Left Flank

The-Future-of-The-Philippin

Originally uploaded by @mbishosa

Typhoon «Frank»-why have an international nomenclature system if the locals insist on anthropomorrphizing disaster their own way-or «Fengshen» allows Quezon some the opportunity for two good points amidst the humanitarian tragedy.

1. Is incompetence the new way to govern?

Matters can only have been compounded by the perpetually ad hoc nature of emergency response measures, and how nothing really functions unless the big bosses are around the lean on their subordinates. It's only been a few weeks since the national government came in for strong criticism over its sluggish handling of the typhoon damage to Pangasinan. And yet it was only yesterday that NDCC convenes in wake of 'Frank'.

This basic reality of what passes for government management in our country, helps explain why whatever the President does, there really is no substitute for her being here, and for her subordinates being here, either. You'd think that our officials, who've borrowed so many pages from the Republican playbook, would have learned the lessons taught by Bush's plummeting in the ratings because of his response to Hurricane Katrina.

2. When is the right to vote a bit just not enough?

Urban poor areas in Manila hardest hit by floods presents a political Catch-22 for local governments, too: humanitarian considerations, and the responsibilities of leadership, requires mayors and governors to dissuade residents from rebuilding in areas notoriously flood-prone (I have read many press accounts from the past, in which local and national leaders intervened, by force if necessary, to prevent residents from rebuilding in areas proven to be disaster-prone, but that was then); but to do so now would mean alienating manageable votes. So nothing will be done, which only means the casualties will pile up the next time, but perhaps not before the next elections.

It's scary to think President Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina could inspire imitation.

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Soon, the Inquirer will mislead some Filipino official about foreign states drilling for oil in Filipino waters.

In making policy, government should consider the long-term national interest. (Hence, our allergy to unsustainable populist programs like Malacañang's cash subsidies.) Of course, a greater receptiveness to resource exploration proposals from foreign companies may be a reaction to today's regime of skyrocketing oil prices—but we think it is a necessary and even laudable response. Prices may remain high for some time; the possibility of yet another oil shock in the near future cannot be discounted. The country must continue to reduce our dependence on oil imports, lower our energy use and at the same time look for new sources of energy. Why not invest in oil exploration?

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes waxed overly optimistic when he all but guaranteed, after meeting with ExxonMobil executives last week, that the company «would be able to strike oil in the Sulu Sea.» No oil exploration project carries a guarantee; that, in part, is why it is prohibitively expensive (the failures must be subsidized by the successes).

But that ExxonMobil is committed to spending $110 million exploring for oil in the Sulu Sea is no small thing. The government must insist on certain non-negotiable conditions, including the use of technology that would lessen the impact of the exploration on the environment and a fair share of the revenues, if any, but it would be folly for the country to turn down even the opportunity to negotiate. When an oil exploration company comes knocking, it is in the country's long-term interest to answer the door.

This is not to say that no sector may be adversely affected. It is possible, as Pamalakaya asserts, that the livelihood of some fisherfolk communities might suffer, once the project gets underway. But it is the business of government to mediate between sectors, to alleviate any distress and, if necessary, to prioritize the good of many over that of a few.

That government can sometimes get its priorities spectacularly wrong, or can be manipulated into fueling the inordinate greed of political operators (as in the case of the National Broadband Network project), is not an argument for the government to keep all windows and doors locked. It is, instead, an argument for keeping a close eye on all visitors.

The alternative is stark: Turning down all resource exploration ventures—whether for ideological reasons or because of fears of corruption—is consigning ourselves to the equality of misery.

If the ExxonMobil project and other oil exploration ventures also in the pipeline succeed, we will all benefit, fisherfolk included. That motor engine that powers every fisherman's pump boat? It runs on oil.

With all Malacañang Palace does wrong, and with what little goes right in The Philippines, how can any sane person make such a dangerously idealistic argument?

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The three Filipino hostages held by Abu Sayyaf, Ces Drilon, Octavio Dinampo, and Jimmy Encarnacion were released. House Speaker Prospero Nograles managed to sound both paranoid and optimistic.

