Left Flank

Attempting to follow the constitutional struggles between RP President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Senate, and the Supreme Court is like witnessing a family feud where no one can recall the genesis of the dispute, but everyone is certain their escalating barbarity will keep the family together.

The Senate rejected Wednesday a Supreme Court proposal which, while allowing former Socioeconomic and Planning Secretary Romulo Neri to testify at the upper chamber's broadband investigation, barred senators from asking questions involving Neri's conversation with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

After the caucus among the senators, which lasted a couple of hours, Senate President Manuel Villar said most senators believed that the proposal would diminish the powers of the Senate to call any witness or resource person to an inquiry, or to ask certain questions.

«We strongly feel about this…We are doing this not only for us but for future senators,» he said in Filipino.

Villar said: «We cannot agree to a compromise. We reached a consensus to reject the offer. I am really against that because it would show the Senate has no balls, we don't want to look like we're being trampled on.»

As much as I respect Manuel L. Quezon III's opinion on the NBN-ZTE scandal, it seems other Filipino voices have lost faith in the "family", the government, and also have lost faith in their role to exert extra-constitutional pressure on the government through the hackneyed device of a popular revolt. Lest I sound like the NDF, let's take some radical thoughts to heart:

Clearly there is nothing wrong with the Filipino. What is wrong is this nebulous, amorphous "system." I hadn't thought of it before, and previously it had no name. The system is our public life - how we behave in public spaces. What I meant by "civilising" Philippine politics is the creation of civility in our society - the lack of this feeling that we need to eat or be eaten. That we can let go of our guard and live relatively safe lives in public because we have trust that public institutions will work for (more or less) the majority. Isn't this what we mean by justice?

Seriously, I find a lot that's notable in Benjamin de la Pena's Design of Our Democracy and these critical comments.

This revision of the Micro-ocracy proposal (which I shall now call the Micro-Federal Democratic System), seeks to alleviate the following problems: eliminate the Manila monopoly, as since the Congressional vote is province-wise, and the Manila area is one province, it is only the national government capital, but not the economic and social one; avoid a «Serbian mistake», by making sure that no one region or ethnic group has the majority in provincial council vote. Incidentally, AHYH made sure that the «one-man autocracies» would diminish, as the one-man offices are taken from Councils: district, provincial, and then Congressional. Most importantly, no one faction has power. Not the media oligopolies, or the election barons. The elite would be regionally limited. And because, hopefully, secessionist and ideological rebellions would finally be discouraged by giving them a piece of government, military spending would decrease, and the budget would focus on better things, like education, and alternative fuel research, and medicine.

Again, this is just another proposal, coming from one proposal. I am encouraging criticism from various sectors, and their own offers of revisions. In this way, through constructive argument, and the sharing of opinions, we would finally be able to get to a working manual, something that we can thrust on the oligarchs and their elected monarchy and say—this is what it's all about. Not personalities, and not parties. A real, substantial, structural reform, different from the American, different from the Marxist. One that is a balance of the two. And, hopefully, one that works.

But, beware the Philippine version of the politics of "The Wire".

Resurrection has come for Japan-RP free trade in the form of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, or JPEPA.

It looks as if anti-FTA forces struck too soon, and now even President Gloria Arroyo-Macapagal's support can't dent its aura. Senate President Manuel Villar cannot amend the treaty into palatable bites. Senators Santiago's measured support and Roxas' flip for JPEPA also seem to seal the deal.

At the risk of sounding trite and pedantic at the same time (because economics is about as much fun as calculus and dental surgery combined), but, notwithstanding, that bilateral deals often do proceed advances in multilateral trade rounds, bilateral FTAs are little more than shining a light on the private sector and its lobbies for brief moments. Voters can see how the feeding frenzy that usually ensues hidden in yawn-inducing plain view in government offices and outside of chambers. So, JPEPA is a rare chance for voters to take a little revenge, but not much. That said, it's not an economic victory, but rather GAM's swansong.

It all looks good in dreams before the dawn:

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared an all-out war on the communist insurgency and set a 2010 deadline for the AFP to defeat the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Through «Oplan Bantay Laya,» the military's counterinsurgency blueprint, the AFP chief of staff, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., said there would be only 25 guerrilla fronts left by 2010, making the NPA an «inconsequential group.»

Esperon had said that from the existing 87 guerrilla fronts, the military aims to dismantle 17 in the first quarter of 2008.

The military is also tossing some bones to a very sophisticated menu of psy-ops, public diplomacy, and legal weapons. I especially liked this statement: «Our operations are only against the enemies of the state and not civilians. They don't have to leave their homes because they are not being targeted,» he said.

Manila is looking for a little help in Washington, and is willing to pay $500,000. Manila is hiring Covington & Burling's Stuart E. Eizenstat for, among other goodies, security help.

Regarding US assistance to the Philippines in the appropriations bill that has been passed by the US Congress and is waiting for President George W. Bush's signature, Gaa said: "We have complied with all the requirements of the state department."

