A proposal lacking a consensus

My column for today is A proposal lacking a consensus. I’m going to dissect Senator Pimentel’s Federalism proposals on Inquirer Current once I get a complete copy of the Senate’s resolution, but my initial thoughts are that the proposal’s a messy one. My column today provides some initial thoughts along this line. See, also, my column Gerrymandering from August 5, 2007.

The Inquirer editorial yesterday, The Garcia gambit , looks at . See Newbsreak’s Gov’t, Lopezes in battle for control of Meralco.

This is a mental image we really don’t need: Cabinet revamp striptease as Amando Doronila puts it. Actually, the time for a massive overhaul of the cabinet, as one former official told me, was in the wake of the May 2007 elections. Cabinet members like Ermita, Gonzales and Gonzalez, should have been axed with the dismal showing of Team Unity in the Senate.

Richard Spencer, blogging for The Telegraph from Beijing, says Here is China’s master plan concerning Tibet. A kind of small opening’s been offered for an accomodation with the Dalai Lama.

In Malaysia, even as Malaysian police raid blogger over murder article there’s Malaysia and its Blogolution, with this digest of the issues confronting Malaysian society:

There are numerous reasons to explain this dramatic decline in support for the ruling BN. Firstly, like many parts of the world, Malaysia has been rocked by rising prices, especially for food, over the last year. The ringgit in the pocket has not been able to retain its value, and even in a country which likes to portray itself as a modern industrial nation, the many Malaysians who have not benefited from its rapid development have been hurt by the rising prices.

Then there is corruption. Malaysians feel particularly despondent about what they see as the broken promises of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi after his landslide 2004 election win, when he was re-elected promising to address corruption. Unlike other countries, what has been so upsetting to people is not the corrupt cop on the street corner but the seeming collusion within political and business circles that have seen lucrative contracts awarded to a small set of favored contractors in a closed tender process.

Furthermore, Malaysia’s judiciary was also rocked with the release of a secret tape-recording in early 2008, purportedly between a former Chief Justice and a politically well-connected lawyer in which the two were discussing the appointment of judges. This seeming interference in the judiciary, long-suspected but always denied, touched a raw nerve amongst the public.

Finally, there seems to have been an unraveling of the race politics that has for so long dominated Malaysian politics. After the riots of 1969 and the New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced in 1971 designed to boost the economic standing of the Malays in Malaysia, in late 2007 many in the Indian community took to the streets to protest their inferior economic position and the benefits heaped on the Malays through the NEP and follow-up programs. Meanwhile, the Chinese have continued to resent the ongoing pursuit of economic rebalancing which has supported the Malays in a way not commensurate with their contribution towards business development in Malaysia.

Because of this,

Inspired by the space created by the Internet for individuals to express themselves, the 2008 elections saw political control of news and information wrested away from the government for the first time, creating the conditions for a new political activism amongst ordinary Malaysian citizens to take root. Even the prime minister conceded “We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television were more important, but young people were looking at text messages and blogs. We didn’t think it was important. It was a serious misjudgment” (New Straits Times, March 26, 2008).

Malaysian blogger SlowCatchUpKuan is amused by the wrangling of Malaysian deputies in parliament, at least ever since parliamentary proceedings started being broadcast live; and points out that Badawi’s old mentor and now nemesis, Mahathir, has weighed in by planting his flag in the blogosphere:

My Singapore News notes that Mahathir, who used to enjoy the advantages of having an iron grip on Malaysian media, and has established a presence in cyberspace out of necessity.

Hard-T explains where Mahathir’s online nom-de-plume came from and what it means (and that Mahathir’s daughter has been blogging for some years now):

C.H.E. Det, was Dr Mahathir’s pseudonym for his articles submitted to the Sunday Times between 1946-1950, which mainly touched on Malay economic and political predicaments then.

Simply Puteri writes,

I think now that he is no longer in the government he realizes that anything he has to say, carries as much weight as any other ordinary citizen. I may not always agree with what he has to say in his blog but he has as much right as any other blogger to voice his opinions.

