PDF DOCUMENT: Proclamation 1959 (Martial Law in Maguindanao)

Proclamation No. 1959

PROCLAIMING A STATE OF MARTIAL LAW AND SUSPENDING THE PRIVILEGE OF THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS IN THE PROVINCE OF MAGUINDANAO, EXCEPT IN CERTAIN AREAS

WHEREAS, Proclamation No. 1946 was issued on 24 November 2009 declaring a state of emergency in the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and the City of Cotabato for the purpose of preventing and suppressing lawless violence in the aforesaid areas;

WHEREAS, Section 18, Art. VII of the Constitution provides that ” x x x In case of invasaion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it, (the President) may, for a period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law, x x x”

WHEREAS, R.A. No. 6986 provides that the crime of rebellion or insurrection is committed by rising publicly and taking arms against the Government for the purpose of xxx depriving the Chief Executive or the Legislature, wholly or partially, of any of their powers or prerogatives.”

WHEREAS, heavily armed groups in the province of Maguindanao have established positions to resist government troops, thereby depriving the Executive of its powers and prerogatives to enforce the laws of the land and to maintain public order and safety;

WHEREAS, the condition of peace and order in the province of Maguindanao has deteriorated to the extent that the local judicial system and other government mechanisms in the province are not functioning, thus endangering public safety;

WHEREAS, the Implementing Operational Guidelines of the GRP-MILF Agreement on the General Cessation of Hostilities dates 14 November 1997 provides that the following is considered a prohibited hostile act: ” x x x establishment of checkpoints except those necessary for the GRP’s enforcement and maintenance of peace and order; and, for the defense and security of the MILF in their identified areas, as jointly determined by the GRP and MILF. x x x”

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution and by law, do hereby proclaim, as follows:

SECTION 1. There is hereby declared a state of martial law in the province of Maguindanao, except for the identified areas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as referred to in the Implementing Operational Guidelines of the GRP-MILF Agreement on the General Cessation of Hostilities.

SECTION 2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall likewise be suspended in the aforesaid area for the duration of the state of martial law.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 4th day of December in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Nine.

(Updated 12:51am, Saturday November 28)

The Maguindanao Massacre, with a death toll of 64 at the time of this writing, has once again put Mindanao on the national spotlight, and even in the international spotlight.  With the death of members of a political family, including lawyers, and members of media, this tragedy has not only brought about indignation in Philippine society, but has once again brought upon itself the collective focus from different sectors of society towards the entrenched political violence that has come to define certain parts of Mindanao during elections.

About a hundred armed men reportedly held and later killed the members of the Mangudadatu family and the two women lawyers and journalists who accompanied the Mangudadatus on the way to the Commission on Elections provincial office in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao to file the certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor of Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu.

The suspects, who were tagged as hired guns of the Ampatuan family, initially stopped the convoy in Barangay Saniag at around 9:00 am and brought them at gunpoint to the vicinity of barangays Salman and Malating, which is about 10 kilometers from the national highway.

A back hoe allegedly owned by the provincial government of Maguindanao was reportedly used in burying some of the victims.

Dangane said they found the abandoned heavy equipment Tuesday morning positioned near the scattered remains of some of the victims and a cliff that appeared to be freshly filled with soil at the vicinity of Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town.

The back hoe reportedly carried the name of the provincial government of Maguindanao and Gov. Andal Ampatuan.

“They could have used (the back hoe) in dumping and burying the bodies of the victims,” said Dangane, who joined the ongoing joint police and military retrieval operations in the area. (source: MindaNews)

The convoy included lawyers, Mangudadatu family members, supporters, as well as media members.

Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan, Jr. is the prime suspect as the mastermind of the massacre. Reports have already surfaced that Ampatuan hired guns, military and police officials, including part of their very own private armies were allegedly part of the massacre.

Mayor Ampatuan is the son of the Maguindanao governor, a Muslim clan chief of the same name who during his rule gave Ms Arroyo and her allies victories in the presidential election of 2004 and the senatorial contest in 2007.

The 57 dead included 27 journalists and up to 15 motorists who, like the reporters, had no known quarrels with the Ampatuans, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a military spokesperson.

The 15 motorists unrelated to the Mangudadatus were aboard at least two vehicles that happened to drive past as the convoy was stopped by the gunmen, Ponce added.

Police and troops deployed in Maguindanao have disarmed 347 members of the Special Active Auxiliary (SCAA) of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) employed by the provincial government.

“All security people are also possible suspects,” said Director Andres Caro of the Philippine National Police. “We are investigating them. More or less it will total about 400, including cops and families.”

TIMELINE ON THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE

Monday, November 23

- The Convoy that includes Genalyn Manudadatu wife of Buluan town Vice Mayor Ishmael Toto Mangudadatu, two of his sisters, lawyers, as well as members of media were blocked by around 100 armed men, were herded and killed, while they were on their way to file his certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao on Monday morning.

- Reports come in early in the afternoon that individuals in that convoy have been kidnapped, although early reports will not include reports of mass murder and liquidation.

- Early reports say that around 21 individuals have been killed, and that military is in pursuit of the perpetrators. The fate of 15 others in the convoy is still unknown.

- Presidential Adviser Jesus Dureza indicates that he wants a state of emergency declared in the region of Maguindanao and that is advising that everyone be disarmed.

Tuesday, November 24

- President Gloria Arroyo declares State of Emergency in Maguindanao, Cotabato City, as well as Sultan Kudarat.

