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MY MOTHER TONGUE

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:04:54 +0100

MY MOTHER TONGUE

On The Occasion Of the Linggo Ng Mga Wika

I am so passionate with my mother tongue, the Cebuano, the dialect of the Visayan speaking nation. Sometimes on my extremities, I offended others along the way. I may not be blamed for that for I am raised in a family who believed that ours is suppressed by the superiority of the national leadership.

My wife totally disagrees with me on that line, although like me she loves Bisaya. I understand my wife because she’s a Psychology graduate and thinks otherwise from a Political Science graduate like me.

One time we found a short story in the internet in Cebuano. I was teary-eyed reading it for it’s a long lost music of love. Its nuances and rhymes narrating is a beautiful dancer, where the forgotten Bisaya words are logically arranged and it is like dreaming, floating ephemerally among the greats in heaven and you want more. Thus, you cried.

I wonder why our modern medium of communications and learning are suppressing our mother tongues. Especially the dreams of our youth to speak like a call center agent.

Society today sometime judged us in the way we speak foreign or other languages or dialects and in some occasions, like in my case, eyebrows are rising when they hear me with my Bisayan accent.

While in other countries, they have high respect in their own mother tongues like their regional dialects.

Last year, I seated closed with Senator Nene Pimentel. His voice and infectious laughter is Bisayan by all means. And when he asked a Tagalog waitress for more coffee with a strident voice and in our dialect, the beautiful being graciously understood the good Senator.

Nene Pimentel is what he is today, an icon on local empowerment and democracy, because of his great love on where he comes from, on the diversity of our cultures and he’s being proud Bisaya. He’s true to himself, thus his ascent to success in life.

In Germany, students are required to take a test on their competencies of their mother tongues. Studies show that the use of mother tongue among children enhances one’s intellectual, emotional and social competencies.

It’s totally different in our country.Taking it from Senator Nene Pimentel, instead of asserting, we will teach everyone and advocate the beauty of the Bisaya dialect.

One time I attended a forum on Cebuano grammar in MSU-IIT. I shared to them that when I was a kid, my great-great grandmother, a daughter of a Christianized indigenous family in Iligan, could named all the stars in heaven. Only one of the hundreds I remembered and it is the Bisaya for the ‘Big Dipper.’

To my grandmother, she named the big dipper as Tuwang Bulatik. Maybe stars are not called Bituun but Bulatik, like we call a humbug bulatik.

I regret that as a story listener of the old back then, I never had a time keeping the stories of my grandparents because of procrastination, forgetfulness and preoccupied with the things of my younger days. I hope God will grant me the grace to remember all those things.

So much for that, I am like a Diwanon. My grandmother said it is the estuarine. It is the kind of water, at the mouth of the river, where the sea and fresh water met and mixed. My thoughts are mixing now.

In celebration of the Linggo Na Wika for this month, this piece is in honor to my own, beautiful dialect, Bisaya and I am proud of it.

CDM Manila: Leading Us in Nation-Building

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:32:31 +0100

CDM MANILA: LEADING US IN NATION BUILDING

A Speech delivered to the Officers of the Organized Districts in Manila
Tajikii Restaurant, Makati City, Philippines
August 11, 2011, 6:00PM to 10:00PM

Last week our nation had a bolt from the blue in the Senate not from the maddening inquiries on corruption of the previous administration but on the surprised resignation of Senator Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon. Instead of continuing the contests in the tribunal, he made a sacrifice in uncovering the truth behind the 2004 National Elections especially that the principal of all these messes is no longer in power and the emergence of witnesses to that fraud like Ampatuan and Bedol.

Within this week there is a possibility that bar topnotch Atty. Koko Pimentel of Cagayan de Oro City will be proclaimed as Senator of this Republic.

Both gentlemen are coming from Mindanao, I voted for both of them. Whatever these two gentlemen may gain from this spectacle, there is a fact that we have to reflect being CDM District Leaders in Manila, first: on the massive electoral frauds in Mindanao and second: on Mindanao’s underrepresentation in the Senate. Presently, we only have Senator Guingona coming from Mindanao.

Since the time of the inauguration of our Republic in 1946, Mindanao is the venue of electoral frauds instigated by the oligarchs who are financing their candidates and their elections in whatever means. The dead, the ghosts, the birds and the bees are allowed to vote, and we may have elected fake leaders, then and now, both in national and in local arenas.

Rebellion in Mindanao is a twin of our history. From the time Miguel Lopez de Legazpi established Manila and until today, the Moro rebellion and the displacement of the indigenous peoples have been with us ever since. The rebellion today is modified with kidnap for ransom, patronage among the warlords and the business of counter insurgency of the government. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, soldiers and rebels were killed, displaced and victimized by this seemingly endless Mindanao armed conflict.