There are signs already that the government is paying a lot more attention to the alternative media and bloggers. Other government higher ups, like the chief minister of Malacca and former MB of Selangor, are also jumping on the blogging bandwagon.

The results of the last elections have proven beyond a doubt the power that can be harnessed from cyberspace. If the present government wants to remain competitive in the information war, it has to get involved and pay attention to what is going on with the mood of the rakyat via the internet.

Malaysian blogger-parliamentarian Jeff Ooi (in his blog, Screenshots) visits Vietnam and points out that even as Malaysian worry that Vietnam will overtake them economically. Contrast what Ooi notes here:

What’s more, business registration processes had been expedited even in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai — investment licenses can now be issued within six days!

There must be some magic in Vietnam that helped pump-prime the country’s economy. So I decided to give it a closer look and landed on Ho Chi Minh City on Vietnam’s Liberation/Reunification Day (April 30 evening), and witnessed the celebration of Workers’ Day (May 1).

Doubtlessly, HCM City plays an important role in the country’s socio-economic development, accounting for 22% of GDP, one-third of the State’s budget and 40% of the country’s export turnover.

Yesterday, teamed with a group of Malaysian investors, I toured the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) and Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP), and the Phu My Hung area in Saigon South.

The SHTP is where the new Intel mega-site is being developed, with US$1 billion investment for the company’s digital ASEAN (d-ASEAN) programme. Key tenants now are Jabil from USA and Allied Group from Singapore. It will need another five years or so to mature but most of the outsource services have virtually set up camps in Saigon to capitalise on Intel’s supply chain. Capturing Intel into Ho Chi Minh is a coup for Vietnam, and a severe threat to Penang as a base for the Electrical and Electronics industry.

The VSIP, near Song Be area, is about 14 years old, set up in March 1994 during the time when Vo Van Kiet and Goh Chok Tong were both Prime Ministers of the respective countries. It now houses full occupancy of tenants with manufacturing as a strong base. I could see earthwork for Phase II being carried out. It has the signature of Singapore-conceived facilities, clean, systematic and natural vegetation-friendly.

Phu My Hung is basically a Taiwanese investment when Kuomintang ran the economy before Chen Shui-Bian came around. Having endured the Asian Financial Crisis, the far-sightedness of the Taiwanese investors had finally paid off, and Phu My Hung, a former swampy area that needed massive earth-fills, is the jewel of the crown for Saigon South. Land prices now fetch US$4,500 per square-metre! Hip names in retail sector are now located here, including the sleek HQ for Unilever.

With what vaes9 wrote some weeks back in Intel Cavite Closing Down, for Real?

Searching around the blogosphere, an Intel employee recounts in his LiveJournal blog that the “official” statement for the planned closure is:

“[Intel Philippines needs to] find another building so that structural abnormalities in CV1 [Cavite Plant 1] can be remedied else Intel will cease all future Manufacturing operations in the Philippines…”

If this is true, and I think it is (Numonyx officially became a company last March 31, 2008 making the timing extremely uncanny), it is a sad day for the Philippines as an investment site. Intel started its operations in the Philippines in 1974, a mere six years after Intel itself was founded, and after 34 years Intel will likely cease operations here having moved to places like Vietnam and China, which are apparently more manufacturing-friendly.

Back to Jeff Ooi, this is interesting (once again, from his entry, Vietnam is hungry):

Despite the glittering outlook, some of the old hands among Malaysian expatriates I met up with expressed their concern that Vietnam’s economy may be headed for a bubble burst by August. That’s the date when the financial sector’s monetary credit squeeze policy comes into full effect and speculators in the real estate industry may be the first to burn their fingers, and domino effect see in.

According to media reports, State-owned corporations, which had invested 37% (US$8 billion) of their capital into real estate, banking and the stock market, are now trying hard to maintain solvency.

At last month’s meeting with officials from the national government, Viet Nam News said representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told State-owned corporations and groups need to focus on their major businesses, and warned that the local financial market is being hurt by small banks.

It is said that State-owned corporations active in the coal, electricity and petroleum industries have made huge profits in telecommunications, finance and banking, but are facing sharp reductions in their own productivity. This could have major repercussions for the national economy and security.