- 22 individuals are confirmed to have been killed.

- Chief Superintendent Sukarno Dicay, the deputy police chief of Maguindanao province, is fired and detained as witnesses put him and two others at the scene of the crime where they were allegedly part of the group that ambushed, kidnapped, and killed the convoy of the Mangudadatus.

- More bodies found, the death toll is up to 35.

- Death toll again rises to 39

- Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on Mindanao affairs, is tasked to head a crisis management committee that will oversee military and police operations in the areas.

- Department of Justice (DOJ) creates panel that includes 8 prosecutors to investigate the killings

- There is reports that there are four survivors in the killings, and that they are in the care of Vice Mayor Ampatuan. DILG secretary Ronaldo Puno indicates that some of the perpetrators have been identified and will be arrested soon

- EU Commissioner for external relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner condemns the massacre

- Death toll rises once more as more bodies are unearthed, it is now at 46 confirmed to have been killed

- Boxing Champ, Manny Pacquiao, joins in the call for sobriety in Maguindanao

- UNITED NATIONS Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemns the brutal killings: “condemns this heinous crime committed in the context of a local election campaign.” “extends heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and hopes that no effort will be spared to bring justice and to hold the perpetrators accountable.”

- Journalists, among others, hold an indignation rally in Manila

Wednesday, November 25

- Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) requests that media practitioners wear black armbands or ribbons as a symbol of protest

- 6 more bodies found, death toll rises to 52

- “France condemns in the strongest terms the appalling massacre yesterday in the Philippines,” a foreign ministry statement said, adding that it was “essential” that next year’s national elections be held peacefully.

- DOJ issues Department Order 935 which formally forms the team to handle massacre, the team is divided into two groups: one will handle the inquest and the preliminary investigation, while the other group will deal with any and all cases that will be filed in relation to the case. [source]

- DOJ officials led by acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, goes to Maguindanao to facilitate the assistance, case build-up and coordination with authorities

- Reports come in that Ombudsman in Mindanao is interested to find out why a government owned backhoe was present at the scene of the crime.

Thursday, November 26

- Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. is turned over to presidential aide Jesus Dureza in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao

- Vice Mayor Mangudadatu buries his wife, then proceeds to General Santos City to file a complaint of multiple murder, robbery, and theft against Ampatuan with justice department officials.

- Mangudadatu has confrontation with Ampatuan Jr. at General Santos airport, but the confrontation is broken up.

- 25,000 join peace parade in Zamboanga City [source]

- Andal Ampatuan Jr. claims that MILF was behind the massacre, The DOJ refutes this statement

- Official Death toll is at 57

Friday, November 27

- Vice Mayor Mangudadatu files his Certificate of Candidacy for Governor of Maguindanao

- Official Death toll is now at 64

A MORE IN-DEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNDERLYING FACTORS IN THIS MASSACRE

The political nature of the massacre brings us to a seeming need to understand just why such an atrocity was able to happen in the first place, what are the underlying circumstances that have brought about the need for the possibility of a political clan to wreak such havoc and barbarism in an area that they are governing.

For in-depth understanding, we suggest you look into how local politics in areas such as Maguindanao serve a greater national political role. The GMA News network does a great service in explaining that indeed winning elections in areas such as Maguindanao is a winner-takes-all “game” and that it is not only a gain in the part of the local officials that win, such as what we have in the Ampatuans, but the vicious cycle may be condoned because of, for example, the wins it gave The Arroyo Administration both in 2004 and 2007. In short, the numbers.

And as usual, much of what we gathered for a basic primer in terms of the root causes of all this mayhem has been explained thoroughly by The Explainer himself, Manolo Quezon, and we suggest you read his primer, and his assertion that the veil of protection from such barbarism, namely that of women, lawyers, and media, have been lifted, and it may spell doom for the rest of the nation, especially in regions where warlords exact total control, if the current administration cannot or may not be willing to exact the proper justice against the perpetrators of the Maguindanao Massacre.

Manolo Quezon points to a key observation by Mon Casiple and the possible national restlessness that may come,

The key elements to watch out for in the next days to come are: 1) if the AFP and the police disarm the armed Ampatuan clan and arrest, charge, and actually convict the perpetrators of the massacre; and 2) if more incidents happen that would portray a nationwide breakdown in peace and order.

It is no secret that the ascension of Mr. Norberto Gonzalez to the Defense portfolio, if only as an acting secretary, has caused apprehension because of his penchant for unconstitutional suggestions on how Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her Malacañang gang can remain in power. The recent sporadic bombings in Metro Manila and this Maguindanao incident are not related, or are they?

Among the many articles that is so important in our understanding of this situation, is a most telling piece by The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), where they take a careful look at the specific case of Maguindanao and why The Ampatuans have gained the unrestricted control over that area,

Andal Ampatuan has four wives and over 30 children, and intermarriages with other political clans have made his political stock stronger. But political analysts trace the clan’s formidable clout to two main factors: guns and the blessings of Malacanang. They even note that no less than the Palace made it legal for the Ampatuans to have hundreds of armed men and women under their employ.

The 1987 Constitution bans private armed groups. In July 2006, however, the Arroyo administration issued Executive Order 546, allowing local officials and the PNP to deputize barangay tanods as “force multipliers” in the fight against insurgents. In practice, the EO allows local officials to convert their private armed groups into legal entities with a fancy name: civilian volunteer organizations (CVO).

