Prisoner’s dilemma in the Senate

The top stories: Migz beats Koko in Bogo by 8,222, to lift lead by 9,784, with reference made to the votes from Pagalungann. PCIJ’s Why You Should Doubt the Maguindanao Election Results, 3 points out the following:

…returns from 36 of 55 precincts in Pagalungan town in Maguindanao all the more cast doubt on the credibility of election results as reflected in the provincial certificate of canvass (CoC) heralding an incredible 12-0 sweep of the senatorial contest in favor of administration candidates.

The Pagalungan ERs, mysteriously set aside and left uncanvassed until only last Friday, show that all 37 senatorial bets did garner votes, contrary to the results in the provincial CoC submitted by provincial supervisor Lintang Bedol where 18 candidates received “statistically improbable” zero votes.

As far as voting pattern went, the Pagalungan voting results also more closely reflect the real outcome of elections in the five other provinces of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, with Team Unity’s Jamalul Kiram topping the field with 2,732 votes. Kiram also led the senatorial race in Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi while placing a strong second in Basilan and Shariff Kabunsuan.

Update: Zubiri to be proclaimed tomorrow, making oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Friday apparently irrelevant.

On a related note, read the CBCP Pastoral Statement on the 2007 National Elections. Then read JB Baylon‘s explanation of why the bishops are close -but get no cigar:

Three years ago I would have been filled with goose pimples if I had heard that the bishops of the Catholic church in the Philippines had come out strongly for what is right and what is moral, rejecting all types of rationalization including the “everyone does it anyway” line. But three years later, watching another national embarrassment of an election unfold, and hearing the bishops describe Comelec officials as “irresponsible”, I am only hardened in my conclusion that the only way we can sweep this country clean of “irresponsible” leaders and the many honest officials who make so many “honest” mistakes is by relying solely on ourselves to do it, maybe one election at one city or municipality or province at a time.

4 Isafp agents, 2 Army officers probed on Burgos abduction. In the meantime, CBCP urges gov’t to review security law but Arroyo says no stopping anti-terror law. Which leads to this: Public consultation but without the public.

Latest House intramural wrinkle: Arroyo son, brother-in-law deny backing Garcia for Speaker. Latest in the Senate infighting: Roxas-Villar feud worsens, there’s this: Mar: Kiko is now with administration.

After BIR, BOC revamp follows.

Confusion? ZTE officials shun media interviews even as Ermita: ZTE contract not yet final.

Good news of the day: ON Semiconductor Expands Manufacturing Facility in the Philippines. A cautionary note: Koreans welcome but not as traders.

Overseas, Filipinos will find much that is familiar in this Indonesian op-ed piece: Overcoming low salaries to reform the bureaucracy. Concerning the political effects of proposing constitutional amendments, Jiro Yamaguchi says Japanese Premier Abe should be thanked for the public’s waning enthusiasm for such amendments. In the USA, Republican revolt prompts Bush to rethink surge. Also, The Crypt says July promises plenty of conflict between the White House and congressional Democrats. In How a Smile Sunk the Conservatives, an analysis of how Gordon Brown is proving a more formidable foe than the Tories expected; there’s also this great passage:

All of which is another way of saying that Brown, Blair’s easily ignored shadow for the past decade, may be with us for some time, while the Conservative Party – the oldest democratic political party in the world – may not. They have life cycles, political parties, just like the human beings who create them. They are born, they mature, they gain wisdom. Then, sometimes, they die – and not just in Britain.

Columnist Tony Lopez thinks Lucio Tan should sell off the Philippine National Bank.

Writing in BusinessWorld, Filomeno Sta. Ana III compares the fight for the Senate Presidency to The Prisoner’s Dilemma:

The fight is not really between Senator Villar, one who has a good opportunity to become the next President, and Senator Pimentel, one who is no longer interested in higher office but in preserving his good reputation for posterity. Senator Villar and Senator Pimentel are very good friends.

To repeat, the fight involves those who covet the presidency in 2010. But in this fight, their main enemy, GMA, gains. They also get clobbered by the criticisms of those who voted for them. This creates space for dark horses like Senator Alan Peter Cayetano to emerge as the credible and trusted leader of the opposition. In short, the in-fighting is damaging to their individual interests.