Blogger Gulf Stream Blues looks at that horrifying story of an Austrian father who imprisoned his daughter, and the question Austrians have been forced to confront: how did the man get away with it for so long?

The punditocracy provokes the blogosphere: veteran journalist Luis Teodoro, as quoted in Journalists urged to blog, set examples online and gets shrieked at by Philippine Commentary (seconded by stuart-santiago) and Journal of the Jester-in-Exile. A sober analysis is provided by The Warrior Lawyer in FilipinoVoices.com. As does Abe Margallo, also in FilipinoVoices.com.

Jeff Jarvis, the New and Old Media observer, points out a couple of interesting things. First (see More writers than readers), a Pew study showed that as of 2004, in the USA, 53 million Americans published online while only 50 million bought daily papers: the writers, Jarvis pointed out, quite possibly now outnumber actual readers. Second, in Newspapers: a minus-sum game, he argues that newspapers won’t regain the advertising revenues they’ve lost; and they stand to lose even more revenue as online advertising gets even more specialized, because the microniche marketing that works online is unsuited to the way newspapers work.

On the other hand, Jeremiah Owyang asks (and answers his own question), Who do people trust? (It ain’t bloggers): he points to research that suggests people trust people they know, but that bloggers shouldn’t think that as a category of writers, they enjoy a particularly high level of trust.

There is also, as I told the Jester-in-Exile, a generation-derived element at work here, and this is true even among journalists. The Blue Pencil Chronicles well, chronicles a typically intense debate going on between professors in the UP School of Journalism, for example.

Let me weigh in. Personally (in answer to Philippine Commentary’s question), I am more comfortable with the classification “Opinion Writer,” because that’s really all I’ve ever done; a journalist to my mind, is someone with experience in reporting the news, like John Nery. A columnist really has to make a minimal adjustment to blogging, whether in terms of so-called ethics and without the overarching need for whatever “objectivity” is. A journalist with background as a reporter or full-time editor, on the other hand, who’s used to subsuming his or her personal identity to the report he or she is tasked to write, will probably have a difficult time adjusting.

This is a debate then close to my heart, because I’m basically self-taught and am brazen enough to write on subjects (and be in a profession) for which I lack the academic credentials (and therefore have my own biases: history is more an art, a branch of literature, than a “social science” though it benefits from the handling of facts according to widely-accepted standards).

An analogy I suggested to Jester-in-Exile was the Protestant Reformation, a revolt against the dogmas and established hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

The dividing line is, to my mind, institutional affiliation, and that includes professional affiliation. The difference between a profession and an avocation, though both subscribe to the view that what they are doing is more than work, it’s a calling, a vocation. Another analogy? It is the clash between medical doctors and healers; of subscribing to the Hippocratic Oath as a licensed professional, and subscribing to the norms of that oath but as someone outside the fraternity of medical professionals.

This is a distinction that, to my mind, will disappear -or become obsolete- when we have professional, full-time, bloggers who only cover and comment on, current events (particularly politics) and derive a livelihood from it. In the Philippine context, blogging on political and current events as an exclusive, full-time occupation is still on the horizon, though it’s become possible when it comes to other topics.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

118 thoughts on “A proposal lacking a consensus

  1. Journalists/Columnists who blog and who are also seen on TV or heard on radio(the likes of Manolo, Howie Severino, Ricky Carandang, etc.) naturally command a bigger audience. People who want more of these personalities’ views will be chasing them to their blogs.

    These ‘fusion’ practitioners have the best of both main and new media, but it means a lot more work. My sense is, being professionals they have internalized a code of ethics, whether writing for a newspaper, broadcasting, or blogging. For most at least. Am I right, MLQ3?

  2. a website can indeed remain relevant as timeless reference of one’s folly.
    – jl

    spot on!

    —–

    msm vs. blogging is even worth debating….hello?

    maybe msm vs. fag is.

  3. Malaysia’s RPK jailed for sedition.

    now, that’s news worthy of note in msm and blogging…

  4. “I’m also with her as far as Trillanes is concerned and i believe that it was a botched attempt by the Arroyo Admin to try to kill the Senator.”

