While everybody cringe at the cruel rise of oil prices, over at Meralco, things have heated to fever pitch. Today, stockholders of one of the country’s blue chip companies will battle it out for control of the utility firm. GSIS President and General Manager Winston Garcia is pessimistic of government desire to wrest control of the firm from the Lopezes, since, he presumes, this will be a proxy war. I hate to say it, but the very thing which Garcia is using to destroy the Lopezes, is the thing which would annihilate him and his allies come decision time.
However, it’s note-worthy to say that the Lopezes continue to show haughtiness, especially in the way they handled suggestions about live television coverage of the Meralco stockholders’ meeting. Cong. Golez and the rest of the nation wants the meeting covered live. The Lopezes refused. The people know that stockholder’s meetings should be private. Yet, the very nature of their business dictates that there should be live coverage since Meralco is a utility firm. The entire nation wants to know what’s happening there.
In truth, I’m not supporting Meralco. My stand is to carve it out into different franchises to encourage competition. However, I am not supporting government bid to takeover Meralco now since we know for sure that the utility firm will just be given to Gloria’s allies, namely, the Aboitizes, Garcias and the Alcantaras. Surely, this crown jewel of the Lopezes deserve nothing more than a clean bidding process. It should be managed by groups with the national interest at heart. It’s okey for them to recover their investments, yet, there should be more consideration on the public’s consumer rights than business interests. And the Lopezes want nothing of this sort.
Another haughty and posturing as God Almighty are these telecommunications firms. After the DOTC’s encouragement for them to make texts free for the people, these companies told us, their subscribers, that it’s better for them to just shut down the text system. Globe’s communications man, Atty. Salalima said that they spend millions maintaining their text systems. Everyone knows that text is free everywhere, except here. And it’s a free feature, a manna, brought by cellular technology. Surely, these firms have been raking it by the billions of pesos since text was introduced here. And surely, it’s time for them to give at least something back to the suffering public.
Hateful is government’s desire to break these monopolies in Filipino lives but to hear these powerful blocks justify their immoral charges against the Filipino purse is loathsome, to say the least. If this government is not being run by Gloria and her devils, these attacks against Meralco and the telecommunications firms could have been supported by the masses. The plan is laudable except the reason why there’s no apparent support from the people is the fact that everyone knows it’s just a show by Gloria to get billions from these firms. And for what?
For the continuing perpetuation of this evil regime beyond 2010. Gloria is supporting popular causes now to get a new lease of life before the eyes of the public. And for what? For that insidious plan of 2020 which in the next few weeks, we will unravel before the eyes of the world.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Patricio,
I dunno about anywhere else, but here in Australia, each text message costs 20 Australian cents.
Anyways, I’m not quite sure about what the whole hooha is about text messaging. Actually the telcos can and SHOULD shut down their text messaging service if that line of business turns sour (because of some ill-conceived regulatory edict). I’m sure they will if it becomes a royal pain in the ass for them. If I were SingTel (major shareholder of Globe) and have billions of my money sunk into its fibre optic network, I’d be hopping mad if I discover that this asset was being used for a service/product that does not line my pockets with cash.
It’s called the Free Market. There is an alternative to the Free Market. It’s called Socialism. And we all know how well that worked.
We can’t just simply command the supply and demand curve to behave a certain way. If there is a chunk of humanity that want and NEED a service or product, then yes Virginia, there is MONEY to be made! We’ve COMMITTED to be a free society — not just free politically but free economically. We can’t simply renege on that commitment whenever prices suddenly turn funny on us any more than we have the right to splash acid on a lover’s face when he/she decides to run off with someone else.
It’s similar in principle to Cocoy‘s beef about moratoriums on Tuition Fee hikes. We can all paint over a rust spot on an old car. It looks good on the surface but does not get rid of the underlying rot.
Where is it free?
It’s not free in the US either, AFAIK. My relatives say it’s even more expensive than calls when it first came out.
And what suffering public? The suffering public that forwards green jokes and mushy quotes? The suffering public that frantically votes for their favorite Pinoy Big Brother nominee (2.50 per vote!)? The suffering public that cold-texts random stuff to elicit “hu u”s to get textmates? The suffering public that spends its last 20 pesos on unlimited text promos?
