Funds, power and peace

These days one would not be surprised with so many alphabet soup of funds being invented and used wantonly for political ends. One can conclude PH is a rich country pretending to be poor or PH is a poor country with its leaders always raking in money for their political future.

When institutions and processes fail:RA101211

The wrath of Yolanda has showed to us how government can fail us during the most critical hours when we needed to feel its presence. It is even worst after its aftermath. Sad, truly sad because every peso we contribute to taxes whether in the form of withholding, value added or expanded value added taxes are pesos we worked hard for.

When critics take the plate

The aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda has seen more and more people trooping to the frontlines. These are ordinary folks who just want to help in any way they can. But it is interesting how people in the Aquino administration label critics as do-nothing, on the saddle, spewing invectives lot. I beg to disagree cause critics have their unique role in pushing TeamPH.

Aftermath of Yolanda

Yolanda hit the country as I was in transit to Manila from the other side of the globe. From every stop, I was monitoring how things were and sadly it was all foreign media focusing laser-like quality on the events unfolding. The moment some travelers get to know one is Filipino, they stop and ask how was PH, one’s family and how one is feeling with all these natural calamities? It felt good because you can feel their sincerities and it felt bad because you know it’s tragic to get the foreigners to even stop and see you in a different light.

When you walk the Dictator's path

When two former Supreme Court Chief Justices formally take a position and make the same public then something is truly screwed in our beloved Philippines.  And when a president says “taking this into account, such projects by the legislators made up a mere 9 percent of the program. Why, then, is the DAP being made an issue?" then one gets the impression that the one hand does not know what the other is doing. Truly sad for the son of Democracy's icon and the Partido Liberal who I thought would be a lot better as a party-in-governance.

One man of courage makes a majority

Boston, MA -- I was so impressed with the JFK Library and Museum that it practically defined my New England trip with former colleagues from the office of then Sen. Rene Saguisag.  The JFK library by Boston harbor and the richness of its collection left me totally awed by JFK, his family, RFK and Jackie as well as their kids. We stayed for hours thereby requiring another trip someday to Boston to visit another Ivy League.

The one not dirtied by mud

New York -- 2016 is 31 months away. Immediately after 2013 a clearing operation was made and continuous to be so up to today. Dismantled in the process, depending on one's political affiliation, is the noted "opposition's" Three Kings save for one who was tentatively been sidelined. It would have been attack season for the Vice President immediately after 2013 as some operatives have intimated but was tentatively set aside because of the PDAF which got Revilla, Estrada and Enrile on the deck. Binay would have been a tactical delay because of the easy victory of Nancy. Besides the VP expressed his total and continuing support to the Chief so operators had to backed out, for a while.

It's Abad stupid!

Washington D.C. -- By the time this gets printed, the federal government will probably be shutdown since the U.S. budget didn't pass. The first after 17 years. A continuing resolution was issued by the House but the Senate will be back only Monday afternoon. The interesting quid pro quo happened, budget or Obamacare was the proposition considered. Obamacare is already a law but Republicans would want to defer, if not totally scrap it. The next best wedge is the federal budget and last minute backroom negotiations may not result in a bipartisan consensus. Shutdown begins Monday (September 30) midnight.

Distributive politics

A lot has been said about pork barrel since we discovered Napoles. Some armchair analysts have called for its abolition and putting the blame solely on members of Congress for ghost deliveries and kickbacks. I won’t go into that because congressmen can very well defend themselves. But presidential pork is not pork is again erroneous. The operative term is discretionary.

Who gets what, when and how

A lot of political analysts these days are saying pork is unique to the Philippines. This is not true. All legislative bodies have theirs. Pork in other territories is known as earmarks, entitlements, political promise making, contracts, economic arrangements, etc.

In defense of Congress, the institution

I spent almost 10 years in Philippine Congress (both chambers) as a congressional staff and I have always been a student of legislatures. I know a lot of people will raise their brows but I will go on a limb for the institution and not the persons occupying the 16th today.

Gilas & puso; Napoles & pork

IT was all heart that got Gilas Pilipinas to beat South Korea in a game that truly mattered for basketball pride and honor of the nation. We were united for a moment, shouting our lungs out to egg our team to gain back their composure with the injury of naturalized center Marcus Douthit. With Douthit riding the bench, it was an all-Filipino five that engineered the return to center stage for a team created, molded and nurtured by a man called MVP and a bench tactician named Chot. It was championship caliber play Saturday night with an 86-79 victory. More than anything, it was personal for every Filipino in the SMX Arena for we have not beaten South Korea for that long. Defeating South Korea ensured our ticket to Spain for the FIBA World Championships.

Anyare?

Anyare is a Filipino, street term loosely translated as “what happened?” It is a shortened word of the phrase anong nangyari. The usual answer would have been nganga, Filipino street term to mean none. And really, from 22 July when BSA3 delivered his 3rd SONA, it was all down the hill, err, slippery slope.

