Who is right, Duterte supporters or ‘Yellows’?
Yep, that’s us, in the Philippines. [Photo source: petattack.com]
By Joe America
Arguments in Philippine social media are intense and personal. It’s a battleground where no quarter is given and insult, illogic, slander, and lies have gone mainstream.
This is such an uncivilized way to represent the Philippines, isn’t it? It’s like hi-tech uncivil war. I mean, we are sentient beings with a conscience, logic, information, and moral foundations prescribed by our faith or reasoning. Why are we such divided, nasty peoples? Why do we snarl like dogs and spit like cobras? Where did compassion go? Respect?
They’ve gone missing.
The reason, of course, is as old as time. We disagree on the most basic, fundamental idea about HOW we want the nation to go forward.
- Duterte supporters want a dynamic leader capable of cutting through the social/political barriers that have bound the nation to misery for over a century. Those who oppose this are considered unpatriotic “destabilizers”.
- ‘Yellows’ want to stick with the Constitution and its democratic ideals. The Constitution is an important contract for progress, human rights, fairness, and justice. Those who oppose this dedication to established law are considered unpatriotic and treasonous.
The divide, at its root, is caused by the fact that most Filipinos feel let down by their government. They are going nowhere in their lives and they are hurt and angry about it.
Incompetent government work keeps tens of millions of Filipinos poor or stuck in traffic, and stuck with their lot in life. They have little hope of ever bettering themselves or finding peace. Family members have to go overseas to find work. Yet others are getting ahead, getting rich, having a good life. The incompetence of the State is generated by lousy priorities and lousy laws and trapo self-interest. Favoritism and impunity rule the day.
But each side of the debate is also failing.
- Duterte supporters back a government that is more of the same, or even worse, a killer state. It does not offer cutting edge progress and modernization. Supporters live their lives believing lies or mis-truths. They join with the corrupt, the incompetent, and the arrogant who put their own well-being above knowledge and the nation’s well-being.
- The ‘Yellows’ tout their ideals and hopes but cannot speak meaningfully to the disenfranchised masses who want to see, feel, and touch some real benefits. ‘Yellows’ are elitist, aloof, judgmental, incompetent.
And so everyone snarls.
A solution is there for people willing to do real change.
To better the nation, Filipinos of stature and power have to look within themselves and decide that they are wasting their lives doing to the Philippines that which has been done over and over again since 1898. They are failing. They are incompetent. They are miserable, enabling creatures, rats on a wheel going round and round.
They, and the nation, are going nowhere. And it is tragic.
This hard condemnation includes both ‘Yellows’ and Duterte supporters. Everyone is a failure if the whole government is a failure.
They have to decide, and commit to the idea, that the Philippines and Filipinos can become civil and productive and ‘First World’.
There are many ways to run a successful nation.
- If the nation needs an autocrat, power brokers ought to choose a smart and decent one, not a self-dealing lunatic.
- If the nation needs democracy, power brokers ought to make sure more mature, forthright, ethical, and competent people are elected, not trapos filling space and wasting a nation’s efforts.
A nation on the move has to move in the direction of up, and forward, not down, and backward.
Surely there are Filipinos of influence who can take that inward look and decide to move the nation up, and forward.
And get us all off this God-forsaken, eternal ferris wheel of failure.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Only one question to both sides……..
Name one country in this world doing well for their inhabitants ruled by political selfish dynasties.
The question is the answer.
SOO? therefore, despues, ergo, we can’t blame, Spain, America, or Japan? WE CAN NOT BLAME ALL OURSELVES. The entire officialdom and the political family dynasties are not the ENTIRETY of all of US, so a segment of us gunning for wealth and power CAN BE PICKY, capitalismo, imperialismo, IBAGSAK while the causal and causative groups make hay and laug all the way to their banks. Sa daigdig ng mga wakarang, wakarang lang ang palaging nasa ibabaw. In most all other countries, RESPECT is part of the air people breathe, if they break it or lost it, they will breath the air of jail and a life of shame.
You can blame others, or use history as an experience, up to the point that a decision is made. Then accountability falls to the decision-maker, even for things out of his or her control. There should always be contingencies.
Respect indeed ought to be the air we breathe. It is not, in the Philippines, today. There is little compassion or comprehension of the context others work within. There is only ‘me’ and my interests. It is a very poisoned arena to try to work. There is zero tolerance for mistakes, thus the excuses, failure to learn, blames, and lack of accountability.
There you go TSoH:
“You can blame others,
or use history as an experience,
up to the point that
a decision is made.
Then accountability falls
to the decision-maker,
even for things out of
his or her control.
There should always
be contingencies.”
From there Popoy wants
to go too and bite the dusts
may be but not to eat goto:
I used to earn (P100) two dollars
every hour going round
lecturing spreading yarns
and sprinkling juices of theory and
techniques of decision-making
to sponge-dried public servants.
To manage a red taped outfit
I say is not to lead but a big more
as a decision maker cool and full
of knowledge of his own character,
the decision process, and of
what makes an effective DECISION.
Managers may learn by practice
to plan, organize, direct and control
yet remain ignoramus of the impact
of the decisions he makes every micro
moment that he is paid to do them.
The vastness of decisions a President
has made or did not make as either useful
or harmful to his people spells out ultimately,
absolutely his worth and capability.
True that. I’ve always found almost overwhelming the span and detail of the Executive branch. Some 20 agencies covering health care to LTO plastic and fisherfolk. President Aquino ran it like a machine, like an executive, setting goals, delegating, managing, adjusting, moving forward and up. President Duterte runs it like a mayor, not troubling with the administration, only the public words. It is an abdication of responsibilities in my eyes, and cannot but have a deteriorating effect as bad decisions are made, excused, and never corrected. So I have no doubt that he is and will be measured . . . and found wanting.
I wonder how Bavaria managed to do well with one dynasty from 1080-1918.
But then again, they usually did their part, including attracting talent in the 19th century. Result is that even now nobody hates them here, in a place were memories are long.
Curiosity killed the cat, but I am not a cat.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wittelsbach
They ruled only in a small German part, not the whole of Germany….
Mostly they did spend their time drinking Bavaria Beer… 🙂
They made the people drink beer.. royalty preferred wine.
They say Bavarians angrily plan revolutions during the first glass and are content by the second.. but there were indeed revolts when the Kings tried to raise beer prices
Two times they ruled the Holy Roman Empire.
Two instances that almost the whole of Europe had beer bellies.
Question to Irineo.
Was Philip ii, where we got the name Philppines este Philippines, a Bavarian?
A Habsburg – Austrian in origin. From 1700s-now Spain is ruled by French-origin Bourbons.
The War of Spanish succession involved many parties, guess Spain had riches to fight for.
They got from the Galleon trade, silver first then gold later….oro plata mata.
The Portuguese discovered the spices,So The Hasburgs need to go the other way because they blocked the shortcut to the Indian ocean, then made it look like a triumph of circum navigation.
Then the Dutch controlled the spices and the Portuguese remained in Macau and Brazil.
Somewhere in the mix is the British.
The long delayed industrial revolution finally launched, the Tudors and the Stuarts must have been afraid of creative destruction, finally they realized it was worth it so they pushed through.
They were late bloomers in the Atlantic trade, they decided to rule the waves by destroying the Spanish Armada then it was their turn.
The seven years war happened the Brits got kicked out of North America so they moved to Hong Kong, Australia and other places in the Commonwealth.
Their abolition of slavery made it worse for the Africans, now they abolished OFWs but they just morphed into slaves in Africa….the rest they say is history in the making.
I was trying to do my version of Maestro popoy’s tall tales,but I suck at it.
Suez canal was still not an idea when Carlos V commisioned Magellan to look for the spices.
It was that treaty of Tordesillas that lead to the treaty of Zaragoza that divided the world into two.
Man, what vanity, they thought they owned the world,without asking China, well China would not care they even discouraged ship building for some reason and now they are cramming to be the top naval power.
What did I miss, the Arabs…
The Ottoman empire had their slice of the pie, they had their time, but Duterte once said that the west stole oil from the Arabs, failed to realize without engines,what’s the use for fuel.
The ottoman empire did try to conceptualize engines and fuel
But like China they never capitalized on that time’s intellectual property
It was the Brits who did, after pirating ideas from around the globe snd added to their own, the Industrial Revolution happened and Coal was the go to fuel at that time, those who cannot mine coal or even import them must settle for charcoal.
India could have been the top exporter of garments,but the Brits would not allow that, do they made it ten times faster to produce garments,notwithstanding the Luddites desrtruction of creative because they hated creative destruction….
corny na naman…..
di ko naman maikonect to sa DDS vs Dilawan.
Ah Duterte blamed the west so kasalanan ng Dilawan dahil mahilig sila sa Western, ngayon sa Eastern sya kakampi dahil pinigilan ng west umunlad ang East.
