That nasty (former) UP professor, Harry Roque . . .
Harry Roque, until today, taught law at the University of the Philippines, Diliman campus. He referred to himself as a “professor” rather than an “attorney”. Today he is resigning, very likely to pursue a seat in the House of Representatives. I’m inclined to think that Mr. Roque views the field of law as a utility, a device, a tool to be used for gains along the way to fame and self-enrichment.
He doesn’t view it as a profession requiring the exercise of sound ethical judgment to protect the integrity of his colleague, justice as an ideal, or the nation.
Harry Roque, as an attorney, runs his cases through the media and he is slash and burn in his style. He’s the guy who received a disbarment complaint for egging the German boyfriend of the murdered Jefrery Laude over the jailhouse fence in order to point the finger at the accused Corporal Pemberton and declare him “GUILTY!” before trial could get started. And before such shenanigans would be considered in contempt of court.
He’s the guy who incited the family of Laude to march against the Philippine/American Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) because Harry knows the value of grief to extract compassion and anger from the public. Harry both opposes the VFA and represents Laude, in separate legal actions. He didn’t didn’t mind mixing two unrelated cases in which he has vested interests, and stepping on the dead to gain advantage.
That’s Harry. Playing games with words and laws and ethics in search for an edge. And for notoriety, I suppose. Who knows what personal neediness drives such stunts. I’d imagine the Supreme Court rolls its collective eyes each time another trivial complaint brief from Harry hits their desks, gumming up their agenda some more.
His latest salvo, though, stunned me. This is his entire blog, published October 8, 2010:
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Do you read this as I did?
- As a threat to the standing, duly elected, President of the Philippines?
- That he is equating the technical legal challenges on DAP and Malampaya to stealing from taxpayers?
- That, as a professor of law, he believes the President controls court proceedings?
- That he would accept UN infringement into Philippine legal due process?
That’s why I call him nasty. He is exercising legal and political remedies outside the courtroom, in the arena of public opinion, where there is no judge to hold him to ethical boundaries. Where there is no opposing attorney to cite objection or correct his facts. Where there is no jury to say, 12 to 0, “No, Attorney Harry, your case is failed.”
I’d guess that Harry will be a nasty player in politics, and this blog was simply his opening salvo. He will run on an “anti” platform like Binay, like Poe/Escudero, like Marcos. It is interesting that he withdrew from UNA when it became clear that VP Binay was in the business of staining any who associated with him. Harry backstabbed Binay . . . an act of some ironic amusement, if you are aware of the various times Binay has backstabbed others.
Harry’s way is to game the system, playing loose with the fabric of civility that ought to guide how a professional attorney presents criticisms of other legal professionals, or even the President of the Philippines.
I’m wondering if a political candidate who is an attorney is allowed to put an asterisk beside his title that says, “*Well, I am in politics, so I don’t have to follow professional ethics anymore.”
Harry Roque represents . . . to me . . . an example of the damaged goods that is Philippine ethics. I think he’d sacrifice the nation to push his personal agenda. He’d go outside the boundaries of decency to gain a point.
From what I can see, he holds himself above propriety, above the courts, above his fellow lawyers. As far as I can tell, Harry is for Harry; he is not for any common good, and certainly not for respect of those with whom he disagrees.
If we want to grasp why the Philippines is not a unified nation, we need only observe Harry Roque.
Unity requires civility.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Harry Roque indeed is one who gives lawyers, or the profession of law a bad name. I don’t know if there is another one who can top him on this — except perhaps Binay.
I know of none, although there are one or two on twitter whose partisan enthusiasm generates something less than diplomacy and dignity. Binay’s spokesmen/attorneys are another batch. I suppose they have a job to do, but I wish it would be done in the courts instead of press.
Harry did not leave Binay. He was seated on the stage right behind Binay at the UP Los Baños forum. What he did was withdraw from Binay’s senatorial slate to run as a partylist candidate for a proBinay group. He thinks he has a better chance of winning as a partylist candidate. I hope he loses
Thanks for the better background. I can imagine him in the House, a wrecking ball demolishing all civil debate.
It is unfortunate that the shortest way to the congress is through the party list because fewer votes are needed to win a seat. There should be a review of this Partylist law.
Ah, so he is taking the easy route. Thanks for the explanation. I agree the whole Partylist system seems a tad flaky.
“the shortest way to the congress is through the party list because fewer votes are needed to win a seat” – actually the votes needed to elect one representative was 230,000+ in the 2013 elections. Many congressional districts have less contestable votes than that. Harry Roque probably can’t find a congressional district where he could win one-on-one so he will take his chances with a campaign to gather votes all over the country from those not committed to any party list yet.
Manuel, you don’t have to hope. Roque is guaranteed to lose. Who in his right mind would even vote for him?
D’Accord, Joe!
Cheers, Zip!
In a way, our country is the flip side of North Korea. Instead of the absence of freedom, we have too much of it. Instead of one man speaking for all, we are everyone speaking for no one. Instead of a dictatorship of one, we are a dictatorship of many. Instead of single mindedness, we have the universe as our focus. Instead of a singular mouthpiece, we have unbridled expressiveness. I wonder who envies who. Would that both countries can strike a balance between extremes.
It is interesting, this beast democracy. It ought to come with discipline and civility (sacrifice of individual freedom for the well-being of the group or nation) as standard operating procedure, but that is hard to attain. Look at the regression in the United States.
Self-discipline is the keyword, as opposed to DISCIPLINE! (imagine Marcos saying it loud) imposed from outside. Reminds me of “Innere Führung” (inner leadership) which the German military developed as a new doctrine after the war to overcome its authoritarian heritage. Not as well-defined as Level 5 Leadership but akin to it in spirit with its ideas of a soldier being a “uniformed citizen” dedicated to the protection of the democratic community.
The Swiss attained this naturally, having fought for their freedom and built their state based on small communities working together for mutual defense and assistance – after ridding themselves of overlords from the lowlands of Germany. America also – the founding core were farmers and traders who decided to get rid of royal impositions. And migrants from Europe who wanted to do their own thing, without anything resembling the European lords that had told them what to do back home. Countries that do not have that history and lack the culture that reflects that learning process usually have to learn democracy the hard way.
Yes, self discipline is what I meant, although sometimes I think greater imposed discipline is needed to gain respect for laws.
Without a basic consensus that the laws are rules the community is giving to itself in order to be able to function better and benefit most individuals – I know this, it is much easier and efficient if things are more predictable, saves energy for truly important things while dealing with chaos all the time is unproductive – imposed discipline will not work. Especially if those doing the imposing are not even part of the consensus, which is the Philippine Situation.
Imposition must come with education, otherwise the imposed discipline will fall apart the moment those imposing it are not watching – happened when the Spanish left, the Americans left, or the Marcos disciplinarians were not watching. People need to be nudged to develop good habits and see the their benefits, not to behave well while the teacher is watching and go crazy the moment the teacher turns his back. Tell the Spanish friar what he wants to hear, the Thomasite what he wants to hear, and then not give a damn inside. Reaching the core of a Filipino is not easy. Centuries have taught them how to hide it…
Yes, with education, and also with greater enrichment of the working class. Many of the local laws are disregarded (motorcycle helmets) because people have to get around, but they can’t afford helmets for the whole family of 8. Even the police here recognize that and look the other way.
That reminds me of the Mayor of Bucharest when he banned horse-drawn carts from his city – without thinking that the gypsies who used them couldn’t read and write, therefore getting a driver’s license and buying pick-up trucks was out of the question for them even if they had the money to do so. Now at least they had the money and could go to courses, but many just decided to continue their businesses – recycling and stuff – and pay cops to look the other way instead of risking losing them. Going modern and forgetting to pick up those who are less modern is always putting the cart before the horse – literally in this case.
Laws that can’t be practically implemented cause people to totally lose respect for the law – not all but many people. Better have less ambitious, very basic rules and make sure they are implemented fully to inculcate the habit of following rules, then move to the next level. But that is difficult in countries with divergent realities – Romania is similar to the Philippines in that respect – top-level professional elites on one side, urban and rural poor on the other.
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I know what you mean but imposition has a negative connotation.
I keep thinking it should be easy to program Filipinos. With the collective knowledge and techniques on cognition, indoctrination, advertising, and even brainwashing, it should be possible to produce responsible citizens. Again, we can take a page from Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Why is it not working in the Philippines? Is it because we are not teaching the right things? Or is because of the gap between what is taught (theory) and what children can see (behavior)?
There are role models — like Carpio-Morales, Heidi Mendoza, etc. — but they are rare and few in-between. The bad examples dominate.
And we can see that social media is a double-edged sword. The hope was that it would bring knowledge with a mouse click, broaden horizons and bring a degree of enlightenment, but with the neo-Marcos loyalist phenomenon social media has had an opposite effect.
For other media — notably books, television and movies — there is a rating system that delineates audience access. The Internet has no such system, although there are net nanny software, which can easily be bypassed.
Joseph mentioned “knowing where the tap is and who controls the tap.” But is censorship the answer? That is the China Way.
