Category: Philippines

Robert Tiglao never answered the call of the Senate.

It is perhaps for this reason that PNoy gave Purisima a gentle exit.
I have asked around about how PNoy deals with his friends in his official family.
I learned from highly reliable sources that it was PNoy who had ordered Purisima to face the music at the Senate inquiry of Senator Grace Poe over his alleged mansions. He told Purisima, despite their long-standing friendship, that he had to go and defend himself publicly from such allegations.
I can’t recall any other post-Marcos president who did the same thing to a friend. If you recall, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo even issued Executive Order 464 banning all executive officials from appearing at the Senate without her prior consent. So if my  former Business Day newspaper colleague Bobi Tiglao is going to rail at the way PNoy gave Purisima a gentle heave-ho, whisper into his ear “EO 464.”
via raissa robles | PNoy and Binay on broken friendships.

A Few Cases
Bus Massacre: The rescue was botched. Follow-up was handled well. I recently blogged on that: “Why Mayor Estrada Is Wrong On Hong Kong”
Gloria Arroyo: He jailed her immediately. No pardon. But let’s criticize the glacial pace of justice.
Appointing Chief Justice Sereno: He had the courage to extract Chief Justice Corona from position then defy convention by selecting a junior justice who will seal the Court to integrity for many years.
Ampatuan Massacre: He immediately confronted and jailed a powerful warlord. Another ding for glacial justice.  Arroyo, my bad. JoeAm
The Sultan’s Foray into Malaysia: He was firm. He controlled the outcome without derailing the Mindanao Agreement.
American Ship Reefed in Tabataha: He was calm and firm about restitution.
Taiwan Fisherman’s Shooting: He kept his perspective in the face of the Taiwan President’s undiplomatic rant, and subdued a potentially volatile incident.
China In Philippine Territory: He has taken the high road, one of laws, and has not been provoked by China’s relentless taunts.
Puno and Other Loyalists: He was loyal back. He did not wilt under the pressure of the media sensationalist glare.
Reluctance to Back FOI: I’m not understanding why he does not enthusiastically see FOI as hand-in-hand with good governance. FOI should not have to swim upriver. Ding on the issue.
Zamboanga: He was on scene, firm on not negotiating, and handled VP Binay’s out-of-line stab at a peace agreement quietly.
Negotiations with America on Basing: He insists on staying firmly within Philippine laws.
Typhoon Yolanda and a Confrontational Mayor: He did not accede to the Mayor’s game-playing and refuses to back incompetence.
Take any one of these issues and put yourself at the helm.
Wow. Any one is a potential back-breaker. In the limelight. Dealing with powerful people. Dealing with explosive issues. Every decision, to speak or not to speak, to decide or not to decide, comes under the spotlight of crooks and others who carry about their personal bitterness or agendas. This is not tiddly-winks folks.
via Why I Respect President Aquino | The Society of Honor by Joe America.

People ask perfection when there is no such thing in this world. They criticize in hindsight but lack the mental elasticity to put themselves in other people’s shoes. To see or try to feel what they were feeling. Filipinos ask perfection but ask it from them and they squirm. They declare something but fail to think things through. Any evidence against their opinion is not considered. Any unsubstantiated rumor weighs heavier than verified truth. If Binay is elected president or if this call for PNoys resignation gains steam, I am fucking leaving this hell of a country. You people dont fucking know how lucky we are right now with this damn stupid inconsiderate distant insensitive President we have.
 

Take these critics for example:
Organizations like Bayan Muna simply do not recognize good deeds unless they smack of 1950’s anti-capitalist rhetoric and total destruction of wealth-building mechanisms. They sharpshoot at every opportunity and they are loud out of proportion to their authority.
The mayor of Tacloban. My son would call him a “Whimpy Doodle”. If you listen to that mayor, he is accountable for exactly nothing that went wrong in his city during and after Typhoon Yolanda.
And the newspapers, which intoxicate themselves by thinking that shallow sensationalism is a profound finding and any slander is worth printing.
And the plunderers and crooks who are intent upon making the accuser the guilty party. They are another bunch that knows no accountability. Nor shame.
Those critics are worth ignoring.
I respect President Aquino because he has stuck to a responsible path for four years. He has been serious and sincere and honest.
He has held to a path of integrity.
He demands a lot of others. I respect him for that. He demands a lot from his cabinet, from his staff, from those who serve the public, and from you and me. And you know what, most of the time:
It is not he who fails us.
It is we who fail him.
Is our need for personal justification more important than the Philippines? Have we lost touch with the meaning of sacrifice? I’m not talking about throwing our bodies on a grenade, just allowing others some wiggle room if they take a different decision than we would.
Is that so hard?
via Why I Respect President Aquino | The Society of Honor by Joe America.

