Local health care reform battle heats up

Local health care reform battle heats up

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Plutocracy In The Philippines

The Philippines – Have We Moved From Democracy To Plutocracy ?

By John Edmiston

Plutocracy is “rule by the rich” and I think that is what we have arrived at here in the Philippines. I

will argue that politics has been commercialized in the Philippines so now power is bought and sold

openly in a well understood, but not openly acknowledged marketplace. This marketplace is often

referred to as “corruption” but is rather based on the premise that power should be treated as a

commercial commodity and that the Filipino voter is entitled to commercial recompense for their vote.

Two incidents illustrate this clearly:

Firstly a Christian friend of mine, involved in a micro-finance venture was campaigning for Bro. Eddie

among a group of indigent women. These ladies said “We like Bro. Eddie and his policies but how

much is he going to pay us for our votes?” The fact that Bro. Eddie was not going to pay them

caused some small consternation and it was concluded that they would not vote for him. There was a

sense in that meeting that any politician who takes the poor seriously will pay for votes.

Secondly the way that multi-level marketing has become a national addiction. You are likely to be

“sold something” at nearly any major event you attend and even committee meetings can be

interrupted by someone raising their latest product. This commercialization of relationships and the

implicit “you are not my friend if you do not buy this from me” is a reduction of all relationships to

that of being financial trading partners.

The idea that “if you want my loyalty/vote you will have to pay for it” underlies the shift in power

relationships in the Philippines – where power must be paid for and those ruled over demand financial

recompense from those they put in power.

As the Asian Institute of Management teaches “Your customers are the people who pay you money, if

they do not pay you money, they are not your customers.” So who is paying money here? The

politicians. So the politicians are the customers – and what are they buying? Votes, positions and

power. They are buying precious social status and all that attends to it. This commercialization of

political processes leads to a subtle redefinition of terms which can be put somewhat cynically as

follows:

The Golden Rule: He who has the gold – rules.

Politics: The marketing of power.

Election: The process of purchasing power by paying for votes.

COMELEC: An organization that ensures that only people with money can attain power and which dismisses

those such as Eddie Gil who do not have the financial resources to attain to power.

Fair Election: When the person who has paid the most for votes ends up getting the most votes.

Transparent Election: Where the purchasing of votes is obvious and everyone can see through it.

Power: The ability to extract money from others.

Position: A control point in the culture that enables one to dispense favors in return for money.

Nuisance Candidate: One that tries to attain power without purchasing votes.

Folly: Assuming that Filipinos will give their vote away for free.

Idealism: Voting on the basis of the candidate’s virtues and policies alone without thought of financial

remuneration.

Election Promise: Buying large blocks of votes on credit.

Canvassing: A complex piece of political theatre designed to placate idealists and give the impression that the

election was not a commercial process.

Voting Block: A group such as the INC that can deliver many votes and whose leadership requires a large

payment to deliver these votes to the candidate.

Voter Registration: a) The process of deregistering the voters who would support candidates who lack the

funds to purchase votes and b) allowing room for candidates with sufficient funds to purchase the right to these

deregistered votes and insert properly paid for (erroneously termed “fake”) votes in the ballot boxes.

Canvassing Period: The time required to remove votes that have not been paid for from the ballot boxes and

replace them with votes that have been properly paid for.

Election Machinery: Printing presses, which produce ballot papers and certificates of canvass that have been

properly paid for by the candidate.

Surveys: Market research.

Mainstream Press: Those journalists that have agreed to join the political marketplace and accept money in

return for favorable political opinion.

Destabilizers: Those who have opted out of the political marketplace and who strongly advocate that power

should be attained by non-commercial means and thus refer to the current fair commercial system as

“cheating”.

Thus there is a strong internal logic to the current political process based on the premises that social

status, power and privilege should be paid for and that the poor are entitled to receive some benefit

from this process and that their vote should not be given away for free. The only problem with this

logic is that by commercializing that which our consciences know should not be commercialized it

creates a very unstable and unjust form of government.

A government that buys its way into power is not seen as legitimate and a government cannot

survive long without legitimacy. Thus the Philippines is faced with a stark choice – either properly

legitimize plutocracy as a system of government and change the constitution to create a regulated

commercial marketplace for power and position, or ruthlessly eradicate the market for power and

thus become a true modern democracy. We cannot have a veneer of democracy over a plutocratic

reality. Such invidious hypocrisy rankles deeply and results in utter contempt for those in power and a

loss of faith in the major institutions that is deleterious to the national interest.

