Today is Republic Day. It has always been far from perfect, but today marks sixty years that that Philippine flag has flown alone, and Filipinos, unless they’ve chosen otherwise by emigrating to another country, have been born the subjects of no other nation but their own.
What is Madyaas Confederation all about and who is behind it?
A tape surfaces. More here.
Like the Guardia Civil: get your cedulas ready. An accompanying push for an anti-terror law.
Charmed met my aunt.
I’ll be a guest on “My Favorite Show” tonight on ANC.
Technorati Tags: CBCP, history, impeachment, Philippines, politics
MLQ3, Your article “To be born free†is quite touching, history unfolding, from a youth’s view. Marcos’ New Society dictatorship promised bread for freedom – an exchange, that is. GMA’s Enchanted Kingdom autocracy promises economic take-off in exchange for our institutions – political, social, cultural and even ecclesial institutions. To be born free is a privilege and a responsibility – to live free and stay free — for which each generation is accountable to the next. But we have not owned up to the responsibilities that freedom entails – behaving, in our country, like irresponsible slaves while the master is away. OFW’s behave because they recognize and submit to an unquestionable authority. If we juxtapose the profile of GMA’s mind-set, as representative of political leaders, with that of the collective Filipino, we might recognize that the mind-set profiles of the leaders and the people are identical – the profile of a slave – who dreams another man’s dream, fight another man’s war, sing another man’s songs. To be born free is a gift, to live free a responsibility, to stay free is victory, and a legacy passed on from one generation to the next. From MLQ to MLQ3’s generation, how aflame will the torch of freedom be to the next?
Lesson no. 1. An uprising purportedly based on morality will never succeed especially when the morality of those who want to wage it are also in question. All those who are tainted by the past and that includes the Catholic priests by virtue of the acts committed by many Padre Damasos should take note or else they will be rendered irrelevant remember Cory? FVR? Cardinal bla bla bla
Lesson number 2. If they really want to succeed “based on morality” they should sacrifice their own life the way NINOY died or Jose Rizal for that matter to get the sympathy of the people. We are a soap opera country they should remember that. If they think they can eat the cake too …
Lesson number 3. Serial offenders like Honasan and Lim, Satus Ocampo and co. should be brave enough to admit what they have done rather than deny and deny and run and hide who will believe them when everybody knows what they have done? They profess they are gentlemen but behave like….just listen to what people say about them ..bakit di pa tinuluyan yan
Lesson no. 4. People do not complain when leftists and media people are killed because they have abused the tolerance and hospitality of the people’s ears. Who wants to listen to repetitive slogans and styles?Naggers all negative! times have changed ibahin nyo naman ang strategy. stop name calling you cant do that anymore use persuasion and good manners.
Lesson No 5. When GMA acts the opposition reacts with equally negative response and the other way around.Everything is predictable! Nobody gives credence to predictable negative responses. The vast majority in the middle are sick and tired of everything.
emilie,
“the vast majority in the middle are sick and tired of everyhing”
so sick and tired that this vast majority is not doing anything. ang masaklap some of them are whining the oppositions more than the administration. pretending to be galit to GMA but hated the opposition more.
i remember participating in the noise barrage. and my mom’s dismay when the news about ninoy’s death was flashed on tv. oh, and my dad was a colonel then =)
anyway, in case you want to compare the declarations of independence on 4 july 1946 and 12 June 1898, links are here: http://filipinolibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/07/declarations-of-independence.html
“They profess they are gentlemen but behave like….just listen to what people say about them ..bakit di pa tinuluyan yan”
And oh, and i thought you would have included your president. just listen to what the tapes say about her.
and why speak of the middle? it’s not even the majority. the majority is sick and tired. ang mahihirap ay nagkakasakit at napapagod sa mga pangakong hindi natutupad.
ang bangkal papel, bow.
and nice link you’ve got. speaks well of what you are.