Di nya alam na ayaw naman ng East umunlad.
Etong East vs West nato na kasalanan ng treaty of Zaragosa ay dinaan na lang sa Basketball.
o sige sabi nga ni Maestro Popoy E is for Enough and F is for Finished.
Nice konek. Going with the flow, may I add:
As in business one speaks of the “business model,” so in empire building one has a business model. The centuries of Roman Empire I understand was built on conquest of the barbaric lands and people to strengthen the empire. The shorter Alexander the Great Empire, was probably built on similar model. And so we come now to the present where the limits of the planet and the scarcity of barbaric lands to conquer has by force changed the model. The planet has become just too small. One may not say anymore, “each in its good time.”
Oops wrong. China has its concept of conquest of barbaric lands via the Nine-dash-line Chinese lake concept and via the OBOR concept. And the US? Russia? And of course KJU has his own not-too-little game putting a monkey wrench on the game of the giants.
What is the business model of Duterte? Will it last a decade?
NH,
Nagsimula pala ang world conquest sa
que barbaridad!
Business model of Duterte is Barbarity.
Empires… the West… first came the Greeks who called what was in the East “Asia”. Asia minor today is composed mostly of Turkey and a bit of Syria, “Asya” is a part of Istanbul, the part of the city you reach when crossing one of the two bridges over the Bosporus or a ferry.
Greeks called everyone else except themselves and Asia barbarians, but Alexander was not strictly speaking Greek, he was Macedonian, almost a barbarian. But only Macedonia had the power to face the Persians who had repeatedly invaded Greece.. and built a bigger empire..
which fell apart after Alexander died. Rome was barbarian, with a few Greek colonies like Syracuse. Romans emulated Greece, and conquered even more. Gaul or France, with Southern France forming the bridge to the riches of Iberia, where rich Romans moved to.
The emperors Trajan and Hadrian were at home in Spain, Hadrian was born near Sevilla. Trajan brought the Roman empire to its furthest reaches, Hadrian helped stabilize these acquisitions which included present-day Romania, originally Dacia.. with its gold mines.
Then the division of the empire into Eastern and Western parts. The Eastern part, Hellenized due to Alexander and his successors, effectively abandoned Roman language and writing after the Western part was taken over by Game of Thrones like Germanic barbarians.
—————–
What survived in the Western part was the primacy of the Pope. The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire – it was a kind of federal system for the tribes that took over after Rome fell apart. Originally France, Germany, Benelux, Northern Italy.
Later it was Germany and the Marches where there were other (new) barbarians to conquer. The Eastern March became Austria, the Brandenburg March became Prussia. Not the first time semi-barbaric areas of conquest became more powerful than the original center…
At some point the Magyars came, wild, horsebound people – confused with the Huns in popular historic accounts. Arnulf the Bad, Bavarian tribal duke, betrayed them like Humabon did with Magellan, inviting them to a feast and killing them. German King Otto defeated them.
So the Magyars decided to settle further East and become Christian. Somewhat like nowadays, you are recognized if you accept democracy and human rights, the rest of Europe recognized them as being civilized. They became Hungarians. Some are still called Attila.
The coordinates of West and East were clearer then. West = Roman Catholicism, Western Europe. East = Orthodoxy, Greeks, Russians, Serbs. Or even further East = Turks. Yes, they suddenly arrived, eating the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, at its edges.
—————–
The rest is continued by Karl. You can’t go back to Constantinople. That’s nobodies business but the Turks. It is Instanbul now, but what the Greeks called Asia is still Asya. 21 year old Sultan Mehmet prayed in the Hagia Sofia, turned into a mosque, within hours of conquest.
Yes, the Turks blocked the spice trade. The Portuguese grabbed the maps of the Moros, the Iberian ones, first and followed their trade routes up to Malacca, Ternate and Tidore. No chance for the Spanish to go there. They had to go the other way, bumping into… Leyte.
So the West came to the Philippines from the East, just like the Chinese today are in the WEST Philippine sea. Are the Chinese therefore the true Westerners?
According to Charles Mann in his book 1493, the first time Spanish ships chanced upon Chinese junks was in Bulalacao, Mindoro. Legazpi’s ships chanced upon Chinese trading with the Mangyan in a bay. Charles Mann also dissects the song “Bahay Kubo”.
Nearly all the plants there come from somewhere else. Just like the potato, considered so typically German, is a sprout from the Andes. Frederick the Great of Prussia forced his farmers to plant it, who feared it was poisonous – but he wanted a staple for his soldiers.
The point being, all cultures are products of collisions and recombinations. And chance.
If the Spanish had not discovered silver in unimaginable quantities in Potosi, now Bolivia, there would have been no interest in establishing a galleon trade route. Chinese wanted payment and the Mexican silver peso (pieces of 8 for Carribean pirates) was like the dollar today…
There goes Irineo’s historical tale and thought, continued by karl, and completed by Irineo. Thanks. (My note just a break and pales in comparison)
Thanks again Irineo and NH.
Sir NH, you are ever so humble, but I hope you won’t understimate your self, because you are a maestro like professor popoy.
Thanks for the kind words karl.
You are most welcome.
Dynasties like the queen or king in England, Netherlands have only a ”figural” statue…no laws are made by them…they are handy for cutting ribbons and join other high ranking royalties when one gets married or die…Mostly tax money waste…hehehehe
By now, yes.. but they had more real power even in the 19th century.. so still dangerous..
Wasting money.. one Bavarian King wasted a lot of money on his mistress.. another was so crazy his brother ruled for him.. another wasted money on castles.. and drowned himself..
Many Americans EVEN NOW remember after their successful revolution against Britain, GEORGE WASHINGTON, rejected and refused to be KING.
Beautiful Models and their absence in the kokote of the wise . . .
Karl, in the masteral course Management of Rural Development, there is to teach the Harmony Model of the West, the Kibbutz Model of Israel, and the Conflict (Makibaka) Model of the Reds. Wonder of wonders what is the Cave Man’s Model ? Nada. Nothing?
Since evolution is circular the Caveman’s progress has evolved and retrogressed to where it has begun. can we expect in the Senate’s theatrical chamber of investigation, this one as HEARSAY?: to Google and ogle Victoria Secrets Models will lower one’s (or Karl?) PSA.
Caveman’s model.
Baroque, if que barbaridad is not an option.
To elaborate on baroque.
As to the Victoria Sectre’s models and lowering of PSA, it was Lance Corporal’s thesis, I just fact checked since I am still less than four years to fifty years old( the average age for enlargement) I can not check it for my self that is why I had to google.so you are correct, it is hearsay.
One must never underestimate cavemen. Here are churches built by Barok: It was very simple: he just said he wanted to BUILD, BUILD, BUILD – and somehow it happened.
The other guy says SMASH, SMASH, SMASH.. he should never be invited to ASEAN.
Sup, it’s never wasted money. In dire times, a nation needs a figure to represent their aspirations. For king and country, their battle cry. What would Philippines battle cry be if we ever go to war?
Uhmmmmmmmmmmm……Send Mocha? 🙂
A lawyer told me they are rubber stamps. BUT NO RUBBER STAMP? NO LAW. They are rich and contented cows, thievery is for the heathens and paupers, and the hungry. The family dynasties were hungry before and for generations still hungry until force majiure or nature stops them for good as most countries in distant history in the West.
Sabtang Basco’s observation:
Bad president-good president
Rinse, Repeat…..
The problem is sad, true but….. debatable.
Eveything is debatable ,the venom spitting, the bottle and glass breaking…
If that is the case we don’t need a government, we need bouncers or referees, riot police….
We need government.
All is missing are the blanks to be filled in the thesis antithesis, synthesis, metamorphisis…….
before all a man needs is a missis.
To borrow Popoy’s Nihongo:
Wakaranai! or wakarang,whatever.
We do need government, focused on proper priorities. Government that can see itself and its flaws and correct them. Government with ethical character and pride.
TSoH, if I may elaborate on the word priorities.
days after the real only EDSA, a guro (Bahasa Indonesia for Professor) told his peers in a faculty meeting, he usually spends hours until 10 am to read and make sense of the wealth of the day’s news. Unexpectedly, Cory appointed him UP President and much later became worthy of the word EMERITUS. So what is the point? A little one, may be. He clarified to many the meaning of the jargon PARADIGM. When he offered in writing this Paradigm of Governance:
The GOOD LIFE must be defined to formulate
The NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS to be paramount bases
of DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES (says TSoH) as clear cut, definitive and integrated
components of DEVELOPMENT PLAN to be translated into fundable and doable
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS.
Any one then may continue creating from each line more paradigms to the lowest sub-paradigm each ending to the last peso or dollar.
