Month: July 2009

His Excellency President Barack Obama
Washington District of Columbia
United States of America

Dear Mr. President,

We shared the wonderful jubilation of the American people during your historic election triumph. When you assumed office early this year, we rejoiced at the audacious hope that you inspired, and on your promise of change for the common good.

We joined all freedom loving people of the world who exulted when you declared that “those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent…are on the wrong side of history.”

The Filipino people share the same morals, ideals and aspirations that define the envied way of life of the American people. Filipinos yearn for the same kind of leaders that the American people yearn for themselves; leaders who are imbued with the right values, lead principled lives, and govern withn the highest ethical standards. The ideals of justice, democracy and the upliftment of human rights animate the Filipino people’s dreams of a better world in much the same way that these ideals animate the dreams of the American people.

Upon your invitation, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will have the chance to meet with you on July 30, 2009. In your meeting with Ms Arroyo, it may serve you well to be mindful of Ms Arroyo’s legacy of corruption, extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, bribery, election cheating, among others. We do not wish to belabor you with details of these high crimes which have surely been documented and reported by the U.S. State Department to your Office.

The Filipino people also yearn for change from the effrontery of hopelessness and the curse of decadence that Ms Arroyo represents. In your meeting with Ms Arroyo, we feel confident that you will make clear to her that a Government that does not comply with the Principles of Democracy and respect for Human Rights cannot have the approval and support of your administration. We implore you Mr. President to inspire hope and be an instrument of change for the common good of the long suffering Filipino people.

Signatories:

Teofisto Guingona Jr. former vice president; Jovito R. Salonga, former Senate president;
Franklin Drilon, former Senate president; Camilo D. Quiason, former SC Justice;

Former senators Wigberto Tañada, Sergio Osmeña III, Vicente T. Paterno, Agapito A. Aquino;

Josefina T. Lichauco, former cabinet secretary, Concerned Citizens Movement; Francisco I. Chavez, former Solicitor General; Corazon J. Soliman, former cabinet secretary; Juan Santos, former cabinet secretary;

Jejomar C. Binay, mayor, Makati City; Bro. Eddie C. Villanueva, national chairman, PJM; Sr. Mary John Mananza, OSB, co-chairperson, AMRSP; Harry L. Roque, Jr., UP Law, Concerned Citizens Movement; Jun I. Lozada, state witness, ZTE/NBN

Click here to download fascimile of the letter:letter-to-pres-obama-72909

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Dapat ipaliwanag ni Sen. Chiz Escudero itong akusasyon ni Rep. Mikey Arroyo, anak ni Gloria Arroyo, na humihingi siya ng tulong sa kanyang ina at ang mga patutsada niya (Chiz) ay pang-media lang.

Hindi natin malalaman kung nagsasabi ng buong katotohan itong anak ni Arroyo ngunit kailangan maliwanag sa taumbayan kung saan nakatayo si Chiz sa isyu ni Gloria Arroyo.

Sabi ni Chiz sa Inquirer na hindi totoo ang kinakalat ni Mikey at hindi siya hihingi ng endorsment ni Arroyo. “It is obviously not true. I am not asking and will not ask for her endorsement. If I run, I will always run as opposition.”

Si Arroyo ay ninang ni Chiz sa kasal. Ngunit kung para talaga sa bayan si Chiz, hindi ito sagabal para kalabanin si Arroyo kung naniniwala talaga siyang malaki ang kasalanan ni Arroyo sa taumbayan.

Ito ang problema ni Chiz: kabilang siya sa Nationalist People’s Coalition na namamangka sa dalawang ilog. Sa kongreso, kasama sila sa koalisyun na sumusuporta kay Arroyo ngunit hinahayaan nila ang kanilang mga miyembro na gustong maki-linya sa oposisyun katulad ni Chiz na isa sa mga sumuporta sa impeachment laban kay Arroyo.

Sa 2004 at 2007 na eleksyon, hindi rin gumawa ng panindigan ang NPC. May mga miyembro na oposisyun, meron din ang dikit pa rin kay Arroyo.

Itong panindigan ay hindi base sa prinsipyo. Gawain ito ng mga oportunista. Hindi nakakapagtaka dahil ang lider ng NPC ay si Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco na isang negosyante. Maraming negosyo si Cojuangco na kailangan ang basbas ng Malacañang.

