US, self-appointed global cop

This is a reply to a thread currently being discussed in the Pinoy atheists mailing list.

Do the neo-cons really believe in the Christian solution or is it only a card they they use to rally the gullible American majority into any war it fancy? Is McCain a religious nut just like Bush is? The greatest puzzle for me is why did the Americans voted that idiot TWICE into the White House. The Americans must really be proud of their president.

Just a curiosity, do you guys think that the neo-cons have not lost some credibility or do the majority of Americans still buy the fear that they manufacture? Will it more likely that they will vote for McCain or with the Democrat? How about Clinton, has she expressed an unequivocal commitment to a US pull-out if voted? I think Republican or Democrat, it doesn't really matter since the US will continue to be in Iraq indefinitely as much as can be possible. History is replete with examples including the Philippines. According to Dean Jorge Bocobo, the Philippines is the first Iraq. He's got a point. If not for Marcos - one of the good things that he did as president - who re-negotiated the "lease" of the US bases from 99 years to 25 years which expired in '92, and for Erap, one of the good things that he did as a senator who voted against its extension, the American "global cop" will still be in Subic and Clark and the US service-men out of reach of our courts. It's a complete disgrace to us as a nation that only a full-blooded Am-boy can accept. That's what the Americans want, if possible, from all the nations that host their bases. Unfortunately, the Philippines was too weak economically to escape the unequal "partnership". This is what will eventually happen with Iraq. The government will be handed over to the Iraqis but the US bases will stay. The Americans will do all the best they can to prevent an anti-American Iraqi president from being voted whether the US president be a religious nut
or otherwise.

Unconditional Pardon?

Today's news item almost made me fall off my seat:

"...deposed president Joseph Estrada on Sunday strongly indicated he would accept an unconditional pardon that would involve no admission of guilt, if Malacañang offered it to him."

This Erap guy is still in denial. By now, he should accept reality. He was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt so he is not in the position now to lay down any terms for his pardon. But we cannot really blame him. The GMA administration, it looks like, is willing to trivialize the otherwise very significance of Erap spending the rest of his life rotting in jail, deservedly if I may add, for serious crime of corruption, under the preposterous guise of "national interest" according to Interior Secretary Puno and according to the same news item. National interest my ass? Reducing if not eradicating corruption is for national interest. What he should look at, in the name of national interest, is how to reduce corruption under his responsibility.

This is what is so wrong in our country. Justice is prostituted by those in power. Petty criminals or even those that are just falsely-accused rot in jail even before their cases get resolved, if at all, while the rich and powerful talk about pardon for very serious crimes. To Mt. Puno, please use your time for more important matters please.

OFW Assistance Or Burden?

