Philippine Commentary Rides Again!

I am dusting off Ye Olde Philippine Commentary after a long period of dormancy because the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona bids me to re-enter the old fray.

Eleven years ago today, on 15 January 2001, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published my weekly Commentary in their Opinion/Editorial section. In it I was analyzing the likely course of then President Joseph Estrada's ongoing Impeachment Trial in the Philippine Senate. In that small essay I noted that since he was on trial for four separate charges brought against him the House of Representatives, there was some combination of Guilty/Not Guilty verdicts that could either convict or acquit him depending on how the 24 Senator-Judges actually voted. After going through the combinatorics, I wrote that if there were ELEVEN Senators  behind him, he could be acquitted of all charges by them, yet each could find him guilty in at least two or three of those charges because in none of them would there be the required 2/3 majority vote to convict.

Little did I know that on the very next day, on 16 January 2001, there would indeed be a crucial vote in the Impeachment Trial, in which what would later be called the Craven Eleven Senators would propose a vote called the Second Envelope Vote, in which it became clear Joseph Estrada would surely be acquitted of all charges and be found Not Guilty by the Senate Impeachment Court. The vote was 11-10 to exclude what was thought to be a piece of evidence that would convict the President in the eyes of the Public (but which would later turn out to be the opposite, though too late!)

Senator Tessie Aquino Oreta would dance an infamous jig for joy whilst then freshman Senator Loren Legarda would weep in front of the cameras. House Prosecutors led by then Congressman, now Senator Joker Arroyo, would walk out of the trial. At the famous Edsa Shrine small groups of anti-Erap demonstrators began to gather and cell phones which had only then began to be used in the Philippines would call out more and more of them until their numbers swelled throughout the night. In the next three days anti-Erap demonstrations would continue 24 hours a day under continuous television and radio coverage, until on 19 January 2001 Armed Forces Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes would walk onto the podium and announce that the AFP had mutinied against the President and were joining calls for him to step down.

We all know what happened next (or perhaps we don't know!) but in any event, on the very next day, on Saturday 20 January 2001, the Presiding Officer of the impeachment trial, then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Hilario Davide would swear in Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as President of the Republic of the Philippines!  The full story is told in dozens of posts right here on Philippine Commentary to which I shall have occasion to refer in the coming days.

Suffice it to say, that from that historic event to this very day, everything that has happened has seemed to conspire to produce the event upon whose brink we stand, as the House has impeached Renato Corona, then Chief of Staff of Vice President Arroyo, and whose trial begins on 16 January 2012, the self-same anniversary of the historic Vote on the Second Envelope!

Much has transpired in the intervening eleven years, dominated by the ill-fated Presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who today is under arrest for electoral sabotage and is now under "hospital arrest" at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

We shall have several opportunities to re-examine all those events of yesteryear, and since. Suffice now only that I welcome back old readers of Philippine Commentary, and greet many new ones who were perhaps too young to have participated in or remember those important events. But all are witness again to another cataclysm in Philippine politics which I am honored to reflect and write upon in the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The Hacking of the Daily Tribune--any connect with the HOCUS PCOS President's headaches?

On July 27, 2010, The Daily Tribune, [http://www.tribuneonline.org/], the online version of the feisty and defiant daily English-language Philippine publication, was cracked (hacked), with the website not showing and the page going instead to an apparently malware-infested site, electnate.com [Warning:still malware-infected]. That was coincidentally also the same day Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III  delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA)  and when the Office of the President's website, http://www.op.gov.ph/, reopened and first showed content with him as the new "President."

The development elicited pronounced concern from Daily Tribune's readers, mostly non-yellow-media patriots who consider it just about the only consistent voice of truth against electoral fraud, power grab, manipulated surveys, wanton corruption, and treacherous, shady deals with foreign entities.  Not unexpectedly, alarm bells were sounded by the periodical's patrons at the social site, Facebook.

The publication has a history of going against the mainstream media's apologist stance for the seditious yellow forces that seized power from President Joseph Estrada in 2001. In  2006, the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered a police raid of the premises of the Daily Tribune following a declaration of the state of emergency.

Click for IMAGE: My Facebook post, July 30, 2010

 

Both my browser and my anti-virus alerted me but I insisted on going to the hacked page, that seemed forwarded to electnate.com, because I simply needed to access Tribune for my TAGA-ILOG News blog. Because I persisted, my said blog, and, briefly, my three other blogs, got infected as well. (See The Daily Tribune hacked by the evl yllws, got my TAGA-ILOG & 3 other sites infected).

Click for IMAGE: Google Diagnostics of hacked Daily Tribune as of early morning of July 28, 2010 (HK time)

Trying to do some cyber sleuthing, I checked on the malware diagnostics for electnate.com and found that it first hosted malware on or before July 17, 2010--with the description that the infection led to the unauthorized downloading of a  "Malicious software [which] includes 252 trojan(s)."


Click for IMAGE: Google Diagnostis Cached for Electnate.com as of July 18, 2010

 As of early this week, electnate.com was still listed as suspicious by Google, with malicious software now numbering "276 trojan(s)"! The trojans are apparently coming from the unauthorized malicious software installed by some malicious crackers.

Click for IMAGE: As of August 9, 2010, Google Diagnostic page for Electnate.com

Uncanny Timing

The timing of the malware attack is highly suspicious, alright. How coincidental is it that the most fearless, most un-yellow and most-critical-of-Aquino news publication was disabled by cracking on the day the new "President"  was scheduled to deliver his very first SONA and when the Office of the President's (OP), http://www.op.gov.ph/, was finally able to began hosting contents for the new administration?

The cyber attack simply seems too perfectly timed, enough to  conveniently stifle the periodical's hallmark critical voice during an important day for Aquino III. After all, the broadsheet publication has been consistent, if not persistent, in attacking as failed and fraudulent the recent elections that the proclaimed "President" supposedly won.

The Daily Tribune's bold commentaries scream of  "Poll fraud;"' "Deliberate fraud?;" "Failure of automation;" "Hocus-PCOS info war;" "All signs point to massive electronic fraud;" and "Stealing the vote." It has also been critical of yellow politics in general, with titles that say it all: "Yellow politics of coercion;" "Yellow arrogance: Erap's redemption;"  and "Yellow: The color of hypocrisy."

The "Without fear or favor" publication also does not fail to remind about the unconstitutional 2001 power grab, talking of the need for "EDSA 2 rectification in order" even during the 2010 campaign period. Consistent with its candid brand of truthful journalism, it has articulated criticisms of Aquino III's ability to lead the nation, with bluntly honest opinion pieces that reads: "Clueless by the Pasig;" and  "From the mouth of an arrogant ignoramus." It was even one of the first broadsheets to touch on what has long been talked about but kept from the public by the yellow media--the issue of Aquino III's supposed autism in  the February 2010 opinion piece,  ‘Those whom the gods wish to destroy... they first make mad’.

 Coincidence, along with possible motive,  of course, won't nail a crime, so to speak. The disabling of the Daily Tribune website seems a cracking job, although the malware infection is not an uncommon thing in the Internet. But what about when the same publication is simultaneously a victim of another, a different kind of cyber attack?


Clone Daily Tribune

The case of the hacking/cracking of the Daily Tribune's website seems much more than malware infection because the contents of the site are now actually hosted in another site other than the official one--in a very spurious-sounding domain of hackingidentity.com.

A check on the domain registration of the two websites shows entirely different registration information, one being legitimate sounding and the other fishy. The registering entity for www.tribuneonine.org  is based in the Philippines, complete with contact numbers and building address.

