Never a Sona into the future

ENQUIRY

DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Never a Sona into the future
Sunday, 07 26, 2009

The State of the Nation Address (Sona) should, by its nomenclature, explain itself: The particular condition that the nation is in under an incumbent administration and what the nation could expect for the subsequent year under that administration.

But if the gaggle of voices from the Malacañang spokesmen is to be believed, tomorrow’s Sona’s will be one glowing discourse wherein President Gloria Arroyo will unfold her vision for the country to serve as a guide for her successor.

Say that again: She will unfold her vision for the country to serve as a guide for the president who will succeed her. A departing president’s vision for the country?

In Arroyo’s first Sona in 2001, she regaled us with the allegory of the bangkang papel adrift on the Pasig River. The symbolism was not lost on us: The whole length of the river was the path that we would navigate until the end of her term in June 2004; the paper boat represented the fragile yet dependable structure of governance that Arroyo would steer in her presidency; and Jason and the two other innocents stood for the diverse peoples that comprise the Filipino nation, expectant of deliverance by the leadership of Arroyo.

Alas, even before the term of Arroyo was to end in June 2004, the boat had lost its bearings, the righteous members of the crew grew disgusted and jumped ship, and the craft ran aground in the sands of graft and corruption. The skipper managed to escape from being strung from the yardarm and tossed into river, to steer the ship of state for six more years. And there lies the irony or ironies: She built another boat and crewed it with officers adept in the arts of thievery, deception and plunder with impunity.

So how’s that again? Arroyo’s last Sona will have her talking about her vision for the country, and how she has brought the country closer to that vision over the last eight years of her presidency? That the speech will be about "pride in achievement, hope for the future and faith in the stability of our institutions?"

Let us then take pride in the achievement of her Agriculture undersecretary who distributed P728 million to favored officials to buy fertilizers and pesticides in the middle of harvest season, and in the haughty achievement of Jose Pidal to keep investigators away from prying into his bank account.

Let us catch a glimmer of hope for the future in an administration that brought us criminality in the Garci tapes, the treason of the Venable contract, the greed of the jueteng pay-offs, the briberies of the NBN-ZTE project, the venality of paper bags containing P500,000 each given to over 300 congressmen and local officials at one meeting in Malacañang.

Let us also take faith in the stability of an administration that managed to stage the "greatest train robbery in history" through the North and South Rail projects, and was denied a $232-million road-improvement loan by the World Bank because of rigged bids.

We do not expect Arroyo’s last Sona to be a confession of sorts, an admission of her failures. She has had eight years to do right for the country, but she fell short. The reality of the scandals that rocked her reign will not be mitigated by her vision for the future. A president’s vision is outlined at the start of her presidency, never at the time she is counting the days toward her exit. If she does the latter, she is presumptuous as to expect her successor to emulate her; worse, she is preempting her successor’s own vision.

Whatever she claims as her achievements will ring hollow. She has had eight years to pursue what should have been her vision when she grabbed power in 2001. Let her claim what she has achieved, and let the people decide.

For Arroyo to unfold her "vision" for the country to guide the next president speaks much of the arrogance of her administration, its inability to accept the stark reality that it has failed, and her personal wish to string out her influence to her successor.

Arroyo has absolutely no business to even present a roadmap of sorts to her claimed vision of the country after she leaves. Her eight years at the helm has not qualified her to be the mentor of the next president. Let her unfinished vision fade away with her exit in June 2010.

Her so-called unfinished vision is but a product of her imagination, designed to cover up the problems she is bequeathing to her successor. And what a larcenous hand-down it shall be: A negative economic growth and a huge budget deficit, an empty national coffer, the burden of paying off huge debts, a fiscal blowout that would take a toll on our cash reserves, and the real, looming specter of a recession.

On the political side, Arroyo’s sycophants pompously claim that a post-Arroyo administration will be involved in the "continuing search for peace and order, strengthening of our political system and democratic institutions." After undoing the gains of the Estrada administration with her policy of appeasement of the rebel and terrorist groups, here she is now assuring us that her successor will pursue the same failed policy that has brought our country ever nearer to disintegration.