The main takeaway from all of this material is the strong conclusion that the stronghold enjoyed by The Ampatuans is very much a result of the political dynamics of local and national politics in which there is a greater sense of the power that these local leaders can deliver a win for those in the national arena. And the stronghold is also enjoyed because it is backed by the current administration, and lastly the violence that we see is part of the fact that their militias have been legally armed by the national government, thus contributing to an environment guns and political warfare.

Resources for greater understanding:

- Understanding Rido
- Young Guns, Young Terror
- The Maguindanao Murders (two perspectives): Part 1
- The Maguindanao Murders (two perspectives): Part 2

Bloggers’ Reactions:

Lawyering’s Ins and Outs: Maguindanao Massacre
Jane Umaytiao: Maguindanao Massacre, Life Gone Cheap
Bandera Blogs: Duwag ang Mga Ampatuan
Sanctum of Memories: Maguindanao Massacre Insights
Carlos Conde: Ampatuans ‘Rule Absolutely’
RJ Marmol: Justice for Maguindanao Massacre Victims
Melancholic Dysphoria: My one cent’s worth

With reports from: ABS-CBN News, Inquirer.net, MindaNews, GMANews.tv

There is much to lament and so many to blame. But the sad reality of it all is that all the neglect leading up to the lack of preparation and lack of facilities to deal with this disaster we are now seeing happened across many administrations, each one contributing their own quantity of doing nothing. So there is no one person to blame — only our own collective aversion to exercising a bit of foresight. To give credit to our corner of the blogosphere many have risen above petty politics and focused on what is important. Many have highlighted how we move on, rebuild, and apply what we had learned.

As I wrote earlier:

My hope is that we appreciate the second chance we and our immediate circle of family and friends get to apply a bit of learning in the next decade or two. More importantly, let us pause and remember those who don’t get a second chance but nevertheless depend on people like us (we who benefit from a bit more capacity and opportunity) to learn from their tragedy.

Some of us however don’t see things that way. At Jolog Central, one can find the following articles that collectively represent a plumbing of lows that puts the Filipino “blogger” and more disturbingly, the otherwise noble profession of journalism to shame. Ellen Tordesillas is a noted member of the Philippine Press and a personification of everything that is wrong about that community as these articles of hers demonstrate:

Where’s Mikey in Ondoy’s aftermath
Gloria Arroyo’s Ondoy fashion statement
Ilang rubber boats ang $35,000 na ginastos sa hapunan ni Arroyo sa New York?
Arroyo’s latest gimmick: packs her bags, turns Malacañang into refugee and relief center

One need not even go beyond the titles of these articles to gain some insight on what is going on over at that space. There is something to be said of a person who could produce not just one but four articles in series fixated on exploitatively channeling the anger and grief surrounding the Ondoy disaster into her partisan politics.

Indeed, this is the weather according to people like Ellen Tordesillas:

Image courtesy: UtakNgTilapia.com

As such, Ben Kritz observes in one of his random thoughts while we have a short break between disasters how…

The Jolog Queen is an extreme example of a fatalistic, short-sighted view of things that afflicts the people in general, and it’s a trait that is not a good one for the citizens of a tropical nation prone to natural disasters. Attention from the root causes of disasters – or at least, the man-made conditions that aggravate them – is quickly diverted. Huge disasters that cost hundreds or even thousands of lives in the provinces are forgotten almost as soon as they happen. When it happens in the capital, the story has a little bit more shelf life, but not much. When Typhoon Milenyo struck Manila in 2007, it sparked a wave of anger against the obnoxiously-outsized billboards that litter the landscape and fell apart to wreak havoc on the city in a wind that wasn’t even typhoon-strength; despite stern calls for correcting the problem, two years on the Manila skyline looks just the same as it always has. The flood of September 26 was made much worse by the terrible condition of Manila’s incomplete, refuse-choked flood-control system. But as even the President proclaimed, “The recent calamity brought about by typhoon Ondoy was an extreme event not likely to happen again in our lifetimes.” It’s over, let it go, in other words. Until the next time it happens.

Indeed, we consistently fail to focus on root causes because of our fixation on easy targets. It’s time we turn away from the warm comfort of ego candy that people like Ellen Tordesillas feed us and start chewing on the ampalaya where the real stuff that nourishes the brain resides and where the truly important advocacies and initiatives will be revealed.

=========
Join us on Facebook!

Last time I explored the topic, I had two catchphrases that, at the time, I thought pretty much made a comprehensive and exhaustive coverage of what it means to be “Filipino”:

- Bahala na (“come what may”)

- Pwede na yan (“that’ll do”)

I am pleased to brief the Board on the discovery of a third element to be added to this brilliant manifesto. A third element is a milestone. Its addition to the what-it-means-to-be-Pinoy manifesto transforms it from a one-dimensional framework into a two-dimensional framework.

This is cause for celebration! But lest we succumb to that renowned fiesta-first-before-results ethic of Da Pinoy, I will re-visit first the original two elements of the manifesto before I introduce the third,

Bahala na

Ours is a society with a cultural aversion to self-reliance. Specifically, we are always encouraged to rely on “divine providence” for our fortunes. But then it becomes a blanket lifelong cop-out to aspiring for real achievement because, as the thinking then goes:

- When things go wrong – it is because it is “God’s will”

… but then …

- When things go right – it is “by God’s graces“.

Holy gordian knot, Batman!