I am an OFW. I mean, I now call myself an OFW. I don't like the term. It's not necessary. Or it's not necessarily applicable to any Pinoy who happen to be working outside the country because we all have our different reasons. One valid reason is that our government is grossly inefficient and our society is generally corrupted. I started to call myself an OFW because I was forced into it by our government. I hate dealing with our government bureaucracy. It always set me into cursing for the small stupid things that it makes you do before you can complete something, like filling out government forms. Let me narrate my latest story about this OFW thing. You can call it a tragedy, a comedy, or horror, depending on your mood. Here it goes. I went into a short holiday last month. All in all, I was in the country for about nine days. I didn't get an Overseas Employment Certificate or OEC (which always get me into trouble at the immigration) this time since going to the Philippine embassy in Roppongi is out of my way. I figured, I'll just have to get an OEC before I leave and before I check in my baggage because the last time I left the country, I was turned back by the immigration officer to get an OEC but that's another tragedy to narrate for another day. So departure date, the morning flight was delayed by four hours because there was a typhoon raging in Tokyo. I went to the OWWA office of the old terminal to get an OEC. The guy told me I needed to give him an updated copy of my e-ticket that reflects the flight time as 13:30, not 9:30 as the original flight time was. He said he needed it because I am a chance passenger. I explained that I was not a chance passenger, my flight was delayed by four hours because of the typhoon but he insisted. Knowing that I cannot win an argument against one-track mind people like him (I've dealt with his kind many times), I left and decided to check in first. (For those of you who have not heard of an e-ticket, your flight booking is stored in a system that is accessible anywhere given the right permission so what you have is a printout copy of your flight booking. It's a better system compared to traditional ticketing in the sense that if you lose your ticket printout, you can request a new one and you are guaranteed to get it since it's just a matter of printing out the e-ticket details again.) Anyway, since I thought I can get it only from the check-in counter since the airline doesn't hold office outside the terminal, I had no choice but to get inside the terminal and check into the counter and get it from the airline officer at the check-in counter. I queued up outside the airport terminal and finally was able to get to the check-in counter after about twenty minutes. I requested the lady if she could issue me an updated ticket that reflects the new flight time but she said they are not issuing such kind, and besides my printout is still valid and because there is no need of such updated printout. I said the guy at the OWWA would not take that explanation but she said that my flight details including the delay is posted in the OWWA office as well. Ayun naman pala. Okay, I had to go back to the OWWA office to give exactly that explanation. Since I already checked in, I had to exit through this small door which is right next to the OWWA office but I would have to surrender my boarding pass to the lady guard who will then give me the usual "bilisan mo, malapit na boarding ng flight mo" crap (translated: hurry up, your flight is close to boarding). She never fails to give me this each time the system gives me a hard time. So I got my small piece of cardboard that will serve as my claim ID when I come back to get my boarding pass. Thirty minutes later, I was back to the OWWA office. I queued and waited for my turn. There were about two dozen Pinays also queued up. When it was my turn, the guy said I was in the wrong queue but he signalled the next guy to take my case anyway so that I didn't have to go back to the end of The Right Queue. I tried looking for any sign or instruction that could possibly give me a hint which one is the right queue but there was none, as I suspected. Somehow, they think OFWs have some kind of power to tell which is the right queue or there would be a lot of cussing around the place because people are in the wrong queue half of the time (there are only two queues at the moment). The other guy gave me a form and told me to fill it up and go to the other end of the floor to get further instructions. The guy and lady at the other end examined my passport and had it photocopied. Then he told me to go back to the other end. I had to queue again to be fair to every other OFW. When again it's my turn, the guy told me I was in the wrong queue again. I would have argued but I thought I needed to exercise restraint because at this moment I was at their mercy, they can further delay me. The last time I tried arguing with the another OWWA employee during another earlier vacation, the OWWA employee tried to hoodwink me by inserting my Alien Registration Card between the receipts and telling me he already gave it back but I never took my eyes away from it so I was able to get it back. Going back to the story, he told me he could not issue my OEC yet unless I gave him a copy of my boarding pass. WTF?!? This doesn't make any sense at all! This statement put me into semi-argumentative mood in order to sway their mind why for the life of me, do they need that for? I said it's just the boarding pass, what's it got to do with all these? My flight was to board in the next sixty minutes and besides, they should know that the guards take the boarding pass when passengers exit the airport terminal. Hindi talaga pwede, balikan nyo na lang po. I stepped outside the office seething with anger now since I fail to see the point at all. The existentialists must be saying: I told you so. A lot of the fellow OFWs heard me curse "putang-inang OWWA talaga 'to kahit kailan pahirap!" as I walked away from the counter. I stepped outside and went to the terminal exit next door to get my boarding pass back but the security guards, including the lady security guard who was holding my boarding pass, wont let me even explain why I seem to be trying to enter the terminal through the exit door which is absolutely not allowed, and which I wasn't trying to. I tried to explain that I only wanted to get my boarding pass back which is right there with the lady guard. They told me I had to use the entrance door to get back inside. No lady, I am not trying to get inside. I am just trying to get my boarding pass which you are currently holding. As I tried harder to argue, yet another guard started to walk my way motioning that they are not interested in what I was saying, telling me to go back and use the entrance door. Fuck! I went to the entrance door jumping the queue since I could not lose another thirty minutes. The guards at the entrance told me to go back to the end of the queue since it's not fair for other passengers but what is fair in this scheme of things anyway? I explained that I already checked in and I am just going to get my boarding pass. After awhile they let me in. Once inside again, again I jumped the queue and went straight to the X-Ray machine and walk straight through inside. If I had a bomb, I could have easily did it. What security! I went straight to the lady guard and told them why they had to make me go all the way to the entrance door when all they had to do was give me back my boarding pass which was right in her hands. Obviously, they sensed that I was already angry and told me that I shouldn't be angry because they were just doing their job. The government must have been paying them to be stupid because that seemed to me to be what they were doing - to be complete stupid automatons unable to think on their own. I got my boarding pass now after badmouthing them. Another fifteen minutes later I was back in the OWWA office photocopy machine to have my boarding pass copied. I went back to the OWWA officer to give him the copy and he game me my OEC. I swear to the devil, I would have turned terrorist if they told me to go back again. Now my flight is about boarding time and I still had to go through immigration. I went to the entrance door jumping the queue again and again the guards told me to go back to the end of the queue. After a minute of argument, they let me in. I jumped the queue again in the X-Ray machine and went to immigration.