Click for IMAGE: Domain registration of the Daily Tribune

On the other hand, data for the other Tribune-content-hosting  www.hacking.identity reveals a United States-based registrant, with the addresses for the administrative and technical contacts being found in two different states. Why would a Philippine news entity whose print office is located in the country have a foreigner as domain registrant?

Click for IMAGE: Domain registration of Tribune clone, www.hackingidentity.com


It seems apparent that www.hackingidentity.com is a spurious clone of the Daily Tribune.

All these point to the website having been hacked big time. The "Without fear or favor" news site was unavailable beginning around mid-day of July 26, 2010-- in time for "President" Aquino III's first SONA  and the day the his OP website was first made available. The Daily Tribune's readers were redirected to a malware-infested site for at least a day or two. As well, at around that time, the hacking-sounding site that cloned the Daily Tribune,  www.hackingidentity.com, began appearing in the Web.

Click for IMAGE: The Daily Tribune

Alright, the Daily Tribune was hacked, and apparently cloned. Now, who would do such a thing? To state the obvious, its readers would probably make the quick pointing of the finger at the yellows, that sector or group of civil (daw) society identified with the 2001 "EDSA 2" power grab conspirators, seemingly headed today by the current occupant in Malacanang.

No less than the man, dubbed by some or many as the HOCUS PCOS "President," confirmed the strongly antagonistic position and, thereby, possible motive, of the yellows vis-a-vis the Daily Tribune in an interview with the broadsheet's Ronald Roy.


The Daily Tribune adds to the "headaches" of Aquino III

Roy writes on July 29, 2010:

When it came to media matters, the President told me he had decided not to read the Daily Tribune anymore, implying he didn’t wish to add to his headaches. This was the opening I was waiting for.

I said: “But you must regard the paper as an institution for good government. Accept it as you would a dependable friend who would never lie to you no matter how hurting the truth. The Daily Tribune is the small David of media that fights — without fear or favor — the Goliaths of corruption, injustice, abuse and deceit.”

He lowered his gaze, his brows furrowed in deep concentration...

So there, no less than the leader of the yellows says he does not like the newspaper and has decided to read it no more. In the light of  published admission by the "President" that the same gives him "headaches," along with the suspicious timing of its hacking, is it probable, therefore, that the yellows were behind the rather vicious cyber attack(s)? Well, they do have possible motive, and no question about capability. And the timing? Simply too perfect to be plain coincidental.

It took some time before the communication team of Aquino III was able to put up the Office of the President website. Wonder if they tinkered first with the website of the headache-causing-to-the-"President"  Daily Tribune....

________

Posted by Jesusa Bernardo

References & Images @ SOBRIETY for the PHILIPPINES

The 16 Presidents of the Philippines--a historical satire

Satirical text version:


1.  ANDRES C. BONIFACIO (1896-1897) 

TUNAY na Unang Pangulo. Ayaw kilalanin ng mga elitista.

2.  EMILIO F. AGUINALDO (1897/98-1901) 

Orihinal na mang-aagaw. Berdugo 2x. Nagpa-onse sa mga Amerikano.

3.  MANUEL LUIS M. QUEZON (1935-1944)

Panahon ng Imperyalistang Kano. Pinataob si 'hero-killer' Aguinaldo sa Halalan 1935.

4. JOSE P. LAUREL (1943-1945)

Panahon ng 'Takot ako Hapon.'

5. SERGIO S. OSMENA (1944/45 - 1946)

 Hindi suportado ng Amerika ang pagtakbo noong 1946. Hindi nagkampanya kaya tumiklop kay Roxas.

6. MANUEL A. ROXAS (1946 - 1948)

Ginoong "Parity Rights." Aming likas na yaman ay inyo rin, Amerika!

7.  ELPIDIO R. QUIRINO (1948 - 1953)

Panahon ng Hukbalahap. Pinatalo daw ng Amerika noong Halalan 1953.

8.  RAMON F. MAGSAYSAY (1953 - 1957)

Care of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Makataong "Amboy."

9.  CARLOS P. GARCIA (1957 - 1961)

  "Filipino First" policy. Period.

10. DIOSDADO P. MACAPAGAL (1961 - 1965)

Kalayaan daw ng bansa ay Hunyo 12, 1898.

11. FERDINAND E. MARCOS (1965 - 1986)

Diktator ng Martial Law. Pero medyo inayos ang bayan.

12. CORAZON COJUANGCO AQUINO (1986- 1992)

Santa de Santita. May "Kamag-Anak Inc."

13. FIDEL V. RAMOS - (1992 - 1998)

Nanalo DAW noong Halalan 1992. Salamat sa brownouts.

14. JOSEPH  EJERCITO ESTRADA (1998 - 2001)

Mabisyo. Pero may nasyonalismo, patriotismo, at populismo (maka-Masa). Biktima ng mga tampalasan at timang.

15. GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO (2001-2010)

Mangaagaw # 2. "Pangulo" ni Hello Garci at Ampatuan. Ang Pinaka.....   grrrrrrrr! Matagal nang hinihintay ni FPJ.

16. BENIGNO SIMEON AQUINO (2010 - ___) 

Automated Hello Garci a.k.a. HOCUS PCOS # 1. (?).  Aba eh, anong nangyari kay dilawang Gob. Rafael Nantes ?!?

_________

by Jesusa Bernardo

Also posted at SOBRIETY for the PHILIPPINES

Getting rid of the Martial Law allergy

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has daringly done it again. In declaring a state of Martial Law in Maguindanao, she now tests the whole raison d' etre of the post EDSA revolution 1987 Philippine Constitution, which is to prevent another Ferdinand Marcos doing another September 21, 1972. And I support the declaration for this will expose more of the flaws of the EDSA constitutional system and the silliness of the arguments of its defenders.

The 1987 Constitution preserves the martial law powers of the President from predecessor charters in Section 18, Article VII but specifically states that Congress will remain in session and that it has the power to revoke or extend the period of martial law beyond the prescribed 60 day period. The President will have to report to Congress in person or in writing about her reasons in declaring martial law. The constitution also says that the President has the initiative to request Congress (voting jointly by a simple majority) to extend the period of martial law. Martial law also does not supplant the civil courts with military ones where civil courts can still function. The habeas corpus writ is only suspended for persons who are directly connected with invasion and rebellion, the two bases for declaring a state of martial law. The Palace also claims that the civil courts have ceased to function as judges won't issue arrest warrants to suspects in the Maguindanao massacre.

It is plain to see that there are contradictions in the way the provision is worded.

The challenge posed by legal eagles is whether a state of rebellion is indeed present in Maguindanao. The Palace claims that there is reason to believe in an imminent rebellion with the discovery of weapons stockpiles (much from AFP inventory) in Ampatuan mansions and bodegas, mounds of earth with buried weapons etc .

It seems that the public greeted the declaration with a big yawn. I think that they are indeed shocked by the scale of the Maguindanao murders and they support the declaration putting faith indeed in the check and balances of the 1987 Constitution. However a docile and subservient (ton the Palace) Congress is what worries the libertarians since it may not provide a check to the President's declaration. Since the Congress members are in campaign mode, they are hesitant it seems to convene even without a call, as the constitution requires. And also, why should Congress be beholden to the request of the President when dealing with the martial law issue?

Has the public got rid of the post EDSA 1 martial law allergy? It may be too early to tell since for many Filipinos, Maguindanao is a far off place. But if Manila was placed under martial law, people may yet develop a case of hives!

But what is really disturbing that it seems so easy for the civil courts to become non-functional with fear, thus giving more reason for the Executive to dabble with martial law. Who is to judge if the courts are non-functional? Answer: the Presidential Palace and not the independent and co-equal branch of government, the Judicature. This is something that the libertarians (some with law degrees) have glossed over even in Facebook posts.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's proclamation is obviously a trial balloon of sorts and may be shot in the arm. Let's see if our democratic "immune system" can produce the antibodies against dictatorship. The EDSA constitutional system however is riddled with contradictions and flaws and in itself a danger to democracy.