Which are MEASURED, TRACKED, AND ADJUSTED,
WITHOUT PREJUDICE,
to achieve best practical gains towar the GOOD LIFE.
But those NEDA plans are national. Two things I have seen as possibly troublesome:
1) planning takes too long, may rely on badly reported ground data
2) disbursement of funds up to liquidation may take to long as well
(I have seen examples of BUB projects in Bikol, barangay hall ONLY, waiting 2 years)
a) BUB is theoretically better, maybe closer to real needs, but may lack overall view
b) also as one sees in my example, centralized disbursement is unbelievably slow (why?)
–> federal states to handle it would be nice, but country not yet ready for it…
so my proposal to coordinate things regionally, from planning to liquidation of funds.
someone in Naga can check on progress of projects from Daet to Matnog, even Virac.
harder for people in Manila to truly check on everything in from Aparri to Zamboanga.
harder also for the people to check on them than on someone with office in the region.
but maybe Prof. popoy can enlighten me on why it can take 2 years for funds to arrive..
Have heard also of stories of Mayors from remote islands travelling to Manila to follow-up funds.. I do understand the necessity of controls but does this not de facto allow for those who control the gates to ask for percentages? Working quickly from plan to liquidation is still best.
What made a few things clearer re Yolanda housing projects was Leni mentioning that some projects were blocked due to the usual land title eche bucheche (c) popoy… otherwise the status remains in murky intransparency… where, how many for whom, complete, waiting..
I get that BIR collections were vastly improved, budgeting process modernized… but why is it not possible to pass laws to block accounts of those not paying taxes. This is DRACONIAN, but it is the SOP in Germany, mess with anyone here but never with the tax office.
Bank secrecy rules.. also a hindrance to proper tax collection – and going against crime. Both the EU and USA use “follow the money” to track people suspected of organized crime. Make it hard to move the money, make crime more expensive is another effect of such measures.
And how much of the eche bucheche (c) popoy in government is really used? Embassy staff filled out a “Matrix of Considerations” for Germany-Philippines relationship before the Cory state visit. Elaborate. But did anyone really look at it? How much potential wastage like that?
This one is three years and counting, I just do not understand why Recto allowed it to happen in his home turf.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/04/30/17/pagpapatayo-ng-palengke-sa-batangas-3-taon-nang-nakabinbin
Paging popoy.
Popoy,
In this case, it is still political because a mayor blocked the project iniated by the predecessor, but that is the heearsay version.
The spokesperson of the mayor said that the process in landbank has to start from scratch because when the project started, it was almost election time.
Hah, hah hah Laugh and the Congressmen and Senators laugh at you when you say it takes years for project to be funded and completed. You must be in another planet or in purgatory since you have not heard of how the pork barrel facilitates quick plunder. Some snoozers just don’t know how to live upside down in paradise.
I’m talking about the regular ways. But I guess that is the answer: regular ways are slow as hell and the ways that grease somebody’s palm are the fast ones, they are incentivized.
Why are we favoring ANY political group then? I prefer honest work to their money. If ever.
Popoy,
Is this a tall tale tale from a snoozer?
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/flashback/16412-loan-sharks-fund-election-campaigns-lgus
It says here that the IRAs are being used as collateral for loans to fund elections.
Take the notion of Philippine time (lazy faire) and insert three to five days for each item that needs to be negotiated in a 105 page contract, and that will explain it. The lack of sense of purpose here is stunning. A point that occasionally requires my wife and me to throw pancit, books, or words at one another in loving debate. 🙂
Yes, I fondly remember how long it took to withdraw money in banks over there, pre-ATM. I observed one paper passing through X > 3 hands for signatures, back to typewriter, clerk takes break.. me wondering why it had to be as complex as that… thanks sort of get it..
If you’re going nowhere, no need to hurry. I think that is the crux of things.
Looking at all of this, the charm of Leni’s programs is obvious. Private funding means money moves fast and solves the most urgent issues. Solve them and the rest follows.
Greed comes from fear of hunger. That is why it is worst in countries with much poverty.
Very true. Good point, and explains how difficult it will be to get the Philippines to a giving state of mind, required for national patriotism.
That is why all this talk that we will never commit the same mistakes of Yolanda in Marawi by Cayetano(?) is hard to accept even if you want speedy rehabilitation of Marawi.
The occupy movement of Kadamay says it all.
Streamlining here means going to all the streams in a liner before even reaching the river.
Or if the liner won’t fit in a stream,
row, row your boat gently down the stream…..life is but a dream.
Yes, Cayetano has the credibility of a dung beetle. Speaking of him, there was in interesting article in the Inquirer by MLQ3 yesterday that discussed the prospects of a revolutionary government. It has a chance because of the support of three business-oriented blocs in the House whose heads think they can do better under a dictatorship than democracy. But recent events reflect that Marcos and Cayetano are out as potential successors to Duterte, and Arroyo is in. The business groups can live with her, but not the other two.
Regarding business groups,
a question by manangbok about the Differing opinions of Enrique Razon and Ayala about it being a
DDS vs Dilawan pov.
Enrique Razon is a friend of Mike Arroyo, and seems like the current financier of the Arroyo’s and is now aligned to Duterte.
As to Ayala, he has been getting tros and losing dime property related cases lately, plus the Sandra Cam claiming a portion of an Ayala property in Laguna, makes me think that he is included in the DDS elite hatelist.
I still don’t get Fariñas’ and Alvarez’s gameplan and endgame on the Marcoses.
Alvarez still has another foe in Floirendo, I think they will implode, unless promises are made in much talked about revolutionary government.
Now as to Arroyo over Cayetano and Marcos…We never know it is in the mind of Duterte.
China and America can’t figure him out.
Will he just drop Cayetano and Marcos.
Maybe he thinks Arroyo can perform miracles, because after being aquiitted for plunder, her neckbrace and wheel chair vanished, if she can do that, she can do anything.
Chavit Singson owes a lot to Arroyo and the HK contacts of Razon, his son would still be in jail with out that phone call.
Of course Arroyo owes her presidency to the feud of Erap and Singson.
With Singson there is Paquiao…if he becomes president, I give up.
Fascinating, the intrigues among the ‘names’. I agree on Pacquiao, but I’d probably stick with it, for fun . . .
*******
1. Philippine politics is a nest of vipers.
2. What strikes me is the enormous power of the incumbent president. He is the Sun King.
3. There are two kinds of presidents according to how they wield power:
o “Hard” presidents like Marcos, Gloria, and Duterte who wield power without any moral compunctions.
o “Soft” presidents like Cory, Ramos, and PNoy who wield power with an awareness of moral compunctions.
3.1. Erap was between hard and soft. He didn’t know what he wanted to be. This made him vulnerable, weder-weder. And, consequently, he was broken.
4. All presidents prior to Marcos were soft. Marcos broke the mold.
5. Duterte is an enigmatic wielder of power with a divide-and-conquer strategy.
5.1. The endgame for Fariñas is that he wants to displace and replace the Marcos hold on power in Ilocos Norte.
5.1.1. Duterte allows the Marcos-Fariñas fracas because he feels he has paid his debt to the Marcoses with the burial of the dictator at the LNMB.
5.1.2. Bongbong is a softie, a lightweight and Duterte senses this. Imee is the true heir of Marcos pere, but she has to win national office to keep the Marcos flame alive.
5.1.3. Like Bongbong, Cayetano is a lightweight. He makes for a good second lieutenant but that is all.
5.2. Duterte is closely allied with Alvarez. He permitted Alvarez to junk Arroyo as the chairwoman of a committee over the Death Penalty vote.
5.2.1. Still, he owes a debt of gratitude to Arroyo for her financial support to his campaign coffers. If MLQIII is correct, Arroyo is the Queen to watch. If she becomes PM, I am sure Alvarez will get his comeuppance.
5.2.2. Floirendo is a spent power despite his financial support of Duterte’s campaign.
5.3. The Ayalas are apolitical. This is their strength and their weakness. They thrive under soft presidents… and under hard presidents (Ramos and Arroyo) who have no quarrels with them.
5.4. Pacquiao will never become president. In the same manner, that Grace didn’t make it despite her popular appeal. But then I also predicted that Trump would not enter the White House.
*****
Edgar: from all accounts, Quezon was also hard. The 1935 Constitution had a President whose powers were based on those of American or Spanish colonial governors – absolutist.
Quezon dismissed governors and even school principals at will. He did act the gentleman always, which smoothened things. And it seems he used his power responsibly.
The 1987 Constitution weakened the Presidency, but still leave him/her powers which are the envy of the likes of Erdogan.Maybe to cut through the intrigues in the viper pit?
*******
Ah, I didn’t know that. I associate Quezon with the Executive Order 217, the Code of Citizenship and Ethics.