    May 6th, 2008 at 5:18 pm cvj
    =========================================================

    CVJ,
    I just want to caution you for obvious reasons.

    I don’t have the luxury to be that bold to make those bold statements that is why I am now a former blogger.(deleted blog twice already)

    We may be semi-anonymous,but it could only take one aquaintance or even a family friend to get us in trouble.

    Kahit sa comment thread nag iingat na tuloy ako,that even made me limit my blog surfing.

    To you and those who can afford to be brave…BLOG ON !!!!!

    Karl Garcia

  5. “Jeremiah Wright may feel moral superiority, but I doubt that all Americans will not give him/Wright ascendancy. VP Cheney sure won’t, I am sure. Ascendancy means “governing or controlling influence”.

    What many American voters fear is the ascendancy that Jeremiah Wright has over Barack Obama and/or Michelle Obama.” – UP n student

    Point well taken, UP n student.

    *****************************************************

    “Malaysia might implode and it might be the opportunity we need to get Sabah back.” – manuelbuencamino

    While that is a tounge-in-cheek statement, in the unlikely event that Malaysia implodes, the residents of Sabah would more likely opt for independence before allowing the Philippines to annex them.

    From a pragmatic standpoint, Sabah has nothing to gain, and everything to lose, by being annexed by the Philippines. On religion and culture, it’s a bad fit. Economically, it’s also a bad fit since Sabah is better off. Chances are it will only be dragged down, rather than boosted, by annexation. Socially and administratively, it would be a nightmare to have to cope with waves of jobseekers coming from the Philippines. At present Sabah already has enough problems trying to deport illegals coming from the Philippines.

    Militarily, I also do not see our Armed Forces being able to mount an invasion of Sabah when, even with help from the U.S. armed forces, they cannot even put away a few hundred Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu.

  6. Trouble with blogs is that they rely on frequent updating to remain relevant. Whereas – ehem – websites organised like a hierarchical knowledge store remain relevant as timeless references.

    which is a pity, benigs, because strictly speaking your website cannot be trusted as a well of reference because it does not have the real faces of the authors. timeless maybe, but irrelevant for scholarly or academic referencing. at best, it’s just that: one of the gazillion websites fleeting in cyberspace.

  7. Sadly, much as I would like Sabah to be re-annexed to the Philippines, I could only gree with Jude (May 7th, 2008 at 9:01 am).

    If something of the kind occurred today, i.e., Malaysia imploding, I’m of the opinion that most Sabahans of Filipino extraction would opt to back what has mainly been Chinese-Sabahans’ move to declare an independent state of Sabah.

  8. Hi people, its been a long while. Anyway I came accross a new blog site of Atty. Adel Tamano’s group called the young turks. They are posting interesting articles, do check them out at oppositeofapathy.wordpress.com

  9. Manuel,

    Re: “political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda,”

    Beginda is nothing but a two-bit hustler — a street smart hustler but a hustler nevertheless. He’s better off in prison than out – he made many powerful enemies after he conned many of them in the submarine deal. He’s probably untouchable today thanks to Najib (who is as corrupt as most of those Malaysian (and Philippine) politicians go, including Anwar) but if Najib doesn’t succeed Badawi, Baginda just might find himself in an untenable position that he might want to remain in prison for a long long time. At least in prison, he could still command a bit of respect among corrupt prison wardens.

    But I grant you this: If Najib rises to the ultimate position of PM, Malaysia might implode (same with Anwar who was — and perhaps still is, surprising as it may sound, a US CIA asset.)

  10. With Obama’s convincing win at North Carolina and his narrow loss at Indiana, the Democratic Presidential nomination is almost in the bag. Statistically, Hillary Clinton cannot overtake Obama anymore. Her only hope would be for the so-called “super delegates”, who are appointed by party bigwigs and not elected by the party members at large, to cast a lopsided vote for Hillary. That would be suicide for the Democratic Party as that would be viewed as undemocratic. Right now, if Hillary Clinton continues to pursue her Presidential ambitions, she would only succeed in wrecking the Democratic Party and get the Republican candidate elected. Is that what she wants to happen? Who knows? Strange things have happened in politics. And there is a lunatic fringe in the U.S. that is frightened by change and reconcialition.