BV

President Arroyo to Her Critics - Screw You!

Somehow, I get the feeling that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is in a “screw you” sort of mode, considering the number of controversies she has been involved in, in the wake of President Cory Aquino’s passing. From her indelicate “no comment” about a personal message for Aquino after going to Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, to the controversy surrounding her selection of the National Artists, to her $20,000 anniversary dinner at Le Cirque, to the revelations about the almost exponential growth of her wealth over the nine years of her Presidency, it appears that Arroyo has thrown caution to the wind, and has thrown down the gauntlet to her foes, as if to say, “What are you going to do about it?”

What can we do about it? The President is immune from suit, so cases of corruption cannot be filed against her. Besides, the Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, the top graftbuster, is Arroyo’s political appointee and classmate of her husband, and has demonstrated that she is not inclined to go after the big fish, especially those allied to the President. Impeachment is also out of the question, as her lapdogs in the House of Representatives have been well-rewarded (paid off) to block any attempt to raise the complaint to the Senate. Even looking to another individual, a la Cory Aquino, is futile, as her political foes are as corrupt as she is.

A co-teacher of mine speculated about the possibility that the motive behind Arroyo’s actions is to provoke violent protest in order for her to declare martial law. If such is truly the case, then Arroyo is playing with very dangerous fire. The Filipino people have been very patient with her, given the fact that there is no one whom we can look to for relief. If Arroyo forces the issue and continues to be embroiled in controversy after controversy, having no one to turn to may not matter anymore, as the powder keg of discontent will simply explode from saturation.

SOURCE: Philippine Commentary

Gloriastic is the new Imeldific

imeldific adj. ostentatiously extravagant to the point of vulgarity

gloriastic adj. shamelessly imeldific to the point of impunity.

Suggest your own neologism and definition.

Here is the New York Post article by Richard Johnson that broke the story of a $20,000 dinner in New York's Le Cirque restaurant that "President Maria Gloria Macapagal Arroyo" had with US based allies and her local entourage: Eat and Drink

Manolo Quezon on Facebook published several interesting posts on this over the weekend including a pointer to a food critic's piece: Only a Jerk Would Eat at Le Cirque.

Ding Gagelonia has some choice adjectives already At Midfield.

SOURCE: Philippine Commentary

Gloria Upstaged by Beer Summit

Following is the Dept. of Foreign Affairs transcript of the 8-minute Press Conference of President Barack Obama and Gloria Arroyo. From USA Today's David Jackson's report it seems most of the eight minutes was really taken up by interest in the BEER SUMMIT held by Barack Obama with Henry Gates, James Crowley and Joe Biden in the Rose Garden. Barack got it right (though he was careless reading the teleprompter)  about the RP-US relationship being historical, cultural, diplomatic, military AND personal. His description, that "it dates back many years" seems a bit off--since it's been goin' on for more than 110 years. And when he said, "The Philippines is not the largest country in the world..." he could not be referring to its population of nearly 100 million, the twelfth largest country in the world. The US President exchanged mutual compliments with the visiting Philippines leader and then launched into an answer to a question about US GDP figures due out Friday.  Naming the Philippines as the "coordinating country" for ASEAN to carry the ball on such clearly long-term projects as human rights, nuclear nonproliferation and anti-terrorism must mean however that even Barack knows Gloria is a Lame Duck now and has begun the long slow descent from zenith to the cliff's edge...

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, let me express my thanks and appreciation for the visit from President Arroyo. As we discussed during our meeting here and our delegations, the relationship between the United States and the Philippines dates back many years. It is a friendship that is forged not only in treaties and trade relationships and military relationships, but it is also strengthened by very personal ties that exist between our two countries. We are proud to have 4 million persons of Filipino ancestry contributing to our country each and every day, in all walks of life. The fact that we have Filipino veterans who have fought side by side with American soldiers on behalf of freedom — all those things have strengthened the relationship between our two countries.

I am very pleased that President Arroyo has made such good progress on dealing with counterterrorism issues. She has initiated a peace process in Mindanao that we think is — has the potential to bring peace and stability to a part of the Philippines that has been wracked by unrest for too long. We are very grateful of the strong voice that the Philippines has provided in dealing with issues in Asia ranging from the human rights violations that have for too long existed in Burma to the problems that we’re seeing with respect to nuclear proliferation in North Korea.

I am looking forward to my travels to Southeast Asia, and the Philippines will be the coordinating country in the U.S. relationship with ASEAN, the primary organization — strategic organization for Southeast Asian countries. And in addition, the Philippines will be sharing the Non-Proliferation Treaty conference that will be taking next — place next year.

And so we’re going to have a busy agenda together working to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons, improving the multilateral partnerships in Asia that can create greater security and greater prosperity for all countries. And in addition, we continue to be grateful for the outstanding contributions that the Philippines has made with respect to U.N. peacekeeping around the world.

So although the Philippines is not the largest of countries, it, in using a phrase from boxing, punches above its weight in the international arena, and we are very grateful that President Arroyo has visited us here today, and we are looking forward to using this meeting as a way of launching even greater cooperation between our two countries in the years to come.

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you for inviting me to have this very important conversation here in the White House.

The U.S. is very essential to the economic, diplomatic, and national security of our country. We are very thankful for the U.S. as an important ally in helping to professionalize our military and making it more effective.

Just as important, we are thankful to the U.S. for being such a good ally in our — working on soft power by helping us build bridges, roads, schools, not only in Mindanao but across the nation. And this assistance of the U.S. has gone a long way in helping us to achieve what we have been able to achieve in the peace process in Mindanao in southern Philippines, and also in our fight against terrorism.

I was very happy to let President Obama know that the Muslim secessionists have agreed, together with a Philippine government panel, to work towards a resumption of formal peace talks, and we’re very thankful for the international community, including the U.S., for their assistance in bringing us to this stage.

Internationally, we stand foursquare behind the United States on the position that it has taken with regard to Burma and with regard to North Korea’s nuclear adventurism.

We also applaud President Obama for his leadership on climate change, which is so important to the Philippines because we are an archipelagic country and severe climate change is going to be disastrous for our country. We are already feeling the weather pattern changes in the rising seas.

We are also — finally, may I say that I bring the thanks also of our Filipino veterans for the inclusion of the veterans’ benefits in the fiscal stimulus package, something that we have all waited for as a country for the last 60 years.

So I’m very grateful for this opportunity. We thank the Obama administration for the new engagement in our part of the world, and we look forward to a stronger relationship between the U.S. and ASEAN and, bilaterally, a stronger relationship with our two countries.

Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much.

Okay, we’re going to take two questions, one from a Filipino reporter.

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Yes.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes. This gentleman right here. Is this a good — (laughter.)

Go ahead.

Q Thank you very much, Mr. President, and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. I am from the Philippine media, sir. It’s noted that you’re the first Asian head of state to be afforded by President Obama this — such an invitation. As much as this is your first time to see President Obama in person and you have talked to him, could you kindly share to us, Madam President, your impressions of the American President? (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I’m sure she thinks I’m much younger looking than she expected. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Well, as a person, President Obama is very cordial, warm, and welcoming. And I’m really very impressed about — of his deep understanding and knowledge of the Philippines and the Filipino people — the understanding of the close relationship within the Filipino people and the American people.

And we — I think we connected very well also on our position with regard to Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, with regard to North Korea and nuclear proliferation, with regard to human rights and terrorism. And we welcome President Obama’s reaching out to the Muslim world, and also we are very pleased about his — the importance that he accords to engagement with our part of the world.