In all of the regions in the country, we from Mindanao are the poorest in terms of the basic social services like the nutrition of our children, health of our people, education and others since the time the Spaniards imposed its policy of militarization in Mindanao, sadly, until today. Government funds for Mindanao are in the form of counter insurgency, rewarding local warlords or funds fuelled in to buy peace at a high price. At the end of the day, it is always us, the innocent civilians who are victims.

I am sharing you these thoughts about the resignation of Senator Zubiri and the proclamation of Atty. Pimentel and about Mindanao for this is a simple case on the deficit of our democracy and the deficit of predictability in our country.

Nothing’s really new in Philippine political landscape. Our highly centralized governance has been with us since the Spanish times. The oligarchs are ruling and manipulating our political and economic system, electoral frauds like that infamous Tejeros Convention by dislodging a proletariat leader named Andres Bonifacio, the massive corruption, the Mindanao rebellion, etc. all of these are not new to us, you know this well and these are with us since the time of the Spaniards and they are still our news today.

Our political and economic issues are repeating and recurring. When will this stop? When are we going to learn from these? Are we expecting an Arab- Spring like revolution in our country?

This is not only because of our system of governance but also because of collective failure to build a nation.

Though our colonizers have long been gone, we remained to be colonized by our own captive consciousness and captives of the oligarchs who are dominating our government especially in the formulation of distorted policies in order to continuously control our economy. Their resources make them well capable of financing their candidates and committed electoral frauds and cheating and the proclaimed winners are beholden to them. These expensive, distorted policies are reasons why we have a very corrupt bureaucracy, for our government services and laws are favorable only for the few who can afford, and hence low investments and monopoly in our economy. In our government we have corruption, patronage, a weak state and poor governance. To the Filipinos, we have low income, poor education, poor health and the low respect for law and order. At the end of the day, the oligarchs are still controlling this country.

This vicious cycle has destroyed basically the human dignity of every Filipino and this persisted until today because of our failure to build a Filipino nation.

Organizing political movements are not new like the La Liga Filipina of Dr. Jose Rizal in 1892, it was established to identify a Filipino nation. If Rizal is alive today, his genius may still struggle more than a century later for the same Filipino nationhood.

We failed to build a Filipino nation. A nation with its own identity and of people who know the purposes why we are born here in the Philippines, a nation not only of the capital city of Manila but in solidarity with all its peoples irrespective of its faith and cultural backgrounds, and lastly a nation faithful in protecting the human dignity of every Filipino.

What makes us different from the other movements is our passion towards nation building, that spirit of nationalism, the value of loving this country and our countrymen after God.

I raise this matter to all of you, our District leaders in Manila. I know that you are all aware of this vicious cycle that destroys the dignity of the Filipino.

Every time I am asked why I joined this movement, I say that this is a very rare opportunity for me to be given a chance to build this nation anchored on the core value on human dignity. I may have the chance to join with traditional political parties or movements but their genetic identity and their political programs are not aligned with the protection of human dignity. Likewise, I may also have the chance to join with insurgents being belonging to a deprived Christianized indigenous people in Mindanao, but the arm struggle is not in anyway, respecting the dignity of every man.

I hope that in your decision to become members of CDM and your acceptance to this leadership, your passion to build a Filipino nation is anchored on our centrist core value on human dignity.

I am thankful to your Regional Chairperson, the very active Dr. Nenita Manongsong for inviting me here and this is my first time to speak before our leaders in CDM Manila since my election last November 2010. It is my desire to meet you not because I want to convince you on the purposes why we are all here.

I am here to stress to you that CDM Federation of the Philippines will never be successful if CDM Manila will not take a lead in changing the political landscape of this country, in our advocacy for human dignity, the empowerment of the Regions and the solidarity of all of us, as one Filipino nation.

As your Interim National President and the Regional Chairperson of Northern Mindanao and as true blooded Mindanaoan, I extend my hands of brotherhood to all of you that our success in organizing CDM in Mindanao is a function of the success and the leadership of CDM Manila in terms of organizing your own districts here, in expanding your membership and in making us politically significant and relevant from this metropolis to the entire country.

With the true friendship shown by Doc Nits to all of us in Mindanao, let us continue our spirit of solidarity, that we are one in building the backbone of this movement. We may have experienced birth pains as we build this movement, have differences and conflicts within, to me they are natural, but our position in the movement does not matter. What matters most is our passion to build this nation anchored on human dignity spiced up with friendship and lots of fellowships.