In the prisoner’s dilemma game, the police separately interrogate two prisoners accused of committing the same crime. The interrogating officers give each prisoner a choice: betray your accomplice or remain silent. If neither prisoner squeals, both of them go to jail for one year. If one betrays his accomplice but his accomplice remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the accomplice who remains silent gets a sentence of 15 years in jail. If both betray each other, they get a sentence of 10 years.

Suppose you are one of the two prisoners and you think that your accomplice will remain silent, the temptation for you to fink is great, because it means your freedom. If you remain silent, both you and your fellow prisoner stay in jail for one year. In other words, in this setting, the rational response is for you to betray the other.

Take the other possibility – that your accomplice will betray you. If you remain silent, you alone go to jail for 15 years! But if you likewise betray your accomplice, you get a lighter sentence of 10 years. So again, seemingly, the best response is betraying your accomplice.

But since both prisoners choose the response of betraying each other, thinking this is the strategy that maximizes self-interest, both will end up in jail for 10 years. If both had only cooperated with each other by remaining silent, they could have spent only a year in jail.

I hope the contending senators will grasp the lessons from the prisoner’s dilemma.

A letter to the editor titled Senators as ingrates has people talking; though Bloggers have already weighed in on the subject: The Purple Phoenix Talks about Philippine Politics compares the problem to a MacGuffin:

A MacGuffin is a plot device that advances the storyline or motivates the characters but has little relevance to the story. The Oscar-ignored but still legendary Alfred Hitchcock popularized and made it as an art form. The ugly bird statue in The Maltese Falcon is the best example of a MacGuffin.

Today, there is a huge MacGuffin hovering in the Philippine political landscape. It is the 2010 presidential elections. But this is a much-improved MacGuffin. Unlike Hitchcock’s, the 2010 MacGuffin has huge relevance to the story. Plus the motivation it provides for the lead personalities would shame the acting exploits of Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre.

Story: The 15th President of the Philippines
MacGuffin: 2010 Presidential Elections
Red Herring: The Senate Presidency and the so-called Opposition Split
Lead Characters
1. Manuel Villar
2. Manuel Roxas
3. Panfilo Lacson

Supporting Characters
1. Loren Legarda
2. Francis Escudero
3. Alan Peter Cayetano

The two Manuels is sure to run in the next big fight. Lacson will take another stab. Legarda is the a senate topnotcher twice and is touted to be a strong presidentiable. Escudero is the dark horse. He finished a close and strong second and has the strong political backing. The main criticism is his youth and lack of national experience. As they say, he has so much time in the world.

The battle for the senate leadership is a red herring but with huge consequences. I believe that this is a staged act. Roxas, Lacson, and Legarda are pushing for Nene Pimentel’s candidacy. But it is so obvious that they are doing so to remove a huge 2010 obstacle which is Manuel Villar. It seems that he will have a huge advantage over his future rivals if he retains his current position. As Roxas articulated, ‘this is to level the playing field in 2010.’ Such hypocrisy! After winning in 2004, this guy faded into obscurity then tried to resurrect his dismal performance with a so-called public service ad in the last elections. Oh. He raised a howl on his pet bill.

She believes Francis Escudero is getting a raw deal (besides her entry, above, see her comment in this blog). Other bloggers disagree. Placeholder says this is another manifestation of what he calls a crisis in representation; Tingog.com gives Manuel Villar Jr. a new political nickname; Philippine Politics 04 wonders if people will forgive and forget;

Philippine Commentary says the Philippine government’s definition of terrorism is borrowed almost word-for-word, from the United Nation’s. [email protected] comments on Mayor Lim and his rally regulations.

An OFW Living in Hong Kong on Ponzi schemes and pyramid scams, which have been in the news lately. Not least because the MoneySmarts blog triggered action on the part of the Central Bank (the comments are quite eye-opening): see the blogger’s last word on the subject in her latest entry, What’s wrong with Ponzi schemes?

