I am irritated by one of the news reports aired maybe last week. The report is about the impending reshuffling of the member of the presidential cabinet. In it, I saw President Arroyo smiling like a porn star (sorry for the comparison) and teasing the reporters by saying that she has a secret. The secret, as it turned out, is the list of cabinet members that she will retain or remove in their posts. 

How unbecoming. The president’s action is not suitable for the position that she represents. It is as if she is flirting. Another thing, and the most important thing, is that it seems that the PGMA feels that her stay as president is once again on stable ground after the NBN-ZTE scandal and other anomalous deals that were discovered by the public were drowned by the Rice Crisis. She can now smile, tease and laugh now that the public got another dash of amnesia and stopped on clamoring for the truth and the accountability on the sins done against them.

Now that she revealed some of her smaller secrets, how about revealing her other “bigger and darker” secrets. Would she still tease like the way she did?

In a country where all basic necessities come at high prices, it makes one pretty angry to know that multi-national pharmaceutical companies are treating the Filipino people like money tree. According to news report from ABS-CBN’s show, TV Patrol, medicines being sold in the country costs 1000 percent higher than in other countries. In their report, they compared the medicines being sold in India and the Philippines. Ponstan (a pain reliever drug) for instance, costs 2.50 pesos in India. In the Philippines, the same drug costs by about 25.00 pesos! Another drug, which brand name I forgot to note, costs 80 pesos here in the Philippines but costs by about eight pesos in India.

It is very obvious that the multi-national pharmaceutical companies, pricing are downright unreasonable. Let’s say that it is possible, due to different economic factors like dollar-peso exchange rate, taxes imposed on imported drugs, etc, that the prices of medicines in the Philippines will be higher than those being sold in India. That is possible but it is highly improbable that medicines in country will cost by 100 percent higher than those in India. These pharmaceutical companies are heartless and greedy. They want the whole world to respect the copyrights on their drugs but they are unwilling to peg the price of their medicines at reasonable price. It seems that their motto is: “Respect the copyrights but ignore the value of human lives” so that they could rake in as much money as possible.

Because of this alarming truth, I support the congress in initiating the Cheaper Medicines Bill so as to give the country a safety net from the greed of these pharmaceutical companies. The Cheaper Medicines Bill gives the Executive Branch the power to put a price ceiling on medicines. With power, I just hope that the president will have the political will to not to bend on the will of the pharmaceutical companies and use the bill for the benefit of the Filipino people.

Human welfare and human rights is higher than the copyright laws that the pharmaceutical companies hold very dearly, thus I wish that the government will help the local pharmaceutical companies in making drugs that is already present at the market, if the multi-national pharmaceutical companies do not agree to lower the price of their drugs.

The labor sector is one of the vital sectors of our country. Without the working class, the investments of multinational companies will be useless and the gears of the economy will not run. Given its importance, the labor sector is one of the neglected sectors due to the fact that its members come from the masses (the “powerless” and the poor members of the society).

Underemployment, insufficient salary, hazardous work environment, inadequate employment benefits, and the ever-present threat of being laid-off are few of the problems of the members of the labor sector. There is also the apparent reality that the government does not care about the laborers because of the lack of protection that the State gives to them. Thus, there is a strong concept among the labor force that the government is more willing to protect the employers than to aid them from their predicament.

Today is Labor Day and I hope the Labor Sector get the attention it deserves from the government, especially now that the prices of basic necessities are rising.

Sadly, my hope will just be an empty one. This year, like the past years, the laborers will receive empty promises from the Arroyo administration. They may get the raise that they demand but it will never be enough to cover the rising cost of living.

With the sorry state of workers in our country, it is no wonder that many of them are willing to risk their lives just to go abroad and work. In the Philippines, a day’s income of a worker is just enough to keep him alive so that he can work again the next day.

Woe to the Filipino laborers.

(This post was written yesterday but unfortunately, it rained hard so I did not go to an internet cafe due to a high probability of an electrical blackout)

There is a certain video that is popular in You Tube. The video shows a group of doctors operating on a person that have a plastic bottle inserted in a private part of his body. There’s laughter and shouts (as if the doctors were in a boxing match and not in an operating room) after the bottle was removed. In an interview by a reporter from ABS-CBN, the patient/victim in the video said that he is not aware that he was being videoed because he was sedated during the operation. He also said that the doctors insulted and taunted him. Now the patient/victim lives in shame as his operation were now scattered in the net.

