Mercado;s Column

Viewpoint : A cage full of bananas

Juan Mercado
Inquirer News Service

THE BRITISH don't have a written constitution. They never did. But their unwritten charter extends throughout their realm, shrunken in today's post-empire era.

Like Russians, we Filipinos painstakingly scribble out our constitutions, which are often honored more in the breach than in the observance. Our transient "leaders" badger us to rewrite them to suit their equally transient plans.

People power shredded Ferdinand Marcos' Constitution that ensured his perpetual stay in power. Protests erupted in 1997 when President Fidel V. Ramos and 87 congressmen -- whose terms of office were petering out -- pushed for House Resolution 40 and Senate Bill 18. Both mandated Congress -- as a constituent assembly, not citizens in a convention -- to blue-pencil the Charter.

"That'd be like setting monkeys loose in a cage full of bananas," exploded critics.

"We can win the battle in the House," Speaker Jose de Venecia told President Ramos then. "But we'd lose the war outside."

Will they win this time?

As President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's regime stalled from the wiretapped tape scandal, Ramos dangled a "parachute": within a year, recast the Constitution to underpin a federal parliamentary democracy. Charter change could be her legacy.

"We have strained the present political system to its final limit," the President stressed in her State of the Nation Address. "It's time to start the great debate on Charter change" -- with Congress as rewrite desk.

Congressmen were ecstatic. But senators froze at the prospect of being obliterated in a unicameral system. Local executives were tantalized by liberation from "Imperial Manila" under a federal system. These triggered today's charter rewriting pandemic.

Charter change is far more important than the President's fate, citizens like Antonio Hidalgo and Jenny Llaguno told an informal gathering of Filipinos who served in the United Nations. But the move is exploited to divert attention from electoral fraud and other charges.

"Everyone's political energy is focused on bringing down or defending President Arroyo," Institute for Popular Democracy executive director Joel Rocamora wrote. "There's no way constitutional reform will go anywhere under current conditions."

Indeed, no one is fooled. For all the rhetoric, this is about simians and bananas. Most would-be charter editors cling to position, perks and pork. "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac," former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said.

"Are there constitutional provisions that need to be changed now?" a Social Weather Stations survey asked in May. Seven out of 10 replied "No." "Grassroots interest in Charter change continued to be low." Three out of 10 favor some amendments, the SWS reports.

Yet, more people feel that "something's got to give." A system that thrives on persistent near-anarchy and locks the majority into penury can only end in upheaval. The conflict treadmill hasn't stanched the migration hemorrhage of the country's best and brightest.

"There is a time for every purpose under heaven," Ecclesiastes writes. "There is a time to tear down and a time to build" -- or even rewrite constitutions. Is that time now?

A system change could end "Imperial Manila's" grip on resources and talents, say Prof. Jose Abueva, former Ambassador Jose Romero and their group. These could be funneled into a semi-starved countryside. Their ideas are distilled in a new book, "Charter Change for Good Governance: Towards a Federal Republic of the Philippines, with a Parliamentary Government."

Former Prime Minister Cesar Virata thinks a shift could end the gridlock between the executive and the legislature. As early as the 1970 convention, the late former Sen. Raul Manglapus plugged for a parliamentary system.

"Does the possibility of a switch justify the hopes that are being attached to it?" asks the veteran journalist Harvey Stockwin in "Reflections From Asia" aired over Radio-TV Hong Kong.

There are no quick fixes, warn citizens like Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales. Unless mind-sets change, the same Neanderthals would entrench further injustices using the new system.

People rejected the scorched-earth policy offered by the discredited Joseph Estrada and communist allies in a "transitory government." Instead, a consensus is emerging that impeachment proceed, while the debate on Charter change starts.

But this accord is also a refusal to be stampeded. There's a clear-eyed realization that constitutions enshrine a nation's ideals and the values a people cherish, their permanent hopes for tomorrow. To rewrite a charter wisely, "reason free of passion" is needed.

Today's banana cage of political primates won't provide that milieu. Legislators have devalued congressional hearings into stands for massive perjury by stool pigeons and seamy bagmen. Who would entrust recasting a constitution to moral ciphers?

We'd welcome Charter change drafted by delegates elected to a convention. That will be possible only if both the administration and opposition handle today's impeachment process far better than the aborted Estrada trial.

If impeachment is unfair, there'll be extortionate institutional costs. The chance for constitutional review and reform could be stripped away by turmoil.

There's enough kindling for that-from today's near-paralysis of governance, $64-a-barrel of oil, the country's degraded credit ratings, depleted natural resources, terror threats to hidden hunger. That's too high a cost for unleashing monkeys in a cage stuffed with bananas.

Mercado's Column

Viewpoint : Abattoir ethics

Juan Mercado
Inquirer News Service

"WHY should we believe you?" GMA Network's Maki Pulido lobbed that question at the improbably named Michaelangelo Zuce, self-confessed bagman. That left the Senate's "star witness" on alleged 2004 election fraud "tongue-tied," columnist Marichu Villanueva chuckled.

"Skewer bastards with tough questions" is counsel that editors drill into cub reporters. The probing query can help sift fact from spin and reality from propaganda. They curb lynch-mob journalism.

They're also indispensable for a country steeped in what Sen. Miriam Santiago calls "slaughterhouse politics."

Another bagman, this time from the "jueteng" illegal lottery probe, confirms this fact. Richard Garcia wailed that opposition legislators "coached him and other witnesses" on how to link the President's family to jueteng.

His covert drillmasters in perjury, he claimed, included Senators Panfilo Lacson, Aquilino Pimentel and Jinggoy Estrada and Rep. Ronaldo Zamora. "The twists and turns" … of this case have started to loop themselves around Lacson," an Inquirer editorial notes. "He now has to extricate himself."

But senators like Jose Laurel, Claro Recto, Lorenzo Tañada and Raul Roco never had to extricate themselves. They never rigged testimony. Aside from intellectual stature and integrity, they had that exquisite moral sense we Filipinos call "delicadeza" [sense of propriety].

Far too many of their successors unfortunately work by ethics of the abattoir. And "slaughterhouse morals" sap institutional credibility.

The Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada kleptocracies devalued the presidency. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's governance, stripped of values other than what is expedient, eroded it further.

Rodrigo Perez Jr., Hilario Davide and Christian Monsod were exemplary Commission on Elections stewards. But Luzviminda Tancangco and Virgilio Garcillano debased that.

The "Craven Eleven" senators sealed the second envelope in Estrada's impeachment. Dwarfs like Tito Sotto, Gringo Honasan and Lito Lapid replaced the likes of Lorenzo Sumulong, Oscar Ledesma or Emmanuel Pelaez. Thus, we're saddled with a diminished Senate over the years.

"The whole lot lack credibility, not for want of competence, but of morals," Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture's Melba Padilla Maggay writes in Patmos Features. "Our leaders have so alienated themselves from the people by their utter lack of integrity."

People are roused by today's moral rot but not enough to pour out into the streets in massive numbers, Maggay observes in "Ambiguities and the Search for a Moral Center in Governance." In today's crisis, "no line in the sand bids us to take sides with the resolute force" of earlier emergencies.

Left, Right and religious groups, like those of Bro. Eddie Villanueva, forge tactical alliances without agreement on aims. These ambiguities shut off clear-cut responses to positions staked by hardline partisans.

