Countering Jinggoy's 'Alternate' Endorsement of Gibby a.k.a. Gibo

(Repost of a pre-electoral article from Newsvine)

I AM voting Jinggoy Estrada for senator for two compelling reasons: (1) my appreciation of his manifested legislative competence, and (2) as an act of my support for his father Joseph Estrada who was unjustly victimized by the elite-maneuvered power grab of 2001. However, I express disgust over his apparent exhortation before a mammoth crowd to vote LAKAS candidate Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. in case they're not inclined to vote Erap for President instead. Gibo, whose real nickname is "Gibby" by the way, may be a perfect picture of shallow qualifications but is a very poor choice in terms of patriotic executive service.


 Gibo Bio

The "official" LAKAS standard-bearer seems on the outset a powerhouse of competence, much helped by his "Galing at Talino" presidential campaign packaging. He graduated top of his law class at the University of the Philippines, being even awarded with the Dean's Medal of Academic Excellence. He then topped the bar in 1989 with a score of 86.185%. In 1997, he obtained his Master of Law degree from Harvard Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. "Very cool" and "very unassuming" he was in college and apparently even up to now.

After graduation until 2007, Teodoro Jr. served as Congressman for Tarlac's First District. He was apparently so good he even became the Assistant Majority Leader in the 11th Congress. He passed quite a number of bills. Very impressive intelligence and performance as solon. 'Matalino' indeed he is. 'Magaling' he also is based on his legislative record.

In August 2007, "President" Gloria Arroyo appointed him Secretary of National Defense, remaining in that position until the administration LAKAS party drafted him as its standard-bearer for the presidential race come May 10, 2010. It is the executive branch record of "Gibby" a.k.a. Gibo that I find disconcerting.

No one is perfect but, to my humble mind, the endorsement of Gibo by Jinggoy is rather sick. The least the former  DND Secretary should have done for his presidential race is declare loyalty to the country by showing independence from the Illegitimate President--something he adamantly refuses to do based on his ridiculous claim that he is bound to bestow loyalty to Arroyo as a way of observing  the Filipino value of utang na loob (sense/feeling of gratitude or indebtedness). Doesn't it sound crazy to hear loyalty being professed in a company of thieves, cheaters, liars and simply, masters of impunity?


Gloria's Impunity Deserves No "Utang na Loob" from Gibo

Lest anyone forget, Gloria Arroyo--the object of Gibo's 'loyalty' has marked a legacy of immoral governance unparalleled in the entire history of the Philippine Islands. In her nine-year reign, she has been variously called unpalatable terms that anyone with even an iota of another Filipino used-to-be-cherished value of delicadeza would have found extremely repugnant. The widow of Fernando Poe Jr., the real victor during the 2004 elections, alluded to her as liar and thief and called her power grabber" not once but twice." Her own man, former NEDA Executive Director and CHED Chair Romulo Neri supposedly described her as "evil, with another even calling her a "lucky b_tch."

In late 2007, she was adjudged the "Most Corrupt President in Philippine History" during a nationwide survey. Lately, she's been described as responsible for greatly damaging the moral fiber of the nation. As the religious-clergy group Filipinos Sunday charged, Arroyo and her minions "lie and cheat with impunity," as ""No institution of our democratic system has been spared. No sector of society left unmolested. Long standing traditions have been violated."

Arroyo's also a constitutional violator, not limited to electoral fraud. Adding to her almost endless litany of corruption-laden deals was her entering into the multi-billion-peso Northrail Project without prior Monetary Board approval and the hugely scandalous-before=being-cancelled NBN-ZTE broadband project. Based from the 2005-2008 articles of unsuccessful impeachment proceedings, she also engaged in the misuse and abuse of presidential powers, including acts of the unconstitutional transfer of funds between government agencies, or from a government entity to political partisan projects.

Perhaps worst, from the perspective of human rights, is her conspiring and tolerating of extrajudicial killings that have victimized Filipinos from pretty much a broad spectrum of political colors. Even before the infamous Ampatuan massacre took place in late 2009, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines already described Arroyo's administration's legacy as one of "bloodshed and repression, its acts of omission and commission nurturing the impunity with which the enemies of press freedom have operated." As of 2009, the alternative media entity Bulatlat counts "more than 200 Filipinos--mostly activists--[who] have disappeared" under her reign. The most infamous of the desaparecido cases involve those of Jonas Burgos, son of Malaya founder and publisher, and University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

Disrespect with people's lives, unfortunately, did not stop with the activists and critics. The height of impunity would come by way of the heinous mass murder of 57 individuals, including some 31 journalists and 26 women, children and other relatives and friends of the Ampatuan's rival clan of Mangadudatus on November 23, 2009. The Ampatuan massacre perhaps best symbolizes the callous, fraudulent rule of Gloria as the killing en masse actually ties to the 2004 travesty of the democratic process.