What suffering public, as far as SMS is concerned, are you talking about?
Socialism worked well in Vietnam, China and India by laying the groundwork for these countries’ economic take off. Aspects of Socialist policy are also working well in Europe.(I concede though that discussion on this topic will be more productive if we make clear to each other what we mean by ‘Socialism’ as there’s a chance that we are talking about different things, or at least different aspects of the same thing.)
I may have forgotten that, yes, text is not free. Sorry for that. Singtel charge me huge fees for texting.
What I am talking about is more than the facts that I’m making. Its government interference to enterprises which, to my mind, does not sit well with the business community. I do agree though that if government is well-intentioned and the people have total trust behind their leaders, interference would have been viewed differently also.
Jon is probably correct in some of the things he said, and probably the public is not “suffering” in the sense that texting is not a need. It’s the cheapest mode of communication, yet, the most abused. We waste precious pesos for a few lines of words that surely create less clarity than a call.
As for socialism, well, that’s a totally different matter altogether. I got this document which outlines the real plan of Gloria to stay on until 2020. Call it ludicrous but it’s true. Can it be done? Well, Marcos did it for nearly 19 years. What would stop the petite lady from the Pasig to perpetuate herself and her evil ilk from doing it? Civil society? The military? The people? The NPA? Nah. At this point, the devil infant is strong enough to repulse any opposition to this dastardly plan.
Patricio, i think if GMA can get a ally like Noli de Castro (or Loren Legarda or Chiz Escudero) to get a genuine mandate as President, and then implement Charter Change, then she has a good chance to become Prime Minister (a-la Putin). This possibility of ‘doing a Putin’ has been brought up by John Marzan in his blog.
@jon, Pat, haaah, good exchange there.. I’m not so sure the public is suffering on that specific note either. But in any case, I don’t text as much as I used to back when I was in The Philippines.
Everyone is so used to calling, and it’s more professional. Mostly kids, around here, use text messaging.
@Pat, regarding staying until 2020? A document of a plan? sounds intriguing…
The only way for this to happen is to utilize the military not as Marcos did, but for the purposes of rigging ballots and votes.
And, her politics of changing to a parliamentary system, then utilize the military against any planned uprising..
@cvj, that is a very clear possibility. I’m not sure however, that Noli, once president would be as much as a pushover as Medvedev is.. Noli and Gloria don’t necessarily go way back like Putin and Medvedev.. They may be political allies, but we’ve seen, on more occasions than one, allies turn their back on each other..
With that said, I still agree with you, that a Noli Presidency would be a continuation of Gloria.
Sectors believe that Gloria’s ace is not Noli but Defense Secretary Teodoro. Should the 2010 elections really happen, Gloria is poised to support Teodoro’s bid for the plum post.
Let’s see though what would happen in June when Congress resumes hearings on constitutional change. We’ve been very busy talking about Meralco when there’s a Damocles sword hanging above our heads with this one.
Also, there’s a possibility of war in Mindanao, what with the escalating violence between the MI and the AFP recently.
What is so “dastardly” about such a plan?
If the plan succeeds or fails, will the outcome fundamentally change the lives of the average Filipino?
Patricio, i see. Assuming the Presidential elections push through, if they can make Teodoro something of a Ramon Magsaysay, then perhaps that would work. However, i was thinking that the advantage for her of having someone with a following like Noli de Castro as her proxy is that she may not have to cheat blatantly (i.e. dagdag-bawas) to win so legitimacy will not be an issue.
Nick, yeah. Gloria can’t be sure she won’t be betrayed.
@Nick, i just read your blog entry. As i mentioned in a comment over at Manolo’s, i believe the opposing camps of the Middle Class, i.e. the Let’s Move on/Let’s Wait for 2010 and the Patalsikin na, Now Na crowd will reunite around a reformist candidate in the mold of Mar Roxas. My hunch though is that the elitist/fence-sitter Roxas can still lose to a Noli de Castro who has genuine popular appeal or to Ping Lacson, who has a ‘law and order’ image as well as genuine oppositionist credentials. I’ll take that vodka.