I am thankful to our conveners, Peter and Sir Lito. I am grateful to them always for their inspiring efforts in guiding us. But I don’t want to tell the generations that will come after me, that it took a Peter’s patience and Sir Lito’s inspiration for us to be awakened. From today, all of us must be proud of the way we are working in the districts, meeting with the grassroots, educating the masses and organizing in the Barangays, that we have done something for the country and we are primarily responsible in building a Filipino nation.

I am looking forward that in this first meeting of ours and your first also to meet together as District Leaders in Manila, you will finally decide your vision on how to make your Region politically powerful here in Manila under the leadership of Dr. Manongsong. We have done great things in my own region but at the end of the day, it is always CDM Manila’s plans, your actions and the results we are looking after as our model.

I welcome you all, let us be brothers, sisters and friends in solidarity in building the backbone of our movement, all for God and country. Magandang Gabi Po sa inyong lahat!

THE PROPER TIME FOR CHARTER CHANGE

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:09:23 +0100

THE PROPER TIME FOR CHARTER CHANGE

A constitution is an important legal document of a State for its enactment is prompted by an event or events that significantly change the course of our nation’s history. It is indispensable for it resolves the rages of that time and gratifies the actors of that historic event by making their actions institutional or foundational, whether they are the powerful few or the majority of the citizens or a portion of their territory.

The passage of the constitution is not only a legal procedure of its legislature or by its people through the delegated legislative authority but it must be the result of a historic occasion of the nation.

It may be the birth of a state, change of government, toppling of an administration or leaders or a necessary resolution to a national crisis.

Without those important historical events, attempt to change the charter is viewed as tainted with vested interest by the leaders in order to hold on to power how good the intentions may be.

This was the reaction during GMA’s time and it coincided with the question on her legitimacy when she rose to power in 2001 and was dubiously elected in 2004. To some skeptics before, there is now truth to their suspects citing the untangling of the despicable corruption of her administration. What would have happened to our country if she had succeeded in changing the charter?

The subject to amend the constitution is revived in the halls of congress and among known political personalities but the public is not excited on the need to tinker the still untouched 1987 Philippine Constitution, one which was actually designed in response to the Marcos dictatorship. Majority of its provisions are already obsolete and are reasons that political and economic reforms are stalling for decades now

What will move us as a nation to amend the constitution today?

To ensure popular support that will back up this expensive exercise, debate and in deciding for a new one or an amended constitution, there must be that historical basis that will motivate the entire nation. Without which everything will be futile and unpopular move for a popularly elected populist President.

However, if the President will bring the issue on corruption in reforming an oligarch dominated and elitist constitution enacted during his mother’s tenure, probably the general acceptance of the public may be higher.

I highly admire the courage and the bravery of our President in uncovering the appalling corruption of his predecessor, and following him is like ‘Captain America’ punishing the villain, the plunderers.

Wherever I go, the people are very happy of what the President is fighting for.

Our current constitution and the institutions it legitimizes, however, are not sufficient to punish the corrupt officials and in helping PNoy in this heroic fight. He must go to the higher level and that is reforming the charter coinciding with his noble cause in cleaning the government.

Being the most corrupt country, the destruction of our democratic institutions and the loss of Filipino dignity, there is a need to provide strong provisions in our constitution to punish big time corrupt officials and ensure the safeguarding of our institutions from those evils.

There’s a need to structurally transform the branches of our government from a very static and pork-barrel filled institutions into an organ of harmony, independence and dynamism. No office or its office holders have sole control of all resources by giving specific constitutional provision on the concept of interdependence for them to work together so that the democratic essence of checks and balances, political party system and the rule of law will be respected.

A challenge to reform the 1987 Philippine Constitution must be in answer to the call of the President on a nationwide fight against graft and corruption.

This will be the greatest legacy of the President and a high time for the Filipino people to be vigilant in designing a charter that will once and for all protect the taxes they paid to the government, that the obligations of the government to protect them shall be fulfilled, the leveling of the political and economic landscapes, ensure direct participation of the people in government decision making by giving more power and resources to the local governments, strengthen our electoral system that will protect the sacred votes of the citizens and a mechanism that will instill fear for those who will commit graft and corruption both in the public and private sector.

There’s no more foreign colonialist and no more Marcos dictatorship, what we have now are the oligarchs captivating this nation and corrupt officials plundering the government, and I know that the President needs a reformed constitution to help him and make his fight more significant to our nation’s history.

DOMINATION OF THE OLIGARCHS AND THE POLITICAL ELITES

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:21:47 +0100

DOMINATION OF THE OLIGARCHS AND THE POLITICAL ELITES

It is the domination of the oligarchs and the political elites which is the root cause of everything bad happening in our political and economic system, and this result to the non-functioning and the irrelevancy of democracy to our nation’s growth.

