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

Obama’s inaugural speech

The inaugural speech flips a new page in world history in that President Barack Obama stands as the first black American president the US has ever had.The 20-minute speech amidst a revering audience of over a million crowd gathered around the magnificent Mall in Washington, D.C. may very well have drawn the outline of what governments around the world and leaders would expect from an Obama’s presidency.It gives a bird’s eye view on how Obama will start work in remaking America this day and beyond.Compared perhaps to Obama’s victory speech, this latter one comes only as the work of genius if not of a wordsmith par excellence.

Against the backdrop of what the more renowned statesmen from around the world have so far said, there is luminous sign that there is more than high enough confidence Obama has inspired from everyone in the global community – from every man to every woman to every child; from every government to every nation to every ally; and from every friend to every foe to every tribe.True enough, the historic message will be the first social document historians and serious observers of trends will browse back over after perhaps Obama’s 100 days in office.The whole world will be watching each week and month and year to vet how the crisis the world is into has been confronted with under Obama’s so-called regime of change.

Noticeably, the first few words that come of Obama’s well-delivered speech are the words prosperity and peace in the context of an understandable crisis as a consequence of violence and hatred which he did not fail to describe in graphic details as when he said – “Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered.Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”And Obama gives us a sigh of relief in that despite or in spite of these more than real but serious challenges, he tells, as he did tell – “But know this, America – they will be met.”What can be more reassuring if inspiring than that for all the people of the world to hear?

Obama appears to embrace a worldview with strong solid moorings in history as whenhe echoed and re-echoed the ‘sacrifices borne by (their) ancestors’, the ‘ideals of (their) forebearers’, and more emphatically, ‘the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.’Perhaps, Obama’s deep sense of humility sparks a light as when he said that the greatness of America is ‘never a given.On the other hand, ‘it must be earned.’

This sense of history has also been reflected in Obama’s all- consuming consciousness not to fail to acknowledge the men and women whom he thinks have carried America and its people up the ‘long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom’ without even as much as appearing to express some sentiment reminiscent of Old America or whipping a word of what then Abraham Lincoln recited in the American public.Truth is, the sweatshops where workers labor; the armed services where military personnel were called to fight and die; the many unknown risk-takers, doers and makers of things – in search of a new life – these were the very people that inspired Obama to a journey that starts on that historic 20st of January in the year of our Lord.

Incidentally, the following words might have to constitute the most beautiful line in that inaugural speech of a young eloquent orator whose charisma touched everyone as when he said – “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”In so far as other part of the script is written, Obama did not fail to air fair warning against the ‘consequence of greed and irresponsibility’ and thus warned those who manage public dollars to spend wisely and for them to do business in the light of day in order to restore people’s trust in government.To think that in RP, corruption has actually crawled in every layer of the bureaucracy – this warning should serve notice that America does not tolerate nor countenance any shade of greed and irresponsibility as it is most incompatible with US’ leadership by examplein this avowed new era of responsibility, new age.

Did not Obama quite eloquently aired the call against corruption.He said – “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”Even more eloquently stated, Obama espoused those basic truths which are nothing more than the old values that every well-meaning president will advocate.

To me, the speech is first and foremost, well-thought out and written by presumably Obama himself.While generally abstract, it comes to the average mind as full of meaning, clear in mental images, and strikes a popular cord that most peoples, most leaders and most governments cannot but all embrace and adhere to.The characteristically strong sense of history that the man behind the speech has indicated only tells us that with the elementary recognition of freedom as a gift if not a legacy left by those who fought for America; the return to basic truths or old values that reflect America – past, present, and future; and the a priori knowledge of a God all will serve as the survival kit in the face of a common danger.Obama, from where I sit, will usher us in a world of peace, prosperity, and freedom.The speech serves as a basic textbook for governance.Perhaps, it is also a cognitive map to see how the ship of America sails in the high seas.Bon voyage!