Most of today's responses are "relics from failed social experiments" -- coups, martial law, a junta or badly contrived imitations of "people power" -- Maggay notes.

People reject murky plots of the ruling elite. They're "wary about calls for extra-constitutional means of transferring power." One finds a "growing consensus to work within the disciplines of our constitutional framework."

Yet, today's impasse could open a new way out of obsolete response boxes, Maggay thinks. We must link to "that spiritual center out of which our people make most of their decisions, including politics."

"Our indigenous culture is such that people get roused only where the battle between good and evil rages. We resonate best with issues that connect with the depths of our spiritual moorings as a people. Politics must touch that core of values… [seen] now and again, in surprising displays of momentary solidarity."

She cites "the calming effect" of the Catholic Bishops Conference statement as an example. "The opposition was reduced to mumbling in corners, even as they whip up yet another wave of protests. The middle forces were quietly nudged into deeper reflection."

"Not even in Latin America, where countries are also predominantly Catholic, has the Church such authority and power to influence a nation's political temper," she adds.

Analysts claim this is partly due to "residues of the late Cardinal Sin's forceful moral leadership at critical times" and the Church's "almost medieval hold on centers of power." Maggay disagrees. "This influence is rooted in the very character of our people, at its core deeply and unabashedly spiritual," she writes. "This is why our prayer rallies also morph into political meetings."

"This culture produces folk heroes and heroines that fuse within themselves the political and the spiritual," like Hermano Pule in the mid-1800s or Cory Aquino in 1986. They have power when they give voice to what the people sense to be the Santong Boses. "Our millenarian movements call that the Spirit."

Priests or politicians lose that potency when seen to lack "malinis na loob," or selfless service. Religious leaders lose their following when they shift from prophecy to politicking.

"Today, as in previous crises, there is such a deep longing among our people for a moral center in governance," Maggay points out. The Arroyo government's future hangs to "the extent to which it regains credibility by fulfilling this expectation."

Neither will the opposition meet that yearning by a treadmill of seamy bagmen, cadged from the abattoir -- and coached by covert drillmasters to perjure.

Inquirer Editorial

Editorial : Witness weakness

THE POLITICAL opposition's entire case in the jueteng payola issue, including the alleged involvement of the President's family, is based on the testimony of a number of witnesses. Therein lies its weakness.

The presence of Archbishop Oscar Cruz at the Senate hearings-and his repeated vouching for the credibility of the witnesses-is only an apparent strength; his participation does not, by itself, confirm the truth of the various testimonies.

To be sure, an elusive criminal enterprise like the illegal numbers racket does not depend on paperwork, such as purchase orders or memoranda of agreement, that can be subpoenaed. And some of the testimony presented during the seven hearings have proven useful; it is clear that jueteng has made a comeback in some areas, and that some form of local connivance, either on the part of the police or the local government, or both, is responsible for it.

But the evidence for the involvement of the Arroyos in the same racket that brought down the previous and more popular president is based entirely on the word of three witnesses. Two of them have offered what essentially amounts to hearsay; the third said she actually delivered the money to Rep. Mikey Arroyo, the President's son, and Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, the First Gentleman's brother, on at least two occasions. But again, it is her word; the only documentary evidence she could offer proved that she had deposited money in a police general's account.

This is not to say that the two Arroyo congressmen and even the President's husband were not involved in some form in the illegal numbers game; only that, if they were in fact involved, this is not the kind of evidence that could convict them in a court of law. (In the court of public opinion, of course, and if we read the results of the latest surveys of both Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Stations correctly, all three have already been found guilty.)

Now, one of Archbishop Cruz's witnesses, Richard Garcia, has executed a rather melodramatic turnabout. He has not exactly recanted his previous testimony, but he has alleged that opposition senator and ex-presidential candidate Panfilo Lacson had urged him to implicate the Arroyos.

Lacson has since denied Garcia's allegation, and has taken pains to identify Garcia as the archbishop's witness. In one television interview, he even went as far as to say that Garcia was being "handled" by Archbishop Cruz; the word has a special meaning in police work and Lacson, of course, was once chief of the Philippine National Police.

Both Garcia and Archbishop Cruz, however, have said that Garcia had first surfaced through Lacson, and that it was Lacson who actually introduced Garcia to the anti-jueteng prelate. In other words, and as far as the "handling" of Garcia was concerned, he was eminently Lacson's witness.

The twists and turns of this part of the case have started to loop themselves around Lacson; he now has to extricate himself. But the senator's predicament aside, the larger question has to do with the political opposition's jueteng payola case. A weak case has just been made weaker; how did the opposition find itself in this situation?

The answer, in part, lies in our tendency to build cases on personal testimony rather than physical evidence. (It is a tendency shared not only by opposition leaders but by police officers, NBI agents, government officials, even journalists in search of a good story.) The problem with depending on just the words of witnesses is that a lone witness' recantation undermines everything else; physical evidence, such as the paper and electronic trail deposed President Joseph Estrada actually left behind, does not have that kind of vulnerability.

The opposition's long wait for ex-Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. is yet another symptom of this disease, another sign of investigative unimaginativeness.

Now consider the other alleged impeachable offense that hangs over the President's head: betrayal of public trust through election fraud. There is a wealth of possible evidence that can be mined if only those who feel most betrayed actually buckle down to work, by following up leads in the Garcillano tapes or Michaelangelo Zuce's affidavit. The opposition's tedious task is to tie the knots in a definite pattern; that is how a net is made.

But maybe the opposition is too busy chasing the next I-promise-to-tell-all witness?

Apathetic People

Commentary : Politics, prayer and fasting

Denis Murphy
Inquirer News Service

RALLIES, marches, public relations experts and spin masters can usually be part of political change, but it seems clear this time we need more. Ordinary people are more apathetic than they've ever been in the country's great crises. Few attend the rallies, for or against the government, unless they're paid or pressured by their bosses, for example. A few are angry, but most are just apathetic. Apathy is the political equivalent of the sin against the Holy Spirit, namely despair and loss of hope that are both unforgivable and the end of the road.

An attempt to go beyond the old approaches is the initiative now at the Edsa People Power Monument. It calls for prayer and fasting and asks people to listen to God's voice in their heart, so they will know what to do in the present political turmoil. This effort of prayer begins with two premises: that we haven't listened enough in the past, and we don't know what the solution is now.

Three groups have united to organize the work: Pag-asa (Nicky Perlas), Kapatiran (Nandy Pacheco) and Gomburza (Fr. Robert Reyes, Fr. Raul "Puti" Enriquez and Msgr. Gerry Bitoon). All who join have committed themselves to prayer and fasting for 40 days and to make other sacrifices.

It is not a perfect work by any means. The crowds are small, though the organizers hope they will build up. People say there is too much political talk, as if it is already clear what God wants. Some people complain there is too much talk in general and little help with prayer: how should we pray and how should we know the voice we hear is God's and not our own? The activity is supposed to be for all religions and for people of no religion, but it seems nearly all are Catholic. The organizers are determined to im prove in these matters.

What gives the effort its backbone and charisma is the presence of Father Reyes every day, all day at the monument. He is fasting, taking only fruit juices. On Sunday, July 31, he was on the 22nd day of the fast. "Attention must be paid to this man," to borrow a line from "Death of a Salesman."

