Rotten and Filthy Politicians

Ma. Gloria L. Alcuaz


Recent happenings in our country can be so disturbing and miserable. How can this government and undeserving politicians cry for moral recovery when they themselves are guilty of high level corruption. Have we lost our sense of history?

How come the soldiers accused of assassinating Ninoy are still languishing in jail when the no. 1 suspects are living it up? From one president to the next we don’t seem to realize & learn from their pitfalls. Even our church has become so anemic? Who cares about our so called economy when our no. 1 export of hopeless Filipinos risk so much of their family life and dignity just to send their hard earned sacrifice back home.

In the real sense our problem stem from our acceptance of our filthy and rotten politicians.

BEING RIGHT IN BEING POSSIBLY WRONG

Atty. Luke Espiritu

Senator Antonio Trillanes’ claim that Malacañang is responsible for the blast at the Glorietta mall has been dismissed as “speculative” and ‘irresponsible.” Recently, his former “kuya”, Gregorio Honasan, rebuked him for rushing into judgment without the benefit of evidence and while police investigations have not yet concluded.

However, who can blame Trillanes?

Trillanes is simply echoing what many others believe as true. The present regime is not beyond the business of killing innocent lives. Look at how activists and journalists have disappeared or been murdered in recent years. Moreover, the timing of the blast is uncanny as to betray a plausible motive. It happened while the Arroyo administration is --- again --- reeling from scandals, this time involving a dubious contract and bribery right at the very halls of Malacañang. Glorietta stole media attention from these issues and gave the administration a fresh lease on life.

True, Trillanes and many others may be wrong. The blast may be an accident or an act of unknown terrorists. However, if they were to be wrong in anything, at least they would be wrong only in one minute premise but not the conclusion. If blaming Malacañang leads people to realize how corrupt and evil this administration is, which is true --- bombing or no bombing --- then something good may come out of it. If that would bring about a long overdue upheaval, the possibility of being wrong is well worth the gamble.

Remember the Plaza Miranda bombing thirty six years ago? People laid the guilt upon Ferdinand Marcos. Then it became a symbol of the anti-Marcos resistance next only to Ninoy Aquino’s assassination. In fact, the event is still being commemorated to this very day as part of the Filipino struggle for freedom. Yet, it was not Marcos who perpetrated the crime but the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army.

And what of Ninoy Aquino’s murder which is widely believed to be authored by Marcos? Had protesters been armed with proof beyond reasonable doubt, akin to that in the courts of law, before they went to the streets and eventually ended his regime? Until now, the question of whether or not Marcos orchestrated the killing is still being debated. But this no longer matters. History works in mysterious ways. It can even accommodate some probability of error in order to effect change.

The point is, in the case of the Glorietta mall incident, Gloria represents everything that is evil in this country that she must be removed regardless of whether or not Malacañang is responsible for the blast.

But of course, the question still remains --- what if Trillanes is right?

Cleansing the Nation through Dance

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
October 23, 2007

What conscience, inner space, spirit, personality could take P 500,000 in a brown paper bag given with unspecified intention and source? Answer: “This is normal, it has always been done…nothing wrong with it….” says former Manila Mayor, now Environment Secretary Lito Atienza. (cf article by TJ Borgonio in Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 17, 2007) If we carefully analyze the question and answer in the context of what recently happened in Malacañang and what has been happening for the past forty years or so since the late dictator Marcos, the conclusions are more than disturbing. What is normal? Bribery, official at that, corruption..? Because it is normal, it should be taken for granted and people should just take it as a matter of course. Because it is normal and a fact of daily life, then people should keep quiet since there is nothing to complain about. The corruption is bad enough, but creating an environment of both impunity and tolerance towards moral decadence and depravity is something else.

The former Mayor turned Environment Secretary declared that he and so many others have received and will continue receiving money from the President’s office as “standard operating procedure” or “S.O.P.” He justifies this as money coming from the President’s discretionary fund. After this repulsive revelation, some past presidents were quick to deny that it happened during their watch. Presidents Ramos and Aquino flatly denied that they did it. Well another thing that has become commonplace in the Philippine truth-scape or better lie-scape is the habit of denial. If your are accused of anything deny and deny until you or they die….