Not only are our economic portions are affected by this domination but also on the disrespect on human rights, dignity, our freedoms and liberties.

The oligarchs and the political elites are not only the ruling class but also those who are against them like the insurgents, the rebel groups and others who are opposed to the present administration and government.

Like the previous colonizers, they dominate to protect and preserve their vested interests and accumulate wealth as much as possible with human and environmental oppression and degradation.

As pioneering leaders since the commonwealth period, they have access to governmental powers and its economic opportunities. We call them as rulers when in power or opposition or insurgents when not, and vice versa.

They established our defective system of government and impose many distorted policies. Hence we have a weak state where laws are not for all citizens, but for the few. Their resources paved to the elections of our leaders through their campaign funds, and the insurgents through their permit to campaign.

Every elected leader financed is beholden and has the obligation to reciprocate their support by retaining the distorted policies and defective system of governance to continue their plunder.

The policies influenced are available at high prices, as consequence a highly corrupt bureaucracy. A government employee involve in corruption will be assigned to another office or location but the system of corruption will remain despite the removal because the one controlling the system remains undamaged and not affected.

The expensive policies result to utmost monopolies, hence less economic investments. With an economy whose fields are uneven as the political landscape, there’s less opportunity or none at all for Filipinos to grow and be economically productive. Our best and brightest have no place in this country but abroad bringing with him aside from his talents and skills, the fear in a foreign land and a broken family. To remain here is to buy expensive policies for employment or to do businesses. Whatever plans you are going to undertake, you must not disturb the powerful oligarchs and political elites of the country. Hence, this economic system puts us as one of the poorest in the world.

If you want to rebel, the existing insurgents are of the same circle of family, lineage, friends, classmates, fraternities, business and others. That is why insurgency cannot be stopped by our government and why there are those who are making money in peace negotiations, insurgencies and in rebellion. None are compatriots but rather oligarchs and political elites in the same circle.

There are conflicts within this circle and these are only façade to their continuous plunder, a drama sort of. There’s no justice or even a sense of vindictiveness against the previously ruling oligarchs because these travesties are made to give false hopes to the Filipinos as audience to the never-ending, repetitive soap opera.

The Hacienda Luisita and the CARP during Cory’s time, the mega corruption of the Clark Expo during Ramos time and Erap’s and jeuteng. There’s no justice, and GMA, with her super plundering, will remain free for they belong to the same circle of oligarchs and political elites.

The Senate investigations on corruption are of this charade. Why they are not using their constitutionally guaranteed power to check her during her tenure? Because the Senate as an institution is a beneficiary and instrument in order to retain the legitimacy of the distorted policies by tolerance. The rewards are played through the pork barrel politics.

We who are outside of the circle have no place to play their games. The rules of the game and the playing field are absolutely uneven, favored only the few and designed solely for them. We are what we called the sacrificial lamb, the pawns, the activists or collaterals.

To be hero for a new chapter of our nation’s history, the President must take a lead in closing the one on conquest and colonialism of his people by his own class. He has to be radical to dismantle the oligarch and the political elite. Their exclusive circle must be deleted and let the rules of the game and the playing field be for everyone not only for the limited crannies of the few.

PORK BARREL POLITICS IN PHILIPPINE BUDGET

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:56:42 +0100

PORK BARREL POLITICS IN PHILIPPINE BUDGET

From the common Filipinos, our country’s budget is a technical maze, incomprehensible and irrelevant to his daily economic activities. Not knowing that the enormous amount in our annual budget will be taken, or unarguably stolen, from the pockets of every Filipino.

PNoy’s submission of his P1.7 Trillion 2012 budget for Congress’ approval means that our government, through legislation, will be taking a portion from our own earning to raise that enormous amount. Granting with a population of 90 Million, everyone including our one-year old children will be paying almost P19 thousand in order to run and operate his government next year.

If you are going to explain in this way to the Barrio folks, they will be agitated to rise up in arms to topple this usurious government.

Is it worth to pay such amount to a government branded as one of the most corrupt in the world, perpetrating poverty in all its policies, with oppressive instrumentalities and favors only the powerful few?

No one can escape from this imposition for this is an inherent and necessary power which we call taxation. Every citizen shall contribute from his own earnings, economic activities and properties owned in order to operate a government.

But before taxation, there is what we called, ideally, the social contract entered into between the governed and the governor. The government is organized and placed there by the people in order to govern with a primordial obligation that it shall preserve order within the country.

Hoping that this contract will not be forgotten that before we will contribute, we shall ask what happened to our previous payments and did it fulfill the government’s obligation to protect us and preserve order in the society we live in?

I know that this is too idealistic for a country used to promises.