Father Robert is my parish priest. I know he has many critics in and out of the priesthood. He has faults, for sure, most of which he readily admits and some of which he still has to face, but we should recognize that he is a special person. Some call him a "prophet." That's a lofty title for someone who often comes to our house to drink beer and talk. We are his parishioners in the Project 4 area of Quezon City.

The People Power Monument is a wonderful place for this mixture of prayer, fasting and politics. Just 50 meters in front of the statue, where the MRT runs now, ordinary citizens stopped the tanks of Ferdinand Marcos. The tanks then broke through the stonewall into a field just south of the statue, now Corinthian Gardens, and waited for further orders. My memory of the whole situation is that it was touch and go: The soldiers were confused and surly and if ordered, I think they would have gone back and finished their journey to Camp Crame.

There is no common political agenda in the group. Everyone is invited: people of contradictory opinions are welcome to come and sit quietly side by side. All religions are welcome.

The fast began on July 3 with a new moon, and for a night or two, Venus was close by. They were two young girls in the night sky, sisters, the older sister watching the younger play, a scene you see often in Manila. The noise of the traffic on the Edsa highway makes it difficult to hear the speakers. If you're meditative or sleepy, however, the traffic roar begins to sound like the "Om" of Buddhist and Hindu mystics.

The fourth night at the monument, the first reading at Mass included the most beautiful lines in the Old Testament: "I have seen the humiliation of my people in Egypt and I hear their cry when they are cruelly treated by their taskmasters. I know their suffering. I have come down to free them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a beautiful spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey." (Exodus 3:8) Madre Filipinas at the top of the statue behind the priest held her hands high in exultation. Her chains, broken now, still hang from her wrists. Such is the magic of the place and people praying for God's liberation and the special hour in the country's history that the words of God to Moses seem spoken again there at the Edsa monument.

Nearly everything remains to be done. People now have a place and an inspired commitment to prayer and fasting as part of a public search for God's will. No one knows what God will reveal. People may find answers to present problems. They may learn in prayer the proper fit between the Gospel and politics for the country, and even the proper fit between the Gospel and the Filipino people. How must the Gospel be preached and how do we pray?

We should be grateful for the work of Gomburza, Pag-asa and Kapatiran.

Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates.

Pinoys Reject Cha-Cha

The Long View : An apparent consensus

Manuel L. Quezon III
Inquirer News Service

THE PERCENTAGE of Filipinos who want Charter change would have been enough to elect Fidel V. Ramos but not enough to elect Joseph Estrada. That's pretty pathetic. But it also, perhaps, explains why many supporters of Charter change, as proposed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Speaker Jose de Venecia and former President Ramos, come from the ranks of Lakas-CMD party: They're the same people who voted Ramos into office in 1992.

The latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which took place before the President's State of the Nation Address, shows that 30 percent of Filipinos want Charter change. That's 10 percent better than the 20 percent of Filipinos who favored Cha-cha in 2003. If the figures keep growing at that rate, we can look forward to a national consensus either by 2009, when at least 50 percent of Filipinos will be in favor of Charter change; or better yet, to 2011, when perhaps 60 percent of Filipinos, an incontestable majority, will finally want it.

But for now, 70 percent of the country is content with the present Constitution. That's an almost impregnable majority.

The SWS says the Visayas is 40 percent in favor of Charter change. This still leaves a formidable majority of 60 percent against. Mindanao is even more opposed to constitutional changes than Luzon or the Visayas: Only 19 percent of the people in that island want constitutional change.

As I suggested in a previous column, there may be grounds to think that federalism is an idea to which more people might be open: 34 percent of Filipinos are agreeable to it; 28 percent are against; the undecided on the issue (34 percent) are as many as those already open to the idea. Still, the survey, which is only a snapshot in time, suggests that a national consensus exists: for the presidential, unitary and bicameral system of government.

This means that it is wrong to say there is a groundswell, anywhere in the nation, for federalism, or parliamentarism, or unicameralism. What there is, in fact, is more of an openness to exploring these concepts; but "openness" is far different from enthusiastic -- or even grudging -- "acceptance." This means our political leadership runs the risks of being out of synch with the people's sentiments, though, of course, the consequences of being held accountable for going against public opinion is next to nothing.

Rush the constitutional amendment now through Congress, and rush a referendum next year for its ratification. The advantage will be with the political parties, which have the machinery needed to get their followers to vote for a new constitution and prevent the recording of votes opposed to a new charter. In fact, there might be little need for vote-rigging since, historically, Filipinos aren't so eager about participating in referendums on constitutional amendments.

Another interesting finding of the survey is that the A, B and C classes are consistently the most interested in changing constitutional provisions. This points to the larger agenda for this exercise, which is the elimination of the so-called "masa" [masses'] vote (which is difficult to control) at least on a national basis. This means Cha-cha is a reactionary exercise in that it seeks to negate what already exists. And what exists? A democracy in which the public cannot relate to either the rhetoric or the priorities of the professional political class. This means the class finds itself threatened by more accomplished communicators who are high on charisma but low on either integrity or depth, depending on which part of the professional political circles you talk to.

Our public and our professionals made the bed they now refuse to lie in. They talk of the dangers of popularity and of weakened political parties, when they (or to be precise, their ancestors) dismantled the safeguards against both popularity and the deterioration of party government. My first columns for this newspaper explained how popularity began to trump party control: through the elimination of bloc voting, which was attacked as "undemocratic." The removal of bloc voting eliminated the institutional means for enforcing both party loyalty and party discipline.

The other flaws of the present system come about when those without political experience define our political rules. The decision to encourage a multiparty system, without run-off elections to ensure solid majorities for the winners of national contests, was the gravest mistake of all. It condemned the country to elections in which there is no incentive for self-discipline on the part of candidates, or coalition-building on the part of factions or parties. Since even a minority winner can take all, there's no need to think ahead with regard to the consequences of holding an office that has traditionally relied on broad national mandates. I can't say it often enough: percentage-wise (which is the only number system that counts in elections), the most uncharismatic president of the Third Republic, obtained a higher percentage of the votes than the most popular president of the Fifth Republic -- Carlos Garcia got 41.3 percent; Estrada got 39.6 percent.

Now, since it seems achieving a national consensus is more in keeping with the consensus that exists among the political parties (Charter change, Ramos-style, after all, is not just a Lakas-CMD affair, but rather, a group effort involving the Liberals, the Nacionalistas, the Nationalist People's Coalition, which is really the Nacionalista Party-Cojuangco Wing, and so on), then our energies should be devoted to trying to convince the public that the political parties should get what they desire. As it is, it seems to me that the public is, indeed, extremely institutional in its orientation. It likes having a presidency, for example, even if it doesn't like the President.

Cruz's Column

As I See It : Easy to check Zuce's revelations

Neal Cruz opinion@inquirer.com.ph
Inquirer News Service

IT would be easy to check the veracity of the testimony of Michaelangelo S. Zuce that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo held a dinner for officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) at her La Vista, Quezon City, home in January last year, four months before the elections. (President Arroyo reportedly asked for the help of the Comelec regional directors after which her kumare Lilia Pineda, wife of alleged "jueteng" illegal lottery lord Bong Pineda, allegedly distributed white envelopes containing money.) The security guards at the La Vista gates are supposed to keep a logbook, as do security guards in other exclusive subdivisions, listing the visitors of residents inside the subdivision. That logbook would show if an unusual number of people went to the Arroyo residence that night.