As revealed by the "Hello Garci" wiretapped evidence of 2004 electoral fraud, Arroyo spoke with former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano over details of efforts to manipulate the outcome of the presidential race in her favor. Playing a critical role in the poll manipulation that deprived FPJ of his rightful place in Malacanang was the Ampatuan warlord clan of Maguindanao province. In the official vote tally, Arroyo's lead over opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ)  in seven towns controlled by the Ampatuans had the incredible average ratio of 99.83% to 0.17%; in two towns, FPJ even got a near-impossible zero vote each, with all votes going to Arroyo.

To cut the long story short, why would any decent, morally upright, intelligent, be principled man feel indebted to a political creature like Arroyo--enough to swear unfaltering loyalty to the Illegitimate? If Teodoro Jr. were truly decent, really morally upright, and genuinely be principled, why does he feel he has to reciprocate his appointment as DND chief with unwavering loyalty undeterred by reports of Villar/Aquino as the incumbent's "secret candidate." Amidst Arroyo's wickedness, the utang na loob line definitely does not fly. Unless Gibo is wicked himself and secretly in on Arroyo's evil schemes.


Gibo's Culpability and Incompetence as DND Secretary

While it is true that Gibby alias Gibo joined Arroyo's government only in August 2007 and, therefore, he was not part and parcel of much of her reign of impunity, the official LAKAS standard bearer is not entirely free of culpability. The Ampatuan massacre, it should be noted, occurred in 2009, over two years after he assumed leadership of the Defense department. How is it that under his very nose, the Ampatuans managed to grow (or continued to grow) too powerful and confident enough to have the temerity to perpetuate such a heinous, big-scale crime?

Simplistic clan vendetta the massacre was not because no warlord would dare include 31 or so innocent media people in any mass killing--unless he is confident of political support from the national government. What is more, regional policemen were reportedly involved and that the mass grave was supposedly dug days before the mass murder. What was Gibo doing in all these--sleepin on the job? He might not be the chief of the Philippine National Police but with his military connections, he should have been aware somehow of the movements prior to the massacre.

In fact, beyond incompetence, Gibo could be liable for abetting and tolerating the abuses and crimes of the Ampatuans. Maguindanao's infamous warlord clan has long been well known to be operating a private army that includes deputized paramilitary members and have controlled the province and even the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The existence of private armies is directly the DND secretary's concern. While Arroyo probably nurtured Ampatuan's warlordism in 2004 or earlier as a way of securing guaranteed (translation: fraudulent) Maguindanao votes, Teodoro should have been able to address the problem pretty soon after getting the DND portfolio.

Obviously, Gibo failed to carry out his duties as defense secretary when the Ampatuans seemingly even became bolder when they committed the heinous Ampatuan massacre. Under the incompetent watch of the presidentiable who has built his campaign on the Galing at Talino slogan, the dreadful Maguindanao warlord clan utilized its paramilitary-powered private army to commit the worst crime ever wrought on journalists. According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, the Ampatuan massacre holds the record of having the greatest number of media people ever killed in a single day. .


Gibo's Ineptness as NDCC Chief

The Ampatuan massacre was not actually Gilbert Teodoro's first show of incompetence. Who among the less gullibles could really forget the ineptness of the National Disaster Coordinating Center, which he concurrently headed as DND chief, during the Ondoy typhoon tragedy last September 2009? How many lives could have been saved had the NDCC been prepared for such a contingency and acted more swiftly in its rescue efforts?

 Amidst the pleas for help, the cries of despair and drowning deaths of many, it was primarily the non-governmental entities, the media people in particular, who supplanted Gibo's missing hand when they set out to rescue and assist the affected Filipinos during the crucial initial hours of the flooding. The feeling of the Metro Manilans during those early hours of the Ondoy disaster was one of helplessness--spurred by the marked absence of government.

Teodoro defended the late government response to the flash floods by reasoning that the country only had 13 rubber boats at that time. So where did the $1.9 million emergency response official development assistance (ODA) and $6.6 million disaster preparedness allotment that Gloria's government received in 2007 go? The LAKAS presidentiable may arguably not have had a say in the nearly $1 million and reconstruction relief and rehabilitation funds the government got in 2006 but what of the huge assistance funds around the time he took office?

Is the lack of rubber boats a case of disastrous ignorant planning by Gibo's NDCC team? How is it that the entire government pitifully only had 13 rubber boats when three years ago, the government already recognized the dangers of climate change as evidenced by its creation of the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC)? As quoted by Bulatlat.com, the PTFCC's creation was spurred by the recognition that the archipelago "is highly vulnerable to the adverse effects resulting from climate changes and has been experiencing unusual number of high-intensity typhoons that have wrought devastation and anguish to our people."