What we can easily believe however is that the 2012 budget like its predecessors will only favored the oligarchs, the politically and the economically powerful few and it is prepared justifying the politics of patronage, favoritism and booty capitalism and this is commenced by the pork barrel politics.

This is not Pnoy’s fault for before him the system is already in place but it will be his entire fault if after his term he will not be fulfilling his heroic promise to curb corruption, and I suggest that he should start from the Philippine system of budgeting and must exercise his vast ‘power of the purse.’

Our budget is a pork barrel politics per se which promotes economic inefficiencies in the allocation of resources at the national and at every legislative district. It has no economic advantages or contributions at all and it is rather regressing and leading our country towards economic slowdown and deficits.

From the start of preparing the budget, our earnings are divided like war booty in a form of congressional insertions, plutocracy in the legislations and in asserting legislative power over that of the President by threatening to delay the approval of the budget. The constitutional provision on the reenactment of budget in cases it will fail to pass the appropriation act for the budget year is actually an act of leverage on the plutocratic attitude of Congress to ensure the inclusion of their pork barrel, or the so called congressional insertions or the lump sum allocations.

All of those mentioned in the pork barrel politics in the preparation of the Philippine budget is why we are rewarded as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, no need for qualifications.

The 2012 budget will be played again by this kind of politics and I still believe that the principles promised and the perceived virtue of PNoy will prevail over this despicable practice of looting every Filipino of his earnings.

We are not yet talking about the controlling oligarchs and the patronage in the cycle of implementing the approved budget for what we are saying her is still its preparation.

Just think that in every peso you contribute to the government, with the pork barrel, oligarchy and patronage, you will end up receiving a cent of government services shared by you and the entire Barangay. This is not an exaggeration for this is the truth being the most corrupt government in the world.

POLITICS OF PATRONAGE

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:38:07 +0100

POLITICS OF PATRONAGE

Much has been said about the politics of patronage in the Philippines and it is undisputable as the main cause why our governance remains as one of the most corrupt and our country as the poorest in the world.

Two reasons why patronage is rife in our country, first, in the way we disregard the relevance of our indigenous core value into our political and economic systems and, second, the domination of the oligarchs then and now by distorting our values.

Our Filipino core value is pakikipagkapwa and it gives importance to humanity and our being part in a community and to be in solidarity with others. Most European countries with an individualistic core value among its citizens are incorporating human dignity in their entire system of governance, hence the success of their welfare state and the impressive social security system to their citizens.

In the Philippines we failed to incorporate it, instead we let the oligarchs use the booty capitalism to oppress us in the guise of governance or leadership, and hence our State’s inconsistencies with our indigenous values that resulted to widespread corruption, human rights abuses, undignified living conditions, squatters in our land, unequal distribution of wealth, poverty, and various inhuman conditions prevalent today caused by government instrumentalities as controlled by the oligarchs and the political elite.

The value on utang na loob, is one of the surface values of pakikipagkapwa and this value is the one that holds a person to be part of the community or the pakikisama. We give high importance to the goodness given to us and it is obligatory to reciprocate and memorialize the giver for a lifetime and even for generations.

This kind of surface value on debt of gratitude is abused and distorted by the oligarchs and by our own captive Filipino mentality. We are given titles, position, names, properties, work, monies and other form of favors for us to remain captive to the giver’s caprices save those with good intentions. The Filipino is beholden forever to that gratitude given and he is bound by his conscience to reciprocate it not only once but over and over again. Because of pakikisama, as distorted, society will judge us on our failure to reciprocate, thus the ‘crab mentality’ where we will be pulled down and out because we are no longer connected or part of the group.

Because of this, the oligarchs are thriving in the Philippines. They have the resources, the money, university education, political connections and affiliations and others that they can show or give as favors.

The favor how small it is but for the common Filipinos is an encumbrance even up to his soul that he has to pay usually in the form of vote or support to ensure the oligarchs and their entire political families’ stay in power or sphere of political influence both in and out of the government.

Even the SONA is undeniably and unknowingly promoting patronage. The way projects in a particular region are announced, the appointments of so and so and in recognizing people in the gallery listening are the barest political patronage in basic order.

The pork barrel of our legislators how good their intentions are is the national symbol of the politics of patronage in the highest order in current Philippine political landscape.

Employment both in the public and in the private sector is all filled with patronage of godparents, relatives and even mistresses and the entire entourage based not on ‘what you know’ but more clearly on ‘whom you know,’ a patronage by necessity.

There are some NGOs and other private associations, who are thinking themselves as progressives and if you will hear them speaking like a university trained expressions, it is as if the magic wand of our country’s progress and good future are held by them. But if you will take a closer look, their projects and programs are supported by oligarchs, politicians and businessmen. Sometimes they used their positions as their network and additional data for possible appointments in juicy government positions. This is what we call the patronage of networking.

