In His Time

I rarely blog about politically charged issues. First, I know very little about politics. What little I know can hardly be called information, valid observation, insight, or even credible conjecture. Second, most political issues that matter are divisive. While there will always be a need and a proper forum for such discussions, you won't find it on this blog.

However, the current plight of Former President Corazon Aquino invites reflection. Conrado de Quiros writes:

"I have little doubt that if Cory had wanted to extend her term, she could have done so. Not only legally but morally, not only as a matter of private wish but of public will...

She could have stayed on, but she did not. I have little doubt as well that she got no small pressure from kin and friends who could not comprehend how anyone could be so loath to seize opportunity. Years before, Cory was pressured to accept the nomination to fight Marcos in the snap elections, and she agreed reluctantly. This time she refused adamantly. She had restored democracy, she would not be the one to scuttle it."

Let us forget, for the meantime, that Mr. de Quiros has certain political views that are not friendly towards the current occupant of Malacañang Palace. His politics, for once, is not an issue. But his observation, albeit somewhat colored by nostalgia, bears remembering. Sometimes, the hardest thing in life is to let go. And the bigger the sacrifice, the more noble the action. I'm not sure what were the circumstances that surrounded Former President Aquino's refusal to seek another term. But the fact that she didn't, despite every worldly reason to do so, come hell or high water, speaks very well of her. Or Him. Given her well-documented piety, it is not unreasonable to consider that Christ might have had a lot to do with her decision to relinquish the reins of power.

Regardless, let us all pray for her recovery.

Note: I'm sorry that I can't link to the article in question. Philippine Daily Inquirer has rather strict rules on reproducing or otherwise using their intellectual property in any form on the Web.

Many thanks to Open Road for the link on Former President Aquino's medical condition.

Barack Mentality, Addressed?

As a writer of some ability, I rarely publish anything in full. I suppose it's because of a certain amount of vanity that I possess (to some extent) that all failed writers use to validate their rants. But this letter by Manoling de Leon at Pinoy Pilgrim deserves to be published in full. Many thanks to my editor, Diana Uichanco, for sharing the letter with me through e-mail.

January 31, 2009

His Excellency Barack Hussein Obama
President
United States of America

Dear Mr. President:

Some six months ago at the Saddleback Forum when the topic of abortion was discussed, your Excellency admitted that the question of when human life begins was beyond your pay grade. It is therefore with fear and trembling that I learned that one of your first acts as the new President was to overturn the executive orders restored by your predecessor barring U.S. government funds from any foreign or domestic agency that promoted or performed abortions.

This single unthinking act wiped away any semblance of the benefit of the doubt I willingly invested in you during the campaign: that you were the true maverick and not the impostor like your opponent. Now I know better: you look like a politician cut from the same wretched cloth.

I expected you to do better. Anyone whose mind is mired in doubt on such a vital issue as to when life begins would first seek to clear up matters. You did not. Instead, you swallowed wholesale the unscientific argument, believed by countless people whose pay grades are much lower than yours, that a fertilized egg of twelve weeks is not human and could be disposed of medically and flushed down the drain. Or worse, as you recently signed too, an embryo could be experimented on, genetically tested, or played around with as a specimen at the mercy of high pay grade professionals in white lab coats.

These are some of the basic reasons why I and other citizens of the developing world quake with fear. It is ironic that such a seemingly enlightened politician – who campaigned on a platform of change we could believe in, who enjoyed the triumph of struggle against all the odds that defined him, and who has been an inspiration to many people – signed into law a policy that would eliminate the same opportunity from shaping the minds and hearts of future generations of young people and leaders.

One other thing. Just the other day, you ranted and raved against the outsized bonuses Wall Street bankers gave themselves for their rotten performance in the past year. Unfortunately, your Excellency has no moral authority to do that, because by allowing abortions to resume and stem cell research to be conducted without regard for their moral dimensions, you have acted like someone whose pay grade has been raised beyond those of the bankers you so vehemently condemned.

