Worldwide, in the six sectors identified to be affected by corruption in the Transparency International’s (TI) 2009 Global Corruption Barometer, 29 percent of respondents cited political parties as the single most corrupt institution, while 26 percent named civil service (public officials/ civil servants), 16 percent named parliament or legislature, 14 percent cited business or the private sector, 9 percent cited the judiciary, and 6 percent cited the media.
In the Philippines, 35 percent of respondents cited public officials and civil servants as the most corrupt, followed by political parties with 28 percent, legislature with 26 percent. Only 7 percent cited the judiciary, 3 percent for business and the private sector and 1 percent or media.
The Barometer presents the main findings of a public opinion survey that explores the general public’s views of corruption, as well as experiences of bribery around the world. It assesses the extent to which key institutions and public services are perceived to be corrupt, measures citizens’ views on government efforts to fight corruption, and this year, for the first time, includes questions about the level of state capture and people’s willingness to pay a premium for clean corporate behavior.
The Barometer is designed to complement the expert opinions on public sector corruption provided by TI’s Corruption Perceptions Index and the views of senior business executives on international bribery flows reflected in TI’s Bribe Payers Index. It also aims to provide information on trends in public perceptions of corruption. It enables assessments of change over time; in terms of the institutions deemed to be most corrupt, the effectiveness of governments’ efforts to fight corruption, and the proportion of citizens paying bribes.
The 2009 Barometer interviewed 73,132 people in 69 countries and territories between October 2008 and February 2009. The main findings are as follows:
Corruption in and by the private sector is of growing concern to the general public:
• The private sector is perceived to be corrupt by half of those interviewed: a notable increase of eight percentage points compared to five years ago.
• The general public is critical of the private sector’s role in their countries’ policy making processes. More than half of respondents held the view that bribery is often used to shape policies and regulations in companies’ favor.
• Corruption matters to consumers. Half of those interviewed expressed a willingness to pay a premium to buy from a company that is ‘corruption-free’.
Political parties and the civil service are perceived on average to be the most corrupt sectors around the world.
• Globally, respondents perceived political parties as the single most corrupt domestic institution, followed closely by the civil service.
• Aggregate results, however, mask important country differences. In 13 of the countries sampled, the private sector was deemed to be the most corrupt, while in 11 countries respondents identified the judiciary.
Experience of petty bribery is reported to be growing in some parts of the world – with the police the most likely recipients of bribes
• More than 1 in 10 people interviewed reported having paid a bribe in the previous 12 months, reflecting reported levels of bribery similar to those captured in the 2005 Barometer. For 4 in 10 respondents who paid bribes, payments amounted, on average, to around 10 per cent of their annual income.
• Results indicate that respondents from low-income households are more likely to pay bribes than those from high-income households when dealing with the police, the judiciary, land services and the education services.
Ordinary people do not feel empowered to speak out about corruption
• The general public does not routinely use formal channels to lodge bribery-related complaints: three quarters of people who reported paying bribes did not file a formal complaint.
• About half of bribery victims interviewed did not see existing complaint mechanisms as effective. This view was consistent regardless of gender, education or age.
Governments are considered to be ineffective in the fight against corruption – a view that has remained worryingly consistent in most countries over time
• Overall, the general public consider their governments’ efforts to tackle corruption to be ineffective. Only 31 per cent perceived them as effective, compared to the 56 per cent that viewed government anti-corruption measures to be ineffective. 77 percent of the respondents from the Philippines believe that the efforts of government to fight against corruption is ineffective.
• There were no major changes in recorded opinion on government anti-corruption efforts in 2009 when comparing those countries assessed in the last edition of the Barometer in 2007.
That is worth taking into consideration when we choose our leaders on this next election. Stop the motherhood statements and hasty generalizations about issues. The country is reeling ffrom poverty because of inequity of opportunities and government corruption. That begets moral decay pushing us further into crisis if we don't do anything and take action.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
NUMBERS DON'T LIE
The independent research organization Ibon Foundation in its study posted on its website during the Human Rights week last December said that the Arroyo government's human rights record is considered one of the worst in history, not just in violations of civil and political rights but also in the economic, social and cultural realm.
It said that 35-years after the Philippines ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR), the rights of millions of Filipinos are increasingly undermined and unmet daily such as the right to food, decent work, health, education, adequate standard of living, protection and assistance of families, among others.
I say number's don't lie. Here are the facts:
Right to food: Local food production, measured in kilograms per person per year, has fallen by over 30% since 1981. Rice imports increased 280% from 639,000 tons in 2001 to a record 2.4 million tons in 2008. Around 9.3 million households with 46.3 million Filipinos do not meet the 100% dietary energy requirement. Three million children aged 0-5 years are underweight, while three million more children aged 6-10 years old are malnourished.
Right to health: The Arroyo administration has the lowest record of health spending compared to the past three administrations. Since 2001, it allocated an average of only 1.8% for health, compared to 3.1% under the Aquino administration, 2.6% under Ramos, and 2.4% under Estrada. In the 2010 national budget, the allocation for health fell by 7.4% from 2009, or an average of only P1 per Filipino per day.
Right to education: For school year 2008-09, there were 4.7 million out-of-school youth in the country, consisting of 2 million elementary-age children and 2.7 million high school-age youth. Out of every 100 children who enter Grade 1, only 66 will finish elementary school, 43 high school and 14 college. This year, the government spent only P6 per Filipino per day on education while paying the equivalent of P21 on debt service.
Right to decent work: The period of 2001-2008 is the longest period of sustained high unemployment in the country's history, with an average unemployment rate of 11.3 percent. A record 1.24 million Filipinos were deployed abroad in 2008 or almost 3,400 leaving per day.
Right to adequate standard of living: Latest government data show that some 80% of Filipino families survived on daily incomes of P560 or less, with the poorest 10% of families having incomes of just some P88.Assuming an average family size of five, some 70 million Filipinos each are surviving on P112 per day. It is estimated that even using a low official poverty threshold of P41 per person per day, the number of poor Filipinos is at 27.6 million with at least 13 million urban poor residents in the country. Moreover, around 3.5 million families do not have electricity, 3.4 million families do not have access to safe drinking water, while 2.4 million families do not have sanitary toilets.
