After Bayani Fernando, MMDA Chair and Presidential aspirant under LAKAS-CMD-Kampi, realizes that he still have the chance to be the party’s top candidate, his best next move, is to hold his ideas unless it would benefit himself.

It would be stupid for him to provide Teodoro, whose NDCC by the way has no clear plan on Ondoy aftermath, ideas and ways to push his popularity and candidacy.

By the way, the best candidate so far is Kris Aquino. Her talks delivered 40M to the ABS-CBNs foundation. Never mind Ruffa.

Nadaanan ko minsan sa isang talakayan sa isang blog ang medyo malalim na pag-ungkat sa mga dahilan sa likod ng iskandalong kinasangkutan ng Pangulo, ng komunidad ng Sining Pinoy, at ng iba pang nais sumawsaw (isa na ako dyan).

Matibay na pinanindigan ng may-ari ng blog ang kanyang punto… na dahil sa legal na aspeto ng usapin, masasabing ayos ang pagkakapasok ni Caparas bilang Pambansang Alagad ng Sining, at natatanging si Alvarez na lamang ang may problema dahil sa kanyang hinahawakang posisyon sa panahong naganap ang pilian.

Sa isang pasada ng tingin, masasabing tumpak ang ganitong paninindigan.  Lalo pa’t mahusay naman niyang naipapaliwanag ang maayos na pagkilala sa iba pang mga alagad ng sining na naging bahagi ng paglikha ng ngayo’y mga kinikilalang PAS.

Pero may isang malinaw na nalampasan ng pansin.  At kahit pa nabanggit niya sa isang sagot niya na ang mismong paggawa ng sining ay gawaing pampolitika, pikit-mata niyang nilagpasan ang natural na dahilan ng iskandalo: politika.  Sa pamamagitan ng pagbibida niya ng legalidad ng prerogative ng pangulo.

Sa pamamagitan ng punto niyang ito, pinilit niyang ikulong na lang sa talakayang ‘art’ ang konteksto ng nasabing hakbangin ni Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Hindi man lang nabanggit sa talakayan nila ang katotohanang ang nagtatakda ng kultura at sining ay ang naghaharing uri, dahil sa kontrol nila sa lahat ng mekanismo ng gobyerno.  At ang iskandalong naganap ay isang malinaw na pagsasapraktika ng ruling class sa kapangyarihan nilang ito.

Nakakalungkot na ang mga “matatalinong artist” na nagsikap unawain ang isyu, ay nanatiling artist na bansot.  Bansot dahil pilit pa ring isinasaisantabi ang rayalidad ng relasyon ng ekonomya, politika at maging militar sa usapin ng sining at kultura.

Maging ang karanasan ni Lumbera ay nailatag lang niya bilang halimbawa ng kakitiran ng iba.  hindi niya pinansin na maaaring iyon ay reaksyon ng estado na nalusutan ng kanyang kalaban.

Tsk.  Artist.

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO’S

9TH STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS DURING THE 3RD JOINT

REGULAR SESSION OF THE 14th CONGRESS OF THE

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

Session Hall, Batasan Pambansa Complex

Batasan Hills, Quezon City

July 29, 2009

07292000A

Thank you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon.

Before I begin my report please join me first in a moment of prayer for President Aquino.

Senate President Enrile, Speaker Nograles, Senators, Representatives, Vice President de Castro, Former President Ramos, Chief Justice Puno, Ambassadors, friends:

The past twelve months have been a year for the history books. Financial meltdown in the West spread throughout the world….

Tens of millions lost their jobs; billions across the globe have been hurt – the poor always harder than the rich. No one was spared….

It has affected us already. But the story of the Philippines in 2008 is that the country weathered a succession of global crises in fuel, in food, then in finance and finally the economy in a global recession, never losing focus and with economic fundamentals intact….(applause)

A few days ago Moody’s upgraded our credit rating, citing the resilience of our economy. The state of our nation is a strong economy. (applause) Good news for our people, bad news for our critics. (applause)

I did not become President to be popular. To work, to lead, to protect and preserve our country, our people, that is why I became President. (applause)

When my father left the Presidency, we were second to Japan. I want our Republic to be ready for the first world in 20 years.