“It was mission accomplished,” said the father of one of the 44 members of the police Special Action Force (SAF) who were killed in an encounter with Moro rebels on Jan. 25 in Maguindanao province.
Former Army MSgt. Perlito Agabon said the death of his son PO2 Chump Agabon and of the others had become more meaningful in the wake of reports that top Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” had been confirmed dead by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The father’s statement is in sharp contrast to the sentiments of critics of President Aquino who are calling for his resignation for what they call was a botched police operation to arrest two international terrorists in Mamasapano town.
via ‘Aquino absolved’ as SAF mission succeeds | Inquirer News.

We must take measure of the man and his acts and find the balance.
 
A Philippines in the brink of growth. Growth that will spell a good life for the other 99%.
A Philippines that is finally trying to bring justice to high level politicians.
A Philippines whose actions are a template for conflict resolution among countries.
 
We, each one of us must fuck with sentimentalism and sensationalism. It only enriches the pockets of media barons whose fortunes are tied with how many ad spaces they can sell.
 
I am for a Philippines of laws. I am for a Philippines where the President can make mistakes and we calmly tell him, It is not okay but nobody is perfect.
 
 

Lost to the emotional is the vision of a Philippines on the rise in Asia and the world, of strong economic fundamentals and the kind of growth that could assure better care for the poor IF IT WERE MAINTAINED. Of a peaceful, law-based approach to conflict that seeks to avoid the tears of war. ITLOS, a courageous act, for peace. BBL, an inspired thrust for peace. All led by this same hard-hearted, honest president with his calm, determined eye on a better way to do things.
But you will not read of that in the tabloids. The tabloids will not point out that this man wants peace and stability and better care and fewer dead. No, in the tabloids, the crooks, political opponents, leftists and malcontents are actually JOINED by the emotional to raise the pitch of discontent to a fevered wail.
And in the noise of that wail, all the good things don’t matter. The President’s honesty does not matter. His desire and work for peace and a better life for the living don’t matter. Keeping the economy running smoothly does not matter.
via The Philippines: promise on the brink | The Society of Honor by Joe America.

Our democratic framework may suggest the contrary: that our leaders obey us, the people. The President has referred to the people as his bosses. But obeying his bosses may be exceedingly difficult when their voices rise noisily from the gut and are unmediated by reason, when they are divided and contradictory, when they are ruled by dark spirits of anger, hatred and violence. Then the President who respects his bosses has quietly to lead his bosses to truth, to hope, and to action that supports the welfare of all.
via President Aquino’s second address on Mamasapano.

Below is President Benigno Aquino III’s address to the nation televised from Malacañang on Friday, February 6. Almost two weeks after 44 Special Action Force commandos were killed in Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, on January 25, the President promised to pursue the terrorist who escaped the operation, Basit Usman. He also vowed to continue working toward peace and put in place reforms in the Philippine National Police. He confirmed that he had accepted the resignation of his close friend, suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima.
The path to peace is not easy to tread. Many Filipinos have given their lives in the fight against those who wish for continued violence and discord. It is our policemen and soldiers who are the most opposed to war, precisely because they are the first in line, and because they make the greatest sacrifice when fighting breaks out. As President and Commander-in-Chief, I am fully responsible for any result—any triumph, any suffering, and any tragedy – that may result from our desire for lasting peace and security.
On January 24, our Special Action Force conducted an operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. Their targets were two notorious terrorists: Primarily, Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Abu Marwan, a Malaysian, and Basit Usman. The operation against Marwan was successful.
In exchange for this triumph, we paid a heavy price. 44 heroes from the Special Action Force gave their lives. To the bereaved families: Last Friday, I made a request to meet you, and I am thankful that you agreed to have that meeting at a time when I could speak with you, with sufficient knowledge on what had happened, and concrete proposals for your futures. Just as I was responsible for your loved ones, so too am I responsible for you; it is my duty to ensure that the sacrifices made by your relatives are repaid. My promise to you remains unchanged: During my remaining 17 months in office, I am doing, and will continue to do, everything I can to guarantee your families’ well-being.
via FULL TEXT: Mamasapano tragedy will never happen again.

