Blogswarm on Friday the 15th

Sometimes it takes a swarm of angry Filipinos for the corrupt and power hungry to understand that we are serious when we say to the Gloria administration to STOP INSTITUTIONALIZING CORRUPTION and STOP MOVES TOWARD DICTATORSHIP.
It seems these words fall in deaf ears and perhaps these corrupt in power are banking on the fact that Filipinos usually take the meek quiet way of convincing these thick faced people. However these hacks forgot that despite the patience of Filipinos, we also have a timed fuse and once the fuse is blown, its consequence is pretty hard to stop.

As we can observe, obviously it takes a lot of outraged Filipinos for our indignation to be heard, so let us express this as a group, as a swarm, BLOGSWARM.


Tomorrow those with blogsites and forums are enjoined to post their favorite picture of Gloria Arroyo and express their outrage. Gloria Resign! or a similar title for your article is suggested.

As a bonus, those who have "nice" pictures of Gloria would earn the silent accolades from the multitude of our countrymen who had enough of her shenanigans.

MGA PARE AT MARE KUYUG !

The Unwitting Hero

How can such a diminutive man with fear in his eyes suddenly become someone who is able to spill the beans regarding corruption commited by the most powerful men and women of the land? Philippines is full of strange events and this incident is no exception. Jun Lozada is such a man. Although initially fearful of the Senate, he became more terrified of the underhanded and dark ways of the Executive Branch.

Lozada's abduction (some say he was under duress or what not but the fact that he has no freedom to move to a place where he wants while under "escort" plus he was pressured to sign documents that he supposedly requested for "security" simply smacks of an abduction. I've not even mentioned the forged signatures among the documents yet) made him decide to run to the Senate and tell the truth so it will be moot for the ZTE deal gangsters to kill him to prevent information leakage.

On another point, my prediction came true, they're now pushing for Charter Change once more. It's shaping up to be a Prime Ministership or a Dictatorship at all cost installed on or before year 2010. If by this incident the skeptics still do not see the writing in the wall, I guess nothing will. Some are more enamored of discussing the issue rather than acting on it. This led me to compose a saying:


...While the mages in their ivory towers argue the color of the fiery dragon's breath,

the dragon destroys the townspeople burning them to death...

^^^^

I also warned all the posters in Manolo's site that the pieces of the Dictatorship puzzle are visibly coming together.

^^^^^

Other watermarks regarding the Orc army’s march toward a de facto Martial Rule:

Status Check:

1. Joe de Venecia would have to go since he is a rival for a Prime Minister position - Check, Objective Achieved

2. Charter Change must still push through so that term limits would be removed for the future Congressmen (or the future Parliament Members for that matter) and the position of Prime Minister must have unlimited term. - Objective Ongoing

4.The COMELEC must be controlled and manipulated. - Largely Achieved

5. Maintain a Praetorian guard among generals in the PNP and Armed Forces - Check, Objective Achieved

6. Maintain the “Destabilizer” and “Communist” bogey so as to justify crackdowns of legitimate protest including opinions published by legitimate media. - Objective Ongoing

7. Emasculate the media so that those currently in power can be corrupt and abuse power without chastisement. - Partially Achieved

9. Make inroads and as far as possible to try to control or at least heavily influence the Judicial Branch of government. - Partially Achieved
Other Objectives (On Hold):

3. The position of Prime Minister should be a post that would be chosen by a small group (i.e. Parliament) so that only a few need to be convinced and as a consequence would have lesser bribes to dispose to get favors. - On Hold Till Objective 2 is Achieved

8.If unable to push through the above agendas effectively, they will fabricate a reason or a scenario to declare Martial Rule, or at least put in the mechanisms for a de facto Martial Law. - On Hold just in case Objective 2 and other measures fail

^^^^^

My gut feeling says these things may come quickly, unless we as a people throw a monkey wrench into their evil plans.

