Mama Mary moved the Muslims

Or did she move Comelec Chairman Abalos? Maybe both? Anyway over the weekend, on TV, TU candidate Miguel Zubiri was giving credit to the Virgin of Manaoag for the Comelec’s decision not to proclaim a failure of elections in Maguindanao.

anyway, so there will be special polls come June 20 in some ARMM places and a cluster of precincts in Batangas; the same article has this quotable quote courtesy of Zubiri:

“Through its decision, the Comelec has shown that the will of the people supersedes any legal technicalities, and therefore must be placed in foremost consideration,” Zubiri said.

Amen? Amen! But the Manila Times editorial says the Comelec’s in a pickle:

Pimentel’s lawyer had asked the Comelec to exclude the votes from Maguindanao and declare her client the outright winner. That petition was rejected.

On the other hand, almost all of the local winners, from governor down to town councilor, have been proclaimed (which is not really surprising because practically all of them ran unopposed). That, according to the Comelec chairman, is undeniable proof that the electoral process did run its course in Maguindanao. “You can’t declare a failure of election for one set of officials and then an election for another. If you declare a failure of election, it should be for all,” was how Abalos put it.

If elections failed in that province, special polls would have to be called. Abalos mentioned June 20 as the most likely date for them. That would be too close to the June 30 deadline.

We may be coming to the final chapter of the Maguindanao saga, barring new developments this week, when Abalos and other top election officials travel to Maguindanao. Their mission: find other documents that could be used as basis to reconstitute or reconvene the provincial board of canvassers that would tabulate the votes for senators.

(Not very different from what John Nery blogged in Inquirer Current some time back). To complicate matters further, now a PPCRV provincial official says there were elections, after all. Most interesting are Rep. Simeon Datumanong’s list of possibilities for the Comelec, and a local official’s belief that Zubiri will lose anyway:

Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong said on Friday the Comelec could not just set aside the tabulation of votes cast in Maguindanao because its commissioners could face an impeachable offense for violation of voters’ rights.

Datumanong said the Comelec can pick among three options to address the controversies surrounding the Maguindanao elections: 1) to go to the Supreme Court on the issue of special elections; and 2) to go back to precinct-by-precinct appreciation of municipal tallies, which, he said, could take a year-long process; and 3) for the Comelec en banc sitting as the National Board of Canvassers to constitute itself into a task force under its own directive to retrieve elections documents from the 22 towns.

Meanwhile, a local official said votes garnered by Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri in the province would not be enough to offset Aquilino Pimentel III’s lead over him in the national tally, if the Maguindanao CoCs were to be retabulated.

Provincial canvassing showed that Zubiri got 86,698 votes but Pimentel III garnered 29,485 in the province.

“So what’s the big fuss about their votes?” Shuaib Maulana, a member of the three-man Provincial Board of Canvassers said.

But that’s not what Zubiri says.

In other news, Jose de Venecia backs off from Charter Change; same sentiments echoed by his loyal lieutenants.

From Newsbreak, an analysis of the failure of the administration’s machinery in the last elections:

However, the rivalry between the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas) and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) cannot be the sole reason for TU’s poor showing in many of these provinces, as implied by TU candidate Miguel Zubiri in a recent news report. The TU slate was simply tough to sell, as the nationwide vote distribution shows….

…But the ruling coalition itself was divided – not just between Lakas and Kampi but within Kampi itself. Rep. Luis Villafuerte, Kampi president, admitted to Newsbreak that Ronaldo Puno, Kampi chair, made his “own nominations” that did not pass through official arbitration channels… He counted about 10 areas where Puno fielded his “own” candidates without consulting the arbitration panel.

As in past elections, when ruling parties opted to have free zones, the administration’s national candidates ended up losing. “There will always be jealousy [on both sides], and they will always end up minding their personal campaigns and not the national candidates,” a former ranking Lakas official, who experienced arbitrating local members’ competition for official party nomination, told Newsbreak.

In 27 provinces where Lakas and Kampi fielded gubernatorial candidates against each other (see list below), TU dominated – but not swept – the senatorial polls in only 8…

…Lakas and Kampi candidates also slugged it out in at least 57 congressional districts and numerous cities and towns. However, the results of the senatorial elections there are not readily available from the Commission on Elections….

