Today, i finished my tasks early. And this being Friday, orders were slackening.
So i thought i should check the online Philippine newspapers just to keep abreast of what is going on in my native land.
But first, just an ‘offline’ news.
Amb. Roy Cimatu is finally coming to Nigeria on March 5 to meet with various Nigerian government ministers, and then meet with Filipino associations in Abuja and Lagos, to assess the situation in Nigeria, in the light of the OFWs’ petition for the lifting of the total work and travel ban to Nigeria.
Now on to the ‘online’ news.
Here are today’s highlights from Phil. Daily Inquirer online :
Gov’t inaction blamed for RP corruption, says a US State Department report.
“the report described the culture of corruption in government agencies and the judiciary as among the reasons why violations of basic human rights persist in the country.”
And Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno responded to the report saying there is “nothing new” to the report.
In other words, my friend, nothing really changed in the Philippines. Not even in the Judiciary. Despite the appointment of the likes CJ Davide, CJ Panganiban, and CJ Puno.
And nothing really changed in Philippine politics. So we should not expect any changes after the 2010 election. Because the electorate themselves haven’t changed. Money talks.
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NPA SCOFFS AT AFP OFFENSIVES, says Inquirer’s Southern Luzon report.
Which reminded me of recent events in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government grudgingly accepted a Norway-mediated truce between the Sinhala government and the separatist Tamil Tigers.
During the ceasefire, Tamil guerrillas intensified their campaign to expand their territory and attack government posts. So finally, Sri Lankan government said “Enough”. They official ly ended the ceasefire and vowed to defeat the Tamil Tigers.
And so they did. The way the Sri Lankan army analyze the situation and put the result to battlefield tactics, they were unstoppable. Very impressive battlefield tactics. Im sure that they also made ‘intelligent’ intelligence assessments and analyses.
Unlike our AFP and PNP and their Commander-in-Chief. All talk and nothing more.
Despite superiority in numbers and armaments, the AFP could not even reduce the threat of the NPA, MILF and Abu Sayyaf. All it can do is to co-habit with the enemy. And all the government can do to save face for failing to finish the enemies of the state is to hide behind the skirt of ‘peace talks’ that are designed to fail from the start.
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End killings, CHR chief dares cops
You ever wondered why the Commission on Human Rights is only obssessed about the killings allegedly perpetrated by the goverment security apparatus?
It is because the CHR was created to protect the citizens from th excesses of the government, considering the nation’s experience with Martial Law, and the institutionalizing of ’summary execution’ by the AFP and PNP (c’mon, admit it). Part of this chorus against the military and police’s salvaging is the Catholic Church.
My take is that, is there anybody, as in ANY BODY, who can equally condemn and bring to justice those people outside the law (like MNLF, MILF, Abu Sayyaf) who commit barbaric acts of kidnappings, beheadings, and massacres of innocent civilians.
When military/police kills civilians or criminals, either by legitimate firefight or ‘otherwise’, everyone cries foul. When outlaws and rebels massacres civilians, only the victims relatives are crying for justice..
This is the irony of it all.
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Wanted: Anti-poverty workers for DSWD
This is a misleading banner, i think. But if i am wrong, then DSWD should browse the Marvel comics or Heroes.com websites for volunteers.
In relation to this, an Australian volunteer for the government’s program on streetkids said that the government’s operations to rescue street children in Manila are ineffective, indiscriminate, involuntary, done for the wrong reasons, and seen by the supposed beneficiaries as arrests.
Scerri noted that government solutions are not long-term. “They do not address the reasons why the children are in the streets in the first place,” she said.
Well, the streetkids problem in the Philippines is just the same, or even pales in comparison, to the Austrlian aborigine problem on absence of gainful employment, alcoholism, dependence on govt doleouts and aborigenes child sexual abuse.
Nevertheless, we thank Ms. Scerri for being honest with his appraisal of the program.
Like this post’s title today, nothing will change. Unless the Filipinos will change — come 2010.
February 28, 2009 at 5:10 am
What is it about Filipinos’ that causes them to lash out at foreigners who are just trying to help in the Philippine Islands (P.I.).
World Bank releases a report on collusion and the World Bank is condemned, not the criminals who are stealing from the P.I. people.
Here you are reporting on an Australians plight to assist the poor P.I. street kids and you lash out by bewailing the Aboriginal abuses in Australia. Fact is that Aboriginals make up less than 1.5% of the Australian population, around 300,000. The majority are absorbed into the community whilst a minority refuse to embrace society, therefore, they fail to get educated and as a result fail to enter the work force, largely by their own choice. However, the Australians still offers them all measures of support.
In the P.I. you have 23.7% living in hunger, 21 million people, what does the government do for them, lip service.
Get real!
February 28, 2009 at 10:15 am
denial ?
tired of having a foreigner point to us what a shitty politics we have??
February 28, 2009 at 11:27 am
Sounds like hypocrisy.