Zuce also said he had arranged for the accommodation of 27 election officials at the Rothman Hotel in Malate, Manila. The hotel's logbook should also show if 27 guests from Mindanao were booked on the date mentioned by Zuce.

Whether or not money was distributed at Ms Arroyo's home depends on the witnesses and their evidence. Whether or nor Ms Arroyo's camp actually cheated in the elections after the conversation between her and Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano caught on the tapes is already beside the point. Her own admission and circumstantial evidence show that Ms Arroyo committed unethical acts before, during and after the elections, which make her unfit to be president.

She was a candidate in the elections and it was highly unethical for her to even talk to Comelec officials or to entertain Comelec regional directors and election supervisors in her home. She has admitted that she had talked on the phone to Garcillano. The tapes caught them talking about ensuring a one-million-vote margin for her over Fernando Poe Jr. Some Comelec regional directors have said they had been invited to dinner at Ms Arroyo's residence that fateful day in January last year, though they said they did not go. Though the others denied that they received any envelopes or that there was any such dinner, the others had no reason to lie by saying they were invited to dinner. The fact alone that a candidate entertained Comelec officials at her home before an election is already a violation of our laws and rules of ethical conduct.

No amount of media blitz or evasive answers can change those facts. She willfully violated our laws and that makes her unfit to be the leader of our nation.

* * *

Malacañang released a statement purportedly coming from former presidential liaison officer for political affairs Joey Ma. Rufino branding Zuce's revelations as "totally false."

"I am shocked and very much saddened by the wild accusations made today by Michaelangelo Zuce, who had been a technical assistant in my office," the statement said. Rufino appealed to Zuce to "retract his falsehoods" saying he (Zuce) was "condemning by publicity not only the President but hardworking regional and provincial officers of the Comelec."

"I and my office have never been involved in influencing, much less bribing, Comelec officials to support Lakas-NUCD candidates, including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo," Rufino added.

Rufino, who is reportedly seriously ill with liver cancer, is confined at the intensive care unit of the Medical City in Pasig and "could hardly talk," according to friends who had visited him. How did he manage to write or dictate such a well-written statement so quickly?

* * *

One more piece of circumstantial evidence linking Ms Arroyo and Garcillano is a document that fell into my hands. It is marked "Confidential" and was received by the Office of the President at 10:15 a.m. on Nov. 28, 2003. It is a letter from Garcillano to Ms Arroyo, through Rufino, and it shows they knew each other since 2001. In the letter written from his home in Kauswagan, Cagayan de Oro City, Garci pleaded for his appointment as commissioner as a reward for his past services to her. The letter said:

"I hope I am not taxing your patience for repeatedly reminding you of my application for the position of Commissioner of the Commission on Elections. Although you have given me the hope of being appointed to that exalted position in case of vacancy, I still feel the need to remind you of my desire.

"On February 2, 2004, two of the incumbent Commissioners are retiring, namely Honorable Commissioners Ralph C. Lantion and Luzviminda G. Tancangco. Since February is only two months away, I am taking the liberty of appealing to Your Excellency to consider me for the said position. You are very busy and my name might escape your memory. Please allow me to refresh your memory about me.

"I am Atty. Virgilio O. Garcillano, the former Regional Election Director of Region 10, based in Cagayan de Oro City. I was one of those whom the First Gentleman approached when Your Excellency ran for Senator. I also had the pleasure of serving your party when Your Excellency requested me to monitor and/or protect the votes of the Lakas-NUCD Senatorial Candidates in Mindanao during the 2001 Election. After that election, Your Excellency generously shared your time and honored us with a dinner in the Palace. It was then that Your Excellency mentioned for the first time Your Honor's intention to make me one of the Commissioners.

"Appointment to that exalted position is literally like passing through the eye of the needle. I had been waiting for this opportunity. It is Your Excellency's imprimatur -- Your final decision -- that would relieve me of the agony of waiting for the appointment, Madam President.

"If given the opportunity, I will not put Your Excellency down.... "

Cruz's Column

As I See It : Open poll returns to find out who cheated whom

Neal H. Cruz
Inquirer News Service

BELIEVE it or not, amid growing demands by the people for President Macapagal-Arroyo to resign for cheating in the last elections, she has now turned the tables on her accusers by saying that it is she who might have been cheated, citing exit polls that indicated a bigger winning margin for her over Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ).

There is one quick way to find out: open the election returns. That will end, definitely and conclusively, the questions about the legitimacy of her presidency, a problem that has plunged the nation into the present crisis.

This is very easy to do. The Presidential Electoral Tribunal will be opening the election returns for vice president because of the poll protest of opposition candidate Loren Legarda against Vice President Noli de Castro. Written on the same documents are the votes for the presidential candidates; it will take no more than a few seconds to tally their votes, too. As PET determines who won in the VP race, it will also know who won in the presidential race between Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) and FPJ.

If it is GMA, then all the rallies and attacks against her will cease and she can finish her term peacefully until 2010. If it is FPJ, then whoever is the rightful vice president will have to take over. Either way, no more impeachment, no more people power, no more juntas, no more Truth Commission, no more pressures from ambitious politicians, no more diversionary tactics, no more lies and evasive answers, no more need to charm the press, no more stress-filled days and sleepless nights.

GMA can then retire in peace with Mike and their children and enjoy the company of her grandchildren. Little children grow very quickly, and if you are too busy, you will soon find out that they have grown into, ugh, adults and you have missed the best times of their growing-up. If I were GMA, I would choose my family over Malacañang. The presidency is a thankless job. Try as you might, you can't please everybody. As far as I'm concerned, they can have it.

The other choice is pure and simple torture. There won't be a moment's peace for her. The rallies will continue and even get bigger. Her popularity rating will continue to plunge until even those who voted for her will demand that she step down. The mental anguish will be so great that she could have a nervous breakdown. Even her allies will get tired and quit. Those who are hanging on because of the pay will decide that it is not worth it and leave. Others will hang on for selfish motives. Eventually the military and police will get tired, too, trying to protect her and decide she is not worth protecting, and they will side with the people. It is doubtful if she would be able to finish her term. It took three years from the assassination of Ninoy Aquino until Marcos was chased out of Malacañang. Joseph Estrada lasted only six months. Time is running out on GMA.

The advice of the Americans to Marcos to "cut and cut cleanly" also applies to GMA. There is no loss of honor in knowing when you are licked and in deciding to quit.

There is a clamor that if GMA is to be replaced, it should be done the "constitutional" way. Re-counting the votes to determine who really won is the most constitutional way.

Fr. Joaquin Bernas, the constitutional expert who was one of those who drafted the present Constitution, agrees that the PET can reopen the election returns for the presidential candidates. Although the Supreme Court has denied the petition of Susan Roces to continue the poll protest of her dead husband, FPJ, "for the purpose of finding the truth," Father Bernas said that "under the present circumstances, where there is a clamor for an impartial body to look into the Gloriagate scandal, the Supreme Court may yet be persuaded to reopen the FPJ protest, as an act of judicial statesmanship, if only to find out whether indeed Gloria garnered more votes than FPJ, or whether the Vice President should be president instead. That question, after all, is what is tearing the nation apart."

And the Supreme Court itself, in deciding election protests where one of the parties died, ruled that an election protest "is imbued with public interest and is not extinguished when one of the parties dies."