As for the "strengthening our political system and democratic institutions" she should leave that to her successor. Under her watch, virtually all democratic institutions were destroyed or suborned, the Rule of Law perverted, and the Constitution tinkered with.

Tomorrow, Arroyo will have her last chance at redemption, by leveling with the people, by delivering her mea culpa, and making amends at the remaining year of her reign. Tomorrow, Arroyo would certainly be in a delusional state if she will stress that her final Sona shall be the roadmap of the country after her departure. No one will buy her visions and revisions — they have been out of focus for the past eight years that the images that we have been allowed to see have been only fairy tales about an Enchanted Kingdom.

So, what’s the difference between a fairy tale and a Sona? Answer: A fairy tale is a children’s story about magical dwarves and imaginary beings and lands. A Sona is a tall tale told by a dwarf about imaginary achievements in an enchanted kingdom.


For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2009

OFWs in Afghanistan

ENQUIRY

DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

OFWs in Afghanistan
Saturday, 07 25, 2009

With the recent death of 10 Filipinos in Southern Afghanistan in a helicopter crash, the government must now revisit its deployment ban to that country. The government may well consider the following statement issued by the Filipinos in Afghanistan (FIA), the association of OFWs spread throughout the 33 provinces of Afghanistan: "It is unfortunate that such a horrible accident happened in Kandahar, Afghanistan. We are united in prayer for the repose of the souls of the victims and for the well-being of their families. We are also one in saying, however, that the deployment ban is ill-advised and not based on reality. Banning all the Pinoys who are willing to work here in Afghanistan would not do us any good. We have been here for some time, against all odds, and we are one in saying that it is about time our government rethinks and does something good for us here.

"Almost every politician back home has something to say about the situation here. They want us to go home and stay in the Philippines, and then what? Can the government give us work? Is it safer there in the streets of Manila or in the jungles of Mindanao? Will the rebel groups promise not to harass us if we go back to work in the farms we used to cultivate? Are the politicians willing to sacrifice by not getting their kickbacks from government contracts even for a year just to allocate funds for us Pinoys who would leave our jobs? If the answers to these questions are positive, then we are willing to go back.

"It is true that Afghanistan is not safe for the tourist Pinoy, but the same cannot be said of the working Pinoy. For the information of everyone, we are not allowed to go out of the military bases where we are quartered. No single civilian worker can leave the camp at any given time. We have body armors and protective gears in times of serious threat. We have air-conditioned cabins and bunkers to run to in case of emergency. We have thousands upon thousands of NATO forces inside the camp to protect us; the ratio of soldiers to civilians inside a camp is 5 to 1.

"Our government is maybe the only country in the world that bans its citizens from working in Afghanistan. The Malaysians, Bhutanese, Indians, and many others are working here to help deliver Afghanistan from the Talibans and usher in world peace. The Philippines does not have any official here, not even one to at least pretend to help. Nobody has the guts to come here; all they can do in Manila is just sit and watch the whole world fight.

"We Pinoys here in Afghanistan are doing our government a huge favor. We send at least 80 percent of our salaries every month. We saved the asses of our government officials who pulled the plug in support of NATO in Iraq, because of the Angelo de la Cruz case a few years back. We are not condemning the government for that kind of decision, because there was a life that was put at risk. But how about us here in Afghanistan? Our government officials are only good at press releases, but are always missing in action. If the government is really serious in helping us, then why does it not even try to visit us here to check the real situation?

"Their statistics are even worse. They claim that there are at least 1,500 OFWs here! Where did they get their data? Probably from the unreliable POEA! We also believe that some people connected with the BID are already trembling, because there is a possibility that one of the casualties in the crash might be the one they escorted to pass through immigration at NAIA for a fee ranging as high as P15,000.00. That is the reality.