Ibon claims that the violations of these rights have intensified because of government's aggressive implementation of neoliberal globalization, which further liberalized the economy's vital sectors, and privatized public utilities and social services. These have destroyed the livelihood of many Filipinos and resulted in the unparalleled decline in the people's condition.
International human rights law declares the principle of protecting the full range of human rights required for people to have a full, free, safe, secure and healthy life. It maintains that the right to live a dignified life can never be attained unless all basic necessities of life such as work, food, housing, health care, education and culture are adequately and equitably available to everyone. The 1987 Constitution also recognizes that the national economy exists to serve the needs of the people and that the State has the duty to intervene when needed.
I have always maintained that our country has the best laws but administration's merely paid lip-service to it. The laws are either implemented 'ningas cogon' style or used to protect vested political and economic interest of those who holds the reins of power or those who are influence peddlers.
It is the government's duty to promote and protect these rights, and it should be made accountable for the increasing violations and greater numbers of Filipinos falling into poverty and deepening deprivation. The worsening state of human rights, whether civil and political or economic, social and cultural, only proves government's lack of seriousness in ensuring the welfare of its people and further reveals that it protects only the interests of the elite.
It said that 35-years after the Philippines ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR), the rights of millions of Filipinos are increasingly undermined and unmet daily such as the right to food, decent work, health, education, adequate standard of living, protection and assistance of families, among others.
I say number's don't lie. Here are the facts:
Right to food: Local food production, measured in kilograms per person per year, has fallen by over 30% since 1981. Rice imports increased 280% from 639,000 tons in 2001 to a record 2.4 million tons in 2008. Around 9.3 million households with 46.3 million Filipinos do not meet the 100% dietary energy requirement. Three million children aged 0-5 years are underweight, while three million more children aged 6-10 years old are malnourished.
Right to health: The Arroyo administration has the lowest record of health spending compared to the past three administrations. Since 2001, it allocated an average of only 1.8% for health, compared to 3.1% under the Aquino administration, 2.6% under Ramos, and 2.4% under Estrada. In the 2010 national budget, the allocation for health fell by 7.4% from 2009, or an average of only P1 per Filipino per day.
Right to education: For school year 2008-09, there were 4.7 million out-of-school youth in the country, consisting of 2 million elementary-age children and 2.7 million high school-age youth. Out of every 100 children who enter Grade 1, only 66 will finish elementary school, 43 high school and 14 college. This year, the government spent only P6 per Filipino per day on education while paying the equivalent of P21 on debt service.
Right to decent work: The period of 2001-2008 is the longest period of sustained high unemployment in the country's history, with an average unemployment rate of 11.3 percent. A record 1.24 million Filipinos were deployed abroad in 2008 or almost 3,400 leaving per day.
Right to adequate standard of living: Latest government data show that some 80% of Filipino families survived on daily incomes of P560 or less, with the poorest 10% of families having incomes of just some P88.Assuming an average family size of five, some 70 million Filipinos each are surviving on P112 per day. It is estimated that even using a low official poverty threshold of P41 per person per day, the number of poor Filipinos is at 27.6 million with at least 13 million urban poor residents in the country. Moreover, around 3.5 million families do not have electricity, 3.4 million families do not have access to safe drinking water, while 2.4 million families do not have sanitary toilets.
Ibon claims that the violations of these rights have intensified because of government's aggressive implementation of neoliberal globalization, which further liberalized the economy's vital sectors, and privatized public utilities and social services. These have destroyed the livelihood of many Filipinos and resulted in the unparalleled decline in the people's condition.
International human rights law declares the principle of protecting the full range of human rights required for people to have a full, free, safe, secure and healthy life. It maintains that the right to live a dignified life can never be attained unless all basic necessities of life such as work, food, housing, health care, education and culture are adequately and equitably available to everyone. The 1987 Constitution also recognizes that the national economy exists to serve the needs of the people and that the State has the duty to intervene when needed.
I have always maintained that our country has the best laws but administration's merely paid lip-service to it. The laws are either implemented 'ningas cogon' style or used to protect vested political and economic interest of those who holds the reins of power or those who are influence peddlers.
It is the government's duty to promote and protect these rights, and it should be made accountable for the increasing violations and greater numbers of Filipinos falling into poverty and deepening deprivation. The worsening state of human rights, whether civil and political or economic, social and cultural, only proves government's lack of seriousness in ensuring the welfare of its people and further reveals that it protects only the interests of the elite.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
THE CHALLENGE TO THE FILIPINO YOUTH
New cellphone units and latest gadgets.Facebook accounts. Vampire novels and movies. Youtube. 'Gimik' hotspots. Sarah Geronimo. Red Horse.
What I mentioned above are but just a few of the things that today's Filipino youth are busying themselves with. The exceptions are rare if there are any.
Many agree that the 2010 elections are one of the most significant political exercise for our nation. The results would determine what path this beloved country of ours will take in the next century. Nearly 80 percent of the registered voters are the youth of which many are first- time voters.
Now that the political camps are already at the height of campaign preparations,where are their agendas for the youth? More importantly, where is the youth power or youth vote? Is there such an animal? Is it significant to initiate a change? Or are they just imagined to project that the young sector is for this or that candidate?
When I was in college, as a student leader we where having problems getting the support and cooperation of our student constituency in our battle against tuition increases. Students were apathetic then and only a few where brave enough to join us for fear of reprisals.
I fear that such apathy is prevalent now. For the young people who have access to the latest technology, they are more interested in knowing the latest buzz on the internet. On the far end of the scale are the youth in lowest rungs of socio-economic ladder, whose interest is to eke out a daily leaving legally or otherwise.