That's it.

If I may suggest a few improvements into the system. Here they are:

1) After check-in passengers should be allowed to get outside the terminal again without surrendering their boarding pass to the stupid guards at the exit door. There is absolutely no point for them to hold a passenger's boarding pass should the passenger need to exit the terminal.

2) Have a more efficient method in OWWA. Get another fecking photocopy machine right next to the guy at the counter who needs them copies. Don't have to require copying the boarding pass. They already copy the passport and visa and the ticket. It's more than enough information. In fact, don't require copies of the ticket as well. It's just a waste of paper.

3) OEC can be in the form of a sticker that is attached to the passport like a visa. It should have a fixed-term validity that is as good as the passport, say five years, and optionally applied at the same time as the passport, paid-for once. On immigration, it takes validity (exemptions) if when leaving the country, the OFW has a work visa.

4) Abolish the government.

Voter registration

I was able to vote in the last election but not without a slight snag. My name was still in the voters' list but when I was to cast my vote, my name was crossed out already in the list inside the precinct (not the one posted just outside). The chairman (I don't know her) was for a moment at a loss. I insisted that I be allowed to vote and she relented.

My question is, how does the COMELEC decide who should be struck out from the list and who decides? What are the criteria used? I have been abroad for over seven years now but I always make it a point to come home to Laguna at least three times a year. I am building my residence in Laguna and am planning of opening up my business very soon, right in the same barangay where I am a registered voter. I have vested interest in the future of Laguna and have as much the same right to vote as anybody who is staying in Laguna.

Inefficient utility company or deliberate?

I was in the Philippines during the last election. During the ballot counting, as this is not without precedent in in my hometown, power was cut-off many times, and at least in one instance, only in the portion where ballot counting was happening. This happened in the second level of the public market which is temporarily converted into public high school classrooms. I posted this in the community forum, just to ask the question since it seems it has not been mentioned at all:

I am wondering why the brownouts were never mentioned at all? Is it not important?

I was in Ibaba and in the upper palenke during the ballot counting and in one instance, the brownout hit only the upper palenke while in the heat of counting the ballots. After sometime, Ibaba had the power restored but the upper palenke continued to have no power for some time. It's totally irrational. It makes one think that it can only be explained as a purely deliberate action by somebody playing tricks on our townfolks as it happened a couple of times. I am not saying it's this or that camp. It could very well be just a prank but I am not sure if any effort has been made to find out why power was lost only in the upper palenke during the crucial moment of ballot counting. I have never seen anything like it before.

Just wondering.

I am waiting for the first ad hominem I'll get with this post. Pinoys are very sensitive and always resort to ad hominems as if it's always the best argument.

Philippine democracy is a farce

If the Filipino masses are intelligent enough to collectively arrive at decisions that are well argued and well thought of, our democracy will be a lot better shape than it is now. With the upcoming election, it's so obvious that our "democracy" is a cosmic farce. It will be proven once again when the votes are cast and counted, the winners announced. This is true at the local level, this is true for the national level. Our criteria and mechanism for choosing our public servants and leaders are irrational and not reliable. It is to the interest of the powers-that-be that the status quo be undisturbed. They need to keep the masses in line in order for them to continue to rule and enrich themselves. Our system is nothing but a public battle ground for families aspiring for power. Some things never change. We still have the ago-go Oreta of the Aquino clan as Exhibit A for this madness. We have old dynasties persisting, and new ones in the making. To my fellow Pinoys: congratulations, you deserve the clowns.