Where then does an ethic of a deliberate and conscious focus on achieving results fit in in the above equation? The answer is quite simple: It doesn’t. For societies with minds and belief systems imprisoned by the one-dimensional mindset described within the above two-element sub-framework, a trackrecord of chronic failure is not surprising.

A friend of mine actually thought this through carefully and brought to bear on the subject his vast knowledge of history and philosophy:

Pinoys (as well as a few other cultures that are in the same economic quagmire) are somehow stuck in some of Christianity’s old hang-ups vis-Ã -vis the material world which are essentially holdovers from Western Christianity’s Neo-Platonistic influences.

Christendom, especially Western Christendom had, for a long time, been infected by this bias against looking after practical material needs until the Reformation and, later, the Age of Reason (aka “Age of Enlightenment”) came along.

Certain other cultures didn’t necessarily have this over-bearing bias on them. Judaism, for instance, didn’t have such hang-ups (since they didn’t share in Christianity’s syncretistic origins with largely pagan-origin philosophies such as Neo-Platonism or others) and it was because they didn’t have such hang-ups, back in the days when money-lending was frowned upon and Jews banned from taking on work that Christians did, many of them went into money-lending and banking. Besides, it was also in the New Testament (Matthew 19:23-24, Mark 10:24-25 and Luke 18:24-25) where we find the idea that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Even until today, Western culture still does have a bias against accumulating wealth, albeit this has been retained in “sayings” such as “Money is the root of all evil.” Christianity – for all the good things it teaches, somehow emphasizes (not literally, of course) that “the sooner we leave this earth and enter the next life”, the better. (in fact, traditional christianity – thanks to the anti-flesh and anti-material biases of Neo-Platonism also had a very anti-Sex bias (even if it was within marriage), something that both Judaism and Islam, from a theological point of view do not share as both Judaism and Islam theologically encourage sex within marriage, while in Christianity, for a long time, marriage was a kind of “license to be tolerated for marital relations”)

But in Chinese culture, you see no such bias against the idea that happiness is achievable through material fortune…

In fact, Chinese culture CELEBRATES, no, WORSHIPS Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity. These three ideals are represented by three Old Men referred to in Mandarin as “Fu (Good Fortune), Lu (Prosperity), and Shou (Longevity)” The longer one’s time on this earth, the better, and the better one’s material well-being, the better. (Something tells me the Vulcans were modeled on them ["Live Long and Prosper!"] and in the recent Star Trek movie, every Vulcan scene featured a Chinese Erhu playing in the background.)

During new year (both Jan 1 as well as on the Lunar New Year), Chinese always greet each other “Gong Xi Fa Tsai” (Mandarin), or “Kung Hei Fat Choi” (Cantonese) which means, “Congratulations, and may you Prosper!” (sounds Vulcan too).

Again, the Protestant Reformation (and subsequent reforms) changed Western Christianity’s ideas about the material world, while the later Age of Enlightenment superimposed Secularist (or Laicist) ideals on top of traditional Christianity’s biases (which Catholicism generally retained) against the active pursuit of material wealth.

One wonders then, if we have either missed out on or are long overdue for some kind of modernising cataclysm that will put a rocket up Filipinos’ arses and propel us out of the cultural and philosophical bunghole we are in. Certainly Noynoy Aquino and his well-publicised seeking of “divine guidance” in his efforts to decide whether to run for president or not in 2010 isn’t helping in this effort to claw our way out of that rut.

Pwede na yan

Take the time to consider what was achieved in two of the 20th Century’s most unlikely successes: the landing of a man on the moon and the invasion of Normandy which eventually led to the defeat of Germany in World War II.

These efforts — so taken for granted as they are today — were magnificent feats of planning, organisation, and execution at scales that one struggles to even begin to imagine. These were undertakings that, when first envisioned, made even seasoned politicians, engineers, and generals tremble at the very thought of what could go wrong. They involved mobilisation of huge chunks of participating societies’ industrial might and the rather ironic mass production of scientific and technological breakthroughs to meet head-on challenges that had no historic precedences.

In short, what was achieved in those two example did not just happen.

Let’s set our sights back down to the bottom of the pile and regard the quaint aspirations we hold for the future of our sad nation. In the lead up to the 2010 presidential elections (a milestone beyond which lies an utter void in terms of our collective imagination) we see fraud-free polls and the ascent to power of a leader who “will not steal” and “be sincere” as enough strokes to get our rocks off.

And get this — for now the only hope for a force to “unify” the “Opposition” lies in some bozo who has all but withdrawn under a rock waiting for God to make the decision to run for president for him.

Hokay. Enough said on that one, perhaps.

Let’s get the drumrolls going and announce the third contestant, shall we?

The inspiration for this Third Element in our manifesto describing what “The Filipino” stands for comes from everybody’s favourite blockhead of the moment — the honourable Deputy National Security Avdviser of the Republic of the Philippines – Chavit Singson.

It annoys me a bit because this third element rocks the sensibilities I routinely apply around consistency and coherence because unlike the original two elements this one (1) is expressed in English, and (2) is a word and not a phrase.

Here it is, nonetheless:

Impunity.

Impunity is defined as a state of “freedom from unpleasant consequences”. The word describes pretty much what is likely to be in store for Singson in the aftermath of his little lapse in judgment — an outrage that probably won’t escape the usual expressions of “indignation” from the self-inducted members of our “civil society”, to be sure.