In De Castro vs. Comelec, decided in 1997, the Court said: "The death of the protestant, as in this case, neither constitutes a ground for the dismissal of the contest nor ousts the trial court of its jurisdiction to decide the election contest... Determination of what candidate has in fact been elected is a matter clothed with public interest, wherefore, public policy demands that an election contest, duly commenced, be not abated by the death of the contestant."

In Vda. De Mesa vs. Mencias, the tribunal ruled:

"x x x It is axiomatic that an election contest, involving as it does not only the adjudication and settlement of the private interests of the rival candidates but also the paramount need of dispelling once and for all the uncertainty that beclouds the real choice of the electorate with respect to who shall discharge the prerogatives of the offices within their gift, is a proceeding imbued with public interest which raises it into a plane over and above ordinary civil actions. For this reason, broad perspectives of public policy impose upon courts the imperative duty to ascertain, by all means within their command, who is the real candidate elected, in as expeditious a manner as possible, without being fettered by technicalities and procedural barriers to the end that the will of the people may not be frustrated."

Isn't the present grave national crisis, which is ripping the nation apart, worth the PET's "judicial statesmanship," to allow for the tallying of the returns for GMA and FPJ at the same time that it tallies the returns for Noli and Loren?

Justice Cruz's Column

Separate Opinion : President Arroyo's Sona

Isagani Cruz
Inquirer News Service

THE State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday was a non-event. As drama, it was droll. As a political statement, it said nothing. As a confrontation with the issues of the day, it was a dud. I expected President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to say something significant, even challenging, but she was as tame as a kitten and no more presidential than a bureau director.

The affair was more of a fashion show, with the ladies resplendent in their colorful gowns and the gentlemen in their expensive barongs. Only former President Fidel V. Ramos came in coat and tie, as if to strike a different, superior mood. The military came in droves and in uniforms as austere as their faces. They were there to show that the Armed Forces were solidly behind their commander-in-chief.

The President had a well-orchestrated claque under the direction of Speaker Jose de Venecia. When he applauded, the members of his Rainbow Coalition also applauded. Where he was particularly pleased with what the President said, he did not merely applaud but rose to applaud. His obedient followers imitated him like so many robots because Big Sister was speaking and everybody had to cheer.

Well, not everybody because there was Senate President Franklin Drilon sitting glumly in his chair with not a sign of approval. He was a striking contrast to his co-presiding officer in the joint session who was beside himself with satisfaction. The two represented the opposite sides of the present political spectrum where several weeks ago they were an amiable twosome supporting President Arroyo.

The foreign guests, from the diplomatic corps and the business community who had come unavoidably to honor official invitation, courteously watched the charade of members of Congress, especially the House of Representatives, exhibiting their vassalage to Malacañang and their Speaker. The senators were more dignified and conceivably would not have followed their leader if Drilon had also risen to applaud.

There were those, of course, who sincerely admired the President and believed that what she was saying deserved their accolade. However, not many shared the sentiment of the small but valiant group that enthusiastically supported their idol.

How about the diehard opponents of President Arroyo who were even then already finalizing the machinery of impeachment against her? I suppose that they kept silent out of respect for the speaker where otherwise they would have responded with dismissive boos. I did not hear their disapproval as they sat peevishly like a captive audience. They were probably already preparing in their minds their adverse comments for delivery to the media.

There were reports that they had planned to boycott the Sona but except for a few stalwart oppositionists, they dutifully attended the unwelcome ordeal, also in fashionable attire like their majority colleagues but without their festive disposition. And they grimly stayed, like unwilling masochists until the President had finished her speech, without causing the threatened disturbance.

I imagine that there must have been a secret agreement among them to walk out as they had promised once President Arroyo mentioned some issue that would incite their displeasure.

Perhaps they had agreed to do this on signal from their leader for their dramatic withdrawal that would rate headlines the following day. But this expected move did not happen because it was not provoked but in fact tactically avoided by the cautious President.

They, and in fact the general public, expected Ms Arroyo to speak about such problems of her administration as corruption and election irregularities. She prudently chose not to discuss them. People wanted her to defend herself from the Garci tape charges and her alleged involvement in the "jueteng" illegal lottery scandal. She wisely declined to do so and correctly decided that these were not proper subjects in the Sona.

Instead she spoke with high praise of the accomplishments of her administration, which many did not believe. She pointed to our economic progress and even hopefully mentioned the peso-dollar exchange rate, which on that date was 55.89 pesos to one dollar. She cited 30,000 schoolrooms established under her rule, but not the lack of chairs and textbooks for the students. She also said that peace and order had improved and insurgency in the south had "abated."

The Sona was the shortest in presidential history. It was long in praise of the President's claimed accomplishments but short in the discussion of current problems and her recommendations for their solution. It was as if President Arroyo was simply making the motions to comply with tradition and the constitutional requirement. She looked quite relieved when she concluded her speech.

The true state of the nation was narrated more truthfully in the rallies outside Congress for and against President Arroyo. These were the citizens speaking without the pomp of power and the habiliments of authority in the bold exercise of their freedom of expression. They were celebrating, with placards and platitudes, their "liberty to utter and to argue freely, according to conscience, above all liberties."

More Glo Allies

Posted by Luz Rimban 
PCIJ

IF Speaker Jose de Venecia can't defeat impeachment moves against President Arroyo in the House of Representative, then the Palace will have to send in reinforcement. And the reinforcement could come in the form of new congressmen and congresswomen from party-list groups that are certified pro-Arroyo.

There has been talk going around that the Commission on Election will be proclaiming this coming week three new members of Congress from among the party-list groups still waiting for the final party list canvass. They will reportedly be brought in for a purpose and that is to raise the total number of House members from 236 to 239, so that opposition members will need 80 and not 79 signatories to endorse the impeachment complaint. Although it does not seem much, one vote short in an impeachment complaint spells the end of it.

The names and party-list groups being mentioned, however, are not exactly those who are due for proclamation. Those who are waiting in line, meantime, will have to wait longer. Based on the number of votes won, there are four party-list groups whose nominees should have been proclaimed way back June: Citizens' Battle against Corruption (CIBAC), Partido Manggagawa, Gabriela and Luzon Farmers' Party (BUTIL). But given the anti-Arroyo positions that some of these groups have taken, they might just have to prepare for a longer wait.

Meanwhile, the House leadership is said to be busy helping draft the President's State of the Nation Address on Monday. According to one party-list representative, de Venecia has been going around asking members: "What would you like the President to include in her SONA?" That being the case, expect President Arroyo's SONA to be a mishmash of issues and advocacies close to the hearts of those who have the power to make her reign or fall.

DepEd Stands Tall

Posted by Yvonne Chua
PCIJ

DROWNED out in the battle of manifestos on the ongoing political crisis is a statement released late last week by top and mid-level officials of the Department of Education (DepEd).

The statement, which appeared as a full-page ad in several national newspapers, underscored the need to keep the education system "nonpartisan and insulated from politics."

Saying that "quality education must be a path out of this crisis," the DepEd also sought a bigger budget — an 8 to 9 percent rise in its annual budget over the next five years — and the use of the Special Education Fund (SEF) of local governments solely for basic education.