Hi Benigno, of course no. Real change can only come when the people regains their trust in government and strive to work collectively with the leaders of this nation. As it stands, no elections or any reformist activity can change the present situation. It could only be through a New and Genuine revolution will our situation improve.
On a populist leader such as Noli being supported by Gloria (should the elections push thru), activities on the ground suggest that Gloria allies are wont to do so. The reason is Noli has his own retinue of supporters totally different from those of Gloria. Noli is your Erap in another mold. Look at his closest advisers and you’ll know what I mean.
Yes, CVJ, civil society groups could unite behind Roxas and lose to Noli eventually. However, the possibility of Roxas being the common candidate of civil society is minimal. Why? Roxas personal style of running his campaign does not jibe with what civil society does. He’s kuripot and not the person we see on the tele. And he’s wishy-washy. He does not have the strong backbone of a Ping who’ll charge against the enemy come what may.
If we want genuine change in 2010, we, in the business of change, should unite behind a candidate who (1) has a platform for change similar to ours (2) ideologically equipped (3) popular (4) internationally recognized and (5) has strong political will. Assessing the current crop, we find none of them having these attributes.
Patricio, thanks for your informative analysis. Your last paragraph is a killer because it is so true :-D.
Failing a suitable candidate, i think the best thing civil society can do is work to ensure clean elections. I can even accept a Noli presidency if he wins cleanly. That will be an improvement over the current situation.
Ah, sad, sad. We fall into a defeatist attitude yet again attributing the fate of the country to yet-another-messiah whom we wait for but could not find.
Is that really the whole point of all of this? Is that it? Sure sure a strong, credible leader is important, but how many regime changes can we waste our efforts trying to oust and install, each time believing that this new person will be *the* solution?
Jon, sorry if i’ve given you that impression but i’m not one to believe that any individual (or group) can become our ‘messiah’. This morning, i’ve posted a couple of videos of Captain Faeldon’s interview where he said pretty much the same thing.
That’s the reason why i said i’m willing to live with a Noli presidency as long as it is the people’s legitimate mandate.
I agree with cvj that the best we can do now is to ensure clean elections. We may not agree with the people’s choice but at least we can be sure that he will have a genuine mandate.
I also think that it will take several election cycles before the electorate matures. It seems to me that the post-Marcos voters are still getting used to the idea of voting and the power that comes with it.
I remember the time when I was so disappointed that the majority of the people would want to vote for movie stars and celebrities. But I think the majority of voters got over that after a few electoral exercises.
So I see hope in the process and it just has to be clean and fair. It will take time but that’s how democracy works.
Granted that the values of democracy are of utmost importance, and, granted that truth and honesty is a virtue held in the highest esteem, and granted that no such acts should be excused, nor condoned:
a.) Is a thoroughly clean, fair and honest government an absolute prerequisite to progress, innovation and advancement of society, or can such advancement be attained despite the existence of the earlier, albeit with duly acknowledge impediment?
b.) Is it possible that first world governments are (God forbid!) likewise corrupt?
c.) Is it possible that a nation that possesses a government that is throughly clean, fair, and honest doesn’t attain any economic benefit other than a thoroughly clean, fair, and honest government?
Jon, allow me to take a stab at answering…
No, because if that were the case, then there wouldn’t be any progressive, advanced and innovative societies.
However, the ‘cleanest, fairness and honesty’ of government comes in degrees. If we are not to arrive at a total breakdown of government,and the society that depends upon it, its citizens must demand a ‘clean, fair and honest government’ if only to control the deterioration or as the phrase goes, ‘moderate the greed’. Once the citizenry stops demanding this things, then the deterioration accelerates and the result (as we are seeing) is immoderate greed. It’s a tug of war.
I think that’s the message conveyed by the quotation of Hunter S. Thompson in the Uniffor’s (Manuel Buencamino et. al) blog.
Corruption comes in degrees, and i don’t believe it has been completely eliminated even in the first world countries. IMHO, the degree matters though.
It’s theoretically possible but since there is no government in the world that is ‘thoroughly clean, fair, and honest’, then the answer is we don’t know.
Normally, the examples of relatively clean, fair and honest governments that i see are also the ones that are progressive. There is however a discussion (over at Dani Rodrik) on the distinction between ‘governance as a means to economic development’ and ‘governance as an end in itself’.