Q Is it considered to be ungrateful if I will not get your reaction? It will be greatly appreciated if you can also give your impression of our President.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, obviously, President Arroyo has done outstanding work on a whole range of issues. She mentioned the areas where the United States and the Philippines are of one accord, but as evidenced here today, she’s somebody who knows the issues. She has experience leading the Philippines through some very difficult times. She has expressed a great friendship towards the United States, and aside from her great personal charm — (laughter) — we are very appreciative of the concrete ways in which her administration has pursued strengthening ties with the United States. So I’m very grateful for that.

Okay, Jeff Mason.

Q Yes, sir. A double-barreled question for you. First of all, what do you expect to be the main message of the GDP figures that come out tomorrow? And second of all, what do you think will be the main message of your meeting tonight in the Rose Garden?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: On GDP, I don’t have a crystal ball and I haven’t received the figures yet, but I think if you look at the consensus of economists right now, it confirms that we have seen a significant slowing down of the contraction over the last several months. There are a lot of indicators out there that tell us that job losses, although still way too high, are not at the pace that we were seeing in January or February. Housing prices went up for the first time in three years. The credit system, the banking system, the financial markets generally have settled down. You’re not seeing the huge volatility or panic that you were seeing.

And so all of that is a sign that we have stepped away from the precipice. As Ben Bernanke and others across the ideological spectrum have indicated, we were in a position where we could have gone into a Great Depression. I think those fears have abated.

But I suspect that the GDP numbers will still show that the economy contracted in the second quarter, that job loss is still a huge problem. And you don’t have to read GDP numbers to see that; all you got to do is talk to the American people who are still losing jobs, losing homes, and worried about their ability to keep their health care and finance their child’s college educations. So we’re not going to rest until we have seen not just a technical improvement in GDP but until the American people’s job prospects, their incomes have rebounded — and that’s going to take some time.

With respect to tonight, you know, I am, I have to say, fascinated with the fascination about this evening. As you know, this idea was prompted when I was talking to Sergeant Crowley, and he said, well, maybe I’ll have a beer in the White House someday, and I said, well, you know, I’m sure that can be arranged.

I notice this had been called the “beer summit.” It’s a clever term, but this is not a summit, guys. This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. And that’s really all it is.

This is not a — this is not a university seminar. It is not a summit. It’s an attempt to have some personal interaction when an issue has become so hyped and so symbolic that you lose sight of just the fact that these are people involved, including myself, all of whom are imperfect. And hopefully instead of ginning up anger and hyperbole, everybody can just spend a little bit of time with some self-reflection and recognizing that other people have different points of view. And that’s all it is.

And so I will be surprised if you guys all make this the lead as opposed to a very important meeting that we just had with one of our most important partners in the world, but the press has surprised me before. (Laughter.)

Thank you very much.

END
SOURCE: Philippine Commentary

Yo! Barack--She's Zelaya in a Skirt

Even as her loyal House allies desperately push Conass at home, President Arroyo leaves for Washington D.C. today and a long-hoped-for personal meeting with US President BARACK OBAMA (whose kids have probably sampled exotic fare like adobo already at the White House). Mrs. Arroyo claims they are going to discuss Nuclear Nonproliferation, Veterans Affairs, Global Climate Change, and the Global Financial Crisis (all in 20 minutes). (I hope he sees Zelaya in a skirt). The Explainer Dialogues with Manolo Quezon analyzes the recent State of the Nation Address in last Monday's episode with Business World's Vergel O. Santos and Black and White Movement's Leah Roque. I was on the panel.




SOURCE: Philippine Commentary

Still Outside the Obama Kulambo

BAMA DID NOT MEET GLORIA TODAY

ABSCBN News is reporting tonight that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo did not even come close to meeting with President Barack Obama during the latter's First National Prayer Breakfast, despite ever-so-fervent hopes for such a meeting being assiduously stoked by Malacanang Palace. This as the President's party scandalously spent a bunch of the Filipino people's money lolly-gagging around Washington D.C.'s poshest hotel. Meanwhile there is a rumor that Senator Chiz Escudero has been briefing Obama insiders about the situation in the Philippines...(psych!) But he is in Washington D.C. trying to get a hold of that World Bank report on bid rigging corruption in the Philippines. I don't agree with Sen. Miriam Defensor that it is incumbent on the World Bank to supply a SECOND copy of the Report to the Senate. I wish it would, but isn't it a shame the Philippine Senate cannot get a copy from the Philippine Ombudsman?

---

Stupid Cat, Wily Mouse

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Pulse Asia SONA Survey Was Propaganda, Just Like the SONA

After looking at the survey questions, the methodology and the purported analytical results of the July 2008 Pulse Asia Survey poll on President Arroyo's State of the National Address, I am forced to the inexorable conclusion that it was basically propaganda, not a valid scientific public opinion poll. The main numerical data are contained in Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4.

To begin with, the pollster admits that only 60% of the 1200 respondents to the survey were qualified to participate and be tallied because only that fraction of them claimed to have "heard or read about any previous SONA." Thus the proper random sample size is 720 and the one-sided statistical error is closer to 4% than 3%. But this is hardly its biggest or most egregious flaw.

If you look under a magnifying glass at the bottom of Table 4 you will discover that the first question asked of each respondent was whether they had heard or read about any previous SONA ("Kayo ba ay nakarinig na, or nakabasa na, sa anumang nakaraang Ulat Sa Bayan o SONA ni Pangulong Arroyo?"). To those who answered YES, two further questions were asked soliciting an opinion about the truthfulness of the 2007 and the likely truthfulness of the 2008 SONAs. There is a further microscopic notation that "truthful" means "mostly or completely truthful" while "untruthful" means "mostly or completely untruthful."

This is a badly flawed question because the 2008 SONA, for example, has over 4600 words, and 500 sentences spread out over many dozens if not hundreds of possibly truthful or untruthful individual assertions by the President. But the follow-on question forces the respondent to decide whether he or she thinks they were (in a previous SONA) or would be (in 2008) "mostly or completely true or untrue." Well, no wonder 46% of the 720 qualified respondents said they were UNDECIDED about the likelihood of the 2008 SONA's truthfulness, while 52% were UNDECIDED about the actual truthfulness of the 2007 SONA.

It is a rule of thumb, at least among scientific, professional pollsters that when a question elicits such large percentage of UNDECIDED responses, there is something badly wrong about the question itself, either its design, content or meaning for the respondents. Among physical scientists this is equivalent to having half of one's data set being corrupted, unreadable or unusable because we are measuring the wrong parameter or using the wrong proble. We usually throw away such tests and their resulting data sets as being unreliable or positively useless.

What the analysis keys on, as presented here and by Ana Marie Tabunda on ANC last evening, was the large percentage (40% of 720 respondents) opining that the 2008 SONA would likely be untruthful while only 14% of 720 respondents opined it would likely be truthful. It is of course not surprising that 46% thought the 2007 SONA was untruthful while 13% thought it was truthful.

With respect to the 2008 SONA, this is numerically gussied up ASTROLOGY and not statistical opinion polling. With respect to "any previous SONA", I doubt very much that any of the respondents could've made a fair mental evaluation of the totality of the President's assertions. Rather, human nature being reflexively suspicious and skeptical towards politicians (especially one as opaque and plastique as Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who truly deserves it, in my own opinion), there is a natural tendency to remember some unbelievable or untruthful statement and ascribe dishonesty to the entire speech, rather than to mentally maintain an inventory of a large number of possibly true statements. After all, when a person tells even one lie in such a forum, it's easy to believe such a person is telling many other lies.