Towards that vision, we made key reforms. Our economic plan centers on putting people first. Higit sa lahat, ang layunin ng ating mga patakaran ay tulungan ang masisipag na karaniwang Pilipino. (applause) New tax revenues were put in place to help pay for better healthcare, more roads, and a strong education system. Housing policies were designed to lift up our poorer citizens so they can live and raise a family with dignity. Ang ating mga puhunan sa agrikultura ay naglalayong kilalanin ang ating mga magsasaka bilang backbone ng ating bansa, (applause) at bigyan sila ng mga modernong kagamitan to feed our nation and feed their own family.

Had we listened to the critics of those policies, had we not braced ourselves for the crisis that came, had we taken the easy road much preferred by politicians eyeing elections, this country would be flat on its back. (applause)

It would take twice the effort just to get it back again on its feet—to where we are now because we took the responsibility and paid the political price of doing the right thing. (applause) For standing with me and doing the right thing, thank you, Congress. (applause)

The strong, bitter and unpopular revenue measures of the past few years have spared our country the worst of the global financial shocks. They gave us the resources to stimulate the economy. Nabigyan nila ang pinakamalaking pagtaas ng IRA ng mga LGU na P40 billion itong taon, (applause) imparting strength throughout the country at every level of government.

Compared to the past we have built more and better infrastructure, including those started by others but left unfinished. The Subic-Clark-Tarlac

Expressway is a prime example of building better roads. (applause) It creates wealth as the flagship of the Subic-Clark corridor.

We have built airports of international standard, upgraded domestic airports, built seaports and the RORO system. I ask Congress for a Philippine Transport Security Authority Law. (applause)

Some say that after this SONA, it will be all politics. Sorry, but there’s more work. (applause)

Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. (applause) We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now. (applause)

Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth.  Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. (applause) Let us have a Department of ICT. (applause)

In the last four years tourism almost doubled. It is now a $5 billion industry. (applause)

Our reforms gave us the resources to protect our people, our financial system and our economy from the worst of shocks that the best in the west failed to anticipate. (applause)

They gave us the resources to extend welfare support and enhance spending power.

For helping me raise government salaries through Joint Resolution 4, thank you Congress. (applause)

Cash handouts give the most immediate relief and produce the widest stimulating effect. Nakikinabang ang 700,000 na pinakamahihirap na pamilya sa programang Pantawid Pamilya. (applause)

We prioritize projects with the same stimulus effects plus long-term contributions to progress.

Sa pagpapamahagi ng milyun-milyong ektaryang lupa, 700,000 na katutubo at mahigit isang milyong benepisyaryo ng CARP ay taas-noong may-ari na ng sariling lupa. (applause) Hinihiling ko sa Kongreso na ipasa agad ang pagpapalawig ng CARP, (applause) at dapat ma-condone ang P42 billion na land reform liabilities dahil 18% lamang ang nabayaran mula 1972. (applause)

It’s timely because it will unfreeze the rural property market. Ang mahal kong ama ang nag-emancipate ng mga magsasaka. Ii-mancipate naman natin ngayon ang titulo. (applause)

Nakinabang ang pitong milyong entrepreneurs sa P165 billion in microfinance loans.

Nakinabang ang sandaan libo sa emergency employment ng ating economic resiliency plan. Kasama natin ngayon ang isa sa kanila, si Gigi Gabiola. (applause)

Dating household service worker sa Dubai, ngayon siya ay nagtatrabaho sa DOLE. Good luck, Gigi. (applause)

Nakinabang ang isang milyong pamilya sa programang pabahay at palupa, mula Pag-Ibig, NHA, community mortgage program, certificates of lot award, at saka yung inyong loan condonation. Salamat. (applause)

Our average inflation is the lowest since 1966. Last June, it dropped to 1.5%. (applause) Paano?

