Monica Lewinski and women of the Philippines
Monica Lewinsky and President Bill Clinton {Photograph from The New York Post]
By Joe America
What in the world does the woman who featured in a US presidential sex scandal have to do with the Philippines?
It’s complicated, so let’s first try to gather up some ideas. Let’s take four different perspectives on the gender character of the Philippines and then put them together to form an idea and some action steps.
First, women of the Philippines are held in high regard as workers, students, politicians, and in the quality of their health. They are substantially equal to men. Only six of 144 nations do better.
The Philippines ranked 7th among 144 countries assessed around the world for 2016, and is not only first in ASEAN, but first in the whole of Asia. The Global Gender Gap Index is a composite measure of gender gaps on four socio economic outcomes: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; political empowerment; and health and survival. (Rappler)
Three cheers for Filipino women! You are strong, you are smart, you have power! Women in the Philippines should be proud, and I think they would want to maintain their equal standing.
President Duterte, on the other hand, has quickly gained a reputation as an abuser of women. He is frequently described as a womanizer and misogynist (a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women). His public comments upset a lot of women:
Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz, the award-winning writer from Davao also fears the effect of Duterte’s barrage of verbal abuse on our collective psyche. “I’ve been a feminist for 30 years, long enough to enjoy some gains of the movement as well as suffer its losses,” she reflects. “But today the Duterte regime has taken us back to square one.” (Manila Times)
The most prominent Philippine women’s rights organization, Gabriela, supports President Duterte, a prostitution of principles if ever there were one. We could imagine that, if the Duterte values become mainstream in the Philippines, it will be a very macho, ugly place. You could not use “gentleman” and “Filipino” in the same sentence.
Changing gears. The Philippines may be about to pass a divorce bill. It is the last nation in the world to do so. The Catholic Church has lost a lot of gravitas as the nation’s moral custodian, so I’m guessing it will be passed.
The bill enjoyed bipartisan support from administration and opposition House members, who worked together to fine-tune the bill in the committee, chaired by Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones. (Inquirer)
In some respects, such a bill would protect women from abuse by allowing them to get out of abusive or disloyal relationships. On the other hand, it would allow womanizers like Speaker Alvarez to treat women as disposable objects. Having been divorced, I see divorce as a legal device, a termination clause in a contract, something any fair and reasonable contract would have to protect both parties. How it is implemented is important. We can explore the proposed divorce bill in a separate blog to examine its mechanisms.
Now let’s get to Monica Lewinsky and the cerebral stretch of how we look at “consent” in sexual relationships. Monica is in her forties now and her view of her affair with President Bill Clinton has changed with age and new knowledge.
Just four years ago, in another Vanity Fair essay, Lewinsky wrote that her affair with Clinton had been consensual. . . . But now, she says, the #MeToo movement has altered her perspective on her own situation. . . . She argued that because she was a 22-year-old White House intern and Clinton was one of the most powerful men in the world at the time, “the idea of consent might well be rendered moot.” (Business Insider)
Her point is that powerful people (movie producers, actors, sports people, business executives, politicians, priests) can extract concessions viewed as consensual at the time of the act. But are later seen as abusive. If her thinking were to become incorporated in human rights moral codes, it would impose a burden of extra caution on people of power or great popularity. They could presumably get sued for abuse long after the occurrence of the crime.
So let’s short-form the ideas from these four quotes:
- Filipino women are equal to men.
- The President is objectifying women and undermining their equal standing.
- Divorce can be either protective or abusive of women depending on how it is implemented.
- Moral codes may be shifting to recognize that men of power and fame have a new burden, to recognize their own power is potentially abusive in a sexual relationship that, on face, might look consensual. Women, too, must be more aware.
This chain of thinking, from what is now to what is possible, OUGHT to raise red flags for all Filipino women, no matter if they are clerks, laborers, managers, entertainers, or politicians.
These are the take-aways I think are important:
- Women’s opportunities, and their very standing as equals, are being undermined by a hostile, objectified view of them, originating from the Office of the President.
- Their legal choices are being defined now in the divorce bill, and women should demand to be included in the bill-writing. It ought not be a man’s bill.
- Institutions like Gabriela and the Catholic Church have failed women. New organizations are needed.
- Women ought not grant consent to powerful people to manage their bodies unless they are willing to accept the pain, humiliation, and damages that arise at a later date.
- Powerful men need to take care not to abuse their power to take advantage of women who may be “in awe”.
- President Duterte is a very powerful person. His abusive, manipulative words and acts should be widely and loudly condemned.
An entire nation’s women seems enamored of the President’s power. Their consent is highly disturbing.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
My main takeaway from the current article:
* The PH has achieved a lot towards gender equality and should be justly proud;
* Let not the likes of Duterte, Alvarez, Gabriela cause a retrogression without active efforts.
Exactly.
Off-topic, let me drop this resource here. Island tracker; photographs. Fascinating: https://amti.csis.org/island-tracker/
Re Island Tracker — Informative link/resource. Quality-wise and number-wise, we have in order, top to bottom:
– China, of course;
– Vietnam;
– Malaysia;
– Philippines
– Taiwan
In ancient Babylon, they not only made regular human sacrifices like today’s Filipinos.