Since the nature of the basic question asked of the respondents, requires of them to make a global judgment ("mostly truthful" or "mostly untruthful" but nothing in between) of some past or future SONA, and given that she has most verifiably lied on a number of very important and public occasions in her checkered political career, the results might've been predicted without all the trouble of a full blown statistical survey. After all, the respondents were qualified to answer these questions if they had merely read or heard about some SONA or other -- most likely from an habitually skeptical or even hostile media.

Nevertheless, two wrongs just don't make a right. This Pulse Asia Survey was what we call a setup or a "gimme" for anti-Arroyo forces. It is another example of the cynical use of science for propaganda purposes.

Deliciously malicious propaganda at that, since of course propaganda can itself be truthful or not, just like the SONAs themselves!

Tee-hee, but shame on you Pulse Asia! I bet if somebody did a survey on the surveys, the results would run against the pollsters with similar percentages being cynical and skeptical about them as propagandists.

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UPDATES: Cogent discussion of the brewing bribery brouhaha in the Court of Appeals is to be found at La Vida Lawyer.

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Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's State of the Nation Address

Full Text of the 2008 State of the Nation Address by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the 2nd Regular Session
of the 14th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines 28 July 2008

Thank you, Speaker Nograles. Senate President Villar. Senators and Representatives. Vice President de Castro, President Ramos, Chief Justice Puno, members of the diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen:

I address you today at a crucial moment in world history.

Just a few months ago, we ended 2007 with the strongest economic growth in a generation. Inflation was low, the peso strong and a million new jobs were created. We were all looking to a better, brighter future.

Because tough choices were made, kumikilos na ang bayan sa wakas. Malapit na sana tayo sa pagbalanse ng budget. We were retiring debts in great amounts, reducing the drag on our country’s development, habang namumuhunan sa taong bayan.

Biglang-bigla, nabaligtad ang ekonomiya ng mundo. Ang pagtalon ng presyo ng langis at pagkain ay nagbunsod ng pandaigdigan krisis, the worst since the Great Depression and the end of World War II. Some blame speculators moving billions of dollars from subprime mortgages to commodities like fuel and food. Others point of the very real surge in demand as millions of Chinese and Indians move up to the middle class.

Whatever the reasons, we are on a roller coaster ride of oil price hikes, high food prices and looming economic recession in the US and other markets. Uncertainty has moved like a terrible tsunami around the globe, wiping away gains, erasing progress.

This is a complex time that defies simple and easy solutions. For starters, it is hard to identify villains, unlike in the 1997 financial crisis. Everyone seems to be a victim, rich countries and poor, though certainly some can take more punishment than others.

To address these global challenges, we must go on building and buttressing bridges to allies around the world: to bring in the rice to feed our people, investments to create jobs; and to keep the peace and maintain stability in our country and the rest of the world. Yet even as we reach out to those who need, and who may need us, we strive for greater self-reliance.

Because tough choices were made, the global crisis did not catch us helpless and unprepared. Through foresight, grit and political will, we built a shield around our country that has slowed down and somewhat softened the worst effects of the global crisis. We have the money to care for our people and pay for food when there are shortages; for fuel despite price spikes.

Neither we nor anyone else in the world expected this day to come so soon but we prepared for it. For the guts not to flinch in the face of tough choices, I thank God. For the wisdom to recognize how needed you are, I thank, you Congress. For footing the bill, I thank the taxpayers.

The result has been, on the one hand, ito ang nakasalba sa bayan; and, on the other, more unpopularity for myself in the opinion polls. Yet, even unfriendly polls show self-rated poverty down to its 20-year low in 2007.

My responsibility as President is to take care to solve the problems we are facing now and to provide a vision and direction for how our nation should advance in the future.

Many in this great hall live privileged lives and exert great influence in public affairs. I am accessible to you, but I spend time every day with the underprivileged and under represented who cannot get a grip on their lives in the daily, all-consuming struggle to make ends meet.

Nag-aalala ako para sa naka-aawang maybahay na pasan ang pananagutan para sa buong pamilya. Nag-aalala ako para sa magsasakang nasa unang hanay ng pambansang produksyon ng pagkain ngunit nagsisikap pakanin ang pamilya. I care for hardworking students soon to graduate and wanting to see hope of good job and a career prospect here at home.

Nag-aalala ako para sa 41-year old na padre de pamilya na di araw-araw ang trabaho, at nag-aabala sa asawa at tatlong anak, at dapat bigyan ng higit pang pagkakakitaan at dangal. I care for our teachers who gave the greatest gift we ever received – a good education – still trying to pass on the same gift to succeeding generations. I care for our OFWs, famed for their skill, integrity and untiring labor, who send home their pay as the only way to touch loved ones so far away. Nagpupugay ako ngayon sa kanilang mga karaniwang Pilipino.

My critics say this is fiction, along with other facts and figures I cite today. I call it heroism though they don’t need our praise. Each is already a hero to those who matter most, their families.

I said this is a global crisis where everyone is a victim. But only few can afford to avoid, or pay to delay, the worst effects.

Many more have nothing to protect them from the immediate blunt force trauma of the global crisis. Tulad ninyo, nag-aalala ako para sa kanila. Ito ang mga taong bayan na dapat samahan natin. Not only because of their sacrifices for our country but because they are our countrymen.

How do we solve these many complex challenges?

Sa kanilang kalagayan, the answer must be special care and attention in this great hour of need.

First, we must have a targeted strategy with set of precise prescriptions to ease the price challenges we are facing.

Second, food self-sufficiency; less energy dependence; greater self-reliance in our attitude as a people and in our posture as a nation.

Third, short-term relief cannot be at the expense of long term reforms. These reforms will benefit not just the next generation of Filipinos, but the next President as well.

Napakahalaga ang Value Added Tax sa pagharap sa mga hamong ito.

Itong programa ang sagot sa mga problemang namana natin.

Una, mabawasan ang ating mga utang and shore up our fiscal independence.

Pangalawa, higit na pamumuhunan para mamamayan at imprastraktura.

Pangatlo, sapat na pondo para sa mga programang pangmasa.

Thus, the infrastructure links programmed for the our poorest provinces like Northern Samar: Lao-ang-Lapinig-Arteche, right now ay maputik, San Isidro-Lope de Vega; the rehabilitation of Maharlika in Samar.

Take VAT away and you and I abdicate our responsibility as leaders and pull the rug from under our present and future progress, which may be compromised by the global crisis.

Lalong lumakas ang tiwala ng mga investor dahil sa VAT. Mula P56.50 kada dolyar, lumakas ang piso hanggang P40.20 bago bumalik sa P44 dahil sa mga pabigat ng pangdaigdigang ekonomiya. Kung alisin ang VAT, hihina ang kumpiyansa ng negosyo, lalong tataas ang interes, lalong bababa ang piso, lalong mamahal ang bilihin.

Kapag ibinasura ang VAT sa langis at kuryente, ang mas makikinabang ay ang mga may kaya na kumukonsumo ng 84% ng langis at 90% ng kuryente habang mas masasaktan ang mahihirap na mawawalan ng P80 billion para sa mga programang pinopondohan ngayon ng VAT. Take away VAT and we strip our people of the means to ride out the world food and energy crisis.

We have come too far and made too many sacrifices to turn back now on fiscal reforms. Leadership is not about doing the first easy thing that comes to mind; it is about doing what is necessary, however hard.

The government has persevered, without flip-flops, in its much-criticized but irreplaceable policies, including oil and power VAT and oil deregulation.

Patuloy na gagamitin ng pamahalaan ang lumalago nating yaman upang tulungan ang mga pamilyang naghihirap sa taas ng bilihin at hampas ng bagyo, habang nagpupundar upang sanggahan ang bayan sa mga krisis sa hinaharap.