Proper policies lowered interest rates, which lowered costs to business and consumers.

Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating ibenta ang bigas NFA sa P18.25 per kilo kahit tumaas ang presyo sa labas mula P17.50 hanggang P30 dahil sa kakulangan sa supply sa mundo. Habang, sa unang pagkakataon, nagawa nating itaas ang pamimili ng palay sa mga magsasaka, P17 mula sa P11. (applause)

Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating mamuhunan sa pagkain — anticipating an unexpected global food crisis. Nakagawa tayo ng libu-libong kilometro ng farm-to-market roads at, kasama ng pribadong sector, natubigan ang dalawang milyong ektarya. (applause) Mga Badjao gaya ni Tarnati Dannawi (applause) ay tinuruan ng modernong mariculture. Umabot na sa P 180,000 ang kinita niya mula noong nakaraang taon. Congratulations, Tarnati. (applause) We will help more fisherfolk shift to fish farming with a budget of P1 billion. (applause)

Dahil dumarami na naman daw ang pamilyang nagugutom, mamumuhunan tayo nga panibago sa ating hunger mitigation program na sa nakaraan ay napatunayang mabisa. Tulungan niyo ako dito Kongreso. (applause)

Mula pa noong 2001, nanawagan na tayo ng mas murang gamot. Nagbebenta tayo ng gamot na kalahating presyo sa libu-libong Botika ng Bayan at Botika ng Barangay sa maraming dako ng bansa. Our efforts prodded the pharmaceutical companies to come up with low-cost generics and brands like RiteMed. I supported the tough version of the House of the Cheaper Medicine law (applause) over the weak version of my critics. (applause) The result: the drug companies volunteered to bring down drug prices, slashing by half the prices of 16 drugs. Thank you, Congressmen Cua, Alvarez, Biron and Locsin. (applause)

Pursuant to law, we are placing other drugs under a maximum retail price. To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public. (applause)

Sa health insurance, sakop na ang 86% ng ating populasyon.

Sa Rent Control Law ng 2005 hanggang 2008, di pwedeng lumampas ng 10% ang pagtaas ng upa taon-taon. Ayon sa kakapirma nating batas may isang taong moratorium, tapos hanggang 7% lamang ang maaaring pagtaas. Salamat, Kongreso. (applause)

Noong isang taon, nabiyayaan ng tig-P500 ang mahigit pitong milyong tahanan bilang Pantawid Koryente ng mga small electricity users.

Yung presyo ng koryente, ang EPIRA natin ang sagot. EPIRA dismantled monopoly. Ngunit minana natin yung power purchase agreements, kaya hindi pa natin makakamtan yung buong intended effect. Pero happy na rin tayo, dahil isang taon na lamang iyan. The next generation will benefit from low prices from our EPIRA. Thank you. (applause)

Samantala, umabot na sa halos lahat ng barangay ang elektrisidad. We increased indigenous energy from 48% to 58%. Nakatipid tayo ng dollars tapos malaki pa ang na-reduce na oil consumption. The huge reduction in fossil fuel is the biggest proof of energy independence and environmental responsibility. (applause) Further reduction will come with the implementation of the Renewable Energy Act and the Biofuels Act. Again thank you. (applause)

The next generation will also benefit from our lower public debt to GDP ratio. It declined from 78% in 2000 to 55% in 2008. We cut in half the debt of government corporations from 15% to 7%. Likewise foreign debt from 73% to 32%. (applause) Kung meron man tayong malaking kaaway na tinalo, walang iba kundi conjured the demon of foreign debt. We exorcised it. (applause)

The market grows economies. A free market, not a free-for-all. To that end, we improved our banking system to complement its inherent conservatism. The Bangko Sentral has been prudent. Thank you, Governor Tetangco, (applause) for being so effective. The BSP will be even more effective if Congress will amend its Charter. (applause)

We worked on the Special Purpose Vehicle Act, reducing non-performing loans from 18% to 4% and improving loan-deposit ratios.