Gone are days when the young answers the call to initiate change, radical as it may seem. Those where the days when idealism was up high in the virtue meter. Now, the young simply drown their frustrations on their country with a cold 1- liter of the dark red- colored bottle with matching 'fried highland legumes'. Or search for greener pastures far away.
I don't want to quote the much- abused national hero on calling on the youth as it often fell on deaf- ears. The call, rather is "Where are the youth?"
The time to merely state what's wrong, what should be done about it, the ideal is up. Stop the lip- service and useless talk.The time to act is now in our hands. That is the challenge of the Filipino youth is to make themselves significant and take the reins to steer this country to a path it deserves. Because the youth will inherit this nation when the present fades away into nothingness. Let us rise up to the challenge of the times.
What I mentioned above are but just a few of the things that today's Filipino youth are busying themselves with. The exceptions are rare if there are any.
Many agree that the 2010 elections are one of the most significant political exercise for our nation. The results would determine what path this beloved country of ours will take in the next century. Nearly 80 percent of the registered voters are the youth of which many are first- time voters.
Now that the political camps are already at the height of campaign preparations,where are their agendas for the youth? More importantly, where is the youth power or youth vote? Is there such an animal? Is it significant to initiate a change? Or are they just imagined to project that the young sector is for this or that candidate?
When I was in college, as a student leader we where having problems getting the support and cooperation of our student constituency in our battle against tuition increases. Students were apathetic then and only a few where brave enough to join us for fear of reprisals.
I fear that such apathy is prevalent now. For the young people who have access to the latest technology, they are more interested in knowing the latest buzz on the internet. On the far end of the scale are the youth in lowest rungs of socio-economic ladder, whose interest is to eke out a daily leaving legally or otherwise.
Gone are days when the young answers the call to initiate change, radical as it may seem. Those where the days when idealism was up high in the virtue meter. Now, the young simply drown their frustrations on their country with a cold 1- liter of the dark red- colored bottle with matching 'fried highland legumes'. Or search for greener pastures far away.
I don't want to quote the much- abused national hero on calling on the youth as it often fell on deaf- ears. The call, rather is "Where are the youth?"
The time to merely state what's wrong, what should be done about it, the ideal is up. Stop the lip- service and useless talk.The time to act is now in our hands. That is the challenge of the Filipino youth is to make themselves significant and take the reins to steer this country to a path it deserves. Because the youth will inherit this nation when the present fades away into nothingness. Let us rise up to the challenge of the times.
Monday, January 18, 2010
NEW POLITICS
One of the definition of the word "politics" that I can never forget from my college days is this college rendition:"Politics is the art of influencing others against the opposition of many."
Politics encompasses public governance including resource management,fund budgeting, service delivery and conflict management. Politics is a vehicle for bringing about socio- economic reforms, a means for change. It is a venue to select people who will serve. It is running government to help people run their lives. It is both a commitment and a form of service. Politics is "the greatest of all apostolates," said one Pope.
IS THERE TOO MUCH POLITICS?
Lydia N.Yu- Jose, chairperson of the Department of Political Science of the Ateneo de Manila University, in her introduction to the book Politics and Governance,Theory and Practice in the Philippine Context, said the expression "too much politics" is largely negative in connotation. The expression is also often use3d to describe deplorable and/ or ineffective human relations in arenas not directly connected with government or statesmanship.
Yu- Jose, says that "too much politics" is a way of saying that there is more than a tolerable amount of negotiating and compromise taking place, often in a non- transparent and seemingly arbitrary manner. The complaint of "too much politics" is not a protest against the nature of politics but a demand for the proper practice of politics,she argues.
ALTERNATIVE POLITICS AND LEADERS
Public governance must aim at establishing a free, democratic and peaceful society, responsible to the needs of the majority and based on gender equality.
Politicians should be sincere, trustworthy, God- fearing, just, humble and with a clear agenda and platform. A platform that is true and realistic. As electorates, we should a high- level of consciousness.
Seattle University professor Dr. Beverly A. Forbes enumerated the kind of leaders we need in the 21st century:
*We need moral leaders- leaders whose morality includes ethics, care, compassion, responsibility for others, justice, inter-dependence and honesty.
*We need leaders who see connections and patterns- people who see the relationship between issues- between the lack of meaning in our society and lack of opportunity for minorities and women; between the over-emphasis on status, powers and material wealth and the problem with drugs.
*We need leaders who model cooperation as well as competition- People who believe in win/ win situations as opposed to win/ lose situations.
*We need leaders who tackle issues- Who don't play with people's lives as they posture, define turf, engage in strategies to protect or enhance egos, who are more self-less and less self- serving.
*We need leaders who listen- And not just who are like them but to different voices- people on the margins, the women, the youth, the third sex, the differently- abled community.
*We need leaders who put people's lives above profit- Leaders who care as much about children as they are about cash; who are more concerned with an inner peace than outer- peace.
*We need leaders who can work with people- To get a job done and at the same time bring out the best in others.
*We need leaders who are emphatic- Who know what it is like to be without power, to be victims of the system, to be minority.
*We need leaders who don't separate the personal from the professional- Who know the importance of integrating body, mind, emotion and spirit. We need leaders who are expressive and emotional, who don't just analyze the pro's and con's of a situation or issue.
*We need leaders who are not tied to the status- quo. Who are not caught up in the hierarchy structure are those most able to stand up against it to change its course.
* We need leaders who shame power and are willing to empower others- Those who power that comes from respect in working with people as opposed to those who assume authority by merit of their position.
A REALISTIC VIEW OF POLITICS
Much of those enumerated are idealistic, that only God or the saints can qualify as leaders, as government officials. But, maybe we just need to change the attitude that politics is merely about power over others and an opportunity for self- interest( yes, the family and friends interests, too!).
We need to realize that being in government is not like business where we can recover financial losses during the campaign. Nor like a family where family members are part of the decision making- process. Or the oft repeated reasoning that 'it's our time now'. Definitely, everybody need to change.
The first change that ought to take place perhaps attitudinal. The way the politician and the people in general look at politics and political parties. Politicians in general look at politics as a way to gain power. Which is all right if the intention is to use that power to attain the good of the country and people.