A DepEd insider said education officials were constrained to issue the statement amid fears that national and local politicos who have pledged their support to the embattled Arroyo presidency would again try to meddle in the education sector, and that the president would be hard-pressed to refuse their requests given how heavily compromised she has become.

Many politicians are known to lobby for fat supply contracts and appointments of superintendents and other school officials. Their attempts, however, have been frustrated by the recent crop of DepEd officials.

By issuing last week's statement, the insider said DepEd officials are also emphasizing to whoever becomes the new education secretary—politician or otherwise—that he or she should embrace the ongoing reform agenda started under Secretary Edilberto de Jesus.

"We are setting the terms of reference. We are a professionally run organization and need to stay the course. We can't have a new secretary changing the reform agenda that took us years to craft," the insider said.

The statement was signed by all the DepEd undersecretaries and assistant secretaries, as well as nearly all its 184 schools superintendents.

Education Secretary Florencio Abad was one of the seven Cabinet members who resigned and called for President Arroyo's resignation last July 8. Arroyo has not named his replacement, but has put Undersecretary Ramon Bacani as officer-in-charge.

The appointments of several new Cabinet members are perceived to be part of the political accommodation Arroyo has been forced to make after veteran politicians like Speaker Jose de Venecia and former president Fidel V. Ramos rallied behind her amid the escalating clamor for her resignation.

Budget Secretary Romulo Neri, for example, was for a long time head of the Congressional Planning and Budget Office during De Venecia's extended speakership. He is a known JDV guy.

Some of the resigned Cabinet members have said the Arroyo administration is set to release soon the pork-barrel allocations of legislators despite the huge budget deficit to earn their support.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila was head of the Philippine National Bank during the Ramos era, when it was still in government hands, and was responsible for, among other things giving a hefty $14-million "behest" loan to businessman-rocker Ramon "RJ" Jacinto so the latter could buy PNB-owned property on Buendia Avenue in Makati in the mid-1990s.

The PCIJ wrote about this deal in 1998. What happened was PNB lent money to Jacinto so he could buy the property at a recordbreaking price of P3.7 billion. Then Jacinto offset his loans to another of his company with payments made on the property. In other words, a clever manipulation of the books that got Jacinto off the hook.  Both Favila and Jacinto can be described as Ramos boys.

Favila is also a nephew of Ramos-era Central Bank Gov. Gabriel Singson, also known to be close to Ramos.

Zamzamin Ampatuan, the new chief of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, comes from a politically influential and controversial clan in Maguindanao, with strong links to the De Venecia faction of Lakas.

One of the Ampatuans, Andal, is Maguindanao governor. As another Maguindanaoan politico revealed, Arroyo defeated Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004 with the statistically improbabale margin of 99.83 percent to 0.17 percent in seven Maguindanao towns where the mayors are all members of the Ampatuan clan.

Alexander Arevalo, the officer-in-charge at the Bureau of Customs, was a Ramos aide.  During Ramos's time, he was one of three young military officers, all graduates of the Philippine Military Academy, who served as the then president's personal assistants. A techno buff, he was largely responsible for the state-of-the art computerized back room or workroom in Malacanang, next to the Rizal Room where Ramos often received guests.

DepEd's statement in full:

A STATEMENT TO OUR LEADERS, TEACHERS, PARENTS AND COMMUNITIES

Quality Education must be a Path out of this Crisis.

We believe that quality education must be a path out of this crisis. Genuine democracies the world over succeed only where: 

• Teaching is valued by society as a time-honored profession; 
• Education is an endeavor where the whole community is involved; and
• Education system is non-partisan and insulated from politics.

The political events of these times are important to the future of the country. The running of the schools and education for all, especially our young children, however, are concerns of the present.

General Statement to the Public

The Department has put in place reforms to improve the quality of education over the past three years. These include academic reforms:

• New grading system
• Bridge program to prepare elementary graduates for high school
• Every Child a Reader program
• English, Science and Math proficiency
• Revisions to the Basic Education Curriculum
• Textbook policy (including a new, more stringent textbook content evaluation process); and
• Expansion of the Madrasah education system for young Muslim Filipinos
• Alternative Learning System for out-of-school children, youth and adults

and financial reforms:

• Decentralization of the payroll system to the regions
• Clean-up of the automatic payroll deduction system (APDS) to protect teachers from usurious lenders
• Professionalization of the Department's provident fund for teachers and non-teaching personnel
• Tightening of qualification standards in the hiring of teachers and principals
• Direct-release system and the electronic NGAS (New Government Accounting System)
• Government procurement reforms (school buildings, furniture, textbooks, instructional materials)

Over the past three years, our Department has worked hard to create and maintain a corruption-free environment with emphasis on cleaning up anomalies in hiring, procurement and finance. We are today a professionally-managed organization of educators.

Started under Secretary Edilberto C. de Jesus as the 12-Point Agenda (later the Education Roadmap), Secretary Florencio B. Abad expanded and refined these reforms as the Schools First Initiative.

To all our publics, the Department will stay the course with the Schools First Initiative that puts in place the plans for the decentralization of education down to the schools and to involve local school boards, parents and communities in taking responsibility and ownership for the achievement and performance of students under their watch.

Despite the ongoing political developments, the career professionals in the field down to our school heads and teachers assure parents that the delivery of quality education through our schools and alternative learning systems will stay focused on the Schools First Initiative. We are committed to the education of our children.

To our Leaders

Stay focused on education reforms. We need a peaceful, orderly and quick resolution to this crisis to help us focus on the task-at-hand for ourselves (quality education) and for the nation (growth and stability). Support the education reforms by significantly increasing the necessary resources to allow us to deliver on these.

To our Teachers

Stay focused on teaching. We encourage school discussion of issues to promote better understanding of the situation. But we will not tolerate mass actions that disrupt our schools. Legitimate issues should be handled within available mechanisms. We assure our teachers that the Department is working to raise the necessary resources for education, including improving teacher welfare and a salary increase.

To our Parents

Be actively involved in your children's education. Get involved with your school. This period provides us with an opportunity to clarify and affirm the values important to our society such as truth, justice, accountability, citizenship and love of country.

A Statement to All

Education is important to the future of this country. Let us spend more on public education. To our leaders, both national and local, as well as our major publics – parents, local business sector and our immediate communities – this is what we must do:

1. Raise the annual budget of the Department of Education by at least 8-9% per year over the next five years. This yearly increase of P9-10 Billion will allow us to catch up with the shortages and to provide quality inputs to keep our children engaged in the school system.
2. Focus the Special Education Fund (SEF) of local governments soely on basic education, including the education for out-of-school children, youth and adults, and on our schools. Let us minimize the use of the SEF on non-basic-education-related matters.
3. Ensure that the Department of Public Works and Highways turns over only completely-constructed school buildings. Local leaders must make sure that DPWH-constructed school buildings are complete and to specifications.
4. Depoliticize education policy. Let us not be afraid to provide an additional year of education to better prepare our children for their future. Let only properly trained pre-school teachers teach pre-school. Let us expand high school to better prepare our graduates for university or to gain more competitive skills needed for the world of work. Let us support electoral reforms that will free teachers from mandatory poll duties.

The education of our children is too important to leave to Government alone. All of us have a collective responsibility to make our education system reform. We ask all Filipinos to join us in this undertaking.

Gloria's Fighting Words

(Text of Pres. Arroyo's Nationwide TV/Radio Address on July 7, 2005)

 

Mga Minamahal kong kababayan.