But then the Singson Affair, a source of inspiration as it was, isn’t really the primary reason why I now induct the concept of impunity into its illustrious place in our framework of what it means to be Pinoy. Rather it was the post-inspiration-reflection I went through that sealed the deal (which means I take full credit).

That process of reflection, by the way, is something I describe in more detail in my recent piece “Impunity and the Filipino male“, specifically where I conclude that:

The divided views on the aspects of morality surrounding this Singson thing notwithstanding, everyone seems to agree that what happens next is really a function of how the whole thing will play out given the culture of impunity that Philippine society is renowned for. This is specially so, given the very character of Singson himself — a shining specimen representative of the flaccid machismo of the Pinoy male evident in the kind of cinema we enjoy and the sort of people we look up to for leadership.

So while the usual “experts” will have their tongues wagging about that quintessentially-Filipino story of the influential man walking away from a crime with no more than a token slap on the wrist (easy targets for the chronically self-righteous pundit), let us make like more intelligent beings for even one moment and reflect. For that matter, and considering how, for most of us, this moment of reflection is likely to occur inside our cars while stuck in Manila’s traffic, look around and observe the behaviour of the average Filipino driver. How many acts made with impunity do we see transpiring before our eyes within, say, an hour? Or even within a minute?

As the late sage Michael Jackson once say:

I’m starting with the man in the mirror.

While we reserve our harshest judgments for high-profile targets (who get away with their crimes anyway), the Average Pinoy Schmoe behind the wheels of their “Kings of the Road” go scot free with the banal disregard for human life and limb, basic courtesies, and sense of community in road use that characterises their typical day.

I harp upon jeepneys and their drivers because they are MY easy targets (there are many many others) in this corner of the Pinoy blogosphere. But regardless of what our personal targets are, impunity is our common denominator.

As such, I hereby induct the third element into that slow-to-grow list of things that the Filipino stands for:

- Bahala na (come what may).

- Pwede na yan (that’ll do).

- Impunity (e ganun talaga sa Pinas).

Indeed, there is progress folks — but in places where we least expect to find it.

============
Join us on Facebook!

According to Bernas, the Supreme Court has to approach apportionment based on comparison which means precisely that it was ‘to preserve proportionality not just in one province but in the entire country’ consistent with the basic principle of Republicanism.

Discussing in length how representative districts are so created along with the creation of a province or city, Bernas fears more a similar creation outside of this apparently causal relationship as in the case of Camarines Sur where, he says, a ‘president’s son is involved’.

As we ordinarily know, the requirements for the creation of a legislative district are one, population; two, income; and three, area. This means, according to Bernas, that ‘a province with a large population should have proportionally more districts than smaller provinces’. Further, he argues – ‘Corollarily, the various districts should be of approximately the same population size so that the vote of every person will be of equal weight.’

If the Court has resolved as early as in 1961 the problem of reapportionment or redistricting in this case, why then that up to now constitutional questions are still being raised against the creation of new districts? And Bernas did not fail to mention the case of Malolos in Bulacan.

In a much earlier blog (‘Is the Malolos bill unconstitutional?) here at FV, I have attempted a discussion on the subject from an ordinary layman’s point of view but it can be called to mind for purposes of research and certain historical units of empiricism.

If we check current available data, I would think that there is hardly any uniformity in terms of the number of inhabitants on a per province basis since indeed, as Bernas argues, the case of the 1st District of Camarines Sur or where Rep. Dato Arroyo is congressman must compare well ‘with other districts around the country’ – not just in terms of district size but more so with population.

Bernas undertook to present the facts and figures why RA 3040 has violated the Constitution, to wit:

a. “it gave Cebu 7 members while Rizal with larger number of inhabitants got 4 only;

b. gave Manila 4 members while Cotabato with bigger population got 3 only;

c. Pangasinan with less inhabitants than both Manila and Cotabato got more than both, 5 members having been assigned to it;

d. Samar with 871,857 allotted 4 members while Davao with 903,224 got 3 only;

e. Bulacan with 557,691 got 2 only while Albay with less inhabitants (515,601) got 3;

f. Misamis Oriental with 387,839 was given 1 member only while Cavite with less inhabitants (379,904) got 2;”

Our respected columnist further points of other ‘instances of unequal apportionment’ such as Mountain Province having 3 while Isabela, Laguna and Cagayan with more inhabitants having 2 each; Capiz, La Union, and Ilocos Norte at 2 each whereas Sulu with more inhabitants got 1 only; and Leyte with 967,323 inhabitants got 4 only whereas Iloilo with less (966,145) given 5.

Perhaps, the growth of representative districts would not really reach that desired academic idea of proportionality or uniformity.

MANILA (Reuters) – The youngest daughter of former Philippine president Corazon Aquino said on Sunday her family had differences with the government, one reason why they had decided against a state funeral for the former leader.

Film and television star Kristina Bernadette Yap, popularly known as Kris Aquino, said there was an offer from the government to give her mother a state funeral befitting a former head of government, but her siblings turned it down.

Ironic that such a take on things would come from the daughter of the ex-president, considering that many have already warned of the onslaught of the dark and backward forces of politicisation already circling like vultures around the burst of patriotic fervor surrounding Corazon Aquino’s death.

Forgive my even simpler take on things, but last I heard, there is a clear difference between the State and a Government. That is why we attach a name to a government; usually the name of whoever heads or headed it. So we have “the Aquino Government”, or “the Arroyo Government”. However there is only ONE state that transcends all of these governments that come and go — the Phlippine State. The primacy of the Philippine State lends us a bit of sense around our predisposition to call ourselves “Filipinos”. Regardless of what Government is in power and WHO is leading it, the Philippine State exists. We are not Aquinoans or Arroyoans, we are “Filipinos”.