The King and the Chief Priestess publicly had SEX at the Harvest Festival, for a fertile crop.
As NFA rice supply seems low, time for magic – Duterte and Mocha have public DUTIES to perform!
Snort LOL
In a display of gender equality, in addition?
Mocha on top, of course. Back to serious: about a female priestess and rebel, over a hundred years before Gabriela Silang. By Ninotchka Rosca:
https://ninotchkarosca.blogspot.de/2007/06/stories-we-were-told-stories-we-will.html
Gang Badoy Capati writes about bound feet and the country: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156345830227755&id=754152754
(Ninotchka BTW once told me about her bound feet Chinese grandmother.. she also once commented on FB that Chinoys who welcome the mainland forget what their ancestors fled from – a repressive society until today)
Back to Gang Badoy’s analogy.. Chinese binding the feet of the mother country, just like in Ninotchka’s story above of a virgin statue to displace the memory of a warrior priestess – precolonial Filipinas were nearly equal to men.. colonialism brought ‘hijo de puta’ and more.
And while talking of gender equality/ inequality, is this an example of [mainly] male irrationality in China?
Supposedly, after the news of the intended lifting of term limits of China’s President, the criticisms/pushback was such that the letter “N” was banned for a few days, because as one commented, it may refer to the mathematical expression
n > 2
meaning, in the instant case, Xi Jinping if plan pushes through will get terms (n) more than 2. How stupid can one get. Are the [mainly] males in the Chinese Officialdom mentally challenged?
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/01/asia/china-letter-ban-trnd/index.html
I suspect if one were able to measure autocracy at one end of an index with democracy on the other end, and cross measure it with quality of rational decision-making, rational to loony, then we’d be able to observe why autocrats often fail.
Hillarious! All letters from the international community will say Chia instead of China.
Winnie the pooh is banned because a meme circulated that it looked like him and Obama(as Tigger) while walking.
Hahaha!
A picture — a conceptual correlation (ref, TSH). Loony as in Winnie the Pooh jet-skiing to Scarborough Shoal
That’s it!
OMG this ping pong of discourses and discussions really make my day! refreshing daily cerebral exercise with comic relief
Visit often. It’s good for your sanity. Offer up a point of view and it’s like diving into warm water.
Oh, will do, will do…
This article nails it. And talks about objectification in text books.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/645149/center-for-women-s-resources-duterte-is-misogyny-personified/story/
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Filipinos have an ambivalent attitude toward women.
On one hand, there is reverence and, on the other hand, there is disrespect.
The reverence is shown by the many women who have attained high positions in government. There is no glass ceiling. Two have reached the presidency. One is the chief justice. And many head government bureaus and constitutional bodies. In the home, it is usually the wife and mother who organizes the family. The husband/father is just the titular head.
The disrespect is shown by maltreatment, by cheating, by objectification as a sex object, and by portrayal as a woman of loose morals.
The ambivalent attitude is sometimes fused in one woman – Cory, Gloria, even Mocha. And, let us not forget, Lourdes Sereno.
And the ambivalent attitude is clearly displayed by Duterte. Reverence for the mother. Reverence for the beauty of an Australian missionary. And disrespect in the utterances of rape, smelly vaginas, and shoot them in the vaginas to make them useless. And, let us not forget, his p*t*ng ina’s.
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Divorce is needed for the equitable distribution of property, for spousal and dependent children support.
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The natural theology in Greco-Roman mythology, Judaeo-Christianity, and tropical animism seem to suggest complementarity of the sexes and thus technology necessitated the invention of divorce as the “equitable distribution” of marital goods to progeny.
If 70% (about 77 million) of the population of Philippines are poor including those belonging to the lower middle class, DO THEY NEED DIVORCE so they may enjoy the good life that’s moral and decent?
When divorce was decreed by law as VERBOTEN because of certain socio-economic (socio includes religious) reasons, have time changed those reasons and rendered them obsolete?
MANDATED Divorce or No Divorce is PUBLIC POLICY. Who or what comprises the Filipinp public? Certainly not the Waknakataws–may be 3% (3.3 million)–who own and control the nation’s wealth. A national policy CARPENTERED for them IS NOT PUBLIC POLICY .
These Waknakataws are not the Filipino public. Granting they are the minuscule part, still the question begs for an answer. Were the rationale for NO DIVORCE no longer relevant and appropriate for the present? Those millions which don’t need or CANNOT pay for alimony or palimony BEFORE can do so now? If it was a wise policy then, is it stupid now?
In democratic countries ruled by CORRUPT governments Public Policy makes democracy an insufferable JOKE.
The population multitudes: farmers, and fisherman, the squatters and under bridge and estero dwellers, the soldiers, the NCOs, the PO1s to PO3s, the rank and file in government offices, the sikyus, the non-managerial personnel, the OFWs , DO THEY NEED DIVORCE? Will they need synthetic morality and decency by legislation?
