Politics in the Philippines is mind blogging and really not for the faint of heart.... below are some reflections that may provide us another perspective on the Jun Lozada expose.
Political Tidbits: QUESTIONS for LOZADA, LACSON et.al.
By Belinda Olivares-Cunanan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:22:00 02/20/2008
There are those who believe, after closely following the recent hearings in the Senate on the ZTE national broadband network (NBN) controversy, that there was extensive manipulation by a group of opposition leaders of chief witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. in order to bring down the government.
To these observers, his recent testimony tended to show that Lozada was not a victim of what he claims to be a kidnapping by government authorities but, on the contrary, that there was a grand design of opposition leaders, led by Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal, to set up the authorities who, perhaps out of naiveté or eagerness to help the President, fell for the trap. To these observers, it was a typical Lacson maneuver, smooth and scheming, with all the angles covered.
Part of Lozada’s credibility stems from his looking helpless and guileless, a victim of persecution by the Arroyo administration for "telling the truth." But to keen observers, that impression was being blown bit by bit in the past few days, as it began to appear that he was a part of a grand design to overthrow the government and hoodwink the nation -- even as he kept seeking help from government officials for his security and financial wellbeing at the same time.
It was Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza who first raised in the Senate this possibility of a grand design and hinted that Lacson was the manipulator. When I heard Atienza, I began to closely follow this argument and I must say that I tend to agree.
For instance, Bro. Felipe Belleza, president of La Salle Greenhills, testified that Lozada and his family had been talking to him since early January about seeking refuge in the school. When Lozada disembarked from the plane from Hong Kong, he claimed that he was held against his will, but later in the evening he asked to be brought to La Salle and the police were surprised to see his family already there.
And yet, in the early morning of Feb. 6, as Police Senior Supt. Paul Mascariñas pointed out, even though Lozada was already with his family in the evening of Feb. 5, his wife still filed writs of habeas corpus and amparo (which the Court of Appeals threw out later). Part of the grand design to make the kidnap/cover-up angle more believable?
Lacson has a lot to explain not just to the people but to his colleagues as well. As Atienza pointed out, how come he knew ahead of everyone that Lozada was resigning, that he was not going to London but to Hong Kong, and that he was arriving on Feb. 5? And how come he was at the airport that afternoon with his men, apparently seeking to preempt the Senate sergeant-at-arms who was sent by the chamber to fetch Lozada? Did Lacson plan to brief the witness first? He said later that he was simply being enterprising. Or is it because he was manipulating the witness all along, since December, when Lozada and Romulo Neri met with Lacson and Madrigal and the latter tried to get them to turn against the government.
By their own admission, Lacson and Madrigal tried to entice Neri to jump to their side by offering to raise a "patriotic fund" of P20 million that would enable him to live comfortably if he should resign from government. Isn't this bribery? Neri, to his credit, turned that big amount down despite initial temptation to accept it (about a year after supposedly turning down Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos' promised P200 million).
The question being raised now is: If there was a "patriotic fund" for Neri, there must have been one for Lozada, to enable him to maintain his lifestyle as a high roller and one perpetually preoccupied with money (he asked the Senate to pay for what he spent in Hong Kong). How much was Lozada's "patriotic fund"? Then too, how come he disclosed only now the P500,000 that Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite "lent" him as spending money in Hong Kong?
***
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
PGMA's Pandora's Box
Lo and behold!
Another scandal is rocking the Arroyo Administration! It would seem that the string of controversies for this administration would never end. NBN-ZTE Deal can be compared to the Pandora’s Box, that once opened would release all the demons and skeletons from PGMA’s closet.
The key person that unlocked all this foul smelling issues is Mr. Jun Lozada… He is a commendable man for facing sure iron clad adversaries. He is not only against political giants but also against the very established and systemic bureaucratic graft and corruption.
But after listening to Mr. Lozada and all the honorable Senators at the hearings, I realize these things:
…Mr. Lozada can only share with the public a glimpse of what may be really going on in our government. Mr. Lozada admittedly had been involved in three government projects. Only three of the numerous government loan projects… only three projects and we have been hearing sky high prices for bribes ranging from 60 Million to 130 Million U.S.D.
…The revelations of Mr. Lozada are nothing new. Tell me something Jun Lozada had stated that the entire Filipino nation do not know of. What is chilling and mind boggling is that, the country is reacting very calmly about these matters. I do not know if this is a sign of political maturity on our part or had Filipinos gone so sick of the system that we just do not care any more?