If we go that further back, Aguinaldo was not only the first president but also the first hard president. He has the distinction of being the first murdering president — before Marcos and Duterte.
*****
Magsaysay seems to have been a highly succesful consensus-builder, like Ramos.
Philippines is either bayanihan (gawin natin) or barangay (gawin ninyo).
The third choice are the usual warring datus with shifting alliances.
Duterte probably comes closest to classic Malay politics.
The raja playing his datus, making use of their ambition but making sure none gets powerful enough to supplant him.
There is the theory that Humabon played classic raja politics, sending Magellan to deal with an intransigent vassal (Lapu-Lapu) while laying a trap for him. Or how the rulers of Manila dealt with a new potential patron – Spain and Legaspi. Or how Aguinaldo hoped for America’s favor, even mentioning the USA in the Malolos Constitution. These patterns have been there for a while. Now Duterte deals with the USA, Japan and China.
Seems a natural way for animals to work, and Duterte is the A dog.
Wil and I had a conversation about socmed wars, even among fraternity brothers,good thing that it has not reached his ominous blog piece about cain and abel proportions.
They hate each other in political debates, but like sweet moments. Many thanks to the unfollow button, they can do the love-hate thing with more effort.
So that is social media to you, a love-hate relationship.
Frankly, I see that many Filipinos have failed to see the importance of strong institutions as necessity in successful nation building. The leadership is important but national leadership will never be successful without a strong national institutions because the national institutions are the one that have the capability to reinforce the implementation of the leader for long period of time. Without support of national institutions, we shouldn’t expect Duterte’s legacy to last long with possible exception of Extrajudicial killings due to our impunitve culture.
Kimbo, thanks for commenting here. (Kimbo is a regular follower of my blogs FB page) Institutions presuppose one thing: people willing to sacrifice for the common good and get a Win-Win out of it. Unfortunately, even barangays have new sidewalks misused or blocked..
The Filipino is selfish to group-selfish. Often antisocial, meaning not caring much about others in society – or why do we have pro-Du30 bloggers shamelessly freeloading ASEAN50? Cooperate (with whatever mechanism) or collapse was my old blog article..
The institutions need to discover ethical boundaries to be whole and useful. Not ethics Sotto style, which is just an element of trapo politics, but ethics which define a right and wrong way to do things to have the institution be a dynamic and wholesome part of the nation.
There was this study in the early 80s funded by the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation of Australia about the institutionalization of foreign assistance in the Philippines. The word institution as originally used before refers to mental asylums and penitentiaries or prisons. God knows no one wants to be institutionalized. In the Philippines a few or more government agencies has been referred to as DAMAGED institutions, which their high thick-faced officials consider as nonsense.
If it is outside mental asylums and prisons then lets call them outstitutions.
Dynasties is only one problem, the butterfly elite that is behind each ruling dynasty lasts longer than a diamond.
Intitutions, they say all you need is a strong foundation, but after co-founders do the founding they split hairs, the result is split ends.
Solution – Hair conditioner.
That was what I said about Filipino vanity. “All is vanity” was on the Fili cover. Or inside flap.
Taking back one’s self interest for a while, one’s ego for a while to have a win-win. Trouble is if in the prisoner’s dilemma the other side thinks/acts by winner-take-all, beggar-the-other.
Within the text.
delataban todos los triunfos de la vanidad y de la coquetería satisfecha .
They betrayed all the triumphs of vanity and satisfied coquetry.
So if they are not vain, they are flirts?
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/vanity-vanities/
Que barbaridad!
It is like eche bucheches.
But it said it does not mean that life is pointles, but rather the opposite.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
It is how you carry or handle things, nasa discarte,
nasa pananaw.
Nasa nagdadala yan.
🙂
Two things changed, the content of the discussion changed, we now tend flee the middle ground and discuss the extremes, and more importantly the style changed.
Before internet I never participated in a political discussion except with family on Sunday afternoon or with good friends in the pub. Those discussions where more civil as I knew the opposite parties and shared a lot of other values with them, hence the friendship even if they had opposite political views. Even more, not only the style of my arguing was more civil, I was actually listening to what they were saying.
Today we believe that we have to shout for the others to make them listen listen, time to go soft has passed. And thus, the opposite is happening, the other party cover their ears.
Luckily here we have Joe to control our language but the opposition is mostly absent, so we tend to just reinforce our own ideas.
The opposition is welcome, but it seems there are two styles, the hit and run artists who flame the writers and then flee, or the nonsense speakers who repeat the slogans and rationale that has no factual support. There is a third represented by LCX and intuitive perceiving who play devils advocate so that we conceptualize the arguments. That is a healthy discussion, if at times painful. How is one to welcome the opposite side into the discussion when it seems not to correlate with reasonable or kind thinking?
I very much enjoy twitter, and am rather sorry they expanded from 140 to 280 characters. Getting a lot of meaning into few words is a great challenge, more fun than Go or Texas Hold ’em. This is one I did a few days ago that really addresses your point, if this blog group seems elitist:
It is not elitist to have moral values that aspire to well-being for all, based on knowledge. It is elitist to declare that others are elitist.
“There is a third represented by LCX and intuitive perceiving who play devils advocate so that we conceptualize the arguments. That is a healthy discussion, if at times painful.”
I miss ip and his/her Myers-Briggs spin on pretty much everything 😉 .
King Louis XIV, the Sun King, was a despot. Absolutism in person.
And a narcissist, who in his young years danced half-naked before his noblemen.
He said: ‘I am the State’. His core team was a very small group.
He also said: ‘after I die, the State will remain’. He did want to leave a legacy.
Inspite of revolutions, it is the state Macron has inherited. Who hasn’t danced half-naked so far.
First, I define
Buspol = businessmen-politicians. In our current setting give or take a decade or two, they are one and the same for the purpose we will use here;
Non-Buspol = all others which comprise about 90 percent of the population from which come majority of the voters who give rise to our cycle of leaders.
My view of the moment:
1. To the question “Who is right, Duterte Supporters or the Yellows?” my answer is an unequivocal YES.
2. Why? Because the Buspol, the main influencer in the scheme of things, is color blind to the current President — where the President’s bacon is goes the Buspol, until the latter tires and seeks a new one.
3. Although the set of leaders led by the President, on any cycle, are seemingly voted by the sovereign will of the people, the effective behind the scenes Buspol does the existential motivation or machination in this “Pearl of the Orient Seas.” The voters will is the Buspol’s will. The reality is akin to the question of which comes first, the chicken or the egg.
4. Each in their turn, the respective Presidents gave/give rise — from among the 90 percent Non-Buspol — to the Supporters of Marcos, Cory, Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo, Aquino and Duterte. (Before Marcos, we may conjecture that the pattern may have been different.)
Sorry, that is not a helpful answer to the blog’s question; it is also highly cynical. I only hope there is some coherence in the thought.
Pressed for an answer or if I am skinned, one may find that my color is more yellow than the other kind.
Today’s Inquirer posts an article on Trump and Duterte’s Drug War by Aryeh Neier, president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations and a founder of Human Rights Watch.
Going outside of EJK, the author notes that the war on drugs has undermined the important goal of reducing police corruption through the supposed financial incentive obtained — referencing Sheila Coronel — via a list of illicit rewards [which] includes profits from extortion, property commandeered from victims, ransom for kidnapped suspects, and even commissions from funeral parlors … By promoting policies that contribute to police misconduct, Duterte is actually encouraging the very criminality that his campaign to wipe out illegal drug use was ostensibly meant to curb. (highlighting, mine.)
http://opinion.inquirer.net/108678/trump-duterte-drug-war-tango#ixzz4yIY7fEr1
Connecting this to the current blog article, this is at least one reason why the supporters can’t be right about their support.
Duterte supporters are always right…….ahum……
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/945007/philippine-news-updates-mocha-uson-sass-rogando-sasot-bbc-jover-laurio-pinoy-ako-blog
A video posted on social media showed Sass Rogando Sasot, a known staunch supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, blasting BBC correspondent Jonathan Head on the sideline of the Asean Summit being held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
“Can you tell me how is it possible that Jover Laurio, a very minor blogger in the Philippines was featured by the BBC in order to defend herself…but not someone like me whose social media following is way way higher than her, whose Facebook engagement is way way higher than her and who you had even interacted on Facebook?” Sasot asked.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/945007/philippine-news-updates-mocha-uson-sass-rogando-sasot-bbc-jover-laurio-pinoy-ako-blog#ixzz4yISaZi11
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
In this case, Irineo will hate himself. Because he hates to be correct in some cases.
Vanity of Vanities! All is Vanity!
Oh, I don’t know about those other bloggers. If there is one to complain, it is the host of The Society of Honor — in the quality of the articles posted therein. In the comments oozing with intellect. In durability and viability. Like Microsoft Operating System.