Our new Securitization Law did not encourage the recklessness that brought down giant banks and insurance companies elsewhere and laid their economies to waste. In fact, it monitors and regulates the new-fangled financial schemes. Thank you, Congress. (applause)

We will work to increase the tax effort through improved collections and new sin taxes to further our capacity to reduce poverty and pursue growth. Revenue enhancement must come from the Department of Finance plugging leaks and catching tax and customs cheats. I call on tax paying citizens and tax paying businesses help the BIR and Customs cut those cheats. (applause)

Taxes should come from alcohol and tobacco and not from books. Tax hazards to lungs and livers, do not tax minds. (applause) Ang kita mula sa buwis ng alak at sigarilyo ay dapat gamitin sa kalusugan at edukasyon. Pondohan ang Philhealth premiums ng pinakamahihirap. Pondohan ang mas maraming classroom at computers.

Pardon my partiality for the teaching profession. I was a teacher. (applause)

Kaya namuhunan tayo ng malaki sa education at skills training. Ang magandang edukasyon ay susi sa mas magandang buhay, the great equalizer that allows every young Filipino a chance to realize their dreams. Nagtayo tayo ng 95,000 na silid-aralan, nagdagdag ng 60,000 na guro, naglaan ng P1.5 billion para sa teacher training, especially for 100,000 English teachers. (applause)

Isa sa pinakamahirap sa Millennium Development Goals ay yung Edukasyon para sa Lahat pagdating ng 2015. Ibig sabihin, lahat ng nasa tamang edad ay dapat nasa primary school. Halos walang bansang makakatupad nito. Ngunit nagsisikap pa rin tayo. Nagtayo tayo ng mga paaralan sa higit sanlibong barangay na dati walang eskwelahan upang makatipid ng gastos sa pamasahe ang mga bata. (applause) Tinanggal natin ang miscellaneous fees para sa primary school. Hindi na kailangan mag-uniporme sa mga estudyante sa public school.

In private high schools, we finance half of the students.

We have provided college and post-graduate education for over 600,000 scholars. One of them, Mylene Amerol-Macumbal, finished Accounting at MSU-IIT, (applause) then she went to law school, and placed second in the last bar exams, (applause) the first Muslim woman bar topnotcher. (applause)

Congratulations!

In technical education and skills training, we have invested three times that of three previous administrations combined. (applause) Narito si Jennifer Silbor, isa sa sampung milyong trainee. Natuto siya ng medical transcription. Now, as an independent contractor and lecturer for transcriptions in Davao, kumikita siya ng P18,000 bawat buwan. Good job, Jennifer. (applause)

The Presidential Task Force on Education headed by Jesuit educator Father Bienvenido Nebres has come out with the Main Education Highway towards a Knowledge-Based Economy. It envisions seamless education from basic to vocational school or college.

It seeks to mainstreams early childhood development in basic education. Our children are our most cherished possession. In their early years we must make sure they get a healthy start in life. They must receive the right food for a healthy body, the right education for a bright and inquiring mind — and the equality of opportunity for a meaningful job. (applause)

For college admission, the Task Force recommends mandatory Scholastic Aptitude Tests. It also recommends that private higher education institutions should be harmonized with state universities and colleges, and also the CHED should oversee local universities and colleges. For professions seeking international recognition — engineering, architecture, accountancy, pharmacy and physical therapy –it recommends radical reform: 10 years of basic education, two years of pre-university before three years of university.

Our educational system should make the Filipino fit not just for whatever jobs happen to be on offer today, but also for whatever economic challenge life will throw in their way. (applause)

Sa hirap at ginhawa, pinapatatag ang ating bansa ng ating Overseas Filipinos. Iyong padala nilang $16 billion noong isang taon ay record. Itong taon, mas mataas pa. (applause)

I know that this is not a sacrifice joyfully borne. This is work where it can be found — in faraway places, among strangers with different cultures. It is lonely work, it is hard work.

