw their rationale from social objectives like efficiency, economic growth, or political stability. But ultimately, this is not so much about the well-being of the Filipino people as it is about the self-interest of politicians and the economic groups they serve.
[via Inquirer.net]

This is not the time for a charter change for there are more pressing matters that our government need to prioritize. We have yet to resolve the issue of legitimacy and integrity of our current head of state and we have yet to make into law many important reform measures such as those involving the elections, agrarian land, and access to information, to name a few. If the government cannot and would not address these basic issues of democracy and reform, then I echo Conrado de Quiros' call - Change the Usurper, not the Charter.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Conrado de Quiros Reminds Us about Contemporary History and the One Ponce Enrile

I hope that my generation still knows how important it is to read the news.



There's The Rub : One Ponce Enrile

By Conrado de Quiros
Columnist
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: November 20, 2008

There’s someone who’s more “malakas” [strongly favored] with all the presidents than Ronaldo Puno and Miriam Defensor-Santiago. That’s Juan Ponce Enrile.

Puno was “malakas” with Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and in part with Ferdinand Marcos. Miriam was “malakas” with Cory Aquino, Joseph Estrada and Arroyo. That’s chicken. Enrile was malakas with Cory, Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo, and above all Marcos. Hell, he was Marcos’ right-hand man.

Of course, only three of those people he was “malakas” with were real presidents. The first and last were/are not. Marcos was not when he became his right-hand man, which was during martial law. But Marcos was so before that, for two terms. That is something Marcos does not share with Arroyo. Pretty much everything else he does.

When Santiago demanded to know why Puno was so “malakas” with all the presidents (she was furious, remembering what Puno did to her in the 1992 elections, which in her view was to rob her of the presidency), her implication was that only someone so unscrupulous, so unprincipled, so opportunistic could possibly manage the feat. That was so because it required either reconciling a slew of conflicting beliefs or having none at all. Her implication further was that his opportunism had been a successful one. He had so gotten into the good graces of his patrons he could commit any crime and get away with it.

Of course, Santiago’s fury blinded her to the possibility the same question might be asked of her and the same inferences drawn from it. But surely what applies to both of them applies tenfold to the one person who was far more “malakas” with all the presidents most Filipinos have known in their lifetime?

And so let us ask: Who is Juan Ponce Enrile and how did he manage that feat? Well, the highlights of his long and seemingly unending career include:

He is the one person who triggered martial law by claiming an attempt on his life in the Wack-Wack subdivision in San Juan. Luckily for him (and not so for the rest of his countrymen), he escaped completely unscathed. Later, during Cory’s time, while depicting himself in his campaign ads as someone who had been stricken by light on the way to Damascus, he admitted lying about it. But still later, he would deny ever having made that confession despite the fact that the world had heard it, compounding one lie with another lie. That alone would have qualified him to be a dependable ally of Arroyo, as he was of Marcos.

Citing that assassination attempt as a last straw, Marcos plunged the country into deepest darkness. With Enrile as chief executor.

He is the one person who claimed to have mounted EDSA People Power I in 1986 and to have rescued this country from Marcos. It didn’t sit well with a people who could not believe he would be so confused about who rescued whom. Or indeed who would be so confused about the difference between rescuer and oppressor. They made Cory their ruler despite his efforts to lay claim upon the crown. For good reason: She embodied EDSA People Power I, she was EDSA People Power I. Enrile was just the tuta who lost out to the mongrel Fabian Ver, and who rebelled against his “amo” [boss] as a result of it. And whom the people rescued from certain death, which gave him a fate worse than death, which was to continue living.

Figuring however, like Santiago afterward, that he had been robbed of the presidency, his boys at RAM mounted one coup after another against Cory, and failed. His boys ended up in jail, spending no small amount of time ruing their sins. He remained free, confined only to ruing lost time.

He is the one person who, along with Santiago and Estrada’s boys at the Senate, defended their master with every trick in the book. The same book that reigned supreme during Marcos’ time, the book of law without justice. To no avail: The people, and not the senators, ultimately sat as judge and found Estrada guilty, sending him gliding in a lonely boat all the way to San Juan by way of the Pasig River.

Later, Enrile (and Santiago) would take turns goading Estrada’s legions to “sugod, sugod” [attack, attack] Malacañang, which those legions did. Several people died in the riots there, at Mendiola. Unfortunately, they did not include Enrile or Santiago. Again, Enrile (and Santiago) would remain free, confined only to ruing lost time.