Aha, Sup — ’tis the simple and plain truth — at saka nagpapalapad lang ako ng papel sa Boss. Marami na ako na enumerate. Seguro OK na. 🙂
This Du30 supporter is proud of everything he does on: job, drugs, rape. corruption
Yes…he even raped his own facebook page………:-) :-)..:-)
““If you really look at it, those that have the most advanced infrastructure are the ones that are not democratic. The countries with the best infrastructure in the world are dictatorships,” — Enrique Razon
( http://business.inquirer.net/240726/philippine-news-updates-international-container-terminal-services-inc-infrastructure-enrique-razon-dictatorship#ixzz4yJGgb8Pf )
I do not care much about Enrique Razon. In that forum, Jaime Zobel de Ayala said that infrastructures could still be developed with the right “ecosystem” and that he “believes in private public partnerships.”
Hmmm … is this a case of dutertard POV vs yellow POV?
It could be, but who is right?
I will go by NHerrera’s answer: Yes.
🙂
*******
1. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has an explanation for the political divide in America. There are the Republicans and the Democrats. Republicans are conservatives and Democrats are liberals.
2. He says people vote for Republicans because Republicans offer “moral clarity.” Democrats, on the other hand, offer complex explanations.
3. The parallel I would draw is that Duterte supporters (DDS) are Republicans and the Yellows (Ys) are Democrats.
4. Haidt goes on to explain more differences which I have transposed to the local situation and vastly simplified. Note that the differences are more a matter of degree than of kind.
4.1. DDS are about “binding groups together.” Ys are about how we “treat each other.”
4.2. DDS are very partisan; Ys not so much.
4.3. DDS are conformists; Ys are dissenters.
4.4. DDS favor authoritarian leaders; Ys not so much.
4.5. DDS treat politics like religion; Ys are less fervent.
4.6. DDS think Ys are elitists; Ys think the DDS are dumb.
4.7. DDS are misogynistic; Ys are feminists.
4.8. DDS think EJKs are justified; Ys do not think so.
4.8. DDS think drug addicts are disposable; Ys are protective.
4.9. DDS think human rights can be abused; Ys do not think so.
4.10. DDS use profane language; Ys not so much.
5. In his Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), Haidt describes 5 moral foundations:
o Care/Harm: cherishing and protecting others
o Fairness/Reciprocity: rendering justice
o Ingroup/Loyalty: standing with your group
o Authority/Respect: submitting to tradition and legitimate authority
o Sanctity/Purity: abhorrence for disgusting things
5.1. Haidt observes that Ys tend to endorse just the first two foundations, while DDS tend to endorse all five. Since Ys do not use the full spectrum, they produce “thin music”, whereas the DDS produce “full music.” This is the reason why Ys cannot fully communicate with voters.
5.2. In communicating, Ys tend to focus on right framing and high content in their messaging, while DDS put out simple messages and slogans.
5.3. I do not think the political divide in the Philippines is as simple as it is in America.
5.3.1. I believe there liberal Ys and conservative Ys. And when conservative Ys meet the DDS, there is a slanging match.
5.3.2. I would also observe that the Sanctity/Purity foundation would be highly endorsed by the Ys in their disgust with the killings.
*****
*******
Examples of Duterte’s simple messages and slogans:
o Kill! Kill! Kill!
o Human rights is shit.
o Addicts are not human.
o P*t**g Ina!
*****
“2. He says people vote for Republicans because Republicans offer “moral clarity.” Democrats, on the other hand, offer complex explanations.”
It’s a process, edgar. Not as simple.
Keep in mind that Pres. Lincoln was a Republican; and LBJ was Democrat,
http://images.slideplayer.com/35/10479046/slides/slide_26.jpg (Southern Democrats were essentially, a century after Lincoln, pro-slavery; or in 1960s pro-segregation)
Now its true that the Democratic party has always been pro-workers, but more interestingly as Jefferson’s party (Virginia) it’s always championed states’ rights vis-a-vis the federal/national gov’t,
Also championing agrarian interests too, why Southerners were largely Democrats.
The rope in this tug of war between the GOP and the Democrats (Lincoln’s party vs. Jefferson’s party; national gov’t vs. states rights) has always been the White working class, they’ve gone GOP, then Democrats, then GOP again, and so on and so forth.
late 1800s this fight centered around unions, the unions (being too greedy and unreasonable, corruption to boot) lost its pull sometime in the early 2000s (NAFTA, outsourcing, etc.), has been teeter-tottering , in 2016 it teetered or tottered depending how you look at it, to TRUMP.
But both parties historically have always been aspirational, equally so. Though a better way to explain the current reality is that both parties’ fringes have them by the balls,
Democrats is the ANTIFA and Politically Correct crowd,
Republicans its the Bible thumpers and Racists.
But in 2016 the Democrats lost White union workers, not Bible thumpers or racists (many of whom voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012), IMHO its because the Democrats lumped their own with the Republican Bible thumpers and Racists, so they turned.
For me its always been states rights vs. national powers , now with Trump in DC, California’s starting to sing the tune of states rights, where before this has always been a tune sung by the South.
but weaken the Executive branch, and strengthen the Legislative is what I’m hoping will come out of the Trump era.
My point, Republicans don’t necessarily have “moral clarity” ; and as we’ve seen Democrats’ solutions or explanations aren’t really that complex, but as social conservatives vs. liberal conservatives, they’ll always be at odds, but those perspectives historically speaking are arbitrary,
Democrats were pro-slavery; and Republicans pro-civil rights (blows the mind right?) They are constantly re-inventing , these parties, is my point. At issue has always been states rights vs. national powers. All other issues is up for grabs, constantly.
I wouldn’t be surprise if Republicans took on the mantle of pro-Marijuana soon , and spin the support as pro-business , new industry, small business, etc. How’s that for “moral clarity”?
I think at root is the inability to even feign national interest, eventually the Philippines has to evolve from party politics, as simple as stop wearing yellow shirts when not campaigning …
If you represent the nation stop wearing your political party’s colors, that simple.
If yellow is now associated as negative, stop using it. re-brand.
Or stop using colors as brand, use a mascot (Elephant/Donkey), Politicians here just wear the American flag pin.
But my point once elected, stop campaigning. Do the work w/out winking your party affiliation.
LCX even if you change the brand, the labeling will remain.
labeling is still branding though, if it is a Scarlet Letter type of branding.
*******
If you read Haidt, you will find he is the first to acknowledge that morals change.
His observations and conclusions are based on contemporary America.
*****
edgar, you have made your usual very good enumeration/ explanation; but it seems you have given enough ammo to the DDS as you do the Ys — including Haidt’s 5 moral foundations.
Now don’t go coming back with further enumeration to me. I am compensating after my earlier cynical post. I am with you and definitely not sold to the DDS’ way of looking at things, especially after your post. 🙂
The above said, this is interesting and rings true:
* DDS — with moral clarity made in profane language.
* Ys — offer complex explanations in elitist language.
So the winner is …
*******
NHerrera,
It is my turn to be cynical. There are no winners. We are all losers.
Unless we become aware of our conditioning and our psychological matrix and seek to overcome them.
*****
The minute he came to power, irrationalism becomes legitimized, tolerated, encouraged because he sets the (low) standards for which some (not everyone) would follow.
He brought out the extremists from out of the woods, turned them into his agents provocateurs, social media perverted into mammoth loudspeakers, the vitriol heard round the world..
Duterte supporters want a dynamic leader capable of cutting through the social/political barriers that have bound the nation to misery for over a century. Those who oppose this are considered unpatriotic “destabilizers”.
‘Yellows’ want to stick with the Constitution and its democratic ideals. The Constitution is an important contract for progress, human rights, fairness, and justice. Those who oppose this dedication to established law are considered unpatriotic and treasonous.
The enormous gap between theory and practice is at the root of this deep Philippine divide.
Theory = nice words, appearances. Or did most Ys except De Lima and Gascon have much of a problem with EJKs in Davao. As long as it isn’t official policy and the mayors offer full deniability, no problem posing with them on stage during campaigns. This is the old way of the national elite – letting local elites do the dirty work for them, no blood on their hands, not even on their shoes. Didn’t Cory herself call Alsa Masa the dark side of people power? Don’t me, alam na this.
Practice = quick solutions. I was told when working with Filipino software teams not to ask too many analytical questions, just do it. Unfortunately my training is to analyze and structure. This is good for big systems, systems that are not supposed to fail. The quick approach is good for small systems. A classic DOS PC fails = you reboot. A SAP System fails = you may have days of retrieval, you may even have costly data loss if you don’t have proper backups of accounting data. A jeepney fails = leave it, take another. An MRT wagon fails = the rails get blocked.