The former Lakas official quoted earlier acknowledged that the contests between Lakas and Kampi candidates got so intense that they didn’t have time to mind TU’s senatorial candidates.

It can be surmised then that for the national positions, they allowed the voters to choose candidates. Or, the administration’s local candidates were too busy to protect TU’s votes.

The ex-Lakas official’s reading may be true in 7 of the Lakas-Kampi conflict areas where TU lost. Benguet, Masbate, Camarines Sur, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental, Agusan del Norte, and Agusan del Sur all went for President Arroyo in the 2004 presidential elections.

The victory of opposition senatorial candidates there this year could indeed be explained by the locals’ focus on their own elections – in 4 of these, the Lakas gubernatorial bet won; in 3, the Kampi bets won. They are unlike some congressional districts and cities or municipalities where both the Lakas and Kampi candidates lost.

The most plausible reason for TU’s loss in most of the Lakas-Kampi conflict provinces, however, is that most of them are traditionally opposition areas.

Of the 27 provinces where Lakas and Kampi fielded gubernatorial bets, President Arroyo lost in 11 in the 2004 polls. All these 11 provinces, which voted for opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) then, also delivered to the GO bets this year. The only FPJ country in 2004 that became pro-administration this election is Tawi-Tawi, where TU won 7 seats against GO’s 5.

On to the new Senate: much ado about Trillanes: military floats trial ballon –what if they simply don’t let him attend Senate sessions? That way, he can’t use the political ammunition some (anonymous) generals claim they’ll provide him.

In the wake of Silvestre Afable’s resignation, his replacement, Fr. Eliseo Mercado, shares his thoughts on the Mindanao peace process.

Palace certifies bill to extend the life of land reform. The NPA burn another cell site. And San Juan becomes a city. Meanwhile, a far older city is embroiled in a major fight: it’s Tommy Osmena vs. Gwen Garcia over who owns the Fuente Osmena and why Cebu City residents can’t vote for the Cebu governor (when they used to in the past).

Overseas, Asia Sentinel on the implications of the recent anti-terror arrests in Singapore (interesting to me, as article hits Zachary Abuza, a counterterrorism expert I met during a symposium in Washington, D.C.; Abuza visits Mindanao from time to time); pressure mounting from Republican loyalists for George W. Bush to pardon his convicted factotum Scooter Libby has History Unfolding reflecting on the theory of “executive privilege,” and how it’s a myth: something relevant to us, since the present administration’s fond of invoking executive privilege. According to the blogger,

Raoul Berger, a rather elderly legal scholar and concert violinist, who published two remarkable books in the early 1970s, Impeachment: The Constitutional Problems, and Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth. He made it clear, as Sam Ervin did before all our eyes, that the inquisitorial power of the legislature really had no constitutional limits–executive privilege depended on what he called “bootstrap precedents” enunciated by successive Presidents from the White House–and that the power to question individuals who were paid by, and spending, taxpayers’ money under oath was really the only way to know what our government was doing, much less to do something about it.

My column for today is Topsy turvy. What’s changed since it was written (just yesterday!) is that Sec. Teves has decided not to quit (he decided against it just yesterday, too, according to Ricky Carandang), but the topsy-turviness remains, because now, Energy Sec. Lotilla has decided to quit (according to Carandang, too). See the Ricky Carandang entry I quoted in my column. See Business Mirror story in EO 625. Also, ABS-CBNNews.com story on cabinet confusion.

Ducky Paredes runs down the list of disaffected congressmen making noises they want to change the Speaker, for the good of the chamber, they say. But the real reason may be far from grand, but as old as democracy itself: people simply get tired if a leader lasts too long. Meanwhile, last week came and went, and the much talked-about scuttlebutt that Luis Villafuerte would be toppled as Kampi President didn’t come to pass -were things papered over last Friday at the Palace? But Villafuerte has come out swinging (yet again) saying Sec. Puno’s out to get him, confirming last week’s scuttlebutt.

Random Jottings on the fight for the senate presidency.

Former NEDA chief Cielito Habito looks at the 1st Quarter growth rate and examines what created it. Turns out election spending had something to do with it, after all:

What clearly propelled the surprising growth were unusually high government spending (public construction and government consumption, which grew 16.9 and 13.1 percent respectively) and good export growth (9.1 percent).

