“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”

PGMA under siege

The rather overzealous move of Malacanang, Inc. to push for charter change in a scheme fraudulent of the Senate’s corporate if proprietary existence should be read as a desperate act of a presidency under siege largely on account of recurring reports of corruption traced at the doorstep of the seat of power.

Senator Mar Roxas, as if to confirm suspicion, knew that RP is no longer getting the financial package it gets from US except by another round of negotiation in what would be the same dog with a different collar.If that little attempt will find fruition, then maybe RP can again, get a shot in the arm from Uncle Sam but Roxas shares strong misgiving that US will grant this country another loan package.Reason is a government tainted with corruption.Call to mind how Mar uttered the words – ‘P…. ina. Ano ba to?’ – in a crowd?

The way things are, the ruling cliché in Congress can have their cake and eat it too.After all, the rule of majority in this country has long been distorted to actually mean, mere numbers game and its tyranny.And Congress keeps on growing as more bills – to divide a province into two, to divide a town or city into two, to divide a barangay into two – come as vicious practice.It is still gerrymandering by any other name – to spread the loot – doesn’t it?

PGMA felt rather reassured though when the Chief of Staff of the AFP emphatically pointed out on the occasion of the AFP’s 73^rd Anniversary that ‘politics in the AFP is dead’.But is it really dead?Would it be correct to say that EDSA 2 were a mistake?Where signs indicate, the reason Senator Trillanes will never be allowed to function as a regular member of the Senate is born out of that fear that the AFP is, after all, reasonably politicized.

The menu in the charter change proposal is one that claims not to include term extension as officially advocated by GMA’s political operatives in Congress.But there are tricks in the book later on.There is no barrier big enough not to be confronted in favor of what Congress wills it to be since – voting is a vicious malpractice – whenever an issue has to be settled even without debate.That is what may be called as ‘summary execution’ – they kill anti-GMA bills in Congress, don’t they?

Suppose that indeed charter change will push through even before 2010?What will happen to us all?Central to the original charter change proposal is for foreigners to own the lands under some concessionaire agreement.In other words, they can’t take away the lands they own out of the country – only that they will control production and all that Marxist stuff to the possible peril of the Filipinos given the chronic rapacity of a capitalist system.The more conservative segments of body polity equate that as tacit commercialization of our sovereignty, or is it?

Elections 2010 is far more exciting than charter change, it’s fiesta.It seems that it is only GMA who is interested in charter change knowing pretty well that it is the only vehicle she can hold on to power if she cannot be possibly elected sans the props of ‘Hello Garci’.But all other politicians would rather opt that an election be held in 2010 since that would not be violative of the Constitution.So necessarily, no-el scenario is not to come about.

The GMA administration is probably the luckiest presidency we ever had.At least three coups failed to dismantle it.And just as how many impeachment moves have already been registered in the failure chart?Even People Power attempts fail to invade Malacanang when it is virtually made as a container yard whenever rallyists gather around its radius.The AFP and PNP are too in tact to disintegrate as other sub-centers of power are like the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, et cetera.

There is no way to boot out GMA, just no way at the moment.Serious observers of trends knew too well that in spite of net satisfaction and trust ratings of GMA gliding down to historic negative ebbs (if there be a word), she still will finish term and the post-GMA scenario may be such that she will not follow the fate of Marcos or of Erap when she leaves Malacanang.

RP – case of Catch 22

Let us suppose that Malacanang, Inc. has set for its goal-setting priority the whole agenda of going about charter change at the earliest time possible and – at whatever costs to pay.And then it succeeds despite massive opposition to it by people across the social stratification.Ergo, we either have a GMA playing role as Prime Minister or President – depending on how the new Constitution has designed the entire scenario of “GMA Forever” – to be.

When that happens, it would only result in one thing.The combined force of the AFP and the PNP will be put to good use in a scheme of massive militarization as the editorial of Malaya has already suspected it to be – a way to condition the minds of the people toward the upcoming cha-cha.So is this the reason why a lot of military and police troops are being stationed in malls, markets, other public places as though the whole Holiday Season has always been wrought with crime drives from lawless elements?Even criminals take a break from the trade, don’t they?

