Damayang Bayan

Ako'y lubusang napaluha nang ihayag ng ilang mga Youth Groups na sila'y naglunsad ng Tulong Kabataan upang magbigay agapay sa ating mga kababayang nasalanta ng bagyong Juan. 


Pinangungunahan ng NUSP or National Union of Students of the Philippines, kabilang sa Tulong Kabataan ang League of Filipino Students, Kabataan Partylist, Anakbayan, College Editor's Guild of the Philippines at ilan pang mga grupong pangkabataan. 


Halos mapahiya ang iba pang mga grupo sapagkat nangunguna na ang Kabataang Pinoy sa kilusing ito. 


Noong dalawang araw bago pa man sumalanta ang bagyong Juan sa Isabela, nanawagan na ako sa mga grupo na ilunsad na ang Damayang Bayan upang handa ang Sambayanang Pinoy na magbigay agapay sa mga biktima ng ganitong bagyo.


Damayang Bayan--isang konseptong Pinoy na noon pa ma'y naririyan na sa ating kamalayan. Pinalaganap ng Katipunan sa pamamagitan ng Supremo. 


Sa mga Bagong Katipunero, nawa'y makiisa kayo sa Damayang Bayan. Tulungan natin ang ating mga Kabayani na nasalanta ng bagyo sa Isabela gayundin sa ilan pang mga lalawigan sa Hilaga. 

Satur Ocampo versus Jovito Palparan on Harapan

Heard from a friend that Nacionalista party senatorial candidate Satur Ocampo and erstwhile senatorial bet Jovito Palparan are expected to square off in Harapan this Sunday. A former rebel versus a rebel killer, some will say. A defender of rights versus a violator of rights, others will say, that is something to watch for. A defender of farmers in one side while a killer of farmers in the other. You judge who you'll vote for this coming elections.

More than this though, both represents two strands of thought---one progressive, the other, regressive. 

One wants to debate the issues out, while the other wants to silence the debater. Who will you side with? One is thirsty for justice, the other blood thirsty. 

History will cancel both out, some will say, since one once thought of Communism while Palparan is simply a nihilist.

Choosing somebody who believed in the liberation of the masses through a revolt over someone who chose to liberate the souls of the masses through machine gun fire, I'll choose Satur anytime. 

Satur represents a higher level of commitment while Palparan, well, a commitment to murder? You can't do that in a civilized society. 

To defeat an idea, you have to present a better one. Pikon lang ang papatay kung talo sa debate, right?

By the way, since YOU is not running, then, I encourage all my friends to vote for KABATAAN partylist this coming elections. 

KABATAAN PARTYLIST is the most progressive youth organization in the country today. Mong Palatino and Mark Aquino represent the brightest and the most inspiring youths of today. 

The only reason why I am still here in the Philippines is the fact that I still hold the hope that Mong Palatino and Mark Aquino of KABATAAN partylist will not betray the masses.

PUP's First Quarter Storm On!

Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) students have now set barricades inside their campus to protest the impending 2,000 percent tuition hike increase. The PUP regents are now meeting today and are set to impose a very inequitable decision that would cause the frustration of thousands of students.

Education has become a dream of the poorest of the poor in this country. Fact is, education is not included in the things which Filipinos plan to have due to very limited financial resources.

Now that the PUP regents board want to increase the per unit costs from 12 pesos to something as surreal as 300 pesos is, for me, a very real reason to militate against the government.

How callous this government is! How they wasted billions of pesos allotted for fertilizers and how the DEPed has wasted billions more for illicit activities, when the very future of this country, the young students' lives are being gambled.

Let the students show their disgusts and campaign for the protection of their rights.

BY the way, it will not only be the students of the PUP that will be militating against the dastardly plan of the government to increase tuition fees.

Members of the UP Regent will also be meeting today to discuss the increase of tuition fees in the premier university of the land.

Some student leaders of the University of the Philippines have consulted me and I urged them to fight for their rights to education. Education is a right, not a priviledge. 

Let the Second Quarter Storm rage now!!

Partylist process--that's democracy

Over 270 organizations filed their Petitions for accreditation yesterday, beating the deadline set by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). The offices of the COMELEC were jampacked with people from all walks of life, desirous to take part in the democratic process. As one kibitzer said, " this shows you how vibrant our democracy is."

I don't necessarily agree with my friend Ted Failon in his commentaries this morning over at DZMM. Yes, in the past, certain groups, like those affiliated with the First Family, really bastardized the Partylist process. In fact, a known billionaire sits as a representative of balut vendors right now in Congress. Or, there are groups affiliated with a known religious organization with a brutish attitude competing and winning the elections just because of the sheer number of its religious demagogues.

And yes, yesterday, there are groups like the Alyansa ng mga Sabungero, filing their petitions for accreditation. I see nothing wrong with that. It's their right to do so. Its premature for anybody to register protests since the Comelec has not yet approved their petition. If, for some quirk of fate, this organization gets accreditation, then, that would probably be the time to go to the streets and protest against it.