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon CityEmail:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com

Old vs. new media

It is most unfortunate that the so-called Valley Golf war has been reduced to as the classic example of the excesses of blogging based on an apparently one-sided blog of the person party to the feud.Columnist Alex Magno points an accusing finger that not few journalists have in fact joined the bandwagon hate campaign against the other party in the case to later make apologies as well-meaning journalists unlike bloggers or that lynching mob that never did give a damn hoot after having arrived at some biased conclusions sans the facts.This is not to say however that Magno’s own personal view could be anywhere conclusive of the facts since on purpose, his column, ‘Self-regulation’ failed to discuss about the crucial part where more than sufficient force may have in fact been applied against the persons of the aggrieved parties.

We cannot generalize from a singular instance but from more specimens.One blogger’s blog could not have warranted Magno’s mistaken belief that bloggers are every professional journalist’s nightmare.This (un)thinking betrays his knowledge of blogging and carries his own parochial bias as adherent of the Old Media.In any case, the same stones can be thrown on the journalist’s window who, in more cases than few – have evolved as payroll employees of some corporate patrons or political bigwigs.Editors, publishers, columnists, and reporters are guilty of making biased coverage of news – some of the time – if only to go along the grain of what the limits of libel can allow.In this sense, self-regulation is to the Old Media what seeming deregulation is to the New Media.

Blogging emerges as a new phenomenon in the journalistic landscape – with luminous signs it can in fact replace the rather antiquated form of media.There is now a growing number of journalists invading the blogosphere to morph into bloggers of journalistic consequence as there are now bloggers reverting back to be the journalists they used to be – getting paychecks from the media outfits they belong.In this sense, we can say that the door to either the blogosphere or mainstream media is a revolving one.By Magno’ s rather uncharacteristic hardline underestimation of bloggers, the day shall not come to see one Alex Magno inches his way into the blogosphere – where true dialogue and debate situate themselves in the here and now configuration.The political analysts know too well what ‘balance of power’ means as it applies in this rather worn out debate between bloggers and journalists.

There is a mass of literature delving on the subject that in fact make clear distinctions between the New Media as distinguished from the Old Media, between bloggers and journalists, and that paradigm shift from a single empire to any number of centers of power and influence brought about by weblogs.For instance, Andrew Sullivan’s “Why I Blog” or Mark Glasers’ “Bloggers vs. Journalists is over” – among others, may be instructive in a fuller understanding of the fulfilling dimensions of the blogosphere vis a vis mainstream media.

Apparently, the tsunami story marks the turning point in the paradigm shift to blogging to the career journalists’ imminent peril.It is said that in blogging, there had been a shift in social location if not an amendment to the so-called public service franchise and where the whole traditional conception of “the press” has expanded to the public at large – online than offline.So-called franchise has much been enlarged.No wonder then, that in no time, mainstream media or Big Journalism had been losing great people as they now ran out of room for their ideas.Thus, there is now a ‘culture change’, so to speak, owing to a paradigm shift that no longer makes professional journalism sovereign over the territory it once controlled. The content providers as typical of mainstream and content consumers as akin to the New Media are weighed against where the source comes and the trust it derives in this ‘open-source’ process as a given.