True, every nation gets the government it deserves. The United States and its President are woven from the same culture, the same woof and warp that led it to its moment of crisis. Mr. President, the greatest problem you and your nation face is not purely financial, and neither is it just economic nor legal. It’s much deeper than that, and one need not have a high pay grade to realize that your nation’s problem is rooted in moral turpitude. As the axe of investigative vengeance falls on the Madoffs and Fulds who made off with the billions from fooled investors, not only in America, we hope you and your government learn from the lessons of history that mighty empires are not lost overnight by the actions of a corrupt few. Every worldly kingdom – Persia, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, France, Ottoman, Prussia, Spain and England – eventually collapsed because of the moral weakness of its leaders. If you learn from the lessons of history – and we hope your teachers were at the right pay grade so you learned from them – then America will not join this sorry list of losers. We hope, at the least, that you would not hasten the beginning of the end.

Mr. President Obama, not all is lost. It’s not yet too late. We in the Third World chuckle at the kind of democratic politics you have in the West, because there is not much difference between you and us. We too have low pay grade politicians running our affairs, deciding on matters beyond their pay grade, and making the same stupid mistakes signing into law popular policies on issues they don’t understand. Like the poor Americans who voted you into office, we too suffer the follies of our rulers. We bleed when untimely ripped from our mothers’ wombs. We cry when our hard-earned money is taxed and wasted.

And we tremble, because you have condemned us to suffer the evil that threatens to multiply when economists like your advisers, bankers like those you condemn, and politicians like you who are unthinking decide on matters beyond your pay grade. We tremble at such inconsistencies, because in your efforts to find and punish the culprits that led to the crisis we face, you will discover that without the moral fiber your nation is sorely lacking, you would collectively point accusing fingers at the less powerful: the immigrants, unborn babies, and millions of workers in the world who are on the receiving end of the collective monumental stupidities which we hoped you would stop.


Though we tremble in fear, we also tremble with hopeful anticipation of your willingness to learn. You are powerful, not because of your pay grade but because you symbolize change. You can turn the status quo upside down, injecting a sorely needed moral imagination to your dying nation in a world wallowing in the throes of legislated extinction. You campaigned on an optimistic platform of change, responsibility, accountability, a better life and progress for all. Having gone so far and succeeded against all odds, you more than anyone should know that the best things in life have a moral dimension that go beyond pay grades, titles, and mandates.

Dear Mr. President, you talk of our era as the Age of Responsibility. This is a powerful concept with a deep moral dimension. One cannot talk of responsibility without consideration of right and wrong, truth and falsehood. If the Age of Responsibility you speak of would be but a continuation of the shallow, two-dimensional, and hedonistic world your people in the West know so well, then you will fail. However, if the Age of Responsibility you herald were to remind the world’s people of our common humanity, our shared goals of respect and appreciation for each other’s beliefs and differences and the admission that there lie beyond us realities we may not fully comprehend but that we must respect and cherish, then you truly could be the leader of real change in the world.

You can, Mr. President, symbolize the rebirth of humanity and the dawn of a new age. You more than anyone else would know what direction a genuine democracy must take for true human freedom to take root and flourish. You are in the unique position as the ruler of the first democratic superpower the world has ever known to chart the course of world history and bring the present and future generations to a destiny our common ancestors could only dream about.

Follow your heart, enlightened by your mind, and lead us. You know the right thing to do. Every world crisis results from the lack of good and just people ready to give up their lives to do what is right. America wants you to lead us to a New World, not the old one where unborn babies don’t have rights, where colored peoples are discriminated against, and where the poor have no one to care for them. I, and billions of people the world over, trust you to lead us by example through this New Age of Responsibility. Please don’t waste that trust.

A London Telegraph reporter ventured to say that you are an emperor without clothes, that you are all bluster and pomp, and that when America discovers you to be in the same mold as your predecessors Harding and Jackson, there will be a revolution so great that its threat to the world would not be matched by that which made us tremble during the Cold War years. We hope he’s wrong, not only for our sake, but more especially for the sake of Michelle, Sasha, and Malia. They deserve better, and you can make sure they do.
Sincerely yours,

Manoling de Leon
Senior Citizen
Republic of the Philippines

Election Blog 2007: Random Blessings?

I've always been an optimist, although some of my friends at times append the adjective "insufferable", especially when it comes to the underdogs that I advocate for. However I'm sure that most of my friends will forgive me if I crow a bit about certain developments in this year's elections. (My only regret so far about the electoral coverage thus far is that the Inquirer has yet to approve my using some of their articles for my blog; as such, Newsbreak provides almost all of my links regarding some of the issues I want to comment on. Of course, this is no way is a slight on the Inquirer's editorial policy on linking. On the contrary, they have my utmost respect for promoting the fair use of intellectual properties on the web.)

