blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

The blurbs have it that President Noynoy Aquino sold his Porsche . He says it puts undue "risk" to his security detail. It's about time that the President develops a sense about the office he was elected into. Besides he wasn't elected against his will! The Porsche ended up as a PR disaster and caused the President's approval ratings to crash and burn. The Juana Change spoof tells it all But despite the Palace apologists saying that he used his own money to buy, the question is what on earth will he use it for? This is the same question is now thrown at the "Pajero bishops" of the Catholic Church! He was reported to need it for "stress release" and the rumor mill started to grind. The "tsismis" mill said that he releases stress and the accelerator on deserted Hacienda Luisita roads. Any idiot would know that it would be easy to make the Porsche crash by 1) putting a roadblock without reflectors, 2) put a pipe laying type of dig...

The Palace announced that the President bought a 3rd hand Porsche by trading in his old BMW. The Palace carefully notes that the President used his own money and not that of the public coffers. This is quite refreshing to learn. However the whole buy and sell affair has become the butt of jokes. Wags have posted the following Better to have a 3rd hand car than a 3rd hand wife! Shalani can afford a brand new car and a brand new man! Would a nice girl want to get into a 3rd hand car?    But let the man have his car! I'd say. Defenders of the President say that if he used his own money then it is none of our business. True.... But Mr Aquino told all of us that we have to live simply. I wish I could afford a Porsche but I can only amortize for a Toyota! And for that I have to live simply and with increasing gas prices, even more simply! Some observers say that Mr Aquino is sending a wrong signal. I would agree since his mother faced also  an almost bankrupt tre...

The Philippine Daily Inquirer writes an op ed Sodden welcome about the La Nina enhanced Easterlies that have been wrecking havoc on the eastern seaboards of the region even into Australia. Queensland, Australia is now experiencing floods which its non-believer Prime Minister Julia Gillard described as of "biblical proportions" Gillard has personally seen the disaster which now has shut down Brisbane. While the Sydneysiders and Melburnians are hundreds of kilometres from the flood zone, all my mates from those cities don't think they won't get flooded. They are concerned. The PDI complains that the Manila-centric Noynoy administration has not shown the requisite urgency in dealing with the matter. Mr Noynoy Aquino has yet to set foot or fly over flood stricken Southern Leyte or even in nearer Albay. If he had, the press didn't get wind of it and neither have we seen the press photos. Mrs Arroyo steps into a disaster zone, I think it is Malacanang P...

Benigno S Aquino III was inaugurated as the 15th President of the Philippines today under cloudy but rainless skies in Manila's Quirino Grandstand. Police estimate 500,000 people attended the simple but dignified ceremonies. I am glad that effort was made to recover some Presidential inaugural traditions which have been discarded by previous Presidents. First is the venue. The grandstand or its predecessor has been the venue of Philippine presidential inaugurations after World War II. Previously all inaugurations were held at the steps of the Legislative Building (now National Museum). This was borrowed from American tradition (which has its origin from the English) since it means that while the Executive is co-equal to the Congress, it has to work with it (note the prefix "co"). The Chief Justice administers the Oath to the President as a sign that the Judiciary is also co-equal to the Executive. The whole unsaid idea here is that none of the three branches of government...

I could have subtitled this post as "More ways to get back at the Devil! " But that may too much for our readers! Sir Thomas More, a.k.a the Man for All Seasons is also remembered as the Man Who Lost His Head for an oath. Of course, it is not JUST an oath for according to More, an oath is nothing but words and by the words it may be possible to take or not to take an oath. Robert Bolt's award winning play (which was turned into an multi Oscar winning movie) A Man for All Seasons has More (played by the great thespian Paul Scofield) say the following "What is an oath then, but words we say to God?" And from here is we can take another view of the Noynoy Aquino won't take his oath from Mr Chief Justice Corona but from his barangay captain issue which has hit the social networking sites and has our most esteemed Law deans, law students and interested non-lawyers discussing the issue. Some people say that the Constitution doesn't say that the Chief Justice...