Kaya nagsisikap tayong lumikha dito sa atin ng mga trabahong maganda ang sahod, so that overseas work will just be a career choice, not the only option for a hard-working Filipino. (applause)

Meanwhile, we should make their sacrifices worthwhile. Dapat gumawa tayo ng mas epektibong proteksyon at pagpapalawak ng halaga ng kanilang pinagsikapang sweldo. That means stronger consumer protection for OFWs investing in property and products back home. Para sa kanila, pinapakilos natin ang Investors Protection Task Force. (appause)

Hindi ako nag-aatubiling bisitahin ang ating taong bayan at kanilang mga host sa buong mundo – mula Hapon hanggang Brazil, mula Europa at Middle East hanggang sa American Midwest, nakikinig sa kanilang mga problema at pangangailangan, inaalam kung paano sila matulungan ng ating pamahalaan — by working out better policies on migrant labor, or by saving lives and restoring liberty.

Pagpunta ko sa Saudi, pinatawad ni Haring Abdullah ang pitong daang OFW na nasa preso. (applause) Pinuno nila ang isang buong eroplano at umuwi kasama ko. (applause)

Mula sa ating State Visit sa Espanya, it has become our biggest European donor. (applause) At si Haring Juan Carlos ay nakikipag-usap sa ibang mga bansa para sa ating mga namomroblemang OFW. Ganoon di si Sheikh Khalifa, ang Prime Minister ng Bahrain. (applause)

Pagpunta ko sa Kuwait, Emir Al-Sabah commuted death sentences. (applause)

We thank all our leaders, all world leaders who shown compassion with our workers. (applause)

Our vigorous international engagement has helped bring in foreign investment. Net foreign direct investments multiplied 15 times during our administration. Kasama ng ating mga Together with our OFWs, they more than doubled our foreign exchange reserves. Pinalakas ang ating piso at naiwasan ang lubhang pagtaas ng presyo. They upgraded our credit because while the reserves of our peers have shrunk this past year, ours reserves grew by $3 billion. (applause)

Our international engagement has also corrected historical injustice. The day we visited Washington, Senator Daniel Inouye successfully sponsored benefits for our veterans as part of America’s stimulus package.

I have accepted the invitation of President Obama to be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet him at the White House, later this week. (applause)

That he sought the Philippines testifies to our strong and deep ties. High on our agenda will be peace and security issues. Terrorism: how to meet it, how to end it, how to address its roots in injustice or prejudice — and first and always how to protect lives.

We will discuss nuclear non-proliferation. The Philippines will chair the review of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation Treaty in New York in May 2010. The success of the talks will be a major diplomatic achievement for us. (applause)

There is a range of other issues we will discuss, including the global challenge of climate change, especially the threat to countries with long coastlines. And there is the global recession, its worse impact on poor people, and the options that can spare them from the worst.

In 2008 up to the first quarter of 2009 we stood among only a few economies in Asia-Pacific that did not shrink. (applause) Compare this to 2001, when some of my current critics were driven out by people power. Asia was then surging but our country was on the brink of bankruptcy. (applause)

Since then, our economy has posted uninterrupted growth for 33 quarters; more than doubled its size from $76 billion to $186 billion. The average GDP growth from 2001 to the first quarter of 2009 is the highest in 43 years. (applause)

Bumaba ang bilang ng mga nagsasabing mahirap sila sa 47% mula 59%. Maski lumaki ang ating populasyon, nabawasan ng dalawang milyon ang bilang ng mahihirap. (applause) GNP per capita rose from a Third World $967 to $2,000. (applause) Lumikha tayo ng walong milyong trabaho, an average of a million a year, much, much more than at any other time. (applause)

In sum:

1. We have a strong economy in a strong fiscal position to withstand political shocks.

2. We built new modern infrastructure and completed unfinished ones.

3. The economy is more fair to the poor than ever before. (applause)

4. We are building a sound base for the next generation.

5. International authorities have taken notice that we are safer from environmental degradation and man-made disasters. (applause)

