On Criticizing Both Sides: Am I salawahan?

With all these hoolabaloos on CGMA lately, I have been very active in voicing out my opinion. I have participated and initiated online conversations in FB and Twitter and I have to say that engaging online is a level field for all of us. What made me sad though is the way how I was called "salawahan" by some of our friends and say that my opinion is just a swayed parlance in order for me "to suck to the people who matters".

Let me address this allegation by clarifying my stand on these issues.

First, I am totally against the Secretary of Justice's act defying the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the Supreme Court. I reiterate that this is a desperate move by a panicking government afraid that their opponent is about to run the hell out of the country. It only showsthat the current administration is will to transgress the basic doctrine of Separation of Powers just to cover up their inadequacies.

Having been firm with the above-stated-- and please note that I do not try to play lawyer while opining as such-- I have to make it clear that my stand does not automatically make me pro-Arroyo. In a facebook group, I agree with the comment that Sec De Lima's action is now beyond Arroyo-- which brings me to my next point.

I have also been voicing my concern about Arroyo's lawyer playing doctor in the recent interviews. Claiming that because of the patient-doctor confidentiality, the doctors are forced to keep their mouth shut about the medical abstract of the former President. Due to this, we now see Lambino and Elena Bautista-Horn saying that CGMA is too sick to be in a detention facility but not too sick to be allowed for a house arrest. It is funny how they said those statements in just a span of a week. It made me suspicious about this miraculous turn of Cgma's condition from life-threatening to  ok-enough-to-be-out-of-hospital-arrest within just few days. And I did not fail to also voice out my opinion especially when Lambino, in effect, admitted that what they're saying about Gloria's condition are overheards from the conversation between the ex-President and her doctors.

I understand where the "salawahan" comment comes from especially that it is obvious that I criticized both sides but I was hurt with the allegation that my opinions are only being said because i want to suck up to somebody. I have to make it clear that all of my opinions are my own and however unqualified I am to make such opinion is not anyone's business. It is because I do not pretend to be an expert on any field. As I have understood, my opinions are protected by the Constitution and should be respected. After all, I have never disrespected my attackers' opinion.

One thing I have learned from my dear friend Tita Beth Angsioco is that we should evaluate political figures by issue and not by hasty generalizations. I always keep this in mind and I hope by writing this post, you may understand where I am coming from. Also, I would want to clarify that I blog on my own accord and I am neither paid nor do this to please anybody. I blog because, simply, I can-- and nothing more

SC vs DOJ: This is more than the Arroyo's

With all these PNOY vs GMA and SC vs DOJ thing happening on the news, I have been very active in online discussions. Maybe I owe this blog some content so I am posting my comment  from the Filipino Freethinkers Facebook Page.




posted by Marc Losoa:
SC vs DOJ, who was right? Was SC ruling on TRO justified and that the DOJ blocking Arroyos were illegitimate or was it not? Discuss.


my comment:


Okay here's my two cents here. Let's assume that GMA wants to run away from the country and leave for good.

Had the government done their job in filing the case and bringing it to the court immediately, all these hullabaloos will not be happening. What PNOY and his minions did is that they spend so much time appearing in the television in hopes that the people might perceive them working when actually they did not. What we witnessed the past few days is PANIC. Panic because they were outwitted by the Arroyo's.

Arroyo has the finest in her battery of lawyers, PR people etc. They know what they are doing and they know how to make lusot by using technicalities. On the other hand, we have a government of grandstanders acting out like they are in the Pinoy Big Brother House. We have grandstanders in the House of the Representatives and Ping Lacson in the Senate. Further, the communications group are making things worse!

This is not about Arroyo anymore-- this is about how the government wiling to transgress the power of the Judiciary just to cover up its inadequacies.


***


As a non-lawyer, I can only say something based on my limited understanding of the Constitution. As I understand it,  when Supreme Court says something, it must have been done as they dictate how a law should be interpreted. What the Secretary of Justice did is an obvious transgression of the principle of Separation of Powers. The Constitution says-- I just don't know what specific provision it is-- that in such cases, the DOJ's hold departure order will be deemed null and void and the SC's TRO will prevail.

With all the testicle-betting and the I'll-have-my-head-chopped-off happening now between the two camps, a Constitutional Crisis might come in (or has it happening right now?). The only question right now is, What kind of government we have?

DSWD spin fail: CCT is dole out--no more, no less

This refers to Ms. Ana Marie Daep's letter entitled "DSWD's CFW not CCT; it's investment not dole out" (Inquirer, 10/22/2011).

I was disturbed by the fact that DSWD seemed to be annoyed by how CCT is being branded as "dole-out". Ms Daep, OIC of the Social Marketing Service of DSWD, said, "..CCT is not a dole out but a form of investment in human capital...". Well to tell them frankly, the letter was a big sugar-coating fail because CCT is definitely not a "form of investment ek-ek". CCT is a dole out simply because you give the money directly to the beneficiaries, hoping that they will spend it by buying their basic needs all the while knowing that they won't do it anyway. 

The letter appeared as an effort to euphemize the bitter pill that they can't obviously take. Certainly, their definition of the CCT is failing them as their beneficiaries remain jobless and poverty-stricken. A few thousand pesos given monthly can hardly pass as "investment" considering the current state of our nation. Further, we hear news of ATM cards being pawned, the money being used in gambling, vices and not for their basic needs, etc. So where does the term "investment" apply in those situations?

