Col. Generoso Mariano's State of the Nation Address (or Sermon): The Absence of Malasakit in present government

I was not surprised when I heard that a certain colonel came out of the woodworks to denounce the Aquino administration. Whether or not this colonel is calling for the specific ouster of Aquino or not, the fact remains that the things or issues he raised in his video were legitimate. There were no linkages between Colonel Generoso Mariano of the Naval Command nor of the former camps of Querubin-Lim but the issues are the same simply because we have'nt changed this system that continues to oppress us.


Mariano is simply stating facts which exists in our economic and political reality. There is no treason there. There was no specific grievance that he uttered against the system. Mariano was simply trying to state the present realities of everyday Filipino life. 


" We soldiers, are humans too. "says Mariano in his video speech.


Mariano stated a very nice deconstruction of Philippine reality. His stated recommendations are constitutional ones, nothing illegal, just plain narration of what prescriptions are stated in the charter.


NOW, A WEAKENED GOVERNMENT WOULD REACT NEGATIVELY because of self-preservation. Or simply, kayabangan.


Noynoy should treat this as a wakeup call. Admit that there were erroneous decisions he did in the past and he did poorly in his first year administration.


And there was good news that Noynoy simply glossed over simply because he was cloistered enough, like a priest inside a seminary.


There are three words which this government forgot on the way to power, and these are " kababaang-loob, kapatiran and malasakit."


Malasakit is one word which escaped Pnoy and his Cabinet members on the way to power. They forgot that the reason why they were elected in the first place by the people was the huge perception that they knew what ails the country and how best to solve it.


It seems that they know nothing and prescribes almost the same things which the past dispensation did and erred.


Worst, they failed to be there when needed by the people. The inability of the government to act against rising oil and food prices is just one example of the absence of malasakit. (for English readers, just research what this means.). The continued oppression of the poeple and the inability of government to address this is another example of the absence of malasakit.


There is still time for Noynoy and his fellows up there to re-discover their former selves and dispense of the sickness which afflicted those in the former government.

A New Day will dawn

On July 5, a very significant event will happen to each and every one of us. In this day, the planet Uranus will have its retrogade. It will affect all the movements of the planets. It will also usher in a new way of thinking, newer perspectives and new relationships. Some say, it will be totally revolutionary.

Two days from now, expect to witness another revolutionary event--with the inauguration of president-elect Senator Benigno Aquino III. As the 16th president of the Philippines, many expect Aquino to perform far better than his predecessor, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Two things why this event is revolutionary: first, Aquino's "lean and mean" team of Cabinet members is composed of young and old faces. His Executive secretary, Atty. Ochoa, is a young and highly efficient man. He represents the incoming successor generation, composed of people in their early forties and fifties. Ochoa is expected to perform better than his predecessors, and I will say it forthrightly, he deserves to be called a better version of Eduardo Ermita, who served for three administrations.

Ermita, to the minds of many, represent stability and continuity of whatever is good in this republic. Ochoa, to my mind, deserves to give us a service better than what Ermita did in three generations.

Second, people expect relevant changes in their lives. People expect prices of basic commodities lower or at least reflecting their true values. People expect at least a lowered electricity bill in the coming month of July and probably, even lower water rates. Of course, who would not want lower gasoline and diesel prices?

For this to happen, Aquino should marshall his energy secretary to hammer out a respectable compromise with these giant oil companies. Or, better, ask Congress to totally scarp the Oil deregulation law and replace it with a better version. Order his trade secretary to ask unscrupulous companies under pain of punishment, to give the correct prices of their goods and not resort to cartelism or other harmful trade practices. Order the security forces to go after smugglers, slap charges against them, and put them behind bars. Or, even better, revive the death penalty and make examples of these economic saboteurs.

The minimum that the people expect Aquino to do is simply give them a chance to live respectably and with dignity. And what do I mean by this?

If there is a clamour to improve the business environment, more than this, improve the quality of life of the people. What many of our people demand of government is simply give them the chance to eat at least three times a day, make their salaries enough for their kids to study, have some money for transportation and at least a few pesos in their savings account. Filipinos are easy to please. Just make them enjoy the finer things in life and all is well.

Revolutionary this will be if Aquino sticks to his campaign promises---eradicate graft to improve the economic life of the people. The people is sick and tired of promises of change especially coming from politicos. They want concrete solutions to their problems. They expect government to do its part and make life easier for everyone.

Now, if the incoming administration will just be hoopla or just act like its doing something good or what people say "paporma lang" or " gaya-gaya kay Obama", then, nothing will happen. Even if , say the entire people support Aquino and do the "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can do to help our Country" (the "rule book" written by Atty. Alex Lacson), but government is unresponsive and adamant against change, then, nothing really will happen. This will justify the earlier models for change advocated by genuine revolutionaries.

This successor generation, as represented by Aquino, Ochoa and Escudero should do its best to prove that they are not the same old dogs with new collars. They are scions of traditional political families. They should do the opposite of what their fathers did. Or, improve what their ancestors did.