And there is, at bottom, the moral and philosophical question. Should we condition minds? Or should we describe the options available to the mind and let the individual decide? Should we push minds into a certain direction? Or give minds the methods for evaluating directions?
Religion has selected the first method… but has failed. It is time we try the second method. But this method requires teachers of enormous intelligence and sensitivity. Do these teachers exist? And does the culture have the vision to see this and permit it?
I think the answers are No and No.
The correct answer might be a combination of these two methods. Use the first method for the very young and the second method for the not-so-young. The syllabus for the second method is yet to be developed.
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It is actually quite simple – you have to pick up people from where they are. The Duterte approach in Davao – not the shooting part, the listening and participation part. Local leaders who he built up to teach his people at the grassroots level, who speak their language.
It is the only way that will work for Filipinos. Because the common people will only trust the word of someone they know – or think they know from TV or movies. Sabi kasi ni kuya…
Leni Robredo has a similar approach locally, Governor Salceda of Albay as well – he even is so far that he posts regular bulletins on how he achieves his goals on his Facebook page – combining social media and managerial methods with a barangay-style approach.
“Joey Constant Kindness Salceda” is his Facebook name. A former top-level banking manager communicating his modern no-nonsense approaches via AlDub love.
http://albay.gov.ph/tag/joey-salceda-constant-kindness/
“Let me reiterate the goals of our province. Our goal is to become the most liveable province of the Philippines known for good education, good healthcare and good environment where people are healthy, happy and employed and live full lives. This meant three things 1. Short term goal is to achieve the MDGs. DONE. 2. Medium-term is to become a bastion of education and a tourism hub. BEING DONE 3. Long-term is to become a California in 30 years. ON OUR WAY.”
Why is it not working in the Philippines? I think maybe because the evidence that it works is not shown enough. People and the youth must see the good things that happen when they follow the law more than the bad things. There must be a continuing campaign on print and media to do this. Show it in the context of, if you follow the law, this is what happens…keep showing the evidence and people will naturally follow.
Of course, if what they see will be to the contrary, then they will not follow. Its like you keep showing jail cells with expensive watches and gadgets and bathtubs and airconditioning. That was a letdown of magnitude 10 for me…and i kept telling the kids that crime does not pay…just beautiful bjnp…
Discipline. There is a big difference between Belgium and the Netherlands, same race, large similar history, mostly same language. But Belgium has been occupied for centuries and cheating the occupier became a virtue, in the Netherlands as an independent republic cheating the state was cheating yourself. (I’m not talking of the upper-class who can do what they want as they can afford the best lawyers and not a single law is 100% watertight). Some superficial discipline, e.g. children being obedient in school is much higher in Belgium.
@ Edgar, “knowing where the tap is” in relation with a half full or half empty glass. The discipline is improving in the Philippines, but what drives it, who has influence on the process? In this case I would say “It takes a village to raise a kid”, the “village”/ barangay leaders are crucial, and even more the mayor who can influence them, look at Naga, Davao and some other new style mayors.
“But Belgium has been occupied for centuries and cheating the occupier became a virtue”
there you are… and your occupiers were also the Spanish who were pretty harsh on those they caught, while not really looking underneath as long as you played the game with them.
Get caught in the Philippines, and if you have no one you know who has influence behind you, you can rot in jail for years without even getting a trial. I remember a 12 year old boy from my short sojourn in Pasay City jail, in jail since 8 years old for breaking a bus window, an orphan without parents, waiting for his trial. From what I have gathered, this is still the reality until today. The system is not fair since time immemorial, so why be fair within it?
“The system is not fair since time immemorial, so why be fair within it?” Now there is a blog waiting to be written. I’ll do it unless you wish to take it.
Just got an E-Mail from a recruiter about a project in Belgium…
Should I dare go there? 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Ketsana#Philippines_2
I saw videos of entire squatter colonies drifting in the waters of the Marikina river. I wonder how many drowned without even finding their way into official statistics, how do they count the casualties, do these PEOPLE that even squatters are even exist in official counts, how does one know they are missing and gone? Reminds me of Nikolai Gogol’s “Dead Souls” – people who did not officially exist in feudal Russia. I wonder who among the kids – there were around 16 of us in a cramped cell only the size of about one block of 4 office cubicles – that I met in one fateful night in Pasay City jail, I don’t mean the schoolkids among us, I mean the slum kids including the tough guy cell chief, the bastonero – are still alive now? 1981 was 34 years ago. Tao rin sila. Are they Untouchables like in the worst parts of India?
Marikina itself recorded 78 deaths, the highest among Metro Manila cities.[
That is one of worst parts of the Philippines’ “dirty kitchen” I am talking about…
These should be cleaned up with high priority, because they also affect the “clean kitchen” in the end. Then the places in the countryside were people are effectively not under the protection of the government but have to fear bandits whatever their name.
Clean-up jobs of any sort start with the worst and most disgusting areas, then proceed. Takes courage to not look away, and even more courage to start the clean-up…
Actually, work is being done in many areas across the nation to address the squatter problem. In Manila cities and even in my remote province where they are building a resettlement village, and also here they are building evacuation centers for storms; major buildings. It is not reported on so we don’t have a sense of the work being done. Palawan is very advanced in their programs. Generally I believe this falls to the individual cities but probably has national funding through agencies. It is not a national push, of itself.
Next would be: make sure the legal and police system is there for all people. The moment even a simple working man can go to the police and file a complaint against the Mayor or even the President if he feels his rights are trampled upon, people will believe in the System and follow the rules – which was the subtopic of enforcing and imposing the law. This is how it came to be in Germany, one king set a precedent for the entire world:
http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-1296/1779–The-Miller-Arnold-Lawsuit-How-One-Court-Case-Changed-the-World.aspx
Sick and angry, Frederick the Great then dictated the Protocol of December 11, 1779, an amazing document which changed the course of law in Europe forever:
“With respect to this most unjust sentence against the Miller Arnold … to the end that all courts of justice, in all the king’s provinces, may take warning thereby, and not commit the like glaring unjust acts…
“That the least peasant, yea, what is still more, that even a beggar, is, no less than his Majesty, a human being, and one to whom due justice must be meted out.
“All men being equal before the law, if it is a prince complaining against a peasant, or vice versa, the prince is the same as the peasant before the law; and, on such occasions, pure justice must have its course, without regard of person. Let the law courts, in all the provinces, take this for their rule.
“(A) court of law doing injustice is more dangerous and pernicious than a band of thieves. Against these one can protect oneself. But against rogues who made use of the cloak of justice to accomplish their evil passions, again such no man can guard himself.”
The final sentence brings us back to Harry Rogue…
Finally, you can do all you want in the clean kitchen, polish it nice for guests to see.
A legal system and a Constitution that are not in large parts uniformly LIVED and enforced are basically worthless – talagang bababuyin iyan – it will never be respected in practice.
Pigs like Prof. Harry Rogue are just manifestations of the smell coming out of the dirty kitchen. Practice and theory are too far apart in the Philippines – yes no part of the world is perfect but barbarism in practice at one end and discussions about ius solis etc. at the other are the pinnacle of absurdity. Politicians with piggeries and absolutely corrupt are another manifestation of the dirty kitchen, destroying them will not remove the source of the smell, even if it is correct to do so in principle. I used to help our maids destroy termite hills in our garden. If you do not finish off the queen of the colony, they will always grow back. Taking pills against symptoms will never cure a disease – you need powerful therapies…
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1. Ok, we’re getting there.
2. Joseph has said the answer to our problems is education. My questions always have been: (a) Who is going to teach? And (b) what will they teach?
3. Joseph has also brought up the notion of the “tap” of learning and who controls it — parents, teachers, schools, media, and celebrities.
4. This has led to the insight that the leader of the barangay — literally the village, town or city — has much to do with raising children. He and Irineo have cited the mayors of Naga (Robredo) and Davao (Duterte), and governor Salcedo of Albay.
4.1. I agree. This accords with the experience in Singapore with Lee Kuan Yew, of which @chempo is the role model in this blog. Irineo has said it’s quite simple.
5. Let me complicate things.
6. There are several levels of consciousness. For purposes of discussion, I will enumerate these as:
6.1. Subsistence consciousness. This level has to do with surviving, not just mere subsistence but surviving well. The constructs at this level are mainly Self and Family. This is the level the Philippines is at. Example: providing for the family sometimes at the expense of breaking the laws.
6.2. Civic consciousness. This level has to do with interdependence with the community. The constructs at this level include Community and Country. This is the level we, the Society, are pushing for. This consciousness can be taught. This is the level that Joseph with his “tap” notion and Irineo with his “quite simple” solution speak of. Examples: helping keep the community clean and observing the laws.
6.3. Aesthetic consciousness. This level has to do with a concern for Beauty. This involves most of the constructs, but mainly Self, Family, Community and Nation. This is the level that some of us practice and aspire to with our inclination and love for music, words, shows and films. This consciousness is innate; it cannot be taught but it can be enhanced. Examples: Wilfredo and Neo with their love for poetry; the members of the Society with their love for words; and not just keeping the community clean but also painting your house.