Well, that is getting close to being paranoid and it is stupid enough that the armed services will be the first to worry about some mythical thinking of a mercurial rise in crime rates on such a time when peace reigns across the universe.It is an entirely misplaced activity for the PNP to state that they are there to protect the populace.Protect from what?It is as if the security and intelligence services of the AFP and PNP have been commissioned by purely civilian corporate entities than really taking charge of their own vital stations – the military camps, the police stations, and the borders.

That is entirely absurd for the AFP and PNP, individually or both, to do – a total waste of resources.The days and weeks from December and January next year are not one that necessitates their presence everywhere and more so of the possible violations on human rights resulting from checkpoints or chokepoints that are being built along roads and highways.Has not the Supreme Court already ruled on the un-constitutionality of this gun-totting activity?

It seems that in the higher order of things, there is more to it than meets the eyes.Perhaps, every corner of a highway or rotundas will have checkpoints and military and police personnel will be guarding malls, markets, churches, and publicly-frequented facilities to insure that peace and order are preserved.We might as well request the AFP and PNP to post their personnel in villages, subdivisions, hotels, motels – everywhere?If their strength is found wanting, then Malacanang can always advertise so new recruits will be added to the total strength?

Perhaps, there is a sort of loose hair coming from the Secretary of the Department of Health in his stupid TV ads showing rather morbid cases of bodily accidents resulting from our traditional mania of starting the year with a bang – as in lighting some firecrackers.According to that doctor, he wants to scare everyone on the dangers of buying pyrotechnics or firecrackers for this New Year’s celebration.What a kill joy can this doctor-secretary get not to say all his TV ads lack elementary good taste – as though that would scare the wits out of those who will still light firecrackers no matter what.Maybe it is the PNP who wants to be sure, no explosives will anymore be circulating around in time for “martial law” – in its most subliminal form.

Or so, why Enrile posts himself as the Senate President?It tells us Malacanang, Inc. – with that end in view of “GMA Forever” – only will place key players who will kowtow to the whim of the lady-occupant – call it at the next judical turn as usurper of power.Maybe, the Malaya editorial is thinking right that some early signs of a martial law regime are already taking place.And rabid politicians in Congress are there to usurp power by excluding the Senate in the whole agenda long set as a goal by the ruling administration.

We shall see more of Mar in street rallies shouting that infamous “Putang ina!Ano ba ito?”.As a people, we have become dumb and numb.We have become deaf and blind.We have become easy to be governed and perhaps, Enrile keeps on reading his book, “The Prince” and that of the works of George Orwell – preparatory to what we may call the Orwellian nightmare?

There is nothing more to save.Erap caved in – for fear of his life.In the thick of the “hello Garci” – we lost the legal battle in Congress and in the Supreme Court – for fear.All born out of fear – we will, as a people, lose in the rest of the battles and the Lady wins each and every time.Maybe, she who has the gold rules the world and with a very interested First Gentleman in a “conjugal affair” to ram the cha-cha through our throats, there seems to be no real option left.An all-consuming ‘prostitution’ as the Joc Joc inquiry might suggest is taking place at all levels of governance.Poor us – nothing more to save.

An anti-climactic US presidency

Nothing alters the fact that as soon as votes have been counted, the Americans have spoken – catapulting to power – one Democrat Barack Obama as the 44^th US president.And few more days before Obama should assume office come January 20, 2009, a looming question on whether or not he is a natural born citizen to be an eligible president is gathering adherents in the internet by every tick of the hour to the point it is seen to end in a constitutional crisis.

Barack Obama is a US senator alright but apparently the US constitution has not set the same requirement for the Office of the President.It sets the higher standard that the candidate should not only be a US citizen but a natural born citizen at that.Thus, if official documentary proof will show that Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States, then the issue should first be resolved.No less than the Supreme Court should step into the scene and to lay final judgment on whether or not Obama should assume watch to the office 64 million Americans have placed him – the White House.