Unfortunately, as it has happened in countless times, the politician may be adept at explaining that he seeking power for the benefit of the people but when he is in power, he alienates himself form the general good and concentrates his efforts at promoting his private good. The fact that he is a bastard is often over-looked. That is why people in general look at politicians with scorn and parties with derision.
Amid this popular perceptual problem with politicians and political parties is the fact that although there is an over- supply of pseudo politicians, there is a dearth of genuine parties in the country today. In this situation, people are relegated to the periphery of political decision- making.
No wonder, the masses of our people are reduced to mere spectators of the political game. In worse instances, are turned into mere pawns by the political players. And in the worst of scenarios, are the subject of willing mercantile transactions between ward dealers and the politicians.
Today, the dominant political personalities may have changed faces. But the structures of oppression remain. Poverty and all that it spawns- deprivation, ignorance, disease and marginalization of the masses- are still there.
The need for change remains a political dream. But there is a need to take action. That is the challenge. And the time to act is now. There is no time to lose. Start now. Believe it can be done. And it will be done.
Politics encompasses public governance including resource management,fund budgeting, service delivery and conflict management. Politics is a vehicle for bringing about socio- economic reforms, a means for change. It is a venue to select people who will serve. It is running government to help people run their lives. It is both a commitment and a form of service. Politics is "the greatest of all apostolates," said one Pope.
IS THERE TOO MUCH POLITICS?
Lydia N.Yu- Jose, chairperson of the Department of Political Science of the Ateneo de Manila University, in her introduction to the book Politics and Governance,Theory and Practice in the Philippine Context, said the expression "too much politics" is largely negative in connotation. The expression is also often use3d to describe deplorable and/ or ineffective human relations in arenas not directly connected with government or statesmanship.
Yu- Jose, says that "too much politics" is a way of saying that there is more than a tolerable amount of negotiating and compromise taking place, often in a non- transparent and seemingly arbitrary manner. The complaint of "too much politics" is not a protest against the nature of politics but a demand for the proper practice of politics,she argues.
ALTERNATIVE POLITICS AND LEADERS
Public governance must aim at establishing a free, democratic and peaceful society, responsible to the needs of the majority and based on gender equality.
Politicians should be sincere, trustworthy, God- fearing, just, humble and with a clear agenda and platform. A platform that is true and realistic. As electorates, we should a high- level of consciousness.
Seattle University professor Dr. Beverly A. Forbes enumerated the kind of leaders we need in the 21st century:
*We need moral leaders- leaders whose morality includes ethics, care, compassion, responsibility for others, justice, inter-dependence and honesty.
*We need leaders who see connections and patterns- people who see the relationship between issues- between the lack of meaning in our society and lack of opportunity for minorities and women; between the over-emphasis on status, powers and material wealth and the problem with drugs.
*We need leaders who model cooperation as well as competition- People who believe in win/ win situations as opposed to win/ lose situations.
*We need leaders who tackle issues- Who don't play with people's lives as they posture, define turf, engage in strategies to protect or enhance egos, who are more self-less and less self- serving.
*We need leaders who listen- And not just who are like them but to different voices- people on the margins, the women, the youth, the third sex, the differently- abled community.
*We need leaders who put people's lives above profit- Leaders who care as much about children as they are about cash; who are more concerned with an inner peace than outer- peace.
*We need leaders who can work with people- To get a job done and at the same time bring out the best in others.
*We need leaders who are emphatic- Who know what it is like to be without power, to be victims of the system, to be minority.
*We need leaders who don't separate the personal from the professional- Who know the importance of integrating body, mind, emotion and spirit. We need leaders who are expressive and emotional, who don't just analyze the pro's and con's of a situation or issue.
*We need leaders who are not tied to the status- quo. Who are not caught up in the hierarchy structure are those most able to stand up against it to change its course.
* We need leaders who shame power and are willing to empower others- Those who power that comes from respect in working with people as opposed to those who assume authority by merit of their position.
A REALISTIC VIEW OF POLITICS
Much of those enumerated are idealistic, that only God or the saints can qualify as leaders, as government officials. But, maybe we just need to change the attitude that politics is merely about power over others and an opportunity for self- interest( yes, the family and friends interests, too!).
We need to realize that being in government is not like business where we can recover financial losses during the campaign. Nor like a family where family members are part of the decision making- process. Or the oft repeated reasoning that 'it's our time now'. Definitely, everybody need to change.
The first change that ought to take place perhaps attitudinal. The way the politician and the people in general look at politics and political parties. Politicians in general look at politics as a way to gain power. Which is all right if the intention is to use that power to attain the good of the country and people.
Unfortunately, as it has happened in countless times, the politician may be adept at explaining that he seeking power for the benefit of the people but when he is in power, he alienates himself form the general good and concentrates his efforts at promoting his private good. The fact that he is a bastard is often over-looked. That is why people in general look at politicians with scorn and parties with derision.
Amid this popular perceptual problem with politicians and political parties is the fact that although there is an over- supply of pseudo politicians, there is a dearth of genuine parties in the country today. In this situation, people are relegated to the periphery of political decision- making.
No wonder, the masses of our people are reduced to mere spectators of the political game. In worse instances, are turned into mere pawns by the political players. And in the worst of scenarios, are the subject of willing mercantile transactions between ward dealers and the politicians.
Today, the dominant political personalities may have changed faces. But the structures of oppression remain. Poverty and all that it spawns- deprivation, ignorance, disease and marginalization of the masses- are still there.
The need for change remains a political dream. But there is a need to take action. That is the challenge. And the time to act is now. There is no time to lose. Start now. Believe it can be done. And it will be done.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Political Dynasties Flourishing in Neg.Occ.
When one searches the records of those who filed their Certificates of Candidacies(CoCs) at the Commission on Elections, many would notice familiar names in the list of candidates vying for different positions.
In Negros Occidental, most of the candidates for the 2010 polls are related to one another with several unopposed.