DSWD should call a spade a spade and realize that CCT is a dole-out-- nothing more, nothing less. The DSWD is is just doing a stunt no different than what Wille Revillame does in his show. Funny how the DSWD tries to put a positive spin to it just because they themselves are under the illusion of CCT's grandeur. Again, CCT is a dole out because, as cliched as it is, it does not teach the poor how fishing is done: DSWD is just giving them the fish-- and the fish, still, is not sufficient enough. 

Learning About Manila's History with Carlos Celdran

Entrance to Fort Santiago

After the job interviews I had early last Tuesday (yes, I had figured out my messed up biological clock), Carlos Celdran opened up ten slots for barter trade for his Intramuros tour. Since he's okay for anything, I just brought him kakanin's from Marilao, Bulacan. You have to understand, I have to grab that opportunity  because given my current financial state, I could never afford  the tour. So there I was, 3PM, Tuesday, at the middle of a quite diverse group with two cute American guys beside me (who happened to be me Kalesa-mates), embarking on a journey within the walls of Intramuros.

One thing is evident, Carlos is not the same as any other tour guides. He is not the usual hey-look-at-that tour guide. He is very dynamic and theatrical as he uses the whole Intramuros as his stage. Armed with his rich inside knowledge on Philippine History, his witty sesnse of humor and a couple of santan flowers serving as confetti, we laughed the whole way while learning from the past.

The thing that moved me the most during the tour is about the post-war Manila part. We were in front of the ruins of San Ignacio Church beside what used to be Ateneo Municipal and he asked all of us to take a minute of silence for the 100 thousand lives lost during the Manila Massacre and the Manila Bombing. 100 thousand lives! I didn't have the idea about that! All I knew was Manila was devastated after the war but what I didn't know is that it was the second most destroyed city during the war-- after Warsaw-- and we lost 100 thousand civilians!

Realizing this, I reflected how my current knowledge about our history is actually deficient. I know something about our history but I realized that I do not know enough. Coming from a public high school whose only history came from the distant HS freshman past, we do not have enough time to tackle this part of the history. Extending this thought, there again is the infamous problem on our education system-- and I don't want to go into that.

The Overly Decorated Jeepney. Carlos describes how Filipinos
tends to overly decorate.

There is so much to learn on the two and a half hour-trip. We learned that our "unoriginal" culture makes us exquisitely unique. We also realized that our culture can be summarized by the idea of the jeepney: That we have the tendency to be excessively and superfluously dramatic. You can look at it either in the good and the bad way but the best thing Carlos did is that he let us realized both perspectives. The Filipino culture is such a mixture of all these influences, victimized by its colonizers but then again living the best of both the West and the Orient. Like the jeepney, Carlos showed us another microcosm of our culture: The Halo-halo-- and we ended our tour crushing ice atop of this all-time favorite.

The Halo-halo. Like Halo-halo, the Filipino culture is a mix of influences. 

Resorts World Manila presents The Sound of Music

I can't deny the fact that the reason why I am such a theater junkie is because of watching The Sound of Music when I was 6 yrs old. Yes, there is such a thing as infantile amnesia but the memory is still vivid: It was a typical weekend movie night, my Tita Lanie rented the videotape and Tita Liezl was making her own dip made of fresh mayonnaise and a party of mixed onion, garlic and chives (No one could replicate that!).Because of that, here I am right now, finding myself on the floor pretending to die while reenacting's Eponine's death to the tune of A Little Fall of Rain, dancing the choreography of You Can't Stop the Beat, and of course, watching the episodes of Glee again and again.

So it was a rather boring night and I was tweeting how much would I kill to find something that will salvage me from the excruciating boredom. Then the next thing I knew, MomBlogger sent me a DM telling me that she still has tickets for a special private viewing of Resort's World Manila's The Sound of Music. Now you can imagine how exhilarated I was. You see I was almost dying of boredom and there comes Ms Noemi saving my sanity for allowing me to watch SoM live for the first time. Yes, that was the first time I watched the classic musical for the first time.

You've got to love The Sound of Music @ Resorts World Manila. With its amazing cast (Cris Villonco as Maria, Audie Gemora as Captain Von Trapp) , the play brought me back to that exact night 13 years ago. The songs were reminiscent of my childhood and I found myself mouthing every songs. It's funny that I became teary at some point of the play. Maybe because I was seeing it for the first time or maybe because I remembered how Tita Lanie and I were cuddled the night 13 years ago, but one thing is sure: My heart was in great happiness.

My viewing experience would be better though is we were seated nearer. It turned out that Ms Noemi has an awful eyes as mine so all of the faces were blurred (Ms Noemi advises audience to either seat near or bring binoculars). Funny because although they were are blurred to me, I can't help but to be distracted with Maria's wig. She was wearing something like a bleached-lola Dora the Explorer hair. However, you can let that and the pseudo-Scottish accent pass because the nun choir was so chilling and the LED backdrop (the biggest in Southeast Asia) was an astounder.

The Sound of Music opened October 15 and runs for the whole month of October. For ticket reservation call TicketWorld at 811-9999 or Resorts World Manila Tourist/Visitor Hotline at 836-63333, 908-8833. Indeed, SoM is a must watch and it is something one can't just let pass.

(photos courtesy of MomBlogger)