P.I. wants tourism, exports, loans, OFW remittances and aid, all from foreign funds. But, when the foreigners are critical, it is condemned. Shouldn’t the foreigners have some rights in P.I.? The foreigners are just trying to help, not hinder. The foreigners should be revered not condemned.
It seems that the denial of problems merely makes the problem worse, the denials or criticism (Delicadeza) is not solving anything.
Foreigners are friends not foe.
February 28, 2009 at 12:12 pm
That is a rather sweeping statement about foreigner being friends.
There is no such thing as “free lunch” from foreign aids and assistance.
It is true that in the Philippines, our officials are more responsive to foreign criticisms.
But making a remark on foregner’s criticisms doesnt make for delicadeza.
Why? just because we are the recipient we should not bitch about foreigners making criticisms?
you are reacting yourelf on the parallelism on the aborigines issue.
just because i am a filipino doesnt mean that i have to be ashamed of the fact the my country is always on the receiving end of foreign doleouts.
it doesnt mean we are not supposed to criticize foreigners or that we should nod our heads and genuflect to foreigners when they criticized our nation and leaders…
to insinuate at the least that we are ungrateful to dare react to a criticism about how the foreign-funded program is implemented, seems to show how ‘foreigners’
It seems like you cannot tolerate a reaction without generalizing filipinos and foreigners.
just because we are dirt-poor and begs for foreign funds does not mean that all of us will sing hallelujah to them – foreigners.
Making criticisms doesn’t mean we are making enemies. Unless you want to say that criticism is the privilige of the giver only…
Cheers…
pax Cristi.
February 28, 2009 at 11:06 pm
That was exactly my point. Comparing the handling of the Manila street kids to the Australian aboriginals’ woes is not a parallelism. Furthermore, you used this comparison to demean the recommendation made by Catherine Scerri, by suggesting the Australians cannot deal with their own problems, you infer Australians lack the credibility to make suggestions or offer criticism. Australia has an unemployment rate of 4.8% compared with the P.I. unemployment rate of 43%, Australia is obviously doing something better than P.I.
Wouldn’t you regard the opinion of an expert (Foreigner or not) to address the plight of the street kids as an act of a friend? The fact remains the street kids are a huge problem and the problem persists unabated. The P.I. should be inviting recommendations globally, so this problem can be alleviated.
I cannot speak for all foreigners, but as an Australian, we thrive on criticism. We recognize criticism as a meaningful exchange to improve our practices and become more efficient.
Criticism is the right of everyone in a Democracy that supports free speech. However, to criticize a recommendation that is based on fact is irresponsible and counterproductive.
In P.I., criticism is expected to be done in a subtle way or not at all, that is Delicadeza. If Filipinos continue this practice, no problems or wrong doings will ever be acknowledged, resulting in more of the same, denying the P.I. the change it so desperately wants and needs.
March 3, 2009 at 1:04 pm
really….
i think the same goes for the aussies…
June 18, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Philippines will never be great until we solve the root of the problems,and that is corruptions from top to bottom. Politicians talks but lack in actions. Filipino people have enough. They want to better themselves but are frustrated by the system. Something drastic need to be done to turn it around. Only the rich and people in power have full stomach! The rest are starving. And that is a very dangerous combination. Remember the saying “ang taong nagigipit sa patalim kumakapit”? What do you think Gloria?
June 19, 2009 at 11:26 am
so you are implying something??
sometimes really i think that what the Philippines need is a bloody revolution to purge us of our colonial mentality. purge us of oligarchy, of trapos.
and then maybe we will find “our” true Filipino identity afterwards.
Look at Vietnam and China. If these countries remained under colonial rule or subservient to their past colonial masters, they will not be where they are right now. they will not achieve real independence and bottom-to-top economic growth.
June 21, 2009 at 10:10 am
Yes, we in Australia certainly have a shameful history of quite literally stealing children from their families. These children are now called the ‘stolen generation’ and, today, they continue to suffer from the traumas of being separated not only from their families, but also their communities. It took a long time for Australians to acknowledge this shameful chapter in our history, and there is a long way to go to heal the wounds inflicted during this period.
So yes, your parallel between the sweeping away from public view Indigenous peoples in Australia and Street People in Manila is a good one. Both stem from the need to dispose of people that are seen to be useless, redundant, ugly (or yagit), annoying etc. Both are ‘cleaned up’ as though a smudge on a kitchen bench.
But, essentially, your response to the work of this foreign aid worker doesn’t really help anyone. You can dismiss just about anyone for being hypocritical, it’s really not that difficult. And of course, there are only two things one can do in the face of being called a hypocrite: 1) give up, or 2) accept that you will always be a hypocrite, but strive with everything you have to be more ethical. Your statement encourages the first response, while this foreign aid worker is undertaking the second. In fact, a commitment to the former seems to be the greatest hurdle to overcome within the middle and upper class population within the Philippines – just as it is within Australia.