NO, definitely NO. I am not against divorce because it was functional and beneficial to people of many countries. I believe it will be difficult for individuals (husband, wives and children) in an entire polity where decisions are made by Waknakataws and Wakarangs
.
I think I came across a news item where a thinking politician attested: “divorce is hell.” He probably have not thought he has condemned some of his colleagues in high government who are divorced. So wise he did not named them.
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That’s argument by exception.
Are the rich and the middle class to be denied justice because of the poor?
And the 70% is exaggerated. Classes D (56%) and E (9%) comprise 65%.
“Typically Class E people are those with no homes that they can call their own.”
This means that Class D are people with homes and assets. The average income of the D class is P191K. The higher range of the D class would have assets that would benefit the abandoned spouse (and children).
*****
Divorce is justice, Eh. Less is more. The Impact of numbers could be more or less which is 10%. Divorce is also about property and money. Indeed, 5% difference as discrepancy of 110 million is an exaggeration.
Let us pretend this did not come from Pimentel so it won’t look like look whose talking, or guilt by association.
http://www.manilatimes.net/pimentel-seeks-tougher-sexual-harassment-law/379565/
I believe he is correct,now what will he do about it.
——
Now as to women
sexula harrasment is usually for co-workers, what about household help, waitresses, GROs, entertainers,etc.
Some Catholic schools have entertainers for dancers, alumniae invite gros to entertain other alumnae. if one posts on fb that he is against objectifying women, he would look lime a kill joy person.
—-
Now as to divorce,
Lagman says it won’t be a a quickie divorce, others say so that it won’t be slow as annulments, so which is which? Majority wins agaiin.
The MeToo movement has arrived in Asia, in South Korea specifically.
“The South Korean MeToo movement began with courageous revelations of sexual harassment by Seo Ji-hyeon, a prosecutor in the Tongyeong branch of Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office. On Jan. 29, Seo posted a message on the prosecutors’ ePROS electronic knowledge management system alleging sexual harassment by former bureau director Ahn Tae-geun. Her revelations – which showed that even the prosecutors charged with defending the law and justice were not free from an internal culture of sexual assault – sent shock waves through South Korean society.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/834264.html
I am wondering when will Filipinas start voicing their grievances about Filipino men?
For a Catholic nation, there is a lot of incidence of adultery in PH. Hearing PRD tell tales of his many girlfriends while living with a common law wife and a pre-teen daughter is disgusting. Alvarez claiming he is allowed by his tribal rule to be polygamous is ridiculous.
How come there are not a lot of men coming out to air their sexual harrasment stories (by powerful women)?
I think the matter of ‘consent’ to abusive acts is different in the Philippines. It’s almost as if men are normal if they are abusive, or even admired, ala Duterte. It is possibly different in professional circles, but not by much. It will take decades to change this, or longer if Gabriela continues to influence thinking as a prominent women’s rights organization.
Sr Mary John was co-founder of Gabriela. She resigned to pursue another endeavor some time ago. I need to read up on its past and present mission. Sister is not very fond of Catholic priests’ bad behaviors. She favored the RH bill. I have not seen a publicized reaction of her about the divorce bill. My guess is that she will favor it in circumstances that are pro-women.
So, machismo is still alive and well in PH. I thought that PRD and his administration’s display of it is an extreme example of the norm.
`it may be the extreme. Others are not so crude, but they defend his crudity. And some trolls are very crude and threatening.
I found a 90s article about her.
She mentioned divorce, but only in passing.
http://cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/1998/V12n2/Maryjohn.htm
Thanks for the link, Karl. She is indeed a breathe of fresh air. She just recently unveiled a rural hospital in PH and working hard to make vital health services available in far flung areas.
Last line: afraid or ashamed they will be labeled as “under the saya” which they are, and worse. Hahaha.
Takusa too.
Yes, takusa describes it better than “under the saya.”
So in essence, PH is still a closet matriarchal society. Some Filipino men are still “takot sa asawa.”
This has mostly been the case in our clan. 🙂
I keep reminding my wife: “I am the king of my house! Hindi ba, dear?”
Hahaha! It looks like the men of PH are the one who need protection from overbearing women. 🙂
Well, If I may say so, being IMUS (I am US) is carried on or transferred to the future generation. In the military (not USA’s or UK’s) upon attaining the rank of full colonels to star ranks. these macho men refer to their wives as their “Commander” but they are NOT Wakayagbas.
I submit that the phenomenon of sexual harassment and extra-marital activity are examples of neoteny in men and women alike.
True, Kuya Sonny. Both sexes are capable of sexual harassment and adultery. Though we see that women are more forthcoming with their stories and men are ashamed of admitting that they were victimized by what is suppose to be the weaker sex?
This point, JP, reminds of my late cousin. In early adulthood he and I used to pass jesting comments on any thing. He said “Bakit nadidinig lang natin ang tungkol sa “unwed mothers?” Bakit walang kwento tungkol sa mga “unwed fathers”? Unfair, sabi niya. 🙂
It is unfair. To quote PRD, ” The sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” Sagot ni Ethel Booba: “Charot!” 🙂
He is a Wakatitot. In his songs, Pinoy machismo is ubiquitous.