6.4. Spiritual consciousness. This level has to do with living a moral and truthful life, with the awareness that life is not just about material things or beautiful things but also about being good. This involves the construct of Self as it attempts to interact properly with itself and the other constructs. This consciousness is innate, although certain types of people like psychopaths do not have it. It can be enhanced by the Church construct, organized religion, but it can be developed in solitude. Example: our Mary Grace.
6.5. Altruistic consciousness. This level has to do with not just about being good but doing good. Again, this is about the construct of Self actively contributing to the other constructs above that of Family. This consciousness is partly innate, developed in us as we as children are taught to share. Examples: Bill Gates and other philanthropists.
7. These forms of consciousness can be seen as horizontal layers. We do not reside in just one layer but we, each of us, inhabit all… in and to various degrees of concentration.
8. It is instructive to see each layer as a spectrum just like the political spectrum of left, right and center. However, I would label each end of the spectrum as a “push up” (right) or a “push down” (left).
8.1. For example, if we take the Civic Consciousness layer, we might position the Society to the right of the spectrum… with GRP to the left. And we would definitely assign Mary Grace to the right… and MRP to the left.
9. We, the Society, are rightly concerned with Civic Consciousness. This has been at the center of our discussions. But returning to my questions about methods — viz: “Should we push minds into a certain direction? Or give minds the methods for evaluating directions?” — we should be peripherally aware of greater concerns. I say peripherally, but in truth they are foundational. And most of our errors in perception and judgement stem from our neglect of the higher forms of consciousness.
9.1. It would seem that for the Civic Consciousness lay we can use the first method. For the higher layers, I would say that the second method (.e.g. critical reasoning) is more appropriate. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but so is Truth… as Harry Roque and the neo-Marcos loyalists make evident.
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My barangay captain has 10 kids and another on the way, helps promote the gift-giving sponsored by the nefarious Bullion Buyers org (likely vote buying), and had a loud argument in the public plaza with his wife about the good sex he was getting from his secretary. Other than that, kids are mostly in school, roads are being built, the water system has been improved (now metered), and the fiesta is a loud and raucous affair with cock fights and devolving to slow dancing in the moonlight at wee hours of the morning. Only one person has been murdered here the past three years.
Now about where to start . . .
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Ahaha! From this I deduce that your barangay captain is a sensualist and voluptuary, your village is quaint, and the consciousness is at subsistence level. Indeed, why worry about ach! “higher things” when the going is good. Life will take care of itself with the Binay gold going around and that awesome efficient secretary being so… awesome and efficient.
*****
There you go! The point at which idealism meets reality head on. hahaha
Yes, that secretary . . .
“Altruistic consciousness. Spiritual consciousness.” Governor Joey “Constant Kindness” Salceda is an example of both. Now he could have acted like an elitist, being a top-level bank manager with international background. Yet he applies his knowledge, simplifies it so the people can understand, not dumbing it down but teaching them goal-oriented approaches. He transparently reports on the progress of evacuations on his Facebook page everytime Mayon volcano threatens to erupt. He takes the bus like everyone else, does not have to fear anyone – and Albay is known as having been NPA country before.
You only get buy-in of the common people if your soul is with them, you truly feel for them. Robredos – both the late Jesse Robredo and his widow Leni – are also Bikolanos who show this spirit. Because the common people may not be able to argue rationally that well, but they for sure feel if you are one with them or feel you are better than them. Which explains the popularity of Fernando Poe – a half-Spanish, half-American “whiteboy” who chose to be like the people, even if he may not have had the competence to lead them – or his friend Erap who proved he did not have the competence, but still is loved by them, yes he is a gangster but the alternatives make people like him attractive to common folks…
Mar Roxas, palengkero and everything, will still have to prove that he is not a Paterno or Buencamino, willing to sell out his people like his grandfather President Manuel Roxas did. To the Japanese first, to the USA second, to the hacienderos third. He will have to show that he is more like his father Senator Gerry Roxas. He will have to show that he is more like Leni Robredo than his wife Korina Sanchez, who has the reputation of being elitist. Because elitism in the Philippines is the continuation of colonialism in another version.
Albay by itself is already a solid community, with the long-term goal, formulated by Governor Joey Salceda, of being another California within 30 years. Getting there is the status of that goal according to Salceda. Bert might agree with that on his nice island. Federalism or at least developing the Philippines based on barangays first, provinces second and the nation third is something I consider sensible, because people are already identifying with their respective town or regions – Davao, Albay, Naga, but the country is still an abstraction for so many. Will Mar Roxas and the LP be there for the people as a whole, or only for the Atenistas, La Sallistas and the Makati crowd. Hey let me have my pet peeve too, if MRP is always cricitizing UP. 🙂 But in the end, this will all stop when certain groups stop being too egoistic – UP crook lawyers like Rogue, Makati elitists who won’t give a job to qualified UST people because in the back of their heads they think of their maids when they see them, or people who discriminate against Poe because her father was an actor and not because they have valid reasons to see her as not being qualified.
Albay too had its disruptions, its bloody history especially during the abaca boom of the late 19th century. Spaniards, Mexicans, mestizos, mestizong bangus, Chinos, natives, Agtas, Cimarrones some of whom were Agtas mixed with stragglers from Spanish galleons and called the “Taboy” because the original Agtas did not accept them anymore as mixed, Blood flowed freely over the centuries, yet recent progress may prove that we have won. Yes, WE, all those descended from the folks that mixed with another, killed each other etc.
“the leader of the barangay — literally the village, town or city — has much to do with raising children” the chief, the big man like they say in Papua New Guinea. Many of these big men in Papua are literally tall – a primitive thing, it is proven by psychological studies that tallness automatically makes people more respected, more credible. Magsaysay was the Philippines’ “big man” in the 1950s – his looking more native than Quezon definitely helped him related better to the peasants in the fields. His burial was attended by two million people of the twenty million people living in the Philippines during that time – eat that Pope Francis, you did not get ten million people near Manila Bay, I am pretty sure.
For all the colonial paint coatings, the Filipino within is still a native of his barangay. Loves to party with lechon and alcohol, even Abu Sayyaf do this is what LCPL_X wrote, proves that they are not really Muslim at the core – like Filipinos are not truly Catholic at the core. AlDub is the town fiesta at a mass media level. Blogs like this are like the houses of the principalia – the coopted native elite – or the goodly Spanish friar that some trusted, some not. Now Joe has a Filipina wife, but many Spanish friars also did, for all their religion. The houses that people went to during fiesta time to partake of the food there, and to talk.
And even those who went to the mountains as remontados – namundok – were welcome during fiesta time. Going to the bundok or the boondocks – an American word which has its origins in the Philippine-American war, was a way of life for centuries. I too instinctively have followed the path of the remontados or namundok who were my original ancestors, and always have my hut in the mountains, my own blog to go back to – and my weapon which is my mind and my eloquence, not any karbina or gulok. Now finally, the spiritual aspect can only be addressed by leaders who feel for the people. Because the spiritual cannot be dictated by the mind, it must come from the soul and from the heart. Robredo has this sense of kapwa, of fellow human being, which is related to kaluluwa, the soul. This is all I can say as of now – time for me to go back to the boondocks and hunt deer.
” that awesome efficient secretary being so… ” with a pleasing personality must have been the code for that in the Philippines before, from what I have heard. In Russia it is “bez kompleksov” – without complexes.
And in the friar’s house, it is like in the Noli, there are many kind of guests:
1) those who have been abroad and wish to practice their Spanish (English now)
2) those who wish to prove that they have converted to Christianity (democracy now)
3) those who are protesting that the mestizos are not nice to natives (MRP, mercedes)
4) bandits who the friar respects and taps to learn more about the country (caliphman, me)
5) village philosophers and thinkers, Pilosopo Tasios with deep ideas (Edgar Lores)
6) women of the village who have come to pray to the Virgin Mary / Cory (Mary Grace) 🙂
7) villagers who have come for the food and tell a lot of corny jokes (Karl Garcia)
8) foreigners who have settled in the village and married native women (josephivo)
9) fierce Amazons, Gabriela Silang types who only come from time to time (Juana)
10) kind members of the principalia who feel for the good of the villagers (Will)
11) members of the principalia who are masters of comedy and zarzuela (Popoy)
12) mestizo Sangley villagers who have studied in Manila like Rizal did (Andrew Lim)
13) There are also masonic rebels in Manila who think he is Padre Damaso (Parekoy)
14) There are Guardia Civil officers who understand the natives better than him (LCPL_X)
15) There are natives from islands, who think their minds are simple, too humble (Bert)
Jose Rizal would have had a fun time reading the Society of Honor, I am sure.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s more fun here!
Perfect. I can’t stop laughing at number 7).
16) Mestizo Sangley bookmaker who has computed the odds for the next cockfight and is taking bets (NHerrera)
17) Young Manila student who comes from time to time, and knows all about the abuses of an evil cacique (Marcos) the young have forgotten (Mami Kawada Lover)
18) Manila journalist whose house many villagers like to go to (Raissa Robles)
May I add that the devout follower of the Virgin Mary brings food from time to time to the rebel who once fled from the cacique and still prefers to be in the mountains instead of having to see his followers so often… thank you Mary Grace for helping out in my blog. 🙂
No problem, Irineo… glad to participate there, although I had to wait till the next day to find what I posted….ha ha ha..!