Legal Monkey has an interesting entry on Ifugao Law. Ronnel Lim with the curious tale of a man who molested a chicken. Wish You Were Here has photos of the opening up of Avenida Rizal to traffic. My Inquirer Current entry is on the Latin Mass.

In the blogosphere, Che-Che Lazaro has a blog.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

108 thoughts on “Prisoner’s dilemma in the Senate

  1. buencamino, i don’t know what your understanding of “benevolent” is but a hitler doesn’t fit the accepted definition. we are talking about human beings, not gods or angels. even a dictator has a lifespan, you know that. they can become sick or incapacitated. one doesn’t have to be immortal to be a dictator. they can still be replaced by election when they die or become disabled or refuses to serve further. what is your problem with that?

    i think you are creating your own oxymoron!

  2. Jeg, i think Immanuel Kant would agree with you. He believed that the sovereign should give his or her subjects maximum rights (free speech etc.), but the subjects in turn must under no circumstances resort to violent revolt. The reason he said this is that he believes that the freedom and stability that a society enjoys is only possible because of the existence of the sovereign. Without the order imposed by him or her, the situation eventually degenerates back to the state of nature takes over. In such a state, life is nasty, brutish and short and no has any rights or security anyway.

    Of course, subsequent history has shown that Kant was mistaken since the most powerful, prosperous and stable countries that have emerged since his time have been democracies. The nations that have resisted their leaders via popular revolts, are the ones who have eventually come out on top.

  3. Bencard,

    I don’t think that ManuelB said that hitler was benevolent – in my understanding, he equated a benevolent dictator to a ‘smiling hitler.’ In my view, that’s how he summed up a benevolent dictator.

    I can very well accept that a benevelont dictator could easily turn into a ‘smiling hitler’ after all as you say dictators are all that’s very human.

    To me, Mahathir of Malaysia was a benevolent dictator as well as Lee Kuan Yew. They had all the imperfections of a ruthless dictator but were benevolent enough to recognize that the advancement of their country and the well-being of their people were the guiding factors of their rule.

    I know that Manuel will disagree with me re Mahathir & perhaps re Lee but so far, they have been the only leaders in modern Asia who have achieved the status of de facto dictators and be ‘benevolent.’

  4. cvj,

    Not only Kant but all the great thinkers, Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau have expresse similar view that the He believed that the “sovereign” (monarchial or republican as in the case of Voltaire and Rousseau) should give his or her subjects maximum rights (free speech etc.), but the subjects in turn must under no circumstances resort to violent revolt (although ironically Voltaire served as one of the inspirational fathers of the French revolution.)

  5. MBW, i agree. From what i’ve read, Hobbes, Kant and Locke had different viewpoints on who and what constitutes the State, the Sovereign as well as the role of revolutions. I suppose that Locke’s ideas are more compatible with Voltaire or Rousseau’s.

  6. Four Marines were beheaded and mutilitated by MILF/AbuSayyaf terrorists after some 300 heavily armed “freedom fighters” killed fourteen soldiers who were looking for Fr. Giancarlo Bossi.

    Well, I’m glad the SPADES want to be called SPADES.

  7. “…killed fourteen soldiers who were looking for Fr. Giancarlo Bossi.”

    Is that so, Dean? Unbelievable! Which inept, incompetent cocksucking moron of a military commander sent ONLY 14 soldiers to search for Bossi?

    If indeed only 14 troops were in that terrorist infested hideout comprised the search and boarding unit, that would be the height of stupidity! Their commander must be beheaded himself, and illico!

  8. Ok, ok got so carried away, I suppose there were 15 troops and not 14 otherwise, how would the news have reached the command post if there was no survivor.

    Just the same you don’t invest a battle front such as the terrorist infested cells of Mindanao with no less than a battalion of the Marines complete with ADEQUATE naval gun and air cover if you want a job right.

    These “parallel armies” must be destroyed!

  9. But how could you destroy the nation’s parallel armies, NPAs, MILF, MNLF, Abu Sayyaff if you only have 110,000 military officers and men covering a fragmented archipelago of 7,100 islands?

    At a given time, in theory, only a third of that armed forces is really operational meaning 35,000 no more and these 35,000 are operating invariably within their own service.