Of Communists, Destabilizers and Senator Joseph McCarthy

In the coming protest march this February 15, 2008 against severe corruption in the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (Philippines), one Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is sure to be implemented. Intelligence "reports" of Communists coming in to infiltrate and create destabilization within the ranks of the demonstrators in any protest-rally, is as certain as the sun rising from the east every morning. This is designed to give the police and soldiers "guarding" the area a thin excuse and an open hand to crackdown or forcibly disperse rallyists any time they wish and for whatever reason they want. Before this event however, it is also certain that indoctrination of police and soldiers, speeches, and even forums and blogspots would put in remarks that "Communists" will be leading rallies even if centrists and rightist forces are found to be in the majority. It is as if it is a given that violent protests and consequent crackdown is a certain thing to happen.

Surprisingly, this "communist bogey" or red scare technique was used to its fullest not in some Third World country. Incredibly it began in the United States, honed to perfection by Joseph Raymond McCarthy a US Senator who served his state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. According to wikipedia;

"He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, McCarthy's tactics and his inability to substantiate his claims led to his being discredited and censured by the United States Senate. The term "McCarthyism," coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist pursuits. Today the term is used more generally to describe demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents."

Wikipedia on McCarthyism:

McCarthyism is a term describing the intense anti-communist suspicion in the United States in a period that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. This period is also referred to as the Second Red Scare, and coincided with increased fears about communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. Originally coined to criticize the actions of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, “McCarthyism” later took on a more general meaning, not necessarily referring to the conduct of Joseph McCarthy alone.

During this time many thousands of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees, and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators, and union activists.

For McCarthyism to be effective, a propaganda technique termed as “Labeling” is established to give an “us versus them” indoctrination and using terms such as “leftists”, “communists” and such to justify violent and unjust acts upon them. This labeling of supposed enemy forces (as indoctrinated in certain elements of the armed forces and police forces in the Philippines) have expanded from the mere Communist label to the Destabilizer label. The Destabilizer label refers to anyone who criticizes or opposed the policies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo whose legitimacy as a President is still under question due to unresolved issues of cheating in the last Philippine presidential elections.

The New People Power, the Next Evolution

My gut feel is telling me that something is afoot with the powers that be. I feel that they are gearing up for Parliament then a Dictatorship perhaps of a chosen Clique (I call this kind of government an Oligarchial Syndicracy, a government ruled by the rich and criminal syndicates. Actually one way or another this is the fact right now, but not yet in full force.)

Manolo seem curious on the new people power scheme I suggested and I obliged him. It was lengthy, but the long explanation was necessary. Whether some Civil Society organization takes interest in my proposal remains to be seen, below is my response to Manolo Quezon (put in one long blog thread):

====================
mlq3 wrote:

“kabayan, could you flesh out that scheme a bit more? it’s interesting.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hi mlq3, the details of my proposal can be quite long so I’ll attempt to stick to the basic structure without compromising much of the principle and would divide this in several parts.

The Watchdog (Part 1)

The premise of my suggestion basically is that under the current social system, anyone who enters governance in the Philippines will be immediately swallowed by the existing structure of corruption. The rank and file just newly employed in government is obliged to follow their bosses. This is more pronounced in the PNP and the AFP where command and control structure (An established system wherein those in the lower ranks are obliged to follow their superiors, no questions asked) is an intrinsic part of their institution.

Newly appointed high ranking officials such as Department Secretaries and other members of Cabinet, even if not corrupt, would still encounter a host of resistance even if they have their newly granted power. Those in the middle management of the department can still get away with corrupt practices as oftentimes the new appointee does not know the nitty-gritty aspect of what in the world is happening within their departments. A department whose system is united in creating corruption can actually intentionally muddle their work if the Secretary is unable to give them the privilege of “extra curricular earnings (i.e. lagay).” The Secretary will then compromise his principle just to “get things done.” This is also present in other branches and agencies to such an extent that the “I scratch your back you scratch my back” practice also applies to dividing the spoils of corruption and compromising one’s principle. This practice (or malpractice) is none more evident as the relationship between the Executive (who controls the release of Pork Barrel funds) and the Lower House (who would sell their souls just to get these funds.)