Hay naku, hanggang ngayon ba naman ayaw pa ring matuto ng mga eto. Dont you ever realizied that , apathy and silence can also be a form of protest. Even much powerful than your “rowdy” brand of protets. Actually, Emilie got it so right!
Sixty years of independence.
But five years of GMA, so far, had pulled us back to utter debt dependency, financial bankruptcy, economic ruin and political volatility. Five more years would bring the Philippines to worse than being a colony — a country no colonizer would bother with because our natural resources would have been over-exploited, our gold mines ransacked, our land destroyed, our water poisoned by agro-industrial chemicals, our crops gmo-ed; and our people malnourished, mis-educated, despondent, helpless.
Spanish colonization would seem like heaven, the American era a paradise, the Marcos dictatorship a fiesta compared to GMA’s Enchanted Kingdom – an alien invasion that sucks the life out of our nation.
Let’s celebrate Republic Day: Patalsikin si Gloria ! Patalsikin si Gloria! Patalsikin si Gloria!
Emillie,
Justice is always at the bottom of all uprisings and justice is a moral issue.Number 2 does not necessarily follow. Besides how can an uprising succeed through suicide?
Number 3,4, and 5 are partisan lessons. The only thing anyone can learn from those three lessons is on which side of the political fence you’re in.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita revealed the motive behind Malacanan’s muddling of the separation of church and state.
He said, “It’s not important what the CBCP and Malacañang say on the impeachment complaint. What is important is that we let the people through the media try to interpret the action of Bishop Iniguezâ€Â
Ermita’s statement is an extension of an earlier statement by Mike Defensor, “Personally, I am disturbed because the devotees might be swayed, their political beliefs might be affected because of this development.â€Â
Sa madaling salita, Malacanan’s separation of Church and State campaign is bogus.
Manolo,
I clicked on their announcement and read their manifesto. I saw the following L
“These are the times not for heckling, cynicism and apathy nor the time for hollow rationality blinded by desire for gain, power and personal comfort. These are the times when our resolve as a nation will decide the fate of our people.”
Sounds like a Malacanan press release or another statement from the 600 intelligent women of civil society,
Emilie, you sell toilet bowls?
emilie, it seems some people don’t know when to quit or read signals.
Those making the most noise for all sorts of reasons fill themselves a majority of sorts.
Yet, there are always there hoping & wishing that the silent majority move to support them.
I think, if ever the so called silent majority would like to follow better exsamples.
It’s really about the noisy minority pestering the so called silent majority.
To them the fight is about who can make more noise then who is it that can use their God given brain to make well informed dicisions.
surely those making the most noise, guided by their emotions & perceptions are anything but an exsample to follow.
If in a way there are fewer people who blog trying to commun icate better ideas based on hard work & encourage others to make dicisions based on facts & not just on perceived ideas mixed w/ partisanship,maybe it’s because the “majority” of people have better things to do.Insted of just attacking, complaining & making all sorts of judgments.
It seems that the ones who make the most noise are those who have nothing to contribute concretly in nation building.
They seem to pick the easy parts the convient parts.
Their the ones who will never be satisfied w/ anything.where no explanations or reason will ever be enough.They will always look for anything that is negative & project it to be the entire story when in reality it is just a part.
It’s always about attitudes & mindsets that really bring us down.
It’s really true our educational system has failed in a way to make men out of boys
manuelB,
persoanly, I hope the palace lets the thing slide about the church pushing an impeachment complain.
I think the only ones cheering for the church anyway are the same ol charcters over & over again.
I think the church is “playing” to one side of the audience only anyway.
The church is also know as the “universal church”.Universal meaning that it’s supposed to be the church of “all”.
But if our “parochial” local church wants to shoot itself in the foot, then let them do so.
I’m sure that they will find all possible arguments always to defend themselves.It will just be another of this endless pinoy things that never end.
But will the church behavior bring more people to join the church or will the trend just continue that the church loses members to other christian groups will be the sign if the church is doing the right things.
I bet you the “divided church” since it’s divided can’t be doing the right thing.
