These past weeks have seen the assault on Meralco bring its stocks value down. Losing more than 20% in the stock market, the Lopezes may soon lose its grip on the electric company. What is the real motive behind the attack on Meralco? Ome would say that Gloria is trying to bring her image up, others would say the abusive Meralco has to be made accoutable. I have my own personal view on the real score.

Muddled in the issue, we have forgotten that Transco is now owned by GMA’s allies. With NAPOCOR yet to be fully privatized, and could be very costly for anyone to try to acquire at this time, the best option is to attack the distribution side first. With Meralco’s value dropping, the GREEDY GROUP can now buy more shares to finally wrest the power from the Lopezes. With this, the monopoly will soon change hands. With taxes and NAPOCOR’s inefficiencies, power rates is unlikely to go down.

Clearly the two-pronged attack on Meralco will benefit not you and me but those whose image needs a makeover and of course those who are out to make a huge profit. Utilities much like the food business can hardly ever fail. One can easily make money while sitting around. Electricity is after all an essential component of everyone’s life. Prostituting advocacy in the name of greed is one of the best moves this corrupt administration has ever made. Just imagine the how “good” Gloria will look in the eyes of the masses and how rich her gang would be after they get control of both distribution and transmission sides of the power sector. Now, they can easily acquire some of NAPOCOR’s assets and the circle would be complete.

This was planned from the start. With Mikey Arroyo heading the energy committee, they gave gained a very comfortable foothold in their bid to control the power sector. They now have a very influential say on where the power sector should head. So it seems that the GREEDY GROUP has yet to satisfy its hunger for more mullah. What a way of ensuring that they will enjoy a good life way past Gloria’s reign.

As for Gloria, 2010 may yet be gentle to her. Her successor could be kind to her or she may opt to stay on, relying of course on a succession of events that could “force” her to seek “emergency powers”. Despite the posturing of several presidentiables, greed can make one do the unthinkable and unexpected. These presidential pretenders could wake up one morning only to realize that there is no such thing as elections in the Philippines. At leats they have their product endorsements to fall back on.

At a time when mistrust for GMA is growing, her strategy now is to buy out the people. The illegal tenant of Malacañang has been announcing subsidies for the poorest of the poor. Alleviating the plight of the poor should have begun on the very first day Gloria took office. With barely two years before she ends(?) her criminal reign, she will go on a bribing spree. With her economic programs clearly hitting the people hard, her only option is to dole out scraps.

Giving out cash without concrete sustainable programs is utter stupidity. One cannot close a gaping wound with band aids. With her bludgeoning EVat and the rising cost of living, empty pockets and grumbling stomachs will not go very far with measly P500 dole outs. While she avoids crossing her criminal-minded allies, she dangles P20 wage increases to the underpaid slaves. She refuses to suspend her pet, the EVat because it would expose her economic incompetence. Even investors have began shying away due not only to her corrupt bureaucracy but her unstable programs as well.

Putting the blame of her ineptitude on her critics is the only thing she can do. She has to divert the attention of the irate populace to stay in power. Now, even announcing projected increases in oil prices is being prevented. We have the right to know what we are facing so we can prepare for the worst. It is the government’s responsibility to keep us informed. Gloria should suspend the EVat on oil and power if she is sincere in easing our sufferings. While the cost of oil increases, so does the VAT. At present levels, about P7/liter is being collected by the government. Removing the VAT would lower the cost of everything.

The P500 electricity subsidy should be paid directly to the power company instead giving it to individuals. We have no assurance that these monies will go to the intended recipients with this government’s track record of misusing funds. I am sure that Gloria will use this for photo ops again. Just imagine her being shown giving out “gifts” to the poor? This would be a great propaganda opportunity to make it appear that she is doing something for the people. P500 would not go far, it is only good for three square meals a day. After it has been spent, the poor family will go back to its miserable life. This dole out is no different from the money given out to buy votes.

Our so-called leaders live off our taxes. We pay for their gas, their phone bills, their trips and even their power bills. While they go around with blaring sirens in big gas-guzzling luxury vehicles, we have to walk under the blazing sun bathing in our sweat while inhaling toxic fumes. They sit in aircontioned offices while more and more people ply their wares in the streets only to be taken away by Gestapo-like goons of Bayani’s MMDA. At a time when we face desperation, we look for inspiration. We do not need rhetorical speeches and political gimmickry.

So what do you call these dole outs? Bribery? Maybe cover-up funds, or diversionary funds perhaps? At the end of the day, incompetence and dereliction of duty is what Gloria is guilty of. Of course her other crimes against the people should never be forgotten.