Unless you were born yesterday, it’s plain to see that the May elections were responsible for this. I should note that even the slightly better private consumption growth must have been pushed up by the massive spending on election campaign materials – not to mention vote-buying.

The problem is, news on government revenues has not been good lately. Unless this trend is turned around dramatically, government is in no position to spend as briskly as it did in the first quarter.

The other propellant of the growth had been exports. Here, the short term outlook doesn’t look encouraging either. Latest export data show a significant slowdown in April to just 5 percent growth.

Such a slowdown had been expected, due to generally slower demand for electronics in the global market – and we rely on this industry for two-thirds of our exports.

This tells me that it is investments we need to work hard on.

Foreign investments are not a problem, mind you; data tell us that they have been grown phenomenally in the past year or so. It is the stakes put in by domestic investors that needs a big boost.

And as for Trillanes, some views from Ramon Farolan (a good guide to what the senior retired officers are thinking), as well as reflections from bloggers Philippine Commentary and The Jester-in-Exile.

Continuing with the blogosphere, the thoughts that wander points to the national budget online.

YugaTech asks why Filipinos seem glued to Friendster.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

83 thoughts on “Mama Mary moved the Muslims

  1. I’m not sure what exactly is the fuss with the 6.9% growth this time around. Looking at the NSCB’s quarterly GDP statistics (at 1985 constant prices), it seems that we’ve had higher year on year GDP growth during the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2004 (at 7.15% and 7.10% respectively).

  2. “Foreign investments are not a problem, mind you; data tell us that they have been grown phenomenally in the past year or so…”

    Because we are coming from very low figures, growth could be seen as phenomenal. Comparatively with the rest of the region and Southeast Asia, that’s how we should be measured. A jump from 10 to 1000 is phenomenal but that’s nothing if the rest are raking in 10,000, 20,000.

  3. The main protagonists Zubiri and Pimentel agree that there was NO FAILURE OF ELECTIONS in Maguindanao. The quarrel is whether to count or not to count.

    If Zubiri wins he would be properly acknowledged as Senator from Maguindanao. And Abalos would have it his everlasting legacy along with Bedol in the same league as Hello Garci.

  4. Foreign investors take their gains with them outside of the Philippines, local investors on the other hand keep theirs within. The problem is when these foreign investors pull out their moneys to put in better investments some time later, the local investors suffer. It follows therefore that when the market shoots up with foreign funds, it’s not good for local investors to buy in. Catch 22.

  5. Fact remains, Pinoys are too inept at creating/building capital internally that we get so obssessed about foreign investments.

    Celphone trinkets anyone?

  6. mlq3, i don’t want to second guess Mama Mary but i think if she ever “moved” the muslims in maguindanao, it is not in making their choice one way or the other. rather, it is in helping them make their choice count. apparently, mig zubiri is a marian believer. and there should not be anything wrong with invoking her assistance, should there be? i’m not at all impressed by pimentel’s self-serving insistence not to declare a failure of election and disregard the vote at the same time and/or not hold a special election resulting in total disenfranchisement of maguindanao in the senatorial contests. he is obviously trying to stack the deck in his favor. he must fail, otherwise, what a helluva way of starting a career in the senate – an institution that has already lost its credibility in the eyes of a large segment of the population?

  7. “Fact remains, Pinoys are too inept at creating/building capital internally that we get so obssessed about foreign investments.”

    Nah. the field is just bursting with kleptocracy. whatever capital is raised, the kleptocrats snatch it up, and circulate it amongst themselves, or stash it away in foreign lands.

    The Philippines is like some blusang-itim working opposite the one in the movie. Filipinos here stagnate, but flourish when in foreign lands. It makes you think if it has something to do with us unable to see real talents, while foreigners snatch them up and cultivate them. Utter failures here, who are refused jobs, and ridiculed as idealists, succeed in other lands, and are praised for their integrity. meanwhile, the mediocre here thrive, helped along by their mediocre buddies, and their mediocre minds. The culture of Filipino superiors shutting out much more talented subordinates in order for them not to get noticed in the company is as old as time.

    Pinoys are not inept. They just are not allowed to shine by the damn aliens posing as Pinoys. The True Pinoy lies undiscovered, until another OFW journey begins.

  8. devil:

    Spot on 100%!

    It brings up the whole point behind being a nation in the first place. We suck when together but flourish when apart.