The need for more life boats in the face of the adverse impacts of climate change on our archipelagic country--is that so hard for Gibo to figure out? Or is it a case of misappropriation, if not corruption of funds sanctioned or even helped perpetuated by then-NDCC head Teodoro Jr.?

When Gibo's camp and his deluded partisans take pride in his Galing at Talino, it makes one wonder whether they're purely buying his campaign line. Did they even consider his entire track record in government service, which includes his performance in the executive branch under which the position he is aspiring for falls under? For the "silent" supporters of Gibo, it seems that his Galing at Talino packaging got the better of them such that they skipped the part on the former DND Secretary's gross ineptness in, if not culpability for, the Ondoy disaster and Ampatuan massacre.


Why Jinggoy's Endorsement

Instead of Gibo, perhaps Jinggoy should have recommended instead Bro. Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord Movement, or green advocate Nicky Perlas, or even outspoken and nationalist-inclined Jamby Madrigal? These three underestimated presidential contenders deserve more the coveted Malacanang position over that of Gibo in terms of being free of wicked Gloria's corruptive influence.

Then again, it is possible Jinggoy and Erap's camp is only wisely splitting the votes of strong rival presidential candidates Manny Villar and Noynoy Aquino to ensure the deposed President's victory in the polls? Besides, to endorse Bro. Eddie instead of Gibo may be unwise because despite what the mainstream conditioning surveys say, Bro. Eddie, with his command vote provided by his organized and several-million-strong religious group, seems to be already a silent force to reckon with.

Another possibility is that despite the supposed falling out between Gibo and his uncle Danding Cojuangco, the former could just be serving as a link of sorts to the latter's protracted friendship with President Erap. Didn't the former president remark in a television interview that one thing he misses during the current presidential campaign as compared to the 1998 campaign is the presence and support of Danding?

The presidency is not just about shallow qualifications. To echo columnist Herman Tiu Laurel's argument, the presidency is, above all, governance fueled by "love for the people and standing by a firm conviction." Ideally, a conviction marked by "strong belief in his own cause to risk and actually suffer detention for it." Erap has shown his conviction and lover for the Filipinos, the masa in particular but Gibo, with his unfaltering loyalty to Gloria and dismal performance as DND/NDCC chief, has not.

At any rate, whether Gibo showed incompetence and/or corruption in preventing or handling in the Ondoy flooding and Ampatuan massacre, or whether he deserves Jinggoy's endorsement or not,  it will not be good for the country to have another Cojuangco for president. Another Cojuangco--another member of an illustrado family, of Chinese variant though the family may be--being in a powerful position will represent not only the continued perpetration of political dynasties but, worse, continued elite control or influence on the reigns of power. During President Ferdinand Marcos' time, there was Gibo's first degree uncle, Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco as influential crony. Then with Marcos's ouster came President Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino, Danding's cousin. These two Cojuangco branches continue to be influential and rather powerful up to now. Then again, Noynoy Aquino of the Liberal Party, Cory's son, is also a Cojuangco.

The Cojuangcos, especially the Danding branch may be friends with the Estradas, in particular Erap, the "Father of the Masses." Jinggoy's support of sorts for Gibo (as alternative to a vote for Erap), however, does not bid well for the masa and the Filipino people in general. In short, a Teodoro Jr.  could virtually spell another six years of the wicked Illegitimate's rule. No to Gibo please....

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References

The Media Under Arroyo: A Legacy of Bloodshed and Repression. July 2007. National Union of Journalists of the Philippines Site. http://nujp.org/v4/2009/07/the-media-under-arroyo-a-legacy-of-bloodshed-and-repression/

Clergy group pushes united action for May polls. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/187687/clergy-group-pushes-united-action-for-may-polls

Neri described Arroyo as evil. http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=2142
Journalists revisit Ampatuan massacre site. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/12/09/09/journalists-revisit-ampatuan-massacre-site

After Ampatuan Massacre, 2009 a Record Year for Journalist Killings Worldwide. 18 Dec. 2009. http://www.pinoypress.net/2009/12/18/after-ampatuan-massacre-2009-a-record-year-for-journalist-killings-worldwide/

Herman Tiu Laurel. "Persuading the youth." The Daily Tribune. 19 March 2010. http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100319com5.html

Lopez, JP. "'Gloria is evil'." Malaya. 19 February 2008. http://www.malaya.com.ph/feb19/news1.htm
President Arroyo Committed Culpable Constitutional Violations On Three Counts, Pimentel Says. 8 February 2005. Senator 

Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel Site. http://www.nenepimentel.org/news/20050208_GMA.asp

Pulse Asia. Pulse Asia's October 2007 Special Report on Corruption-Related Issues. http://pulseasia.com.ph/pulseasia/story.asp?ID=628

Ibon Foundation. "Where Did Millions of Aid for Disaster Relief Go? Ibon Wants to Know." Bulatlat.com. 2 October 2009. http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/10/02/where-did-millions-of-aid-for-disaster-relief-go-ibon-wants-to-know/

Padilla, Arnold. "Analysis: Beyond Ondoy and Climate Change, Blame Goes to Arroyo, Teodoro." Bulatlat.com. 2 October 2009. http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/10/02/analysis-beyond-ondoy-and-climate-change-blame-goes-to-arroyo-teodoro/

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Photo Credits

CBS News.