Nograles, for his part, said that aside from going on an armed offensive against the Abu Sayyaf, «the government and the political leaders in Mindanao should work hard to provide livelihood and improve the infrastructure in conflict areas.»

Nograles said it was no longer important whether ransom was indeed paid.

«Instead of debating about how and why Ces and her two fellow captives were released, we should thank the good Lord that they came back to us safely. All speculations at this point on the circumstances behind their release are immaterial,» Nograles said.

Nograles stressed the need to end kidnappings in Mindanao and to convince the international community that a greater part of southern Philippines did not have the same problem of banditry and extremism.

«Sulu and Basilan, which are mostly the center of Abu Sayyaf kidnappings, is not the entire Mindanao. We have so many areas in Mindanao which are peaceful, safe and beautiful,» Nograles said.

He said the latest kidnapping in Sulu «is another setback in the government's effort to make Mindanao the new frontier of investments.»

«We should stop the chicken and egg situation in Mindanao where we cannot have development because of the peace and order problem and we cannot have peace and order because of lack of development in the region,» Nograles said.

Senator Rodolfo Biazon argued that the government's policy of allowing press into areas where military operations are conducted should balance «...freedom of press and the people's right to know.

Contrary to hype, RP President Arroyo's Executive Secretary also argued that Abu Sayyaf is far from defeated. But, defeat will not happen, if this is the government's bizarre notion of «dictating terms». Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez: «I told him I would be willing to ask the Armed Forces and the police to allow him to meet me on a safe conduct pass but not to negotiate because we cannot negotiate with terrorists. I said we should be the one to dictate our terms so we have to test his real intentions.»

The three hostages should count themselves lucky they got out alive and intact before the government tried to «dictate» anything.

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As usual I come to these Filipino stories too late to do much more than jump up and down and point out provocative issues. But, the account of Ces Drilon's capture, and the civil liberties issue surrounding the embargo on the reporting of the incident right after, followed by Manila's breaking of that embargo, has the makings of a legal and political precedent and a very compelling, human story.

My own understanding is that is that it was the government station, NBN-4, and not the wire services that broke the story. It was the government that forced an end to the embargo by reporting the kidnapping of Ces Drilon and Co. on its Monday evening news program. Since news on a government station has an official nature to it, it's logical to assume that it was then that the wire services, which I understand had been unable to obtain a statement from ABS-CBN up to that point, could run with the story.

So let me say first of all that government appeals for «restraint» are pure, unadulterated bûllšhìt. You have a rare instance where media exercised prudence (not altogether altruistically, as I'll explore in a bit) but government, always eager to appeal for «restraint,» jumped the gun… The reasons for this could range from malicious glee (no love lost either for the network or Drilon on the part of officialdom) to a general interest in beating the war drums in Mindanao to provide a distraction for economic issues and expand the President's political and military (one and the same) options.

Still, for a time, an embargo was asked for, and respected, while ABS-CBN tried to downplay the story. This explains the befuddlement experienced by bloggers...

With all respect to Ms. Drilon and Dr. Octavio Dinampo (and their quick, safe release), Filipino blogs keep me going like none other.

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Manuel L. Quezon, III has a biting satire of a commentary about Philippines' President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's plight (the only female politician in the world more conflicted about her marriage than Hillary Clinton), as her advisers and the First Husband testify to Congress over the NBN-ZTE scandal. Quezon subjects her administration to Confucian judgment.

Confucius rejoined: Ch'iu, an honest man hates your hypocrite who will not openly avow his greed, but tries instead to excuse it. I have heard that the ruler of a state or of a clan is troubled not by the smallness of its numbers but by the absence of even-handed justice; not by poverty but by the presence of discontent; for where there is justice there will be no poverty; where there is harmony there will be no lack in numbers; where there is content there will be no revolution. This being the case then, if outlying communities resist your authority, cultivate the arts of refinement and goodness in order to attract them; and when you have attracted them, make them happy and contented. Now you two, Yu and Ch'iu, are aiding and abetting your master; here is an outlying community which resists your authority, and you are unable to attract it. Partition and collapse are imminent in your own State, and you are unable to preserve it intact. And yet you are planning military aggression within in the borders of your country! Verily I fear that Chi-sun's troubles will come, not from Chuan-yü, but from the interior of his own palace.