So we are at a cross-roads, will it be democracy or plutocracy? Shall we declare openly “we are a

plutocracy and we like it that way!” ? Shall we invert the usual political paradigm and call good “evil”

and call evil “good”? Shall we enshrine Mammon as our god? If we do then we shall have to give up

the notion that the Philippines is a Christian nation.

But if we simply give up on the idea of Christian morality and ethics would that be such a bad thing? I

mean the new prophets could speak like so:

Woe unto the poor for they shall dwell in darkness and pain because they cannot purchase justice.

Woe unto those who mourn over the Philippines because they are wasting their breath.

Woe unto the meek for they shall be laughed to scorn by the arrogant rich.

Woe unto those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be frustrated because they are fools and

idealists.

Woe unto the merciful for they have given away their money to fools and paupers and have not looked after

themselves so as to prosper.

Woe unto the pure in heart for they do not know the power of greed and the joy of lust and they will be

affronted day and night by the acts of the wicked and they shall behold Hell on earth.

Woe unto the peacemakers because demand justice and truth and equality in the land and they shall be jailed

and called sons of the Devil because they stand against the rich.

For the dead shall rise, and they shall seem to vote for the wicked, for their souls have been purchased from

Purgatory and again placed on the electoral roll.

And there shall be judgment and they shall be brought before the thrones of Jezebel and Ahab, and they shall

be put in two groups on the right and on the left. To those on their left they shall say “Die in your righteousness

because you did not understand the times and you came without gift or bribe or payment or powerful friends

and sought justice on the basis of the truth alone and did not understand the order of things or the desire of

those that sit upon the throne.” But to those on the right they shall say “Blessed are you wise and

understanding ones who came respectfully before our thrones with gifts and bribes and payments and sought

the help of powerful friends. You are truly on of Us and understand the order of things and you shall sit upon

the heights and eat the best of the land.”

And the Devil will dance on that day and the demons will be exceedingly glad for they shall have come into their

kingdom and they shall reign over the islands. And the wolf shall gulp down the lamb and the lion will tear apart

the ox and they shall defile the innocent and sell the young into the sex trade for all shall be for consumption

and devouring on the mountain of Mammon.

Well, when you put it like that!

But how else can it be put?

We are on the brink of Hell and if this electoral process is calmly legitimized then it will place the

Philippines firmly and forever into the camp of the plutocrats, the wicked and the unjust.

Hell is a totally commercialized society – where there are no sacred spaces, where the environment is

chewed up for profit, where sex is sold, where marriages have money as a main motive, where the

worth of a man is solely on how much he owns and the status of his possessions, where values like

nobility and truth and honesty are seen as the stuff of fools and where power is bought and sold for

cold hard cash.

But what is the alternative? How can we move back towards the Kingdom of God, and the truth, and

peace and justice and human dignity and an environment that is cared for and not just exploited?

We must take the stance of those that cared for this world, the stance of Jesus and Mother Teresa

and St. Francis of Assisi. There must be some absolutes, some things that are not merchandisable, a

sense of the sacred and holy in the midst of life, a restoring of the Sabbaths, a blessing of small

children and the dying and a love of beauty and of the intangible, non-commercial aspects of life.

We must start denying power to Mammon. We must start saying “No, this will not be

commercialized.”

And we must refuse multi-level marketing and its consequent commercialization of friendships and

family relationships.

We must believe in art for art’s sake, and the gospel for the gospel’s sake and knowledge for

knowledge’s sake – and stop asking the question “Will it sell…”

We have to have faith in the Truth, that if we follow it we will be blessed, maybe not in this life but

certainly in the life to come and that somehow the glory of a life well-lived in the Truth will outshine

all the wealth of Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or the Ayalas.

We have to believe in One Creator God who made the heavens and the earth and that which is under

the earth, and the seas and the rivers and the springs of waters and all that is in them. We have to

believe that He did not make this world so it could end up on the stock market.

We have to believe that He made this world to function in love and peace and joy and that God wants

a heaven and an earth in which righteousness dwells.

We have to believe that we are going to die, that worms will eat our body, and all that we own will

rust and decay and bear testimony against us in our folly. We have to know with absolute certainty

and conviction that it is not a good thing to gain the whole world and lose our soul in the process.