The US Supreme Court has been perceived to have taken varying attitudes to the lawsuits that have already been filed – refuses to take up the citizenship issue, declines to make an opinion on the question of eligibility, holds off decision to grant hearing, and so forth.However well the camp of Obama can hide the vault copy of Obama’s birth certificate from scrutiny, until shown, not few Americans will always press that Obama himself speaks the truth surrounding his citizenship and eligibility as stipulated in Section 1, Article 2 of the US Constitution (USC).

In all likelihood, it is going to be Catch 22 – case of damn if you do, damn if you don’t.If Obama admits to the fact that he is not a natural born citizen of America, then his political detractors can easily prepare the menu for his possible impeachment – if and when – he insists to take oath and assumes office.On the other hand, if Obama claims that he is a natural born citizen under specific provisions of the US Constitution other than Section 1, Article 2 of USC, then there may be special judicial course of action at the disposal of the newly elected president, just maybe.It is not far removed either, that the Supreme Court can assume a rather activist stance to ‘rationalize’ when it takes to the view of defending Obama from what maybe a judicially overstretched perspective.

The idea that confronts every average American is the simple requirement that the truth be revealed since the issue has been thrown in the intellectual landscape.And it does not have to be mired in the realm of pure legalese as when it must compel the Supreme Court to rule over the case.In the end, the internet that is largely responsible for making sure Obama wins in this presidential election might be the same vehicle that could in fact, unmake Obama.But this is full of implications in the higher scheme of things.

Not remotely, observers find it strange that America has voted for that one who would later on be proven to be one who is not eligible to become US president on account of his citizenship requirement.The new president of the strongest nation in the world that is America has been elected and yet will be ejected even before he assumes official watch.The strongest legal argument against those who press on the eligibility issue is yet to be discussed in any forum in the internet.Thus, until the issues are joined, the American people have no way of making their own judgment as to which theory to believe.

There ought to be two schools of thought on this controversy:one commits to the thesis that Obama is not a natural born citizen of America and the other embraces this prevailing claim’s antithesis – that Obama is a natural born citizen.There is the bar of public opinion if the Supreme Court is found to be slow in the action.A host of questions will remain unanswered until Obama confronts the lingering doubt in the minds of the American public that he is possibly not a natural born citizen of US and therefore should be held accountable for every patent violation of the Constitution.

Certainly, Obama cannot be a mere guest at the White House since he must be its lawful occupant in order to be able to exercise the powers of the President.The US Constitution cannot be set aside without a final answer to this citizenship question.Until addressed, the seeming controversy might divide a wedge among the American people in what would evolve as the new – Great Intellectual Divide.There might just be one more day left to save the pond where water lilies double in size each day choking other life forms underneath. US does not deserve to be in the kind of situation it is in at the moment.It bears watching how Obama can clear his way out of the noose.Perhaps, there shall not be any farther obstacle to the new president-elect to assume the vast reservoir of presidential powers since the presidency of America cannot operate in a vacuum.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon CityEmail:nielsky

_2003@yahoo.com

SWS, GMA and charter change

Each time the Social Weather Station (SWS) releases its latest results for some 1,200 respondents across social classes (from A to E) in various geographical locations as in its last quarter survey giving the President a satisfaction rating of -30, Malacanang has always dismissed it by saying the presidency is not a popularity contest and that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA) would rather focus on anti-poverty programs amidst the global economic crisis.Accordingly, an SWS net satisfaction rating of -30 to -46 is classified as ‘bad’.Offhand, it is not bad but rather very bad considering that it was again 21 points lower than last year and the worst since 2005 when net satisfaction was pegged at -25.So, where would all future survey ratings drift if not irreversibly negative each and every time since officially enough, PGMA always embraces her self-serving view that popularity is one thing but governance is another.Ergo, what doesn’t matter to her, matters to all of us who believe that surveys serve asa barometer upon which public pulse is scientifically gauged.