Well let us stop wasting our time and assume that yes…corruption has become normal, ordinary, official and a non-issue. Truly, evil, the devil, attachment, greed, idolatry, addiction, delusion, mendacity, cheating are all normal, ordinary, official and a non issue. Thank you Mr. Atienza. We now know how deep the problem is. It is like talking to someone with “halitosis” or bad breath and telling him that something stinks. He looks at us and says, “I don’t know what you are talking about …surely, it is not me…”

Atienza’s statement stinks, and it stinks to the highest heavens. The stench could not be contained. The whole world smells of it and it emanates not only from Malacañang but from every noisy and silent politico who has learned to take bribes and found a way of silencing, placating or even killing their conscience.

The stench brought Kubol Pag-Asa to the COMELEC and the CBCP. We performed an indigenous ritual of cleansing and driving away the bad spirits, “masasama at itim na diwata.” We evoked and invited the good spirits, “mabubuti, puting diwata” to dance the dance of cleansing in order to cast out the darkness, the stench (symbolized by the black blanket). Then we prepared our offering. First, the pot, symbol of the Filipino soul. Second, earth, symbol of our humble humanity. Third, P 500, 000, bribe money, symbol of the darkness, evil within. Fourth, a burning candle to burn the P 500,000 until it turns to ashes. Fifth, water poured on fire, symbol of purity and freedom from attachment. Sixth, a living plant, placed in the soil, fertilized with the ashes of burned money, and nourished by pure water. This plant, in the soil, with the ashes, water and earth in the pot, is the symbol of our hope, adamantly struggling against the spreading hopelessness.

We thank the COMELEC officials who received us and graciously accepted the gift of our hope, the people’s hope. Thank you commissioners Resurreccion Borra, Romeo Brawner, Rene Sarmiento and Nicodemo Ferrer.

But we find it difficult to understand the apparent coldness and indifference shown us by a representative of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines. Still and all, we came in solemn and humble procession from COMELEC with our message of gratitude and our gift of the pot with the soil, ashes, water and the young plant, symbolizing our hope. Many of those who were present, asked, “is such shabby reception also normal in the Church?”

The morning was complete and meaningful in spite of how it ended at the CBCP compound. We went home more deeply convinced that the dance has only begun. It must continue for as long as the darkness and stench cover the land.

The Power of One

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
October 15 2007


A country where dishonesty seems endemic and even normative, the eruption of its opposite is almost anomalous. Are honest people in the Philippines either oddities or a species on the verge of extinction? Is this how morally bankrupt our country and her people are? The answer is not that obvious precisely because of the nature of honesty. Many honest people are quiet and normally do not flaunt their virtue. There are thousands, I believe even millions of honest Filipinos both in and out of their homeland. There are thousands of honest overseas Filipino workers here in Hong Kong. How else could our Pinays be hired as Domestic Helpers if honesty were not their most desired trait? Yet no one talks nor writes about the honesty of the Pinays and Pinoys in Hong Kong. And that is part of the problem. Honesty is such a private trait that it passes unnoticed and most if not all Filipinos would take it for granted that honesty is better kept a private matter if it were to be a virtue.

It then seems that honesty is implicitly paired with humility. The honest person is also humble. Thus honest persons are expectedly quiet persons. Agreed! How else can the whole country survive if everyone everywhere is a crook. The noisy ones in the Philippines are more likely the crooks while those who quietly do their jobs without fuss and fanfare are the honest and dutiful ones. Look at the NBN-ZTE scandal. Look at the noise coming from both sides of the coin. Aren’t we inclined to ask a different question than who is telling the truth? Aren’t we inclined to ask, is either noise or silence directly proportional to the benefits or profits that one gets through the acquisition or non-acquisition of a deal whether legitimate or not? Silence and noise seem to alternate between known personages from son Joey to father Speaker Jose, from NEDA Director Neri to President Arroyo, from resigned Comelec Chair Abalos to his Malacañang Boss, from Senator Joker to Senator Defensor?