We have to believe there is something worse than being poor - and that is moral destitution, and

there is something worse than not having social status - and that is not having a soul at peace with

God. Worse than poverty is powerlessness and when we sell all power to the rich we make the poor

even poorer.

The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap for joy and the gospel is preached to the poor. The poor

are given access to God Himself. Mammon cannot rule over them forever. One day they will be free

of its tyranny, free from worrying about pesos and centavos, dollars and cents, free from a

commercialized world. When money loses its power to buy all things, when the gospel is free, when

eternal life is without cost then Mammon loses its power to terrify us. When money means nothing

then the poor will be kings.

If the whole burden of life is the quest for Mammon then poverty is the equivalent of being lost and

in Hell. But if life is the quest for God then poverty is a mere circumstance. If personal value is

identical with financial value, then we are simply another marketable commodity with a “net worth”.

But if personal value is based on how we reflect the image of God, then we are eternal beings of

infinite and enduring value. We have a choice, the Market or the Kingdom, the Dollar or the Truth.

Shall we take up the chains of Marley’s ghost – the cashbooks and ledgers of Mammon, or shall we

be free? Shall we stand by and allow the sale of all power to the rich and the devouring of this green

and beautiful nation by the greedy and powerful? Shall we let this existential moment in the life of the

Philippines pass with a shrug the shoulders? Or shall we say “No!” and say it loudly?