As what Steve Lovelady aptly said, the press “was hopelessly hobbled by some of its outdated conventions and frameworks”.Such changing attitude ought to have been responsible in this loss of editorial sovereignty and its own belief system summed up to have collapsed.Journalists have become a jealous lot in the apparently undiminished freedom that bloggers enjoy.Unlike journalists, bloggers don’t have a code of conduct for journalists but it does not mean, they all violate the bounds of ethical conduct or morality, do they?Unlike journalists, bloggers are not subject of editorial constraints but it does not mean they cannot self-regulate, does it?Unlike journalists, bloggers are content providers than journalists are willing to accept.Now it can happen, journalists would fish in the waters of bloggers first before they can come up with the more balance piece of writing.All told, professional journalism has lost its hegemony as the gatekeeper of news or opinions as its sovereignty in the older landscape has waned with the new technology.The old political contract between the content providers and the content consumers has now changed.The dissemination of news, information and opinions are no longer the exclusive domain of Big Journalism – it will soon be an empty room, gallons of ink will soon be unused, printing press will soon not roar, ink will no longer blot in paper and so on.The day will come that nobody will buy newspapers anymore.It is almost to say that what journalists provide by way of news, information, or commentaries no longer approximate nor represent the truth, the belief, and much less voice of their readerships – no more.Such trained voice can no longer be heard since there are better voices in the wilder blogosphere.This, perhaps, is the present state of the digital eco-system.

The audience of the press has been isolated so long – they cannot even participate without the same journalistic protocol used against them. Even if we gather 10 editors-in-chief from various newspaper brands and give them one type of exams, say edit a long-written prose.It is almost predictable that they will come up with entirely different piece of work. In the blogosphere, there is no such thing as a slaughterhouse for what the audience or bloggers would want to say. The audience becomes the butchers themselves.Each and every time a post or blog is posted, it is feast.And poor bloggers may have to back off or shut off.Anything takes over in terms of news content, information, and first hand accounts.This silly attempt of journalists to make of bloggers of their own image will go to naught.It is like fitting square pegs in round holes.The credentials of bloggers occupy no place of honor in the web and in professional journalism, reverence to who has written is more important than the ideas conveyed in the piece.It is like making of us horses with blinders.

The blogosphere will be here and now – for a long, long time.Blogs come as the better menu.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon CityEmail:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com

Random student drug testing?

The order of PGMA to launch nationwide random drug testing to students in both secondary and tertiary levels, occasioned as it was by the Alabang Boys’ controversy in recent memory – ought to have been carefully studied first since its implications are not few.

It was the Chairman of the Drugs Dangerous Board, former Senator Sotto who made this recommendation to the president apparently but it is easy enough to doubt if this move could have been founded on some empirical data such that the drug menace has already crawled in every school environment.But existing data tell us that random drug testing done in the past only yielded a negligible occurrence at even less than !% of those randomly drug-tested.

In the US military, drug testing was resorted to and yielded a drop from 30% to 2% and in the US workforce, from 18% to 4%.This ought to be the kind of historical backdrop against which a random drug testing must be proposed.Theoretically, it is an exercise in futility and graphically even absurd if not stupid to have to reduce a possible incidence of less than 1% to an even much lesser rate since it tells us offhand, that the drug menace so-called is a myth.Which part of the equation would we have to change here, pray tell?

Offhand, the order is therefore barking up on the wrong tree and Chairman Sotto should not have as much as moved to go into this kind of approach since it throws suspicion wholesale – that in every school, there is an x population of drug users to drug pushers which could be rendered false by a more scientific survey.

The Commission on Human Rights simply thinks it is violative of human rights and when it did think so, this positional view alone should have made it impossible for the proposal to gain any headway.The CHR chair cited specific provisions in the Constitution as well as that of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that would be violated by this executive order.No less than a former UP Law Dean thinks there is no legal basis for a random drug testing and the President of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila shared the same view.How then that we have always thought that the right against self incrimination and the right to privacy are our inviolable rights as citizens of this country?

We then find two institutions not wanting to heed the stand of the Commission on Human Rights on the matter, not wanting to know what the former UP Law Dean and the PLM President have to say.Why would Department of Education have to respond to this order come March 2009?What compelling reason, if any, had the Dangerous Drugs Board have as would justify such a proposal which incidentally, got the president’s approval?

Our problem with knee jerk reactions of this nature is that in the end, it achieves nothing – it will not prove to be preventive, deterrent, nor reductive.At the very least, what existing surveys would validate that students’ substance use has already surfaced as the number 1 concern?Did DDB Chair point to a specific study that validates his proposal?