A minor correction, please… am no longer a devotee of the Virgin Mother Mary, I was until I finished college. I remember my younger days (high school) when I lead my fellow Sodalists (as Prefect of the Sodality of our Lady) in a house to house prayer of the rosary for the sick and the dead.
Nowadays I see Mother Mary as a role model for obedience to God and the one who nurtured Jesus. I now pray directly to our Father God in the name His Son, Jesus.
Sometimes blogsport is a bit slow, sometime Askimet swallows comments – and I go in as admin only once a day so sometimes it takes time.
Mary Grace, at least you know what you choose to believe – belief is always a choice – and what your convictions are and I respect that.
My analogies were a bit tongue in cheek, because many Filipinos do not know what they choose to believe and why, it is often just blindly following:
1) Padre Damaso says I must speak Spanish – opo Sir! Father Bob tomorrow say I must speak Inglis – yes also Sir!
2) Padre Damaso tells me Catholicism is good, I do it. Mr. Joe says democracy is the way, I do it also Sir. Sabi kasi ng bagong amo.
At least you know why you used to follow the Virgin Mary – and why you are pro-Cory. Some followers of Cory made her into a kind of Blessed Virgin without knowing why they are for her – I can see on your part why, especially after the Marcos era experience.
Many Filipinos are not even real Christians if you ask me – they just blindly follow what they are used to, praying to saints like they used to pray to anitos. If at least they knew why one prays to a saint, then fine. But many are like that in other respects as well.
But then again, we were taught how to discuss politically in Germany, in social science class. How to do it in a civilized way, whatever opinion we have, to know what reasons we have for what conviction and state them. This was part of the democratization process. Even – this is the Constitution – free pamphlet. We will go through it section by section. What are human rights? Why are they needed? The problem in the Philippines is that people are not educated to think properly. Memorization only. Leads to neo-Marcosians.
Joe, I like your statement,
” this beast democracy. It ought to come with discipline and civility (sacrifice of individual freedom for the well-being of the group or nation) as standard operating procedure, but that is hard to attain.”
Discipline and civility is much needed, too much freedom without the rule of law or propriety of conduct is fatal destruction even death such as driving in the freeway.
Yes. There was a time in the US Congress when senators took pride in their statesmanship. Ted Kennedy was perhaps the last of that breed. He would argue the issues and not attach any personal animosity to those who disagreed. He was respected by members of both parties. The Philippines has never figured out how to become a unified whole. To get there, people have to start putting nation higher on their list of respected institutions, as they do Mama. There is a long, long way to go, and this blog is a wrapping paper thrown to the wind, for all the good it will do. But civility is a virtue in a democratic state, where the open discussion of issues tends to push people to disagreement, as the forces jockey to find the middle ground that serves the nation best. Extremists like Harry Roque polarize the nation, as much so as Gabriela and other groups that are striving for themselves over principles of harmony and good will.
Good to hear from you again, Oldman, and thanks for following the blog back in my former “home town”.
Your blog is my favorite.
Thanks. That makes me happy.
https://joeam.com/2015/10/12/that-nasty-up-professor-harry-roque/#comment-141124 – based on a train of thought I brought to its logical conclusion, I have an idea that might build community in the Philippines, an emotional bond that would be the beginning.
It seems to me now that the backbone of German progress after World War 2 was the Trümmerfrauen – the “rubble women” from all walks of life who cleared the bombed out cities of the country of the rubble that was lying all over the streets. A proud and arrogant nation was humiliated, but learned humility and solidarity from overcoming. The hard work and strong will that rebuilt a nation – there still were buildings with bullet holes in them until the early 1970s – and made it a success story may have come from this experience.
My own experiences – being in jail with slum kids, having to do my own stuff without any maids when we went to Germany, earning my money to get my driver’s license myself by working in McDonalds with migrants and former refugees, mostly Middle Eastern, being at the same level economically as Filipino OFW and migrant neighbors – made me humbler, not fully humble I admit but showed me another world, showed me how hard life can be, even if I was not at rock bottom. It was a bit like the movie “The Game” with Michael Douglas, not as extreme, but in that movie a rich asshole learned to be more human. Finally I do not regret having had those experiences – and the strength they gave me.
Now what if every Filipino had to EARN his citizenship by just doing two weeks of community service per year for three years in slum areas, prisons or similar places? Clearing garbage, teaching poor people simple skills that help them survive better, finding and helping correct small injustices with the help of government teams dedicated to real solutions? Just learning to reach these people would be the hard part for most – I remember how worlds apart I was from my OFW/migrant neighbors in the beginning. But that taught me more than pretentious activism which in the end was just about seeking action and identification – we were no less disoriented than today’s neo-Marcos loyalists.
The “Abot-Kamay” program would be lending a helping hand, but would be “We are the World” not just sung by spoiled Bongbong at a Marcos party, not just Imelda’s hypocritical projects coupled by putting walls around slums so that foreign visitors do not see them, which is what she had done for the UNCTAD V conference is Manila, which we schoolkids immediately associated with VOLTES V – it would be lived solidarity. It would bring many people much more down to earth. It would form human bonds – between teams that help, which should be of totally mixed backgrounds, and between those that they help. From that simple beginning, AlDub love in practice, attitudes would change and the country would gain enormous energy to solve problems one at a time. And it would solve the problem of lack of humility that Sionil Jose very rightly diagnosed among Filipinos. If that program were mandatory I would take a vacation to join and help, even if I don’t have to. Giving back ill-gotten wealth and a certain amount of time in that program would be a perfect penance for corrupt politicians, and a requirement to rejoin normal society instead of going to prison which doesn’t help anyway. But no going home at night allowed, each person has to sleep in those areas where they are helping. Would help ground them all. No photos allowed, no posting in social networks, no food from home no maids please… Just two weeks and then back home – no Pol Pot style sending people forever to the fields.
And Joe: “The 2016 election will be about patience. Do people have the patience to follow the straight path and continue to work on corruption and infrastructure and poverty reduction? Or do people want the illusion of having it RIGHT NOW!!, thus assuring improvements will take 50 years instead of 15?” such stuff would build the patience and perseverance needed to succeed. Munich was totally flattened in 1945, look at it now. The mountain of trash and rubble people heaped up in the north of the city is still there, with a wind turbine on top of it – and the grandiose Allianz arena football stadium just across…
I remember the brashness in 1995 when I visited the Philippines. Yes we all have mobile phones now, yes we all have new cars now, you don’t have big malls like we do where you are in Germany, we use Internet and text more than you, we are more modern moving up.
And an attache who sneered about the Vietnamese for still using bikes and so proud of the modernity of FX vans as opposed to the old jeepneys. My brother when I told him that said: wait and see, in 20 years they will be asking the Vietnamese for help, what is the Philippines doing now in the Spratleys? You see, you see, you see, my yaya liked to say, or “kitam” in Ilokano, when I did something stupid inspite of being warned… Humility, patience and perseverance win in the end. Now I know I sound like MRP in this posting, but I did not wish what the Philippines is now even upon the most arrogant Makati people who sneered at my not having a degree from the USA, did not even know what SAP was when I was about to start my career, who had their nose up in the air like toward someone wearing a no-name brand. “Beh buti nga” is a song from Hotdog, but I do not want to sing it, because it would be a sign of lacking character. I can only offer what I have learned from my own experience as a guide – in seeking lessons learned for Filipinos back home.
I view Harry Roque as a big vanity project. Harry does things for….Harry. Because it can be satisfying to one’s ego to keep tilting windmills, he does not realize that the rationale for doing things in the first place is not there anymore.
He’s a cause without a reason. heh heh
He’s a hipopotamus to me a devil like binay
🙂
I understand how important law is but I never understood law makers and lawyers.
There are watertight laws with bad intentions and laws with good intentions with loopholes that even elephants can escape.
There seems to be a correlation between being good in a legalistic sense and bad in a moral sense or between the opposite, good in moral sense but weaker in the fine print of the law. What is clear is that in front of the blindfolded Lady Justitia not all are equal .
Luckily there are lawyers as Harry Rogue who keep our ears open to stay alert for legalistic bias. Exaggerating and mixing spin, emotions with law texts the way he does make these dilemmas very clear.
Typo or not you said it best when you said Harry Rogue.
That one stays “as is”. 🙂 Harry Rogue it is.
Yes, he does increase the measure of cynical watchfulness.
He turned out to be an ambulance chaser,losing many of his cases.
For a long while, I thought he was the kind of principled idealist the nation needs, fighting for human rights and consumers and progressive thinking. Somewhere, something went horridly wrong.
Yes, in fact, you had an article last year, (February) :
” https://joeam.com/2014/02/21/calling-harry-roque-is-harry-roque-in-the-building/
Those were the days when I admire him also. I feel let down first by Joker Arroyo, then Binay and I now wonder why Saguisag is not taking Binay to task for his plundering ways.