Whatever we say about it, democracy is still the most ideal of all theorems. Whether it works or not is another matter but if it's quirky or not, that's irrelevant. Democracy thrives when people accept another person's quirkiness or idiosyncracies. That's the main dictum of this ideal---to live and let live.

Now, limiting the right of a group of persons is not in tune with democratic principles. In fact, that is contrary to what democracy represents. However, it is best to say that, groups like the Alyansa ng mga Sabungero should go thru the legal processes.

Lapdogs and New Patriots in Philippine Congress

I congratulate my friend and colleague, Raymund Palatino of Ang Kabataan partylist. Raymund is now a Congressman, after being sworn in yesterday by COMELEC officials.

Raymund is a fine addition to the growing bevy of revolutionaries and reform-minded individuals now manning Congress in behalf of the Filipino People. Like Satur and all the rest of the Patriots of the New Generation, Palatino is a breath of fresh air in the rancid halls of Congress. The only reason why Hope is still being talked about by the people is simply there are Patriots like Raymund who'll risk life and limb just to advance the Cause of the Filipino People.

If we expect Raymund to do the right thing, how about former General Jovito Palparan? Palparan claims to have a constituency. He claims to represent those alleged victims of what he claims to be "Communist" terrorists. Is Palparan fit to become Congressman?

If we are to follow COMELEC's fitness test, yes, he is. But, what about the fitness test of the Filipino People?

I remember Germany in the 1930's, when a middle-aged Adolf Hitler entered the halls of Reichstag, Germany's parliament. He represented the National Socialist Party or NAZI which promoted anti-Semitism and German race supremacy.

After a few years, he became Germany's Chancellor.

Like Hitler before him, Palparan became an active part of the military's anti-insurgency campaign. He's anti-revolution, anti-reform and anti-Communist. He subscribes to the belief that force begets force and he does this in brutal fashion.

And there are similarities between Hitler and Palparan. Aside from being anti-Communist, Palparan is also anti-Chinese. He blames the Chinese for the Filipinos' woes. When he was chief of the Infantry division, he did'nt lift a finger when Chinese businessmen were abducted and killed in his jurisdiction despite pleas of help from the victims' families. He was even heard saying "buti nga sa kanila!" when one of the victims got killed.

Instead of running after armed revolutionaries, Palparan takes delicious fancy arresting and killing unarmed reform-minded individuals. He salivates every time an activist gets nabbed, raped (if female), killed and buried in shallow graves. The Melo Commission found this out. Yet instead of castigating him, this administration tolerated and even cuddled him. It's a known fact that Malacanang poured millions of pesos in Palparan's partylist group, Bantay during the elections. And the palace seems to like the idea of having Palparan as its enforcer poster boy. Or imagine Palparan as Speaker of the House? That would surely bring the country down.

Will History repeat itself and see the emergence of a New Hitler in the person of "the Butcher" General Jovito S. Palparan? Will Palparan do a Hitler and go after the Chinese and the Communists when in Congress?

The partylist concept was originally made to empower sectors in Philippine society. It's supposed to be an experiment in democracy. It's supposed to expand horizontally the people's participation in legislation.

Yet, throughout these years, this concept has been mangled and torn to pieces by rapacious and profit-hungry forces out to make a fast buck from the People's sagging resources. Look at the number of partylist groups right now. Examine and study them and you'll find that only a fraction are legitimate groups advancing the People's Cause.

This administration is to be blamed for having smeared the very noble concept of partylist groups. Using government resources, the Arroyo government supported pseudo people's organizations and pseudo cause oriented groups.

Look at the new partylist groups sworn as Congressmen yesterday. We have an Arroyo Watchdog (Bantay) who'll surely promote and legitimize the record of human rights violations of this regime. We have the sipsip group, the Kasangga, who'll surely advance bills that will seek to advance the fiduciary interests of the landlord class. Do you believe what new Cong. Arroyo of Kasangga told the media yesterday, that they'll help the balut vendors improve their lot? Are balut vendors so substantially huge a sector that they can be classified as disenfranchised? Maybe Cong. Arroyo would help balut producers, instead of the vendors? How would they even help them? By asking the MMDA to legitimize their street vending activities which, under the law, is illegal? Will they then pass legislation legitimizing street vending? Or probably, they'll pass laws that would TAX the underground economic sectors to again fatten and line the pockets of greedy government officials?

Since Kasangga is now in Congress, expect the price of balut to go up.

It's interesting that, in the next Congress, two reform-minded individuals from the ranks of the AFP will be gunning for a Congressional seats. Inspired by their idol, Senator Antonio Trillianes, former Navy Lt. James Layug and former Air Force First Lt. Francisco Acedillo will be running as Congressmen in Taguig and Cebu City.

Should they win and Bantay's infamous posterboy, the butcher General also wins, Congress would be a very interesting place to watch. A murderous lapdog going against the New Patriots---that's a classic match even better than a Pacquiao-Hatton fight.

Again, I toss my lambanog filled glass to Raymund Palatino of Ang Kabataan partylist. May God give you strength to battle it out against lapdogs and Arroyo's sipsip brigades. Make the Filipino People proud.