It’s out, an undersecretary of the Dept. of Agriculture testified in Jocjoc Bolante’s asylum case in the US. To refresh your memory, Bolante was involved in the P3billion fertizer fund scam which was diverted to GMA’s presidential campaign kitty back in 2004. Bolante has been serving prison time in Chicago and has filed an appeal for his case.

Atty. Harry Roque has been actively following the case and was the one who unmasked the witness. The undersecretary is still in active service. Palace parrot, USec. Golez defended the usec. and said that it might have been in his personal capacity and perception that DA Usec. Montes testified for Bolante. Montes asserted that there are threats to Bolante’s life from the Philippine Senate.

Golez added that Roque should bring the case to the proper courts. Well, the senate did send the recommendations to the Ombudsman but agency has been sitting on the case. They said that Bolante is no longer a government official but they would still look into it. Such is the culture of impunity that pervades in our country. Accountability simply does not exist. With all agencies controlled by Gloria, justice can never be had.

The only threat Bolante is facing is the possibility that with his testimony, Gloria could be indicted in the fertilizer scam. The information Atty. Roque has discovered is another expose that could send chills up GMA’s spine. Montes being an undersecretary is an alter ego of Gloria. The palace hand has been caught in the cookie jar again. The palace will be in panic mode again and would lie through its teeth to muddle the issue. So the ghost of the fertilizer scam has come back to haunt Gloria. The embattled illegitimate president will have to throw in more rhetorics to divert the people’s attention. Unresolved scandals continue to hound her till her last days in office.

We have to make sure that should she step down, her successor would give the people the elusive justice we all seek. And let’s all be vigilant so that GMA cannot pull a fast one on us through another Charter Change.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to blogsphere’s most famous blogger, Manolo Quezon. May you have more blessings and happiness. I hope you can all drop by his blog and share with him this special day.

Tell the people what they want to hear, and for sure they would listen. This is what GMA is doing now. Her motive of course is to appease the people who has been pummeled by the rising cost of living. If she is to survive until 2010, she has no other option but to do what is popular than what is right. This also diverts the people’s attention from the systemic raping of the country by her gang. Of course this is nothing new to Gloria, she has mastered the art of lying.

Diverting attention has been her forte and she has managed to stave off threats over the years. With the crises engulfing us hitting where it really hurts, people tend to get restless and the crimes of her administrations becomes more evident. When the rice crisis erupted, she went around handing out bags of rice. When high energy cost started hurting us, she sent marching orders to Winston Garcia. But of course she will never admit that her EVAT is causing us more harm than good. Her indiscriminate borrowing is the root cause of our problems. Add the corruption that has been institutionalized during her administration, then you have the perfect recipe for an incurable disease.

I expect Gloria to go after companies that the people perceive to be the causes of our hard lives. I suppose she would go after the oil companies next and then the water utilities after. Glaring as it is, she never touched NAPOCOR, ERC, TRANSCO or the really big smugglers in our ports. She never even bothered to investigate the price-fixing allegations in the power sector. She closes her eyes to the fact that she has mismanaged the country’s economic affairs. She has entered into agreements detrimental to the country and to the people. She undertook and wasted so much resources on projects we don’t really need.

Legacy is about concrete results and about inspiring people. It is not about rhetorics, political gimmickry and lies. Legacy is something you leave behind so that people may realize their dreams. The only dreams she had realized are those of the greedy and power hungry. She has left more people destitute and hungry while those close to her devour what little we have left. We need reforms and accountability. She has not delivered anything during her 7-year reign. The country had sunk deeper and is on the verge of collapse. Life could not have been worse and the hardest hit are the very pillars of society, the families.

With life getting worse, families are torn apart with parents and children separated due to economic woes. Dole outs do not help at all, what we need are opportunities that would offer the people more. We do not need words that slowly caresses us to death. Instead of strengthening the country, GMA is slowly selling us off piece by piece. Her eyes widen at the prospect of how much she and her gang will be dividing.

We are all alone. Our leaders have deserted us. Words are the only things we have in our pockets and hope is what is left in our hearts. We will be inheriting the devastation Gloria has left. She and her family will be living comfortably while we enslave ourselves to pay off her debts. We are collateral damage to her corrupt practices and will have to try survive her holocaust. Rhetorical speeches, that’s about the only thing is she good at.