Meanwhile amid the noise, isn’t it reasonable to conclude that the nation remains afloat in spite of the crooks and because and only because of the quiet and honest Filipinos? If there is collusion whether noisy or quiet, among the crooks there too is the communion of virtue among the good. Thank God for all the good Filipinas and Filipinos who collectively continue to do their work quietly and honestly.

But we now need a different kind of honesty, more explicit and public. We need to review and renew the meaning of humility which is not equated with quietism and pacifism. We need some of those who belong to the communion of the virtuous to emerge and proclaim virtue publicly in their lives. While private virtue is noble and saintly, there is a place for public virtue, the good not merely displayed but proclaimed and offered as an example, a model to follow and live. Virtue is ultimately useless if kept under the bed or the bushel basket. Virtue need not be a blinding and glaring spotlight. It can shine just as effectively even as a lone candle burning in a dark forest.

A few days ago, Among Ed or Among Gob of Pampanga revealed that he had received P 500, 000 from Malacañang. He also announced that the money will be distributed to the Barangays after the forthcoming barangay elections. Because of this Among Ed has earned a new title, “Honest Ed.” Well and good. But I am sure earning another title is the farthest thing in Among Ed’s mind. He wishes to lead his people by example. This is what he proclaimed at the beginning, “ours will be a leadership by example.”

But there is something vital and crucial here. Among Ed has and continually breaks the silence of the virtuous and invites all to exercise virtue publicly, to bring faith and morality into public life. Among Ed seems to be the only one for now but what power flows from one. I am sure from one, soon, very soon many will follow.

Calling Forth the Fire of Youth

Atty. Luke Espiritu
October 4, 2007

Young people, take courage. Do not grow old before your time and cease dreaming. Seethe against evil with an all-consuming passion.

Oh, believe me, people --- not only the ill-willed but the good-intentioned, as well --- may pull you down as you spread your wings and dare to fly to places unknown. For, the ill-willed cannot bear your railings against injustice and oppression, while the good-intentioned may unwittingly misjudge you, probably thinking that they already have you completely figured out. And, generally, both have lesser tolerance for the brashness and boldness of your age.

But, let not the raging fire in you be dashed.

Let not the perfidies of the present generation taint you for you are called forth to build a new nation. Our collective shame shall not be visited upon you for it is we who answer to you and not the other way around. So make your cries be heard for it is our duty to listen. Let us hear you demand the legacy of a better world. Nay, let us hear you condemn our failings, knowing that behind every condemnation is a dream only you can dream.

Finally, let us not, of this generation, dismiss your rage for it is sacred; for it comes from the same well-spring of passion that has engulfed the martyrs; for the martyrs also raged; for inherent in this rage is your own commitment to selfless sacrifice.

Prayer for Peace

St. Francis

Lord/
Make me an instrument of your peace/
Where there is hatred …let me sow love/
Where there is injury…pardon/
Where there is discord…unity/
Where there is doubt…faith/
Where there is error…truth/
Where there is despair…hope/
Where there is sadness…joy/
Where there is darkness…light/

Oh Divine Master/
Grant that I may never seek/
To be consoled as to console/
To be understood…as to understand/
To be loved…as to love.

For/
It is in giving…that we receive/
It is in pardoning…that we are pardoned/
It is in dying…that we are born to eternal life.

The Rule of Pakapalan

The Rule of Pakapalan

Atty. Luke Espiritu
October 3, 2007


Barely a day after Benjamin Abalos’ resignation had been lauded as an example to be emulated by public officials --- and even described as an act of delicadeza --- when the disgraced former Comelec chair came out with threats of criminal prosecutions against Romulo Neri and Jose De Venecia III.

The lesson learned is clear. People should have held back with their praises of Abalos’ resignation because it is not at all a showcase of delicadeza, much less of contrition, or submission to the principle of accountability.

Despite categorical statements, under oath, that he had attempted to bribe Neri with P200 million and actively lobbied for the grossly disadvantageous ZTE contract, Abalos has summoned every appearance of a person “aggrieved” by lashing out at his accusers. In other words, bukong-buko na, nagpapalusot pa.