In the First District, Board Member Nehemias Dela Cruz, his son Don Salvador Benedicto Mayor Marxlen Dela Cruz, and wife Vice Mayor Cynthia Dela Cruz are all seeking reelection unopposed.
In the Second District, Sagay City Vice Mayor Leo Rafael Cueva is running for mayor unopposed. Cueva is the nephew of Sagay City Mayor Alfredo Marañon Jr. who is seeking the gubernatorial post against former Gov. Rafael “Lito” Coscolluela.Second District Rep. Alfredo “Thirdy” Marañon III is also seeking reelection while Joseph Gerald Marañon and Donato Marañon are running as vice mayor and councilor, respectively.In Cadiz, running for mayor is Councilor Patrick Escalante. He is the brother of incumbent Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. who is running for Board Member of the Second District unopposed.
In the Third District, outgoing Cong. Jose Carlos “Kako” Lacson is the uncle of incumbent E.B. Magalona Mayor David Albert Lacson and Board Member Patrick Lacson who are both seeking reelection. Patrick has no opponent while Rep. Lacson is running for mayor of Talisay City against incumbent Mayor Eric Saratan.In Victorias City, Mayor Severo Palanca and his nephew Vice Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca are seeking reelection. Mayor Palanca’s nephew, businessman Alfredo “Albee” Bantug-Benetiz, will run for congressman of the Third District.In Silay City, cousins Carlo Gamban and Edwin “Bigot” Velez, who are former mayors, will challenge incumbent Mayor Roberto “Oti” Montelibano.In Murcia, Judith Coscolluela, wife of incumbent Mayor Esteban “Sonny” Coscollula, will run for mayor against Andrew Montelibano. Mayor Coscolluela will run for congressman.In Manapla, running for mayor is Lourdes Socorro Escalante, wife of incumbent Mayor Manuel
“Manolet” Escalante III, who is not running for any position in 2010.
In the Fourth District, Board Members Mae Javellana and Jose Benito Alonso are also seeking reelection unopposed.In Pulupandan, Mayor Magdaleno Peña and Vice Mayor Antonio Suatengco, who are brothers-in-law, are seeking reelection.In San Enrique, incumbent Mayor Jilson Tubillara is expected to be replaced by his wife, Florenda Tubillara.Incumbent Pontevedra Mayor Jose Maria Alonso, who is the twin of Board Member Alonso, is seeking reelection.
In the Fifth District, Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer is seeking reelection unopposed, while his wife Juliet Marie Ferrer will run for mayor of La Carlota City.In Isabela, running for mayor is Francis Malabor, who is the brother of incumbent Mayor Renato Malabor who is now on his final term.In Himamaylan City, Councilor Agustin Ernesto Bascon will run for mayor against his uncle, Antonio Gatuslao, while incumbent Himamaylan City Mayor Carmencita Bascon will run for vice mayor.
In the Sixth District, running for Congress is lawyer Mercedez Alvarez while her father Rep. Genaro “Lim-ao” Alvarez is running for vice governor.
Incumbent Ilog Mayor Joyce Alvarez, who is on her final term, will be replaced by her husband John Paul Alvarez who is running unopposed.In Cauayan, incumbent Mayor John Rey Tabujara and his son, incumbent Vice Mayor Jerry Tabujara, are expected to swap posts.In Sipalay City, incumbent Mayor Soledad Montilla is expected to be replaced by her son, incumbent Vice Mayor Oscar Montilla Jr., although he will be challenged by Gary Alejano, who is a member of the Magdalo soldiers who staged the foiled Oakwood mutiny.In Kabankalan City, incumbent Mayor Pedro Zayco Jr. is expected to be replaced by his brother, incumbent Gov. Isidro Zayco, who has decided not to run for governor after succeeding the late Gov. Joseph Marañon last year.
In this part of the world where patronage politics, that dispense favors in return for blind loyalty and votes during elections, is the name of the game. Not democracy.Not ideology. Filipino political scientists say that the Filipino tends to perceive things wearing a family lens.
As pointed by the different stories posted on its website, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism said that the "influence of the familiar-sounding families can keep us mired firmly in the problems of the past."
If change is to take place,the right leaders should be voted into office.And we the people should make the right right demands from them. It is easy for us to be pessimistic about not only of the 2010 elections but the country as a whole. Many have made the choice. they packed their bags and fly out of the country.
It is now high time for us to get the government we want. Not what the landed elites want us to want and need. The challenge for us is to create the country we deserve.
In Negros Occidental, most of the candidates for the 2010 polls are related to one another with several unopposed.
In the First District, Board Member Nehemias Dela Cruz, his son Don Salvador Benedicto Mayor Marxlen Dela Cruz, and wife Vice Mayor Cynthia Dela Cruz are all seeking reelection unopposed.
In the Second District, Sagay City Vice Mayor Leo Rafael Cueva is running for mayor unopposed. Cueva is the nephew of Sagay City Mayor Alfredo Marañon Jr. who is seeking the gubernatorial post against former Gov. Rafael “Lito” Coscolluela.Second District Rep. Alfredo “Thirdy” Marañon III is also seeking reelection while Joseph Gerald Marañon and Donato Marañon are running as vice mayor and councilor, respectively.In Cadiz, running for mayor is Councilor Patrick Escalante. He is the brother of incumbent Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. who is running for Board Member of the Second District unopposed.
In the Third District, outgoing Cong. Jose Carlos “Kako” Lacson is the uncle of incumbent E.B. Magalona Mayor David Albert Lacson and Board Member Patrick Lacson who are both seeking reelection. Patrick has no opponent while Rep. Lacson is running for mayor of Talisay City against incumbent Mayor Eric Saratan.In Victorias City, Mayor Severo Palanca and his nephew Vice Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca are seeking reelection. Mayor Palanca’s nephew, businessman Alfredo “Albee” Bantug-Benetiz, will run for congressman of the Third District.In Silay City, cousins Carlo Gamban and Edwin “Bigot” Velez, who are former mayors, will challenge incumbent Mayor Roberto “Oti” Montelibano.In Murcia, Judith Coscolluela, wife of incumbent Mayor Esteban “Sonny” Coscollula, will run for mayor against Andrew Montelibano. Mayor Coscolluela will run for congressman.In Manapla, running for mayor is Lourdes Socorro Escalante, wife of incumbent Mayor Manuel
“Manolet” Escalante III, who is not running for any position in 2010.