    Here are terms I hear quite often among Pinoys:

    “Wow, hi-falluting naman!”
    “Heavy mo pare, tara inuman na lang tayo”

    Those are just examples of the kind of mentalities that hinder the propagation of innovative, out-of-the-square ideas. Ideas that require courage to uphold and propagate.

    I also agree that there is a lot of genius lying under the noses of our more popular but substance-bankrupt “heroes” (a couple have proven that leading rebellions are amply rewarded in our society).

    The tragedy lies in the reality that Pinoy genius is imprisoned by our intellectually bankrupt “national language”, our quaint island dialects, and the self-righteous calls of our “patriots” to encourage its use at the expense of English (the key to the vast knowledgebase created by the advanced world).

  9. “The tragedy lies in the reality that Pinoy genius is imprisoned by our intellectually bankrupt “national language”, our quaint island dialects, and the self-righteous calls of our “patriots” to encourage its use at the expense of English (the key to the vast knowledgebase created by the advanced world).”

    prove that scientifically.

  10. benignO:

    unless you can tell us that the japanese, french and russian academic research journals are less prolific in their outputs, your perception of english as the key to vast knowledge base, to me, is nothing more than a discourse bias–that’s because us as learners in the english language, it’s our natural proclivity to dig into materials that we linguistically understand, nothing more.

    let me bring back this argument: how long have we boasted ourselves as being proficient in the english language? years and years, till this recent decline. but over those long years, where did this key to vast knowledge base bring our country? out. and you keep complaining, get real philippines?!?

  11. inidoro: I throw back the challenge to you — disprove it. Cite an example of a published world-class innovative idea (the kind that drives leaps in philosophical, scientific, and technological development).

    My only criteria is this: The idea should be articulated in Tagalog.

  12. inidoro:

    Let me qualify my assertion further:

    English — along with other languages used by societies with a solid track-record of contributing to the collective knowledge of humanity — hold the key to bringing Pinoys society into the intellectual loop of civilisation.

  13. “My only criteria is this: The idea should be articulated in Tagalog.”

    Cannot any UNIVERSAL idea be communicated in any language?

    now tell me, as i deem you proficient in english: what have your reading of these materials done to contribute to philippine development, apart from armchair ranting?

  14. The practicality of the matter is that for a publication to be recognized as world-class, it has to undergo review by “judges” who are world-class in their excellence.

    What again are the languages that these “judges” prefer the publications they review to be in?

    Forget world-class, just think doctoral dissertations!! I may be wrong, but I suspect that doctoral dissertations in any Philippine university has to be in English (with Latin and Spanish accepted occasionally).

  15. “what have your reading of these materials done to contribute to philippine development, apart from armchair ranting?”

    Tsk tsk.

    Typical argument of last recourse.

    I’ll tell you this much:

    Maybe I am doing something and maybe I am not (it’s my prerogative last I heard).

    But whether I am doing something or not, does that change in anyway the trueness or falseness of what I say?

  16. efficiency: n. 1. Kakayahan o kahusayan sa paglilingkod o sa pagtatrabaho:/ exceptional efficiency: pambihirang kakayahan (sa trabaho)/ 2, Kawalang-palyo; hindi pagpapalyo; galing sa pagtratrabaho (colloq.):/efficiency of the battery: kawalang palyo ng baterya./

    efficient: n. 1. Episyente (Sp.); mahusay o sanay sa trabaho. 2. Walang-palyo; hindi nagpapalyo, kung baga sa isang baterya.

    Wha’s interesting is that efficiency is a Latinism:

    efficiency |iˈfi sh ənsē| noun ( pl. -cies) the state or quality of being efficient : greater energy efficiency. • an action designed to achieve this : to increase efficiencies and improve earnings. • technical the ratio of the useful work performed by a machine or in a process to the total energy expended or heat taken in. • short for efficiency apartment .

    ORIGIN late 16th cent.(in the sense [the fact of being an efficient cause] ): from Latin efficientia, from efficere ‘accomplish’ (see effect ).

    So to borrow benign0’s logic, why didn’t the Anglo-Saxons have their own word for efficiency?