Naka-usap ko ang isang malapit kay Chiz at sinabi niya na maaring may mga miyembro ng NPC na malapit kay Arroyo na siyang kumakausap kay Arroyo na suportahan si Chiz. Sa mga pulitiko na sanay gumamit ng pera ng taumbayan para sa kanilang personal na interes, malaking bagay kung magagamit ng isang kandidato para presidente ang makinarya ng Malacañang. Nandyan ang pera ng taumbayan na maaring gamitin para sa kandidato katulad ng ginawa ni Arroyo sa kanyang kampanya noong 2004.

Mali ito. Ngunit garapalan itong ginagawa ni Arroyo at ng kanyang mga alagad.

Si Chiz, na napili ni Fernando Poe Jr. bilang spokesman, ay sumikat nang siya ay kongresman dahil nanindigan siya laban sa administrasyon ni Arroyo. Kaya sinuportahan siya ng taumbayan magiging senador kasama si Alan Peter Cayetano.

Kung gusto ni Chiz patunayan na kaya niya maging presidente kahit sa batang edad (magiging 40 pa lang siya sa Oktubre) sabihan niya ang kanyang mga kapwa-NPC na tumigil sa paghingi ng endorsement ni Arroyo para sa kanya. Hindi pwedeng sabihin na hindi niya ma-kontrol ang kanyang mga kasamahan. Paano na lang kung presidente siya, ganun din ang sasabihin niya kapag may mga kasama siyang sangkot sa anomalya?

Sa isyu ni Arroyo, hindi maari magiging malabo. Dapat klaro.

Riddle of the day: What’s the difference between a fairytale and a state- of- the- nation address?

Answer, according a text message: A fairytale is fiction with dwarfs as characters.SONA has a dwarf relating fiction.

Gloria Arroyo was not even an engaging storyteller. Bitchy, catty and spiteful, she looked so ugly.

The Gloria Arroyo that skirted issues and threw broadsides on her critics at her SONA last Monday was reminiscent of the Arroyo at the beginning of her stolen power , mistaking arrogance and bitchiness with strength.

It betrayed her insecurity and nervousness as her descent from power nears.

Remember that “Isang bala ka lang” warning to the Abu Sayyaf when the bandits kidnapped guests of Dos Palmas Hotel in Palawan? Tons of bullets later and a number of soldiers’ lives lost, the Abus are still as active as ever.

Her so- called strong republic has brought millions of Filipinos to foreign lands as slaves, helpless even when they are raped and abused.

A blogger, Anna from Brussels, is appalled that Arroyo “has the gall to shamelessly trumpet ‘Pagpunta ko sa Saudi, pinatawad ni Haring Abdullah ang pitong daang OFW na nasa preso. Pinuno nila ang isang buong eroplano at umuwi kasama ko.’”

Anna said, “Does she not f…ing realise that if she and her horrid corrupt minions had been doing good governance, Filipinos would be tempted less to adventure in Saudi Arabia and subject themselves to misery, slavery, abuse, indignity, etc.? That if she weren’t corrupt and brazen liar, there perhaps would be jobs in Pinas to keep those women at home and work at home instead of adventuring in unchartered territories.

“Doesn’t this awful crap-faced midget doesn’t know that she is one of the prime human trafickers these last few years when she personally would go abroad to sell the services of Pinoys to foreign governments asking foreign leaders to accept Pinoys as toilette cleaners?

“What a goddamn walking baloney that woman is? That there are people, particularly in Congress who tolerate her presence is really beyond me.”

I’ve talked with a number of foreign affairs officers who agonize whenever they are asked to make representations for foreign governments to bend their law and be kind to Filipinos convicted of crimes.

“If we ask foreign governments to make us exception to their law, what if their nationals also commit a crime in the Philippines? Do we also exempt them? Where is the rule of law then?”

Rule of law, as we all know, was thrown out of the window the day Arroyo ascended to the presidency .Arthur Bariuad, formerly correspondent of Singapore Strait Times in Manila and now based in the United States, remarked on Facebook: “Indecent speech. What else can you expect from a power grabber?”

Nine years ago, on the first day of Arroyo in Malacanang, I remember Art making the same remark about Arroyo, “the power grabber” after our queries on the legitimacy of presidency were arrogantly dismissed by her then legal adviser, Renato Corona.