Now as the International women’s day is nearing what’s up with Gabriela.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/645060/gabriela-to-duterte-keep-hands-off-judiciary/story/
Better than a few years ago.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/halalan2016/nation/06/03/16/gabriela-rep-backs-duterte-ganun-talaga-mga-bisaya
That is encouraging. I hope I have to retract my critical remarks. The Secretary General of Gabriela had this to say:
“In calling out to Duterte to keep his hands off the judiciary and independent commissions, we resolutely refuse to accept the machinations to use the impeachment of Ms. Sereno as a weapon and the shame-and-blackmail tactics to force the resignation of agency heads that do not deliver to Mr. Duterte’s whims and schemes,” Salvador said.
Very encouraging indeed.
You can say that again!
So Gabriela chose PRD as President and is having some remorse and a change of heart. It is refreshing that in the end, their mission as a group prevailed over their politics. Maybe there is still some hope for VACC.
I don’t think there is any hope for VACC or Harry Roque. They are ‘all in’.
The VACC of old died with Vizconde. Now this VACC is highly militant, it’s still pursuing its idea of a dictatorship supposedly to impose harsh discipline and hold public executions for a “crime free society”.
Maybe VACC has to read the article below. When they can no longer spell their names or lodge any more non-sensical cases because the words they need are banned, maybe, just maybe, they will change their mind.
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/02/sensitive-words-emperor-xi-jinping-ascend-throne/
One look at Jimenez’s face and it’s clear to me that he’s hellbent at achieving something like a “perfect world”… He’s completely out of his mind.
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“[The ridiculously long list of banned terms related to the amendment] would be funny if it weren’t so serious. Behind the gallows humour is growing despair.”
Why would anyone want to live in a society that can ban words — and even a single letter —
at the whim of censors? The fear is so palpable.
*****
There is always the next generation.
Somewhat related, but Esquire reports that local radio is still very much discriminatory.
https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/arts-and-entertainment/we-listened-to-am-radio-and-weren-t-surprised-to-find-that-sexism-is-alive-and-well-in-ph-media-a1942-20180302-lfrm?ref=home_feed_1
On another note.
Let the trade wars begin.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43257712
Trump steel tariffs: Trade wars are good, says Trump
Is that like greed is good?
Sorry again for the out of topic. Just a rejoinder.
The author of the article seems to ask: What trade war?
http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2135330/someone-tell-trump-trade-war-over-china-won
Are women naturally attracted to strong, powerful, wealthy men? Yes, that’s just Darwinian natural selection at work. We could see lots of examples of these seduction/flirtation games in the animal kingdom. Females will tend to flirt and welcome the mating advances of males who have the stronger ability to provide for the survival, sustenance, and well-being of her potential offspring.
In the civilizing attempt of humans to somehow breakaway from or modify this primal and basal instincts, we have included such desirable traits as compassion, intelligence, and yes, even sense of humor as factors to consider in the mating game, but the underlying principle and mechanism of Darwinian evolution remains.
This is the same underlying principle that sexual predators like Bill O, Harvey Wienstein, and Bill Clinton have exploited to the hilt to satisfy their gonads.
Did the women who have been thus abused consider the acts of these predators repulsive and unfair? In some cases maybe, in others maybe not so much. Depends on how much was traded or bargained.
Love does not even enter the picture, it seems. I tend to agree with your assessment.
Romantic love is essentially a biological impetus to have an offspring.
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As opposed to “natural selection,” I would introduce the concept of “human selection.”
I should use “artificial selection” but that doesn’t sound right.
“Natural selection” is defined as the process in nature “whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.”
I would define “human selection” as the process whereby mankind improves on natural selection by “consciously” refining basal instincts.
Amongst all other creatures, arguably only man has the capacity and the capability to extend natural selection by intelligent volition.
All animals mate, but only man can conceptualize divorce, the splitting of assets, spouse and child support.
Nature prefers promiscuity.
Therefore, romantic love is a refinement of human selection.
At the same time, romantic love is also a tool of natural selection in ensuring that the best mate with the best to produce the best offspring.
(However, as we can see in the Philippines, natural selection is indiscriminate: the poor will mate with the poor to produce disadvantaged offspring — disadvantaged by nature and nurture.)
Arguably, Duterte is a product of natural selection and not human selection. 🙂
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Thanks edgar.
Humanity carries the arrow of evolution by virtue of the gift of greater consciousness and greater intelligence. We are seeing this in our continued quest to refine the human species by, for example, genetic engineering (the rise of the super human), or the emergence of non-organic intelligence (robots) – the human rebound of evolution.
In its bare essence, Darwinian evolution is an inefficient method in the perpetuation of life – it is full of drama and pain and suffering and cruelty. Why did it took 4.5 billion years to get from point A to point B and the path of the journey is littered with the carcass of martyrs and sacrificial lambs? Surely there has got to be a greater objective to justify all that. It couldn’t be just for the heck of it.