Gibo image. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?pid=73413&op=2&o=global&view=global&subj=1422302947&id=100000877271966

Typhoon Ondoy Death Toll in the Philippines: Killer Mall or Killer Corruption Figured?

TYPHOON Ondoy (Ketsana) that struck the Philippines’ capital region in late September 2009 with the “record amount of rainfall” officially left more than 300 people dead and nearly P9 billion in total damages to agriculture and infrastructure. The responsibility for its destructive flashfloods has been blamed by certain sectors on the administration of “President” Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with regards failed disaster management prevention and management. Based on a November 6, 2009 tabloid article and limited but rather persisting offline and online talks, it may be that a Metro Manila mall is also partly culpable for the Ondoy casualties.

According to the Remate article entitled “Ondoy prober with the Galas PNP sings: Death by Drowning of 100 people inside a Mall Kept under Wraps,” an investigator connected with the Galas Police Station squealed the news on the death of customers, mall tenants, and employees and security guards inside a mall during the typhoon. The victims were supposedly trapped inside the mall’s grocery section when mall management ordered the area secured so as to prevent theft of store items.


The Story

The investigator recounted the testimony of a witness who claimed she was one of those who managed to leave the grocery section before the roll-up door was locked. Power outage ensued, followed by the rise of flood waters, which thus prevented any easy opening of the door. According to the witness:

“I heard the shouts inside. That strong wailing. Hearing those pleading for help sent shivers through me. I asked a guard outside why they would not do something in order to raise the roll up door but he only said that it was mall manager’s order so they could not do a thing.”

The witness supposedly cried when s/he went up to the second floor especially when the shouting and wailing ceased as the waters greatly rose and those below drowned. She said there were other witnesses, including the salesladies on the second floor who were also crying because they were aware of what was going on.

According to the news report, some salespeople recounted how management secured the grocery store when the flood subsided. A sunglass saleslady narrated the revoltingly foul and pervasive smell of decomposing human flesh below. A mall official admitted that many died and they brought out the decomposing bodies in the evening. The report adds that according to the investigator, the story met with news blackout because “everyone had been tipped off.”

Remate says it tried but failed to get the side of the Galas PNP head. Based on a broadsheet article dated Oct. 16, 2009, the Galas Police Station Commander around the Ondoy flooding period was Supt. Edgardo Pamittan.That Galas investigator and the witnesses to the actual event are not the only ones who know about the horrible mall deaths. There was considerable talk about the deaths even before the November 6, 2009 issue of Remate came out.

Some two weeks before that tabloid account, I already heard about “the many who died in the xxx mall in Manila” from my husband’s sort-of-relative nurse assigned during the Ondoy disaster operations.  According to her, at least some of those who died in the mall were made to appear to be part of the death toll in Marikina [which was the most Ondoy-devastated area in Metro Manila].


What’s that mall (If the story’s true, that is)?

If the report and talks were true, what could that mall (or there was more than one) be? In my husband’s conversation with the nurse, the name of the mall was mentioned. Obviously, one way of telling whether such reports are possible is by ascertaining whether that mall had indeed been damaged by the flood.

Mall flooding during Ondoy was not isolated but Wikipedia talks of a mall in Metro Manila that became rather significantly affected by the typhoon, with the flood waters almost reaching the ceiling of the lowest level. That entry that was first inserted around 8 a.m. of September 30, 2009 came from IP 119.92.245.23 and unreferenced, but has been retained in that Wikipedia page. While it is Wikipedia’s policy that entries (especially the controversial ones, I believe) should be referenced, said entry has escaped deletion or even challenge because it writes of a commonly known fact.

In its present revision form, that particular edit entry on Wikipedia’s page on a Metro Manila mall is now footnoted. Interestingly, the footnote leads to a mainstream newspaper report about the reopening of the mall’s lower ground level but without directly discussing Ondoy’s impact on that mall. At the website or related website of that mall, the great damage wrought by the typhoon on said mall is mentioned.


News blackout

If such mall deaths did occur, certainly the news blackout has been very effective. I’m not sure if other tabloids also carried the story but such can hardly be found in any ‘authoritative’ site. It’s certainly not in any online Philippine mainstream news media.