Where am I getting at so far? The basic premise is that, A. You can’t trust government when it comes to radically uplifting moral standards in governance, and B. Even if a new set of people (even good people) are put in government, the corruption structure, standards, and belief (i.e. like the 20% moderate corruption rule) are so strong and well entrenched they will likely be swallowed or persecuted by the existing system.

So what then would be our hope if time and again, we are continually stuck in the mire of corruption and base human desires which fuels the greed of those in government? Create a strong third party, a non-government organization whose aim is to be a watch and record the corruption, connections, comings and goings, in government; even in local government - a Watchdog. It’s members must be principled (This is may sound cliché but; must be willing to sacrifice and even die for a good cause), independent (would never be dependent for funding or even be part of any government institution except perhaps as a free volunteer consultant), financially independently (no dependencies here, must be willing to push their work through even with limited funding), non political (okay, some might want to run for office but they must resign immediately from the organization.), must always vibrantly expand (non static, always seek to recruit their member base), and a severe check and balance within the members (i.e. no trapos allowed, ferret out infiltrators, good counter-intelligence etc.)

Given a strong organization, the next step is Get Organized. The corrupt powers that be are well funded and organized but their god is greed; a Watchdog’s power is the people, properly using brains, their heart, their conviction and their fervent belief that what they do is good and one way or another will be rewarded in the end. Members with the belief that God helps those who help themselves with an unshakable faith in what they do would more than offset the strength of conviction of those who moves only because their faces and pockets were stuffed with money.

I may have dallied in the basic premise, but these are important, just as foundations of buildings are important. (End of part 1)

The Watchdog (Part 2)

Next premise is that the Filipino people generally lack the sense of keeping records, a log of history and a list of what happened, what is happening, and records of analysis of what may happen (projections). Our history, even as recent as the past hundred or so years, is convoluted, lacking proper records and even our people have a penchant of discarding historical artifacts (which to sons of previous owners just thought of it as so much junk). It is so bad that only a decade ago our history was largely based on the point of view of our conquerors and colonizers. Much of our researchers even have to go abroad just to have a look at our artifacts in foreign museums. Many of us disdain to keep records, stories and analysis of what is currently happening so that the next generation is ignorant of the mistakes and lessons of the past. What does this have to do with the duties of a Watchdog? The Watchdog must make a historical database (related to corruption and good governance) of what is generally happening in society and governance; make a list of the people involved; the critical event unfolding; who are the “balimbings”; who are the Congressmen who pushed a self-serving bill and who blocked good ones; who are involved in cover-ups; who among the lawmakers voted to cover-up crimes; who are principled stalwarts and statesmen; the criminals involved; their modus operandi … in short, the list would actually look similar to the basics of an Interpol database but only this time what we monitor are people in government, the untouchable syndicates, and the opportunistic vultures in society. Consequently those who are reliable people, allies, and principled and useful non-government organizations will also be listed as potential groups to be tapped in bringing about good governance.

Files of the profiles, conditions and status of these people and organization will be kept in different databases all over the country (A good personal computer per database would do) and should not be connected to the internet to prevent hacking (yes, even flashdrives may have to be screened or even banned if compromised). DVD disks of the database would be renewed or added every month and copies are sent to secret stashes among trusted people and members all over the country. I would leave the security techniques and measures to the imagination and skill of the Watchdog organizations.

The Watchdog does not solely research and create the data files themselves. Files of illegal activities especially from people protected by government, police, soldiers, syndicates and other powers that be, may also come (or requested) from cause-oriented people in the different provinces and localities (this does not necessarily mean that the term “cause-oriented people” are leftist; cause-oriented people may refer to members of the middle and even upper class who is sick and tired of this evil system.) These people will be screened and a system must be made so that they remain anonymous and protected from vendettas from powerful criminals. No contributors know other contributors in the area so as to compartmentalize knowledge and limit the dangers of infiltration and being compromised. As an example, Watchdogs and members in far-flung areas may even use forums and blogsites for passing down information with a previous one-time meeting arrangement that they use a particular name and embedded verbal code for identification (be careful of hacking though. This government is pretty adept in that). They may even use the traditional pasa-mensahe system. There are other more effective means but I would not delve on that, again I leave the security mechanism measures and system for the Watchdog to formulate.