Heroes with feet of clay, they are. Ooops, sorry, I was not supposed to speak ill of the dead…. ahhh, wadapak (karl) that’s superstition (Lcpl_X)
Do not bury Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (and do not vote Marcos son as VP)
By: Juan Miguel Luz Philippine Daily Inquirer
May 23rd, 2011
THE GREATNESS of national leadership is measured by what a leader leaves behind at the end of his or her term.
By this measure, Marcos was no great leader, much less a hero. His 20-year rule was in fact a failure. The Philippines he left behind in 1986 was worse off than in 1965 when he first took office.
The last years of his term (1983-85) saw the country’s economy shrink by over 10 percent. It took a decade thereafter for the economy to recover back to the GDP level of 1982.
When Marcos fled in 1986, 60 percent of all Filipinos were reduced to poverty earning less than $1 per person per day.
By 1985, the international debt of the Philippines had risen ten-fold during his 20-year tenure to $28 billion. This debt would have been acceptable had it been spent for productive assets. Instead, a good part of it was used for such non-performing non-assets as the overpriced, never-used Bataan nuclear power plant.
In 20 years of Marcos rule, corruption at the highest level siphoned off billions of dollars from public coffers into the private pockets of Marcos and his cronies.
In 20 years of Marcos rule, the Philippines went from being the second strongest economy in Asia to being a laggard.
This is not a trajectory that would have made this country a new “Singapore,” as the son of Marcos ignorantly claims would have happened. It is a trajectory going in the wrong direction.
Marcos turned this country into a private company—an expense account for himself, his family and his cronies at the expense of all Filipinos. And he created the mechanisms and laws to institutionalize this. The last straw was the 1986 snap elections when he tried to steal the presidency despite his failing health.
This was the reason behind the Edsa People Power revolution: To regain our democracy, to kick out an ailing despot, to take back the economy from cronies and to restore basic human rights for all.
After Edsa, we passed a law making plunder a crime. The Bill of Rights was restored in the Constitution. We re-established Congress to stand as true representatives of the people (while Marcos abolished Congress and took over legislation through the infamous Amendment 6). We reconstructed a Supreme Court to take charge over a decrepit judicial system that deferred to Marcos on major decisions (notably, Javellana v. Executive Secretary). All of these to correct the failings of Marcos.
Now, a quarter century later, the House of Representatives passes a resolution to honor Marcos with burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Think of the contradictions this implies.
We kicked out a dictator for plunder, corruption and national failure only for Congress to forgive, forget and to consider honoring with a place in our national cemetery?
We legislated a law against plunder but will now honor the man who created that word in our national vocabulary in the first place?
We paid human rights victims of Marcos $1,000 each in compensation for Marcos’ human rights violations and then honor the human rights violator with burial in the Libingan?
You would think we were blessed with national stupidity.
This story is also as surreal as it gets. There are five individuals in this world whose remains are preserved for public viewing (surely the Church must think this improper if not obscene): Four communist leaders—Lenin, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh and Kim il-Sung—and Marcos, the self-proclaimed anti-communist.
Today, over half of our population was born after Edsa I with no direct connection to the Marcos past and its excesses and abuses. This is a generation Vice President Jejomar Binay now wants to include in his survey of whether to bury Marcos in the Libingan or not. They will vote with no idea about the gravity of their vote.
I scan the names of the 216 congressmen who signed the resolution and see patterns of accommodation that will doom this country moving forward:
Every Macapagal-Arroyo ally has signed the resolution because their future relies on alliances with Marcos loyalists.
A number of party-list congressmen (that bastardized version of what the 1987 Constitution contemplated) have signed as well. Do they even know that the basic sectors are among the real beneficiaries of Edsa? (Then again, since when were LPG marketers, security guards and tricycle drivers, millionaires representing balut vendors, the El Shaddai sect and ethnic groups—Bicolanos, Warays, Ilonggos—considered basic sectors?)
Worse, I am dismayed as a liberal democrat to see Liberal Party members signing this resolution. The LP was supposed to be the reform party in the 2010 elections. To see a number of them signing this resolution is a great disappointment and a reflection of how little party discipline there is under the President.
Juan Miguel Luz is associate dean for Development Management at the Asian Institute of Management. The views are the author’s and do not represent any institution. For comments: juanmiguel.luz@gmail.com.
Hey deputy you are out of order.Joke only.
yeah, Chief…you beat me to it by a few seconds, see my next post below @ 4:50 pm
Beat you before you said aaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
Ha ha ha…!
“his failing health” I remember from the late Marcos days the Apo Hiking Society joke about “hidden wealth” and “hidden health” of Marcos. As a popular music group, they played a major role in building awareness against Marcos – they dared a lot in concerts.
Upon my observation para parang mga senator ang mga party list courting mayors,governors,and other congressmen for votes.
opps, sorry Joe. I was posting in Andrew’s article, why did it appear, here? so many wayward posts from me today…I mean my posts appeared in the middle instead of at the last, and now, here which is off topic…
At least this portion is on topic, at least tangentially (palusot)… How many votes does a party- list candidate need to be elected? a __% of the total number of votes cast?
“party-list congressmen (that bastardized version of what the 1987 Constitution contemplated) have signed as well. Do they even know that the basic sectors are among the real beneficiaries of Edsa? (Then again, since when were LPG marketers, security guards and tricycle drivers, millionaires representing balut vendors, the El Shaddai sect and ethnic groups—Bicolanos, Warays, Ilonggos—considered basic sectors?)” – Juan Miguel Luz
Somehow the Playgirls seem more decent human beings than this Harry, IMHO.
Ahh, yes, indeed, they didn’t really game anybody.
OFF TOPIC. We are down to
Roxas-Robredo
Poe-Escudero
Binay-Honasan
with the recent (final?) announcement by Duterte — I heard on teleradyo DZMM — that he is out of the running for President.
The above list contingent, among others, on Erap and Miriam not springing a surprise on the last day of COC filing.
Which means also per PA survey (26%/20%/19%) that about 30% will have to be re-distributed — assuming 5% are invalidated votes or go to nuisance candidates — among Roxas, Poe and Binay.
Lot’s going on today. Pacquiao out of LP ticket. VP Binay to be charged by the Ombudsman. Duterte out. Very lively democracy.
I think that a few days before filing, this announcement is final. I seldom invoke him, but this time I really thank God. Digong, you have not disappointed me, you know your limits and that you would have reached your Level of Incompetence by becoming President.
Robredo embodies a similar philosophy of citizen participation – without the killing. Good that elitist democracy is on its way out. Duterte was an early adopter of citizen participation, Joey Salceda of Albay likewise, Leni Robredo as well. May this new spirit continue to evolve.
What shall be interesting is – which Presidential candidate shall Duterte support? Hope he goes the same way as Manny Pacquiao and uses his popularity wisely.
Indeed if Duterte and Pacquiao endorse the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates who will be good for the country on both short and long-term bases and on reasonable criteria, we will have them to thank for a long time.
Both have the mass appeal to pull people, plus Duterte has the capability to convince the common people. But LP now rejecting Pacquiao because he is pro-Duterte – read it just now – is a bad sign and will alienate both of them, unfortunately. They have not yet understood the Sicilian adage that “we must change, so that everything can stay the way it is”. Just putting Leni Robredo as a horse before their cart to pull people will not work, the masa are not intellectually trained, but will continue to feel they are not really involved.
Without their buy-in, restructuring the country will fail. They will continue to sabotage things in a passive-aggressive sort of way – the CDE classes and even parts of the B class. And God forbid, Marcos Jr. might run for President in 2022 and win on the shambles of failure.
Outside the Senate, Marcos Jr. will be able to agitate against Mar Roxas. Yes, I think Ro-Ro will win this race. But Marcos will seize at every mistake Mar Roxas makes – and he will make them, without being protected by having the right surname like President Aquino.
Marcos Jr. is cunning like his father – he did not attack Aquino that openly and directly, knowing he would lose those battles. He will use running for VP to build his presence.
The neo-Marcos propaganda we have recently seen is just a prelude of the coming years.
That neo-marcos thing is something to be observed in the game as we go forward; and I can feel it. In fact I played a numbers game on the VP Candidates. If you cut the cake, it seems we have the heavier part of the cake on Robredo, Marcos and Escudero; the lighter cake slice Cayetano, Honasan and Trillanes. If I have to pick the two heavies from the heavier part of the cake I believe it could very well be Robredo and Marcos.
Looking at the Filipino voters’ demographics is proving to be very scary for 2016 and the future of Filipinos. It appears that around 68% of voting age Filipinos will belong to 18-44 age group, the population that is most affected by the neo-Marcos mindset.
The PSA only have the 2010 data and the 2015 census data is not yet published as it was just gathered in August.
This article gives us a view of the 2010 voters’ demographics and how it can be extrapolated for 2016 outcomes:
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/500370/news/specialreports/voters-profile-nearly-half-are-unemployed
This one gives us more recent data regarding voters’ turn out for the parliamentary and presidential elections in the Philippines:
http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?CountryCode=PH
After I played the numbers game using the data in above references, I joined Mary in gnashing her teeth and crying buckets for our nation.