A didvided group is never the expression of any kind of truth.
Joselu,
I agree with you. Let’s ignore the fly in our soup and just get on with our lives.
Real men eat soup with flies in them and boys will always refuse the soup because of the fly floating in it. That’s how you tell men from boys.
Enjoy your fly-infested soup.
I’ve always felt that July 4th 60 years should be RP’s indepence day because as MLQ3 said, it was when the only time when Philippine flag started flying alone…
Anyway, happy Philippine Day to everyone!
Now for us to obtain that special birthday gift, I reckon we gotta OUST GLORIA once and for all!
“Lesson no. 4. People do not complain when leftists and media people are killed because they have abused the tolerance and hospitality of the people’s ears. Who wants to listen to repetitive slogans and styles?Naggers all negative! times have changed ibahin nyo naman ang strategy. stop name calling you cant do that anymore use persuasion and good manners.
emilie said this on July 4th, 2006 at 10:52 am”
LESSON TO LESSON NO. 4: It’s perfectly okay for people not to complain about murder of leftists and journalists because they are so noisy, negative and repetitious anyway.
Example: Had Emilie been a journalist or a leftist, I will not complain or even condemn if she gets silenced extrajudicially because her comments pisses me off anyway. Same old style, strategy in her hopeless defense of GMA.
Hypothetical Question: What if the tables were turned, that instead of leftists and journalists, the ones being slaughtered are the defenders of the status quo — meaning those who turn a blind eye to the excesses of this government while at the same time will not allow even the tiniest speck in Guingona’s eye to go unnoticed — how would she react?
Conclusion: This excuse by Emilie is the flimsiest and most irresponsible, coming as it is from a person who ought to know that “no person should be deprived of LIFE, liberty and property without due process of law.”
Errata: …not to complain about THE murder of..
…because her comments PISS me off..
TY.
Nicely said Bystander. At least some of us still know how to think than just follow what the administration spins.
Lesson no. 1. An uprising purportedly based on morality will never succeed especially when the morality of those who want to wage it are also in question. All those who are tainted by the past and that includes the Catholic priests by virtue of the acts committed by many Padre Damasos should take note or else they will be rendered irrelevant remember Cory? FVR? Cardinal bla bla bla
moral lesson: be immaculately clean as gloria portrays herself to be, only then can you lead an immoral uprising…remember EDSA 2?
Lesson number 2. If they really want to succeed “based on morality†they should sacrifice their own life the way NINOY died or Jose Rizal for that matter to get the sympathy of the people. We are a soap opera country they should remember that. If they think they can eat the cake too …
moral lesson: wipe gloria’s ass…it’s a sacrifice worse than dying…besides, lots of soap are needed before eating the cake.
Lesson number 3. Serial offenders like Honasan and Lim, Satus Ocampo and co. should be brave enough to admit what they have done rather than deny and deny and run and hide who will believe them when everybody knows what they have done? They profess they are gentlemen but behave like….just listen to what people say about them ..bakit di pa tinuluyan yan
moral lesson: HONESTY is still the best policy…huh, gloria?…hey, gloria …..why the silence???
Lesson no. 4. People do not complain when leftists and media people are killed because they have abused the tolerance and hospitality of the people’s ears. Who wants to listen to repetitive slogans and styles?Naggers all negative! times have changed ibahin nyo naman ang strategy. stop name calling you cant do that anymore use persuasion and good manners.
moral lesson for activists and journalists: learn silence from the talkative, learn hospitality from the rude, learn tolerance from the intolerant, learn to be positive from the negative ways, learn persuasion from the unpersuasive, and learn to be good from the unkind…only then can we STOP the killings.
Lesson No 5. When GMA acts the opposition reacts with equally negative response and the other way around.Everything is predictable! Nobody gives credence to predictable negative responses. The vast majority in the middle are sick and tired of everything.
moral lesson: join the path of the middle (the silent, hospitable, tolerant, positive, persuasive?, and kind majority)…’tis the only noble way.