  17. I always thought it was ‘palya’ and not ‘palyo’. As in walang palya, hindi pumapalya, etc.

  18. Bencard,

    Maybe you are right. Zubiri is with TU — Gloria’s party. Gloria claimed before that she had the support (I am not sure about the particulars but it was reported in the papers and was even a subject of an editorial) of then Pope John Paul II but she said this when the latter was dead. And if I am not mistaken, she also claimed that she spoke with God. If Gloria is that blessed, can her supporter in Zubiri be far behind?

  19. Wow, the height of arrogance that the Gods may favor one or the other. Sometimes Richard Dawkins makes some very good points when he says we are insolent and arrogant to believe that we are special for the Gods to favor us over others. So is it really the “mujahadeen” for Jesus versus the “mujahadeen” for Mohammed?

    The ARRM is a micro picture of a failed state. Rule by men and guns. Maguindanao is a micro failed state. How do you expect to impose the rule of institutions that are based in Manila and have no authority in these failed areas. You would have to colonize theese areas first. That means you garrison the military and you impose some sort of martial rule and you do what all colonizers do. Elections there are a farce.

    In Iraq, Geroge Will recently wrote of a Catholic who was appointed officer in the new Iraqi army. He was stoned to death by his own men.

    Mama Mary getting involved in an election. That has got to be totally insane.

  20. “efficiency: n. 1. Kakayahan o kahusayan sa paglilingkod o sa pagtatrabaho:/ exceptional efficiency: pambihirang kakayahan (sa trabaho)/ 2, Kawalang-palyo; hindi pagpapalyo; galing sa pagtratrabaho (colloq.):/efficiency of the battery: kawalang palyo ng baterya./”

    Here’s the English translation of all the words you used above:

    Capability or skill at working and delivering service (“Kakayahan o kahusayan sa paglilingkod o sa pagtatrabaho”)

    Impressive/remarkable capability (“pambihirang kakayahan”)

    Reliability (“Kawalang-palyo; hindi pagpapalyo; galing sa pagtratrabaho”)

    Reliability of battery (“kawalang palyo ng baterya”)

    Nowhere above do i see an accurate translation of efficiency (the amount of output for every input).
    Note that “kawalang palyo” is NOT efficiency. It literally translates to *lack of failure* (reliability).

    Furthermore:

    “mahusay o sanay sa trabaho” is skilled and experienced at work

    And finally,

    English borrowed lots of words from Latin the same way Japanese is riddled with words like “kamera” and “chizu” (cheese). But then English and Japanese went on to reflect the industry and intellectual power of their speakers and vice versa. Which means that whatever words were borrowed from whatever language went on to be routinely applied (the Japanese build world-class cameras, and the Anglos have been measuring efficiency since and before the time they started turning fossil fuels into mechanical energy).

    It is also evident that a focus on efficiency is not a way of life amongst the people of our little Pacific islands nation. And that’s the underlying fact that won’t change no matter how many ways we backward-engineer definitions of “efficiency” from the limited vocabulary of Tagalog and plumb etymology textbooks.

  21. “Investment expenditures — the remaining component of expenditures and to many, the most important one — hardly grew at all, posting a mere 0.6 percent growth.”

    “In fact, investments in durable equipment continued to fall (-0.4 percent), which is bad news considering that this has consistently been falling for over two years now. It was only a double-digit growth (16.9 percent) in government construction that gave overall investment the push to make its growth slightly positive.” C. Habito on the growth rate

    Foreign investments not a problem but businesses are not spending on expanding capacities -capital expenditures. What you have is simply foreign savings buying up existing capacities or monies going into the equity and bond markets.

    So the economy is really not expanding its capacities which is crucially strategic for a developing economy. So sending more people aborad is still crucial to keep the growth sustainable but development, well you might as well wait for the next President.

    Nope Mama Mary can’t also help on this one.

  22. Buti na lang merong mga translators. Kaya ang mga isinulat sa Hebrew, Aramaic, Griego, Latin, English, Chinese at iba pang wika ay maaring basahin sa mga salitang kaya kong intindihin.

    Ang mga importanting libro kadalasan ay merong translation (kahit nga Harry Potter ay marami rin kahit hindi siya importante sa akin). Kaya pwedeng matuto sa tagalog o ano pa mang salitang gamit sa ibat ibang rehiyon ng Pilipinas kung merong translation. Kung mayroong mga banyagang salita na walang katapat sa ating wika, pwedeng idagdag ang ganong salita mismo (e.g. kutsilyo, kutsarita, la mesa, etc.).