May Araw Din Kayo

Theres The Rub May araw din kayo By Conrado de Quiros Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 01:04:00 08/17/2009 Filed Under: Language, Food, Lifestyle & Leisure,Government, Inquirer Politics Tatagalugin ko na nang makuha n’yo. Kahit na lingwaheng kanto lang ang alam kong Tagalog. Tutal Buwan ng Wika naman ang Agosto. Baka sakali ’yung paboritong wika ni Balagtas ay makatulong sa pag-unawa n’yo dahil mukhang ’yung paboritong wika ni Shakespeare ay lampas sa IQ n’yo. Kung sa bagay, ang pinakamahirap gisingin ay ’yung nagtutulug-tulugan. Ang pinakamahirap padinggin ay ’yung nagbibingi-bingihan. Ang pinakamahirap paintindihin ay ’yung nagmamaangmaangan. Bueno, mahirap din paintindihin ’yung likas na tanga. Pero bahala na. Sabi mo, Cerge Remonde, alangan naman pakanin ng hotdog ang amo mo. Bakit alangan? Hindi naman vegetarian ’yon. At public service nga ’yon, makakatulong dagdagan ng cholesterol at salitre ang dugong dumadaloy papuntang puso n’ya. Kung meron man s’yang dugo, kung meron man s’yang puso. Bakit alangan? Malamang di ka nagbabasa ng balita, o di lang talaga nagbabasa, kung hindi ay nalaman mo ’yung ginawa ni Barack Obama at Joe Biden nitong nakaraang Mayo. Galing silang White House patungong Virginia nang magtakam sila pareho ng hamburger. Pina detour nila ang motorcade at tumuloy sa unang hamburgerang nakita nila. Ito ang Ray’s Hell Burger, isang maliit at independienteng hamburger joint. Tumungo ang dalawa sa counter at sila mismo ang nag-order, hindi mga aides. Nagbayad sila ng cash na galing sa sariling bulsa at kagaya ng ibang customers ay pumila para sa turno nila. Ito ay presidente at bise presidente ng pinakamakapangyarihang bansa sa buong mundo. Kung sa bagay, ’yung amo n’yo ay hindi naman talagapresidente. Di lang makita ang pagkakaiba ni Garci kay God kaya nasabing “God put me here.” Pekeng presidente, pekeng asal presidente. Sabi mo, Anthony Golez, maliit lang ang P1 milliondinner kumpara sa bilyon-bilyong pisong dinala ng amo mo sa bansa. Ay kayo lang naman ang nagsasabing may inambag ang amo n’yo na bilyong-bilyong piso sa kaban ng bayan. Ni anino noon wala kaming nakita. Ang nakita lang namin ay yung bilyon-bilyong piso—o borjer, ayon nga sa inyong dating kakosa na si Benjamin Abalos—na inaswang ng amo n’yo sa kaban ng bayan. Executive privilege daw ang hindi n’ya sagutin ito. Kailan pa naging pribilehiyo ng isang opisyal ang di managot sa taumbayan? Kailan pa naging pribilehiyo ng isang opisyal ang magnakaw? Maliit lang pala ang P1 million, ay bakit hindi n’yo na lang ibigay sa nagugutom? O doon sa mga sundalo sa Mindanao? Tama si Archbishop Oscar Cruz. Isipin n’yo kung gaano karaming botas man lang ang mabibili ng P1 million at karagdagang P750,000 na nilamon ng amo n’yo at mga taga bitbit ng kanyang maleta sa isa pang restawran sa New York. Maliit lang pala ang P1 million (at P750,000), bakit hindi n’yo na lang ibigay doon sa pamilya ng mga sundalong namatay sa Mindanao? Magkano ’yung gusto n’yong ibigay sa bawat isa? P20,000? Sa halagang iyan 50 sundalo na ang maaabuluyan n’yo sa $20,000. Pasalu-saludo pa ’yang amo n’yo sa mga namatay na kala mo ay talagang may malasakit. Bumenta na ’yang dramang ’yan. At pasabi-sabi pa ng “Annihilate the Abus!” Di ba noon pa n’ya ’yan pinangako? Mahilig lang talagang mangako ’yang amo n’yo. Bukod pa d’yan, saan ba nanggaling ’yung limpak-limpak na salapi ng mga kongresista na pinansisindi nila ng tabako? Di ba sa amin din? Tanong n’yo muna kung ayos lang na i-blowout namin ng wine at caviar ang amo n’yo habang kami ay nagdidildil ng asin—’yung magaspang na klase ha, ’di yung iodized. Ang tindi n’yo, mga p’re. At ikaw naman, Romulo Macalintal, tapang ng apog mo. Maiisip mo tuloy na sundin na lang ang mungkahi ni Dick the Butcher sa “Henry VI” ni Shakespeare: “First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Pa ethics-ethics ka pa, pasalamat ka di nasunog ang bibig mo sa pagbigkas ng katagang ’yon. Marami mang sugapa rin sa aming mga taga media, di naman kasing sugapa n’yo. At di naman kami sineswelduhan ng taumbayan. Wala naman kaming problemang sumakay sa PAL at kailangan pang bumili ng P1.2 billion jet. Anong sabi n’yo, kailangan ng amo n’yo sa pabyahe-byahe? E sino naman ang may sabing magbabyahe s’ya? Ngayon pang paalis na s’ya—malinaw na ayaw n’yang umalis. Bakit hindi na lang s’ya bumili ng Matchbox na eroplano? Kasya naman s’ya ro’n. Lalo kayong nagpupumiglas, lalo lang kayong lumulubog sa kumunoy. Di n’yo malulusutan ang bulilyasong ginawa n’yo. Para n’yo na ring inagaw ang isinusubong kanin ng isang batang nagugutom. Tama si Obama at Biden: Sa panahon ng recession, kung saan nakalugmok ang mga Amerikano sa hirap, dapat makiramay ang mga pinuno sa taumbayan, di nagpapakapariwara. Sa panahon ng kagutuman, na matagal nang kalagayan ng Pinoy, at lalo pang tumindi sa paghagupit ng Typhoon Gloria, dapat siguro uminom na lang kayo ng insecticide. Gawin n’yo ’yan at mapapawi kaagad ang kagutuman ng bayan. Sa bandang huli, buti na rin lang at ginawa n’yo ’yung magpasasa sa P1 million dinner habang lupaypay ang bayan sa kagutuman—di lang sa kawalan ng pagkain kundi sa iba pang bagay—at pagdadalamhati sa yumaong Ina ng Bayan. Binigyan n’yo ng mukha ang katakawan. Katakawang walang kabusugan. Mukhang di nakita ng masa sa usaping NBN, mukhang di nakikita ng masa sa usaping SAL. Mukhang nakita lang ng masa dito sa ginawa n’yong ito. Sa pagpapabondat sa New York habang naghihinagpis ang bayan. At buti na rin lang mayroon tayong sariling wika. Di sapat ang Inggles para iparamdam sa inyo ang suklam na nararamdaman namin sa inyo. Di sapat ang Inggles para ipakita sa inyo ang pagkamuhi na nararamdaman namin sa inyo. Di maarok ng Inggles ang lalim ng poot na nararamdaman namin sa inyo. Isinusuka na kayo ng taumbayan, mahirap man sumuka ang gutom. May araw din kayo.