Simply you can identify them like GMA’s pantawid gutom, more of bahala na, with lots of photo ops and sometimes with populist type of poses where beneficiaries are either fed, lined up and make believe that these are manna in heaven. Evidence of these leeches is the faces and the names of politicians plastered all over and they are patronage commonly adapted everywhere on whatever occasions or events and even in grief during funerals.

In closing, this is a challenge to everyone on how we are going to fight corruption and solve poverty in the country. We must do first thing first. Patronage, the soul and the air of oligarch’s dominion in the Philippines, must be dismantled first within ourselves. To others who say that we have to dance with their music, there’s no more time with that for sleeping with them will cause us bangungot. The test to this is how united we are in making into law banning political dynasties and monopolies as mentioned in our constitution. For 24 years after the passage of our constitution, our nation failed to act on this thus oligarchs, elites and warlords are controlling almost everything in the country destroying human dignity because we allow patronage.

MASSACRE IN NORWAY: SIGNS OF THE RISING FAR RIGHT?

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:32:22 +0100

I hope that I interpreted correctly the seamless essay of Micah Dagaerag*, CDM Dan-ag, on Human Dignity, a portion says that even well ordered societies can be oppressive ones.

Norway, home of the Nobel Peace Prize award, one of the most peaceful countries and a well-ordered society both politically and economically was besieged by a vicious attack last Saturday by a lone gunman in an island and in Oslo, and this unspeakable horror was a symbol of oppression on the universality of human dignity.

Norway is grievously hurt because of a very unreasonable fundamentalist view of what a multi-cultural society is and should not be in their well-off and well ordered country.

The massacre proves it that an economically well off and well-ordered country is not an assurance that it has perfectly secured its own people from fundamentalism, extremism or domestic terrorism, particularly in securing their thoughts or ideas on tolerance to other peoples not belonging to their own race, culture, faith or state.

There is a widespread trend in Europe today on the rise of far right extremists who are blaming immigrants, Asians and Muslims citizens for the ills of their society, and considered them as impurities to their nation. The gunman himself is a member of a right-wing Progressive Party in Norway who is gaining seats in their Parliament, and like in some Eastern European countries, these rightists are slowly holding power in their governments.

It is not only political ideology or economic rewards that may define a nation, which will make a person and will shape the destiny of a country.

It is the core value of a person as shared and accepted collectively will determine a nation. As he’s a citizen of a particular state and engages himself with others in the community, it is the most important element that will define a nation. Such is inherent to him as a human being and which is the summation of everything that happens to him and to those prior to him, and are accepted as generally good to everyone in his own community.

The extreme rightist view of that lone gunman as shown in the manifesto he wrote and posted in the facebook and the presence of a rightist political party in their parliament is very contrary to what we expect and believe of Norway.

Probably he acted alone but there is a discontent in their own country and the rightist political party which unfortunately shares the same views with him as to what is generally acceptable only and exclusively for their society as not for all cultures, faith and races.

This rightist ideologue with an individualistic core value is a growing movement in some European countries. Something to act upon before this rightist thought will become credible and will ultimately get hold of political power in the entire Europe. Then history will really repeat itself as what happened to Hitler when he rose to power by stoking the fire of prejudices of white supremacy.

Political thinkers all over the world are closely observing the rise of this rightist movement. One of those is the timely removal of the grave of Hitler’s sidekick which recently is becoming a popular pilgrimage of the rightists and Neo-Nazis not only from Europe but including as far as America.

Our country must condemn this act and shall make it known that fundamentalism and extremism even in our midst has no place in a civilized and modern world.

I believe that we don’t have the same propensity of the rightists in the Philippines, although we have prejudices to some of our fellow Filipinos. What we are very proud of as a nation is our core value on Kapwa, that being a member of a community and in solidarity with others. This is the reason that by how many times we have been oppressed, in captive and conquered, Filipinos remain to love humanity.

This Filipino core value is the model value that should be universally emulated for we view every person possessing not only of body and spirit but on our belief that we are part, connected and attach to other persons.

I am not saying that we are thankful that we are Filipinos with strong belief on human dignity, but we have major deficiencies also for we never translate this to our political and economic system. What I mean here is that everything will always go back to the basic, and that is the core value of every human being.

Our present political and economic systems and the way we bring this country are the results of how we are instigated by our own human values and principles. We have a good core value that we are very proud of as a Filipino but probably because we have too much of it but not critical or because of this we are too forgiving and can easily forget that we remain however to be of having colonial mentality and with captive consciousness, a downturn perhaps of our nation for the meantime.