"The accident was horrible as it is. We cannot do anything about that. It was force majeure. What the government must do is to at least visit us here and then decide what is really best for us. And we believe it is not by sending us back home, but rather by providing us better alternatives, better benefits, better protection. We believe our employers would even be willing to increase our insurance coverage if only our government would lift the deployment ban.

"We are not described as ‘daring Pinoy workers’ for nothing. But mind you, we are not as daring as the ordinary Juan de la Cruz who lives in the slums of Tondo, or who fights in the jungles of Mindanao, or the taong grasa who struggles to live in the streets of Manila. We have food here that are better than what most mayors in the Philippines are eating everyday. We have rooms that have the comforts enjoyed only by middle class families back home.

"We dare the politicians who really care about us and the future of every Pinoy back home to make the move now.

"Vice President De Castro, please visit us here, and see for yourself if we have to go home or should we stay here in Afghanistan."

Having been to Afghanistan until last year to work there with the United Nations, I saw for myself that Afghanistan is no different from other countries where violence occurs occasionally. The ban should be lifted, to allow the OFWs (about 700 of them) in that country to work unhampered. What the DoLE and the DFA instead should do is to field personnel in Kabul to look after the welfare of the OFWs as required by law. The Philippine Embassy in Pakistan — which services only about 300 Filipinos in that similarly violence-prone country — attends to the consular requirements of Filipinos desiring to work in Afghanistan, but is too far off and cannot be relied on for immediate response. There is nothing better than implanting diplomatic personnel in Kabul.


For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2009

MRP

ENQUIRY

DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

.

MRP
Sunday 07 19, 2009

Much has been alleged about the unholy collusion between the Executive and the pharmaceutical companies regarding the odd reluctance or the suspicious delay of Malacañang to issue an executive order setting the maximum retail price (MRP) of 21 essential drugs or a cut in their prices by more or less 50 percent. But nothing so far has been said about the undue interest of Sen. Mar Roxas in the implementation of the Cheaper Medicines Law (CML) — until yesterday, that is — when Iloilo Rep. Frejenel Biron lashed out at Roxas for using the CML as a springboard for his presidential ambition. Biron claims that Roxas should not be given the undeserved chance to profit from the law.

If Biron, the principal author of the CML (originally, House Bill No. 1 of the 14th Congress), were to be believed, MRP would not stand for "maximum retail price" of medicines. It would stand for something else derisive of the legislator who now claims to be responsible for the enactment of the law aimed at lowering the prices of medicines.

The original author of the bill way back during the 12th Congress, now Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico, says in his usual colorful language that MRP stands for "Mar Roxas Peke."

My eternally disrespectful friend, Leina de Legazpi, has another take on those initials: "Mar’s Ride to the Presidency."

It is understandable why Biron and Suplico should have an ax to grind with Roxas. The erstwhile Mister Palengke and presently Roxas the presidentiable has suddenly projected himself to the public as Mister Murang Gamot, the thunderous advocate of the CML. But Biron and Suplico both feel that Roxas has unjustly stolen their thunder. And what makes things worse, as Biron and Suplico both claim, is that it was Roxas who was responsible for the removal of a provision in the CML that was designed to automatically reduce the price of medicines. If that provision had been adopted in the CML, Biron and Suplico assert, the price reduction would be more substantial — by as much as 80 percent — compared to the 50 percent reduction that the executive order is poised to implement.

The version of the bill filed by Biron and Suplico had called for the imposition of an automatic price regulation of local medicines. Their bill envisioned a market, 75 percent of which is presently controlled by a cartel which may or may not be in cahoots with Malacañang, to open up wide, allowing the sale of locally manufactured generic and off-patent medicines, which are cheaper in comparison to imported ones. Biron rued then, as he does now, the fact that imported, branded drugs are now being sold at prohibitive prices, when they could be actually sold for much less.

Roxas, on the other hand, was merely pressing for the parallel importation of drugs, which affects just around five percent of the total consumption of medicines by Filipinos. This stance of Roxas is hardly an effective approach to bring the price of medicines down to the reach of the sick and ailing masses.