    You can’t militarily defeat another army like the MILF with a couple of thousand of marines – impossible, even if you field the entire Marines command against them. Impossible.

  10. Please visit inquirer.net for a better view on the death of 14 marines (some were beheaded) as reported by a columnist who was with the government troops during the gun battle.

    As usual the death of these soldiers will belong to the statistical list of AFP men who lost their lives in the performance of their duties. There are countless of families who grieved so much on similar ways since 1972 as a result of the insurgency problem in the south. Are we getting near a solution?

  11. A benevolent benefactor could also be a leader, who against the national sentiments or against the majority wishes of his people but believe true to his convictions and of his party programs will proceed with what he thinks the best for his country and people in the long run, even if he, and his party suffer the consequence.

    Such was the belief of former PM Brian Mulroney of the Conservative Party, voted into government with popularity seldom happen in multi party system, who against the wishes of the Majority of Canadians signed a Treaty with The administration of Former President Reagan what was known as North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). We lost the next election winning only Two seats out of 308, and PM Mulroney knew it will happen, but down the road the Free Trade has brought the country an Economic Boom and a Trade Surplus with the U.S. of more than 50 Billions and a free movements of Goods and Services and Professionals. In retrospect people had now consider it the Legacy of once despised Former PM who was labeled a “sell out”. And his look-a-like son is hosting the Candian Idol… told them so…

  12. MBW,

    Mahathir (I’m not conversant on Singapore) was the strongest leader Malaysia ever had. But, the way I see it, Mahathir was made possible by the Malaysian parliamentary system – which was and is controlled by a coalition dominated by UMNO – and not the other way around.

    As a creation/creature of the Malaysian system, Mahathir “filled out” out the space allowed by it.

    He may have pushed it, like when he clashed with the Royals and the Supreme Court, but he always worked within the system, always with the consent of the members of UMNO and the Barisan coalition.

    I know you’re familiar with how power flows and governance works in Malaysia. I think you will agree when I say that Mahathir, as strong and dominating as he was, still had to use persuasion when he wanted to do something that was not unanimously supported by his cabinet, a body that shows the division of power and spoils within the BN. Thus, within that authoritarian coalition government, Mahathir could not simply dictate .

    Maybe we mistake effective leadership for benevolent dictatorship. Mahathir knew how to get things done but, in my book, he does not qualify as a dictator.

    A dictator in the asean/asian sense is someone like Marcos or Suharto. Those two, supported by their armed forces, dictated. They did not have to cajole or persuade or tolerate coalition partners.

    As to benevolence, you know the Special Branch and you know it has lived up to its reputation.

    One cannot become a dictator without the means and the meaness to employ those means. On the other hand, one can become an effective leader without having to sacrifice any of the rights and freedoms valued by free, democratic and civilized societies.

  13. In his interview with Manolo Quezon, Trillanes mentioned that Gloria Arroyo was committing “genocide” against the Muslims in Mindanao. Maybe a first step towards resolving this situation in Mindanao is for the government to prevent such mass killings from happening. It would also help if we don’t fall for war-mongering, especially from foreign powers who have an interest in keeping us Filipinos divided.

  14. DJB,

    I wonder when those people who ordered Jonas Burgos abducted will have the courage to want to be called SPADES as well.

    Or do you think they will hide behind the anti-terror law?

  15. MBW,

    Fourteen dead out of 60 or 70 men. Four were beheaded and/or mutilated. Makes me vomit how the MILF is treating the incident in http://www.luwaran.com

    Contrary to those opposing the Human Security Act, there really are savage terrorists engaged in savage terrorism. They like to hack off the heads of their enemies after they have just ambushed them.

  16. Manuel,

    I accept what you stated there – very true that Mahathir worked with the system and did not attempt ruthlessly on either parliament or his cabinet. And perhaps you’re right, nope, change that, I’m sure you are right that ‘Maybe we mistake effective leadership for benevolent dictatorship.’