Absent that, it would have been best that a more thorough preliminary work should have first been undertaken so that better approaches, except this random drug testing, could be tried.What reasons had Sotto for him to believe that students in all schools across the land are into drug abuse or trafficking as the case maybe?Certainly, the case of the Alabang Boys could not have given him the indubitable basis for such a proposal, could it?

Executive Orders, while the sole prerogative of the President should first be studied very carefully and even more so with proposals being submitted especially where there are clear areas of concern that have to be addressed.In that sense, Chairman Sotto failed to provide reliable data that would sustain what he has proposed.Any number of paradoxes can be called to mind.Isn’t it the case that the COMELEC cannot even as much as compel candidates for elective positions to undergo drug testing?

Even when drug testing has been introduced to the American public, a strategy for the last 20 years, to the extent that then President Bush has to spend $15 million to subsidize the program, still major studies show that random drug testing to check student substance use has no deterrent effect. Clearly, this official pronouncement has no two legs to stand on and that it will be a waste of funds in the end since it becomes a whole guessing game.

With a student population at all levels being what it is today, what positive results could we find even if the order would be implemented when everyone can always plan ahead in any case?In fact, the case of the US Supreme Court’s upholding as constitutional drug test to athletes and students involved in competitive extracurricular activities should also be sufficient to tell our leaders that we should not apply random drug testing as a shotgun approach since it will not work.

Certainly, we doubt that this order will be recalled especially so that we now have an overzealous Department of Education as well as a Department of Health and Commission on Higher Education reacting patronizingly.As far as we know, similar drug testings being required for other such purposes have become a profitable cottage industry – driver’s licence, firearms license, whatever.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon CityEmail:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com

Alabang boys – big drug syndicate?

Are the so-called Alabang Boys – Brodett, Joseph, & Tecson – arrested by PDEA’s field agents on a reported legitimate buy-bust operation undertaken separately in posh Ayala Alabang and in Araneta Center aptly fall under the classification of a big drug syndicate who source their drugs from as far as America via e-commerce or online?This readily runs counter to certain sociological facts that these young individuals did excel in their respective schools academically which just don’t come together with drug use and its social implication.

If PDEA’s rather self-serving claim were to be believed, would the evidence of – 60 ecstasy tablets, 11 sachets of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, marijuana grinder and weighing scales (based on Manila Times reports) – have constituted or approximate a labeling of a big drug syndicate?And how much did the alleged poseur-buyer agent of PDEA have to pay for all these prohibited stuff to tell us how big time the drug operation is and how intricate the case build up was as claimed by PDEA’s chief of special enforcement services or Major Ferdinand Marcelino?Did we hear if the purchase by PDEA breaches the million-peso mark?

In Arnold Clavio’s interview with Major Ferdinand Marcelino in Unang Hirit this 6^th of January 2009, it has become rather conveniently clear that there was not a P50-million bribe as could be claimed any more than a mere P3 million on a dubious telephone offer by one claiming to be close to the suspects if not affiliated with the DOJ by Marcelino’s own quite misleadingaccount.This telephone conversation did occur allegedly while Marcelino was interrogating the detained suspects in front of their parents and families.But Marcelino failed to supply the facts or details being asked by Arnold Clavio than to merely validate what ought to have been hearsay or a prank call.For one, Marcelino doesn’t have to be too promising to reveal other ‘facts’ in court.

Further, when Arnold asked him whether the suspects were armed, Marcelino admitted that they were not except it was not determined at the time of the chase.The PDEA fired upon the suspects’ vehicle in an alleged 15-minute chase albeit nothing has been shown that there was any threat to the PDEA agents as would imperil their lives.At least, nothing except that again PDEA did claim in newspaper reports that the suspect was about to ram his car to the PDEA agents.And that may have scared the wits out of skilled PDEA agents?