The doctors in the video were utterly unprofessional and gave a shameful image to all Filipino doctors and medical practitioners. First and foremost, they did not acted as respectful professionals during the operation. They acted like heartless onlookers —- hooting, shouting and laughing — taking pictures of the patient and his predicament. Secondly, they broke the code of ethics that all doctors should follow by not respecting the privacy of the patient. Last but not the least, they acted inhumanely. They took and scattered the video of the operation without the knowledge and the permission of the patient. They placed him in a bad light and made his life more miserable.

I am ashamed on the way they had acted. I am ashamed that the whole world will see how sick some of my fellowmen to do a sick joke to their fellowman despite of his predicament. Shame on them! They must be stripped off their license and be punished accordingly. Unfortunately, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Hospital, the hospital where these doctors were employed ruled that they will not be kicked out of the hospital simply because there are few doctors left in the country. Shame again. Their reasoning is downright wrong and may result in destroying the patient-doctor relationship in the Philippines. If we will follow the reasoning of that hospital, then we are giving our doctors a green light that they can play on their patients because we desperately need them and we cannot afford to lose any of them.

If this our reasoning then it is no wonder that we cannot remove the president from her post, simply because there is only one left in our country.

Shameless Powerplay

There’s news that suspension on Pedro Cuerpo, Montalban’s mayor, is suspended and the order came from the Palace. It seems that the president is keen on saving politicians of her kind. It is also apparent that for a “public servant” to be free from investigations should do what the president is doing despite of allegations of corruption that being thrown on her left and right, that is to cling on to power no matter what the cost.

With this political development, the investigation on the allegations against the mayor will be in peril. It will be harder now for him to be investigated and prosecuted.

Cuerpo succeeded in getting a nod from the Palace. His goal in protecting his ill-gotten wealth had been achieved, for a while. Cuerpo, Arroyo and the likes may succeed today in keeping themselves hang on to power today, I am sure that they will be punished maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in the next scores of years, but they will be punished. When their punishment comes, it will be too late for them to repent.

Open Up Your Haciendas

With the pangs of hunger at the country’s doorstep, politicians all around the nation drummed up the idea of using all idle lands for agriculture. All idle lands here means that all lands within our nation regardless if it’s commercial, residential, or pasture lands. One politician went further by saying that there should be a law that will give the power to confiscate privately owned idle lands and use those lands for producing food. I think that their ideas are good, but wouldn’t it be better if our politicians let open up their haciendas and let the public use it as farmlands? Wouldn’t it be better if they return all their ill-gotten lands to the government? What a shame to many of them that talks about how to save our people from the threat of starvation but all the while own stretch and stretch of lands. Shameful hypocrites indeed.

Read my previous post about Mayor Cuerpo in Another Story of Greed.

Bayani Fernando is all over Metro Manila, thanks to his posters that are displayed everywhere. “Kaayusan, kahirapan ay maiibsan” his posters, which were obviously funded by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), announced.

The posters are Bayani’s solution to his unpopularity that stemmed from his being a strict disciplinarian. He is perceived by many as anti-poor with his policy of removing street vendors, street urchins, and “ugly” things that is thriving in the Metro. In his term as its chairman, MMDA became an aggressive agency that is not afraid to the dirty works that will antagonize hundreds of urban poor and sometimes stirred a fight against mayors of Metro Manila cities.

Many of Fernando’s accomplishments as a chairman are commendable like clearing up the highways of the cities and disciplining motorists and pedestrians (though I hate his Pink Fences that herd people like cows and causes many vehicular accidents). MMDA is not free from criticisms and one of these is Bayani Fernando’s posters. It is fine if Fernando’s posters were funded privately. Unfortunately, public funds were used for its printing and installation. Since the people’s money was used for those posters, then the people should benefit from them. What’s the use of his posters? Would the mere sight of Bayani’s posters make motorists think twice before committing traffic violations? I don’t think so. His posters are eyesore like billboard and advertising posters that he detests.

The posters are for Bayani Fernando’s benefit alone. His posters try to associate Bayani with “kaayusan” (orderliness) and blot out the “anti-poor” sentiments against him and somehow remedy his unpopularity before the 2010 presidential election comes.