  11. cvj,

    admit it – you trust ellen and consider her blog as ‘reflecting the sentiments of the Filipino people’ only because her views and the views of her mob blog’s contents are the same as yours!

  12. JC

    You see folks, thank God for blogs because somehow, there is finally a way of fighting the tyranny of those who wield the Pen.

    agreed!!!!!!!!

    i just realized that the only difference those who wield the pen have from those of us who don’t wield it is that their words just get printed in publications. publication, by itself, does not necessarily mean that the published material is insightful, correct, cutting edge etc.

  13. i just realized that the only difference those who wield the pen have from those of us who don’t wield it is that their words just get printed in publications. publication, by itself, does not necessarily mean that the published material is insightful, correct, cutting edge etc. – a.s.

    Not to mention that traditional journalists (“trajos”) are regulated whereas bloggers are unregulated.

    The irony there is that given the “regulation” of the traditional journalists, it does not seem to stop them from making jackasses of themselves whenever the Trillaneses and Jun Lozadas of this world make a bit of noise.

    The blogosphere on the other hand is more Darwinian, self regulating, and self-correcting. Those that emerge as reliable sources quickly stand out and gain brand equity.

    My extensive take on the matter here:
    http://www.filipinovoices.com/journalism-vs-blogging-time-to-put-gramps-in-a-museum

    The downside of course is mob-blogs like Ellen’s where the perspective-challenged quickly take refuge to pat each other’s back and assure one another of their collective importance as a force to reckon with.

    – 😀

  14. <blockquote The downside of course is mob-blogs like Ellen’s where the perspective-challenged quickly take refuge to pat each other’s back and assure one another of their collective importance as a force to reckon with.

    What’s the problem, if as you say…

    <blockquote The blogosphere…is more Darwinian, self regulating, and self-correcting. Those that emerge as reliable sources quickly stand out and gain brand equity.

    … Ellen’s should perish in no time.

    But wait, who’s right: Darwin or you, BenignO?

  15. The downside of course is mob-blogs like Ellen’s where the perspective-challenged quickly take refuge to pat each other’s back and assure one another of their collective importance as a force to reckon with.

    What’s the problem, if as you say…

    The blogosphere…is more Darwinian, self regulating, and self-correcting. Those that emerge as reliable sources quickly stand out and gain brand equity.

    … Ellen’s should perish in no time.

    But wait, who’s right: Darwin or you, BenignO?

    (Sorry, mali!)

  16. Exactly my point.

    Cockroaches are as much a product of Darwinian processes as Mother Theresa.

    Nature selects based on an entity’s ability, given its environment, to propagate its genes — or memes as the case may be — and does not really care about any quality or ethical standards the human mind has created.

  17. ricelander,
    Sharper focus on: “Those that emerge as reliable sources quickly stand out and gain brand equity.

    Does Ellen’s million plus hits and about 800 subscribers compared to, maybe, getrealwhatever.com’s sprinkling just prove that?

  18. ricelander,

    So when do we see you start your own blog?

    i don’t intend to start my own blog. im already content with simply making comments on great sensible blogs like this one

  19. tongue-twisted, a million plus ‘nothing’ is still nothing. it’s like:

    posts: 1.1 million
    sane idea: 0

  20. Karl, i appreciate the word of caution but my basis for believing is the report of Senator Pimentel, specifically Senator Trillanes’ own words.

    The Senator hinted of some dark plots to eliminate him and Gen. Lim in the course of the PNP operation to flush them out of the Pen. While he did not – or could not- elaborate on his theory, he spoke of the over-reaction of the authorities in getting them out of the hotel and arresting them…

    …There was absolutely no need, he said, for the police to have used tear gasses [sic]. They were, at the time, preparing to get out of the Pen because they were worried about the safety of the civilians that included former Vice President Tito Guingona and Bishop Emeritus Julio Labayen and the members of the media who were covering the incident.