JP, those were my initial reactions to the remarks of one of the millennial trolls. Let’s roll up our sleeves and continue on with the fight, in the arena they converge on – the social media – you tube and FB. Am flooding my FB page with memes and infomercials, whatever tiny bit that my mouse can click on, I share. I accept most friend requests and block some when I detect that they are posting pro Marcos propaganda. Calling on the internet techies, please contribute by way of devising YouTube infomercials based on the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reports. How about it, Irineo? There are a lot of news reports way back 1975 onward re Marcos’ plunder and manipulations in collusion with his cronies and lately from international counterpart of PCIJ , Gov. Marcos’ offshore companies and bank deposits from trust accounts left by FM which were not reported in her SALN. Who knows if Bongbong Marcos has those too.
Let’s wage the war in their own arena, if not converting them to what is right, at least prevent other millennials from joining them. Let’s do our best, God will do the rest. Let’s have faith, with God, nothing is impossible.
S E P T E M B E R 21, 2 0 5 2… M A R C OS D A Y The seventieth anniversary of the NEW BEGINNING of the Republic of the Philippines. Ferdinand Marcos III bows three times to the statue of Jose Rizal – and the statues of Ferdinand and Bongbong Marcos to the left and right of him.
Obed Ricarte, head of the National Intelligence, Cyberspace and Security Authority (NICSA) is beside him as well as Defense Minister Marcelo Carpio, son of Sara Duterte-Carpio. They go to the middle of Luneta Park to lay a flower wreath on the Imelda Mausoleum, HERE LIES LOVE is engraved on it. Minister of Finance Jejomar Binay III has announced that taxes have to be raised to 60% on all income to finance the Bataan Nuclear Power plant which resumed operation in 2030.
A 21-gun salute is fired from the aircraft carrier Liaoning by the Permanent Visiting Forces of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan at Subic Naval Base. Thousands of Filipinos work as slaves in the re-education camps of Bataan and Olongapo. Comfort women work for the Chinese in Angeles.
Ernie, son of Bert, has revived the Bikol rebel tradition and is leading the Bikol Liberation Army in the jungles of the Caramoan peninsula together with Jose Carbonell-Lim, nephew of the traitor General Javier Carbonell who betrayed the Glorious Coup of 1989 against the Retarded Aquino Radicals. Karl Marx Garcia, son of Pirate Captain Karl Garcia who was hanged at the North Harbor gallows in 2035, is hiding out in the hull of the Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal. The Chinese have built structures on top of it, but did not remove it because it had become part of the coral reef. Unknown to the Chinese, he has hacked into the PhilNet backbone and is posting pirate videos against the puppet Filipino government – as well as corny jokes – into OurTube.ph and PangitBook.ph – Youtube and Facebook are banned and subject to labor camp sentence in the Mamasapano natural gas fields. Roberto Kudarat Gerhard Salazar is spreading Garcia’s messages on Chika-Chika – Twitter equivalent.
Ferdinand Benigno Pacifico is imprisoned in Bataan labor camp for agitation on government blogs. John America, culturally ambidextrous son of Joe America, is with him as a suspected American spy. Lance Corporal EX, who makes a living as a smuggler, lands on shore and frees them from captivity.
Romulo Kintanar, Minister of Science, Technology and Industry, announces that the Philippines has completed its atomic warhead program. Ferdinand Marcos III, who has just had his ex-girlfriend Joy Dantes, daughter of Marian Rivera executed allegedly for pornography, echoing Kim Jong Un, is in a very bad mood and launches Agila IBRM rockets against Saigon and Hue – with nuclear warheads. The Southern Vietnamese, secretly supplied by American irregulars and smugglers like Lance Corporal EX, have not only resisted the puppet Northern Vietnamese government under China. They are behind biological terrorist attacks which have caused a supercholera epidemic in Southern China.
The Chinese deny involvement in the nuclear attacks. Aldub Santos, son of an Aeta beggar along EDSA, returns to his grandfather’s ancestral grounds near Pinatubo. He invokes the spirits of old, causing Pinatubo to erupt. The Bataan Nuclear Power plant is destroyed, releasing nuclear waste into the air. Fortunately, a typhoon blows the waste towards China. Manila is somewhat affected, the Northern Lusongdo (which is the new name for Luzon) coast as well, but Bikol is not affected.
Lance Corporal EX, Fernoy Pacifico and JohnAm arrive at Ayungin Shoal. Kamax Garcia and Obet Salazar are to sabotage the Chinese base on top of the Sierra Madre. Obed Ricarte of NICSA appears and shoots Obet Salazar. JohnAm shoots Obed. Kamax, LCPL_X and JohnAm dynamite the base. Speeding away on the Millenial Falcon, 85-year old LCPL_X lets loose a loud whoop. Together with Kamax and JohnAm, they raise the flag of the pro-American Kalayaan Republic on Pag-Asa island.
*******
The Oktoberfest ended on the 4th, 9 days ago. The Löwenbräu must be particularly potent to enable one to see hellish visions of the future that end in triumph. I must have some.
All’s well… that ends well.
*****
Only Aussies, Americans and the fans of 1860 Munich Lions drink Löwenbräu… 🙂
In true Filipino Catholic Tradition combined with Munich local patriotism, I drink Augustiner – founded in the 14th century by Augustinian Monks to brew beer for Lenten fasting time.
It is the only brewery still owned locally. all others are in multinational hands, most of them run by a Belgian multinational – true to Joseph Pivo’s (pivo is Czech, Polish and Russian for beer) article about the global world. I must disappoint you – it was not beer. It was one of the strange vivid dreams one has when one wakes up, then falls asleep again. Enhanced and completed against the fascist backdrop of the former Hermann Göring steel factory.
Gadzooks, I must remember to be kinder to LCpl_X. I would add that it is absolutely true that my son is obsessed with the Philippine flag. He draws them and photocopies them on my printer and tapes them to balloon sticks. They are everywhere around the house.
He also told me yesterday that if I am American, I should go back to the US, but my wife can stay here. Nationalistic little troublemaker . . . yeah, he’d shoot Obed, no question . . .
Am glad I was nowhere in this futuristic scenario of yours, Irineo….Ferdinand Marcos III is president….aaarrrrgggghhhh! JohnAmerica and 85 year-old Lcpl_X saved the day, with China smothered with radioactive fallout from BNPP…
A tragic comedy. You are one story-teller. So the millennials had their way. the Chinese too, ha? Heaven forbid…this is a very morbid fiction. And because it’s just a fiction, it made me smile.
I have made continuation that includes you – which could be the way the eternal Philippine story goes on, the Tragedy and Comedy, with AlDub Love and Heneral Luna Passion:
September 30, 2082. Prime Minister Jesus Maria Robredo is giving the memorial address for Aldaw ng Kalayaan. The term Filipino is no longer used, tawong malaya is the term for a citizen in the national language called Wikang Malaya in the Republika ng Kalayaan. The language is a mixture of Bikol, Tagalog and Cebuano, with some words sprinkled in from the language of Ilokano refugees who fled the nuclear fallout in Northern Luzon. Manila is abandoned. The Rizal monument has been moved to Lapu-Lapu City, the Federal Capital on Mactan Island. Cebu is the capital of the Visayan state. Naga City is the capital of the Luzon state whose inhabitable area goes until Southern Quezon province. Davao is the capital of the Mindanao state. Prime Minister Robredo reminds of the sacrifice of great men and women 30 years ago in front of the Rizal statue, which has statues of Quezon and Heneral Luna beside it, and the Cory monument, also moved from EDSA to Mactan, with the statues of Gabriela Silang and Mary Grace P. Gonzales – passionate defender of democracy – beside it. He lauds the achievements of Kamax Garcia and Fernoy Pacifico. JohnAm the mestizo has been forgotten. Like the heroic fight of the Bikol liberation army under Kumander Ernie and Kumander Johnny Carbonnel. The Philippine-American Society in Biliran has put up a statue of JoeAm, JohnAm and LCPL_X there.
The INB – Iglesia ni Bathala – of Davao commemorates its founding by Manny Piñol Jr., its creed a mixture of Christianity, Islam and Lumad beliefs. Its block vote usually goes to Manolo Carpio, son of former Defense Minister Marcelo Carpio, grandson of Sara Duterte-Carpio, and his Philippine Nationalistic Party. Robredo is the leader of the Liberation Party, the LP, which has lodged a protest against the Digong Duterte Memorial Circle and Monument in Davao. PNP party supporters are financed by groups in Sulawesi and earn money by smuggling synthetic drugs to Indonesia.
There is a monument to Aldub Santos in Iriga, Camarines Sur. Agta from the mountains continue to protest against the lack of recognition for an Agta martyr for freedom. Both PNP and LP dismiss the story of the Agta as “primitive magical superstition”. His speed train trip to Olongapo took him only 45 minutes on the September 23, 2052, while his walk through the jungle took him three days. His final meditation and reconnection with the spirits took three days. Pinatubo erupted on September 29, 2052. The heroic destruction of Ayungin Shoal Fortress was on September 30, 2052. Fernoy Pacifico was forgotten on the fortress, but managed to jump off before it exploded, swimming half an hour to Mischief Reef. After being captured by the Chinese, he managed a dramatic escape, killing the entire garrison with chemical weapons found on the reef and swimming back to the ruins of the Ayungin shoal fortress. An Abu Sayyaf speedboat picked him up. He converted to Islam and moved to Sulu, never to be heard of again. The Sultanate of Sulu is now an independent state, living on piracy.