In essence, the masses of Filipino people will be the sea in which the Watchdog groups will swim. The information and support will be from them and they are given support in return. (End of part 2)

The Watchdog (Part 3)

In this wired world, a person with a computer, a cellphone, a digital camera, a landline phone or even a pen, paper and a good memory can easily track down and monitor the evil that moves around them. For evil is dependent on darkness, on the fact that they remain anonymous and hidden while they do their dirty deeds, crime has become so organized that they can easily infiltrate government and be PART of government. In the past years, how many local officials are actually gambling lords? How many are illegal loggers? Fabricators of dynamite for fishing? Shabu and prostitution operators? Robbery masterminds? Somewhere out there a good person knows what is happening and would like to divulge them, unfortunately he or she does not know whom to turn to. They do not trust the police, they do not trust the soldier, they do not trust the government official, they do not trust their governor, mayor, congressmen, and President. Thus, as such, evil prevails and expands while the individual willing to do good cowers in the corner, forcing himself to believe that he should be concerned only for his family, not society. Some however still want to help, but the question is how and who.

The Watchdog could provide that need, the need that people who may not yet wish to expose themselves but willing to provide intelligence and information of the wicked powers that be. They could be a conduit, a repository of information, and a record of the hidden histories in one’s community. With this, evil will cease to be hidden in darkness. Involved people will be known and if properly exposed, when the right time comes, will hopefully be brought to justice.

To conclude, The Power of the People comes from individuals from each community, monitoring, seeking, observing, and passing the information to different organized Watchdog groups. They are organized yet formless, they can strike out individually or band as a group. They can divide and re-form at the time and place of choosing. They can opt not to face the wicked until the time is ripe, or conversely they may strike when they are strong. The combinations are endless. For now we must first start out the basic of all principles when fighting evil, that is to Know thy Enemy. This is the next evolution of People Power. (End of part 3)

There are other mechanics and details not described, both for the sake of practicality and security. We cannot telegraph the moves to these wicked jerks in power. I am sure however once the principle is understood, the watchdog movements could get creative and start establishing the basic structure themselves. As a good spin-off, this would also help in making people realize the value of history, even recent history, so that we would not go through EDSA 4, 5, 6, 7 etc. and make the same mistakes of installing crooked men and women in power over and over and over again.

Dark Force Rising

Living through the Martial Law times, I could not forget the repression and organized corruption done in those Marcos days. Many went missing and "salvaged" (summarily executed) while the cronies and relatives of Marcos were wallowing in ill-gotten wealth, power was concentrated to a few and abuses were often (currently sounds familiar?) Despite the Martial Law, it's repression and abuses worked in favor of the New People Army, communist rebels and they became STRONGER than weaker and grew to around 25,000 rebel troops.

How easy we forget those times, the sacrifices to finally kick out the dictator through People Power (the Original one.) Now people are dreaming of a dictatorial form of government, many of them young men and women thinking they could do one better. They forget, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Enough is enough, it's time to remind this new generation what grave darkness Martial Law and a Dictatorship (even a dictatorship of a clique) brings. I posted this in Manolo Quezon's site at http://www.quezon.ph under subheading "Deposing a Speaker". While there were a lot of "Jedis" there were also " Siths" and the occassional Jabbas and Trade Federation guys do not want to rock the boat as main concern is the status quo of raking in money.

My response to cvj;
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

(From) Kabayan :

"cvj (at 9:48am), true, the “let’s move on and let’s wait for 2010″ mindset is getting prevalent and is actually something which the power hungry in this administration wants."

Watch out for years 2009 to 2010. But then again when many people get wise, they may jump the timetable to 2008 since someone just “spilled the beans” so to speak.