…in the meantime, while the anti-glorias continue to sound their deafening noise, gloria and her underlings go on their merry way…huhuhu…
their merry way?…hahaha…let’s see if the enlightened ones shouldn’t take sides and just move on…
on a completely unrelated note, congratulations on the TV show. i heard from abe!
So there really was an attempted withdrawal of support by Gen. Danny Lim and his military supporters as evidenced by the video recording as exposed by ABS-CBN’s Bandila News. Quite a bombshell. Malacanang’s reaction was that it was glad the video they had been long looking for actually existed and now they can pin down Gen. Lim.
But there’s something sinister to all these. I think there are secondary bombshells in the offing. But on whose faces will these bombs explode? Initially it seems it exploded on Gen. Lim’s who denied he was ever involved in any coup. But there are many implications and repercussions to this expose. Who else will get hit? The Opposition? Senga? Investigating Panel head Admiral Lopez? Or ultimately Malacanang?
Some of the still unanswered questions:
– Why was the video brought out only now?
– Who kept it all this time?
– How did it get to ABS_CBN News? Why ABS? When did they get it? Who sent it?
– Wasn’t the video originally with ABC-5?
– Why the delay by the AFP investigating panel in coming up with their report findings and recommendations on Lim and the others?
– Why did Senga and Lopez sound apprehensive and nervous in answering ABS’ questions about the delayed report?
– Was the unsigned report gotten hold of by ABS the completed but unsigned report ? Was it deliberately held in abeyance? And for how long? And why?
Emille, (just to add to rios’, MB’s, Bystander’s and Baycas’ responses)…on Lesson #1 ‘An uprising purportedly based on morality will never succeed especially when the morality of those who want to wage it are also in question‘ is based on an incomplete reading of human nature. As the American philosopher John Dewey wrote, “Not only the ‘good’, but the more vigorous and hearty of the ‘bad’, would scorn life in which character, selfhood had no significance, and where the experimental discovery and testing had no place.” Put more directly, as Robert Nozick says “What we are is important to us.†This reality has to be considered along with your currently fashionable utilitarian view.
There is some truth to your lesson #2. Marcelino Foronda, my history teacher in College, taught that Ninoy’s death resonated with the common folk because it mirrored the story of the ‘Pasyon’. The more the current spate of targeted assassinations goes on, the more likely a similar miscalculation could happen again.
Splendid analysis Phil Cruz! You hit the nail right on it’s head. I’m raring to know the answers to your questions. Why the delay indeed in the release of the videotape? Coincidentally or otherwise, it was released just as ABS-CBN was airing its premeire telecast of Bandila. What could be the motive for releasing the videotape only now? As for ABS-CBN, the motive is clear. It was purposely aired to possibly get higher ratings over rival Channel 7. To me, it does not speak well of ABS-CBN as a news organization. They tend to sensationalize the news.
As to Gen. Danny Lim, I don’t see any wrong for a soldier to attempt to break from a corrupted chain of command, more so to withdraw support from a bogus commander in chief. He may have violated the articles of war but he was justified in doing so. Let’s see if the AFP leadership will have the balls and the moral ascendancy to punish Lim and company for mutiny. The AFP crack is showing.
Punish Gen. Lim if they must, but only after Esperon, Habacon, Lomibao, Gloria, Garci, et al.
No Matter what is our individual take on the issue of Separation of Church and the State, the action of bishop Yninques has nothing to do with the issue. The Good Bishop is not trying to Influence the Government of Ms. Arroyo to Pass or not Pass a Specific Law, or develop or not a specific policy that slant toward the favour of the Church, but Merely doing what every Responsisble Citizen should have done, trying to indict the sitting President, in a Lawful Process in Order to have Her tried in the Senate for alleged Wrongdoings that She maybe be removed from the highest Office of the land if found guilty. That’s the way I look at the Situation as it presents itself at this stage..
Off topic MLQ3 with the news of the evening Germany time:
Impressive Italia defeats clinical Germany 2 – 0! Fantastic rally of volley and goals 2 minutes into the end of the match.