The mall death story was also the subject of limited public discussion in the internet, but only in a very few websites. I searched hard and long to find references to it, ultimately hitting on pages in YouTube and Pinoy Money Talk websites. It should be noted that references to the story definitely appear only in the comment threads.

In two uploaded videos showing the gush of water in perhaps the same lowest floor area of the mall, the supposed deaths in the building during Typhoon Ondoy was discussed. The oldest YouTube comments dated “3 months ago” (October 2009) or at least 1 or more weeks just after the Ondoy onslaught, talk of the 26 to over 30 people who died as they got trapped in the mall’s grocery area. Someone writes that a neighbor manager of another branch of the mall informed them of the deaths, but which has not being publicly disclosed. Others talk of the mall’s foul smell that could be detected even as far as a nearby subdivision.

The only well-reported incident that got anywhere close to the mall and looting story involves not Typhoon Ondoy but, rather, Typhoon Pepeng (Parma), which ravaged  parts of Luzon excluding Metro Manila. If I’m not mistaken, Channel 2 (ABS-CBN) anchors mentioned about a mall outside Manila having been locked from the inside to secure store items. (The mall owner later clarified that no looting took place because the grocery items simply floated and got out during the flooding). There was absolutely no mention of deaths occurring in that provincial mall, however.


Mall Death Cover-Up…

I hope the cover-up angle and the mall deaths are not true at all because, together, they don’t paint a pretty picture of the Filipino sense of humanity, or lack of it. Possibly denying and covering up any such mall deaths are criminally much too much.

What are involved here are human lives that were possibly ended by an unwise and fatally unethical capitalist decision. If the Ondoy deaths in that building were true, so what if that gargantuan mall suffers bad business from the exposure of the tragedy. It’s their fault that human lives were needlessly wasted so it is fair and just to make its management take responsibility. Besides, from an economic, there are other malls/mall chain that would only be too glad to absorb their possible business lost.


…Or a government conspiracy?

Thus, if the mall death reports–whether it’s really over a 100 as indicated in the Remate report, or much less—did occur, it does not make much sense that the government is going along with its cover-up. Unless, perhaps, the government is covering up its own responsibility in the bigger picture–that its faulty actions led to the disastrous levels of the Ondoy flash flooding.

Government culpability for the Ondoy tragedy has been suspected by not a few people. A blog entry perhaps best conveys that feeling of “conspiracy.”

Ondoy killed a lot! There was some sort of a news blackout. According to the reports, there were only about 300 that perished. It’s more than that. For one, everyone I talk to had somebody died in their network….

There’s some kind of conspiracy, I think.

…It’s like they let lose all the dams all at the same time and they’re not admitting the miscalculations that caused the disaster. Blame it on Ondoy.

Other blog posts and comments, such as those found here, are more direct in pinning the total Metro Manila deaths and damages on the supposed dam release(s).

These views come despite the official statement of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Administrator that excessive rainfall was solely responsible for flooding and that “In as far as the flooding in Metro Manila is concerned, there’s no contribution from Ipo or Angat dam.” (The clogged or limited-capacity waterways have supposedly prolonged the decline of flood waters).

If the dams or government inefficiency didn’t figure in the disaster, as claimed by the Philippine weather bureau, is it perhaps the case that the mall deaths’ cover-up–if indeed true–is part of the bid of Gloria Arroyo’s government to prevent further attention from being drawn to its possible misuse or malversation of calamity funds?

The IBON Foundation research group asks the Gloria Arroyo government to account for the US$1 million reconstruction relief and rehabilitation funds it received in 2006, along with the $6.6 million disaster preparedness allotment out of the total US$8.5 million in humanitarian aid commitments, and the $1.9 million emergency response official development assistance (ODA)  it got in 2007.

During a Senate hearing in October last year, PAGASA Administrator Nilo Prisco clears the weather bureau of responsibility for the Ondoy disaster. His reasoned that while the country has satellite information tools, there were yet no Doppler radars for measuring rainfall volume. Similarly, former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro who headed the National Security Council defended the government’s delayed rescue response to the flash floods by saying that the country only had thirteen rubber boats during that time.

So based on the IBON figures, where did the US$9.5 million, or roughly P430 million go? Did the funds go to Arroyo’s lavish Le Cirque and Bobby Van’s Steakhouse stateside dinners, or to Mickey Arroyo’s reported plush and equally stateside houses, or both and more? In the first place, shouldn’t the government have been able to prevent such a horrible disaster with the huge funds at its disposal? If the mall deaths were indeed true, is it possible that the Arroyo’s government has gone along with the news blackout so as to minimize perceptions of its own responsibility for the deadly flash floods?


Killer rumor or what?