The bill allocates $30 million from the US Foreign Military Financing Program for the Philippines, with a $2-million component that will be added and given only after the Philippine government has complied satisfactorily with the state department's requirement of a human rights report on the extrajudicial killings allegedly involving the Philippine military and police.

Hinting of what Covington & Burling may be handling, Gaa said: "I can also assure you that all the negotiations have been underway before the issue of human rights violations came to the forefront. And that's not at all a factor of concern, although eventually, it will be addressed by the lobby firm insofar as explaining the Philippine government's position on this matter [is concerned]."

The US assistance is for the fiscal year covering Oct. 1, 2007-Oct. 1, 2008. The Philippines will have 90 days to comply with the requirements after the bill is signed into law.

Remittances from the nurses should cover this!

The Arroyo administration is blaming Abu Sayyaf for a bomb blast at a upscale shopping mall in Manila because of an investigation revealing the presence of a military-grade explosive, RDX. Speculation is increasing, including plenty of theories and eyewitness accounts from MLQIII and Postcard Headlines.

Caffeine Sparks also has plenty of eyewitness videos.

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims.

Implausibly, from a country like the Philippines, comes not one, but two suggestions about how to improve Myanmar's plight.

Firstly, RP President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo believes «woman power» will do the trick, and puts in a good word for perennially detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But, yesterday Fr. Robert Reyes extolled the «activism» of the Philippines' catholic hierarchy, and recommended that Myanmar's «quiet» Buddhist monks » '...work against oppression and violence' «

Quoting a story from the Ucan Catholic news service, Reyes said a Burmese Catholic nun tried to organize her fellow religious but no one responded because they were «afraid to tell the truth.»

According to the report, the nun said in a text message to her friends in Manila that she hoped Church leaders in the Philippines and other countries would lead the universal Church «in prayer and in action, since the Church in Myanmar is so afraid.» «Our Catholic Church is so quiet. Our people do nothing but pray individually, privately,» the nun reportedly said.

The Catholic bishops' conference in Burma issued a statement on Sept. 26 saying that it had been praying for peace and urging the people to offer prayers and sacrifice for the peaceful resolution of the situation in the country.

The Burmese bishops' conference said that while its priests and religious were not involved in party politics and in the recent protests, Catholics were «free to act as they deem fit.»

Reyes said Filipinos were molded by an «active Christian ethic against corruption and oppression.»

?People, I think, in the Philippines, being Christian, have that Christian ethic against corruption and oppression. That is an active ethic. There is a tendency in Buddhism to look at salvation from within,» he said.

Reyes said monastic communities in general exude a «very passive ethic» by their emphasis on «withdrawal from the world.»

?(But) it's not enough to say «Let us pray.» You (just) don't pray against injustice. You work against injustice. You work against oppression and violence,» he said. But now that the Burmese Buddhist monks and nuns have found their voice and actually initiated the pro-democracy protests, Reyes said the world should not forget them.

If only Myanmar could be like the Philippines!

I can find three reasons why the NBN {National Broadband Network)-ZTE ( Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation) scandal in the Philippines is so compelling. Yesterday's Inquirer editorial, comparing NBN-ZTE to America's Watergate, almost makes the question obligatory.

Philippines' President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's visit to inform PRC President Hu Jintao of the project's cancellation looks like «kowtowing», as if GMA were reporting to a superior for the actions of her subordinates in the Congress for the delays in implementing the deal. GMA suspended two Chinese-supported projects on September 22, after bribery allegations surfaced against Benjamin Abalos, which is the second cause for concern. Abalos' legal and political status, whether he resigned or not, or whether he is still impeachable, is uncertain.

Finally, there's the impact the scandal will have on the Philippine's reputation:  «...poor governance and our weak institutions are a guarantee that ZTE will not be the end of corruption scandals here.»

Bribery, China, and a woman president seemingly more respected abroad than at home make for a story that might not yet have reached its climax!

I'm almost certain Smith and Ricardo would agree. that a free-trade agreement that includes a provision about dumping hazardous waste, is not a win-win situation.

At Thursday?s hearing, groups opposed to the treaty even managed to impress Ambassador to Japan Domingo Siazon.

Siazon commended Junk JPEPA lawyer Golda Benjamin for her ?excellent, thorough, articulate and well-researched? arguments that the treaty would promote the entry into the Philippines of toxic and other hazardous waste from Japan.

Under JPEPA, the tariff rates for hazardous waste would be reduced to zero.

Siazon, who flew back to Tokyo after the hearing, said the Philippines needed the support of a ?technologically advanced? country like Japan to deal with its own hazardous waste.

Health Undersecretary Alexander Padilla, meanwhile, stunned the senators when he disproved the Department of Environment and Natural Resources? claim that Japan would not export hazardous waste to the Philippines.

Padilla said the Department of Health had ?concerns? that the treaty would allow for reciprocity, meaning that both the Philippines and Japan could export hazardous waste to each other.

?While we agree with the noble objectives of the JPEPA, we feel we do live in an imperfect world,? he said.

That's an understatement, indeed!