1. Cheaters never prosper, or at least, don't seem to stand a chance of being lawfully elected. Roque Bello, alleged cheating operator who worked for President Arroyo's victory in the 2004 elections, lost his mayoralty bid in Santa, Ilocos Sur. Former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano has conceded defeat in his battle for Bukidnon’s congressional seat. Oh well. Back to coordinating widespread electoral fraud for others, I suppose.

2. Manny Pacquiao mulls return to boxing after being schooled in the political arena by a wee wisp of a lass whose only advantage over the boxer was overwhelming competence over the Pacman in every area salient to public service. As of 1 p.m. today, Manny Pacquiao garnered only 9, 133 votes compared to the 16, 755 votes of his rival, incumbent Gen. Santos City Representative Darlene Antonino-Custodio. My good friend, Ralph Lumo, called this result weeks ago. "Manny, you bet on. Darlene, you make good on. She gives new meaning to the saying 'wisdom from the mouth of babes'. Oh, and if you blog this, I will categorically deny everything that can jeopardize any chances I might have with Darlene." Well said, my friend. I won't even mention that she's married.

3. As of 11 a.m. today, Fr. Eddie Panlilio has so far garnered 167,801 votes over incumbent Gov. Mark Lapid’s 156, 236. President Arroyo’s friend, provincial board member Lilia Pineda, had 147, 397 votes. Hope springs eternal.

Let me repeat: hope springs eternal.


Credits:

News items come courtesy of Newsbreak Online.

Picture of Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio comes courtesy of Official Website of General Santos City.

Election Blog 2007: Random Thoughts

The flotsam and jetsam that intruded upon my otherwise curiously sane voting experience:

1. I couldn't do it. For the first time since I started voting, I couldn't vote for a complete senatorial slate. Despite all the well-articulated arguments for at least writing down 12 names, I just couldn't do it. Only 9 people were, in my humble analysis, worthy of being given the opportunity to represent the common good of the Filipino people in the Senate. I simply could not compromise on this particular issue. In a way, particularly in light of my belief that one's right to vote is comparable to one's desire to pray, it is only when we are led to refuse compromise on this point when we can properly entertain the promise of a brighter future. And yes, I'm very angry that Philippine politics has sunk to this level. Couldn't you at least provide me with 12 people to vote for? I'm incensed.

2. As Ralph, Judel, Gene and I trooped to the voting center of Barangay San Antonio in Pasig, we speculated as to whether our Filipino-Chinese college roommate Kimberly Chong is registered in Greenhills or in Xiamen, conveniently glossing over the fact that our barkada's relative ages can be determined by the fact that "Kimberly" was considered a non-gender specific name when Kim was born, or that we have actual batchmates running for elective office.

3. My dad called me earlier to report that I was still registered in Las Pinas, despite the fact that I had just voted, 30 minutes earlier, in Pasig. Theoretically, this meant that I could vote again. I just had to be willing to lose a fingernail to do so. I don't know what's worse, that the Comelec had inadvertently turned me into a flying voter, or that I was seriously considering ways to hide my ink-stained fingernail in order to do so. I decide, in the end, that the Filipino people need me more with all my fingernails intact. Lame!

4. Despite the fact that I had dressed in the manner appropriate to one who is willing to make financial arrangements for genuine political change, no one bothered to buy my vote in my voting precinct. Part of me is insulted. Am I not important enough to buy off? Apparently not.

5. Despite everything, my mood remains oddly optimistic. Hope springs eternal. In the end, we will have our Victory.

Picture of Victory comes courtesy of IMDB.

Acquired Tastes: A Public Trust

For reasons I cannot as of now enumerate, both personal and professional, I've been (belatedly) trying to hasten my own education in citizenship by scouring the web for intelligent political analysis. Despite my relative naivety regarding politics, I was confident that my finely tuned crap detector would be able to separate the chaff from the grain, so to speak.