…After Lozada’s initial testimony at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Hearing, more questions are left hanging than answers. But the worst part is, this body assembled to hear Mr. Lozada’s testimony is more like a circus at best. We can see politicians trying, trying very hard to get a piece of media exposure through this event. Its okay if they really want the truth to surface but then we ask this question “With the 2010 Presidential Elections well underway, who are really in the hearing for the people’s benefit and who are there for the free publicity?”
…The opposition, I am sure is in high spirits with the current ammunition they have for the Arroyo Government. But will they really be up to the task this time? We had seen the “Hello Garci”, “Money in the Bag” and other scandals that could have been reasons well enough to catapult the opposition and end the Arroyo administration. But at the end of the day PGMA still sits in Malacañang.
Then there are questions that I would like to raise.
…If this controversy would be in full throttle and an impeachment case would be launched again will it simply result to more expenses of public funds similar to the Hyatt 10 impeachment crisis? Let us remember that during the 8 July 2005 Hyatt 10 call for PGMA’s resignation there had been an alleged large scale DBM payola operation to Congressmen, Senators and Governors quite similar to the crude Panlilio incident. It may well be inferred that if another impeachment would be mounted public funds may be spent yet again to buy the silence and favor of these greedy legislators and local executives.
Will the Church and all other religious denomination call for her resignation, considering the closeness of Arroyo to the Cardinal of Manila and the CBCP. It is even rumored that PGMA has a Religious Affairs Operators that have the Bishops firmly in their "donation" graces, as again manifested by the quick rebuttal of the Mindanao Bishops' of the call of their fellow bishops in Luzon who where calling for the resignation of Arroyo just after Arroyo gave them a visit in Mindanao.
Will the AFP top brass, all indebted to Arroyo for their position and the perks that go with their position, demonstrate their loyalty to the people? We have seen the AFP’s twisted loyalty to PGMA with their willingness to detain, remove from the service and even shoot their own men for voicing out their legitimate concerns regarding the corruption and moral authority of their Commander in Chief. It is a sad spectacle to see the respected warriors of the Marines & Special Forces rot in jail with their ideals, while their men are dying even without receiving the measly P150 per day combat pay that was promised to them by Arroyo due to lack of funds & generals gets a gift bag similar to those given to the governors and congressmen just for having dinner with Arroyo the day after that infamous breakfast & lunch meeting where bribe money flowed scandalously free.
Will the Media stand up for their professional responsibilities? Or ill they simply wither in the torrents of cash and favors similar to how the Hyatt 10, Hello Garci crisis were killed in the media headlines and Radio& TV coverage. Although there are still a handful of Journalist with integrity, will that handful of these mavericks withstand the hordes of paid lackeys of Malacanang?
Will the Business Sector support the call to oust PGMA? When surely this move shall rock the boat of the current economic uptrend?
Can the Civil Society muster enough strength to sustain and finally succeed in outing PGMA? The Civil Society is now tired of mass actions after witnessing two failed EDSA revolutions, that Civil Society is now afflicted with a "Rally Fatigue" and cannot muster enough public outrage to denounce Arroyo's "corruption with impunity". In relation to what was said earlier, the middle class is now indifferent to the corruption that goes around them, not realizing that the middle class are the ones mainly carrying the burden of the loan payments for these corrupt deals. It would seem that the middle class are more interested to become an OFW & to leave this country leaving their family and children behind, and may not care anymore about the crimes being committed against their country by its own President.
Are the “masa”, the students, and the workers willing to take on more sacrifices just to overthrown the dark regime upon us? Or are we now too poor and impoverished to be able to afford the time to join mass actions against the abuses of the Arroyo administration, that these former vanguards of mass actions in the country are now completely dependent on financial resources of professional organizers and have turned themselves into a "Rally for hire" groups rather than a true and genuine political gathering shouting for reforms.
It is wrong for us to think and believe that we can cure corruption by simply replacing Arroyo with another person.
We have to focus also on the institutionalized nature of the source of corruption in this country. We must not espouse change for change sake but be concern to the plan on how to correct the root causes of corruption in the country.
Bringing this government down would be difficult, but establishing a new order that is a much much more difficult task.
Another scandal is rocking the Arroyo Administration! It would seem that the string of controversies for this administration would never end. NBN-ZTE Deal can be compared to the Pandora’s Box, that once opened would release all the demons and skeletons from PGMA’s closet.