So my question, as always, is quite simple.

Why drag the State into one’s squabbles with a Government?

Let me re-state it in a way that makes it stand out as one of those issues that our so-called “experts” have so expertly and sensationally muddled (as they tend to do) over the last couple of weeks:

The rejection of state protocol on the basis of the behaviour of a government currently in power.

If we are to rely on a further paraphrasing of Kris Aquino’s take on this by a commentor in FilipinoVoices.com, a rationale that appeals to typically-Filipino sensibilities is that…

[...the Aquino family would] rather get the honor from the people [...]

Absolutely. As would any person who served The State could only hope for in death. But the missing piece here is a clear understanding of what we mean when we utter the words “the people”. Is it a crowd that gathers on the streets? Or is it what is embodied by the State known to the rest of the world as “the Republic of the Philippines”?

That is an argument that harks back to that old, tired, but all-too-familiarly-muddled Margalloan thinking of preferring to see a street mob as the embodiment of the “people’s will” rather than a formal structure to represent it.

One word summarises the above chronic syndrome:

Primitivism.

It is no wonder that time and again, Philippine society has demonstrated its utter lack of capacity for self-organisation; because we prefer chaotic blobs to embody our ideals rather than work on developing coherent structures to embody them consistently.

—————–
Epilogue:

After having said all of the above, let’s not forget that all this was really because “[Kris's] family had differences with the government”.

And…

[...] the differences stemmed from a government decision to recall two soldiers serving as her mother’s security detail after the former president called on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to step down in 2005.

So you see, folks, it is all quite simple after all, really™.

============
Join us on Facebook!

Plainly speaking, this is crazy.

From an ordinary military perspective, this runs against the grain of well-revered customs and traditions of the service. No officer or enlisted personnel should get promoted to his next higher rank or grade, as the case may be, all in a day’s work, which is primarily an assigned task or duty from an immediate superior. And neither is really there any threat to life or limb just to stand vigil over a former president of the Republic. There was no extraordinary job or mission to accomplish than just be posted as “Honor Guards” and as such must just don their prescribed gala uniforms and stand as true military ‘manequins’ as called for by the solemn ritual.

No need to honor them, too.

In every branch of service in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the customs and traditions of the service are uniform for all officers and enlisted personnel across the military system. That goes as well with the members of the Philippine National Police. Further, there are well-established systems, approaches, and practices that are being followed not just to their intent but more so to the letter. This makes the military as one of two classic management models in every civilized society, the Church being the other. There is a rigid tradition of seniority that in principle cannot, as it should not, be violated. And promotion that goes out of the military norm is simply a work in madness.

And the Fourth Estate, inasmuch as it influences public minds, has gone mad in this regard. No well-meaning editor or columnist, TV anchor or host, broadcast or radio commentator, and blogger should ever attempt to suggest that these Honor Guards should each receive promotion for a feat that is now being played up or sensationalized in mainstream media as if it were anything from the ordinary duty that every soldier does as a faithful sentinel. The promotion route cannot take exception to a petty even rather trivial performance of such an ordinary task. Military camps are guarded 24 hours a day by the same men in uniform as these Honor Guards. In short, it goes with the territory that an ordinary soldier or commanding general should not leave the post he is assigned until permission is granted.

Promoting the Honor Guards at the expense of the rest of their comrades in arms will destroy the esprit d corps. It will be a dangerous military precedent. No one gets promoted outside of well-established doctrinal frameworks that the whole Philippine military system adheres to – just nothing. To do so would be tantamount to subverting the great norm that has been the mute witness to the success of the military as the most viable institution in every given society. Put simply, no one should mess up with this highly monolithic organization that is the armed services.

The best that can be done is for their respective units to give them a Letter of Commendation in a scheduled ‘Flag Raising Ceremony’ for in truth, the one honored is not so much as that it was Cory but fundamentally because she is the former president. In other words, the military honors institutions rather than it honors persons, per se. When an ordinary soldier salutes an officer, it is not so much as the person is being honored any more than the rank in the uniform that the officer wears. The military life is one of traditions that should not be broken on mere whim or fancy.

Let not the Fourth Estate writes prescriptions nor goes overboard on their petty liberties.

One, GMA earns negative ratings in all sectors – “34 in socio-economic Class D, 28 in Class ABC, 22 in Class E, 35 among men and 26 among women”.
Two, in Mindanao, GMA drowns from a “bad negative 40 to a poor negative 21” which means from 62% dissatisfied and 22% satisfied to 53% dissastisfied and 31% satisfied”.
Three, in Visayas, again GMA gets a “bad negative 33 to a poor negative 28 which means 61% dissatisfied and 28% satisfied to 57% dissatisfied and 30% satisfied”.
Four, GMA earns a “bad negative 37 in urban areas and a poor negative in rural areas”.
Five, GMA’s net rating outside the metropolis on the country’s main island worsened from a poor negative 24 to a bad negative 32”.

In the context of the above givens and with 12 more days to go before GMA’s last and final State of the Nation Address, the president’s advisers may have to do some work in ‘knitting’.

It is rather revealing that among Filipino adults in Luzon but outside of Metro Manila, the dissatisfaction as reflected by this June 19 to 22 survey even ‘intensified’ and that the rest of Luzon even “dropped from 29% in February to 23% last month”.