With Roxas being unmasked by Biron and Suplico’s revelations, would it be reasonable to expect the public adopt a different attitude toward the otherwise genial Mister Palengke? If he could not be trusted with the Cheaper Medicines Law, could he be trusted with other important (if not more important) affairs that ail the State? If Roxas’ numbers fall in the next survey, it should come as no surprise to himself and his party. That is exactly what befalls those who pilfer and market ideas that are not theirs in the first place.

We wrote about this difference in approach by Biron and Roxas on bringing down the price of medicines in this column on Aug. 26, 2007. As we correctly stated then: "Election 2010 is three years away yet, but the LP and the NP are already skirmishing, choosing Congress as the flash point. Roxas is the LP’s presidential bet in 2010; Villar, the NP’s. That should explain the feud between these parties, this time over the Cheaper Medicines Bill which has been certified urgent for approval."

The way I saw it then, as I see it now, Biron is playing the role of surrogate fighter for presidentiable Manny Villar, taking Roxas head-on. (Villar himself had filed Senate Bill 90, a measure very much similar to Biron’s.) Ever the savvy and effete businessman, Villar would rather sit back and relax while viewing from a comfortable distance how his designated hitter is batting at the pre-election innings.

But just imagine: With Roxas’ version of the bill now enacted into law, Mister Palengke now has bragging rights to the MRP — which could also mean "Mar Roxas for President," a catchy acronym for catching the people’s votes, of course.

Meanwhile, Villar, because of his trademark reluctance to shy away from direct confrontation and unexplainable disinclination to appear in forums featuring other presidentiables, is left out there in the paddies with his itiks. Why he was not there at Plaza Miranda last Thursday, together with the other aspirants to the presidency who braved the rain to answer questions about their respective platforms of government, is strange and continues to puzzle a big number of the electorate.


For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2009

Portrait of a lady

ENQUIRY

DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Portrait of a lady
Sunday 07 18, 2009

Leticia Madamba Valdes of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, spouse of the late Dr. Jesus Valdes, is dead at 87.

This one-liner in the online edition of a Philippine national daily jolted me upon my arrival here in Bishkek, Kyrgyztan. And I sent this message to Cristina, my sister-in-law, on her Facebook: God touched her, and she slept. Good night, Nana Letty.

With the pain that comes to one who learns of the passing of someone close, I was transported back to San Nicolas, to the time when my childhood revolved around that big white house along Camino Real in my hometown.

And I started remembering Nana Letty…

I remember how this gracious lady flew into a frightful rage when one of her four sons broke a particularly prized china collection, not so much at her frightened and guilty son but at herself for having allowed herself to lose her emotional self-monitoring capacity.

I remember the smile that never went away from her face — even when she had to put her foot down on a request by one of her seven daughters to attend "a barn dance somewhere" (surely, the equivalent of "gimmick night" of today’s teenagers) which was the rage during our age of mischief and innocence.

I remember the gentle hectoring she used to apply on her husband, Tata Susing, whenever she had to ask him to rescue the boys who had clambered up the chico trees that ringed the white house and had found themselves too terrified and scared shitless to climb down because of the heights.

I remember how she would discuss endlessly with my mother details of how to cut clothing material the best way they knew how so that it would do the wearer proud as a peacock when she wore it on some special occasion.

I remember, too, how, with some choice words of chastisement, she used to dress down my brother Stanley, who was to become her son-in-law many years later, for monkeying with Tata Susing’s green Cadillac which she made sure was always kept polished to a dazzling shine.

I remember the time she tried, after seeing me serve at Mass, to convince me (in her trademark mellifluous voice) to enter the priesthood, much to the consternation of my father.

I remember most of all the generosity that oozed out of her in her perennial role as Lady Santa on Christmas Day, distributing bags and bags of rice from the bountiful Valdes granary. And who could forget the kindness she showered and encouraging words she gave to the multitude of her relatives who converged at their vast farm at the foothills of the Cordilleras in Padong every New Year’s Day, and the children from San Nicolas she sent to school and who are now accomplished professionals.