The key person that unlocked all this foul smelling issues is Mr. Jun Lozada… He is a commendable man for facing sure iron clad adversaries. He is not only against political giants but also against the very established and systemic bureaucratic graft and corruption.
But after listening to Mr. Lozada and all the honorable Senators at the hearings, I realize these things:
…Mr. Lozada can only share with the public a glimpse of what may be really going on in our government. Mr. Lozada admittedly had been involved in three government projects. Only three of the numerous government loan projects… only three projects and we have been hearing sky high prices for bribes ranging from 60 Million to 130 Million U.S.D.
…The revelations of Mr. Lozada are nothing new. Tell me something Jun Lozada had stated that the entire Filipino nation do not know of. What is chilling and mind boggling is that, the country is reacting very calmly about these matters. I do not know if this is a sign of political maturity on our part or had Filipinos gone so sick of the system that we just do not care any more?
…After Lozada’s initial testimony at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Hearing, more questions are left hanging than answers. But the worst part is, this body assembled to hear Mr. Lozada’s testimony is more like a circus at best. We can see politicians trying, trying very hard to get a piece of media exposure through this event. Its okay if they really want the truth to surface but then we ask this question “With the 2010 Presidential Elections well underway, who are really in the hearing for the people’s benefit and who are there for the free publicity?”
…The opposition, I am sure is in high spirits with the current ammunition they have for the Arroyo Government. But will they really be up to the task this time? We had seen the “Hello Garci”, “Money in the Bag” and other scandals that could have been reasons well enough to catapult the opposition and end the Arroyo administration. But at the end of the day PGMA still sits in Malacañang.
Then there are questions that I would like to raise.
…If this controversy would be in full throttle and an impeachment case would be launched again will it simply result to more expenses of public funds similar to the Hyatt 10 impeachment crisis? Let us remember that during the 8 July 2005 Hyatt 10 call for PGMA’s resignation there had been an alleged large scale DBM payola operation to Congressmen, Senators and Governors quite similar to the crude Panlilio incident. It may well be inferred that if another impeachment would be mounted public funds may be spent yet again to buy the silence and favor of these greedy legislators and local executives.
Will the Church and all other religious denomination call for her resignation, considering the closeness of Arroyo to the Cardinal of Manila and the CBCP. It is even rumored that PGMA has a Religious Affairs Operators that have the Bishops firmly in their "donation" graces, as again manifested by the quick rebuttal of the Mindanao Bishops' of the call of their fellow bishops in Luzon who where calling for the resignation of Arroyo just after Arroyo gave them a visit in Mindanao.
Will the AFP top brass, all indebted to Arroyo for their position and the perks that go with their position, demonstrate their loyalty to the people? We have seen the AFP’s twisted loyalty to PGMA with their willingness to detain, remove from the service and even shoot their own men for voicing out their legitimate concerns regarding the corruption and moral authority of their Commander in Chief. It is a sad spectacle to see the respected warriors of the Marines & Special Forces rot in jail with their ideals, while their men are dying even without receiving the measly P150 per day combat pay that was promised to them by Arroyo due to lack of funds & generals gets a gift bag similar to those given to the governors and congressmen just for having dinner with Arroyo the day after that infamous breakfast & lunch meeting where bribe money flowed scandalously free.
Will the Media stand up for their professional responsibilities? Or ill they simply wither in the torrents of cash and favors similar to how the Hyatt 10, Hello Garci crisis were killed in the media headlines and Radio& TV coverage. Although there are still a handful of Journalist with integrity, will that handful of these mavericks withstand the hordes of paid lackeys of Malacanang?
Will the Business Sector support the call to oust PGMA? When surely this move shall rock the boat of the current economic uptrend?
Can the Civil Society muster enough strength to sustain and finally succeed in outing PGMA? The Civil Society is now tired of mass actions after witnessing two failed EDSA revolutions, that Civil Society is now afflicted with a "Rally Fatigue" and cannot muster enough public outrage to denounce Arroyo's "corruption with impunity". In relation to what was said earlier, the middle class is now indifferent to the corruption that goes around them, not realizing that the middle class are the ones mainly carrying the burden of the loan payments for these corrupt deals. It would seem that the middle class are more interested to become an OFW & to leave this country leaving their family and children behind, and may not care anymore about the crimes being committed against their country by its own President.