    However, let me say that although Mahathir used persuasion and political charm to reach his objective, he had a very sinister side that’s very very dictatorial, i.e., that whenever he recognized (and I’ve seen this up close), that there was opposition, he would lash back without qualm by using the money or financial factor to quash his opponents; he would not hesitate to bring his would-be objector/opposition to financial ruin that quite often had reduced most of his would be public detractors to begging. In that he had the streak of a real dictator.

  17. cvj,

    re: “It would also help if we don’t fall for war-mongering, especially from foreign powers who have an interest in keeping us Filipinos divided.”

    Ultimately, that’s one of the better solutions or ways to prevent further genocide.

  18. The MILF is at it again. It has been complaining that the government has effectively downgraded the GRP-MILF peace talks by failing to appoint Afable’s successor.

    This is how the MILF wants to get attention. And the AFP, i hope, gives it to them in SPADES!!!

  19. bencard,

    you repeated what I said about immortality… i was being sarcastic… and MBW is correct, a smiling Hitler is what I call a benevolent dictator…

    But going to your statement about an election when a dictator becomes senile dies or is just plain tired….

    There is no such thing as a smooth transition from dictatorship to democracy.

    A successor must dismantle the dictator’s apparatus if democracy and its accouterments like elections is going to be restored.

    An election without first dismantling the dictator’s apparatus is a joke.

    So you just created another oxymoron – an elected dictator.

  20. Dean,

    Re They like to hack off the heads of their enemies after they have just ambushed them.

    If that is your definition of savage terrorists, then our own official army fall in that category.

    Let me tell you that the in sometime in the last quarter of 2001, our own navy/marines personnel led by a Seal lieutenant committed the same on Gandang (I believe it was Gandang) and on his men, ambushed, captured them then murdered them.

    After they brought their captives to command post never saw the light of day. The Abu Sayyaf commander (Gandang, I believe his name was) died apparently of heart attack following an interrogation that very night.

    The point is, if we want a military solution to this problem (although military solution is not always the best solution as you very well know), we must field a competent, professional military to deal with the problem, i.e., deal with the problem with all the military operational logistics that such a solution requires, otherwise not even your Human Security Act will solve the problem of fratricide.

  21. MBW,

    Absolutely right. Mahathir had his sinister side. The Malaysian political landscape is littered with the “bodies” of all those who served as DPMs prior to Badawi.

    I overheard someone congratulate Badawi not long after he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister. Badawi replied tentatively, “I’m not so sure about that.”

    Mahathir knew how to reward generously and punish severely and that, within the Malaysian feudal context, works wonders.

  22. MBW,

    Speaking of Malaysia, have you read about the murder/love triangle murder case that’s too uncomfortably close to DPM Najib tun Razak? How do you think it will affect his ambition to succeed Badawi? Do you think Hussein Onn’s son who is now Education minister will get an earlier crack at the job as a result of Najib’s problem?

  23. Dean,

    Fourteen dead out of 60 or 70 men.

    Bah! A miserable platoon?

    60 or 70 men attacking a completely hostile, violent enemy front of at least 300 heavily armed fighters with at least 1,200 with equally lethal firepower for back up support?

    Completely, utterly idiotic! Don’t blame the MILF for the fiasco. Dammit, the military commander ought to be hanged!

  24. Manuel,

    That should make Najib a dead duck. Already rumours (I got during the last Bourget air show) were rife that he was being eased out – too flamboyant, too greedy too.

  25. Problem there is no positive proof linking Najib to the murder – there’s already a fall guy Razak Beguinda, his pimp is in prison for the crime. I see Najib remaining DPM though. Difficult to ease him out of the post for the moment – the defence portfolio is a powerful financial portfolio.

    Datu Onn’s son Hishamudin, a very bright guy, straight, should step in Najib’s post if things work out well and really, I think he should rise one day as PM.

  26. If only Pimentel, Roxas, Lacson and Legarda can rise above their personal interests(temporarily or tactical), the opposition can give Villar the Senate presidency in a silver platter. Anyway, Villar is poised to become the Senate President with or without their votes; so why not make him the Senate President and then deny the admin stooges with the committee chairmanships. In a game of chess, sacrifice is made to win the game.