  23. It is also evident that a focus on efficiency is not a way of life amongst the people of our little Pacific islands nation.

    If I want to but a loaf of bread, I walk to the bakery, as do a lot of my fellow Pacific islanders. My western counterparts (and westernized Pacific islanders) drive to the bakery. Assuming the car he uses is around 200 BHP, then he has used 200 horses to transport the loaf of bread. Who between us is more efficient? Who leaves a bigger carbon footprint? 😉

  24. hvrds:

    That’s the key issue that is masked by all the hollow-headed jargon and glossy statistics being exchanged in forums like this.

    The capital base of the Pinoy economy is not expanding.

    The output of human beings can be increased only by employing capital wisely. And that capital can only be built through investment in education, equipment, and facilities. Otherwise all we get are a bunch of miserable hardworkers who self-style themselves as “heroes” of the Republic whilst they collect their Php100 for their day’s work (if they are lucky).

    Instead of being channeled to investment, OFW remittances go to celphone trinkets, cheap Chinese jeans, Wowowee tickets, Karaoke machines, and Starbucks lattes. So the irony there is that MNCs and employers recoup the cash they pay Pinoy labour by simply dumping their products into our little island nation and watch with glee as the locals lap them all up.

  25. The Battle Hymn of the Republic

    For all American Jihadists to memorize and take to heart.

    Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
    He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
    He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
    His truth is marching on.
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

    I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
    They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
    I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
    His day is marching on.
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.

    I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
    “As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
    Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
    Since God is marching on.
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

    He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
    He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
    Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
    Our God is marching on.
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

    In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
    With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
    As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
    [originally …let us die to make men free]
    While God is marching on.
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

    He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
    He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
    So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
    Our God is marching on.
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
    Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

  26. Benigno: “It is also evident that a focus on efficiency is not a way of life amongst the people of our little Pacific islands nation.”

    How so Benigno? It is almost racist, the words that come out of your filthy mouth. It’s like saying that all muslims are jihadists, or that all blacks are illiterate…

    To generalize an entire culture in that negative light is irresponsible. Let’s try to focus on specific individuals, and not the entire culture of The Filipino, which you seem to have judged incompetent, lazy, and incapable of moving ahead..

    You generalize and characterize the Filipino in the negative light, and yet you cannot realize that it is so egocentric to say this. Every culture has the same problems that we have. We have citizens who are lazy, and we have citizens who work hard and are “efficient”. We have citizens who follow the law, and those who choose to ignore it.

    To make these characteristics only Filipino, is to not look at other cultures with the same magnifying glass. Because if you do, you will realize that these characteristics and problems such as graft and corruption, economy, and even social concerns are encountered the world over.

    Just because you feel the need to “get real”, you may have along the process, formed a distorted reality because of your own biases.

    And lastly, I ask you again, prove your general statement,

    “It is also evident that a focus on efficiency is not a way of life amongst the people of our little Pacific islands nation.”

    For this statement to be true, it must hold true for every individual in The Philippines. If it doesn’t, may I suggest, you use the phrase “some people”, lest you be included in your own argument as being inefficient.

  27. 1. “Typical argument of last recourse.”

    my point benignO: you want to help–reach out to the multitude in the language they understand best. your rants are at best understood by the literate bloggers who have the resources and the access to quality education. development is not for this elite few. language is a powerful tool for development. you don’t have to teach the concept of gravity in english to a barrio kid; the concept of gravity can be observed. question is how best can you explain further this concept. you insist, in english?

    2. Cannot any UNIVERSAL idea be communicated in any language?”

    Tell me: What is the Tagalog word for “efficiency”?

    the lack of equivalent semantic is not an argument for the non-universality of the meaning. you’ve entrapped yourself way too long inside the cave.

    but let’s say, for arguments’sake, that the tagalog word for efficiency does not exist. but say i point out to the person what it means in its economic sense, as you illustrated yourself: output/input. kailangan pa bang i-translate sa tagalog ang KOSEPTONG ito just to drive your point then that efficiency does not exist in tagalog? this argument reflects djb’s previous example: “translate one half of two thirds blah blah in tagalog.” when indeed the solution out is to simply translate the phrase into its semiotic form. same with your efficiency, dude. i can invent a word in tagalog, say, talakitok = Output/Input. there, can someone submit this entry to the Philippine Linguistics Society for documentation purposes.

    all the while, i thought this obsession for semantics is only for lawyers. who says for everything to be understood or experienced, there has to be a word for it. itanong mo nga sa mga aussie mong kaibigan kung ano ang english word ng “kalabit”? and if they can’t find one, does that mean they can’t make kalabit to you?