Are the “masa”, the students, and the workers willing to take on more sacrifices just to overthrown the dark regime upon us? Or are we now too poor and impoverished to be able to afford the time to join mass actions against the abuses of the Arroyo administration, that these former vanguards of mass actions in the country are now completely dependent on financial resources of professional organizers and have turned themselves into a "Rally for hire" groups rather than a true and genuine political gathering shouting for reforms.
It is wrong for us to think and believe that we can cure corruption by simply replacing Arroyo with another person.
We have to focus also on the institutionalized nature of the source of corruption in this country. We must not espouse change for change sake but be concern to the plan on how to correct the root causes of corruption in the country.
Bringing this government down would be difficult, but establishing a new order that is a much much more difficult task.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Dictatorship of Talent
The Chinese Culture had always baffled me… arguably there are many less desirable traits from the largest country in the world. However, the drive of the Chinese people to survive and thrive during the most difficult of times can not be understated.
The article below lead me to thinking... We had always been told of the glory and benefits of democracy versus communism. We had it enshrined in our own laws the system of meritocracy and value of hard work, yet is it really working for us?
Are people in this country valued for the quality of work they do or just the right connections they have?
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: December 4, 2007
Let’s say you were born in China. You’re an only child. You have two parents and four grandparents doting on you. Sometimes they even call you a spoiled little emperor.
They instill in you the legacy of Confucianism, especially the values of hierarchy and hard work. They send you off to school. You learn that it takes phenomenal feats of memorization to learn the Chinese characters. You become shaped by China’s intense human capital policies.
You quickly understand what a visitor understands after dozens of conversations: that today’s China is a society obsessed with talent, and that the Chinese ruling elite recruits talent the way the N.B.A. does — rigorously, ruthless, in a completely elitist manner.
As you rise in school, you see that to get into an elite university, you need to ace the exams given at the end of your senior year. Chinese students have been taking exams like this for more than 1,000 years.
The exams don’t reward all mental skills. They reward the ability to work hard and memorize things. Your adolescence is oriented around those exams — the cram seminars, the hours of preparation.
Roughly nine million students take the tests each year. The top 1 percent will go to the elite universities. Some of the others will go to second-tier schools, at best. These unfortunates will find that, while their career prospects aren’t permanently foreclosed, the odds of great success are diminished. Suicide rates at these schools are high, as students come to feel they have failed their parents.
But you succeed. You ace the exams and get into Peking University. You treat your professors like gods and know that if you earn good grades you can join the Communist Party. Westerners think the Communist Party still has something to do with political ideology. You know there is no political philosophy in China except prosperity. The Communist Party is basically a gigantic Skull and Bones. It is one of the social networks its members use to build wealth together.
You are truly a golden child, because you succeed in university as well. You have a number of opportunities. You could get a job at an American multinational, learn capitalist skills and then come back and become an entrepreneur. But you decide to enter government service, which is less risky and gives you chances to get rich (under the table) and serve the nation.
In one sense, your choice doesn’t matter. Whether you are in business or government, you will be members of the same corpocracy. In the West, there are tensions between government and business elites. In China, these elites are part of the same social web, cooperating for mutual enrichment.
Your life is governed by the rules of the corpocracy. Teamwork is highly valued. There are no real ideological rivalries, but different social networks compete for power and wealth. And the system does reward talent. The wonderfully named Organization Department selects people who have proven their administrative competence. You work hard. You help administer provinces. You serve as an executive at state-owned enterprises in steel and communications. You rise quickly.
When you talk to Americans, you find that they have all these weird notions about Chinese communism. You try to tell them that China isn’t a communist country anymore. It’s got a different system: meritocratic paternalism. You joke: Imagine the Ivy League taking over the shell of the Communist Party and deciding not to change the name. Imagine the Harvard Alumni Association with an army.
This is a government of talents, you tell your American friends. It rules society the way a wise father rules the family. There is some consultation with citizens, but mostly members of the guardian class decide for themselves what will serve the greater good.
The meritocratic corpocracy absorbs rival power bases. Once it seemed that economic growth would create an independent middle class, but now it is clear that the affluent parts of society have been assimilated into the state/enterprise establishment. Once there were students lobbying for democracy, but now they are content with economic freedom and opportunity.
The corpocracy doesn’t stand still. Its members are quick to admit China’s weaknesses and quick to embrace modernizing reforms (so long as the reforms never challenge the political order).
Most of all, you believe, educated paternalism has delivered the goods. China is booming. Hundreds of millions rise out of poverty. There are malls in Shanghai richer than any American counterpart. Office towers shoot up, and the Audis clog the roads.