The Republic of Cagayan and Batanes is also independent, with its capital in Aparri City. It is allied with Okinawa against the Republic of Taiwan, where survivors of the fallout have fled to.
Beside the Aldub Santos monument are two small statues of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza. The base of the statue has inscribed:
Aldub Santos, Native Filipino hero.
Born on August 1, 2016 in the term of President Manuel Roxas II.
Died on September 29, 2052 in the term of President Ferdinand Marcos III.
Conceived in the spirit of AlDub love in late November 2015.
Godparents at baptism: Congressman Wilfredo Villanueva and blog commenter Mary Grace P. Gonzales.
Wedding sponsors on June 23, 2034: Member of Parliament Popoy del R. Cartanio and Mrs. Mercedes Santos.
The first part of your futuristic Philippine Saga made me smile although you depicted the a descendant of Marcos as president, you managed to almost erase China and her fortress in Ayungin Shoal – with JohnAm and the old LCPL_X as PhilAm and American patriots.
The second part had me gurgling in laughter, monuments all around, ha including that of my future godson ALDUB Santos why did he die young at age 36?. Hey, Congressman Wil, you were there , too. And the best part, the president in the year 2016 – President Manuel Roxas II.
But wait, the land was federalized chopped up to small independent federal states, was that how President Ferdinand Marcos III got elected? Fernoy Pacifico — Ferdinand Noynoy Pacifico, a descendant of MRPM….hmmm….
Be careful with federalism, that would be haven for the dynastic families.
Well, this time I will be a little bit like Popoy, not explaining everything. Re-read the first part and try to connect the possible scenarios – Fernoy and Aldub are there as well… 🙂
Palaisipan itong mga istorya ko – they are food for thought. Pero isisirit ko iyong isang bahagi – I will reveal a part of the points I have made:
1) history is often only a part of what really happened, many parts are forgotten:
1a) some heros are forgotten in the Philippines because they are the wrong group. Quezon was ignored by nationalist historians because he was a mestizo. General Alejandrino because he was almost pure Spanish. Luna is only now being revived. Therefore 30 years later, they also forget JohnAm and LCPL_X because they are too white for the new nationalism of the Kalayaan Republic. And the Negrito hero Aldub is also forgotten, only his own remember him – masyado kasing “bakya” – from simple people.
2a) some heros are enshrined later on, but they do not treat them well during their times, or they did not really play such an important role. Fernoy and Kamax are remembered, but in my first part he is not mentioned during the flag-raising on Kalayaan. LCPL_X, JohnAm and Kamax forget him on the Chinese fortress, kawawa naman – poor guy. One generation later they make him a martyr. Maybe the three tell the world he was shot by Obed as well, to cover up that they forgot him. Obet Salazar is completely forgotten…
2) Hero cults often cover up that we forget what they stood for. Most people know that Rizal is a hero but have not read, much less understood the Noli and Fili. Major parts of Rizal’s work are completely forgotten – Wilhelm Tell translation, Indolence of the Filipino.
It is like many Filipinos pray to saints but don’t know what they are about. Are Christians on paper but do not live what it is supposed to stand for. Ceremonially worship heros without applying the lessons these heros gave in their daily lives. But not only Filipinos…
EDSA shrine is an example – most Filipinos have forgotten what happened in 1986. So 30 years after the heroism of LCPL_X, JohnAm and Kamax, many things are forgotten too.
3) People learn a little from experiences, but then often slide back into old habits. Happened after the hopeful days of the February revolution as well.
4) You never know how things can go. Negros had a separate revolution from the Katipunan, even declared their own republic. Bonifacio only wanted “Katagalugan”, it was Aguinaldo who declared the Philippine Republic – and even suggested an alliance to the Sultan of Sulu, who refused because he made a separate deal with the USA. So the former Philippines is something completely different after the great catastrophe. Three federal states while Cagayan and Sulu are independent. If some pro-US people had won in the 1920s, there might have been three US states called Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.
5) Some thing always survive in another form. The Philippine Nationalist Party is in my fantasy a mixture of ex-loyalists and the INB from Mindanao. They don’t approve of the renaming of the Republic and their older members use pure Tagalog only. PNP is a future descendant of the old NP, Liberation Party is the old LP but with the name of the party Joe once suggested here, they gave the Philippines the new name “Republika ng Kalayaan” because of the flag raised there. Some possibilities are: old loyalists tried to keep the Philippine Republic going in Mindanao after Luzon was full of radioactivity and fought the Republika ng Kalayaan in a naval war. The Liberation Republic won, but then they had to deal with the Bikol Liberation Army. They gave Federalism to Luzon and Mindanao as a concession. The state is mainly Visayan because Defense Minister JohnAm recruited a lot of Bisayas as naval soldiers, President Kamax Garcia focused on navy like his father and grandpa. That is why the capital is on Mactan island. To counter the PNP party with their own nationalism, they revived the memory of Lapu-Lapu. What was NP originally – it was the party of former Philippine revolutionaries who decided to continue fighting democratically. LP only was founded later, but its core comes from the old Federalist Party which was pro-American – Pardo de Tavera for example. The Philippines due to Quezon became a little bit like the Republic of Aguinaldo, but also like Bonifacio’s Katagalugan.
“LCPL_X and JohnAm dynamite the base. Speeding away on the Millenial Falcon, 85-year old LCPL_X lets loose a loud whoop. Together with Kamax and JohnAm, they raise the flag of the pro-American Kalayaan Republic on Pag-Asa island.”
LOL! Hahahahahaha… sorry I missed this, Ireneo. Just catching up now. This was funny. I think you should write a novel, futuristic sequels to Rizal’s novels.
My favourite sci-fi fiction was Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”, I’d forgotten that the hero was one Juan Rico ( http://starshiptroopers.wikia.com/wiki/Juan_Rico_(novel) ), your JohnAm (Joe’s son, my ward) reminds me of Juan Rico. He’ll make a great hero one day.
It’s my honor to be of service.
Great story.
“Hitchhiker’s guide to the Philippines” . . . or, better, “Historian’s guide to the Philippines”.
Hey Manong Joe, why is Dean Bocobo attacking your anonymity? From the get go you stated the need to be anonymous, which we all accepted and then moved on? I do not understand his problem. Well everybody in your blog is behind you. I just find it funny that the commenters in facebook were also behind you and not one is supporting the Dean. 😂
Bocobo..he is UP like his father who was a reknowned UP President before.
UP is a world of its own – I grew up there but left early but it is bit “tribal”. Imagine the reactions if Andrew Lim had written “Bongbong Marcos, that nasty Ilokano”, from Ilokanos…
DJB, was from DLSU but like you he had to leave for the states where he took his phd in astro physics,.
I have not read the nature of Bocobo’s attack on Joe’s anonymity. I would have appreciated the attack if it is on the credibility of Joe and his support for that thesis. Your info about a phd in astrophysics does not aid me on my puzzle about his attack. I am a man of science myself. But perhaps astrophysics is a science apart from what I know of science and how astrophysicists evaluate things. (My one centavo worth.)
NHerrera, my hunch is that DJB’s interests in astrophysics is somewhat related to his being an atheist. There were very extensive discussions about religion, and the existence of God, and about the Big Bang Theory in Filipinovoices at the time, and DJB was such a very enthusiastic participant in such discussions there.
That does put some light on how the grey matter works. 🙂
Still, if his father is the former UP president, he might feel his old home challenged.
The Philippines is a lot of barangays.. UP Campus is a barangay, Camp Aguinaldo also you will remember.. The sense of belonging at that level can be strong – for some people.
Nherrera he just said that Joe is a coward,and feeling famous and important snd hr doesn’t care who gets in dange.DJB is a longtime political blogger
His blog is
http://philippinecommentary.blogspot.com
He is pro erap,but not pro binay,i think he is pro grace.
You know, I think the whole “anonymity” issue is trumped up, to attack my credibility. That is clear when we discover that he blogged anonymously under the DJB handle. He also says he is American. It must be political, rather like Binay’s spokespeople charging Roxas as inept over Mamasapano. Ridiculous, but it works for the sensationalists in the audience.
I’m thinking some Poe backers are rather nasty connivers, from what I’ve seen of them here and there. Trolling and playing the mud-slinging games. It goes to the point of people looking for a role model, so Binay backers would be thugs, Poe/Escudero backers would be connivers, and Roxas backers would be strong, handsome and intelligent, or like Robredo, intelligent, pretty and principled. 🙂
Sometimes he just attacks when Manuel Buencamino questioned the US interests in just having a ship docked,he went ballistic. In that case you would agree with him more and might question MB as well,but he was relentless and forgot that they were friends.
And one more thing, I witness two anonymous bloggers who frequent his blog fight and he had to beg for them to stop.That time he was asking for order because that was his house.