    Still the authorities tear gassed them and cut off all lights on the lobby as they were going down to give themselves up, the Senator said. It was as if the authorities wanted to smoke them out of the upper part of the hotel and make easy targets of them as they were surrendering.

    Luckily, media people followed them al the way from inside the hotel up to the time when they were bodily hustled by police agents into the waiting police van parked some meters away from the main entrance of the hotel…

    In short, the Senator believed that the presence of the media prevented bood from being shed in the whole affair… – Visit to Detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Company, Report of Senator Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr to the Senate on December 7, 2007

    It’s not something i invented out of thin air. With the subsequent attempted kidnapping and liquidation of Jun Lozada, i find that easier to believe.

  21. admit it – you trust ellen and consider her blog as ‘reflecting the sentiments of the Filipino people’ only because her views and the views of her mob blog’s contents are the same as yours! – anthony scalia

    On the contrary, there are a number of areas where i don’t agree with Ellen and her commenters, one example being EDSA Dos. I also don’t share some of her commenters’ antipathy towards Black & White and Civil Society. What led me to believe that her blog reflects the majority sentiments of the Filipino people is the results of the May 2007 Senatorial elections, in particular, Trillanes’ victory. These are empirical results that are hard to interpret otherwise.

    Admit it Anthony, even your use of the word ‘mob’ is an implicit acknowledgement of their numbers.

  22. ang namiss nang karamihan ay ang manga Posts ni Aling Tordesillas sa kanyang Blog ay manga Columns din niya at Opinions na isunulat sa Malaya at Abante, kaya walang Kaibahan ang kanyang “views” sa blog at sa kanyang panunulat belang Journalist.

    Dami rin di sangayon sa kanyang guniguni at manga paratang, dahil siya ay Anti-Administration at Anti-Corruption din. At siya di nagtatago sa ilalim nang alias at Ma-aring iakusa nang Libel kung di niya mapanindigan ang kanyang sinusulat, tayo iba, mahirap tayo iakusa, dahil kailangan ang ko-operation nang Internet Service Provider para maidentify kung sin-o tanpulano, at yon ay ma-ari maharang nang Korte.

    Kaya sa Demokrasya, iba ibang sari ang idelohiya nang bawat Grupo o tao. Sangayon din kita, kayo, ikaw o hindi, kasama na iyan sa tinatawag na Democratic Rights and Freedoms at si aling Ellen T ay may Karapatan din at ang kanyang Commenters..

  23. pimentel and trillianes are two of the least credible politicians in my book. trillianes’ “own word”, cvj? and you consider his belief as gospel truth? if he says he won’t eat his prison food because he believes it is poisoned, is it proof that the food is poisoned?

  24. mang kiko, sa tutuo lang, may tama ka. kahit sinong karumal-dumal na idyut, may karapatang magpahayag ng opinyon. pero sa tingin ko, ang maniniwala sa kanya ay mas malalang idyut.

  25. hi justice. i read your post in ESB. you’re a b-buff din pala. 🙂

    good day.

  26. cvj,

    On the contrary, there are a number of areas where i don’t agree with Ellen and her commenters, one example being EDSA Dos.

    noted

    I also don’t share some of her commenters’ antipathy towards Black & White and Civil Society.

    stress on ‘some’. that means Ellen’s mob blog does not have a consensus on what to do with Black & White and ‘Civil’ Society

    What led me to believe that her blog reflects the majority sentiments of the Filipino people is the results of the May 2007 Senatorial elections, in particular, Trillanes’ victory. These are empirical results that are hard to interpret otherwise.

    only as far as the victory of Trillanic.

    Admit it Anthony, even your use of the word ‘mob’ is an implicit acknowledgement of their numbers.

    30 people can comprise a mob.

    so yes, admitted.