But what the heck is that greater objective is, is still up for speculation.
Singularity? Omega point?
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The Omega Point is a telos of divine unification under the Christian cosmology. It is the end of the world. Teilhard identifies it with the Second Coming (parousia).
I think I prefer the notion of Eternal Recurrence. We find the notion occurs in Hinduism, Nietzsche, and Alan Lightman. The universe will undergo phases of birth, expansion, and collapse in an endless cycle.
The idea of recurrence appeals to me. We have not experienced all that we want to, we have not developed our capacities to the full, we have not mastered all the roles we wish to play.
(There is a hypothesis that we return many times and assume different roles as man, woman, father, mother, child.)
This is partly because we view consciousness as individually owned. But if we view consciousness as the sum total of human experiences — nay, as the sum total of all consciousness — then there is nothing we do not know. Including the end of the universe… because we are on the nth iteration.
But it would be nice to know that, at the individual level, we will come back and be able to rectify past mistakes, relive some peak experiences, revisit missed chances, and explore new avenues. In an effort to attain enlightenment (liberation).
The universe itself has the memory of its past selves and this is the reason it is able to create — recreate really — the heavens and the earth and fine-tune the parameters of existence.
The question remains: to what end? None. Nothing. Nada. It’s a dance.
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Eternal Recurrence might be compatible with Loop Quantum Cosmology.
http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/video-and-audio/multimedia-files/video-before-the-big-bang-loop-quantum-cosmology-explained
This is simplifying a complex selection process. E.g. women’s preferences change during their productive cycle, attracted to powerful alpha males during their fertile days but to caring social males during all other days.
Nature favors strong offspring but also maximal support in caring for this offspring. A group as a mixed grill is more successful than pure strength or pure care.
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So women’s preferences have to do with (a) the inherited characteristics of the offspring and (b) the caring of the offspring.
What about men’s preferences? Does it just have to do with fertility? Wide hips and big breasts?
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@joseph
So after the alpha gorilla had fertilized her egg she turns around, winks at the beta gorilla, hold hands, and together they will care for the soon to be born baby gorilla whose real father is out there fornicating?
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Ahaha!
But Joseph is right, too.
*****
I have watched lions fighting over a lioness, but with gorillas, the sex scene would give me nightmares.
Speaking of lions.
The comment below of Pablo about women cleani g men’s mess reminding me of lioness doing eveything like hunting and feeding the lazy king of the jungle.
🙂 funny
The king gets first dibs on every thing: food, sex, sleep, etc. All the king has to do is deliver the coup de grace.after the females have rendered the prey helpless. what a life!
That is what is called “Ibong mababa ang lipad” in the vernacular, Micha. It is a mammal but of avian persuasion.
Here’s the Kano macho man who perished in THE ALAMO
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Davy+Crockett+Song+On+YouTube&&view=detail&mid=493473B70F562219107D493473B70F562219107D&&FORM=VRDGAR
As a kid I souped up on comics of the frontiersmen like Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, and Jim Bowie
Alan Ladd was Shane who outdrew gunslinger Jack Palance. He perished in the Alamo as the man who carved the Bowie knife.
Raised by gorillas of the wild, Tarzan was the quintessential honest noble beast who’s got no assets and liabilities to bequeath or divide with Jane. But may be Tarzan knew in the animal or human jungle there’s the first instinct of self-preservation in the God given Oestrus Cycle (naglalandi, atat na atat) to the female of the specie. Copulate they must lest they be made extinct by man. That priest in Japan probably knew the mechanics so he invented the rhythm method
Estrous cycle
“The estrous cycle or oestrus cycle comprises the recurring physiological changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most mammalian therian females. Estrous cycles start after sexual maturity in females and are interrupted by anestrous phases or by pregnancies. Typically, estrous cycles continue until death. Some animals may display bloody vaginal discharge, often mistaken for menstruation.
Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license”
Oh by the way, Ms Estefania Aldaba-Lim, Prof. Ditas Concepcion, Dr. Gerry Sicat, Dr. Esmundo and 34 coordinating and cooperating agencies spearheaded and succeeded to reduce the birth rate in Ph demographics for a short time until a relapse restored its merry way to fecundity.
Of course, human reproduction may have nothing to do with matriarchy or patriarchy of amorous societies–which makes this comment a sidewinder.
The article below talks about something that rings true. The PDP-Laban’s recent gathering as a back drop, it is now clearer what is being marketed to PH ruling party. It is a shame because PDP-Laban stands for Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas Ng Bayan. It is the party that became the vehicle for PCory to bring back democracy and evict the dictator from Malacanang. It might change to PCP- Laglag Bayan soon.
“Xi Jinping isn’t going anywhere. This week the Chinese Communist Party proposed amending the country’s constitution to abolish presidential term limits. Under the current rules, Mr. Xi is due to step down in 2023, after two terms. Once that formal constraint is eliminated, there will be nothing to stop him from staying in office however long he likes—as the Communist Party’s chief and China’s president.