The quick solutions of the DDS have brought the truly dedicated idealists like ex-SolGen Florin Hilbay into the fore. I wonder if there will be more suggestions: on how to make the jail system truly “just and humane” and prevent people from languishing for years there without trial, as this has gone against the Constitution even before Duterte, before Marcos even! on how to make the justice system more efficient and allow less “technicalities” for the likes of Panelo. Maybe a less UK/US style system and more of a Continental European system with a stricter sequence/pace?
How to prevent political dynasties and trapos? How about campaign refund based on percentage of votes like in Australia and Germany? How about party laws like in many European countries that make it easier to form parties that are based on membership fees (and campaign refunds) and less on big money sponsors? How about voting systems that make individual candidacies nearly impossible like in most of Continental Europe – but engineered to avoid the abuses of party lists?
Real anti-corruption, the original promise of Daang Matuwid? Then why not think of organizations like the Romanian Directie Nationala Anticoruptie (DNA) with its 400+ (!) full time prosecutors – I doubt the Ombudsman can in any way match that sheer firepower. Put deadlines and follow-up.
This will be the job for “Yellow” when back in power, as DDS is rapidly failing. But if it fails to prove to Filipinos who have never, IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY, seen a state apparatus that is truly efficient – a “Weberian bureacracy” as Max Weber defined it – there will be new Dutertes, or worse. Because all they will see will be theoreticians, idealists who pray but don’t have day-to-day solutions for real problems. Or worse: Pharisees who let evil happen but do not act against it. People with problem-solving, engineering mindsets will be needed in a country that lacks them.
Pinagtawanan si Sec. Tugade noong sinabi niyang ipagdasal daw ang MRT.
Pilipino ngayon, pagod na yata sa santong dasalan, santong paspasan na ang gusto.
Paano ipapabatid na kailangan ng tiyaga, at paano sila maniniwala na hindi sila pinaasa?
One might need a number of communicators of PAB-caliber in various media..
I think a “Commissioner for Regional Development” per Region would make sense.
Budget for regional offices of DOH, DSWD, DoT, DepEd, Agriculture goes to him/her.
Goal: more transparency of how funds are used to develop regions, yearly reporting.
But: 9 years term to keep politics out, semi-dictatorial mandate = like Roman prefect.
The NCR Commissioner would have a tough job for sure, but powers to suit it.
Just some suggestions, to “get us all off this God-forsaken, eternal ferris wheel of failure.”
Popoy might be able to give even better detailed eche bucheche, it’s HIS specialty after all.
Superb suggestions.
*******
Splendid suggestions.
*****
I think i did mention before that after passing the BAR there should be a 1 year duty for new lawyers to be a judge for ”common cases” with standard penalties to remove the overburden of prisoners in the digested jails…. It will also help the new lawyers to have an idea about what is going on in the ”normal lower class world” since most of them are from rich families. Like some kind of ROTC for lawyers?
If I were President, I’d hire you to be National Director of Development. I don’t know why it is so hard to get to that level of thinking here, even if it is within a political party. Everything is mushed down by personal politics.
Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time — Mark Twain
Yes, we so love our habit.
Yes, and foresight is not a Filipino strength… the following article says that “Filipinos have a money in, money out mentality and that’s unfortunate.” – this is about 8 years from NOW:
http://philippineone.com/the-end-of-call-centres-will-devastate-manila-and-philippines/ – according to the article, 80% of call center jobs will be gone by 2025. BPO is about 6% of Philippine GDP and 1.2 million jobs – is there a strategy to be somewhere else in 8 years?
Or will there be a Joseph who dreams of seven fat and seven thin cows to tell the Pharaoh?
Scary. Proactive then is the shout and call to arms of the moment before the deluge. But no time and resources for that; we have the drug war to fight — even the troll army or praise brigade of Andanar, Roque and Uson cannot be diverted to sound the alarm to this impending deluge.
Thanks Joe… I think it is simply my being exposed (and open to) the ways of thinking prevalent over here that has shaped my mind in this way… and 2 1/2 years of blogging about the Philippines including the insights about the present system and its obvious weaknesses…
Or maybe thinking about HOW Bavaria became a successful state (foundations laid in the 19th century, late 18th to be exact) gave me some inspiration to think a bit like these two men – in basketball terms one was an import, the other was the son of an import…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Thompson
Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, FRS (German: Reichsgraf von Rumford; March 26, 1753 – August 21, 1814) was an American-born British physicist[1] and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th century revolution in thermodynamics. He served as lieutenant-colonel of the King’s American Dragoons, part of the British Loyalist forces, during the American Revolutionary War…
In 1785, he moved to Bavaria where he became an aide-de-camp to the Prince-elector Charles Theodore. He spent eleven years in Bavaria, reorganizing the army and establishing workhouses for the poor. He also invented Rumford’s Soup, a soup for the poor,[3] and established the cultivation of the potato in Bavaria. He studied methods of cooking, heating, and lighting, including the relative costs and efficiencies of wax candles, tallow candles, and oil lamps.[4] On Prince Charles’ behalf he created the Englischer Garten in Munich in 1789; it remains today and is known as one of the largest urban public parks in the world. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1789.[5] For his efforts, in 1791 Thompson was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire; he took the name “Rumford” for Rumford, New Hampshire, which was an older name for the town of Concord where he had been married, becoming Reichsgraf von Rumford (English: Count Rumford).[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_von_Montgelas
Maximilian Josef Garnerin, Count von Montgelas (September 12, 1759 Munich – June 14, 1838 Munich) was a Bavarian statesman, a member of a noble family from the Duchy of Savoy. His father John Sigmund Garnerin, Baron Montgelas, entered the military service of Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria, and married the Countess Ursula von Trauner. Maximilian Josef, their eldest son, was born in the Bavarian capital Munich on the September 10, 1759..
Montgelas was educated successively at Nancy, Strasbourg, and Ingolstadt. Being a Savoyard on his father’s side, he naturally felt the French influence, which was then strong in Germany, with peculiar force. To the end of his life he spoke and wrote French more correctly and with more ease than German. Nevertheless, the Munich-born Montgelas always wanted to be addressed as a Bavarian by nationality..
In the field in interior politics he can be regarded as the most successful German politician of the early 19th century with a long list of astonishing achievements. Already in 1796, when the Duke of Zweibrücken (after the French advance towards Zweibrücken) was a landless prince exiled in Ansbach, Montgelas had developed a masterplan for the future modernisation of Bavaria. This lengthy paper, the “Ansbacher mémoire”[1] was rediscovered in the 1960s and published in 1970 by the Bavarian historian Eberhard Weis, who also is Montgelas’ biographer. After 1799 when Maximilian Joseph succeeded to the electorate of Bavaria, Montgelas as his primary adviser and leading statesman very much followed his concept throughout the following years in a very uncompromising manner:..
He was a thorough politician of the 18th century type, who saw and attempted to see nothing except that Bavaria had always been threatened by the house of Habsburg, had been supported by Prussia for purely selfish reasons, and could look for useful support against these two only from France, which had selfish reasons of her own for wishing to counterbalance the power both of Austria and Prussia in Germany. As late as 1813, when Napoleon’s power was visibly breaking down, and Montgelas knew the internal weakness of his empire well from visits to Paris, he still continued to maintain that France was necessary to Bavaria..
Montgelas enforced the taxation of the nobility and the clergy. Taxation went along with a complete economic description and measurement of Bavaria leading to an outstanding cadastral system. Montgelas passed the first modern constitution for Bavaria in 1808,[2] which included the abolition of any relics of serfdom that had survived until then. Montgelas was responsible for the abolition of the torture in 1812 by introducing a new penal code based on contemporary humanitarian standards. He introduced compulsory school education, compulsory military service, compulsory vaccination. He reorganised the Bavarian administration by a centralised cabinet of modern ministries instead of a multitude of chambers. Montgelas was also responsible for the abolition of all tolls within the kingdom of Bavaria thus enabling free trade within the country. And he designed and passed a regulation for civil servants, the “Dienstpragmatik”, which became a model for civil service in Germany as whole. According to its rules, admission to any service within the public administration was no longer dependent on whether one was Catholic or of noble family, but solely on the quality of one’s education. Thus Montgelas broke the preponderance of the nobility in the higher and decisive ranks of public administration. Civil servants were granted a sufficient salary and their widows a pension. Thus Montgelas refounded the civil service on new ethics and created a social group of servants loyal only to the crown and kingdom of Bavaria.
One my first blog articles about the Munich South Cemetery also showed my surprise about how Bavaria attracted TALENT in the 19th century, much like the USA around 1945. The Philippines needs more, not less James Deakins and Joeams – and less of the opportunistic types that get their citizenship from Congress. Bavaria seems to have had the fortune of having freshly baked kings that wanted to succeed, even if it could have been driven by vanity – the pomposity of 19th century Munich architecture shows it. A Filipino elite eager to be truly great and not just short-term greedy (c) Popoy could make a LOT out of the country.