Watching the concession speech of Senator McCain and Barack Obama's victory speech, it amazes me that despite the tensions in American society, the 238 year old way of American democracy still works. Barack Obama now enters the stage where all his actions count. He got 338 electoral votes.Only 270 are needed to win. Now the post-mortems have begun. There are the party pooper pundits, who throw cold water by emphasizing the difficulties that Obama will face and very little will be resolved in his first term. Obama to his credit realizes that. He knows that some of his fans will be disappointed. Also the soon to be First Family is being sized up. Obama's kids know that their lives won't be the same again. For the first time in US history, gays were mentioned in a presidential speech. This shows the inclusive direction Obama is going to take. How the Bush-Obama transition period will work out is of interest now. There is growing impatience with Bush. For a Pinoy like me, the c...

Americans are expected to deluge the polling booths on Nov 4. In a society where no one is required to vote (and not voting may be considered a political statement) , the electoral system may not be able to handle the record number of voters. The blurbs report that for some senior citizens,this will be their first time to cast a vote! The rest of the planet is "voting" too. Even in Russia's Siberia people are either for John McCain or Barack Obama. However aside Georgians who are for McCain, many people interviewed are for Obama. Indians are for Obama. Residents of Obama, Japan are for Obama, subarashii! It isn't just Obama's skin colour that matters but for many it is the disaster that George W Bush's leaves as a legacy. As of this moment, Bush has entered history with no victory against the terrorists and a destroyed financial sector. Bush is the president that destroyed the United States of America. For us Pinoys we can't cast a ballot (though wansapana...

The word salary is taken from the name of the stuff that marine biologists, like this writer, taste every day, salt. Salarium, means the amount of money paid to a Roman soldier to buy salt. Salt in the Roman Empire was expensive since it was imported from Africa and in the age of no refrigerators, it was essential in preserving food. The nomadic herders of the Sahara had the monopoly and controlled the price. Thus the salarium really can't buy much salt. And thus began the ancient tradition of demanding salary increases. Now that we are on the topic, the Philippine Congress is considering a bill that will at least double the salaries of civil servants (yours truly included!). The rationale is that by increasing salaries, the government could attract talented and skilled people. You may accuse me of bias but I honestly believe that this is about time. The government service is the most important sector a citizen deals with everyday. As like anyone in service oriented jobs, civil ...

The Inquirer has this editorial about Mrs Arroyo dogged pursuit of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Palace apologists see nothing wrong with that. We could agree. After all in many ways Filipinos are still celebrity crazy and will do nothing less than to get an autograph. But I have to agree with the Inquirer. The celebrity that Mrs Arroyo is chasing is really not yet the lead star. He still has the real chance of not making it to the White House. Besides she is the Philippine Head of State. Paying the usual courtesies to the sitting Head of State in the White House is part of diplomatic protocol. Whatever she and Mr Bush conversed in that meeting we trust is in the interests of the Philippines. But it is really in poor taste to chase the presumptive next White House tenant even if the press says he already has the keys to that house. She could at least wait to see him elected and when that happens then diplomatic niceties dictate she meet with him. Paparazzis make a liv...

Mr Manolo Quezon has done this country (at least its intellectuals and those who pretend to be one :) ) a great favour by writing about President Ferdinand E Marcos in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer. Mr Quezon's piece is the most objective to date about the late president. It is about time that we put an objective eye on the Marcos presidency for the sake of our nation so that we can avoid the same mistakes. I don't know if someone has tried to do a study about the political and social ideology of Mr Marcos. My late dad had a complete collection of Marcosiana and guess who inherited it? Me! So I have begun to read some of Mr Marcos' books. I just realised that there is a heap of possible PhDs and MAs to be made from this. Someone can do a PhD on why Marcos' ideology is really scientific in his rebuttal of Marxism (Marcos admits that even his ideology can be falsified in the Popperian sense! Can anyone remind Jose Maria Sison and ex-colleagues at the Poli Sci dep...