As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be as prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible; to extend immediate and effective relief when it is not….The mapping of flood and landslide-prone areas is almost complete. Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved, with weather tracking facilities in Subic, Tagaytay, Mactan, Mindanao, Pampanga. We have worked on flood control infrastructure like those for Pinatubo, Agno, Laoag, and Abucay, which will pump the run off waters from Quezon City and Tondo flooding Sampaloc. This will help relieve hundreds of hectares in this old city of its age old woe. (applause)

Patuloy naman iyong Camanava, dagdag sa Pinatubo, Iloilo, Pasig-Marikina, Bicol River Basin, at mga river basin ng Mindanao. (applause)

The victims of typhoon Frank in Panay should receive their long-overdue assistance package. I ask Congress to pass the SNITS Law. (applause)

Namana natin ang pinakamatagal ng rebelyon ng Komunista sa buong mundo.

Si Leah de la Cruz isa sa labindalawang libong rebel returnee. Sixteen pa lang siya nang sumali sa NPA. Naging kasapi sa regional White Area Committee, napromote sa Leyte Party Committee Secretary. Nahuli noong 2006. She is now involved in an LGU-supported handicraft livelihood training of former rebels. We love you, Leah! (applause)

There is now a good prospect for peace talks with both the Communist Party of the Philippines and the MILF, with whom we are now on ceasefire. (applause)

We inherited an age-old conflict in Mindanao, exacerbated by a politically popular but near-sighted policy of massive retaliation. This only provoked the other side to continue the war.

In these two internal conflicts, ang tanong ay hindi, “Sino ang mananalo?” kundi, bakit pa ba kailangang mag-laban ang kapwa Pilipino tungkol sa mga isyu na alam naman nating lahat na di malulutas sa dahas, at mareresolba lang sa paraang demokratiko? (applause)

There is nothing more that I would wish for than peace in Mindanao. (applause) It will be a blessing for all its people, Muslim, Christian and Lumads. It will show other religiously divided communities that there can be common ground on which to live together in peace, harmony and cooperation that respects each other’s religious beliefs. (applause)

At sa lahat ng dako ng bansa, kailangan nating protektahan ang ating mga mamamayan kontra sa krimen’ — in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their communities. How shall crime be fought? With the five pillars of justice, including crime fighters. We call on Congress to fund more policemen on the streets. (applause)

Real government is about looking beyond the vested to the national interest, setting up the necessary conditions to enable the next, more enabled and more empowered generation to achieve a country as prosperous, a people as content, as ours deserve to be. (applause)

The noisiest critics of constitutional reform tirelessly and shamelessly attempted Cha-Cha when they thought they could take advantage of a shift in the form of government. Now that they feel they cannot benefit from it, they oppose it. (applause)

As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address the highest exercise of democracy…voting!

In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress. (applause)

At the end of this speech I shall step down from this stage but not from the Presidency. (applause) My term does not end until next year. (applause) Until then, I will fight for the ordinary Filipino. The nation comes first. There is much to do as head of state — to the very last day. (applause)

A year is a long time. Patuloy ang pamumuhunan sa tinatawag na three E’s ng ekonomiya, environment at edukasyon. There are many perils that we must still guard against.

A man-made calamity is already upon us, global in scale. As I said earlier, so far we have been spared its worst effects but we cannot be complacent. We only know that we have generated more resources on which to draw, and thereby created options we could take. Thank God we did not let our critics stop us. (applause)

As the campaign unfolds and the candidates take to the airwaves, I ask them to talk more about how they will build up the nation rather than tear down their opponents. (applause) Give the electorate real choices and not just sweet talk. (applause)

Meanwhile, I will keep a steady hand on the tiller, keeping the ship of state away from the shallows some prefer, and steering it straight on the course we set in 2001.