She now walks on very thin ice, one wrong move and she will be ousted. She should thank the people’s patience. If we had been a different race, she would have been kicked out a long time ago. Borrowing the words of Joey Salceda, “she is one lucky bitch.”

We’ve been hearing this phrase “systems loss” for several weeks now. It’s suppose to mean loss through pilferage or in simpler terms, stolen. Meralco has been under fire from all sectors because it passes on their “systems losses” to their consumers. Because of their ineptitude, we are the ones who end up paying. We are being forced to pay for their failure and and supposed mismanagement. While Gloria’s pack headed by GSIS president Winston Garcia is clawing at the heels of the Lopezes, it’s high time we make Gloria’s administration accountable for their own “systems loss” the we the people are paying for.

Corruption has been institutionalized under Gloria’s watch. We are now the 8th most corrupt country in the world. Because this administration has been mismanaging the country, we are the ones paying the price. Loans and aids continue to be misused. Bribery and kickbacks rampant and GMA and her gang continue to make fools of us. With almost all institutions under her control, we are helpless against their onslaught. Just like Meralco, they have turned our country into a monopoly wherein we have no other choice but to take what they dish out.

Systems loss is when we are heavily taxed not because the government is trying to increase social services but because we need to pay our ballooning debt. Systems loss is when small importers pay more because smugglers pay less. Systems loss is when Gloria needs to bribe the lower house and she distributes loot bags full of money buy the loyalty of our local officials. Systems loss is when we have to pay for her junkets and trips that amount to nothing. Systems loss is when we spend millions of dollars for embassies which do not look after the welfare of our migrant workers. Systems loss is when politicians use their pork barrels for their personal gains and promotion. Systems loss is when we have to pay for overpriced projects which are substandard. Systems loss is when government pushes for projects we don’t really need.

I am very sure there are more systems loss being charged to us by this corrupt and inept administration. Hidden under the rug are billions of unexplained expenditures which this administration has yet to account for. It is Gloria’s politicking that is destroying this country. Because she needs to make her allies happy and loyal, we have to bear the brunt of their systems loss. Meralco maybe abusing us but we should not be blinded by Gloria’s populist rhetorics. GMA and her gang should refund to us the systems loss of this administration.

While our government boasts of a vibrant democracy, hidden in the shadows is its human rights abuses. As bloggers around the world unite for human rights we in the Philippines would like the world to know about what is happening in our country. Abductions, enforced disappearances and summary executions are a dime a dozen here. Journalists, youths and even judges are not spared. The violations run in the thousands since Gloria and her henchmen took over the reins of power.

The most glaring assault on press freedom was that of the alleged failed coup last Nov. 29, 2007. An elected senator, a general and several civilians locked themselves in a hotel in the prime city of Makati. Journalists who covered the event was later summarily arrested and brought to a military camp to be questioned. The GMA administration threatened the journalists of charges of obstruction and aiding and abetting the alleged participants of the coup. Even foreign journalists were not spared. Though released soon after, the government left a chilling effect on the media. The GMA-controlled Dept. of Justice also threatened the hapless journalists.

Access to information is also being denied to the public. Any personality who exposes anomalies are charged with libel or worst, kidnapped. Members of progressive groups who have been educating rural folks of their rights are branded communists and liquidated. Men, women and children are not spared from harassment by security forces. During an encounter last year between rebels and the military, a young child was shot pointblank by a soldier. They planted an assault rifle bigger than the slain child and made it appear that the poor kid was a child-soldier.

Due process is nonexistent as the administration controls all institutions of government. The corruption that pervades has made life so hard that hunger and malnutrition in children is common. Many of the less fortunate subsist on foraging for food in garbage cans. Child labor is widespread and an accepted norm. Despite assertions by the government that poverty has decreased, the reality on the ground shows otherwise.

Women may enjoy equal rights on paper, but more often than not, victims of rape end up being blamed for what happened to them. Hypocrisy and apathy by the very people tasked to protect rape victims has led to numerous unreported cases of rape. Children victimized by pedophiles suffer in silence. A convicted child rapist would have been released had it not been exposed by the vigilant media.

A student who died during a fraternity hazing is yet to be served justice. Perpetrators of the crime still roam freely due to the protection of influential members who are in government. Connections to personalities in power leave the citizens to the hands of lawless gangs who has no respect for human rights and justice. Death squads roam with impunity through the auspices of local officials. Life is cheap in this country and killings go unsolved because of an indifferent justice system and an apathetic society.