GMA's authority in Mindanao ('outlying community'?) is questioned. Troubles might come from inside her palace, but GMA is severing her lifeline to PRC.

«It's an offshoot of the political fallout from the kickbacks controversy,» said Benjamin Diokno, a former budget secretary and now professor of public finance.

Mrs Macapagal scrapped the telecommunications project last year but recent allegations that the government tried to abduct a witness in a Senate probe on the kickbacks scandal gave fresh impetus to the controversy. Last week, up to 10,000 people gathered in the Makati financial district to call for Mrs Macapagal's resignation. Former cabinet members are calling on incumbent officials to quit the government.

About half of the $2.6bn total worth of the 11 projects were meant to be funded by China. These included a $660m project to build video links to more than 26,000 public schools throughout the Philippines and a $380m project to upgrade rail services to towns and cities south of Manila.

Mr Diokno cast doubt on the government spokesman's claim that it has enough money to fund infrastructure projects, pointing out that government had been failing to meet tax collection targets.

The Philippines, which used to be Asia's second-largest issuer of sovereign bonds after Japan, had planned to borrow $1.6bn in official development assistance and $500m in sovereign bonds to meet its $2.1bn external financing requirement this year.

In the end, Quezon has another devilishly clever quote to complete a delightful essay full of opposing viewpoints: "Where graft is informally institutionalized in this way, it provides the basis for state organizations that are effective at collecting taxes, maintaining public order, and repressing political opposition but that may undermine the development of liberal politics."

If you take Chinese money, the RP won't be liberal anymore.

RP-US military and law enforcement cooperation has netted a body with a sadistic past. The corpse of Dulmatin, an Indonesian member of Jemaah Islamiyah(JI), was recovered from Tawi-Tawi, and another JI operative, Mohamad Baehaqi, is in custody.

US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Filipino crime laboratory experts have arrived in this southern city to conduct the tests that officials say will take about a week.

Tissue from the exhumed body will be compared with samples that were taken from Dulmatin's children in the southern Philippines last year.

The US government has offered a 10 million-dollar bounty for Dulmatin, a senior figure in the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) movement, who is believed to have been hiding out in the south for most of the past five years.

He was earlier reported to have been wounded in a clash with government troops in the region on January 31.

The recovered body bore gunshot wounds in the head, chest and right foot, consistent with earlier accounts of Dulmatin's injuries in the gunfight, Dolorfino said. This bolstered their belief that the body was that of the Indonesian.

Dolorfino said that if that is confirmed, then "this is a big blow to them (JI) as he is the most wanted personality in the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah" in the Philippines.

The suspect had helped plan and carry out the 2002 bombings in Bali that left 202 people -- many of them Australian tourists -- dead.

According to durianburgdavao's Balanza, Dulmatin had several acolytes, including Mohammed Baehaqi, who were also arrested.

Muhammad Baehaqi alias Latip, Salam and Tato, was collared during a raid by military in a house in Piso, Banaybanay in possession of a .22 Winchester rifle, a shotgun and blasting caps, detonating cords and other bomb-making materials and equipment.

Arrested with Baehaqi were Idamat Generoso and his son Ustadz Mujar, who is a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that the military said is linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah. Baehagi was nabbed in the house of the Idamat Generoso, an employee of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Baehaqi is said to have undergone explosives training under Jemaah Islamiyah bomb experts Dulmatin and Omar Patek, and suspected as the leader of a terrorist team that recently bombed General Santos City, and Makilala and Kidapawan City in North Cotabato.

There is also this Jamestown Foundation piece about the importance of breaking up Dulmatin's group.