OFWs as Export Commodities

Japan and the Philippines signed a free-trade agreement. Its most important feature is the provisions on the movement of labor. Rather than bringing the jobs home, this fake Arroyo administration sees OFWs like myself as export commodity. When I was to leave for Tokyo last June, the immigration officer held me until I produced a POEA permit. I don't usually get an OCW permit because of lack of time and to avoid the hassles of dealing with the bureaucracy. But if I didn't get the permit, I had to pay for travel tax and terminal fees for me and my family. Last June, I had to pay for three people, but still I had to go back to the POEA because the immigration officer wouldn't let me leave, which I could not afford. At the POEA desk, I had to argue with the guy on the desk because he was not very quick in processing my request, my flight was close to boarding and he was not in a hurry at all pausing to listen to his colleagues gossip. After getting my POEA permit, I went back to the desk where I earlier paid for my travel tax then terminal fees if I could get my money back (1,600 + 550 for three people or about 6,500 pesos). They said I can only get my refund from the main POEA office, which I suppose is the one in EDSA corner Ortigas avenue, and which is like saying: good luck dude. We always have to pay dearly for our government's inefficiencies. After going back to the immigration officer with the permit, she had to give me a lecture about the importance of getting the POEA for my own protection from my employer. I told her I work for a very good company, which is a fact. This company has done me more good than any of our government agencies, save the public school system. (I attended a public elementary school.) She insisted that I was making a mistake by not availing myself of the POEA permit, that if in case problems erupt in the country where I work, I will be helped by OWWA because I am registered. BIG DEAL. The war in Lebanon highlighted what kind of help I shall be expecting if and when that actually happens. The OWWA didn't have the funds nor the muscle for such a situation. Our govenrment is so weak and ineffective when dealing with events outside our country, and yet, one of the main push of this government is to continue to commoditize its citizen, to deploy to all corners of the world. If penguins hire househelps and nannies, we'd be in Antarctica.

Our government negotiated the free trade agreement with Tokyo which includes the provision for the deployment of nurses and caregivers. The pact is about free trade. We get electronics, in exchange, the Japanese gets our nurses among other commodities. Fair trade?

Gloria Should Learn Honesty From Singapore's PM Lee

Letter I sent to INQ7.net just now. Please refer to this link for further reference.

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Dear Editor,

That the Philippines is truly the basket case of Asia is no longer disputable. Why we are a long way to go in the Asian Politician Honesty survey. Take for example the recent elections in Singapore where PM Lee said:

"What is the opposition's job? It's not to help the PAP do a better job ... because if they help the PAP do a better job, you're going to vote for me again and they're going to be out of a job for a long time. So their job is to make life miserable for me... Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I'm going to spend all my time thinking what's the right way to fix them, to *buy my supporters votes*, how can I solve this week's problem and forget about next year's challenges?"

On fixing the votes, it seems that Gloria needs to learn a lesson or two from PM Lee about honesty. Why say "I'm sorry" when you can just brag about it?

Sincerely,


CC: INQ7.net feedback
PDI feedback
blog

She Is Not My President

I have been listening to the voice recordings including the "Hello, Garci" and the "I'm Sorry" speech by Gloria. There are many things wrong with it. This president is making us look like fools. She is not my president.

CHEd To Investigate Pangilinan

The news item today about CHEd ordering the investigation on the recent heckling of PGMA in Cavite State University by graduating students led by Maria Teresa Pangilinan for purposes of imposing sanctions to the protesters, is truly nauseating. What should be investigated is the vote stealing by PGMA which is the root cause of all these. These people - Arroyo and her lapdogs - are really shameless. If there is somebody or something that warrants immediate, thorough, and impartial investigation, it's the biggest theft of all - the presidency itself.

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Above, modified slightly and sent to INQ7.net feedback section:

The news item today (PDI, 4/27/06) about CHEd ordering the investigation on the recent heckling of PGMA in Cavite State University by graduating students led by Maria Teresa Pangilinan for purposes of imposing sanctions to the protesters, is truly nauseating. Arroyo should not be surprised by the heckling at all. As the cliche goes, "respect is earned." These people - Arroyo and her lapdogs - are really shameless. If there is something that warrants immediate, thorough, and impartial investigation, it's the biggest theft of all - stealing the presidency itself. It is the root cause of all the mess our nation now finds itself in.