In the Fourth District, Board Members Mae Javellana and Jose Benito Alonso are also seeking reelection unopposed.In Pulupandan, Mayor Magdaleno Peña and Vice Mayor Antonio Suatengco, who are brothers-in-law, are seeking reelection.In San Enrique, incumbent Mayor Jilson Tubillara is expected to be replaced by his wife, Florenda Tubillara.Incumbent Pontevedra Mayor Jose Maria Alonso, who is the twin of Board Member Alonso, is seeking reelection.
In the Fifth District, Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer is seeking reelection unopposed, while his wife Juliet Marie Ferrer will run for mayor of La Carlota City.In Isabela, running for mayor is Francis Malabor, who is the brother of incumbent Mayor Renato Malabor who is now on his final term.In Himamaylan City, Councilor Agustin Ernesto Bascon will run for mayor against his uncle, Antonio Gatuslao, while incumbent Himamaylan City Mayor Carmencita Bascon will run for vice mayor.
In the Sixth District, running for Congress is lawyer Mercedez Alvarez while her father Rep. Genaro “Lim-ao” Alvarez is running for vice governor.
Incumbent Ilog Mayor Joyce Alvarez, who is on her final term, will be replaced by her husband John Paul Alvarez who is running unopposed.In Cauayan, incumbent Mayor John Rey Tabujara and his son, incumbent Vice Mayor Jerry Tabujara, are expected to swap posts.In Sipalay City, incumbent Mayor Soledad Montilla is expected to be replaced by her son, incumbent Vice Mayor Oscar Montilla Jr., although he will be challenged by Gary Alejano, who is a member of the Magdalo soldiers who staged the foiled Oakwood mutiny.In Kabankalan City, incumbent Mayor Pedro Zayco Jr. is expected to be replaced by his brother, incumbent Gov. Isidro Zayco, who has decided not to run for governor after succeeding the late Gov. Joseph Marañon last year.
In this part of the world where patronage politics, that dispense favors in return for blind loyalty and votes during elections, is the name of the game. Not democracy.Not ideology. Filipino political scientists say that the Filipino tends to perceive things wearing a family lens.
As pointed by the different stories posted on its website, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism said that the "influence of the familiar-sounding families can keep us mired firmly in the problems of the past."
If change is to take place,the right leaders should be voted into office.And we the people should make the right right demands from them. It is easy for us to be pessimistic about not only of the 2010 elections but the country as a whole. Many have made the choice. they packed their bags and fly out of the country.
It is now high time for us to get the government we want. Not what the landed elites want us to want and need. The challenge for us is to create the country we deserve.
Family Ties
With barely six months to go before what many call as one of the most important electoral process in this country's history, one question behooves us,"will there really be change?".
We pose that dangling question like the Damocles sword over the heads of every Filipino in the light of recent developments not only because of the Maguindanao massacre involving a Muslim political dynasty in Mindanao but also of the fact that there is a growing number of familiar surnames in the list of candidates from the lowest ranked town councilor up to the highest position of government.
Julio Tehankee, a fellow of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism wrote in 2007 that there are 160 families domination Congress in more than a century( And the clans played on,www.pcij,org).
The PCIJ pointed out that "for decades political families, not political parties has been the most significant force behind Philippine politics; elections are exercises or tests of the political clout of political families if not mere bitter contests with rival clans."
In Negros Occidental alone, there are many familiar surnames in the ballot in 2010. Political families in the province have seen a recent resurgence and many of them are running unopposed. In the mountain town of Salvador Benedicto the father is a member of the provincial board, the eldest son is the town mayor and the mayor, the former mayor is now her son's vice mayor. In the province' sixth district, the outgoing congressman is running for vice governor and her lawyer-daughter will try to replace him in the position.
Many a study of Philippine political culture have a come to a conclusion that our politics is based on patronage where the Filipino in terms of his political choices, is guided not by abstract principles like democracy or ideology but personal relationships where he can reap benefits that he or or his family wants.
It is this political reality that many of the political oligarchs in the Philippines take advantage especially in the local arena where they consider their constituents as their fiefdoms ready to bow down to their wishes. These power elites believe that it only their family that can bring development to the people. But these are not development in the context that it has a long term impact in the life of the people, but rather, development in the micro sense, that is the despensing of favors to gain blind loyalty.
The story is as old as pre- Spanish history. But the facts still hold true. Members of political families make a musical chair out of government posts every election time to protect there economic interests if not cover their tracks.
To the question we posed earlier," will there be change?". The answer still lies deep in the hearts and minds of those who will vote in 2010- US.
We pose that dangling question like the Damocles sword over the heads of every Filipino in the light of recent developments not only because of the Maguindanao massacre involving a Muslim political dynasty in Mindanao but also of the fact that there is a growing number of familiar surnames in the list of candidates from the lowest ranked town councilor up to the highest position of government.
Julio Tehankee, a fellow of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism wrote in 2007 that there are 160 families domination Congress in more than a century( And the clans played on,www.pcij,org).
The PCIJ pointed out that "for decades political families, not political parties has been the most significant force behind Philippine politics; elections are exercises or tests of the political clout of political families if not mere bitter contests with rival clans."
In Negros Occidental alone, there are many familiar surnames in the ballot in 2010. Political families in the province have seen a recent resurgence and many of them are running unopposed. In the mountain town of Salvador Benedicto the father is a member of the provincial board, the eldest son is the town mayor and the mayor, the former mayor is now her son's vice mayor. In the province' sixth district, the outgoing congressman is running for vice governor and her lawyer-daughter will try to replace him in the position.