People are terrorized into submission. With government condoning outright abuse, justice comes slow to those who seek it. Government only shows superficial efforts to address these violations to appease the international community. The reality is that the administration would rather enrich themselves than do its job. The proof of our government insincerity is its refusal to ratify the Rome statute that could pave the for a genuine resolution to human rights abuses.

Human rights is the foundation for a modern global society. Unless these abuses stop, the world will forever have strife and suffering. Each one of us must do our share in pressuring our leaders and the the peoples of the world that for peace and progress to reign, protecting the rights of all is imperative.

Education is suppose to be a right and not a privilege. It is every parent’s dream to see his children finish school. A bill filed by Rep. Rufus Rodriguez aims make liable, parents who fail to send their children to school. The law in itself is laudable and should be passed. Education Secretary, Jesli Lapus is also pushing for the passing of this bill. He adds that children should be in school and that poverty is not an excuse.

While I agree philosophically, the reality is that the high dropout rate is a consequence of the government’s ineptitude. Public education is indeed free in the primary and secondary levels but there are hidden expenses that Lapus and Rodriguez should consider as well. Poverty plays a humongous role in education. Infrastructure and accessibility are other factors to consider too.

It is so easy to put the blame on parents and not the government. If this bill is passed, then Gloria should be charged as well. The government has a program of putting 15 year olds to work. Isn’t this espousing child labor as well? With GMA’s computation of squeezing in kids in a cramped classroom, what kind of education will the children be getting? The government cannot even provide textbooks and other materials to allow for genuine education. Despite pouring billions in our education system, the lack of educators continue to plague the system.

Schools are also far from some communities that kids as young as six have to walk for hours just to get to school. Some schools even conduct mixed-grade classes. This further compounds the problem of learning. The rising cost of living and lack of opportunities add to the woes of parents. It has been reported that a family of five must earn a daily income of P842/day to live decently. With the low wages, even the middle class is having a hard time to make ends meet.

Corruption and misuse of government resources is one of the biggest problems we face. Congress and the other government agencies throw away billions in projects we do not need. While there are legislators who do pour their pork barrels in education, a bigger number of them do not. The government relies heavily on the private sector in the name of corporate responsibility to its job. NGOs both foreign and local have also been immersed in programs to help the education system in the country.

But Gloria and her gang has this penchant to redirect blame on others. They cover up their crimes by diverting attention away from them. Now it’s the parents who must suffer because of their indiscretions. I am sure the kids would not be forced to stop schooling if their parents have decent jobs or an opportunity to earn decently.

Government must also push for a genuine family planning program. It lacks political will to undergo such a deviation from the norm and is so afraid of losing the church’s support. Perhaps the government should focus more on this before pointing fingers. The government should also make accountable those among its ranks continue to steal from the nation’s coffers. Rodriguez and those like him perhaps do not feel the economic pinch the country is in. Congressmen have huge allowances and pork barrel that they allocate improperly. Some of our politicians also have numerous “families” to feed and wives to please which of course results to corruption.

Public education may have been good in the past, but not today. With tuition fees in private schools increasing every year, many of those who cannot cope transfer their kids to public schools. This in turn eases out those in the lower rungs of society. Had Gloria concentrated on specific institutions instead of spreading our resources thinly, we wouldn’t be in this situation. She should have allocated an entire year’s budget on one institution per year and perhaps development in these institutions could have been adequate.

I hope that all concerned agencies would conduct further research before passing this bill. Parents I know should be made responsible but we must weigh in all the factors. We also must first make accountable those whose corrupt practices have led to the hard life Filipinos are in. Education is fast becoming a privilege than a right. Bark if you must but please bite the right people.

Susan ‘Toots’ Ople of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center sent a list of alternatives benefits to somehow address the plight of our workers. Join us in spreading this to all.

News Release
Blas F. Ople Policy Center
April 27, 2008

Ople Center recommends additional non-wage benefits for May 1

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center proposed five specific non-wage benefits that the government can study as part of its package of benefits to workers on Thursday, May 1 also known as Labor Day.

Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, who heads the BFO Policy Center, said high costs of rice, food and oil should encourage the government to think about urgent ways to help workers around the country cope with inflation and the erosion of their purchasing power.