Not for long. For before you could blink an eye or say “one Ponce Enrile,” he (and Santiago) was lovey-dovey with the person he wanted “sugod-sugoded” at Palace by the Pasig.

He is the one person, who still along with Santiago but also now with Joker Arroyo, sought to discredit Jun Lozada, finding nothing wrong with a project that wasn’t just full of “bukol” [bulges—a street lingo for overpricing] but of malignant tumors. Indeed finding nothing wrong with the way Lozada was met and “escorted” by armed men and driven around, his fate hanging in the balance, before being delivered into the hands of the La Salle brothers. Well, he had seen worse as executor of martial law.

He is the one person who can be counted upon to thwart the “Joc-Joc” Bolante hearing, endorse Charter change, and keep Arroyo in power after 2010. Since he can no longer be king himself at 84 (though I hope age hasn’t dimmed his ambitions in that respect, if only so that he would collide with his current patron), he will be a queen-maker, or a queen-retainer. Along with Prospero Nograles, he will have Arroyo controlling both houses of Congress.

The senators who ousted Manuel Villar say Villar is not fit to lead them, his hands being tainted by corruption. They would rather have someone infinitely cleaner. They would rather have someone infinitely more progressive and democratic and libertarian. They would rather have someone this country can respect and trust and look up to.

They would rather have—one Ponce Enrile.

He is the president of the Senate today. He is master of the house today.

And he is back home, the right-hand man once again of another Marcos.


[via Inquirer.net]

Thursday, November 06, 2008

There's a New Onomatopoeia in Town

Some months ago, I was avidly sending "twits" in the internet, now it's time to "plurk".

Plurk is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (otherwise known as plurks) through short messages or links, which can be up to 140 text characters in length.

Updates are then shown on the user's home page using a timeline which lists all the updates received in chronological order, and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Users can respond to other users' updates from their timeline through the Plurk.com website, by instant messaging, or by text messaging.
[via Wikipedia.com]

I think there are more Ateneans using Plurk than Twitter. One reason for the recent success of Plurk is that it offers a more efficient means of responding to the "plurks" or micro-blog posts of people. For me Plurk is the new online forum.

Nonetheless, I still maintain my Twitter account (twitter.com/ocastanar) since I find it simpler (and I often see simplicity as elegance). A word of warning though, Plurk can be a huge time sink especially when ones number of friends grow.

To those who want to join in the Plurk-iness of it all, just click this link.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Congratulations to the First Black President of the USA

God bless Barrack Obama.

Democratic Senator Barack Obama is elected the first black president of the United States, according to projected results.
[via BBC News]

Time to celebrate his victory, reggae-style!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Will I Go for 18 Units?

I only need three units to graduate. That would have to be my thesis class. But since the Constitution of the Sanggunian states that all officers (to be eligible for the position) should be taking at least the minimum university load (12 units). Thus, I am taking more than three units. A senior development studies major has a regular load of 18 units in his/her 2nd semester. Thus, the tuition fee for 12 units is the same as enrolling 15 or 18 units.

The Office of Admission and Aid (OAA) no longer accepted my request for a scholarship since, to put it simply, I am overstaying. But since they understand my family's financial situation, they gave me a student loan to be payed next year. For the next few months I'll be busy looking for benefactors to help pay for the loan - but that's another dilemma beyond the scope of this post.

I'm currently wondering if I would enlist up to 18 units of subjects or remain in my currently enlisted 15 units. I already chose four other subjects alongside my thesis that are within the range of my interests. I'm currently looking for another subject. I'm seriously considering Accounting since I'm curious about the subject and why students often have a hard time with it. I'm also pondering about the practicality of learning the skill. I'm also considering taking another subject under Sir Jun Andal (Philippine Administrative System). I learned a lot from him last semester and his load is quite light. Unfortunately, enlisting in any of these two subjects entail having a Saturday class. Having a class during the weekend is quite difficult since there are times wherein I have "official duties" that fall within this schedule.

Thus my dilemma is two-fold. First, should I maximize the loan that was given to me and get 18 units? Second, which class should I take? I have until Thursday to mull over this dilemma.


Here's another dilemma: What to do after graduation?