Para sa mga namamasada at namamasahe sa dyip, sinusugpo natin ang kotong at colorum upang mapataas ang kita ng mga tsuper. Si Federico Alvarez kumikita ng P200 a day sa kaniyang rutang Cubao-Rosario. Tinaas ito ng anti-kotong, anti-colorum ngayon P500 na ang kita niya. Iyan ang paraan kung paano napananatili ang dagdag-pasahe sa piso lamang. Halaga lang ng isang text.

Texting is a way of life. I asked the telecoms to cut the cost of messages between networks. They responded. It is now down to 50 centavos.

Noong Hunyo, nagpalabas tayo ng apat na bilyong piso mula sa VAT sa langis—dalawang bilyong pambayad ng koryente ng apat na milyong mahihirap, isang bilyon para college scholarship o pautang sa 70,000 na estudyanteng maralita; kalahating bilyong pautang upang palitan ng mas matipid na LPG, CNG o biofuel ang motor ng libu-libong jeepney; at kalahating bilyong pampalit sa fluorescent sa mga pampublikong lugar.

Kung mapapalitan ng fluorescent ang lahat ng bumbilya, makatitipid tayo ng lampas P2 billion.

Sa sunod na katas ng VAT, may P1 billion na pambayad ng kuryente ng mahihirap; kalahating bilyon para sa matatandang di sakop ng SSS o GSIS; kalahating bilyong kapital para sa pamilya ng mga namamasada; kalahating bilyon upang mapataas ang kakayahan at equipment ng mga munting ospital sa mga lalawigan. At para sa mga kalamidad, angkop na halaga.

We released P1 billion for the victims of typhoon Frank. We support a supplemental Western Visayas calamity budget from VAT proceeds, as a tribute to the likes of Rodney Berdin, age 13, of Barangay Rombang, Belison, Antique, who saved his mother, brother and sister from the raging waters of Sibalom River.

Mula sa buwang ito, wala nang income tax ang sumusweldo ng P200,000 o mas mababa sa isang taon – P12 billion na bawas-buwis para sa maralita at middle class. Maraming salamat, Congress.

Ngayong may P32 na commercial rice, natugunan na natin ang problema sa pagkain sa kasalukuyan. Nagtagumpay tayo dahil sa pagtutulungan ng buong bayan sa pagsasaka, bantay-presyo at paghihigpit sa price manipulation, sa masipag na pamumuno ni Artie Yap.

Sa mga LGU at religious groups na tumutulong dalhin ang NFA rice sa mahihirap, maraming salamat sa inyo.

Dahil sa subsidy, NFA rice is among the region’s cheapest. While we can take some comfort that our situation is better than many other nations, there is no substitute for solving the problem of rice and fuel here at home. In doing so, let us be honest and clear eyed – there has been a fundamental shift in global economics. The price of food and fuel will likely remain high. Nothing will be easy; the government cannot solve these problems over night. But, we can work to ease the near-term pain while investing in long-term solutions.

Since 2001, new irrigation systems for 146,000 hectares, including Malmar in Maguindanao and North Cotabato, Lower Agusan, Casecnan and Aulo in Nueva Ecija, Abulog-Apayao in Cagayan and Apayao, Addalam in Quirino and Isabela, among others, and the restoration of old systems on another 980,000 hectares have increased our nation’s irrigated land to a historic 1.5 million hectares.

Edwin Bandila, 48 years old, of Ugalingan, Carmen, North Cotabato, cultivated one hectare and harvested 35 cavans. Thirteen years na ginawa iyong Malmar. In my first State of the Nation Address, sabi ko kung hindi matapos iyon sa Setyembre ay kakanselahin ko ang kontrata, papapasukin ko ang engineering brigade, natapos nila. With Malamar, now he cultivates five hectares and produces 97 cavans per hectare. Mabuhay, Edwin! VAT will complete the San Roque-Agno River project.

The Land Bank has quadrupled loans for farmers and fisherfolk. That is fact not fiction. Check it. For more effective credit utilization, I instructed DA to revitalize farmers cooperatives.

We are providing seeds at subsidized prices to help our farmers.

Incremental Malampaya national revenues of P4 billion will go to our rice self-sufficiency program.

Rice production since 2000 increased an average of 4.07% a year, twice the population growth rate. By promoting natural planning and female education, we have curbed population growth to 2.04% during our administration, down from the 2.36 in the 1990’s, when artificial birth control was pushed. Our campaign spreads awareness of responsible parenthood regarding birth spacing. Long years of pushing contraceptives made it synonymous to family planning. Therefore informed choice should mean letting more couples, who are mostly Catholics, know about natural family planning.

From 1978 to 1981, nag-export tayo ng bigas. Hindi tumagal. But let’s not be too hard on ourselves. Panahon pa ng Kastila bumibili na tayo ng bigas sa labas. While we may know how to grow rice well, topography doesn’t always cooperate.

Nature did not gift us with a mighty Mekong like Thailand and Vietnam, with their vast and naturally fertile plains. Nature instead put our islands ahead of our neighbours in the path of typhoons from the Pacific. So, we import 10% of the rice we consume.

To meet the challenge of today, we will feed our people now, not later, and help them get through these hard times. To meet the challenges of tomorrow, we must become more self-reliant, self-sufficient and independent, relying on ourselves more than on the world.

Now we come to the future of agrarian reform.

There are those who say it is a failure, that our rice importations prove it. There are those who say it is a success—if only because anything is better than nothing. Indeed, people are happier owning the land they work, no matter what the difficulties.

Sa SONA noong 2001, sinabi ko, bawat taon, mamamahagi tayo ng dalawang daang libong ektarya sa reporma sa lupa: 100,000 hectares of private farmland and 100,000 of public farmland, including ancestral domains. Di hamak mahigit sa target ang naipamahagi natin sa nakaraang pitong taon: 854,000 hectares of private farmland, 797,000 of public farmland, and Certificates of Ancestral Domain for 525,000 hectares. Including, over a 100,000 hectares for Bugkalots in Quirino, Aurora, and Nueva Vizcaya. After the release of their CADT, Rosario Camma, Bugkalot chieftain, and now mayor of Nagtipunan, helped his 15,000-member tribe develop irrigation, plant vegetables and corn and achieve food sufficiency. Mabuhay, Chief!

Agrarian reform should not merely subdivide misery, it must raise living standards. Ownership raises the farmer from his but productivity will keep him on his feet.

Sinimula ng aking ama ang land reform noong 1963. Upang mabuo ito, the extension of CARP with reforms is top priority. I will continue to do all I can for the rural as well as urban poor. Ayaw natin na paglaya ng tenant sa landlord, mapapasa-ilalim naman sa usurero. Former tenants must be empowered to become agribusinessmen by allowing their land to be used as collateral.

Dapat mapalaya ng reporma sa lupa ang magsasaka sa pagiging alipin sa iba. Dapat bigyan ang magsasaka ng dangal bilang taong malaya at di hawak ninuman. We must curb the recklessness that gives land without the means to make it productive and bites off more than beneficiaries can chew.

At the same time, I want the rackets out of agrarian reform: the threats to take and therefore undervalue land, the conspiracies to overvalue it.

Be with me on this. There must be a path where justice and progress converge. Let us find it before Christmas. Dapat nating linisin ang landas para sa mga ibig magpursige sa pagsasaka, taglay ang pananalig na ang lupa ay sasagip sa atin sa huli kung gamitin natin ito nang maayos.

Along with massive rice production, we are cutting costs through more efficient transport. For our farm-to-market roads, we released P6 billion in 2007.