Calculated risks

No State of the Nation Address (SONA) will make someone proud to be a Filipino. It has always been said: “masarap maging Filipino sa sariling bayan.” That has been uttered by OFWs, balikbayans and even the poorest of the poor. Those who have stuck it out in the Philippines rather than migrate to some other countries for greener pastures would often say, “kahit mahirap dito sa Pinas, basta sama sama tayo, masaya pa rin.”

Wanted: Congressional reform

18-years ago, at the start of the 10th Congress, I wrote an article for one of the broadsheets on the same topic. At that time, I was assisting in setting up the office of then Sen. Marcelo B. Fernan. Interestingly, my article came out during the organizational meeting of the Ethics Committee, which he was chairing. I was asked to resign because of that article because Sen. Fernan didn’t want to “insult” his colleagues because of what I wrote. I stood by what I wrote and left his office by lunch promising to push for the reforms.

Invisible people

Is it apathy or indifference or we have just given up on them? Invisible people are all around the metropolis and more in urban areas. NEDA estimates that 25 million Filipinos currently live in poverty.

Years ago, we refer to shanties and colonies as their domiciles. Today, they live under bridges, in pushcarts and sleep on cold cements of sheds and pathways. If you happen to be traveling around midnight, you can see them around the metropolis and it seems government does not care.

Of renaming and UP tradition

THE first and only local bill renaming a street that was enacted by the post Martial Law Congress that went into a bicameral proceeding in the 8th Congress was that of renaming Vito Cruz. The House of Representatives passed the local bill renaming the whole stretch of Vito Cruz St. to Pablo Ocampo St. When it was discussed in the Senate, then Sen. Rene Saguisag asked for a research on the historical role of Vito Cruz, a street map which showed Vito Cruz traversing two political subdivisions: Manila and Makati; and a copy of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 1059, An Act Prohibiting The Naming Of Sitios, Barrios, Municipalities, Cities, Provinces, Streets, Highways, Avenues, Bridges, And Other Public Thoroughfares, Parks, Plazas, Public Schools, Public Buildings, Piers, Government – Crafts And Vessels, And Other Public Institutions After Living Persons. R.A. 1059 is vintage 1954 and is still in our statutes book.

Dissent & bashers

In recent weeks, I have been engaged in a conversation on the economy and flooding. I would like to think it was a conversation and not a monologue of criticisms. I am active in Social Media and I post when I like to post, if I like to post. A good guide for anyone interested in social engagement, but for some they think a criticism makes one a certified basher against this Administration. To the young trolls, dissent is certainly not bashing, check your dictionary, for if someone tells you it is, you are being fooled. And as Soren Kirkegaard once said, “there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”

Where art thou Opposition?

Elections are all about choices and when these choices are predetermined by coalition politics, there is no excitement in the air. When there is no excitement in the air, turn out is low than the average at midterm. This election is for the books because turn out is atypical that of mid term trends.

In Quaerre

In quaerere is Latin phrase for in search. I was in search of the right title for my column that would reflect the kind of writing I would do on a weekly basis. It was not easy. From “look beyond the fluff” to “connecting the dots” to “ring a bell” to “cut to the chase” and what my staff suggested, such as “outlier,”“vantage point” and “soapbox.” I used to write a column under the title Dream Catcher, but that was more like my other hat where I write on positive things. But the dream went pfft and so I decided to stick to Zilch.

Am back!

Its been four (4) years and I have been out of the blog world for some reasons.  I hope to be back regularly.  I hope to link my Manila Times column, entitled ZILCH (same column as with The Lobbyist [www.thelobbyist.biz]) and this blog.

There are polls and there are some

POLLS were predominantly used and became more public in the country in the 90s. Previous to that, only a handful would use surveys for politics since these were viewed as strategic moves, secrets that only a few should know and can afford. Today, polls are a dime a dozen. From national and local candidates, survey firms are sprouting like mushrooms on rainy days. Nothing’s wrong with that. For so long as there are clients, there will always be room for a new outfit. Then again, the new outfit will have to compare itself with the two dominant commercial players: Social Weather Stations (SWS), a non-government organization (allegedly non-profit), and Pulse Asia, a private corporation (for profit).

Asean integration, ready or not!

THE Aquino III has been in its 3rd year in office and, interestingly, we have not made much inroads in foreign policy, save the predictable US-centric bias and the alarm bells mode on China. Our foreign policy should be dictated by the saving grace of the PH economy: OFW, but it seems we are too bipolar in approach. We are pro US and if anyone is against the US, we side with the US. The US foreign policy has shifted and pivoted back to Asia while ours remain in a time warp.

A legacy agenda

A sitting president is accorded two Congresses to put together the policies needed to propel one’ s administration and to sustain it beyond one’s term. In those two terms, the president can have divided houses or a consolidation of powers after midterm.