It remains a rather crippling constant that Metro Manila remained highly critical of GMA with “65% of respondents dissatisfied and 19% satisfied for a bad net rating of negative 46”. On a nationwide net rating basis, GMA gets a “bad negative 31” which means “56% dissatisfied and 26% satisfied”.

And what exactly it is we hear from GMA’s rabid ‘defenders of the faith’? They are saying as they have always said as a matter of bureaucratic protocol if not motherhood statement that “performance is not popularity”. Thus, the Palace is said to have advised the “public to listen to GMA’s SONA come 27th July 2009 to know more of her accomplishments” which coincides with the anniversary celebration of the Iglesia ni Kristo.

This is what U/Sec. Gary Olivar said – “We will state this: The President governs for performance and prosperity not for popularity”. According to him, the forthcoming SONA outlines and summarizes GMA’s “substantive achievements’ during her watch. Well said, perhaps or shall we not say – “tell it to the Marines”?

Since surveys are never known to have been acceptable to whom it may have “disfavored”, then we can begin to look at these statistical findings as ‘diagnostic’ or an enlightened estimate on the state of affairs. Is RP a healthy functioning democracy? Is the president whom people have elected via a supposed-to-be fair, clean and honest elections except that the “hello Garci” points to something else, really aboveboard, beyond reproach and rebuke all throughout her term in the presidency (invariably ‘entrusted’ or possibly ‘stolen’)?

Rather than merely shrugging off the normative value of surveys which appears to be an act of intellectual snobbery if not arrogance, why can’t the advisers of the President also commission a polling circuit just so to do an honest-to-goodness reality check? Surveys, to the extent that they can correctly capture the true signs or symptoms of something problematic, remain a normative guide that must be taken into account however disfavored Malacanang maybe be by this SWS’ latest results.

It challenges reflection what surveys really end up doing. Do they embarrass the president? Do they paint a thorny picture of governance? Do they take away trust in the president’s ability to do the right thing? Are surveys to begin with, scientific?

In other words, something ought to be dysfunctional somewhere if the situation is such that a persistently moving down negative satisfaction and trust ratings are always registered in the scoreboard of GMA than her spin doctors may be willing to accept to be true. Come to think of it, even Obama suffers from this same fate and some leaders in Latin America.

For instance, based on the Harris Poll of March 23, 2009 alone, results do show that ‘while a majority of Americans give President Obama’s overall performance high marks, the same is not the case in his performance on the economy’. In short, ‘53% gives Obama negative marks while 47% gives it positive ratings’. And what about Jacob Zuma of South Africa with surveys saying he will do a good job as president at 40% and the same 40% saying otherwise, with 20% reflecting the “don’t know” response?

Again, to the extent that such negative ratings could deliver truly negative impact upon the presidency of GMA and her brand of governance, from where I stand, it would seem to destroy the path toward that final day in 2010 when she ought to officially turn over the presidency to the next successor. Sadly, GMA is leaving the gate of the Palace more unpopular than when she first came in. For one, to my mind, surveys evoke some notions of “moral embargo”, true or not. Well then, has GMA been that ‘evil’ or bad our president, pray tell?

1. History, can only reveal in the future, what really happened that night on 2nd of June 2009, in the year of our Lord.

2. There are about 170 holders of ticket no. 1109 and the jackpot prize will be shared among them equally at P20 million each.

3. Con Ass pushed the panic button that the always-late-reaction team of the CBCP warns against the declaration of martial law if people decide to launch violent EDSA Power.

4. Only God knows if Senate will indeed shoot down 1109 as soon as it knocks at the door step.

5. The whole debate on whether HR 1109 must have been approved by a simple majority of the House membership rather than 3/4 of its members is made moot and academic.

6. Whether HR 1109 will have to be voted jointly or separately would be a work in intellectual abstraction, forensics all it that.

7. If both Senate and HOR (House of Representatives) vote jointly, any mathematician will tell us it would be an – exercise in futility.

8. If both chambers vote separately, instead, Senate’s vocal critics might be correct in saying, Con-Ass is dead on arrival.

9. If no options are forged, Supreme Court plays arbiter in a ‘justiciable controversy’ submitted for its cognizance and again only God knows what the decision would be.

10. One constitutional expert (happens to be a classmate of mine) has already said that 1109 is like a slippery slope.

11. The same expert also said there is danger in opening the door since once opened, hell will break loose. What covenants are we talking about anyway?

12. People’s Initiative has failed, Constitutional Convention remains virgin, Con Ass is the beast of the hour.

13. Funny if strange how no one really knows if Congress is a unicameral or a bicameral – it will yet be debated.

14. Funnier if more strange how we know what math should be applied in the moral computation and yet choose ½ rather than ¾, jointly rather than separately, this textbook than this 1935, 1973, et cetera.

15. Wanted: framers of the 1935, 1973, and 1987 constitutions of the Republic of the Philippines – where thou art now?

16. In a game of fairness, the worldview that Con Ass should be by a vote of ¾ of HOR and Senate voting separately – enjoys the highest precedence.

17. Has the notion that the ‘voice of the representatives is the voice of their constituency’ turned into a myth?

18. The expert has raised thought-provoking questions in his column.  So which way to go – heresy, wasteland of conjecture, or ‘mental archeology’?