Behind this news, sidelining constitutional restraints is a deeper trend: Under Mr. Xi’s leadership, the Communist Party is devouring China’s governing institutions while promoting its ideology for export like never before. Mr. Xi’s message to the world is that autocracy is a viable system of government. That makes China not only an economic and security rival for the U.S. but an ideological one.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/xi-jinpings-ideological-ambitions-1519950245
A great read written by a great Filipino. He surely is one of the more consistent ones when it comes to principled stand.
“… In this ouster-move against the Chief Justice, what is being wrecked are the democratic ideals which we, the Filipino people, enshrined in the Constitution. If the wrecking crew wins, the chief justice’s defeat will also be the nation’s.
Because of this, “we have to be vigilant,” as Justice O’Connor exhorted. And our vigilance, in this case, means that we make Chief Justice Sereno’s fight our own. Simply, her cause is right. Her triumph will be a severe blow against patronage government and mobocracy.”
https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/03/01/supporting-chief-justice-serenos-just-crusade/
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1
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Don’t know…..
strange timing…:-)
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/972646/bfar-warns-red-tide-now-in-biliran
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=red%20tide
I lost all repect to this Gabriela, what have they done to protect Senator De Lima from unfair incarceration? Nothing, knowing how fake are the testimonies of those convicted criminals , and the inhibitions of the 2 judges, including Judge Guerrero who handed down the conviction, meaning they have no cases to convict the senator, at least should they ask for her release..
Agree. The House also smeared the senator. If that kind of treatment of women is allowed, then Gabriela is a failed advocacy.
Remember this woman?
http://entertainment.inquirer.net/203624/agot-isidro-unfazed-by-comments-stays-by-point-does-a-2nd-post
Ang imagen ng babaeng Filipina sa mundo nababahiran ng walang kahihiyan, mga Wagnakataw.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/multimedia/video/03/02/18/pambibiktima-ng-mga-mandurukot-sa-dayuhan-huli-sa-cctv
Don’t ask me what is a Wagnakataw. It contains three root words in Tagalog. Hints are these root words: himod, hadhad, hungkag, Remember siga-siga shorten to mere Siga. I remember my Lola admonished me: Huwag kang magsiga diyan, baka masunog ang bahay natin.
Sa gobiernong Pinoy ang daming Wakatan. Sa mga kelot meron din mga Wakatong (tanga for male gender). Sorry Joe Am I was once asked to lecture (on a Course in Mediation) on Creative Thinking (including lateral, straight, outside the box, toilet, septic tank, etc. kind of thinking).
If I may offer an example of straight thinking, DIVORCE (to me) for all, is a right inclusive in the provision: the right to pursue happiness in many written constitution in the Free World.
It is to me inviolable right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Medio corny pero mahalaga sa mga wakatitot.
An example of Outside the Topic thinking: The health and education system of a polity are often outside the political machinations of a President who is not a GENERALIST. Very few people REALIZED that the present administration has currently placed and confined to the hands (able or whatever) of two academicians–from just one college of UP Diliman–the entire operations of the education system (Dept Ed and CHED). Pres Duterte should realize the least DIRECTED mentors are the best directed cabinet members. Let them do their jobs.
Hello? How is that again? Search the records of Washington D.C. and the federal departments, there were achievement times when these entities’ form and content were from academes. And remember, D.C. was never a dictatorship. G. Washington in the beginning even REFUSED to be King.
Another OTT :
Take a read of this, I have yet to finish but it could be something for alchemitsts (searchers of gold). .
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/america-is-not-a-democracy/550931/
Most important points of the article.
“It’s a suspicion stoked by the fact that, across a range of issues, public policy does not reflect the preferences of the majority of Americans. If it did, the country would look radically different: Marijuana would be legal and campaign contributions more tightly regulated; paid parental leave would be the law of the land and public colleges free; the minimum wage would be higher and gun control much stricter; abortions would be more accessible in the early stages of pregnancy and illegal in the third trimester.”
Quick and Nice, Thanks Karl.
In forensic term, public policy perhaps IS NOT an ultimate panacea for anticipated ills of a society .
Fault of wakanalobbyists.
They are not, that much is true. More the reason why democracy is needed. Through persistent and determined push towards their fulfillment, they one day will be reality in the vein of women’s suffrage and other good things that democracy brought about. Sourgraping abou tAmerica and its ideology had been around for a while. America is still a tree that is “hitik sa bunga” that is going to be shaken and stoned whenever it is convenient to third parties.
@Juana, I agree on all points.
In the early days when BLOGS were starting to become as popular as Tilapia and Kare-Kare, I blogged that NGO’s and other POs (People’s Organizations) will become dysfunctional as government is dysfunctional. Disdainful they will be is the kind word. Now, a stretch it may be, but this portion in the ATLANTIC article on US democracy; might be good posting, quoting here in TSoH.