Ang ating taong bayan ay masipag at maka-Diyos. These qualities are epitomized in someone like Manny Pacquiao. (applause) Manny trained tirelessly, by the book, with iron discipline, with the certain knowledge that he had to fight himself, his weaknesses first, before he could beat his opponent. (applause) That was the way to clinch his victories and his ultimate title: ang pinakadakilang boksingero sa kasaysayan. (applause) Mabuhay ka, Manny! (applause)

However much a President wishes it, a national problem cannot be knocked out with a single punch. A president must work with the problem as much as against it, turn it into a solution if she can.

There isn’t a day I do not work at my job or a waking moment when I do not think through a work-related problem. Even my critics cannot begrudge the long hours I put in. Our people deserve a government that works just as hard as they do. (applause)

A President must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime.

Everything right can be undone by even a single wrong. Every step forward must be taken in the teeth of political pressures and economic constraints that could push you two steps back-if-you flinch and falter. I have not flinched, I have not faltered. Hindi ako umaatras sa hamon. (applause)

And I have never done any of the things that scared my worst critics so much. They are frightened by their own shadows. (applause)

In the face of attempted coups, I issued emergency proclamations just in case. But I was able to resolve these military crises with the ordinary powers of my office. My critics call it dictatorship. I call it determination. (applause) We know it as strong government.

But I never declared martial law, (applause) though they are running scared as if I did. (laughter) In truth, what they are really afraid of is their weakness in the face of this self-imagined threat. (applause)

I say to them: do not tell us what we all know, that democracy can be threatened. Tell us what you will do when it is attacked. (applause)

I know what to do:

As I have shown, I will defend democracy with arms when it is threatened by violence; with firmness when it is weakened by division; with law and order when it is subverted by anarchy; and always, I will try to sustain it by wise policies of economic progress, so that a democracy means not just an empty liberty but a full life for all. (applause)

I have never expressed the desire to extend myself beyond my term. (applause) Many of those who accuse me of it tried to cling like nails to their posts. (laughter/applause)

I am accused of misgovernance. Many of those who accuse me of it left me the problem of their misgovernance to solve. (applause) And we did it.

I am falsely accused, without proof, of using my position for personal profit. Many who accuse me have lifestyles and spending habits that make them walking proofs of that crime. (applause)

We can read their frustrations. They had the chance to serve this good country and they blew it by serving themselves. (applause)

Those who live in glass houses should cast no stones. Those who should be in jail should not threaten it, especially if they have been there. (applause)

Our administration, with the highest average rate of growth, recording multiple increases in investments, with the largest job creation in history, and which gets a credit upgrade at the height of a world recession, must be doing something right, (applause) even if some of those cocooned in corporate privilege refuse to recognize it. (applause)

Governance however, is not about looking back and getting even. It is about looking forward and giving more — to the people who gave us the greatest, hardest gift of all: the care of a country. (applause)

From Bonifacio at Balintawak to Cory Aquino at EDSA and up to today, we have struggled to bring power to the people, and this country to the eminence it deserves.

Today the Philippines is weathering well the storm that is raging around the world. It is growing stronger with the challenge. When the weather clears, as it will, there is no telling how much farther forward it can go. Believe-in-it. I believe. (applause)

We can and we must-march-forward-with-hope, optimism and determination. We must come together, work together and walk together toward the future. (applause)

Bagamat malaking hamon ang nasa ating harapan, nasa kamay natin ang malaking kakayahan. (applause) Halina’t pagtulungan nating tiyakin ang karapat-dapat na kinabukasan ng ating Inang Bayan. (applause)

And to the people of our good country, for allowing me to serve as your President, maraming salamat. (applause)

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! (applause)

* * *

GEARING TOWARDS A NEW BEGINNING: CARTOONING IN JOURNALISM

Lektyur na idineliber ng Brgy RP (Ding Loguibis) sa mga mag-aaral ng PUP-College of Communication noong Hulyo, 2009

Sa tulong ng JournGuild at pamunuan ng PUP-CoC

Magandang araw!