The Montgelas family is of course still around in Munich.. this is the celebrated reformer…
and this is a start-up enterpreneur with the same name and nose…
(sure, he has money, but the same innovative spirit seems to be there)
P.S. this is all not meant to be reactionary elitism, back to kings and lords. In the olden days, only the established had the means to develop their hidden talents..
nowadays it is up to a society to encourage independent and innovative thinking.. or just consumerism.. one kind of society will always find new solutions and new business models (c) NHerrera… while one that stifles critical thinking like the Philippines does today stands still.. 😦
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Sonny,
I can’t seem to post in Will’s article. This is in reply to your queries.
1. The noun for axial is axis. The earth turns around its axis. So axial means turning point. The importance of the Axial Age is that it is the period when the major religions were born.
2. Hinduism – I’ll skip.
3. Baroque – Its meaning of ornate should be plain? Heh heh.
4. The Christian God is anthropomorphic. Perhaps more the Father than the Son, but They are a Trinity. So Jesus would be anthropomorphic as well as he assumes a human form.
5. Metempsychosis is reincarnation. However, the transmigration of the soul is not necessarily human to human. It can be human to animal (even insect) or vice-versa.
6. Not a believer in Original Sin. To me, it’s a sin-and-guilt baggage with which the Church has burdened man. Again, to me, It is not central to redemption. Redemption is required when one has sinned. But a new-born baby is innocent and does not require redemption should he die before he knows the difference between good and bad. From my view, the Church has invented non-adult baptism and the concept of Limbo to get around the question whether newly dead unbaptized babies can go directly to Heaven.
7. Principles of Jainism – I’ll skip. Oh, wait, for LCpl_X. I don’t think we can equate the principles to the Normative Ethic schools on a one-to-one basis. The first two principles fall under ethics but the third principle is more a percept.
o The first principle is deontological.
o The second can be broken down into rules that are deontological (attachment to things) or consequentialist (attachment to others).
o The third is a mode of perception. It can be translated into a deontological rule thus: “Respect diversity” or “honor plurality.” But since it is non-specific and stated positively, it might also be classified under Virtue Ethics as the virtue of Respect/Honor.
*****
Thank you for this reply, Edgar.
I specially appreciate the insights/explanation about the matters on Hinduism & Jainism. I did suspect axial was not from axiom (viz axiomatic). And you specified it (axis) neatly for me. Thanks again. (I still have the term “deontological” turning in my head. 🙂 I’m stuck with the etymology ie, de+ontology, from metaphysics, rather than “deon.” ie. duty. I have to “recompute”.
I think I understand your position on original sin and anthropomorphic God. I’ll munch on these now. 🙂
Ooops, you did skip Hinduism. Still, thanks.
Hinduism is too confusing for me too, sonny.
But I do know at heart of Hinduism is what Muslims call https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawhid or ultimate Oneness of God, and that the “gods” expressed in Hinduism are essentially, attributes personified, again like Muslims’ 99 Names of Allah — not unlike Zeus plucking Athena out of his head.
Jainism only has jinas (like buddhas in Buddhism), there’s a concept of Oneness (same in Buddhism), similar to Hinduism (ie. that stranger seated across from you could just as well be god/God, hence treat him as you would yourself);
but unlike the Abrahamic faiths, people (or when dead spirits/souls) will never be part of that Oneness (correct me if I’m wrong here, sonny), this separation lends to a more anthropomorphic interpretation of God in the Abrahamic faiths (but can be easily tweaked using Gnostic or Sufi lenses, Kabala for Jews, so its in there, just not mainstream understood, and too arcane leading to too much conjecture).
The beauty of Jainism in IMHO and what makes it superior from other pastoralist religions (ie. religions/philosophies that stress human exceptionalism, separate from Nature) from edgar’s Axial Age, as oppose to religions/philosophies that did not, or does not, separate human kind from other living things… the beauty is in its NON-ABSOLUTISM.
Buddhism has this too, but its premise is that Life is Suffering, which kinda negates Jainism NON-ABSOLUTISM, ie. it could neither be suffering nor non-suffering, just is.
The logical end of mercy and compassion is in the non-killing , non-harming of living things, as such if one’s compassionate/merciful the only way to be 100% so, is to be vegan, and just eat what plants give you (without killing the plant). Again I’m not Jainist, just some guy with Google and a curious mind asking around, so I don’t practice Jainism, sonny. I’m just saying the logical end, makes sense to me.
So if someone talks about compassion and mercy, I always inquire what he/she ate recently and their eating habit as a whole— that tells me a lot. Same with materialism, hence my utter dislike for the likes of Joel Osteen, and preference from Pope Francis, who pays his hotel bills. 😉
In conclusion, Jainism, at least among pastoralist, Axial Age religions, is the pinnacle.
But the religions , philosophies, that actually view other living things as equal, those are far superior to Jainism. Sadly, you can only now see bits and pieces of this worldview, life view, in hunter/gatherer cultures, fast becoming extinct.
But American indian tribes have been known to treat animals and plants (cactuses in the Southwest) as relatives and/or members of the tribe. So to go back to edgar’s Deontological Ethics, the only Deontological Ethics I prescribe to is that there is no difference between us and nematodes.
Which some enterprising Muslim actually turned into a comic book,
https://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/rajchandra.html
chempo: “It’s the silent protests. Remember Mahatma Ghandi’s silent protests. Remember it was silent protests that kicked start the Civil Rights Movement in US.”
I’ve always been interested in these two’s interactions, kinda like if Einstein and Spinoza were contemporaries, sonny… but if Jainism was available in Assisi, Italy at the time of Francis, i’m sure he’d taken to it too, like a fish in water.
I was in first year high school when the EDSA revolution happened. I did not go to EDSA because my parents did not, but I cried and felt enormous relief when I heard on TV that the Marcoses flew to Hawaii. And the TV anchors were weeping unashamedly as well.
So I was as common as a common citizen could be, and I was glad that there was sanity and peace and pride and real hope immediately after those incredible days of February 1986. When June Keithley shouted, “I’m so proud to be a Filipino!”, the cynicism that would’ve shot back at her today was nonexistent.
But here is the key: For those of us happy about the revolution, there was no idol worship, no blind loyalty for Cory or any of the EDSA personalities.
We scratched our proverbial heads at the Marcos loyalists – how could they continue to support such a man? It was unthinkable, and indeed, because of them, “loyalist” became a dirty word. It need not be prefixed with “Marcos.” You old-timers here at TSOH would remember that. “Loyalist!” An insult.
Those were golden days. Even a child like me understood that the rule of law, human rights, and civility and decency and honesty and selflessness were greater than any one individual.
“Yellow” in those days simply symbolized Ninoy’s sacrifice for freedom. Yellow for us did NOT mean loyalty to the Aquinos. Indeed, yellow was tacky color for clothing, and we laughed at it, but revered what it symbolized.
Which is why we easily saw through the later selfishness of Doy Laurel. And later, during the Erap years, the illusion was shattered: Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Ed Angara, Tessie Aquino-Oreta, Rene Saguisag and, from the media, Dong Puno. Cynicism then set in big-time, but there was real hope even during the FVR years.
Now this is my point: The Marcos propagandists appear to be using that lowest-of-the-low, stupidest form of argument of the Filipino: Calling you whatever you are called.
I’ll give an example. You’ll hear this among the uneducated, crass, urban poor:
Man 1: Tanga!
Man 2: Tanga ka rin!
Dumb isn’t it? But wit and sarcasm and reparteé are sadly not prominent in daily Tagalog/Visayan. Now what the Marcoses are doing is:
Lover of rule of law, decency, etc: Duterte loyalist!
Marcos propagandists: Noynoy loyalist!
Or, as the national discussion has been lowered and poisoned:
Dutertard!
Yellowtard!
Very clear explanation of the popularity of the Duterte/Marcos initiative. It is built on abuse, deceit, and subjugation.
Subversion of truth is ever present and justice suffers.
Thank you, Joe. EDSA’s memory is gasping for breath, and last February, it was dealt a fatal blow by Jim Paredes and his self-righteous clique.
What was the guy thinking? The people offered flowers and food to armed soldiers in 1986. When I saw on YouTube what Paredes did and said to the Duterte Youth, I felt like a failure again. I should’ve been there and offered the boys sandwiches and soda and had a friendly chat with them. If Paredes and his exclusivist ilk did just that, it could’ve been a powerful image that no propaganda could deny. If they had only stuck to the original spirit of EDSA.
But honestly? I wouldn’t go to EDSA anniversaries anymore because its organizers reek of exclusivity. They think they’re better people. And with that, they are playing right into the hand of the divisive propagandists.