*Micah is a proud Iliganon, a Centrist Democrat of Central Visayas, 2011 Most Outstanding Iliganon and whose essay where I apprehensively quote won him an international award two months ago.

PNOY'S 2ND SONA

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:20:33 +0100

I did reserve my whole afternoon waiting for the 2^nd SONA of the President. I felt there’s a sense of importance in listening to this one, as compared to the appearances of the former Presidents to the opening of the Philippine Congress.

Probably, we are hooked with the unraveling of the big time corruption of the previous administration. I credited the President for this particular kind of achievement.

To people like us who are used to listening the State of the Union Address of the US President before the US Congress, we really find that ours is an elementary and without substance.

In fairness, the speeches of all the Philippine Presidents before our lawmakers focus only on what they have done the previous years and usually compare it with their predecessors. This is where I find it disturbing to listen for it is full of irrelevant comparisons, vindictiveness and false hopes based on less credible facts and paid surveys.

What makes me listen now is the fact that our President is serious in combating corruption in the government. This is a serious move of the President since this one contributes to the deficits in our democracy, low respect on the rule of law, prevalence of the politics of patronage and utmost poverty.

Without discussing in detail how to fight corruption in the President’s SONA today, the speech would be like a soundless gong or a shallow river.

I am totally happy with the way the President delivered his SONA for he expresses well, seriously and heroically that we have to do something about the grave corruption in the government. I would say that if he will continue this straight for three years, I think something good will happen to our country.

What he clearly articulated in his speech is that corruption did destroy the basic foundation of our nation and we must do something and he is serious about it.

I will not expect him to give us the rundown of everything for I may lose in the maze of so many things. Like the rest of the Filipinos, I am so forgetful to things political leaders are saying.

With this one, it’s crystal clear that corruption is his focus and it has to be eradicated in all levels of our governance. The rest will follow.

He also mentioned that it is also another form of corruption where millions of self-employed businessmen paying only about a few thousand of pesos a year in tax. A call is being made that the private sector must also share in helping the administration in fighting corruption.

In my previous writings, I did say that I did not vote for Noynoy but with his current fight against corruption, I sense that I voted for the wrong person. If he will do this fervently, he will achieved what his father never took and he will venture what his mother was afraid to dwell upon. For us, it’s time to give our full and unwavering support to the President.

WHO ARE WE AS A NATION

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:05:35 +0100

With non-functioning democracy, weak institutions, dreadful poverty, widespread corruption and fragmented society, ours is difficult to fit as a cohesive, singular nation. Having said this, affirms the fact that being a disunited nation resulted to what Abueva calls a weak state.

The current disarray in our country without a common identity as a people, clear government direction and leaders’ vision that will guide its people are the result of our failure to completely build and sustain this nation instead we have a weak state that undermines the rule of law with an unresponsive and irrelevant political system.

A nation is a state of being part of a particular community, a particular race and sentient feeling of belongingness that motivates one to a higher ground of struggle to organize, protect and preserve that nation. It is inherent of man as a social being that while he interacts with others, he also belongs to one and duty bound to protect it as this is the source of his own identity and the identity of those generations who will succeed him. The right of self-determination is also an inherent right of man. Technically, nation refers to the word nasci which means a particular race.

Initially, states are organized because of men’s collective struggle to be identified with in a larger group in order to have a distinct and separate identity from among the family of nations in the world. It may be one nation or several nations or of similar nation with another state within but the rationale of all of this is to be identified particularly and proudly as separate and distinct.

The passion to love the nation that you belong with is the first step towards the development of a State.

In the case of our country, it is still a big question whether we know who we are.

To other Asians, they think that we are too Iberian or European because of our Spanish sounding names and the cultures we derived and adopted from them. From among the Europeans, they wonder why we are an English speaking country and idolize so much the American fashion and politics. In America, they treated us not different from the Asians.

Who am I? Like a child’s questioning, maybe I’ll say you were born with a Spanish father and when you were at this age you have an American father and at this age Japanese, and now with a Filipino father. What kind of family are we then?

This is the particular identity crises every Filipino is having with today as in the past and it remains unanswered.

If only our society will understand that without the Americans, Spaniards, Chinese, Japanese, Christianity or Islam decorating our being as a person, we are simply belonging to the brown race, the Malayan race.

Our being called a Filipino is the result of the various waves of colonizers that came into our shores with their oppressive policies, repressing our true identity and in plundering and vandalizing this land.

In truth and in fact, we belong to the Malayan race, being inclusive and part of that greater Southeast Asian identity. The exclusivity of our being a Filipino is the result of our own experiences in history and in creating an independent Philippine state.

But we cannot separate ourselves from Malayan race and there’s a need for us to be strongly identified and connected with them for our geographical location, political landscape and economic opportunities commence, to include our history and the story of our future, are forever link here in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia is our root and we have to nurture our root and be connected with our brothers within this region.