Indeed, Abalos’s conduct is far from being admirable. On the contrary, it only shows that the rule of pakapalan still reigns supreme in this Banana Republic.

Pakapalan connotes shamelessness and moral bankruptcy. It is a norm where might is right and right is wrong. It enables public officials mired in corruption to scoff insolently at truth seekers. It sustains a thoroughly messed up moral order where crooks and charlatans in government can still maintain a veneer of respectability that is quite inexplicable, nay, utterly mysterious.

Moreover, pakapalan enables these officials to flaunt their high crimes for everyone to see and yet play opossum, i.e. as innocent victims of detractors and destabilizers. In fact, they can even depict themselves as some sort of heroic figures who are complete opposites of what they truly are.

Pakapalan is when an alleged “President” says “I am sorry” and yet confesses to no wrongdoing. It is when a Commander-in-Chief of a military tagged as the culprit behind the forced disappearances of activists talks about protection of human rights at the United Nations. It is when a First Gentleman declares, without batting an eyelash, that the phrase “back off” is not even in his vocabulary. Abalos’ latest example is therefore not unique.

The problem with pakapalan is that it insults the intelligence. It practically treats the Filipino people as little cretins incapable of judging criminals in public office. While there are some who willingly permit their intelligence to be insulted, it is almost a sure bet that the majority are simply drooling for an opportunity to shove the faces of these makakapals into their fine as_ _s.

Their Shame, Our shame, Their Freedom, Our Freedom!

Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
October 2, 2007

Lost of face, shame, embarrassment brought about by a variety of causes drive many Asians, including Filipinos to acts ranging from dramatic to tragic. Failure, rejection, being caught red handed, conviction in court, etc. have led to the tragic and drastic end of lives. This is easy enough to understand when it affects us, our persons, our self-worth, reputation and well being. We have heard of and read about how extremes of shame and embarrassment have killed the human will to live. In Japan, suicide is even more honorable than living with the shame or dishonor of one’s misdeeds. One either commits “hara-kiri” which literally means slitting one’s stomach or “suppuku” which entails having oneself beheaded by one’s closest friend.

But what if it is not about us? What if the shame is upon others whose actions are blatantly shameless because of the depths of depravity and inhumanity their actions have sunk into? However, the other’s shame seems beyond our control. What if the other or others have lost all sense of shame and honor? Do we have any responsibility for the shameful acts of others? What if they have become callous, hardened and viciously shameless to their very core? Is it enough just to condemn and denounce their shameful acts and their shamelessness to boot?

Something most depraved and shameful is happening in Burma. From now on I choose to call this beautiful and noble country Burma in recognition of the historical dignity of a people before the present Military Junta stole their right to self-determination, symbolized by the very name the Army Generals have chosen, “Myanmar.” Last week, monks walked the streets of Burma creating a saffron sea of peaceful defiance of evil. Since 1962, the year the military under General Ne Win overthrew democracy and established what they called the “Burmese Way to Socialism,” the Burmese people have suffered untold oppression and the constant trampling of their fundamental rights as persons. The only force that quietly stood up to the cold, chilling power of steel and gun powder was the gentle and hidden power of the Dhamma in the hearts and shaven heads of Buddhist monks and laity who comprise the majority of the people. In 1990, a lay Buddhist in the person of a woman rose in prominence by winning Burma’s National Election. In spite of an overwhelming victory over the Burmese military regime, she was never allowed to take office and instead has been on and off put under house arrest. The world knows this woman well and draws inspiration from her courage and faith. Aung San Suu Kyi over the last seventeen years has given a face to the Burmese people’s struggle for freedom and democracy. Last week, a few monks who have been part of the peaceful walk for peace and freedom visited Suu Kyi. Many of these monks have been imprisoned. Many of them have already been murdered.

Today two faces speak to us of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi and the Buddhist Monks. Two sad and suffering but courageous faces speak and beckon us to look their way, heed their cries muted and stifled by desperate, fearful, soulless military might. Aung San Suu Kyi even in house arrest speaks to us. Recently, the Buddhist monks have done even more. They walked and allowed their beaten, tortured, imprisoned and bleeding bodies to speak. Many of the monks are now in prison. Local and Foreign Media are suppressed. Telecommunication and internet connections have been cut. The Military Junta is slowly isolating Burma from the rest of the world. It is isolating the Burmese people from the rest of human kind.