When I was young and my late father Diosdado Macapagal was president of our country, I thought of him as the "good guy" and his political opponents on the other side were the "bad guys".

Because of my father's influence, I had always thought of myself as on the side of the good. Thus, it is very painful for me to know that among many of our countrymen today, I have been demonized as the "bad guy." This is unfair, but it is a cross that God in His wisdom has given me to bear, so I will bear it. I have never questioned God's ways before, and I will not do so now.

When I first entered politics in 1992, little did I know that within a decade, I would become president of our country. And little did I expect that within another five years, there would be calls from civil society for my resignation from office or for the formation of a "Truth Commission" regarding some of my political actuations.

When I spoke before the nation some two weeks ago, I did so against the advice of my legal counsel. But I thought that speaking before you, the Filipino people, was the right thing to do. Shameless people have peddled the lie that I confessed to cheating. What I disclosed was that I talked to an election official. But that this had taken place after the certificates of canvas had already been used to proclaim the winning senators, and it was those same certificates of canvass that showed that I won by around a million votes. That is the truth.

Indeed, it is right for our country to confront the truth, but if we do so, let's confront the biggest, most painful political truth. The big truth that we are aware of deep in our hearts, but that we collectively sweep under the rug. The big truth whose debilitating effects on our country, year after year, decade after decade, have developed into feelings of disgust, hopelessness and even despair among large segments of our society.

The truth that I discovered from my beginnings as a neophyte politician in 1992, rising to become a veteran politician through the years, is this: over the years, our political system has degenerated to such an extent that it is very difficult to live within the system with hands totally untainted. That is the truth. In addition, our system has degenerated to such an extent that more often than not, it is political agenda first, and national interest last. For example, we have endless investigations and scandals in aid of political and media projection, rather than in aid of legislation or executive action. That is the truth. Because of this system of politics, our country has been left behind by other countries in the region, and our best and brightest, the cream of our youth, are voting with their feet to leave the country. That is the truth.

I do not blame any individual or political block for this sad state of affairs. It is simply the truth that the political system that I am part of has degenerated to the point that it needs fundamental change. We are collectively to blame, so we must collectively be the solution. Let he who is without sin, cast the stone. To those who feel that they cannot cast the first stone, I invite you to help in the solution.

My proposed approach to reform our system of politics and governance is something that I had wanted to bring forth during the upcoming state of the nation address. However, because our country is hungry for a resolution to the political uncertainties that have plagued us these past few weeks, I will bring it up now.

First of all, I am not resigning my office. To do so under circumstances that connote an EDSA 3 would condemn any successor to the possibility of an EDSA 4, then an EDSA 5, and so on, unless our political system were first reformed to make it more responsive to the people's will, such that changes in leadership come about in an orderly and stable manner.

The world embraced EDSA 1 in 1986. The world tolerated EDSA 2 in 2001. The world will not forgive an EDSA 3 in 2005, but would instead condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable. And the Filipinos as among the finest people in the world, but who always shoot themselves in the foot. Under those circumstances, who would invest money in the Philippines? How would we weather the difficulties arising from the price of crude oil being at its highest in history?

What I intend to do is to work with legislators and civil groups who believe that changes in the fundamental law of the land are necessary in order to confront such basic issues as federalism, the character of our legislative process, reducing red tape in government processes, running for public office under a true party system and with less need to raise campaign funds, modernizing the economic provisions of our constitution, and so forth.

At the same time, I will restructure and strengthen the cabinet, giving it a free hand to meanwhile reform and manage our day to day governance with as little political interference as possible, even from me.

This is how we will proceed.

First, I'm asking my entire cabinet to tender their resignation in order to give the executive a free hand to reorganize itself. I'll ask our sectors to give me the names of candidates that we can invite to replace those who will not return to the cabinet, or even to help out at other levels of the executive.

Second, the cabinet will be given a free hand on governance, while I focus on the fundamental changes that we need to put in place.

Third, I will begin to reach out to the political and civil sectors that have an interest in the various advocacies that are relevant to our constitution. Federalism, for example, is an advocacy that I had espoused long ago.

This is neither political ploy nor gimmick. I believe that this process will quickly lay the foundation for deep reforms in our society, including reforms in our political way of life. This would be a legacy that our generation of politicians and citizens could collectively be proud of. I now have grand children to play with and to help bring up. Like all of you, I want our children to grow up in a better Philippines. I have prayed on this, and I hope that I have discerned God's will properly.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

Electoral Fraud

Posted by Vinia Datinguinoo
PCIJ

THE Congressional canvass that declared Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to have won the presidency in 2004 showed her to have beaten Fernando Poe Jr. by 1,123,576 votes. A study published in Kasarinlan, a journal of UP's Third World Studies Center, says this could not be so. The paper, written by new media pioneer Roberto Verzola, asserts that Arroyo did not win the May elections by 1.1 million votes. It was a very close contest, Verzola says, with "the most probable results" ranging from a GMA win of around 156,000 votes or less, to an FPJ win of around 84,000 votes or less.

Verzola analyzed both the Namfrel tally—that used election returns (ERs)—and the parallel official count by Congress of provincial Certificates of Canvass (COCs). He dissected not only the numbers but how the tally itself progressed.

Verzola first made his findings public just over a month after the elections, in a shorter piece published June 20 last year in the Inquirer.

View Verzola's full report here.

 

Posted by Yvonne Chua
PCIJ

FIFTY-NINE percent of the respondents of a Social Weather Stations' telephone survey in Metro Manila believe President Arroyo told then Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to cheat in the May 10, 2004 elections and that she was not just trying "to protect her votes."

The June 28-30 survey, which the SWS said was "conducted on its own initiative as a public service" after Arroyo's June 27 admission that she had called a Comelec official, showed that only 29 percent believe she called to protect her votes.

Other highlights of the survey:

• 68 percent heard Arroyo's June 27 address over TV or radio, or read it in newspapers.
• 94 percent were aware of the Garci tapes.
• 32 percent had listened to the tapes, and 40 percent had either listened to or at least read a transcript of the tapes.
• 84 percent support the full airing of the tapes to the public.
• Only 20 percent agreed with Arroyo's statement that the chapter on the Garci tapes should be closed; 77 percent wanted some things done, including an investigation (26 percent) and Arroyo's resignation (18 percent).
• 48 percent said Vice President Noli de Castro was capable of running the government in case Arroyo resigned or were removed.
• Arroyo has a -31 net trust rating and the Comelec, -27.

Comelec Reactions

Posted by Yvonne Chua, PCIJ 

ONE Comelec lawyer confirmed today talking with Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano about the votes in Talitay town, Maguindanao. (Read previous post, Arroyo and ARMM.)

Wynne Asdala of the law department told PCIJ that he has read the transcript of the three-hour tape but has not heard it.

Asdala, who served as the provincial election supervisor of Maguindanao in the May 10, 2004 elections and who was heard in the controversial recordings twice discussing with Garcillano former Sen. Robert Barbers' alleged request to raise his votes in Maguidanao and Sultan Kudarat, denied he and Garcillano ever talked about Barbers and the attempt to pad the former senator's votes.

He said the commissioner had called to ask who was leading in Talitay, but could not remember which candidate the latter was interested in. He also said he could not have intervened in Columbio, a town in Sultan Kudarat. (The provincial election supervisor of Sultan Kudarat was Lintang Bedol.)