Nana Letty was an extraordinary woman, a rare gem, a spiritual beauty to behold. And these attributes are preserved in a canvas by Ricarte Puruganan, a childhood friend of hers from Dingras. A photograph of that painting is the cover page of the Manuel Duldulao coffee-table book of famous paintings of Filipino artists.

In her early youth she went to the Philippine Normal School, aspiring to be a teacher like her mother was. She was also sent to New York by her father, who was the justice of the peace of San Nicolas, to study interior design. But the demands of full-time motherhood prevented her from becoming either a professional teacher or full-time interior designer. The mark of her eye for the aesthetic, however, is evident in how she had refurbished the white house and the Casa Nido (her ancestral home), and designed houses of the prominent San Nicolaneos residing in the city.

Nana Letty was a statuesque and brainy beauty many notches higher than the Rose of Tacloban who became first lady of the Philippines. By some quirk of fate, Nana Letty failed to become first lady: Tata Susing lost twice to a politician named Ferdinand from nearby Batac for the position of representative of the second district of Ilocos Norte. The political misfortunes of her husband notwithstanding, she went on, with the same grace she maintained as host of the white house that served as campaign headquarters for her husband, to become one of the active Blue Ladies. Up to the time of her death, Nana Letty carried on a close friendship with Imelda.

Nana Letty was an active exponent of cultural revival. As a member of the Sadiri ti San Nicolas, an organization of professionals tracing their roots to San Nicolas, she was instrumental in the preservation of the comedia that San Nicolas is famous for, and had even organized a cultural tour of Hawaii, California and Chicago, just to bring the comedia to these places. The dallot, the Ilocano equivalent of the balagtasan, has been preserved, thanks to Nana Letty. And as if these cultural concerns were not enough, at the time of her death she had already finished the blueprint for the Museum for Ilocano Culture, which the Sadiri ti San Nicolas will hopefully implement.

While her husband was active in the Knights of Columbus, Nana Letty was equally tireless in affairs of the daan nga simbahan (old, Catholic church). She and my mother were daily fixtures at Mass at the old church. Her creative interventions in the staging of the prusisyun during the Holy Week made this annual religious event a must-see for everyone in Ilocos Norte.

Nana Letty will be buried today at the Valdes family mausoleum in San Nicolas. The mausoleum, also an oeuvre of Nana Letty the artist, evokes the classic architectural lines of a Greek temple, and is situated at the center of the cemetery. I am sure her funeral will be an event fitting for a lady who was tall in stature and equally tall in the admiration and esteem of everyone in San Nicolas.

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2009

Cory!!! Cory!!! Cory!!!

ENQUIRY
DEMAREE RAVAL

Cory!!! Cory!!! Cory!!!
Sunday, 07 12, 2009

This was the mantra and battlecry that we chanted 23 years ago as we sought to divert our senses from the numbing weight of injustice and focused our collective minds on the brave spirit of Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, who was fighting an unbeatable foe who derided her as an ordinary housewife whose place should be in the bedroom and not in the barricades.

The ordinary housewife delivered big time, and in one brief shining moment, she delivered the nation from a dictator, sans bloodshed, sans violence and sans funereal dirge.

Today, at a time when the stage for the declaration of martial law is being incipiently set to prop up a virtual dictatorship, we long for that mantra to resound again. O how we wish we could see the lady in yellow leading the battle. But sadly the Cory of our affections is waging a battle of her own, which keeps her from waving that hand in defiance and flashing that smile which once assured us that everything would be all right.

It was once pointed out that when praise is bestowed during an infelicitous time and given tactlessly, it tends to wound the receiver’s heart as much as throw blame or assign responsibility for a grievous fault. So I harbor this fear of being thought of as maladroit and insensitive with this column. Or worse, as being a benighted singer of praises, inasmuch as others have been fulsome with them, out of a compulsory sense of political noblesse oblige. For, verily, it is often the baneful duty of public figures to be able to say something compassionate when a person of consequence suffers a reversal of health. And for the past weeks, we have seen an outpouring of sympathetic pity and concern for Cory in such a volume and degree that invited compassion fatigue or even distrust for the givers’ real motives.