To those who are calling for P-Noy’s resignation: Are you out of your minds? Rational behavior requires an action, or decision, to be “worth it”—that the extra benefits arising from that action should exceed the extra costs. I challenge them to show that this is the case in P-Noy’s resignation. I am, of course, talking about benefits and costs to the country, not to private individuals.Off the top of my head, the major cost to the country of his resignation would be that we would have Vice President Jejomar Binay in the driver’s seat, just in time for him to ensure his election in 2016 and everything that it implies. Do we really want that?What would be the benefit to the country? Or, put another way, would Jejomar Binay be better for us than P-Noy?Say what you will about P-Noy, he is not at all tainted with any charge of corruption or of unexplained wealth. And he has waged an unrelenting, albeit sometimes reluctant, war against it. And the results of that war are shown by the country’s generally improved status in international indexes of corruption and overall competitiveness. Now, judging from past experience, would Jojo Binay do any better?
via Resignation at what cost? | Inquirer Opinion.

Community Fan For Life!!!!

The show has gotten almost no major award love, mainly because so few people actually watched it and the reliance or references to nerd-culture or niche items like Dungeons and Dragons (which resulted in one of the finest episodes not just of Community, but of comedy period in the last 20 years), puppets, paintball (two amazing episodes here), Doctor Who (Inspector Spacetime), The Right Stuff, M*A*S*H, spaghetti westerns, Batman, Who’s the Boss, and so many other strange tidbits probably just flew over the head of the voters. While Downton Abbey has been racking up hardware, Community has been racking up cool points. That’s about as accurate a description as is available to explain how the program has been on for five years, delighting a vast majority of critics, but never making a dent in the mainstream or on the red carpet. In this case, it’s less a disappointment than it is expected. It doesn’t matter that Community isn’t highly decorated. We all just know it’s fantastic. That’s enough.
NBC did a horrendous, almost non-existent job in advertising the show or acting as if they cared whether it was on the schedule or not. Despite those shortcomings, Community is going to be with us forever. Six seasons when it felt like three might be the ceiling. Six seasons when the creator and lifeblood of the show was fired after the fourth year. Six seasons when NBC brought it back and burned it off, then quietly axed it. Six seasons because Yahoo offered Harmon a chance to keep it going on their new Yahoo Screen technology and finally, because, as Harmon himself described it at last year’s Comic Con:
Yahoo called me and they seemed really smart and cool. I thought – I cannot be the one to not do this.
And, Dan, as a result of your unflinching vision and your willingness to risk it all every week to tell the story you wanted, outside of the network that seemed merely to tolerate your show, as a result of your amazing cast, almost all extremely likable on and off screen, and as a result of something truly unique on a medium that can fall into extreme malaise, particularly in comedy — as a result of all of that.
You’re number five bro. And that’s, in the words of Abed, “cool cool cool cool cool.”
All five current seasons of Community are available on Hulu and the sixth season will begin in March, exclusively on the new Yahoo Screen streaming service. You’ve got time to catch up.
via Top 10 Comedies: #5 Community | FOX Sports.

What better way to honor the fallen 44 than to complete the mission that caused their deaths.

Aquino to MILF: Clear the way.
This was the message sent by President Benigno Aquino III to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief peace negotiator as government security forces moved to intensify the hunt for Afghan-trained terrorist Abdul Basit Usman.
The Inquirer learned from a well-placed source that Mr. Aquino sent the message to Mohagher Iqbal through Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles shortly after 44 elite police commandos were killed in a clash with Moro guerrillas in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province, on Sunday.
In his message to Iqbal, the President asked for three things: For the MILF to surrender Usman if some of its fighters were coddling him; to help the government get Usman; and for MILF base commands to clear the way for government security forces to operate and get Usman.
via Aquino tells MILF: Get out of the way | Inquirer News.