In a supposedly intricate case build up, there ought to have been no doubt at all whether or not the suspects bear firearms along with the supposedly stuff of high value that should be protected – the prohibited drugs.But it seems that even the discovery of this stuff as claimed to have been found anywhere in the car in what is supposedly an illegal procedure is not one to indicate how legitimate the operation was.Nothing was clear whether or not in the buy-bust operation, there was real indubitable evidence that Mr. X pays Mr. Y a clear amount of money in exchange of a clear amount of goods.Chances are, haste makes waste here.

In the end, there ought to be some kind of fiction work somewhere.At the very least, it is clear that the chief of PDEA did resist having to implement the resolution of the DOJ secretary that dismissed the case for lack of sufficient evidence.Arnold Clavio may have asked the more commonsensical questions except that the PDEA’s chief of special enforcement services did not measure up to confront them with good enough answers expected of a person in authority who is supposed to have full knowledge of the just concluded activity or project.

PDEA’s version might soon fail to pass the litmus test.The PDEA’s claim that the group has international connections contradicts their own admission that this group operates in Metro Manila and only as far as Baguio.From where I stand, we have reason not to be convinced that indeed lawyer Jacqueline Verano may just be right in saying that the buy-bust operation is deemed illegally undertaken and more so without a legitimate warrant for such arrest and subsequent detention without charges having been filed.Moreover, Verano may just be right in claiming that the constitutional rights of the accused have been brazenly violated since they were not read the Miranda rights by the arresting PDEA agents.

The circumstances on that part where PDEA opened fire at the alleged suspects without them having been fired upon by the same should really be looked into in a subsequent reinvestigation to see the light of day on this rather incomprehensible version of PDEA.Santiago is even heard to have said that the suspects should have stopped when fired upon without telling us candidly whether there could have been guarantee that if it did happen, the PDEA would have also automatically ceased firing at them.His statement just does not make any sense at all.

In this so-called sensational drug case, we just do not know what version to believe.For one, that from PDEA cannot prescribe since there is no overwhelming evidence that they are the kind of individuals or suspects who we can normally tag as drug pushers or drug users for that matter.If event organizers with deceiving network of high-end socialites are to be tagged as conduit in international drug operations, then let us simply validate it with more than sufficient amount of evidence – pound for pound – that we may believe what PDEA is really doing.That part that says Marcelino has just booted out his own agents involved in bribery might tell us that there are yet PDEA field agents whom he must determine to have been bribed.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon CityEmail:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com

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

Ex-speaker Jose de Venecia

Recent developments as they unfold in the political scene must be read from the outline – a purely peripheral view.Such is the case of JDV who personally initiated an impeachment move against GMA but which, quite dismally, failed to clinch the required votes so it may be endorsed to the Senate.It was expected to fail as every impeachment attempt before it has failed simply because, as JDV himself claims, Malacanang bribes each congressman with a P.5 million bounty to buy legal protection for one year – in favor of GMA.Thus, this happens if again – not once, but twice – with every kind of bogus article of impeachment complaint being endorsed at the House of Representatives purposely intended to dissatisfy the requirements of form and substance, however merely procedural legalese.

It is hard to believe that JDV can file an impeachment complaint that would be found lacking in either form or substance, or both.It cannot be made to apply since JDV has been fifth-term speaker who would know how to differentiate between apples from oranges.In other words, for anyone to say that what JDV has filed in the committee was a mere scrap of paper must be coming from Mars.But if the House of Representatives only exists today to produce the votes required to overturn every position contrary to that officially embraced by Malacanang, then doesn’t that make of a our legislature a mere rubber stamp of the executive?This is why JDV’s conscience call really has to fall on deaf ears especially so since bundles of money have become a fair inducement to side with GMA.