Are we Southeast Asian’s prodigal son, lost in its long search of its identity? It’s high time to close that particular chapter in our history where we were looking for a greener pasture in the lands of our previous colonizers believing that we’re part of them. As a result, we left unattended our roots within this region. Our connection with other States of Malayan race is slowly decaying.

We have to accept the fact that we can never become a Spaniard or American but a Filipino with Malayan race.

I think I am not wrong in saying this that in recognizing their true identity, Malaysia and Singapore succeeded politically and economically in their current endeavors and improve the lives of their people and boosted their spirit of nationalism. They know their roots and they know who they are.

Now I will say that I am a Filipino of Malayan lineage proudly part of Southeast Asia.

PROPOSED NATIONAL DAY OF FORGIVENESS

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:51:33 +0100

This idea came while I was in Lanao del Norte discussing about many things including the attacks of the MILF in 2008.

The many untold sufferings and sadness experienced by the innocent civilians both from the Muslims and Christians were told that day and the heroism of ordinary people slowly putting life to their towns despite the MILF and Government failed to give justice to the victims and to those who have suffered.

Townspeople with the Civil Society are slowly rising from the ashes, building trusts with one another and bringing everything back to normal. It is a local action initiated by ordinary citizens.

The GRP Peace Panel has done nothing significant in building back these affected communities to where it was prior to the attack. Peace agreements today from the government or from the MILF are still unacceptable even in my own city because of their irrelevancy to the immediate needs of the people to be given justice, a valid claim universally valued by every human being.

Building trusts is important for at the end of the day it is still these ordinary townspeople who will decide on what is for Mindanao.

We came up with many ideas, and one is: what if the government will declare a day in a year as a national day of forgiveness. We have a national day for the sea, water, air and others, why won’t we have a day of forgiveness.

A few months ago the MILF, with the government and the civil societies initiated consultations in the region on their proposed Comprehensive Compact Agreement (CCA). Many are doubtful on the intentions of the consultations. Even political leaders are not endorsing it for fear that their future political careers will be at stake because of the unpopularity of the proposals. There is a presumption that this is not different with the furtive MOA-AD which was stricken down by the Supreme Court in 2008 that paved to that MILF attacks and the injustices in Lanao del Norte.

It’s not a riddle on who will come first like the ‘chicken and the egg’ but rather there is a missing link.

The missing link, to me, is the closure of this part of our history. The closure should not just be on the signing of an agreement or the plebiscite or the apportionment of territories or to force the people to give their consent.

Our institutions’ leaders must accept their mistakes for the crimes or omissions that have been committed in the past in the guise of those institutions, and shall ask for forgiveness from the people.

If a child will read our history, the war in Mindanao since the time of Magellan and until today is a continuing war. There’s none in our history that this war has ended, that peace is brokered or that warring parties come to terms.

I’ve been to Germany last month and I noticed that their monuments symbolize their acceptance to their mistakes during the last two world wars and have asked for forgiveness for the death and sadness they have caused to the citizens of the world.

In our country, we need to be true to one another in accepting our mistakes and to ask for forgiveness. That as we build this nation we have caused miseries, deaths and sadness to our fellow Filipinos, the indigenous peoples and those who are not Christians. And that is the truth, and truth, as we know it, will set us free.

If a day will be set for this where our President will officially ask for forgiveness for the mistakes that the past administrations of this country have done, from Aguinaldo to Arroyo; for the MILF and the NPA to ask for forgiveness that in their struggles for self-determination and freedom they have also victimized innocent citizens; for the Roman Catholic Church and other faiths to ask for forgiveness that in their evangelization particularly in Mindanao from the time Christianity or Islam have reached the shores of this country, they have also causes miseries to many innocents.

Our children and our successor generations will then know that there is a period in our nation’s history that we have asked for forgiveness, accepted our failures as a nation and now have dedicated all our being to move forward as one and united nation.

America had done this for the Indians and the Blacks, Pope John Paul II on the Jews and on the inquisition, Australia for the aborigines and South Africa through their Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

As a Mindanaoan, it is my moral obligation to start this one by publicly saying through this blog to ask for forgiveness for the wrong I’ve done to my country and fellowmen and for and in behalf of my ancestors who in the past may have done the same thing. With all sincerities, I shall commit myself for the generations that will come after me towards building peace in Mindanao and for the whole country.

I’ll tell you that it will be a great jubilation for our nation if it will be our President, the Cardinals, the top rebel leaders and the other leaders of our nation’s institutions to heroically ask for forgiveness, so that any conflicts will be officially close down and for this nation to move forward.