Italy now is finalist in the World Cup 2006…
Watch tomorrow’s other final qualifying match between France and Portugal. Obviously, I will be cheering for Les Bleus and Zinedine Zidane, the majestic and football genius of his time.
Encore, Bravissimo! Viva Glorious Italia!
The only independence that matters is to be free from poverty. We have screwed up on that, big time.
After Sixty years of independence, we have to protect it from a few our own.
Gen. Danny Lim’s intention has strong moral basis. But he miscalculated: 1) under-estimated Gen. Senga”s loyalty to GMA and Senga’s capacity to pre-empt the impending coup 2) over-estimated the move’s impact on the other soldiers & the public 3)over-estimated people-power response/ under-estimated public apathy 4) the move was pre-mature, it pre-empted a better- timed July coup, 5)it lacks synchronization with civilian mass movement e.g. the Church factor (moral coup) now combined with civil mass movement & military move has more potential for a ‘benevolent’ scenario. Gringo, Gen. Domingo, Gen. Gudane, Magdalo, RAM, the Feb 2006 pre-empted withdrawers of support (WOS), etal are ‘marginalized’ but not yet ‘neutralized’. A civil-military disobedience is the best scenario we can hope for to resolve the crisis so that we can focus on the urgent needs of our people. The ‘signs of the times’ will tell us when. Be vigilant, but be patient.
Joselu,
When the church sided with GMA during EDSA II, it was ok then. Now when some of the bishops are against your President you are then saying the church should be universal or church for all. May amnesia ba kayo?
â€ÂIt seems that the ones who make the most noise are those who have nothing to contribute concretely in nation building.â€Â
Joselu, noisy people are mostly informed citizens and an informed citizenry can be a threat to entrenched systems. These are educated people who have little tolerance for corruption, incompetence and abuse of power. So, who do you think contributes more in nation building, si FG na nagpaparami ng anak sa labas? Si JDV na puro pambobola lang ang alam? Si Singson at Pineda na mga Jueteng Lords? Si Lambino ng sigaw ng bayad? Si Brenda? Yong 2 Gonzales ng cabinet? Si Noli na worst alternative ni GMA?
Members of silent majority I guess are plain old sick and tired of being sick and tired that’s why they chose to keep silent.
ABS-CBN had admitted they had possession of the tape during the stand-off. They said they don’t want to be “used” during such a time. They also said there are more copies of the tape in circulation. If there had been, why didn’t the other media outfits expose it earlier? I just hope Bunye wouldn’t be holding up two tapes again.
Naku! baka bawiin ni Arroyo yung “regalo” nya na sa CBCP at kay Pope Benedict.
Bystander,
Is Emilie a lawyer?
Hi Anna,
Nope, I don’t know her. I am presuming that every Filipino who has gone to college should have some knowledge about the Bill of Rights under the Constitution. That was what I assumed in my last comment thread.
Mike Defensor is behind that “madyaas” garbage. It and the “Maragtas” legend are the imagininary of Pedro A. Monteclaro, a Visayan public official and poet, in Iloilo in 1907. He based it on folk customs and legends, largely transmitted by oral tradition. (Zaide, Gregorio F. & Sonia M. Zaide. History of the Republic of the Philippines, revised college edition, 1987. p.31.
ISBN 971-08-3995-0, Published by National Book Store Inc.)
William Henry Scott proved in a dissertation that the “Confederation of Madya-as” are not historical fact but were merely collected legends collected and concocted by Monteclaro in 1907 in his book entitled Maragtas.
Scott defended his findings before a panel of eminent historians including Teodoro Agoncillo, Horacio de la Costa, Marcelino Forondo, Mercedes Grau Santamaria, Nicholas Zafra and Gregorio Zaide.
(Scott, William Henry. Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, 1968. Revised edition published by New Day Publishers, Quezon City, 1984)
Hei! luogo che interessante avete fatto, ben cotto!