Art said the other day, “I felt ominous signs the moment she grabbed the presidency then. I haven’t wavered nine long years later.”

Phil Cruz said finds it amazing that Arroyo could deliver lies with such aplomb. “Such air of arrogance while delivering a litany of untruths, spins and under-achievements. She has perfected the art to the nth degree.

“And she has the gall to tout the increasing number of OFW deployment as an ‘achievement’, deftly dodging the real reason for this increasing trend during her term.

“I give her a triple A - arrogant, ambitious, abominable.”

As to her line “I never expressed my desire to extend myself beyond my term.”, blogger Mabini said, “Expressing her desire is different from having a desire.Just because you did not express it, it does not necessarily mean you don’t have it and you don’t intend to express it in the coming months “

Saxnviolins said, “Nice play of words. Failure to express does not indicate that there is no desire.

“She should fire her speech writer. Maybe she wrote it herself. Kaya pala economical with the truth, because it was written by a data doctoring economist.”

Elpidio Que saw through those spitefulness a frightened creature. “I believe that despite her tough talks, deep inside her is an extreme fear of the prospect of rotting in jail should she surrender her dubious power beyond 2010. She is likened to a little bad girl riding a tiger, that should she jump down to earth, the beast will devour her.”

Utak-pulbura talaga itong si Jovito Palparan, ang paboritong heneral ni Gloria Arroyo.

Sinabi ni Palparan, dating commander ng 7th Infantry Division sa Central Luzon kung saan maraming na-salvage na milyembro ng mga militanteng grupo at ngayon isa ay isa ng partylist representative sa Kongreso, na si Melissa Roxas ang Filipino-American na aktibista ay miyembro daw ng New People’s Army.

Si Roxas ay miyembro ng progresibong grupong Bayan sa Estados-Unidos. Ilang beses na siya pumupunta dito sa Pilipinas para sa malaman ang kanyang pinanggalingan at malaman kung ano talaga ang tunay ng kalagayan ng bayan ng kanyang mga magulang.

Noong Mayo 19, sabi ni Roxas siya at ang kanyang dalawang kasama, sina Juanito Carabeo at John Edward Handoc, ay kinuha ng mga armadong lalaki habang sila ay nasa isang bahay sa La Paz, Tarlac. Dinala siya sa isang bahay na nakatakip ang kanyang mata at nakatali ang kanyang mga kamay.

Sabi niya, hiniwalay siya sa ibang kasama niya. Tinorture daw siya at pinilit na pina-paamin na NPA siya. Pagkatapos ng anim na araw, iniwan siya malapit sa bahay ng kanyang tiyo sa Quezon City.

Ibinalik marahil siya dahil, nag-ingay ang grupong Bayan sa media. Itinuturo ng Bayan ang military na may kagagawan sa pagkidnap kay Roxas.

Bumalik sa Amerika si Roxas nang siya ay pinakawalang ng kanyang mga kidnappers ngunit nandito siya ngayon para humarap sa imbestigasyon isinasagawa ng Commission on Human Rights.

Sabi ni Palparan may mga pruweba siya na NPA raw si Roxas. Nang-intriga pa. Kapwa komunista raw ang nagkidnap at nag-torture kay Melissa para daw siraan ang military.

Mabuti lang matino itong si Leila de Lima, chairperson ng CHR. Sabi niya ang kanilang ini-imbistigahan ay ang pagkidnap at pag\torture, hindi yung membership ng kung sino man sa anong organisasyon.

Sabi ni De lima, dapat alalahanin na ang karapatan ng isang tao laban sa torture ay hindi nababawasan kahit ano ang iyong pulitika o idolohiya. Walang sitwasyon na maaring papayagan ang torture. “We must remember that freedom from torture is a non-derogable human right. Under no circumstance, not even a state of war or conflict, can torture or anyone be justified.”

Sabi ni Renato Reyes, Bayan secretary general, na baka raw napagkamalan si Melissa na si Maita Santiago, isa ring aktibista.

Sa akin naman, hindi isyu kung siya ay NPA o hindi. Ano naman kung NPA siya? Kung totoong NPA siya at may pruweba sila, di hulihin at kasuhan.

Walang karapatan ang sino man na magkidnap at mag-torture.

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