Cory need not be pitied, or cried over for her present predicament. She is at peace with herself, sustained by that self-same spiritual courage and strength we all remember her for, which came shining through for all of us to behold since that infamous day in August 1983.

The end of her term as president — which she could have extended through the sheer force of the adulation and gratitude that the nation had for her — had not moved Cory to simply fade away. Whenever corruption, sleaze, vice and fraud reared their ugly heads, Cory did not fail to use her moral suasion on a citizenry that, ironically enough, too soon forgot that vigilance is the price of living in that brave new world that dawned on February 25, 1986, along that stretch of Epifanio de los Santos — the epiphany of saints, indeed!

Today, 23 years after that epiphany, our nation is once more being strangled by the repressive chokehold of a virtual dictatorship. But Cory has not lost that courage to confront danger, misfortune and injustice. Whether while yet at the crest of national adulation or much later in her failing health, which she prudently hid from us for as long as possible, Cory has continued to affirm to herself — and to the rest of us — that life with all its trials and tribulations is good; that everything is fraught with meaning even if, through some dark and devious machinations, others strive to pervert things beyond our understanding. And, above all, that there is always tomorrow.

In a sense, Cory’s illness draws attention to the malignancy that afflicts us: that an uncontrolled evil and degeneracy has engulfed the Social Contract between the governors and the governed, between us and them; and that nobody is willing to stamp out this social cancer, as long as the greed is kept to a moderate degree or does not directly invade our personal space. That it should be cancer — the killer that manifests itself only when it is already in its advanced stage — that afflicts Cory is a wake-up call to the nation: What ails us is the silence of those who should respond but do not, who choose to be cowed into a state of terrified and terrifying silence; and that the insidious and deadly malaise that afflicts us all is our indifference to those things which should trouble us, and our refusal to take positive and forceful action against the excesses of our governors.

It remains for time and circumstance, and God’s infinite mercy to grant how long Cory would be with us — to inspire us to dare to fight the unbeatable foe, as we did then; to rouse us to win, as we must do now. Never mind if we are foiled or bludgeoned along the way by the storm troopers of those presently holding the reins of power. As long as we are suffused by the courage of Cory, we, like her, shall not be reduced to a nation of moral cowards who allow themselves to be deceived and manipulated. Courage, after all, is going through one setback to the next, without losing hope and abandoning enthusiasm.

As a nation, we have been at this quandary since January 2001, suffering in silence, uncertain over what to do with the thieves in our midst. What we have to do now is to muster enough courage to reprise what we did a generation ago. Now that Cory is herself involved in a personal struggle, let that be a signal for everyone to carry on what Cory fought for. In her physical affliction, Cory remains undiminished before our eyes: a national heroine, an icon of courage, a beacon of hope, an anchor of deliverance. As Cory wages this one last fight of her life, let us allow her to inspire us all, that we may save ourselves from our nonchalant identities and be delivered again from a dictatorship.

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2009

Can’t anything work in this country? (Poll automation)

ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Can’t anything work in this country?
Sunday, 07 05, 2009

Senator Loren Legarda, informed upon her arrival from an environmental conference in Switzerland that next year’s election automation would be derailed, asked: "What’s wrong? Can’t anything work in this country?"

Six years ago, when we were on the verge of automating the elections, something went wrong. The contract had been signed with the supplier, the machines had been delivered, but everything went royally wrong after that because some unseen hands made sure the automation would be scuttled. Now, on the eve of the signing of the contract for automation of the May 2010 elections, some unseen hands are again throwing monkey wrenches into the bid and award process, to make sure we revert to manual.