19. Offhand, the expert’s notion of the House of Representatives having been constitutionally allocated as having a purpose, to my mind, is debatable, seeing as we do the whole deviation to a tyranny of numbers under guise of majority rule.

20. Can we really expect our own House of Representatives to be much like the House of Commons and the House of Lords in United Kingdom? Offhand, I would think that one shames the other.

21. If indeed, the text of the Constitution would be controlling, what means this intellectual disarray? Perhaps, more than the text likewise the context, with more reason in an ‘intellectual culture’ given to the notion of ‘political perpetuity’

22. It summons circumspection whether bicameralism in the sense that the expert puts it can be applied on the matter of having to convene a Con Ass as to amend or revise the Constitution. It stands to reason that crucial matters be dealt crucially.

23. When to change the Constitution is a never-ending jigsaw puzzle but maybe, one revisits the events that led to the 1935, to the 1973, to the 1973, and to the futuristic 2009 as soon as it rears its ugly head.

24. The devil is in the details. Bless this country!

Are we then to trust these surveys knowing that only 1,200 adult respondents were interviewed? In the case of those 1 percenters alone – Gordon, Manny Pangilinan, Justice Puno, Teodoro – they sure will have good reason to believe that this Pulse results are bogus, possibly ‘pushed or pulled’ largely depending who pays the higher commissions. In other words, things end up in a relationship of – ‘patrons come, patrons served’. And in fact, poor BF scores even less than 1% at 0.3.

At that rate, the 1 million and 700,000 Filipinos crossing over those 51 footbridges studiedly put up by BF in busy intersections of the whole Metro Manila to make their lives free from every vehicular accident in the streets, may well shout at the top of their voice to say – “that survey is a farce”. And not few can join the protest shout, come to think of it.

It seems ironic that the reasons for choices revolve around the – “candidate’s being helpful toward others (34%), particularly the poor (27.3%) and overseas Filipino workers (6.6%) followed by the candidate’s accomplishments (11.6%), being clean or not corrupt (7.1%), goodness (5.6%) and being a fighter (5.4%)”. These survey results appear to be getting more improbable each single time and conveniently pre-selected only a handful at the expense of all the rest. Why this?

Couldn’t one call being helpful that of building two Gwapotels as 3 to 4-storey lodging houses for workers and transients at the cost of only P25 a day complete with room and bath? Is it not being pro-poor to build sidewalks where people in the streets could walk on rather than be part of the casualty toll – 1 death in EDSA a day, 1 death in Commonwealth a day – before industrial designer BF into the scene?

And the survey outfit pretends to have captured who accomplished the most, reason for the top 5? How stupid could Pulse get on this regard really challenges reflection. For instance, Metro Gwapo is really about the whole of Metro Manila comprising so many cities and municipalities, not to say barangays taken together. And if the accomplishments of the passionate artist cum industrial designer BF in Metro Manila in terms of engineering works – pink urinals, sidewalks, pink fences, footbridges, u turn slots, elevated u turns, transport terminals, passenger waiting areas, not to mention flood control projects, traffic schemes, garbage collection – shall even fail to approximate a ‘new culture of productivity’, then we sure don’t know what is?

Being a fighter is an ideal trait for the would-be president and could that have been properly reflected by whom Pulse Asia placed 1st in the chart? What is it or precisely those things that Noli is known to have fought for throughout the time he was Vice President? Compared that to the feat that BF has to face even being called the Hitler? But is the poor BF really a Hitler just because he has to drive away the sidewalk vendors? At the very least, has there been a reported case that at least 1 person died precisely because say – “namatay sa gutom dahil pina-alis ni BF sa sidewalks”?

There are those who complain of an elevated u-turn which in truth costs the government about P360K, a cost that is recouped within only 2 months of use. In fact, according to BF, the government in fact incurs P2.5 billion a year – in the absence of this Kalayaan elevated u-turn. So, on which side are we in terms of cost-benefit analysis?

BF knows that, in doing what he has immense passion of doing, we are watched by the world. Every turn of the day, we are watched by no less than the World Bank. Truly, with 40 years as an engineer, he knows that he must attached premium to development from an engineer’s point of advantage.  For the man, this country is 200 years behind in technology as it is in development because the programs of government are not really implemented.

While BF believes in the system – that there is, in fact, a fully developed check and balance in all layers of the system – the problem seems to have lied on the utter lack of political will that should originate right from the top – the presidency. For him, the flow ought to be from the top down to the lowest layer of the government system. And this much-sought change in development as it is in the whole national consciousness toward social behavior adept to technology and sense of pride (the reflexive fear of being fired if found either incompetent or corrupt) is for BF – the work ethic. The Metro Gwapo concept alone will be launched in the major cities of the country and the so-called “pink utopia” will be permanent icons in the country’s changing development and growth priorities. I give my thumbs up for BF – however some would choose to disagree. Poll surveys are nothing but feeds to the unthinking masses.

If we go by more contemporary trends, professional engineers are the ones running the corporate governments of China and Singapore. Shouldn’t it be time to vote for BF as the next president 2010 – all other criteria being met? If there is one presidentiable who can take the bull by the horn, it must be the MMDA chair with his promise – “achieving an accountable government”. So folks, rather than subscribe to that rotten conventional wisdom that the next president should come from the Senate, for a change, why don’t we cast a wider net?

From where I stand, I know that BF is not given to talking but nonetheless could sing best instead – a talent that can easily win leaders and diplomats, a talent that can win governments.  Who knows what one government can get from another foreign government with a song?