Many a study of Philippine political culture have a come to a conclusion that our politics is based on patronage where the Filipino in terms of his political choices, is guided not by abstract principles like democracy or ideology but personal relationships where he can reap benefits that he or or his family wants.
It is this political reality that many of the political oligarchs in the Philippines take advantage especially in the local arena where they consider their constituents as their fiefdoms ready to bow down to their wishes. These power elites believe that it only their family that can bring development to the people. But these are not development in the context that it has a long term impact in the life of the people, but rather, development in the micro sense, that is the despensing of favors to gain blind loyalty.
The story is as old as pre- Spanish history. But the facts still hold true. Members of political families make a musical chair out of government posts every election time to protect there economic interests if not cover their tracks.
To the question we posed earlier," will there be change?". The answer still lies deep in the hearts and minds of those who will vote in 2010- US.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
RANDON THOUGHTS ON POWER THEORIES
The unmarked category
Feminists have analysed the powerless extensively. There are theories about discrimination on the basis of sex, race, class and religion as well as sexuality, disability, age and culture. What often remains unexamined is the culture of the powerful, since it is difficult for the purveyors of culture – the powerful – to see the mechanisms of their own structures. And it is difficult for the powerless to get access to the resources and education necessary to enable such a critique. Everything is ranged against it.
The powerful are those members of a society who can gain ready access to power and who also are able to exercise it without thinking particularly about what they are doing. For the powerful the culture is obvious, accessible and cut out for them. For the powerless it is unreachable, impenetrable, high, élite, expensive and it would take an act of violence or self-violation to get in.
The ‘unmarked category’ is the identifying mark of the powerful. He is the standard by which everything else is measured: for example Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, or medical wall charts. In the informational address structures of the internet, US addresses are the unmarked category. These ideas connect with the work of feminists such as Luce Irigaray and Gyatri Spivak.
Whiteness is not visible to the powerful, because they themselves are white. They notice black, brown, ‘other’ bodies and the difference of those imaginations. But whiteness, to the white, is the norm. It has a normative status in the same way that ‘man’ has a normative status. The able body is the neutral body. The marked body is outside what is regarded as the norm: it is too thin, it is too fat, it is crippled, it is mad, it is unpredictable.
The unremarked, the unmarked is always the clue.
Susan Hawthorne
Read: Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality, Crossing Press
Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, Random House
Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism, Zed Books
The Irigaray Reader, edited by Margaret Whitford, Basil Blackwell
The Spivak Reader, edited by Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, Routledge
Representation and counterpower
The French theorist and activist Gilles Deleuze compared voting for political representation with being taken hostage.
Government is the exercise of power by representatives elected by democratic process. This assumes that there are categories of people distinct in their shared interests and numerous enough to warrant a say in exercising power. Their representative is somehow seen as embodying the group’s interests. Movements have achieved change by fighting for inclusion within this system. Thus the working classes, women, ethnic minorities, younger people and the disabled have all won victories that have brought them concrete gains. However, we have yet to see any parliament that proportionally reflects those groups/characteristics amongst its elected representatives.
The limitations of representative democracy are lampooned in Borges’ short story ‘The Congress’, about a proposed Congress of the World. It contains an absurd debate over which communities the lead character Don Alejandro represents: ‘Not only cattlemen, but also Uruguayans, and also humanity’s great forerunners, and also men with red beards, and also those who are seated in armchairs...’ Finally Don Alejandro concludes that the only Congress that could represent the world is the world itself.
Perhaps surprisingly, this democratic utopianism has found popular expression in social movements for global justice. Don Alejandro’s logic underpins the horizontal growth of the social-forum movement, where diverse groups, movements and individuals coalesce in different regions; participation is open to everyone in all their uniqueness, without presuming to represent, to delegate or mandate.
What we might call ‘counterpower’ is in the movements against representation and for democracy, who seek to have their voices heard and listened to, not assimilated and condensed. Counterpower is the shadow realm of alternatives, a hall of mirrors held up to the dominant logic of capitalism – and it is growing.
Graeme Chesters
Contact: World Social Forum 2004 www.wsfindia.org
Participation and liberation
Most people have never heard of him, but almost all effective social-change projects today draw on the work of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator with revolutionary learning methods.
Freire starts with the assumption that people have enormous archives of knowledge within them. He rejects the notion that one is ignorant unless one has learned to communicate using the culture of the powerful; learning should not be about being a mere receptacle of that culture.
With Freire’s method the learner is part of a group ‘culture circle’ within which she builds her own view of reality, starting with the circumstances of her everyday life. These, rather than textbooks which teach only the culture of the powerful, are the ‘texts’ from which the learner can analyse and begin to transform the world in which she lives.
Dialogue – an exchange of knowledge and a process of co-learning – as opposed to monologue – imparting of knowledge from the teacher to the ignorant – is key. This group-learning process doesn’t just teach people literacy at an extraordinarily fast rate: it builds a shared understanding of their world. For Freire, learning begins with action, which is then shaped by reflection on the action, which gives rise to further action. The learner goes on creating herself from the inside out, expanding her capacity to act in the world and change it. Fundamentally this is a process by which the powerless transform their relationship to power.
Read: The Paulo Freire Reader, edited by Ana Maria Araujo Freire and Donald Macedo, Continuum.
Power and knowledge
Michel Foucault, one of the key thinkers about power, knowledge and society, was a French intellectual working in fields as diverse as history, medicine, cultural criticism and psychology (what he called the ‘human sciences’) in the 1960s and 1970s. Put simply, Foucault says that if enough people accept as ‘common knowledge’ the particular belief systems of a group of authority figures such as scientists, priests, or medical doctors, then this group exercises power in society by defining right from wrong and who, or what, is ‘normal’. It is a subtle form of power: easier to overlook than power enforced by law or violence, hard to resist because it is all about ‘normalization’.