====================

Below is an edited version of my post (to properly organize my ideas in this blog) at Manuel L. Quezon's website with a warning ...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Strategic Objectives to Attain Dictatorship

"A vacuum now exists in the Lower House, a vacuum of balance not only in Congress but in our nation as well. The check and balance against the Executive Branch is now almost totally gone and Congress is now filled with “yes men” by the administration. By now we know who the future godlings of Congress will be and it ain’t Nograles, as we can now safely say of this administration, “Blood is thicker than water”.

In any case, the fall of De Venecia was predicted and would have be easily seen in the past if one would look at it in a wider point of view. The removal of De Venecia is a necessity brought upon by bigger nefarious design. If we look at the motives of this administration, it did not really change its objective which is - Gaining Total Power. As such the timetable is actually right on track delayed only by the opposition and civil society. So how did their objective go so far? In order to gain dictatorship whether by an individual or a clique this is what I have predicted nearly a year ago, this had been my predicted scenario:

1. Joe de Venecia would have to go since he is a rival for a Prime Minister position

2. Charter Change must still push through so that term limits would be removed for the future Congressmen (or the future Parliament for that matter) and the position of Prime Minister must have unlimited term.

3. The position of Prime Minister should be a post that would be chosen by a small group (i.e. Parliament) so that only a few need to be convinced and as a consequence would have lesser bribes to dispose to get favors.

4. The COMELEC must be controlled and manipulated.

5. Maintain a Praetorian guard among generals in the PNP and Armed Forces

6. Maintain the “Destabilizer” and “Communist” bogey so as to justify crackdowns of legitimate protest including opinions published by legitimate media.

7. Emasculate the media so that those currently in power can be corrupt and abuse power without chastisement.

8. If unable to push through the above agendas effectively, they will fabricate a reason or a scenario to declare Martial Rule, or at least put in the mechanisms for a de facto Martial Law.

9. Make inroads and as far as possible to try to control or at least heavily influence the Judicial Branch of government.

… Once the three branches of government is controlled, power is complete and a de facto Martial Law can easily be established. Whether this has already been done in part, I leave bloggers to decide.

This will be done at all costs. Everyone will be expendable EVEN the very lapdog Congress itself. Little does the existing Lower House know that they are soon in danger of losing their power even if they continue being the lapdog that most of them are. Impossible? That is also what they said when I indicated that JDV would eventually be kicked out.

Observe the events of the coming months and years and observe this emerging pattern. Only a vigorous push of different sectors of society against this evil agenda will throw a monkey wrench in their plans. Don’t forget Ramos in this equation as well.

(On another note, the new Inquirer blog design seems to be filtering individuals who oppose the administration or perhaps it is just glitch ridden or maybe I am just being paranoid. Hope I am wrong. The timing of the glitches in the Inquirer blogsite uncannily coincided with a major strategic power move of the administration, i.e. removing JDV. Hope it does not happen here in this site as well.)"

====================

I had been posting in the Inquire.net blog to rail against the coming of the night (and posted a lot of constructive suggestions in different threads as well) now it seems bug ridden (or dysfunctional at best) and bloggers (including myself) cannot enter and post our opinions anymore. So now a lot have migrated to Manolo's site and other sites as well. The dark side has scattered its tentacles but in trying to squash us, the Jedis scattered and multiplied instead, telling of portents of things to come unless we do not actively fight against this encroaching evil in society.

Spectacular Display at Cordillera

This image says it all.

Sunset in the Late 1800s

I always was a sucker for Philippine sunsets (or sunrise), that is why my blog image reflects such (obvious ba?). I found this black and white photo of a sunset at Manila Bay dated around late 1800s (or early 1900s at the latest.) So beautiful, so pristine even in black and white photos. God was good to us and gave the Filipinos a spectacular country, it is likely he is dismayed on how we treated such gift. Just look at the Pasig river and it's exit point at Manila Bay today.

So sad ... at times it makes me angry. Do we need to mismanage our water resource just for the sake of money grubbing factories with unregulated pollution controls? Who monitors and penalizes these polluters in the first place? Our esteros are no better, uncaring people made it a garbage dump. Do we not have the will (either political and moral) to properly manage our mess?