Please read Hunger [Will] Strike that talks about my stand on the looming rice crisis in the Philippines.

The duty of the government is to ensure the welfare of its citizens. To use its resources to help its people meet their basic needs like food, clothing, home, and education. Unfortunately, given its track record, the government (especially this administration) is a failure. Now, our food supply is threatened.

The public’s attention was now focused on the sector of agriculture because of the current news that the Philippines will experience a shortage on supply of rice. Rice traders estimated the price of rice would hit forty pesos per kilo. Pessimists, on the other hand, predicted seventy pesos per kilo of rice by the month of July. The current price of decent and edible rice is now 32 pesos per kilo and this price will not go down according to the think tanks of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The culprit? Nations that export rice decided to stop their exportation and stock their supply of rice to feed their own people.

In the past, the Philippines have more than enough supply of rice. In the past, our country is the center of research on rice. Now, the Philippines depends on exportation to ensure that there will be enough supply of rice in the country, thanks to inefficient system of agriculture and land conversion. With the grim picture of rice supply in the world, we will be forced to beg for rice to other country. With the current price of rice, Filipino people were forced to wait in line for two hours just to buy two kilos of rice from NFA (National Food Authority) rolling store.

The impending rice shortage resulted from the government’s inefficiency and the business sector’s shrewdness. Because of land conversion, many agricultural lands were transformed into residential areas. Because of the government’s inefficiency, the true essence of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform was not realized. Because of syndicates inside the government, NFA rice were stolen, repacked, and sold as commercial rice. Finally, because of the sheer corruption of this administration, funds (take note the Fertilizer Scam) were sent to political friends of the Arroyos as funds for fertilizer even in highly urbanized areas.

The business sector, specifically the rice traders also caused the high price of rice. Because of their greed, many of these rice traders and middlemen buy rice in very low price from the farmers and sell them in astronomical price to the rice retailers. Many them also hide their stock of rice to induce increase of price of rice.

The government must stop the conversion of agricultural lands, support the farmers, and stamp out the syndicates in NFA. 

We should all act now or else the lines will get longer and many people might die of starvation.

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Read other bloggers take on this issue. Please read Let’s Rice to the Occassion, Philippine Rice Crisis: Catalyst for Arroyo Downfall?, Philippine Rice Crisis Deepens, “Rice Crisis”: government is doing everything except the right thing.

In light of the current issues and scandals that is rocking the Executive Branch, it is not too early for us to tell the presidential aspirants what we want to see in their political platforms and what issues they should deal if they became the president of the country. As initiated by Janette Toral in her blog Reflective Thinking, here are the issues that presidentiables must seriously address with urgency if they sincerely want to be the initiator of change in our nation. 

Read my new post on my blog Before the Eastern Sunset my post about Jesus’ resurection on Easter entitled NEWS FLASH: Jesus is Alive!. Also read my haiku Angel.

“Where is the money?”

That is the question that I want to ask Mayor Pedro “Ping” Cuerpo, if I had a chance to talk to him.

Montalban (Rodriguez), the northernmost town of Rizal province is poised for growth, thanks to its growing population from forcedly relocated squatters from Metro Manila. Income from taxes grew and there are enough human resources and consumers for commercial establishments to thrive. Montalban also had steady earnings from its quarrying industry.

Aside from the aforementioned, Montalban also earns at least one million daily for being Metro Manila’s dumpsite. Unfortunately, with all this income coming in, Montalban’s development never really took off.

The culprit? Mayor Cuerpo.

The mayor had been busy enriching himself. Mysteriously, he and his family began owning many idle and untitled lands in the municipality. Many municipal projects started before the past elections were left rotting and their funds missing. The municipal hall is filled with idle employees who fondly call as “tayo-man” and “upo-man” because they do nothing but for their salaries.

Extreme Greed Comes Before a Fall

The mayor was suspended from his office due to an allegation of corruption. After a squabble with Rizal Governor Jun Ynares, Mayor Cuerpo was investigated for the “missing” millions of pesos earned from the sanitary landfill.

Cuerpo’s supporters claim that his suspension are politically motivated and grounded on false allegation. I disagree. I had been witness to corruption in our town. His stay as a mayor is long enough. Let him be kicked-out of the municipal hall and be prosecuted for his unworthy deeds as “public servant.”