He is certainly prone to verbal explosives. I guess I have to deal with that kind of thing, being famous and making all the money people claim I am making. I did a tweet this morning and was accused of being “paid”. I guess they can’t believe someone would actually be for Roxas or something. 🙂
He sounds like some of those characters in Spaghetti Westerns I liked. Loved Clint Eastwood in those movies.
Hahaha, I used to smoke those small cigars trying to be like Clint. I think he’s older than you are now. ahahahaha
I think it has to do with his own personal experience of writing in opposition to Marcos and getting jailed for it, and here I come sailing through and taking Harry Roque (and others) to task while hiding behind an alias. So he equates me with the bad guys who are cheating, or like American revolutionists, shooting from the trees instead of marching in line to confront the British. So to solve Dean’s problem, I have to make things very risky or troublesome for my family, or stop writing about people. He knows my real identity through another blogger, and so threatens to divulge it. I can only shrug and figure we all do what we have to do. I for sure intend no harm by writing anonymously.
Ok. Maybe MRP should go and comment there and express his feelings about UP.
Bocobo is one of the academic political dynasties within UP, the others I don’t remember now – or maybe for now I don’t want to remember. 🙂 I would have been part of a “professorial dynasty” if my destiny had not been different. Children of professors usually become professors themselves – the excellent head of Project NOAH, Dr. Mahar Lagmay, is no exception. Marrying other prof’s kids, who also grew up on Campus, is also common…
Now the next point of attack for Joe could be the DOST – my other original tribal affiliation as a Pisay alumni. I would not be surprised if someone with a surname like Magno and Kintanar would come up and ask Joe to open his visor, feeling his barangay challenged… 🙂
That’s true. When I did a critique of Rappler a while back, one of their people responded in the discussion. The main anger point was me writing from anonymity, not the substance of what I said. That they just debated, but the “hidden enemy” was infuriating. I figure I can solve the problem by switching to writing about cuisine and travel.
Hahaha! Bow, to bauwow!
That’s what came to my mind too when I read your comment about Bacobo attacking Joe.
Let’s send him our “not-so-secret UP destroyer.”
Looks like there is a question about Bocobo’s identity too:
http://deebeedee.com/blog/2003/08/07/will-the-real-mr-bocobo-please-stand-up/
The UP Dean appears to have died in 1965. This Bacobo on FB and Twitter is supposedly a blogger, PDI writer and physicist. The blog attributed to him is about fashion and there are no scientific papers credited to him that I could find with my brief research.
🙂
DJB knows MRP, one of the reasons he left Filipinovoices was MRP and the anti pinoys, MRPs profile pic then was chucky,he got scared.joke
MRPs polemics are exaggerated of course… but the influence of UP is enormous and it’s character as an in-group is harmful for the country.
Imagine the US Ivy League type of influence – but in only one University, and with kids of professors growing up on Campus together. Add Filipino culture of groups and families that tend to cluster – what you get is not unlike the families than run Filipino politics. It can lead to similar phenomena like military men overlooking certain things for their PMA mistah, or also helping one another which is good in many situations, thank God Raissa’s father was our neighbor and her sister studied German with my mother and helped me get out of jail in Marcos times – but where do you draw the line between help and furthering impunity?
Hi karl. DJB was a contributor/blogger in Filipinovoices at that time while our dear Joe here was a commenter there too. Can you recall if the two of them were there same period of time?
DJB had left right about the time I arrived. I was frequently accused of being DJB in disguise.
Yeah,Bencard and those who believed him.
I didn’t connect Dean to the famous DJB until I read your comment on Facebook. That makes me think his complaint really has little to do with anonymity and a lot to do with my success as a blogger, of American heritage. The old-school bloggers split into two groups. One is those like you, Bert, Cocoy and manuelbuencamino, who hold no envy and have been a part of my maturing process, and the second is those like Dean, Ricelander, Primer and to an extent JCC who tend to see red when they put success and American in the same phrase. They are generally the older nationalists who have blogged earnestly (and emotionally) and some jerk from America is getting all the recognition.
The content of the blogs to them means nothing as they have personal issues that get in the way of caring about that.
Joe, you said : “That, as a professor of law, he believes the President controls court proceedings?
That he would accept UN infringement into Philippine legal due process?”
I think it is disgusting and intellectually dishonest of Harry R. to be conveniently silent on these keytwo points which makes his statement completely irrelevant.
That’s his style. He knows that most of us are not attorneys or that involved in these affairs, so he uses them as a bludgeon to attack the President and figures no one will call him on it. By the way, he does not respond to comments from his blog, which, by the way (again), I dropped from the Blog Center yesterday because I presume it will just be his political mouthpiece going forward.
I have scanned Facebook comments of some UP lawyer Facebook friends who even forwarded my sharing of the blog,as expected they did not like it.Oscar Franklin Tan commented and he wants Joe to unmask.The one who shared the blog even accused Joe and the rest of us as the LP secret media machine.
No problem, if Oscar will pay for the security detail for my wife and kid, and our home. I figure three people will do it, licenses to carry fire-arms, including salary, housing and food. I will reveal my identity when Oscar forwards me the payment for one year of protection services and their housing/board.
The other way is to earn my trust, and have a need, and I will happily introduce myself. Everyone from Edgar to President Aquino know who I am, so why not Oscar. He only needs to explain WHY he needs to know.
Well, technically Joe did reveal his real name already, but he prefers to be called as Joe and write as Joe. I can see it as him trying to separate his public life from his private life, similar to how Charles Dodgson wrote mathematical works, but today’s people might be unfamiliar with that name because that person also wrote children’s stories under the name Lewis Carroll.
My favorite alias is George Sand, who in real life was Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, a French socialite and . . . let’s just say she “got around” in social circles. She challenged a lot of social taboos. And of course we have Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), who was an ardent supporter of Philippine independence, and whose “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is among the most popular American novels of all time. Twain’s willingness to challenge convention, and Jonathan Swift’s outrageous satire, give me the courage to be different, in style.
I bought a Tagalog version of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” for my mother when she was already old and in semi-retirement. She did not let go of the book until it was finished, could not thank me enough, she so appreciated it that she read it over and over again. The Noli and Fili, (when she was younger, she did each during nights until the wee hours of the morning after her usual tasks. She even read the Bible from cover to cover and scored the highest during our regular bible quizzes.
She encouraged me to join in the Edsa 1 and 2 and watched with us the live coverage of the Estrada Impeachment trials. She is my number 1 fan although I’m the ugly duckling of the Tres Marias.
Well, I am now your mother’s number one fan.
That brought a lump in my throat, Joe. Thanks.
Well, we exchanged lumps, then. My mother was an avid reader . . . her mother was a poet, trapped in a small town . . .
Just a couple of comments on Harry Roque which are germane to his announced departure from his teaching career at the UP College of Law and entry into politics as a party list congressional candidate. Make no mistake about it, he remains under Binay’s camp if not financial backing and expect to see more online and media attacks against Aquino (Mar) and of course Poe under his name and his long time but less well known longtime law partner, Jorge Butuyan, an avid blogger.
As to Dean Jorge Bocobo III’s reasons for not taking a liking to this blogsite or the visage of its grizzled patriarch, perhaps it may have something to do with his personal relationship with JoeAm’s less than cordial ties with Gary Olivar. Not only were both Marxist Maoist student leaders, fled to the safety of Uncle Sam and swapped Mao’s red book for a Harvard Business School Diploma and an MIT (definitely not Mapua) masters in astrophysics. Perhaps more significantly, the two are close first cousins and descendatnts of Professor Jorge Bocobo, vaunted dean of UP College of Law.
Actually, I gave DBD too much credit and he only managed to get accepted at Harvard for his masters in astrophysics, sill no lame feat…hehehe.
DJB even
Marcos family, Erap Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile.
I challenge the NPA, if they are truly for the masses, to get even against these thieves, to the advantage of the Pilipino People. Eddy Frayna
Who is Eddy Frayna?
Not only that, I challenge the progressives to make a statement, any statement: positive, negative, or neutral, regarding the dismissal of (ex?) Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, as well as the governor of Masbate (whose name is escaping me at the moment). They’re so vocal when it comes to issues such as Mamasapano, the Laude murder case, K-12, SUC budget cuts, the plight of the Lumads, etc., and yet when it comes to Binay’s corruption, the silence is deafening.
Integrity matters a lot in politics. Ethical consideration is important in branding one’s profession or business enterprise because what matters most is the GOOD NAME that will last in serving our people. Political machination through turncoatism destroys credibility and trust. Roque is nothing but sip sip. He never realized that his political opportunism will last for 5.5 yrs only unless abbreviated by the eruption of the brewing social volcano. Roque is damaged good already unless he reforms himself the soonest.
Agree. He was true to form in this week’s hearing, demanding that the Senate dismiss Sen De Lima.
He’s doing it again by opposing the appoint of a batang UP Campus known to all UP folks to be upright and patriotic, Dr Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial, his motive… maybe he has a candidate for SOH whom he wants to replace Ubial?
Thanks for info. Not surprising.
i am reading this at the time harry roque was named spokesman of pres. duterte. your revelation reverberates until now with my realization today that this guy has absolutely replaced his lost moral compass with hypocrisy and grand ambition. for shame!