Until we see the signed contract between the joint venture company of Smartmatic/TIM and the Comelec, we can never be sure that all we have to do is press a button at the polling place next year. There are too many fools out there who couldn’t be trusted, who will do everything to make the voters hostaged to manual elections.

So who screwed up?

We have the best intentions, the right law to make those intentions happen, and the best safeguards in that law to oversee its correct implementation. But the implementors of the law are less than honest with their intentions. And therein hangs a dubious tale.

When the implementors of automation are more than willing to feign stupidity in reading the provisions of the Procurement Act — that’s what’s wrong. Imagine the stupidity of allowing a mere prospective joint venture company (JVC) to bid without it having cleared up its internal arrangements! Who are the partners in that joint venture? Who holds the majority vote? Who signs the checks? Who signs the resolutions of the JVC? Who determines the solutions to the technical problems? Who assumes responsibility for any foul up? Et cetera. These unresolved issues are a recipe for disaster in any corporate set-up. Yet, the Comelec proceeded posthaste to qualify bidders whose legal existence as JVCs have yet to be formalized.

When the implementors of automation do not even level with the general public on who the Comelec is actually dealing with — that’s what’s wrong. Transparency in the procurement process extends to the disclosure of relations and related business interests, if not political connections. Why Comelec did not require such a disclosure, or why it hid from the public such a disclosure (if one was actually made by the bidders), remains a mystery. It was only after the notice of award was given to Smartmatic/TIM that names closely identified with the Arroyo administration cropped up. Should not the Comelec have required the disclosure of these ties prior to the qualification of the bidders?

A provision in the Poll Automation Law establishes a joint oversight committee, to ensure that all moves of the Comelec in implementing the law adhere to the best intentions of the lawmakers and that nothing is left to happenstance in the bidding. We applaud the best intentions of Representative Teddy Boy Locsin of Makati City in seeing to it that full automation is operative by May 2010 — but we do have reservations about the real intentions of his colleagues in the same committee. Locsin’s outrage at the doublespeak of some committee members is understandable. It looks like a committee member out there has been mouthing lip service to automation, but his asides regarding the oversight function of the committee betray his inclination for manual elections, obviously in aid of his presidential ambition. That’s what’s wrong.

Then we have the Arroyo administration, whose preference for manual elections has never been in doubt. In the heat of the furor over the identities of the owners of the winning bidder, Malacañang threw a smokescreen to speculations over this-or-that relationship between you-know-who and the winning bidder. It was a calculated move designed to psych up the public toward accepting the withdrawal of the winning bidder: it makes it easier for the public, the opposition most certainly, to accept the withdrawal of Smartmatic/TIM. Indeed, why should the public allow a joint venture that is pally with the Arroyo administration to handle the automation? Better go manual than be screwed wholesale by a machine.

This is what’s terribly wrong: When the mind of the public is being browbeaten and conditioned to accept manual elections rather than leave their votes to the mercy of the machine owned, operated and controlled by the Arroyo administration. It has been 68 days since the contract should have been signed with the winning bidder. This delay brings us much closer to the day when the Comelec, with feigned sadness and regret, officially declares that we are going manual next year after all. Good news for Garci and his ilk, but we know for sure that they knew a long time ago that this was bound to happen, didn’t we?

Legarda’s lament — "What’s wrong? Can’t anything work for this country?" — should stand alongside a similar plaint from former Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez, as he lay in a pool of blood during one of those dark nights of martial law: "What’s happening to our country, general?" Pelaez was lucky to survive the assassin’s bullet, but the country may not be similarly lucky should we continue to live with manual elections. The Arroyo administration is in full survival mode, as the option for changing the Constitution to perpetuate the queen in power is getting close to nil. Manual election is the next best hope for the fixers and cheaters, liars and thieves to be able to stay in power.

So what’s wrong? It is the mindset of the Arroyo administration which arrogantly assumes that voters can be dickered with and treated casually and irresponsibly by dishonest people clothed with the mantle of integrity, probity and noble intentions. But you and me and the rest of us can make things right.



For comments about this website: Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2009