  28. benign0: conceptually, you may have a point. the above definition was from vicassan’s. leo english’s dictionary has the ff:

    efficiency: n. competence: Kasanayan o kakayahan (sa paglilingkod, tungkulin, o gawain). Her efficiency in that kind of work is exceptional: Pambihira ang kanyang kasanayan (kakayahan) sa ganyang uri ng trabaho (gawain).

    efficient: adj. capable; competent; skilled: Sanay. May kakayahan (sa paglilingkod, paggawa o tungkulin). Mahusay (loose trans.) An efficient cook receives good pay: Sumasahod ng mabuting suweldo ang isang sanay (mahusay) na kusinero.

    I wonder if the same thing could be said of Bahasa Indonesia or Malaysia?

    http://www.kamus-online.com/index.php?lang=en

    has:
    english indonesian
    efficiency kepraktisan
    efficiency kedayagunan
    efficiency kemujaraban

    more interesting is:

    english indonesian
    efficient efisien
    efficient efisiensi
    efficient manjur
    efficient berdaya guna
    efficient tepat guna

    We could just use episyent!

  29. Benigno, language plays a key, but as Michael Tan put it: where do we go if all we have is language and no critical thinking?

    I think manolo’s point in giving the etymology of an english word is to show us that: all languages are related. And if u haven’t realize it, languages evolve. english for me is just one of the many languages that evolved from an earlier language. maybe the story of Babel isn’t far off is it?

    Personally for me, i think computer chat language is the future. We’ll soon hear our grandsires and great grandsires talking, laughing in chat, and writing in leet.

    That was uber hax lololol.
    rotfl. super. w8 4me. il jz afk k?
    np. jz b sure 2 brb real fast k?
    ^^
    :p
    —> *toink*

  30. Personally for me, i think computer chat language is the future. We’ll soon hear our grandsires and great grandsires talking, laughing in chat, and writing in leet.

    Heaven forbid!! 😀

    Nick, it’s part of benign0’s rhetorical style to use generalizations. My favorite is when he used a queue at McDonald’s to illustrate that the average Pinoy doesnt have respect for the rule of law: About 30 people (e.g.) are all lined up at McDo, and then one guy tries to jump the line. Ergo: the that one guy is the average Pinoy and the average Pinoy doesnt have respect for the rule of law. (I suppose those that are lined up arent Pinoy.)

  31. “What again are the languages that these “judges” prefer the publications they review to be in?”

    ah, up n. only because we read and write in english doesn’t mean that for refereeing to be world-class this has to be done only in english, too. just because u.p. requires dissertations in english does not mean this is done in conformity with world-class requirements.

    world-class research is based on the ORIGINALITY of IDEAS, not on the language they are written in. [Nature, the scientific journal for instance, accommodates french and, if am not mistaken, german from time to time]. and so i go back to my argument: ideas should not be tied up to the english language alone.

    but there is actually a selfish reason why researchers often opt to submit in english journals: the count of citations made on their work. but whether their cited works are world-class or not, that is open to debate.

  32. inidoro, you said: “i can invent a word in tagalog, say, talakitok = Output/Input. there, can someone submit this entry to the Philippine Linguistics Society for documentation purposes”

    This is the point I made in response to mlq3’s previous comment. Anglos and Japanese are not exempt from inventing or adopting new words into everyday use. The fact that a Tagalog word for “efficiency” was never invented indicates that efficiency is not a key feature of our society’s mindscape — just like there is no Tagalog word for “snow” (and maybe several of them in the Scandinavian languages) and yet we have several for “rice” (e.g. kanin, bigas, sinaing, sinangag, etc.).

    mlq3, firstly my comment # 510204 is still “awaiting moderation”.

    I wholeheartedly agree. Let’s use the word “episyent” or even “talakitok” as inidoro suggested.