Of course, the Remate report on the investigation by the Galas Police Station, along with the offline and online talk of Ondoy-related deaths in that mall, could just be plain baseless “rumor.” However, what makes this rumor angle rather weak is the fact that mainstream media is eerily silent about it.

For something as serious a claim as a killer mall, and in the face of at least one print-published report on it, shouldn’t questions have been raised by other media outfits or, if not, a preliminary/informal investigation conducted by the government? It should be noted that the Remate report involves a collaborative authorship bylined as “REMATE INVESTIGATIVE TEAM,” indicating that the newspaper, tabloid though it may be, took the matter seriously.

Corollary to this, if the mall deaths were really untrue, shouldn’t the Remate Investigative Team itself be investigated for such a severe, unfounded report? It is so sad that such a story has been almost totally ignored, if not systematically kept under wraps. Makes one lament over what has possibly become of the Filipinos.


What have the Filipinos become?

More than a century after Andres Bonifacio founded the Katipunan revolutionary movement and adopted the laudable Kartilya code of conduct/ethics; more than a 100 years after our hard-earned Independence was practically stolen by the Stars and Stripes; more than 60 years after we were granted our post-World-War-II “independence,” it seems that the 21st century Filipino elites’ respect for justice and the lives of their countrymen and countrywomen are fatally lacking.

Greed for business profits, and political power and the monetary “rewards” that come with it appear to dominate the mindset of the elites–to the detriment of the common “tao.” Worse, the masses and those just above them seem to have developed incredible tolerance for unethical, immoral, and even essentially unlawful actions by the powerful.

In one of the YouTube pages, a commenter says that the victims’ families were offered or paid 1M pesos each (although those who were hesitant to settle or wanted to file court cases were reportedly threatened by namedropping a general).  Assuming that the mall deaths did happen, granting good faith in that the incident was purely unintentional, and further assuming that justice by way of generous monetary compensation has already been served, should not the truth matter at all? That is, if one believes that the Filipinos deserve to know which malls are conducive to their lives and safety.

Another post dated December 2009 has the commenter remarking that the story shows just how “Money makes the world go ‘round.” I wonder how far round the Filipinos’ heads should go.

Not true those talks of Ondoy mall deaths at all? Let’s go talk about it then. Disprove, don’t just ignore the “rumor.”
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Image credits:

SSAI/NASA, Hal Pierce
http://mhauckonline.blogspot.com/2009/09/philippines-is-in-urgent-need-for-help.html
Remate (scans of cover and inside pages)
http://www.manila.world-guides.com/manila_shopping.html

References
“2 storms’ damage now P8.4B. 5 Oct. 2009.” Business Mirror Site. http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/16918-2-storms-damage-now-p84b.html
Felipe, Cecille Suerte. “800 Marikina residents rescued from flood.” Philstar.com. 28 September 2009. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=509175
“FLOOD….” YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPmNBhoCsQ4
Hermosa, Jessica Anne and Liu, Kristine Jane. “Typhoon delays Baguio ecozone shipments….” Business World.  http://www.smprime.com/smprime/index.php?p=587&type=2&sec=49&aid=4376
Ibon Foundation. “Where Did Millions of Aid for Disaster Relief Go? Ibon Wants to Know.” Bulatlat.com. 2 October 2009. http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/10/02/where-did-millions-of-aid-for-disaster-relief-go-ibon-wants-to-know/
Kwok, Abigail. Man dies in Quezon City daylight robbery.” Inquirer.net. 16 Oct 2009
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20091016-230409/Man-dies-in-Quezon-City-daylight-robbery
“No water release from dams in Ondoy floods.” Inquirer.net. 5 October 2009. http://newsinfo.inquirer.netbreakingnews/nation/view/20091005-228488/No-water-release-from-dams-in-Ondoy-floods
Of typhoons and dams. Stuart Santiago Blog. 29 September 2009. http://www.stuartsantiago.com/of-typhoons-and-dams/
“Ondoy Killed ‘em .” 17 December 2009. Cobwebs of My Mind blog site. http://cobwebsofmymind.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html
Padilla, Arnold. “Analysis: Beyond Ondoy and Climate Change, Blame Goes to Arroyo, Teodoro.” Bulatlat.com. 2 October 2009. http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/10/02/analysis-beyond-ondoy-and-climate-change-blame-goes-to-arroyo-teodoro/
(Pics) Bagyong Ondoy lashes the Philippines. Pinoy Money Talk. http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/storm-typhoon-ondoy-pictures/
Sotelo, Yolanda and Cabreza, Vincent. “SM execs belie looting reports.” Inquirer.net. 10 October 2009. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20091010-229405/SM-execs-belie-looting-reports
“Typhoon Ondoy Tragedy — Flood….” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avt5voh2kAw
VERA Files. “Arroyo’s $15,000 dinner in D.C.” 12 August 2009. http://verafiles.org/index.php/focus/302-arroyos-15000-dinner-in-dc

God, Typhoon Ondoy & the Philippines: Review of Church-Arroyo relations

IN the face of the devastation and casualties wrought by typhoon Ondoy, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines head Rev. Angel Lagdameo asks whether God is giving the Filipinos 'hints' of the "future and even the coming elections?" He wonders whether there is a connection between all the corruption and lies, the loss of integrity and the mounting "destruction of morality and moral values" under the government of Gloria Arroyo and the natural "calamities occurring in increasing number and intensity."