This reminds us of Hitler’s holocaust, to silence a people not for now but forever. To silence by extermination! During those black and shameful years, many nations and institutions stood in silent horror at Germany’s inhumanity. Most churches were silent. The Catholic Church was silent. While systematic murder took place, the world was engulfed by a death-like, shameful and shameless silence. The world cannot be silent again. The world cannot be numbed into shameful and shameless surrender to evil. Certainly, the hungry, tortured and murdered in Burma are letting out shouts, screams, shrieks too horrible even to imagine. We cannot hear them as they have been locked up and away in prisons and detention centers. Burma has become a contemporary “konsentration lager” eerily reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany. The only salvation of those within the death camps is for those who are outside to speak out and against this hideous monstrosity.

We can begin by expressing not only disdain but collective shame for we are part of the same humanity that imprisons and kills not only freedom and democracy but the very people who hunger for these.

I am a Filipino Catholic priest, although neither Burmese not Buddhist, a human person all the same. I shout with all my might to the highest heavens in shame and indignation against the inhumanity of the Burmese Army to the Burmese people. We are tempted and rightfully so to declare that the Burmese Military Junta should be ashamed of themselves. Thereby, we blame them, then keep quiet and walk away righteously content that we have done enough. No we share the shame and allow it to move us to save innocent and holy lives. I am ashamed and ask the rest of the world to bow low to kiss the mud of our collective shame with lips that will not be sealed.

I end with a chilling reminder from the German philosopher and political activist Hannah Arendt:

“For many years now we have met Germans who declare that they are ashamed of being Germans. I have often felt tempted to answer that I am ashamed of being human. This elemental shame, which many people of the most various nationalities share with one another today, is what is finally left of our international solidarity; and it has not yet found an adequate political expression. Our father’s enchantment with humanity was of a sort which not only light-mindedly ignored the national question: what is far worse, it did not even conceive of the terror of the idea of humanity and of the Judeo-Christian faith in the unitary origin of the human race…”
(Cf. Hannah Arendt, “Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954, Formation, Exile and Totalitarianism,” (New York: Schocken Books, 1994)

Nothing But Rage

Atty. Luke Espiritu
October 2, 2007

Much has already been disclosed and discussed about the ZTE scandal that there is nothing more to state. What other talk is there to add? The facts are clear. The contract is grossly disadvantageous to the government. The December 2006 ZTE proposal covers only 30% of the project in the entire country. Out of the contract price of US$229,481,280 million, over US$130 million will line the pockets of certain government officials as kickbacks. Worse, the money will be sourced from foreign loans that will be shouldered by generations of poor Filipinos.

In contrast, Jose De Venecia III (JDV3) has sworn to the fact that his company, Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI), offers US$ 240 million to cover 80% of the country. Moreover, AHI’s proposal is without cost to the government since the national broadband project will be undertaken under a build-operate-transfer scheme. Yet, it was the ZTE contract that was approved and signed.

I am not a fan of JDV3, much less of his father. However, the implication of his revelation is clear. We are once again being bled dry by rapacious officials who have no qualms in mortgaging the country’s future for their own private ends. The story is all too familiar like Baba Black Sheep and Jack and Jill are to kindergarten kids. Indeed, what more can be said? Res ipsa loquitor (The thing speaks for itself)!

All talk is inconsequential. It is the time to RAGE.

If our fathers and brothers are murdered or our mothers and sisters ravished right before our very eyes, is it not that we are rendered speechless? Instead we tear our clothes, beat our chests and pull our hair in righteous indignation. Our eyes and the veins can burst with the bloody spasms of utter fury.

So, all I can say to those who have sold the country into debt slavery is this: woe to you and to your children who partake of your plunder and bask in your infamy. May your bodies rot and your lives read like a curse. May the God of history’s upheavals catch you in your sleep and slay you in your beds. May this generation, or the next, behold your heads on a pike!