  27. abogadong Bencard, hanggang sa malamang natin ang “end result” di natin malaman kong ang sinasabing mong marumal at idyut ay mapatunayan…di ba Marami rin ang Naniwala kay Pol Pol at Kay Adolf Hitler? Andiyan rin sa kay Mao Tse Dong, Isama mo pa rin Si Makoy, ngayon dumadami Pa rin ang Admirer ni aling GMA na sa ngayon medyon Lumalabas na di namam Masyado Malinis ang su-ot panlo-ob..sabi nga Time will Tell. Mayro-on manga personalidad magaling magtago nang karumal rumal na layunin at nagtanggap taggapan Marangal…

  28. CVJ,

    I know that you did not pull that it from thin air,as a matter of fact it was someone close to me who advised him to surrender,because nagpapaalam na sya nung time na yun eh,he really thought he would not come ot there alive,he was afraid even with the presence of media,some magdalos, a bishop.a former VP and civilian supporters,and someothers.

    Even if you have absolute basis, I still caution you.Ako nga na may second hand information sa mas mapagkakatiwalaan ko, I would not dare say that,because I am not afraid only for myself but others close to me as well.Seanate reports and priviledge speeches can say anything, but tayo kahit na anong sabihin natin sa freedom of expression ng blogs,vulnerable pa din tayo.

    my genuine concern,cvj besides you being a blogging friend ,is you are not that anonymous, you have been open enough as to give out some personal circumstances,but since you are in Singapore that reduces my worries for now.

    To lighten things up,naalala ko yung nilink ni BrianB re: Brian Gorrel; that they can have him arrested, the only problem is that he is in Australia.

  29. Bencard,

    trillianes’ “own word”,…

    trillanic is paranoid.

    whoever is in trillanic’s shoes at that time will also feel that gloria is out to get him

  30. What led me to believe that her blog reflects the majority sentiments of the Filipino people is the results of the May 2007 Senatorial elections, in particular, Trillanes’ victory. These are empirical results that are hard to interpret otherwise.

    if that’s your basis why then did joke arroyo win too? as well as pangilinan. they were constantly bashed in that blog. hard to interpret too?

  31. grd, you can throw that argument at me if i said that Ellen’s blog represents 100% of the Filipino people’s sentiments, but that is not my contention. My assertion was that Ellen’s blog reflects the majority’s sentiments which is why majority of the opposition candidates won. That does not preclude a minority of the Admin winning as well and it so happened that Joker and Kiko Panglinan were part of that minority. btw, i wonder why you did not include Zubiri among your examples of winning Admin senators. Seems like we both [tacitly] agree on something…hmmm?

  32. Justice,

    opps, sorry. I though it was you. I forgot you have other members in your league. It could have been batman. 🙂

    Cheers!

  33. Karl, thanks i appreciate where you’re coming from. I think the best defense of decent folks who want to live in a civilized society is to prevent the instruments of State from falling into the hands of evil men (and women) because even a minimalist State is still the most powerful entity owing to its having the monopoly to legitimate coercion and violence. That is why we need to band together and retake our Public Institutions to prevent it from being misused. That’s also why apathy is counterproductive to Society.

  34. cvj,

    about zubiri, is it surprising if I say I believe too that he benefited from cheating? will it surprise you more if I tell you that I voted for trillanes too? which I admit now is a mistake, a waste of my vote. and for what reason? it’s that stupid peninsula siege. he could have worked for his (temporary) release just like what happened to jinggoy before and did his work efficiently in the senate. but he has other stupid and ambitious agenda that’s why.

    now going back to your assertion about ellen’s blog reflecting the majority’s sentiments, what numbers or figures of the voting population are you talking when you say majority? Voting for senators is not the same as voting for a president. Voters are allowed to vote for 12 senators and not 1 is to 1. why not a sweep on all 12 then if you have the majority? if we base it on your contention, minority will be translated to zero winner for the opponents of the opposition.

    the fact is, election in the phils is still about popularity contest. majority of the voters pick whom they think are famous. that’s why we have a result of 7-3-2. wise voters are still a minority. otherwise, 1 candidate from Ang kapatiran could have at least won.

    unless you will assert that all 5 other winners cheated that’s why the sentiments of the majority did not prevail.

    and if you will insist on rampant cheating I would be wondering why only 3 admin bets won.

  35. Exactly my point. Cockroaches are as much a product of Darwinian processes as Mother Theresa.

    There you go. Hindi ako me sabi niyan ha. Mother Ellen?