  27. MBW,
    I think this is the end of the charade that makes the MILF out to be some kind of benevolent Muslim’s association when it’s really just what the Abu Sayyaf becomes during the day. ON their website they blamed “unknown groups” for the beheadings and mutiliations, but had a complete inventory of the weapons and ordnance they captured.

    I’m just waiting for their beheading videos to come out on YouTube.

    I know you guys and gals fighting the Human Security Act wish the Abu Sayyaf and MILF would just go away right about now. But not as much as those of us who support the law!

  28. MBW,
    I do blame the Moro Islamic Terrorist Front. You can blame the brave Marines they beheaded and mutilated all you want. As far as I know they were looking for a missing priest when 300 blood thirsty savages set upon them and hacked off their heads, with their pointy teeth for all we know.

    But yeah, I blame the terrorist cutthroats.

  29. Dirk Pitt,

    “Anyway, Villar is poised to become the Senate President with or without their votes; so why not make him the Senate President and then deny the admin stooges with the committee chairmanships.”

    Exactly.

    Or maybe even better yet – Trillanes for senate president. That should make things very interesting, don’t you think? I’m serious. Give it some thought and die laughing when GMA and Esperon start to shit blood…

  30. MB, MBW,
    Y’all are like Holocaust Deniers. Just can’t admit there really are SPADES in the world and they’re digging graves for anybody that won’t be a DHIMMI.

  31. Dean,

    Easy now! You are going out of your gong. Three things:

    1) To be honest, Dean, am not fighting the Human Security Act – to me, it’s a useless piece of shitty legislation that not’s gonna achieve anything, not the dismantling of the MILF nor the annihilation of the 100 or so Abu Sayyaff members, not under this regime.

    2) I deplore the beheading and the deaths of those poor Marines and believe that there was no reason to sacrifice these people in such abominable manner – fielding 60 or 70 marines against 300 warriors? Fat chance that they would win in a combat on enemy territory let alone find Bossi. As I’ve said earlier on, either you go for a professional military solution or not at all. Don’t come crying, whining and feeling all so agrieved because our own commanders failed to do their duty – instead you should whack that goddamn miserable commander on the head.

    If you like to be really ruthless about it, you should tell Esperon that ‘Failure is not an option’ or else, you personally would feed him to the MILF. It’s not your crappy Human Security Act that would defeat the MILF or any of the nation’s parallel armies. You don’t win a war by blaming, yakitayakyaking the enemy – you go for their heads.

    3) Pray how do you expect guys and gals you intimate are “fighting the Human Security Act” and who wish the Abu Sayyaf and MILF would just go away right about now don’t support the law to show they support the law? By screaming and yelling their support from the roofs of buildings in Makati or perhaps by organizing a rally in Mendiola carrying placards, we support the Human Terrorist, er, Security Act? If so, then you should lead the march!

  32. i know you’d do it for laugh, buencamino. what else is new? are you gonna eat their shit too before you die laughing?

  33. Way out of line there Dean! Don’t know if you are trying to convince yourself that or if you already believe that.

    Anyway, I don’t know what you’re trying to say but if you are accusing me of being one of your ‘Holocaust Deniers’, think again.

    I am probably one of the most “ruthless” ideologues you know in Quezonville because I advocate for the total destruction (and write about it too) of parallel armies in the Philippines but you must face reality, if it’s an all out military solution regardless of the consequences but as sure as I am that there’s gonna be another Marine who will be beheaded in another future encounter with the MILF, it’s not your willy nilly Human Security Act that will obliterate the MILF problem.

  34. Also dean, get this into your head: I’m not blaming the dead marines! I’m blaming their goddamn commander. You’re getting too carried away your vision is getting blurred.

  35. MBW,

    Fact remains, the argument that the HSA is “not needed” is clearly vacuous. It is clearly flawed, even I’ve said so. But it can be improved. But not repealed like the communists want because they’re into the dramatics of persecution for espousing the overthrow of democracy!