Asdala also denied he knows Sultan Kudarat Gov. Pax Mangudadatu, who, together with his son, Rep. Suharto "Teng" Mangudadatu, was mentioned in the tape as supposedly asking him to help Barbers in Talitay. The Mangudadatus have yet to give their side.

Meanwhile, two Comelec personnel from Mindanao informed PCIJ today that the voice of "Boy" resembled that of Renato "Boy" Magbutay, Comelec director for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. 

Two other Comelec sources based in Manila earlier told PCIJ that they were sure Boy's voice was that of Renault "Boy" Macarambon, a lawyer detailed at the office of Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and supposedly tasked by the commissioner to closely monitor the ARMM.

In their conversations, Boy and Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano discussed the political opposition's plan to present election officer Rashma Hali as a witness on the alleged cheating in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan, as well as President Arroyo's concern that a teacher from Languyan, Tawi-Tawi was in the opposition's "Witness Protection Program."

Magbutay told PCIJ in a phone interview that said he has not listened to the tape. But he said, "Hindi ako yung nandoon sa (I'm not there in the) alleged tape. It's not me."

He also suggested, "Why don't we wait for the proper agency to determine if it's the original or altered tape? Malay mo pinagdugtong-dugtong lang yan to make it appear na original (It may have been spliced to make it appear that it's the original)."

Macarambon did not report for work today, and has not returned our calls despite a request we left with his colleagues.

Cardinal Sin, 76

Jaime Cardinal Sin, 76
Former Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin passed away Tuesday morning after a lingering illness, DZMM reported. He was 76.
abs-cbnNEWS.com

Cardinal Sin dead at 76

Philippines' Cardinal Sin dies at 76 MSNBC  ... his death early Tuesday. "Our call to all the faithful is to include in their prayers the soul of Cardinal Sin," Sescon said.

Cardinal Jaime Sin Dies at 76 Los Angeles Times, CA  MANILA, Philippines -- Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Roman Catholic cleric who helped lead revolts that ousted two Philippine presidents, died early Tuesday.

Philippines Cardinal Sin is dead BBC News, UK  Cardinal Sin played a key role in the Philippines' transition to democracy following the lengthy dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.

Cardinal Jaime Sin Dies at 76 San Francisco Chronicle, CA  Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Roman Catholic cleric who helped lead revolts that ousted two Philippine presidents, died early Tuesday. He was 76.

Hello, Garci Ring Tone Download

Here are Mp3 and wav files of the Hello Garci ring tone:

Indymedia server:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (124.1 KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (72.1 KB)

Server Mirror 1:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

Server Mirror 2:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

Server Mirror 3:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

To save, right-click on the file and click save as.

Many thanks to QC Indymedia and Yuga of PinoyBlog and Ploghost for hosting the files.

Links to the entire tape are at the PCIJ blog.

How do I put it in my phone?

1. Download your choice by clicking any or all of the files.

2. Transfer the downloaded file/s from the computer to your phone using either an infrared connection or a USB-to-phone cable.

3. For those whose phones have GPRS/WAP access, point your phone's browser to www.txtpower.org and download it directly to your phone.

4. Once transferred to your phone, the sound file may be used as ringtone for calls or text messages.

Other options

1. Ask for file-transfer from friends who may already have the ringtone. Both your phones should have either infrared or bluetooth connections.

2. Join any of the future anti-GMA rallies and look for the TXTPower banner. Next big date is June 24.

3. Watch out for the TXTPower "Hello Garci" Ringtone Download Team when they go around offices, stores and tiangges, communities and schools!

Download Garci Ring Tone From TxtPower

June 17, 2005
Here are Mp3 and wav files of the Hello Garci ring tone:

Server Mirror 1:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

Server Mirror 2:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

Server Mirror 3:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

To save, right-click on the file and click save as.

Many thanks to Yuga of PinoyBlog and Ploghost for hosting the files.

Links to the entire tape are at the PCIJ blog.

ABS-CBN Download

 

You can download the controversial "Gloria-Garci" tapes from ABS-CBN Archive.

Retirees' Revolt

'Destab' in Aid of Collection?
By Roel Landingin
Newsbreak Contributing Writer


There are few combinations more dangerous than money and the military, but that's exactly the combustible mix that the Arroyo administration stirred up when it did not pay enough attention to the military retirees' demands for the settlement of unpaid pension benefits amounting to at least P17 billion as of end-2004.

Former generals who called for President Arroyo's ouster last May 1 are also leaders of a group of military retirees pressing the government to pay legally mandated increases in retirement benefits since 2000. What began as an innocent welfare issue seems to have evolved into a patently anti-government political movement.

In January, after getting tired of appealing to authorities, an organization of retirees, the Federation of Retired Commissioned and Enlisted Soldiers (Forces), filed a class suit against the defense and budget departments as well as the House of Representatives and the Senate to compel the government to appropriate funds to pay for the increases in the retirees' pensions.

The retirees' lawyer argued that the government's failure to pay part of the ex-soldiers and officers' pensions amounted to "grave abuse of discretion" and violated the military retirement law. The government has not earmarked any amount for the payment of the increases in pensions and other benefits of retired soldiers stipulated in the law, he said.

Four months later, leaders of Forces and other retiree groups, notably retired army general and ex-Defense Secretary Fortunato Abat, called for the ouster of Ms. Arroyo and the establishment of a revolutionary junta composed of military, political, and civil society leaders.

Another retired officer, Commodore Ismael Aparri, disclosed in early April that former soldiers were soliciting the support of those in active duty for a "civil disobedience" campaign to force the government to settle its pension obligations to close to 300,000 retired or separated soldiers, including dependents of those who have died, according to a report in the Tribune. He warned that the government's failure to act on the retirees' demands for pension payments may encourage some of former soldiers and officers to move for the ouster of President Arroyo.

Calling for the President's overthrow looks like an odd way to collect on the government's obligation. But if senators can conduct "investigations in aid of collection"—as UK bank Standard Chartered called the Senate's inquiry on an alleged investment scam—why can't ex-soldiers use the threat of destabilization to collect as well?

Alternative Arroyo Download

Posted by Alecks Pabico

PCIJ
 

THE tsunami-like surge in bandwidth usage due to the unprecedented download requests for the controversial tapes has already forced the shutdown of one of our servers and those of the mirror sites that have been generously shared to us. However, thanks again to some of our fellow bloggers' initiatives, the files can still be downloaded via the following links:

Three-Hour Tape

• BitTorent: http://mininova.org/tor/55762 (160MB)
• RapidShare:
  1. Audio Set 1 (01-11) - 48.7MB
  2. Audio Set 2 (12-20) - 45.6MB
  3. Audio Set 3 (21-29) - 46.8MB
  4. Audio Set 4 (30-33) - 20.5MB

Paguia Tape

• BitTorent: http://mininova.org/tor/55788 (31MB, including text file of transcript)
• Windows Media Video: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=12LP7M2J (with subtitles)

PCIJ Download

Posted by Alecks Pabico, PCIJ 

FINALLY, here's the tracker to the torrent file of the three-hour tape, courtesy of Yuga and MLQ3, from which you can start seeding to have your own copy. You will need a BitTorrent client installed on your PC to download the content of the torrent file. With a DSL connection, download time is roughly about two hours.

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