  36. grd, to have voted for Trillanes and then to abandon him after he ended up in the losing side of the Pen siege is consistent with my impression of you, so i am not that surprised.

    Anyway, the majority means just that. You are trying to hold my proposition to a standard that implies that Ellen’s blog reflects 100% of the Filipinos, something which i have never claimed. Save the case of Zubiri, that three or four admin candidates could have slipped in is statistically plausible given that ballot fill up rates, even in Opposition-dominated Metro Manila averages 6.7 to 8.4 names. That means that the last four slots are effectively open to the strongest candidates of the other part(ies).

  37. cvj, the feeling is mutual. and if you voted fore trillanes to stage a revolution (while your’e in singapore), mine is for a different reason.

    as for your contention about the majority, i reiterate, you don’t need 100% of the fil to have a sweep.

  38. as for your contention about the majority, i reiterate, you don’t need 100% of the fil to have a sweep – grd

    You don’t need a ‘100% sweep’ to be considered the ‘majority’.

  39. You don’t need a ‘100% sweep’ to be considered the ‘majority’. – cvj

    but for your earlier contention about ellen’s blog to hold true, it has to be a sweep.

    What led me to believe that her blog reflects the majority sentiments of the Filipino people is the results of the May 2007 Senatorial elections, in particular, Trillanes’ victory. These are empirical results that are hard to interpret otherwise. .. cvj

    again, it’s very clear what you meant with your above comment regarding the sentiments of the majority and your assertion on how they had voted. ellen’s blog and her commenters are rabid anti-admin. they’ve made it clear they will vote only for the opposition. your above comment is far different from saying the opposition won the majority of the senate slots. that’s why I’m asking you to provide a figure to support your proposition.

    and to prove my point, here’s the result of the last may election:

    1 Loren B. Legarda GO – NPC 18,501,734
    2 Francis G. Escudero GO – NPC 18,265,307
    3 Panfilo M. Lacson GO 15,509,188
    4 Manuel B. Villar, Jr. GO – NP 15,338,412
    5 Francis N. Pangilinan Ind – LP 14,534,678
    6 Benigno C. Aquino III GO – LP 14,309,349
    7 Edgardo J. Angara, Jr. TU – LDP 12,657,769
    8 Joker P. Arroyo TU – KAMPI 11,803,107
    9 Alan Peter S. Cayetano GO – NP 11,787,679
    10 Gregorio B. Honasan Independent 11,605,531
    11 Antonio F.Trillanes IV GO 11,189,671
    12 Juan Miguel F. Zubiri TU – Lakas CMD 11,005,866

    13 Aquilino Pimentel III GO – PDP-Laban 10,987,347
    14 Ralph G. Recto TU – Lakas-CMD 10,721,252
    15 Michael T. Defensor TU – Lakas-CMD 9,938,995
    16 Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. TU – Lakas-CMD 9,798,622
    17 Sonia M. Roco GO – AD 8,457,748
    18 Cesar M. Montano TU – Lakas-CMD 7,800,451
    19 Vicente C. Sotto III TU – NPC 7,638,361
    20 John Henry R. Osmeña GO – GO 7,267,048
    21 Vicente P. Magsaysay TU – Lakas-CMD 6,357,905
    22 Anna Dom. M. Coseteng GO – Ind 5,274,682
    23 Teresa S. Aquino-Oreta TU – NPC 4,362,065
    24 Luis C. Singson TU – Lakas-CMD 4,353,644
    25 Richard I. Gomez Independent 2,725,664
    26 Sultan J. D. Kiram III TU – PDSP 2,488,994

    Total number of actual voters = 29,498,660.

    so, from above data, where’s that distinct majority that was represented by Ellen’s blog to prove your point that the result was not due to mixed voting? how come the winning votes of those non-opposition was almost identical with that of the opposition winners if those who voted for them were from the minority?. and as I was saying why pangilinan and arroyo won and even fared better than the other opposition winners when they have zero votes from ellen’s blog? that is, if we base it on your proposition.

    the fact is, common folks don’t really care about politics. all they care about is their livelihoods, how to make life better for the family.

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