According to the website of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the typhoon's interaction with the seasonal southwest moonsoon gave a "record 13.43 inches of rain fell in Manila in the six hours between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time, which is equivalent to about a month's worth of rain for the area." The resulting enormous flash floods washed away homes, cars, downed fence walls, stranded people in the streets, drowned others, and sent even city people to rooftops and the desperate crossing the cables of electricity posts for safety. Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) left the capital and other parts of Luzon island devastated, with over 300 dead and damages worth P2.75 billion to infrastructure and P6 billion to agriculture.

Why don't the bishops partly take responsibility for the Arroyo evil? After all, the Philippine Catholic Church by and large supported the ouster of former President Joseph Estrada and the para-constitutional installation of the Illegitimate back in early 2001.



What follows is a look back to the eight-year Arroyo-Church relations based on my August 2006 and 2008 archived articles.


Background: (Church helps oust Caesar, circa 2001)

Back in early 2001, the Catholic Church was instrumental in the constitutionally anomalous ouster of Joseph Estrada and in Arroyo's succeeding as President. Crucial to the success of the EDSA 2 mob that deposed the hugely-popular-with-the-masses Estrada and installed bogus "President" Arroyo was the support of the Manila portion of the Catholic Church led by then Cardinal Jaime Sin.

Seemingly blinded by Arroyo's facade of Catholic religiosity, then-archbishop of the Archdiocese of Manila committed the seditious sin of going against Caesar by conspiring with then-Vice President Arroyo, former presidents Fidel Ramos and Cory Aquino, Supreme Court Justice Hilario Davide, and certain elite members of business, military, and even the media to grab the presidency using the cloak of "People Power." Cardinal Sin first exhorted Filipino Catholics, including minors from Manila Catholic schools, to rally and pressure Estrada into resigning, and when it became clear that the properly President would not give up, to depose him only 2 1/2 years into his term, supposedly on corruption and moral grounds.

August 2006 - The bishops should undo an Arroyo wrong

Data from a top independent survey firm show an alarming trend of double-digit incidence of hunger in over straight years. Corruption in government ballooned to unprecedented levels such that since Arroyo's ascent to power, Transparency International has consistently rated the Philippines with having endemic corruption. Violations of human rights are back to, or worse than Martial Law levels, 25 years ago. The gory deaths of two university coeds add to the hundreds of extra judicial killings recorded in only five years. Amid all these crises, the Filipinos have been waiting for the Church leaders to beckon them to a moral but decisive course of action.

The least the bishops should really do now is to collectively declare support for the impeachment in order to boost its chances of passing through the administration-controlled Congress. The more ideal move, though, would be for the Catholic Church to join in the clamor for Arroyo to step down, as it so loudly and boldly did against then President Joseph Estrada. But as the CBCP, the official organization of Catholic episcopacy, chose to remain lame and tolerant towards a publicly pious regime but which runs the country like hell, any sensible Catholic can't help but question and suspect.

It is perplexing how the wise fathers can continue to believe Arroyo's virtual reality of good governance and moral leadership. Is it that in the Church's calling to influence state policies affecting morals, they have elected to regard the stifling of basic political freedoms as necessary collateral damage? Or is the CBCP simply afraid to admit that the EDSA II Revolt, which deposed her predecessor, was a debacle of grim national proportions? Or are the bishops perhaps amiss with the spirit of humility such that they refuse to atone and undo their Arroyo wrong?

Not since the Spanish colonial era has the Catholic Church in the Philippines enjoyed the kind of influence it wields under Mrs. Arroyo's reign. Is it not enough that the devoutly religious Filipinos have tolerated the blurring of the divide separating the Church and the State? Only a month prior to the impeachment issues, the Church lauded the repeal of the death penalty in an unusually hasty action by Congress. When its leader Rev. Angel Lagdameo restated a few days later that the CBCP will not stand to support another impeachment nor will ask Arroyo to resign, the bishops have invited seemingly valid suspicions that the Church is as power hungry as the President it helped install. It is either that or in the crusade to save the unborn and the capital offenders, the Church in the Philippines blindly refuses to break its pact with the devil.