    But like the NPA, the Abus don’t exist in a vacuum. It is not even clear that ASG has Fr. Bossi. Some think it’s a top commander of the MILF that needed to raise money for his Christian girlfriend with expensive tastes. But all these organized political crime syndicates are involved in many illegal activities: drugs, smuggling, kidnap for ransom, extortion, etc. They need to be cleaned out, anyhoo. But on top of that is a sinister foreign element now, in the Jemaah Islamiyah and that rot from the Far South that done Bali. By the way, you obviously have not read about what happened in Basilan. The AFP didn’t send 14 or 60 or 70 men against hundreds, they were ambushed and beheaded whilst looking for the priest, capicsce?

    Its time to put the screws on these homicidal headhunters.

  36. So okay there are some savages out there, so all of us have to live under the regime of an anti-terror law?

    Why can’t you go after the savages without us having to put up with your shit and sacrificing our rights and liberties?

    The anti-terror is an admission of inutility. Heck it hasn’t even been tried out yet and already Norbie and that guy Blancaflor are bellyaching that the law ties their hands…

    …and they want to make the communist party illegal,,.

    communism is an idea… thoughts will be criminalized?

    or are you going to argue that it’s the party, not the idea that’s being banned which is the same as saying you can think about it but don’t organize and act on it…

    and detention for three days or something like that…unless it’s three days of non-stop interrogation and everything that comes with it what good is three days detention going to do?

    anti-terror law advocates love to say: “tell that to the relatives of Fr Bossi and now the families of the eight beheaded marines…”

    and the answer to that kind of reasoning is the same as telling all those who love the VFA and who sing it praises – “tell that to Daniel Smith’s victim…”

    stop the insanity…institutionalize the anti-terror law advocates

  37. Re “The AFP didn’t send 14 or 60 or 70 men against hundreds, they were ambushed and beheaded whilst looking for the priest, capicsce? ”

    Same difference, Dean. They were on extremely hostile enemy territory whether they were looking for Bossi or not, comprende?

  38. bencard,

    I love it. Your reaction just comvinced me that trillanes should be the next senate president. His just the kind of new blood we need to shake up the system. Trillanes senate president, Lacson or cayetano blue ribbon…. perfect!!!

    The only thing that scares me is, once those investigations get going, you just might ask for GMA’s head too. Then we’re all fucked.

  39. buencamino, tell that to the marines (especially your hero’s former comrades-in-arms who just plead guilty of illegal conduct re oakwood mutiny). i’m sure they won’t be amused as you.

  40. MBW,

    Apparently, the troops were merely on march order thinking they were on safe grounds. Since the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF in 2004, no major armed incident has happened. They have probably done the same a couple of times in the past and no incident has occurred.

    As I said in my earlier comment, the MILF was raring for attention. They want to project that they can always flood Mindanao with blood if and when they want to.

  41. MB,
    You said, “So okay there are some savages out there, so all of us have to live under the regime of an anti-terror law?”
    There are also some murderers, rapists, extortionists, bank robbers, organized crime gangs, etc. Yes Buencamino, we all have to live under a regime of LAW, because freedom also means freedom death even more than it means freedom from Gloria. Your problem and that of the anti-anti-terrorists is, whenever there is an incident like this, all your arguments are revealed to be foolish and wrong in a visceral and self-evident way.

    Face it, even the noncerebral Filipinos know we have no choice but to fight.

    You can’t save the ten beheaded men by crying about root causes now, can you?

  42. CVJ,
    Save the JDAMs for Dulmatin. I want forty years each for the terrorist warlords that did this. That’s 400 years for the ten heads they took. Religion of Peace my arse!

  43. Bloggers and their kibitzers are basically involved in the modern enterprise of online intellectual masturbation. What makes them tolerable is their earnest sado-masochism in being able to take as much as they give. But they are also part of the greater intellectual tradition of changing the world and each other with ideas well expressed.

    Personally I learn the most from those who disagree with me. I think I now know what JC meant: Love Thine Enemy!

  44. DJB,

    Read my comment again. I was not talking about law in general. I was specific about this idiotic, insane law that gives you a hard on

  45. Re Face it, even the noncerebral Filipinos know we have no choice but to fight.

    Then, fight! But when you fight, make sure you win – you don’t win by allowing your enemy to kill your soldiers!

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