On our nautical highways. RORO boats carried 33 million metric tons of cargo and 31 million passengers in 2007. We have built 39 RORO ports during our administration, 12 more are slated to start within the next two years. In 2003, we inaugurated the Western Nautical Highway from Batangas through Mindoro, Panay and Negros to Mindanao. This year we launched the Central Nautical Highway from Bicol mainland, through Masbate, Cebu, Bohol and Camiguin to Mindanao mainland. These developments strengthen our competitiveness.

Leading multinational company Nestle cut transport costs and offset higher milk prices abroad. Salamat, RORO. Transport costs have become so reasonable for bakeries like Gardenia, a loaf of its bread in Iloilo is priced the same as in Laguna and Manila. Salamat muli sa RORO.

To the many LGUs who have stopped collecting fees from cargo vehicles, maraming, maraming salamat.

We are repaving airports that are useful for agriculture, like Zamboanga City Airport.

Producing rice and moving it cheaper addresses the supply side of our rice needs. On the demand side, we are boosting the people’s buying power.

Ginagawa nating labor-intensive ang paggawa at pag-ayos ng kalsada at patubig. Noong SONA ng 2001, naglunsad tayo sa NCR ng patrabaho para sa 20,000 na out of school youth, na tinawag OYSTER. Ngayon, mahigit 20,000 ang ineempleyo ng OYSTER sa buong bansa. In disaster-stricken areas, we have a cash-for-work program.

In training, 7.74 million took technical and vocational courses over the last seven years, double the number in the previous 14 years. In 2007 alone, 1.7 million graduated. Among them are Jessica Barlomento now in Hanjin as supply officer, Shenve Catana, Marie Grace Comendador, and Marlyn Tusi, lady welders, congratulations.

In microfinance, loans have reached P102 billion or 30 times more than the P3 billion we started with in 2001, with a 98% repayment record, congratulations! Major lenders include the Land Bank with P69 billion, the Peoples’ Credit and Finance Corporation P8 billion, the National Livelihood Support Fund P3 billion, DBP P1 billion and the DSWD’s SEA-K P800 million. For partnering with us to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit, thank you, Go Negosyo and Joey Concepcion.

Upland development benefits farmers through agro-forestry initiatives. Rubber is especially strong in Zamboanga Sibugay and North Cotabato. Victoria Mindoro, 56 years old, used to earn P5,000 a month as farmer and factory worker. Now she owns 10 hectares in the Goodyear Agrarian Reform Community in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay, she earns P10,000 a week. With one hectare, Pedro and Concordia Faviolas of Makilala, North Cotabato, they sent their six children to college, bought two more hectares, and earn P15,000 a month. Congratulations!

Jatropha estates are starting in 900 hectares in and around Tamlang Valley in Negros Oriental; 200 in CamSur; 300 in GenSan, 500 in Fort Magsaysay near the Cordero Dam and 700 in Samar, among others.

In our 2006 SONA, our food baskets were identified as North Luzon and Mindanao.

The sad irony of Mindanao as food basket is that it has some of the highest hunger in our nation. It has large fields of high productivity, yet also six of our ten poorest provinces.

The prime reason is the endless Mindanao conflict. A comprehensive peace has eluded us for half a century. But last night, differences on the tough issue of ancestral domain were resolved. Yes, there are political dynamics among the people of Mindanao. Let us sort them out with the utmost sobriety, patience and restraint. I ask Congress to act on the legislative and political reforms that will lead to a just and lasting peace during our term of office.

The demands of decency and compassion urge dialogue. Better talk than fight, if nothing of sovereign value is anyway lost. Dialogue has achieved more than confrontation in many parts of the world. This was the message of the recent World Conference in Madrid organized by the King of Saudi Arabia, and the universal message of the Pope in Sydney.

Pope Benedict’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est reminds us: “There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love for neighbour is indispensable.”

Pinagsasama-sama natin ang mga programa ng DSWD, DOH, GSIS, SSS at iba pang lumalaban sa kahirapan sa isang National Social Welfare Program para proteksyonan ang pinaka-mahihirap mula sa pandaigdigang krisis, and to help those whose earnings are limited by illness, disability, loss of job, age and so on—through livelihood projects, microfinance, skills and technology transfer, emergency and temporary employment, pension funds, food aid and cash subsidies, child nutrition and adult health care, medical missions, salary loans, insurance, housing programs, educational and other savings schemes, and now cheaper medicine—Thanks to Congress.

The World Bank says that in Brazil, the income of the poorest 10% has grown 9% per year versus the 3% for the higher income levels due in large part to their family stipend program linking welfare checks to school attendance. We have introduced a similar program, Pantawid Pamilya.

Employers have funded the two increases in SSS benefits since 2005. Thank you, employers for paying the premiums.

GSIS pensions have been indexed to inflation and have increased every year since 2001. Its salary loan availments have increased from two months equivalent to 10 months, the highest of any system public or private—while repayments have been stretched out.

Pag-Ibig housing loans increased from P3.82 billion in 2001 to P22.6 billion in 2007. This year it experienced an 84% increase in the first four months alone. Super heating na. Dapat dagdagan ng GSIS at buksan muli ng SSS ang pautang sa pabahay. I ask Congress to pass a bill allowing SSS to do housing loans beyond the present 10% limitation.

Bago ako naging Pangulo, isa’t kalahating milyong maralita lamang ang may health insurance. Noong 2001, sabi natin, dadagdagan pa ng kalahating milyon. Sa taong iyon, mahigit isang milyon ang nabigyan natin. Ngayon, 65 milyong Pilipino na ang may health insurance, mahigit doble ng 2000, kasama ang labinlimang milyong maralita. Philhealth has paid P100 billion for hospitalization. The indigent beneficiaries largely come from West and Central Visayas, Central Luzon, and Ilocos. Patuloy nating palalawakin itong napaka-importanted programa, lalo na sa Tawi-Tawi, Zambo Norte, Maguindanao, Apayao, Dinagat, Lanao Sur, Northern Samar, Masbate, Abra and Misamis Occidental. Lalo na sa kanilang mga magsasaka at mangingisda.

In these provinces and in Agusan Sur, Kalinga, Surigao Sur and calamity-stricken areas, we will launch a massive school feeding program at P10 per child every school day.

Bukod sa libreng edukasyon sa elementarya at high school, nadoble ang pondo para sa mga college scholarships, while private high school scholarship funds from the government have quadrupled.

I have started reforming and clustering the programs of the DepEd, CHED and TESDA.

As with fiscal and food challenges, the global energy crunch demands better and more focused resource mobilization, conservation and management.

Government agencies are reducing their energy and fuel bills by 10%, emulating Texas Instruments and Philippine Stock Exchange who did it last year. Congratulations, Justice Vitug and Francis Lim.

To reduce power system losses, we count on government regulators and also on EPIRA amendments.

We are successful in increasing energy self-sufficiency—56%, the highest in our history. We promote natural gas and biofuel; geothermal fields, among the world’s largest; windmills like those in Ilocos and Batanes; and the solar cells lighting many communities in Mindanao. The new Galoc oil field can produce 17,000-22,000 barrels per day, 1/12 of our crude consumption.

The Renewable Energy Bill has passed the House. Thank you, Congressmen.

Our costly commodity imports like oil and rice should be offset by hard commodities exports like primary products, and soft ones like tourism and cyberservices, at which only India beats us.

Our P 350 million training partnership with the private sector should qualify 60,000 for call centers, medical transcription, animation and software development, which have a projected demand of one million workers generating $13 billion by 2010.

International finance agrees with our progress. Credit rating agencies have kept their positive or stable outlook on the country. Our world competitiveness ranking rose five notches. Congratulations to us.

We are sticking to, and widening, the fiscal reforms that have earned us their respect.