This latest SWS survey result simply means that if Malacanang insists in moving for a charter change (cha-cha) or being rammed through our throats (in the words of Bro. Mike Velarde of El Shaddai), then this -30 will glide down even farther to the point it will statistically state that the presidency operates in a vacuum if not in total isolation than GMA together with her rabid sycophants would be willing to accept.At least, SWS is there to locate the position of the ship of state in the huge radar screen as it steams through turbulent political waters.Not remotely, the captain of the ship, in this case, GMA stirs the course of history from a pre-plotted course that would bring her to where she wants to be – ‘GMA forever’.But refusing to read the writings on the wall, GMA can play bully in the school yard herself to pursue what she has always attempted to do but failed – extend her term – beyond 2010.

What were the ingredients made ready for this golden scenario of ‘GMA forever’?First, PNP Chief Versoza is not being replaced in spite of the euro general scandal in Moscow which is perceived as a clandestine money-laundering activity.Second, the House of Representatives effectively killed – with the traditional tyranny of the majority – the impeachment move against GMA initiated by ex-speaker, Jose de Venecia based on a mistaken view that it was bereft of substance than in form.Third, Senate President Villar was unceremoniously unseated on suspicion he might undo GMA as he undid Erap and to be replaced by a Juan Ponce Enrile who is known as a martial law operator in the Marcos regime.Fourth, the upcoming positions of associate justices in the Supreme Court will be indicatively filled in based on presidential whim in the light of the fact that the cha-cha syndrome has been diagnosed as a form of social cancer.Necessarily, GMA will get a second opinion from her new bunch of judicial surgeons who will state the initial diagnosis otherwise.Fifth, the Lower Chamber – by sheer numbers game – can defang the Senate to render it entirely useless if it takes a different view on charter change.Sixth, before final voting even begins, a form of oblique patronage refund will be distributed to the patronizing pro-administration congressmen as JDV has already claimed that the votes are for sale.

Thus, if chips fall in place, there is no way cha-cha can’t unfold. But even if the GMA regime is able to achieve its goal to get the charter change done, there will be even greater problems the government will face as has already been predicted in the case of 1946 when the Parity Law opened wide the doors for foreign ownership.Under the charter change as proposed, central to its theme is allowing foreigners to own as much lands as they may have wanted where they can do business of whatsoever kind.This means that we would have permitted foreigners to exploit our natural resources especially so that this government appears to allow mining explorations by foreign firms.Presumably, it will create more problems than the government can solve once it becomes – all systems go – under a new order of things.

Do we as much as have to rewrite the Constitution to pave the way for everything that Malacanang may have thought of?The conditions for a change of form of government appear to have been premised on self-preservation – extending the term of GMA as it is with her political allies thereby breaching our right to vote for our leaders come 2010.Certainly, the term of office of our incumbent elected officials cannot be extended by a simple master stroke unless otherwise we can equate that as the sovereign power of the governed.Viewed holistically, it seems improbable that we can even allow the affairs of state to be subcontracted by way of the role and excesses of foreign capitalists as future partners in governance, or what else will it be?

From where I stand, it presents clear as crystal that every part of the grand jigsaw puzzle is being fitted in place.Suppose that indeed, Malacanang succeeds to railroad cha-cha – overcoming all the legal obstacles that come with it – what future do we have under the new scenario?Will change come to RP?Would PGMA be a better president?Will there be new million jobs for everyone?And so on?In other words, can they please tell us what the future will be like under a new form of government with – GMA and her rabid allies – the same pack of political leaders we will have?Pray tell, the leaders we have now are the best, the most concerned of our people, the incorruptible of our body polity?Meaning less than that, charter change is not the way to go. SWS’s net satisfaction rating of the president already serves public notice that any charter-change move is doomed from the start.True enough, GMA does not give a damn hook on her being unpopular but then again, her unpopularity is making her very popular – as long as she is the president.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon City(Email:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)

Pacman’s training paid off

Training must have been the single most important factor that made Manny ‘Pacman” Pacquiao win over Oscar ‘Golden Boy’ dela Joya in what was dubbed as the Dream Match in the global boxing scene.And necessarily, one trains under a coach of equal if not unparalleled reputation among boxing experts.In other words, Roach has given to Pacman what Pacman has to give back to Roach in return – a healthy symbiotic relationship that is seen to last until Pacman would have hit the threshold of retirement in his long boxing career.