“Gilens and Page tested those theories by tracking how well the preferences of various groups predicted the way that Congress and the executive branch would act on 1,779 policy issues over a span of two decades. The results were shocking. Economic elites and narrow interest groups were very influential: They succeeded in getting their favored policies adopted about half of the time, and in stopping legislation to which they were opposed nearly all of the time. Mass-based interest groups, meanwhile, had little effect on public policy. As for the views of ordinary citizens, they had virtually no independent effect at all. “When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy,” Gilens and Page wrote.”
Hah, hah, hah. From the above quote, my mind sees that the US political world have its own share of Wakarangs, may be Waknakataws, Wakatans, and Wakatongs.
Excuse me. Those are not names, just words to describe the iniquities (biblical word) of the modern man.
One common thing about these two academics now handling the Ph education system, they both TAUGHT public service, NOT BUSINESS, which by hindsight and a stretch could be Marcos grievous error (not A MISTAKE). A Marcos Mistake it would have been if his key appointees came from a UDM (university of Diploma Mill). in plane surveying error and mistakes have different precise meanings.
You mentioned a seminar or watchamacolit about a crash course in MBA by NCPAG members, is that right?
Congressman are required to have a crash course in public admin, why not a crash course in MBA as well?
Or include Business and Economics subjects in Public admin, or is it already included?
ps
Is constant winds about constant eche bucheches?
Is it too much to ask to upload a pdf in TSOH?
I am pushing my luck.
Karl, any crash(ed) thing always crashes, the word came into vogue during Martial Law. I have no hand or was a participant in that. MBA is for profit; MPA is for public service. That’s why in Harvard, the Harvard MBA, was augmented with the Kennedy School of Government.
An Economist co-prof recently lamented to me, NCPAG is becoming a pre-law school of the UP College of Law. Consequence thinking: some public service notion and straight thinking could do some good to the Law Curriculum este law graduates, not that they don’t have a little of that now.
Constant Winds vol I, I was thinking to be followed by Volume II will be titled Constant Intentions (Thievery and Governance). Yes Constant Winds is my eche bucheche from 3 units of Physics 13 (meteorology?) in UPLB, a life under Habagat and Amihan all my 68 years. .
Publicity I think could end up into celebrity and OVERDOSE which is fatal to some Hollywood souls. There is beauty and peace in being a nobody. Who knows who designed and formalized the structure and functions of the University of the Philippines Manila, a university for medicine and allied arts and sciences? Because toilet and classrooms were not being properly cleaned, who was asked to audit the management of Physical Plant Office?
If uploading (publicity?) a pdf of Constant Winds can be done, somebody should help clueless me and be done with it. Tell me how and it’s done. TSoH could be the road for my future book(s) to get donated to poor libraries of schools in remote towns of the Philippines so their students may get a glimpse of the real score.
Courses in Public Administration (MPA) are equivalent to that of MBA, only with public policy purview. Accounting, Finance, Economics and other business courses are represented well from public policy point of view.
@Popoy,
I suggest you email Joe if he is amenable to my suggestion.
And thank you and @Juana for replying to my query about Public admin and MBA.
Ms JP if I may, I think it may not be a whale of differences but just as big as dolphin. In MBA, management is the broad context of theory and practice not so in MPA which is the word Administration as in Financial Management vs. Fiscal Administration where you have govtal budgeting, govtal accounting (obligation accounting) and govtal auditing.
I think you don’t have that in MBA. Theory of Administrative Thought; Administration of Rural Development, Local Government Administration etc. (I don’t remember all I have taken and taught for a few years courses like Public Policy and Development Projects (mostly WB financed) Management. While MPA is sculpted for service, MBA is carpentered for profit. Please forgive the simplification.
There was a time when UP Wakarangs and Wakatongs (not Wakatans) tried to fuse the two colleges into one UP College of Business and Public Administration. It did not push through because the Wakawaks were running the government anyway.
When I was in the UK there were no courses or degree offerings in Public Administration, only civil service courses done by Administrative Staff College (Henley-on-Thames) those existing UK’s Commonwealth Countries eg. Pakistan and Australia.
As far as I know B.S., Masters, and Doctorate degrees in Public Administration are pure breed American babies; cloned by other countries.
Of course I did try to have my own definition of what is Public Administration based on my own experience in training, teaching, research and consultancy about it. But I vowed not to repeat it in any classroom or lecture. However, I will resurrect it here for Joe Am and TSoH habituates’ pleasure.
i told my class, Public Administration is a river where, starting from its headwaters its life is fed and sustained by its numerous tributaries of arts and sciences namely; agriculture, law, politics, medicine, education, engineering, economics, accounting, psychology, sociology, cybernetics, computer science, military science, etc. I then draw on the blackboard a river showing the numerous named tributaries. I then cautioned the students that because of the pull of gravity, water from the river cannot by itself fiow back upward to the origins of the tributaries. There is No symbiosis there. Public Admin is a parasite for knowledge from the tributaries.
Now why did I resolved not to repeat the definition? My captive audience masteral and a sprinkling of doctoral students look askance and indescribable. I felt ashamed and indescribable too and vowed never to repeat the stupidity.
Now what is a Wakawak? You certainly are, if you believe, advocate and help enforce Martial Law.