The Abduction of James Balao

By Ben Padua

On September 17, 2008, James Balao, an activist for indigenous people's rights, was abducted by armed men after leaving his home in Baguio City, Philippines to visit his family in the adjacent town of La Trinidad. Eyewitnesses claimed on seeing Balao in front of a chapel close to the regional police headquarters in La Trinidad. James Balao shouted to witnesses: “Ask them what my crime is!” Two of the abductors reportedly held guns to his body, then threw him inside a van, while another waved a gun at shocked onlookers, shouting, “do not interfere, we are police officers, this man is a drug pusher.”

Is James Balao really a drug pusher? The answer is simply ‘NO.” James Balao is a founding member of the CPA, The Cordillera Peoples Alliance, which is an independent federation of progressive peoples organizations, mostly made up of grassroots-based organizations among indigenous communities in the mountainous region of Cordillera in the Philippines. The CPA is an organization committed in promoting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights, human rights, social justice, and national freedom and democracy.

Since the inception of the CPA in 1984, its leaders who are mainly indigenous and activists, have always opposed to projects that threatens the lives and rights of indigenous people in the region like the World Bank-funded Chico dams project and the commercial logging operations of the Cellophil Resources Corporation. Also during that time, when the Marcos government and its corporate partners pursued destructive projects in the Cordillera region, along with worsening militarization and political repression. There was then a need to strengthen the mass movement of indigenous peoples in the Cordillera to work for the promotion, recognition, and defense of indigenous peoples rights and human rights. Today, that need is being met by the CPA.

Because of such activities, the leaders of CPA, including James Balao, are being subjected to threats and harassments by state security forces who claims to be working under the current government’s anti-insurgency policy. The CPA gave detailed descriptions of the state surveillance and harassment faced by members and the six cases of extrajudicial killings of indigenous rights activists in the last four years. Days before his abduction, James Balao sent an email to relatives detailing the surveillance that he said he has been under and it is the same as that experienced by the victims of extrajudicial killings directly before their deaths.

On October 9, 2008, James Balao’s relatives filed a writ of amparo before the regional trial court in northern Philippines. The writ of amparo compels the authorities to allow Mr. Balao’s relatives and their representatives to inspect military camps and detention centers run by the security forces, including safe houses. On January 19, 2009, three months after the writ was filed, the Regional Trial Court in La Trinidad, Benguet province, ruled that the authorities must disclose the whereabouts of abducted Indigenous people's rights activist James Balao immediately. However, the ruling does not grant permission for his relatives and their representatives to inspect places of detention where he may be held, nor does it compel the authorities to hand over documents relating to his case, or offer protection to those who witnessed his abduction. The fact that the court’s decision did not permit the inspection of places of detention, witness protection or the presentation of state documents on James Balao’s security and whereabouts plus the fact that it took the court three months to rule on the writ of amparo, have denied James Balao the protection that should have been provided for him immediately.

This is simply outrageous! From how authority figures just snatches people from the streets and detaining them without due process and how courts protects its government officials, its all scandalous! We have a government in the Philippines who, despite of its enormous debt to the World Bank, supports its projects at the expense of freedom loving people like James Balao. This is certainly a travesty of justice. The local authorities are certainly hiding something and it must be exposed. Concerned citizens must stay vigilant and do whatever it takes to stop such anomalies committed by governments who claims to be just and fair. But then again, it’s the Philippine government. I am Filipino and I know that the government is a big joke! But that should not stop freedom loving people and just let people like James Balao be treated unjustly. There is a need to demand for James Balao’s immediate release and it must happen now. The following are people we need to make our appeals to and must be informed that they need to act and act NOW!

Chief of Police

Chief Director General Jesus Verzosa
Philippine National Police
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo,
E. de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines
Email: pio@pnp.gov.ph

Salutation: Dear Director General

Chief of Staff (armed forces)

Gen. Alexander B. Yano

Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines

Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo

Quezon City, Philippines

Email: via website: http://www.afp.mil.ph/ghq/csafp/index.htm(follow link on left-hand side to guestbook)

Salutation: Dear General Yano

Important note: If you are sending an appeal through email and the email bounces, please, send to jamesbalao.appeal@gmail.com, with the name of the addressee (e.g. Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno) in the subject line. Your emails will go to AI Philippines, who will print them out and send them by post to the intended recipients.

Send copies to:

COPIES TO:

Hon. Leila De Lima
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex
Commonwealth Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Email: drpvq@chr.gov.ph, atty_delima@yahoo.com.ph

and to diplomatic representatives of the Philippines accredited to your country.

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