Both Pacman and Golden Boy prepared for the fight that is perceptibly viewed as a turning point in their respective boxing careers.Each one has his own set of advantages as well as disadvantages.So that when that dream becomes reality, we have seen boxers having fought the way they should according to how their own coaches have designed their type of training to be.One is a left hand boxer with quick right jabs while the other is a right hand boxer with equally stiff left jabs.One is higher and the other lower in the rest of the basic criteria such as age, height, weight, reach, etc.

Some stuff do appear a little bit like culture-bound.Before and after the fight, we see Pacman bowed his head in presumably silent prayers at the corner of the ring for too long enough moments that may have made American viewers a little bit curious.We would not call Pacman any type of religious fanatic but where body language indicates – he just was so wishful not to fail in this fight which he dedicates to the Filipino people.But it would have been the same albeit imperceptible wishes of Golden Boy himself sans any kind of like body language.Oscar dela Joya just didn’t get the chance he must have waited for – clear windows when he can throw right hand over Pacman.Simply, it is a elusive task of shooting a speedy moving object – under its hypnosis – Oscar can’t even hazard a punch without opening himself to Pacman whose speed and power is probably without equal.

Oscar clearly has to lose in the 7^th and 8^th round and early on the 6^th.Truth is, at the 4^th round alone, Pacman has already started to show signs he can have Golden Boy handy.In other words, not until the 5^th round did it become clear to the viewing universe that Pacman has really covered more ground than Oscar dela Joya, if sadly.We would have wanted to see how Golden Boy’s right hand throws would have mattered to Pacman.Even boxing experts and coaches most especially do know that fighting a left-hand boxer isn’t that easy for a right-hand b boxer.Perhaps, Oscar did not see what he could have expected from Pacman who must have closed all windows for any single opportunity for Golden Boy to land a single right hand throw over his face or body.

Oscar must have had more of legwork as Pacman did but perhaps, age already had its toll on the Golden Boy.There is no short route to give Pacman a dedicated right hand knockout punch.This is where Oscar must have failed.In all indications, Pacman really deserves to win in this Dream Match with him to rake over P735 million – a cash bounty higher than all his other wins combined.At the other end of the equation, Oscar gets as much as $25 million – enough to sustain him upon retirement from the ring.With that kind of fresh money, Pacman can hope to join a 2010 senatorial boxing fight if he were convinced enough, he will never make it as congressman.Surely, Pacman did a country proud with Noli de Castro – a chronic limelight grabber.That split-second footage is political advertising by any other name.

Pacman’s coach Roach has testified on the people’s champ brand of generosity as we have seen him share his blessings with the Filipinos abroad and his own Team Pacquiao who have reduced in weight up until the day of actual fight.Perhaps, Pacman will do a little more rounds visiting military camps to boost the morale of our wounded military personnel in hospitals and giving away some goodies if not a few hundred bucks for Christmas.Pacquiao, by his own admission, deserves the honor he has just reaped making known to the world that Filipino boxers are Mexicans’ own nemesis.

There ought to be a lesson learned from this Dream Match and that it is this – if Filipino boxers or other Filipino athletes for that matter – train under the most ideal setting, there is no reason they can win gold in the Olympics.Under the present circumstances however, much is left to be desired in the manner we have treated our athletes who compete internationally.If even the appropriated budget for athletes is being siphoned off for purposes other than where they should be budgeted for, we should expect less and less reaping gold medals.Pray tell,Pacman himself will not be used for purposes other than boxing by our skilled political wannabes before the Dream Elections of 2010.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon CityCellphone:09164985265Email:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com