Oh, how I wish that we had Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio as our mayor.

If you want to read more about the issue regarding Montalban’s garbage dump and the suspension issues visit BusinessWorld Online, The Manila Times

The company where I work for has an aerial photography project. Thus, we submitted application for permit in conducting the project to the Air Transportation Office (ATO) and the Intelligence Office of the AFP. As part of our application, certain people, which said that they work in ATO, called and ask basic information to all personnel involved in the project. Their questioning on me went well until the person from the “ATO” asks something about my political affiliation.

ATO-man: (after asking all basic information like educational background, address, etc.) …Eto last question na ito. Sana sagutin mo honestly ha.

Ishmael: Sige po. Ano po ‘yun?

ATO-man: Left-leaning ka ba?

Ishmael: Ha? Ano po uli ‘yun?

ATO-man: Left-leaning ka ba? Sumama ka na ba sa mga Rally? OK lang kung oo.

Ishmael: Ah! Hindi po. Puro acads lang kasi ‘yung focus ko noong undergrad kaya hindi na ako sumama sa mga ganyan.

ATO-man: Ganon? Kasi ‘di ba may mga makakaliwang grupo sa UP…tulad ng LFS [League of Filipno Students].

Ishmael: Opo…alam ko po. Sikat nga po ‘yung UP sa mga ganyan.

ATO-man: Pero may kilala ka na kasali sa mga grupong ‘yan?

Ishmael: Ah, wala po. Wala akong kilala sa kanila.

ATO-man: Wala…walang lumapit sa iyo na kasali? Wala kang na-engkwentro? OK lang sabihin mo ‘yung mga pangalanl. Kakausapin ko lang sila.

Ishmael: Meron po syempre…’yung minsan ‘pag may rali at nag-aabot ng leaflets. ‘yun lang po. Pero hindi ako sumasama kasi nga puro acads ako.

ATO-man: Ganon…o sige tatawag na lang ako uli kung may iba pa akong questions ha.

Actually, I lied in that conversation many times for the sake of the speedy processing of the permit and the protection of my friends that are involved in his so-called “leftist groups.” I joined a protest rally once and I encountered the so-called leftists beyond from being the receiver of their leaflets. I knew some of them and have handful of friends belonging to LFS and Anak Bayan. But what the heck. Why did he ask about my political affiliations and activities? Is it relevant in the company’s application for a permit?

One thing is certain, that person from the “ATO” is trying to squeeze information from me about the critics of the present administration. And that, is scary.

This article is first posted on The Paradoxic Ley Line on Blogger.

I had said in one of my posts (“The Truth Shall Come Out”) that the truth, concerning the ZTE-NBN (National Broadband Network) deal, will definitely come out no matter what gimmicks or lies that President Arroyo, Benjamin Abalos and gang will generate. That’s what exactly is happening this past few weeks after Jun Lozada surfaced and revealed the filthy truth about the NBN project and a gloomy insider on what is happening on government projects.

After enduring the Administration’s whole set of tricks in silencing its critics and would be enemies, Jun Lozada testified in the Senate. His testimonies revealed a deeper story on that project. Lozada revealed the power of Abalos over the president and the amount of his kickback. His testimonies also revealed that the Philippine National Police (PNP) were now shamelessly demoted into personal soldiers of the president —- answerable only to the whims of the administration.

Aside from the allegations of corruption and lies, Jun Lozada revealed the open secret that every Filipinos know —- the shameless toleration of greed in our government. He revealed the hopelessness of our situation by showing the bare truth that instead of shunning the system corruption; we live and prosper in it. Greed can be likened to beer. The more a person drink beer, the more he became addicted to it and the only solution that an alcoholic can do is to moderate his drinking. Unfortunately, moderation does not stop alcohol from destroying the liver. Moderation of greed does stop the loss of taxpayer’s money to corruption.

Lozada is telling us a bitter truth. A truth that is hard to swallow but far better than sweet lies. Let us support Jun Lozada and hope for the better.

Let the truth be uncovered. Let the thieves be punished.

Read my new post on my Blogspot which recounts my interview by a person from Air Transportation Office (or rather from Intelligence Office of the AFP) and the obvious attempt to extract information from me about the so-called Leftist groups in the University of the Philippines. Please read Spying on Leftists.