He came to this conclusion through studying prison systems, mental asylums, schools, attitutudes to homosexuality and the ways in which society creates categories of deviance and abnormality. Take the example of a person in a mental institution. Their life is tightly controlled; their resistance to this control though non-co-operation is seen by most as a symptom of their abnormality or madness. But couldn’t it be a rebellion against a power system that has defined them as abnormal? And might not this ‘outsider’ have powerful insights into the nature of that system? Queer theorists and others have embraced Foucault, celebrating the importance of the marginal perspective.
Contact: Queer theory www.theory.org.uk
Read: Foucault for Beginners, Ludia
Alix Fillingham, Writers and Readers
Feminists have analysed the powerless extensively. There are theories about discrimination on the basis of sex, race, class and religion as well as sexuality, disability, age and culture. What often remains unexamined is the culture of the powerful, since it is difficult for the purveyors of culture – the powerful – to see the mechanisms of their own structures. And it is difficult for the powerless to get access to the resources and education necessary to enable such a critique. Everything is ranged against it.
The powerful are those members of a society who can gain ready access to power and who also are able to exercise it without thinking particularly about what they are doing. For the powerful the culture is obvious, accessible and cut out for them. For the powerless it is unreachable, impenetrable, high, élite, expensive and it would take an act of violence or self-violation to get in.
The ‘unmarked category’ is the identifying mark of the powerful. He is the standard by which everything else is measured: for example Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, or medical wall charts. In the informational address structures of the internet, US addresses are the unmarked category. These ideas connect with the work of feminists such as Luce Irigaray and Gyatri Spivak.
Whiteness is not visible to the powerful, because they themselves are white. They notice black, brown, ‘other’ bodies and the difference of those imaginations. But whiteness, to the white, is the norm. It has a normative status in the same way that ‘man’ has a normative status. The able body is the neutral body. The marked body is outside what is regarded as the norm: it is too thin, it is too fat, it is crippled, it is mad, it is unpredictable.
The unremarked, the unmarked is always the clue.
Susan Hawthorne
Read: Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality, Crossing Press
Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, Random House
Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism, Zed Books
The Irigaray Reader, edited by Margaret Whitford, Basil Blackwell
The Spivak Reader, edited by Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, Routledge
Representation and counterpower
The French theorist and activist Gilles Deleuze compared voting for political representation with being taken hostage.
Government is the exercise of power by representatives elected by democratic process. This assumes that there are categories of people distinct in their shared interests and numerous enough to warrant a say in exercising power. Their representative is somehow seen as embodying the group’s interests. Movements have achieved change by fighting for inclusion within this system. Thus the working classes, women, ethnic minorities, younger people and the disabled have all won victories that have brought them concrete gains. However, we have yet to see any parliament that proportionally reflects those groups/characteristics amongst its elected representatives.
The limitations of representative democracy are lampooned in Borges’ short story ‘The Congress’, about a proposed Congress of the World. It contains an absurd debate over which communities the lead character Don Alejandro represents: ‘Not only cattlemen, but also Uruguayans, and also humanity’s great forerunners, and also men with red beards, and also those who are seated in armchairs...’ Finally Don Alejandro concludes that the only Congress that could represent the world is the world itself.
Perhaps surprisingly, this democratic utopianism has found popular expression in social movements for global justice. Don Alejandro’s logic underpins the horizontal growth of the social-forum movement, where diverse groups, movements and individuals coalesce in different regions; participation is open to everyone in all their uniqueness, without presuming to represent, to delegate or mandate.
What we might call ‘counterpower’ is in the movements against representation and for democracy, who seek to have their voices heard and listened to, not assimilated and condensed. Counterpower is the shadow realm of alternatives, a hall of mirrors held up to the dominant logic of capitalism – and it is growing.
Graeme Chesters
Contact: World Social Forum 2004 www.wsfindia.org
Participation and liberation
Most people have never heard of him, but almost all effective social-change projects today draw on the work of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator with revolutionary learning methods.
Freire starts with the assumption that people have enormous archives of knowledge within them. He rejects the notion that one is ignorant unless one has learned to communicate using the culture of the powerful; learning should not be about being a mere receptacle of that culture.
With Freire’s method the learner is part of a group ‘culture circle’ within which she builds her own view of reality, starting with the circumstances of her everyday life. These, rather than textbooks which teach only the culture of the powerful, are the ‘texts’ from which the learner can analyse and begin to transform the world in which she lives.
Dialogue – an exchange of knowledge and a process of co-learning – as opposed to monologue – imparting of knowledge from the teacher to the ignorant – is key. This group-learning process doesn’t just teach people literacy at an extraordinarily fast rate: it builds a shared understanding of their world. For Freire, learning begins with action, which is then shaped by reflection on the action, which gives rise to further action. The learner goes on creating herself from the inside out, expanding her capacity to act in the world and change it. Fundamentally this is a process by which the powerless transform their relationship to power.
Read: The Paulo Freire Reader, edited by Ana Maria Araujo Freire and Donald Macedo, Continuum.
Power and knowledge
Michel Foucault, one of the key thinkers about power, knowledge and society, was a French intellectual working in fields as diverse as history, medicine, cultural criticism and psychology (what he called the ‘human sciences’) in the 1960s and 1970s. Put simply, Foucault says that if enough people accept as ‘common knowledge’ the particular belief systems of a group of authority figures such as scientists, priests, or medical doctors, then this group exercises power in society by defining right from wrong and who, or what, is ‘normal’. It is a subtle form of power: easier to overlook than power enforced by law or violence, hard to resist because it is all about ‘normalization’.
He came to this conclusion through studying prison systems, mental asylums, schools, attitutudes to homosexuality and the ways in which society creates categories of deviance and abnormality. Take the example of a person in a mental institution. Their life is tightly controlled; their resistance to this control though non-co-operation is seen by most as a symptom of their abnormality or madness. But couldn’t it be a rebellion against a power system that has defined them as abnormal? And might not this ‘outsider’ have powerful insights into the nature of that system? Queer theorists and others have embraced Foucault, celebrating the importance of the marginal perspective.
Contact: Queer theory www.theory.org.uk
Read: Foucault for Beginners, Ludia
Alix Fillingham, Writers and Readers
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