The equivocation is such that voting against an impeachment complaint would mean half a million peso reward.Also, voting in favor of any administration bill that may be introduced from time to time would probably mean another bounty of P.5 million.Further, voting in favor of a bill where lobby money is being infused by giant monopolies would be another rewarding experience.This is not to mention of congressional franchises being approved under secret concessions.If voting is then determined by how much a congressman can juice out of it, chances are, legislation no longer has to be issue-driven nor does it have to be based on any kind of judgment or conscience call.Worst, given the same set of stimuli, it appears that every species of the House would behave in much the same – most tend toward money, only few tend away from it.In the end, lawmaking has become a very profitable cottage industry this part of the world.

JDV now claims corruption has infected the presidency itself and this has become his new battle-cry to the point he is willing to lay his life on the line.It is hard not to believe JDV now that he dissociates himself from GMA, disowns the president, and owns – wittingly or unwittingly – to his level of participation in a grand scam.FG calls him a liar and even one other Pichay in Congress telling us that nobody amongst them likes JDV because he accuses everyone as if he were the only one clean.The first thing that could result from what JDV has thrown in the waters is for other congressmen in the House of Representatives to bite the bait – state for the record – that JDV is likewise guilty of the accusations he is trying to hail against GMA.But will anyone dare do such a suicidal act?

With his long years in politics, JDV could not have known only two major scams – one, the $329 million ZTE controversy and the other, a Malacanang payola at P.5 million each House Member to buy legal protection against possible impeachment.First, JDV’s son is a stakeholder into this ZTE controversy had it not been that FG finally asked him to back off and bribing him for P10 million only.Second, JDV did actually get the bag of money sent to him by Malacanang albeit now used as evidence of corruption.It is not far removed that since JDV’s son did not get any gain from the business deal, JDV now has to cry wolf since he became privy of the anomalous negotiations attendant to the ZTE where FG had the upperhand and young Joey de Venecia being pushed aside.JDV learned that some $130 million will be siphoned off in kickback or commission by FG and by implication – GMA.

JDV has to be handled with skill by Malacanang’s veteran political subalterns.For now, it seems old JDV is not one rudderless ship steaming in the open seas.He is seen in the global radar screen and whichever course he takes in relation to other regional world leaders will be the subject of international reaction.In short, JDV has shifted his one-man led crusade beyond RP’s geo-political milieu.The world is there to watch and GMA can do only so much.If JDV gets assassinated, general suspicion will be that it was the handiwork of GMA’s patronizing generals.Truly, they may unseat JDV from the LAKAS as its chair or president even maybe attempt to expel him from the 14^th Congress.Unseating JDV as speaker as they did with Villar has always been an official practice – if and when – one has chosen to go his own way and be his own man.

JDV ought to have prepared himself for whatever backlash his act of betrayal may create.His former supporters will morph to be his enemies, his old former allies his own tormentors.JDV’s well-stated expose of corruption is supposed to undo him with just one House Member coming out with a personal testimony that he too was bribed by JDV to get whatever favor may have been asked.Probably, all sorts of possible accusations against JDV are now in the production line of Malacanang’s demolition department.If they don’t come up with trumped up charges these coming days only tells us that perhaps, JDV has cut himself clean – each and every time – he is supposed to be in cahoots with the powers-that-be.

JDV might drift – depending on where political currents will bring him – to bid for the presidency instead, come 2010. Young Joey de Venecia batting for senator can just be an unintended by-product.Fighting corruption right at the heart of Malacanang has all the makings of an Obamic ideal and indeed – change must come to RP.With a determined change of heart after a long period of futile sycophancy, JDV might come as a catalyst now that he will expose all the excesses of a government that failed to moderate its greed.With anti-corruption stance high in his personal agenda, we can only wish JDV succeeds in his one-man crusade.From Marcos to Cory to Ramos to Erap to Gloria – no doubt, JDV knows how to re-engineer the bureaucracy – if guided as he should – with clean conscience to embrace a new contemporary culture against corruption.From where I stand, it is a hope against hope – this mob rule called majority.