    The key concept being this: *we should USE the concept and ingrain deep into the very fabric of our society* so that we become a results-oriented society rather than one that holds pakitang-taoism as its preferred philosophy.

  33. benign0, can’t argue with the comment above, i agree, there is a huge amount of work to be done in combating the inefficiencies in phil. society. the biggest antidote to the inefficient status quo is exposure to efficiency abroad, i agree wholeheartedly: but also, it requires explaining *why* things are better off done efficiently.

    but it’s curious to me that there seems a wide gulf between your previous statements and this most recent one -the most recent one being purged of the combativeness and filipino-loathing, and thus, meatier.

  34. “The key concept being this: *we should USE the concept and ingrain deep into the very fabric of our society* so that we become a results-oriented society rather than one that holds pakitang-taoism as its preferred philosophy.”

    no argument in there, benignO.

    but what has using english as the medium to do, like as it this is the most EFFICIENT medium to propel development?

  35. personally, i support willy prilles’ advocacy: let each province or region have the freedom to devise its education curriculum. then each locality can have a chance to foster excellence. there are pockets of excellence out there.

  36. mlq3, you’ll have to pardon my words as they tend to be interpretted as combative and loathing. 😉

    I’ve got a simple answer to your “why” question.

    We want things to be efficient so we can get more for less effort. Compare Singapore with the Philippines. We were both on equal footing in terms of degree of development back in the 1950’s. Today it is astounding how the output of a country of less than 7 million utterly dwarfs the even the most lofy achievements of a country of almost 90 million.

    They did more with less.

    That’s efficiency.

  37. and we have to consider one thing: recall nick joaquin’s essay “a heritage of smallness,” there’s much to be said for it, and benigno’s thinking is related. it’s the manner in which the thoughts are expressed that leads to arguments.

    benigno’s ultimate lament is the relative absence of entrepreneurial spirit. how, then, to foster it?

    another thought is this: japanese and korean and chinese technological advances include the ability to reverse-engineer, and a non-western approach to profit (long-term vs. short term). benigno i think elsewhere has pointed out too many filipinos are pleased with quick gains (or is it, we’re traders, not manufacturers, at heart?).

    one businessman told me, for example, that we won the texas intruments expansion bid over china because TI doesn’t have to worry about filipinos conducting industrial espionage and reverse-engineering whatever it is they’ll build in the TI plants. interesting.

  38. hvrds,

    Easy ka lang, Yung BP mo sige ka. Tama nga si De Quiros, marami na ang hindi nakaka-appreciate ng satire ngayon.

  39. mlq3,

    I think it boils down to love of country. The Japanese and Chinese individuals who do reverse engineering and industrial espionage do not do those things for themselves, they risk their lives for their country. The same thing cannot be said of most Filipinos whose sacrifices are limited only to those where they can obtain personal gain.

  40. mlq3: I think I get “combative” whenever I see the intelligentsia focused on petty partisan discussion when bigger perspectives are expected of our society’s bigger minds.

    I find it shameful that our best minds are engaged in the kind of chatter that our smallest-minded politicians and media personalities engage in everyday.

    Great insight on the reverse-engineering thing. With the GI jeep for example, instead of improving on it, we turned it into a symbol of everything that is wrong with Pinoy society.

    I’ll have to disagree with your view “or is it, we’re traders, not manufacturers, at heart?” Lest we forget, the Chinese all but completely dominate trading operations in the Philippines as well.

  41. But is it efficiency or effectiveness that we should develop as people or nation? I believe efficiency is more applicable to machines and equipment or systems. Effectiveness is to the people or nation.

  42. Effectiveness merely answers the question of whether or not you got something done. Efficiency answers the question of how much resources you consumed to get it done.

    If it took 3 months of chaos and pointless disruption, as well as more than a hundred lives to elect 12 senators into office, we are being effective but not very efficient.

  43. rego, good question. civic consciousness, no? a good civic sense would influence followers to influence leaders and leaders to listen to followers but also muster the will to lead -to blaze a new trail. systems come in, in that some systems will foster the civic virtues, while some systems will foster bad tendencies. for example, i support runoff elections because the current system doesn’t provide incentives to build what democracies need, if they’re to compete with authoritarian systems: consensus, and a broad one, at that.

  44. effectiveness is what to many is “pwede na”. the question of efficiency is, “hanggang diyan na lang ba?”

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