You feel pride in what the corpocracy has achieved and now expect it to lead China’s next stage of modernization — the transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. But in the back of your mind you wonder: Perhaps it’s simply impossible for a top-down memorization-based elite to organize a flexible, innovative information economy, no matter how brilliant its members are.
That’s a thought you don’t like to dwell on in the middle of the night.
The article below lead me to thinking... We had always been told of the glory and benefits of democracy versus communism. We had it enshrined in our own laws the system of meritocracy and value of hard work, yet is it really working for us?
Are people in this country valued for the quality of work they do or just the right connections they have?
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: December 4, 2007
Let’s say you were born in China. You’re an only child. You have two parents and four grandparents doting on you. Sometimes they even call you a spoiled little emperor.
They instill in you the legacy of Confucianism, especially the values of hierarchy and hard work. They send you off to school. You learn that it takes phenomenal feats of memorization to learn the Chinese characters. You become shaped by China’s intense human capital policies.
You quickly understand what a visitor understands after dozens of conversations: that today’s China is a society obsessed with talent, and that the Chinese ruling elite recruits talent the way the N.B.A. does — rigorously, ruthless, in a completely elitist manner.
As you rise in school, you see that to get into an elite university, you need to ace the exams given at the end of your senior year. Chinese students have been taking exams like this for more than 1,000 years.
The exams don’t reward all mental skills. They reward the ability to work hard and memorize things. Your adolescence is oriented around those exams — the cram seminars, the hours of preparation.
Roughly nine million students take the tests each year. The top 1 percent will go to the elite universities. Some of the others will go to second-tier schools, at best. These unfortunates will find that, while their career prospects aren’t permanently foreclosed, the odds of great success are diminished. Suicide rates at these schools are high, as students come to feel they have failed their parents.
But you succeed. You ace the exams and get into Peking University. You treat your professors like gods and know that if you earn good grades you can join the Communist Party. Westerners think the Communist Party still has something to do with political ideology. You know there is no political philosophy in China except prosperity. The Communist Party is basically a gigantic Skull and Bones. It is one of the social networks its members use to build wealth together.
You are truly a golden child, because you succeed in university as well. You have a number of opportunities. You could get a job at an American multinational, learn capitalist skills and then come back and become an entrepreneur. But you decide to enter government service, which is less risky and gives you chances to get rich (under the table) and serve the nation.
In one sense, your choice doesn’t matter. Whether you are in business or government, you will be members of the same corpocracy. In the West, there are tensions between government and business elites. In China, these elites are part of the same social web, cooperating for mutual enrichment.
Your life is governed by the rules of the corpocracy. Teamwork is highly valued. There are no real ideological rivalries, but different social networks compete for power and wealth. And the system does reward talent. The wonderfully named Organization Department selects people who have proven their administrative competence. You work hard. You help administer provinces. You serve as an executive at state-owned enterprises in steel and communications. You rise quickly.
When you talk to Americans, you find that they have all these weird notions about Chinese communism. You try to tell them that China isn’t a communist country anymore. It’s got a different system: meritocratic paternalism. You joke: Imagine the Ivy League taking over the shell of the Communist Party and deciding not to change the name. Imagine the Harvard Alumni Association with an army.
This is a government of talents, you tell your American friends. It rules society the way a wise father rules the family. There is some consultation with citizens, but mostly members of the guardian class decide for themselves what will serve the greater good.
The meritocratic corpocracy absorbs rival power bases. Once it seemed that economic growth would create an independent middle class, but now it is clear that the affluent parts of society have been assimilated into the state/enterprise establishment. Once there were students lobbying for democracy, but now they are content with economic freedom and opportunity.
The corpocracy doesn’t stand still. Its members are quick to admit China’s weaknesses and quick to embrace modernizing reforms (so long as the reforms never challenge the political order).
Most of all, you believe, educated paternalism has delivered the goods. China is booming. Hundreds of millions rise out of poverty. There are malls in Shanghai richer than any American counterpart. Office towers shoot up, and the Audis clog the roads.
You feel pride in what the corpocracy has achieved and now expect it to lead China’s next stage of modernization — the transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. But in the back of your mind you wonder: Perhaps it’s simply impossible for a top-down memorization-based elite to organize a flexible, innovative information economy, no matter how brilliant its members are.
That’s a thought you don’t like to dwell on in the middle of the night.
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