The wannabe metaphorical river I used to define a hardly teachable course occurred a decade before I actually experienced a real river–of two provinces– that runs 1,126 kilometers (700 miles).
By speedboat I experienced its dark waters under fading sunset and full moonlight; experienced the tiger mosquitoes bigger than house flies, where a tribe of dark peoples tatooed their boys into manhood by creating scales of crocodiles in their backs; where I was advised that to fight crocodiles, you can just pick them up and raised them struggling in air, if you are strong enough. The Sepik River has the largest watershed (catchment area) in Papua New Guinea. The two provinces are East Sepik (Sankamap) and West Sepik (Sundaun).
Civilization always sits by a river. The Pasig River from its headwaters at Napindan to its mouth in Manila Bay is a national trophy of failed conservation. Preservation is Non-utilization; conservation is WISE utilization.
In Tokyo, Hayakawa is swift river.
I like this metaphore…
Hayakawa onsen just like most “hot spring used to be a sacred place where people can cure their injuries and diseases in earlier time when they had little knowledge of health and had little medication.”
Do we have similar Hayakawa onsen in the Philippines that can cure injustices, inequalities and correct our dysfunctional government?
Popoy, the river metaphor is sound and has a solid basis in fact and reality. For me this was brought home by the Mississippi River system in the US. In its simplest form, this system starts its headwaters as a brook in Itasca, Minnesota. Then meanders on a path that forms east-west state boundaries and carves a waterway and confluences with similar tributaries until it becomes a huge waterway that accommodates ships & ferries of commerce before joining the delta cataracts and finally homes into the Gulf of Mexico. The River is more than twice as long as the longest axis of the Philippines. I like the image of tributaries as the sciences feeding the density and volume of human endeavor associated with the system.
As the river metaphor is sound and has a solid basis in fact and reality, we should take this one step further. How difficult is it to change the course of a big river? If we want to empower women, that would mean changing the flow of the river substantially. Rivers do not change their flow overnight. And maybe we would create problems if we try too hard. Like the flows of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers were changed with good intentions, Aral lake became a disaster quickly. Let’s be careful changing flows and as people with a foot in several cultures, I realize that trying to influence a society substantially can create unintended consequences because with the bad, also the good can disappear. Often it is better to let nature decide for itself where it wants to go. Let women decide where they need to go, education will provide the crucial pointers in this. “Just” ensure that women get at least as good a chance as the guys and in this, I have confidence in the Philippines.
But, a funny experience was when a very powerful woman put me in charge of a section consisting solely out of women. Her argument was “They need a man to prevent infighting and as you have 5 women at home and are still alive, I will add this section to your department”
I was stunned. But it worked.
As I said: Let nature sort itself out, it is better than us trying to force issues. .
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=582043968811629&id=494635264219167
Harry Roque is hereby invited to swim in Munich’s Isar river, like this man does to work.
(I live nearby, but I preferred to bike years ago when my workplace was downstream)
The river is clean but cold. No worries as Roque is fat. No crocs just fish and ducks.
(context: Roque invited Callamard to swim in the Pasig)
Roque should avoid downstream of Munich too close to the Isar I and II reactors, maybe.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it is not so much the women who are strong and make the country number 6, but more the male domination which leave the women behind to clear up the mess and in the process often rise to quality. This is too much of a generalization, but I encounter it all the time: the men who dominate, often behave irresponsibly. The women have very much a serving attitude and let brothers and their male kids do what they like, supporting them in this irresponsible behavior rather than challenging them and calling them to order, resulting in a spoiled attitude until at the end, the women are left behind and can clear up the mess. Too often by going to work abroad to finance the family, sometimes they rise to impressive heights in their own country. Even in university today, I observe this situation where often brilliant women are overshadowed by dominant males and shy away instead of standing their ground, but work harder and by this eventually get out on top. This, obviously, is an international problem only recently addressed in the US by the #metoo movement, but it is very dominant in the Philippines. And damaging to society where males and females are both the loosers, (1) males because they miss the challenges of half society and therefore won’t rise to their potential and (2) females who cannot rise to their potential unless they fight incredibly hard like Miriam Defensor did in her time.
Nice assessment. Seems to fit well. I did chuckle about dominant men messing things up and diligent women putting things back together again. But there are some ‘mess-up’ women, too, the Cams, Usons, Acosta’s . . .
Of course there are many women messing up as well, but having 4 daughters in Europe, the similarities but also the differences are striking. In Europe, similar problems arise, but the way how it is dealt with are striking. And that is a social issue which cannot be eliminated in a generation, it will take a lot of time before the lazy male lions will start to pull their weight. But, it is a way how this society ticks and that not necessarily makes one or the other option better. Just slight empowerment will make major differences. Like contraception and divorce. I am enjoying the ride, it is fascinating to see how the younger women take charge in many positions.
It is about time.
#Bantaybastos will monitor all mysoginistic pronouncements of people in power.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/111607/bastos-and-unjust
The key question, I suppose, is whether this stand, and others like them, are indignation rising, or the last gasps of a dying Christian morality.
I hope it is the former.