One recent discovery is Newsbreak Online. While I may not always agree with their insights into Philippine politics, their writing is brave, intelligent, and, this may come as a surprise for many who have preconceived notions regarding the editorial slant of Newsbreak, at times rooted in a spirituality which speaks of the finest qualities of the Filipino. From the touching story of how three term San Fernando town mayor 47-year-old Sabas “Abang” Mabulo, is attempting to perform a miracle by running against my old friend Diosdado "Dato" Arroyo in the 1st congressional district of Camarines Sur ("I am pitted against money and a powerful political machinery. But God's wonder never ceases," Mabulo says) to their coverage of the longterm implications of Fr. Ed Panlilio's candidacy for Governor of Pampanga, Newsbreak has featured quite a lot of inspiring political stories rooted in either our Catholic or Christian heritage.

It's about time that we acknowledge the profound role that our faith plays in our politics. As was previously blogged about by my good friend (and former student) Jan Vincent Ong in his blog entry on the public nature of Francisco "Soc" Rodrigo's faith, which I reproduce here in part:

"We are all Catholics, and we are all citizens. So far, we have not experienced the slightest difficulty in being both. In fact, knowing our Catholic faith as we do, it seems obvious to us that the better Catholics we are, the better citizens we shall be"

We should not be afraid to raise the specter of argument regarding the separation of church and state. Rather, we should embrace it. Otherwise, however will we determine how one could both serve and believe? It is ridiculous to assume that one cannot do both, in the same way that it is ridiculous to assume that all decisions conducted largely out of one's beliefs are either completely wrong or completely right.

This is why I would like to insist that in order for political discussion to be relevant, it has to be inherently spiritual. Simply put, we reserve the right to aspire for more. We owe it to our children.

Vote!

After reading my good friend Jason de Villa's latest post, Thoughts on the coming elections, I almost followed suit by coming up with a list of recommendations myself. After all, even Ate Cecile van Straten came up with one. Still, I'm sticking to my previously undeclared blogging principles (and no, it's not the "either this guy's so totally Western that practically 90% of his posts concern the degenerate West, or he's really, really into ivory towers and refuses to concern himself with real-life problems and issues"; that's a valid observation, and nothing that I purposely set out to do) regarding Philippine politics: that my opinion holds weight only as a registered voter who has consistently voted for people who consistently lose. I haven't voted for a winning Presidential candidate, for example, since...well, ever. Only 1 out of every 3 senators I vote for have won. I'm like the kiss of death for electoral success; a vote from John-D assures noble defeat.

Despite my dismal track record when it comes to helping put capable men and women into office, here are some guidelines on voting that I have more or less developed after years of never even smelling the vicarious validation of victory:

1. Don't buy into the myth that one must only vote for the "winnable". My attitude towards the vote is much like my attitude towards prayer. When we pray, we may not always get something better out of it, but the very act of prayer always makes the person who prays a better person for having done so. In a very real way, our vote is a reflection of who we are and who we aspire to be. Tangentially, cantankerous NBA pundit Charley Rosen observed that one major reason for the ignominious first round exit of the Dallas Mavericks stems from Avery Johnson's decision to rest "his starters in a 'meaningless' game in Golden State the day before the regular season ended — a game easily won by the desperate Warriors. It was a cowardly move by Johnson that went counter to his play-all-out-all-the-time game plan."

2. Don't buy into the cult of personality, or personal relations that informs much of our political views. Filipinos are very keen on interpersonal relationships, and this is normally a very good trait. However, this is lamentable in politics. So many of our political decisions are influenced by our real or perceived personal relationship with our politicians. And so, many educated voters are likely to say "I'm voting for so-and-so-politician because he dropped by once, and he seemed like a genuinely nice person," or "I'm voting for so-and-so-politician because my mom's 2nd cousin on her father's side knows him," when in fact we should...

3. Try to make an informed vote. Let's concentrate on issues, platforms, political track records, and last but not least, the personal competency of the politician to not only hold office but ennoble the office by being voted to it. It is important to realize that originally, the word Solon referred to both an actual Athenian lawgiver significant for his contributions to classical law and to a member of a legislative body that is both wise and skillful. Let's vote for persons who are both professionally and personally excellent. As I said above, our vote is a reflection of who we are and who we aspire to be. Let's vote people who we would not be ashamed of being more like. Let's aspire, for the lack of a better term, for more.

We owe it to the kids.