I am giving this administration the benefit of the doubt, and people should do the same. Its too early to comment against this administration.

Expectations and no change

Challenges facing the incoming Aquino administration are far and wide, serious and dangerous. Beyond the challenge of reducing the scourge of poverty and the ever-serious and endemic problem of graft, lies the problem of failed expectations.

Unwittingly, the incoming Aquino administration has raised the bar of expectations among the people. I think the initial 35% of the registered voters who believed in Aquino and hoped for changes to happen, has probably ballooned to about half or even more than half of the population. You can feel it. I feel it. Everyone I think feels it.

Noynoy's policy statements are at best, reflective of popular sentiments. His strong stance against the stay of midnight appointees, and his consistent vow to punish smugglers and grafters in government have resonated within the four corners of the Republic. Everyone expects some heads to roll and every single one, in fact, most of those who supported Aquino, expect Noynoy to do the "right thing"...always.

This is the problem. The nation's problems, as I said, are far and wide, serious and dangerous. Along the way, expect this engine of change to falter, even sputter while it morphs from an idealistic organization into a naive, even a pragmatic one.

It remains to be seen how this organization, composed of idealistic volunteers would try to inject their "nationalist, bourgeois" concepts of change into a monolithic and very traditional bureaucracy. The Philippine bureaucracy would not easily open itself up and make itself a participative organization. It would take a great number of years before a complete change happens.

An industrial engineer knows that.

Change, as it seems, is far from the grasps of those who invested their faith in the peaceful manner of change. For example, this monstrosity of a bureaucracy will still retain much of its despicable character even beyond June 30. It is its nature of being a monstrosity. It is in its nature of being a counter-agent for change, because it has survived for decades being non-traditional.

June 30 is not some magical moment when everything changes in a blink of an eye. No. June 30 is just the start of the struggle.

This is the problem---every one thinks that come June 30, one will see substantial changes to happen.

What I expect to see come June 30 is merely a change of the guards---from the nuovo elites called Arroyo mafia to the old elites composed of relics of 60s style politics. The behavior of government will not change, no. The nature of the bureaucracy will not cease to exist, no. Only those faces who terrorized us for nine years will fade. Yet the acts and behavior which we experienced throughout the entire existence of the Philippine Republic will continue.

Consider this.

When Arroyo was still in power, counter-elites demand for the abolition of the pork barrel. Now that these counter-elites are now in power, in a blink of an eye, the image of the pork as a necessary evil turned into a blessing.

There are still no concrete policy statement regarding land reform. We only heard things like no smoking for Noynoy, but nothing against landlords retaining their lands.

Nothing substantial did we hear from the Aquino camp on how they would deal with the insurgency problem. Aquino was just quoted to have said that those who will not join him nor toe the government line will be left by the wayside. Does this mean that his way is the only way? What if his way goes against what the People think as the best way for them to tread?

Mindanao-ans expect something concrete and possibly better to happen under Aquino than Arroyo. Yet, aside from appointing Teresita Deles as his peace adviser, nothing substantive was ever heard from Aquino. If we are to judge his closeness with Manuel Roxas, surely, an agreement along the lines of the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domains (MOA-AD) will have to be relegated to the dustbin. Roxas opposed the implementation of the MOA-AD. He even threatened to marshall a sizeable number of Ilonggo volunteers to make war against the Bangsamoros. If this is the case, expect the Mindanao problem to remain a festering issue for the next six years.

And if we are to say that the economy will improve, yes, it will. Yet, the conditions of the Filipino worker will not. NEDA and the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) already showed us the figures. Despite the purported growth of the GDP, unemployment grew by 3 million. The hold of less than one percent of the Philippine population over 56% of this country's resources will remain. It would not be surprising if it even increased, what with the traditional economic elites represented by the Makati Business Club (MBC) participating in how government conducts trade and how it treats labor relations.

How then will we ever expect a change in the economic philosophy of this country when the incoming administration will appoint Cesar Purisima in Finance and Paderanga in NEDA. I dein say that the BSP will have a Cuisia clone as its head, again, signs of a continuation of the depredatory economic policy that impoverished many in the late 90s and early 2000's.

Smuggling, which stifles competition, will remain. The drug trade and the flourishing jueteng operations will ever oh so remain in this country. Expect rice prices to remain high, even prohibitory in the future. Eradicating 300 billion pesos through anti-corruption drives will not deter evil traders from their trade.

And how would Aquino control the increasing power of the military elites who demand respect and probably even a slice of the economic pie? With idealistic elements now poised to go back to their barracks while some enterprising ones vow allegiance to the new administration, who, then, will serve as the opposing voice? Not this Rasputin by the name of Norberto Gonzales. He deserves nothing but our contempt.

In the end, after ninety days, brace yourself. Our oohs and ahhs will turn into scorn. But, not if we can prevent it.