Maybe yellow should also listen to criticism like this..
http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/11/07/17/blog-left-out-in-the-cold
Jozy Acosta-Nisperos of TSM responded in FB, which I find a good sign. The old style: dedma tapos taas ilong with a pissed-off demeanor should be a no-no. The critics are not necessarily enemies. Just like those with slightly different opinions. Some lessons to learn?
Fascinating. I view the Duterte youth as failed, and you view Paredes as failed. Exclusivity is something both sides promote, so I’m not sure why you only come down hard on Paredes. He follows my various spoutings here and there, passing some of them along to his million or so followers, so I’m not sympathetic to your condemnation. I do think those who support democratic values have a hard time getting outside their tribes, but I do see an interesting amalgamation in the Trillanes/Hontiveros/LP collaboration. But I would not expect them to bend their pro-democracy, pro-human rights principles to gather friends. That would be the kind of amoral intellectual corruption the Duterte supporters, populists, and trapos thrive on.
Maybe the PH needs MORE of that kind of exclusivity and not less.
Both sides, the DDS and the Yellows, are caught in what may be termed Fog of the Fight for the country’s present and future in a relabeling of Fog of War. The uncertainties and noise fog the bases and associated actions. The fog considered, I would rather be on the Yellow side.
The naivest aspect of EDSA1 was to embrace nearly everybody.
Some people don’t want to change for the better, is one lesson of 31 years.
*******
1. It is true the spirit of EDSA was one of peace.
2. But the objective was to bring down a dictatorship.
3. Why maintain and celebrate the spirit but not the objective?
4. Duterte’s Drug War, like Marcos’ dictatorship, does not stand on the Constitution. What is more, Duterte’s rule floats on a sea of corpses.
*****
EDSA1 was about giving people a second chance – also.
31 years later, giving a third chance invites abuse, I think.
Couple of notes on the ASEAN.
1. That class photo of all the leaders, with Duterte nearly obscured as he was behind China’s Xi was literally and figuratively so appropriate. The Phils has been reduced into irrelevance by China esp when Duterte chose not to speak about it and even used the term “South China Sea”.
2. Justin Trudeau was impressive shifting easily between English and French. But Duterte still beats him with 4 languages, with varying degrees of fluency:
a. English (broken)
b. Tagalog (broken)
c. Visaya (fluent)
d. foul mouth (very fluent)
Also on Canada’s trash issue: My idea is to trade “TROLLS for TRASH”. We accept their trash as long as they take our trolls. Kind of like trash for trash. And if Duterte is included, we are willing to declare Trudeau ” hottest hottie of the millenium” 🙂 🙂 🙂
There should be a plebiscite, swap Duterte for Trudeau. I’m running to twitter with that idea.
I wonder who speaks the most languages in the Philippines. My wife speaks four, and I exclude an occasional tainted word that ekes its way into space.
That must be the politicians speaking with double tongues?
Ahh, yes, they’d have twice as many as ordinary people, plus speaking out of both sides of their mouths would make it four times.
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PERSPECTIVES FROM THE LOYALTY TRIANGLE
1. The intensity of the schism between and among family and friends since the 2016 Elections is horrendous.
2. The circle of family and friends in the social structure holds a hierarchy of constructs and loyalties. I imagine the main hierarchy goes like this:
2.1. Strangers
2.2. Acquaintances
2.3. Good Friends/Colleagues
2.4. Fraternal Friends/ Best Friends
2.5. Family/Clan
3. The closeness of the ties within the Loyalty Triangle would be governed by several factors such as proximity, the frequency of contact, affinities, duration, and of course with family/clan, blood.
4. Come now Duterte and he rips the existing Loyalty Triangles up to and including family. How would one name the next level construct, higher than family/clan, that demands and receives a higher tribute of loyalty?
4.1. It cannot be described as Political. Yes, politics can divide families but it normally does not rip families apart.
4.2. Neither is it Ideological because Duterte does not have one.
4.3. Neither is it Faith-based, although that comes close.
4.4. Another possibility is Patron, although Duterte is only a patron to a handful of sycophant bloggers.
4.5. As close as I can define it, I would call it Datu, in historical terms, or Personality Cult, in modern terms. I will use the latter because Datuships are regional and Personality Cults are everywhere. Stalin. Mao. Kim Jung-un.
4.6. So the loyalty to a Personality Cult figure supersedes ties of friendship and family. And a Personality Cult is thicker than blood.
5. What are the essential acts of loyalty, honor, and duty required? I will name one of each.
5.1. The essential act of loyalty is to estrange family and friend who do not join the cult.
5.2. The essential act of honor is to not to contradict the Dear Leader.
5.3. The essential act of duty is to kill.
*****
Pls note that my email address smc@reeds.ph will not longer be functioning effective today . My new email address is : gigicamposmosaic@gmail.com
Pls send your articles to my new email address.
Thanks.
Sylvia M. Campos
Sent from my iPad
>
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PERSPECTIVES FROM THE THREE SIEVES OF ETHICS
1. Virtue Ethics. As I have noted, the triangle of the Personality Cult has, in many cases, superseded the normal Loyalty Triangles of family and friends.
1.2. What is noteworthy are the egregious acts of malfeasance, temerity, and tastelessness from Duterte and the DDS. Let me enumerate a few. To enumerate all would take volumes.
o Duterte’s uncouth misogyny directed against Vice President Robredo
o The deliberate and unforgivable exclusion of her office in official processes (LEDAC) and protocols (ASEAN)
o Aguirre’s travesty of justice in orchestrating the testimonies of hardened criminals against Senator De Lima.
o The aesthetic offensiveness of Panelo’s fashion sense
o Mocha Uson’s tirades against the Vice-President
o The sass of Sass Sasot in her confrontation with BBC correspondent Jonathan Head
o Lorraine Badoy’s ad hominem against Jover Laurio of Pinoy Ako Blog
1.3. Where do these people get their gross sense of entitlement?
o For Duterte, it definitely is not from loyalty to the Constitution. In fact, he has said, “The wellspring of corruption is the Constitution itself.” I think it comes from the abyss of his antediluvian mind.
o For the DDS, it comes from loyalty to the Dear Leader.
1.4. Within the domain of Virtue Ethics, the acts of Duterte and the DDS manifest as vices.
2. Consequentialism. As we have observed before, the moral justification Duterte has used is the old formulation of the Utilitarian principle of “the greatest good for the greatest number.”
2.2. He does not see the long-term adverse effects of his acts. And he totally ignores the Pareto Minority.
2.3. As for the DDS, their actions do not rise to the level of consequentialism. They have no care for others. They only think of themselves.
3. Deontology. Quite simply, Duterte and the DDS know no deontology.
4. In both cases of the leader and the led, we see how far the reach of power can extend and how far power can be abused.
4.1. There is hardly any recognition of moral boundaries.
4.2. Budget-wise and personnel-wise, Duterte has provided himself with the resources to accomplish his ends. The restraints on his power have been public opinion and the AFP.
o The former has forced him to shift the Drug War into the shadows. The War remains unabated. And he still maintains huge public support. What is it now – six out of ten instead of eight out of 10?
o The latter prevents him from declaring a revolutionary government.
4.3. If Duterte had the AFP in his pocket, he would doubtless declare a RevGov. Then he would have absolute power. In which case, God help us.
*****
There are various discussions about revolutionary government. Some say preparations are being made, others say it would be an instant self-declaration by Duterte of treason, and the AFP evidently recently told VP Robredo they would not permit installation of a revolutionary government. The “it’s coming” view is that Duterte knows that if he is held to account for all the killings, he will be in jail for a lifetime. The only way he can avoid that is to succeed at installing himself as supreme leader for life, or install Marcos, to pardon him. That tends to focus where the risk decision-making is made and I wish my bookie had not fled for Sicily when Roxas lost. He may be wrong now and then, but he has insights . . .
Note to Sassot.
This is from a TSOH minor blogger, any problem with that?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/14/trump-thousands-killed-us-philippine-presidents-duterte-drug-war
Why should Trump care about thousands killed, when there are deals to be done?
Felicitations and salutations to Tina Cuyugan!
Yes, he don’t care…
some of his failures….
http://time.com/4343030/donald-trump-failures/
In the list is missing his mega yacht disaster…He duped a Dutch builder called Amels and an Spanish designer Jaime Oliver
http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-donald-trumps-yachts-2016-11
https://www.superyachttimes.com/yacht-news/trump-princess-donald-trump-s-128m-motor-yacht-that-was-never-built
Offtopic: As everyone else chimed in anger and disgust, a terribly convenient fire.
Well, mass killings, convenient fire. No prosecutions. This is what the current Admin promotes.
Now them Keystone Kops are getting ready for a new hunting season.