December 2008 - Flagging Filipino Christian spirit

An essential element to goodness is to admit to a wrong, no matter how heinous and collective, so that the wrong can be undone. Just recently, Ex-President Aquino recently publicly admitted to her wrongful part in the EDSA 2 uprising, and apologized to the deposed and defamed President Estrada in no uncategorical terms.

The Filipino cardinals and bishops can do no less. Archbishop Oscar Cruz has already written about Arroyo's "consistent high rating in corruption in form of big guile and gross deceit in the management of public funds [and] a continuous low grade of approval in terms of pervasive distrust and enormous dissatisfaction." However, if the local Catholic Church is to regain its moral ascendancy in the Philippines, the CBCP would have to officially admit to their seditious role in EDSA 2 with as much consensus as they wielded in calling for Estrada's resignation and ouster back in 2000-early 2001, and in installing and continuing to support an Arroyo who never had the genuine mandate to serve as president. Next step is to help give back to the Filipinos the right to be governed by the leader they have truly elected and not just any one falsely legitimized by a conspiracy of powerful elites.

Undoing the terrible wrong that is Arroyo is righteous because it is the spiritual and social responsibility of the Church to fight the cloud of evil reigning in the land. It has erred against the people and against the Church when it conspired against a properly elected president. Only by helping ensure righteous and popular governance in the land can there be a chance of regaining the Filipino Christmas spirit that is merry in both righteousness and material grace.

[In exchange for Catholic prelate support], she practically adopted Church teachings on population planning and even gave in to Church pressures against the death penalty. Despite the backing of the Church however, Arroyo's presidency has been shown in periodic surveys as the most distrusted and disliked, with double figure negative trust ratings and with more than half of the population, the masses in particular, wanting her to either resign or be removed...

So clear that the Philippine Catholic church is in part responsible for Arroyo's reign of political immorality and disastrous governance. The government they helped install and have supported for so long is so corrupt and mismanaged it couldn't even give the capital region a semblance of decent preparedness for natural disasters. Many have decried that the government was nowhere during the critical hours of the Ondoy flash floods, with its responsibilities taken up largely by private entities and the broadcast media.

Lagdameo concludes the very politically polite CBCP statement with: Nagtatanong lang kami! We do not have the answer! That is why let us also pray!"The men in robes are unsure of the answers now but they were so sure what to do during the heyday of the anti-Estrada movement. The prelates and nuns should have just confined themselves to praying back in late 2000-January 2001.

Excerpts taken from:

Bernardo, Jesusa. Will the Filipino bishops undo an Arroyo wrong? August 2006. Published at Sobriety for the Philippines Blog 4 May 2007. http://forthephilippines.blogspot.com/2007/05/archived-article-august-2006-will.html

Bernardo, Jesusa. Blaring Simbang Gabi sound speakers & the flagging Christmas spirit. 23 December 2008. http://forthephilippines.blogspot.com/2008/12/blaring-simbang-gabi-church-sound.html

(Updated Oct 6, 2009 1:30 AM HK+8 )

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References:

Additional Findings on Corruption-Related Issues (Most/Least Corrupt Philippine Presidents). Pulse Asia Site. 2007. http://pulseasia.com.ph/pulseasia/story.asp?id=632

Lagdameo, Angel. Year 2009, Typhoons: Are they God's Hints?. CBCP Website. 2 October 2009. http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/10691

NASA. Hurricane Season 2009: Typhoon Ketsana (Western Pacific). http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2009/h2009_Ketsana.html

"Second Quarter 2008 Social Weather Survey: PGMA’s net rating falls to record-low –38." 18 July 2008. Social Weather Stations Site. http://www.sws.org.ph/pr080718.htm

The Most Corrupt President in Philippine History: Table 2. PulseAsia Site. http://pulseasia.com.ph/resources/photos/table2_corruption_0710.gif

2 storms’ damage now P8.4B. 5 Oct. 2009. Business Mirror Site. http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/16918-2-storms-damage-now-p84b.htmlop News

Photo Credits:

BBC.com. Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy). 30 Sept. 2009. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/typhoon_ketsana_ondoy.html


BBC News. In pictures: Cardinal Sin's life. 21 June 2005.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4114016.stm


Philippines is in Urgent Need for Help: Typhoon Ondoy Aftermath. http://mhauckonline.blogspot.com/2009/09/philippines-is-in-urgent-need-for-help.html#more

Slideshow: After ‘Ondoy,’ Grief. Bulatlat.com. 30 Sept. 2009. http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/09/30/slideshow-after-ondoy-grief/

UNITAR/UNOSAT.  Canadian Space Agency Image processing. Map created 29 Sept. 2009. http://www.disasterscharter.org/image/journal/article.jpg?img_id=56046&t=1254300668961