The Center recommends that the government consider:

1. Declaring a temporary yet mandatory four-day work week for all government agencies except for those dealing with public health and national security. A four-day work week will enable government workers to save on transportation and food costs while giving them a three-day weekend that they could use to be with their families or to jumpstart micro enterprises. This would also help ease traffic on Fridays which could in turn alleviate stress on the part of the driving and riding public. This will also help government save on its energy costs.
2. Citing occupational health and safety standards as a way to compel the Business Processing and Outsourcing industry to invest in free shuttle services for their employees. Night shift call center agents, especially young women, have to pay extra for taxi fare to ensure their own personal security while going to or leaving their place of work everyday. Given the substantial earnings of the biggest call center companies in Metro Manila and other urban cities, such investments would go a long way in promoting the well-being of their employees. As an alternative, successful BPOs should provide daily transport allowances to night-shift employees and workers on top of their regular pay.
3. The government can also expand and maximize the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) during the summer break. Very few employers and students are aware of this program and yet it represents a good vehicle for skills training and development. On the part of the students, the SPES under DOLE’s supervision, enables them to gain work experience while at the same time saving up for their tuition fees in the forthcoming semesters. SPES deserves a re-launch with the full participation of the different chambers of commerce.
4. Fast-track an emergency employment program that would tap jobless yet experienced ex-OFWs and early retirees who have certain skills sets and good work ethics honed through the years. For example, in nearly every department, there is always a backlog of data and information that needs to be encoded and digitized. The hiring of qualified ex-OFWs and early retirees from the private and public sectors to help meet such backlogs can form part of this program which is geared towards enhancing productivity of the workforce and stimulating the economy.
5. Develop employment opportunities in the creative economy through outsourcing. This is something that can easily be done at the national and local levels. The different departments can stimulate the economy by outsourcing programs and projects that qualified NGOs and freelance creative groups and individuals can do. Rather than just putting out bidding announcements for equipments and supplies, the government must also learn to look outwards by encouraging department heads to outsource certain programs to the private sector. This will help stimulate government interaction with young creative minds and dynamic civil society groups. This would also expose bureaucrats to market and technology-driven concepts and realities. Government outsourcing requires a new mindset that now prevails in many bureaucracies around the world.

Ople said the five points can be fleshed out by the government through the labor department with representatives of big business and civil society.

“We need fresh perspectives on how to combine public policy with the government’s clout as an employment-innovator. If done right, the public sector can assume a leading role in job generation, even if these are work assignments that are time-bound and objectives-driven,” the BFO Center stressed.

The BFO Policy Center said it would submit a memo to Labor Secretary Marianito Roque containing the five unsolicited recommendations. “If one or two of them are considered, then that is already a positive contribution of the Center to Labor Day,” Ople said.

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center is a non-government organization formed in honor of the memory of the late Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople. It was during Ople’s time as labor secretary that the overseas employment program was created. He is also acknowledged as the Father of the Philippine Labor Code.

While long queues of people line up to get their daily ration of NFA rice, somewhere in the south of Manila, fate of farmers hang in the balance. As the saga of the Sumilao farmers end, a new battle looms in the horizon. This time around, farmers of Calatagan, Batangas are about to lose their lands. These lands that they have toiled on and have paid fully are now about to be turned into mines. So it seems that it becomes more and more apparent that this administration lacks political will, even becoming hatchet men of the rich. While there are calls for a stop to land conversion, those that are under dispute are not covered by this call.

The case of the Calatagan farmers stemmed from an unlawful order backed by an antiquated report by both the Dept. of Agrarian Reform and the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources. Food security has been abandoned in the name of environmental destruction. The Dept. of Agrarian Reform has time and again taken the side of the rich than do what is mandated by law. The DAR is supposed to address social justice and not pure injustice. Perhaps those who crafted the CARP never intended to address the plight of the poor. Provisions were inserted that weakened and undermined the true essence land reform and social justice.

The gravity of the implications of the Calatagan case cannot be denied. This is a human rights violation in its purest form. Some thirty-six farmers joined the Sumilao farmers in their walk last year, this time around, they started their own march for justice. Lakbay-Kalampag para sa Lupang Sakahan, Hindi Minahan hope to finally end the ten years of uncertainty which gripped the beneficiaries of the land dispute in Calatagan. Self determination and equal opportunity is what the agrarian reform is supposed to achieve. It is high time the government do what is morally and humanely just.

This time around, the issue is closer to the seat of power. The issue of food security must be our priority now more than ever. A progressive country relies on food to harness development and progress. Unless we set our priorities right, we may end up like the country of Nauru, mining is about to drive them into extinction. Please visit CALATAGAN MARCH for the background of the case. I hope that those who fought for the Sumilao cause will again join me and show their support for the hapless farmers of Calatagan. “We are after all our brothers’ keepers.”