Is ‘Good Governance’ an End or a Means?
Just to clarify my ‘no’ in the first answer -> No, a thoroughly clean, fair and honest government is *not* an absolute prerequisite to progress, innovation and advancement of society… [but the next paragraph follows]
cvj, Patricio,
I posed that question because this post in general and the ensuing discussion seems to do nothing but paint a hackneyed bleak, dark picture of the country with its enterprises and its government, and I fear that if this picture is all that occupies our heads it would impede us from being able to imagine the picture that we do want to achieve for our country.
That is, while I do recognize that Gloria must be made accountable for all her perceived sins, real or perceived, I question whether it is productive for us to be writing in-depth demonizations for every move that her administration makes, as opposed to focusing on relevant issues (re: Meralco’s unjust billing practices).
Furthermore, while I do recognize that there is a very real possibility of Gloria holding on to power beyond 2010 (Gloria 2020 in Patricio’s words), I’m not sure it would be healthy to convince ourselves that it will happen.
I mean, hell, everybody’s been saying that GMA will declare martial law since 2005. It’s been three years and… nothing.
It disturbs me that this is all our supposed “revolutionaries” talk about, and the streets, once more, is their only real course of action.
There must be something beyond all of this.
^^Correction: “be made accountable for all her
preceivedsins, real or perceived”Anyone here have a more in depth analysis of the last ditch effort, using the SEC cease and desist order? This strategy still has me scratching my head in all honesty. We can see the basis of such a move, but the legal workings of it still has me a bit puzzled as to how the SEC can make such an order.. I didn’t even know they could do this..
Jon, believe me, if i thought that we can afford to leave the politicians alone, i would as there are many more things i’d rather do. When i voted for Gloria Arroyo in 2004, my hope was that her term would give us the needed breathing space from politics that would allow us to concentrate on economic development which i imagined she would be in a good position to tackle since she was an economist.
In this respect, you and i had similar positions then. The difference is that with Hello Garci and everything that came after that, i don’t think we can afford to take a live and let live approach anymore.
Given that she has already betrayed my trust (and the ideals of EDSA Dos), and given that, as you acknowledge, there is the very real possibility that she would want to stay in power, then convincing myself that she would not do so would be a foolish act of denial on my part.
I’m not worried about the picture in my head because, despite everything, it is one of hope. If i thought it was hopeless then i would have turned apathetic. I am also looking forward to getting to that something beyond that you mention, but i believe that resistance is part of that process because the act of standing up for what is right helps define who we are.
BTW, from what i remember, Gloria did try to proclaim Martial Law but DND Secretary Cruz (and the United States) objected.
Hi Jon,
Yeah. You’re correct. Writing about Gloria seems to be a preoccupation, especially demonizing her. However, what we write are just clear observations. As political animals, we hate to say it, but we need to tell the public what’s behind every move of Gloria for an informed take on things.
Probably, some of us write as if there’s no hope. There is, I think. And we are pioneering it through Filipinovoices.com. Change starts with enlightenment. And we are, in our small little way, starting the fire while Benigno is stroking it, hehehe! Kidding aside, we are the new class of revolutionaries, we are the new intellectual entrepreneurs who will someday chart the destiny of this country through our enlightened pen.
On elections, I still don’t believe that change would happen there. We’ve been in so many election cycles and the same old trapo faces with their same old ideas still come up on the election tallies. We need a surgical strike at the heart of the superstructure. We need a new revolution. I know most of us are afraid of it, but let’s try it again and this time, do the post-revolutionary phase right. Maybe, it would make a decisive and substantive difference. Tea, anyone?
Patricio,
Absolutely. Our duty as citizens of a democracy is primarily to represent ourselves through the democratic processes available to us. Beyond that we our personally responsible for our own individual success (or failure).
Our duty is to choose the best leaders and hold ourselves accountable for our choice.
Everyone knows that text is free everywhere, except here. And it’s a free feature, a manna, brought by cellular technology. Surely, these firms have been raking it by the billions of pesos since text was introduced here. And surely, it’s time for them to give at least something back to the suffering public.
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