To our investors, thank you for your valuable role in our development. I invite you to invest not only in factories and services, but in profitable infrastructure, following the formula for the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway.

I ask business and civil society to continue to work for a socially equitable, economically viable balance of interests. Mining companies should ensure that host communities benefit substantively from their investments, and with no environmental damage from operations.

Our administration enacted the Solid Waste Management Act, Wildlife Act, Protection of Plant Varieties, Clean Water Act, Biofuels Act and various laws declaring protected areas.

For reforestation, for next year we have budgeted P2 billion. Not only do forests enhance the beauty of the land, they mitigate climate change, a key factor in increasing the frequency and intensity of typhoons and costing the country 0.5% of the GDP.

We have set up over 100 marine and fish sanctuaries since 2001. In the whaleshark sanctuary of Donsol, Sorsogon, Alan Amanse, 40-year-old college undergraduate and father of two, was earning P100 a day from fishing and driving a tricycle. Now as whaleshark-watching officer, he is earns P1,000 a day, ten times his former income.

For clean water, so important to health, there is P500 million this year and P1.5 billion for next year.

From just one sanitary landfill in 2001, we now have 21, with another 18 in the works.

We launched the Zero Basura Olympics to clear our communities of trash. Rather than more money, all that is needed is for each citizen to keep home and workplace clean, and for garbage officials to stop squabbling.

Our investments also include essential ways to strengthen our institutions of governance in order to fight the decades-old scourge of corruption. I will continue to fight this battle every single day. While others are happy with headlines through accusation without evidence and privilege speeches without accountability, we have allocated more than P3 billion – the largest anti-graft fund in our history – for real evidence gathering and vigorous prosecution.

From its dismal past record, the Ombudsman’s conviction rate has increased 500%. Lifestyle checks, never seriously implemented before our time, have led to the dismissal and/or criminal prosecution of dozens of corrupt officials.

I recently met with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US agency that provides grants to countries based on governance. They have commended our gains, contributed P1 billion to our fight against graft, and declared us eligible for more grants. Thank you!

Last September, we created the Procurement Transparency Group in the DBM and linked it with business, academe, and the Church, to deter or catch anomalies in government contracts.

On my instruction, the BIR and Customs established similar government-civil society tie-ups for information gathering and tax evasion and smuggling monitoring.

More advanced corruption practices require a commensurate advances in legislative responses. Colleagues in Congress, we need a more stringent Anti-Graft Act. Sa pagmahal ng bilihin, hirap na ang mamimili – tapos, dadayain pa. Dapat itong mahinto. Hinihiling ko sa Kongreso na magpasa ng Consumer Bill of Rights laban sa price gouging, false advertising at iba pang gawain kontra sa mamimili.

I call on all our government workers at the national and local levels to be more responsive and accountable to the people. Panahon ito ng pagsubok. Kung saan kayang tumulong at dapat tumulong ang pamahalaan, we must be there with a helping hand. Where government can contribute nothing useful, stay away. Let’s be more helpful, more courteous, more quick.

Kaakibat ng ating mga adhikain ang tuloy na pagkalinga sa kapakanan ng bawat Pilipino. Iisa ang ating pangarap – maunlad at mapayapang lipunan, kung saan ang magandang kinabukasan ay hindi pangarap lamang, bagkus natutupad.

Sama-sama tayo sa tungkuling ito. May papel na gagampanan ang bawat mamamayan, negosyante, pinunong bayan at simbahan, sampu ng mga nasa lalawigan.

We are three branches but one government. We have our disagreements; we each have hopes, and ambitions that drive and divide us, be they personal, ethnic, religious and cultural. But we are one nation with one fate.

As your President, I care too much about this nation to let anyone stand in the way of our people’s wellbeing. Hindi ko papayagang humadlang ang sinuman sa pag-unlad at pagsagana ng taong bayan. I will let no one – and no one’s political plans – threaten our nation’s survival.

Our country and our people have never failed to be there for us. We must be there for them now.

Maraming salamat. Magandang hapon sa inyong lahat

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Angie Reyes, Unpunished Mutineer, Do-nothing Scumbag

ANGELO T. REYES, presently Secretary of Energy, together with Hilario Davide and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, will go down as one the most despicable scumbags to litter the shit-strewn by-ways of Philippine History. As the unpunished, self-confessed Mutineer of Edsa Dos, who conspired with Mike and Gloria Arroyo to steal the Presidency, and with then Chief Justice Hilario Davide, actually did it, he went on to be rewarded by his patroness with no less than five major Cabinet and government positions, including head of the National Disaster Coordinating Agency, Secretary of National Defense, Environment, Local Government and now of Energy. You would think him the most talented Filipino ever to be born, considering how indispensable she makes him out to be. Yet his accomplishments in all these positions are next to NIL. Yesterday he issued a gag order on oil companies against informing the public of price movements in the oil industry because he claims this unduly alarms the public. I guess he wants them to find out how bad things are just when they go to fill up at the gas station. What a fruitcake. I feel nauseam vomitus whenever I think of Angie Reyes, because of the fact that we have to live in a regime that exalts excrement like him. To all those who still somehow support People Power madness like Edsa Dos, you need to have your heads examined!

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Ninez Cacho Olivarez, editor and publisher of the Daily Tribune, has been found "guilty of criminal libel beyond a reasonable doubt" by the Makati Regional Trial Court, and has been sentenced to 6 months - 2 years imprisonment plus a hefty 5 million peso fine. Ninez is a personal acquaintance, I sympathize entirely with her predicament, and agree it is probably an unjust ruling. She has been granted bail pending appeal. But I disagree with the outright decriminalization of libel in the Philippines as Vergel O. Santos of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility came on ANC-TV at noon to pitch. That would be throwing the baby out with the bath water and will only empower those many arrogant and corrupt people in media whose occupation is less like Journalism and more like Extortion and Blackmail. I only wish real examples would be made of some of the worst of this ilk, for example on AM Radio.

Now here's a guy that OUGHT to be in Bilibid Prison right this instant, and not just on the front page of the Daily Tribune: Joc Joc Bolante, who will soon be deported from the US back to the loving arms of the Philippine Senate.

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She's Like A Chigger

long time ago, in what seems like another lifetime, when I lived in the Deep South of the United States of America, I became unpleasantly familiar with a particularly nasty insectivore that the natives of the Little and Great Pee Dee River swamplands called a CHIGGER. I have never discovered its exact genus or species. It was surely put on Earth not by the Divine Artificer but His diabolical nemesis precisely to bedevil human kind with its singularly reprehensible modus operandi of burrowing deep in the calf of one's leg, usually while blissfully asleep in a pleasant meadow, there to inflict interminable punishment with an amalgam of pain and itching unrelenting and unrelievable by the normal mechanical or chemical means known to civilized man. Thus, grimacing in pain and humiliation I consulted my good friend and neighbor, Matt C., whose family had lived in those parts for many years and had won their freedom from slavery in the days of old Abe Lincoln. He revealed to me the secret for its removal and my own emancipation. First you must identify the throbbing nucleus of its chosen burrow, there to draw a perfectly straight vertical line with a permanent marker. Then with a razor you must shave off completely the hair to one side of this demarcation line. Next you douse some high octane gasoline (unleaded) on the remaining hair of your inflamed leg and quickly set it ablaze. Donning of course, protective head and eye gear, you watch while biting on a wet towel for the miserable little bitch of an insect to wriggle out of its hiding hole in your burning flesh, and taking careful aim as it scurries off to make its escape, you stab it repeatedly with a sharpened ice pick! DO NOT MISS or it'll bite your toes off.

I hear Joseph Estrada is going to support the impeachment and removal of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. (Great news! Now where in the hell is that bloody rusty ice pick of mine?)