Kung pagbabatayan ang tema: otomatikong sasagi ang usapin ng ‘beginning’ sa konteksto ng ‘bago’.  Bagong labas, bagong mukha, bagong landas.

Sa pakikipagpalitan ko ng ideya at kuro sa ilan ninyong ka-mag-aaral, pati na kay Prof Angie, napulot ko ang konteksto ng new beginning, ayon sa punto de bista ng mga nasa akademya.  New beginning dahil magbubukas ng bagong pintuan ang inyong pamantasan para sa editorial cartooning.  New beginning dahil bago ang organisasyunal na istruktura ng inyong kolehiyo.  New beginning dahil bagong larangan para sa mga journ students ang editorial cartooning.

Syempre, kakabit na nito ang mga katanungan.  What’s in store? Ano’ng naghihintay sa likod ng bagong pintuan?  Anong mga bagong hamon ang kakaharapin?

Kapag naghahanda para sa isang bagong simula, kailangan natin ng armas: karampatang kaalaman, aral ng nakaraan, at determinasyong kumpletuhin ang paglalakbay, abutin ang mga linalayon, anuman ang mga balakid  o harang na makaharap natin sa daan.

Tulad ng pagkabigo natin sa pag-ibig, o pagkatapos mag-asawa, o pagkatapos manganak, walang ibang hakbang tayong magagawa kundi pasulong.  Dahil ang lahat ng bagay ay apektado ng unibersal na batas ng pagbabago, ng pag-unlad.

Kailangang ang mga aral lamang ang bitbitin sa paglalakbay at iwanan ang sandamakmak na excess baggage para sa mas magaan at mabilis na byahe.

Sapagkat kung ang unang hakbang ang hudyat ng simula, ang pag-atras ang katapusan ng paglalakbay.

Ngayong araw, susubukan nating ibaling ang ating atensyon sa buhay ng isa sa dalawang pinakamahalagang bahagi ng pamamahayag: ang kartung editoryal o editorial cartoon.

Ang kartung editoryal ang pinakamakapangyarihan, pinaka-epektibo, at pinaka-maaasahang kagyat na tagapukaw ng atensyon ng pinakamalawak na bilang ng mambabasa ng pahayagan.

MAIKLING KASAYSAYAN NG EDITORIAL CARTOON

Ang editorial cartoon ay isang klase ng political cartoon.  Ang political cartoon naman ay nanggaling sa karikatura.

Sinasabing nagmula ang karikatura sa Mediterranean .  Pero bilang isang disiplinang Kanluranin, nakilala ang karikatura sa pamamagitan ni da Vinci.

Ito ang naging midyum ni da Vinci sa kanyang masining na paghahanap sa ideyal na tipo ng deformity.

Pero dahil sa karaniwan nang ang mga likha lang sa canvass ang naididisplay noong panahong iyon, itinakda ang karikatura (karaniwang nasa sketch pad lang) bilang isang “fanciful exercise” at kung gayo’s walang artistic value sa merkado.

Ang resulta, para maipakita sa publiko, nakahon sa ‘portraiture’ ang mga karikatura. 

Dahil dito, ang mga artist noon katulad nina Agostino at Annibale Carraci ay nagrebelde sa ‘portraiture’ at linikha nila ang karikaturang ‘counter-art’, isang mabilis at impresyunistikong drowing na nag-i-exaggerate ng mga prominenteng pisikal na katangian ng tao na may resultang nakakatawa.

Sa paglipas ng panahon, lumabas ang mga kartung may katangiang editoryal sa panahon ng ligalig sa Europa, sa panahon ng Protestant Reformation sa Alemanya.

Gumamit ang naturang reform movement ng maramihang propagandang biswal para abutin ang pinakamaraming bilang ng mamamayang Aleman.

Ilan sa mga naging rekado ng tagumpay ng pagsulpot at pagtanggap sa mga political cartoon ay ang pagkakaroon noon ng matatag na oposisyon, mayamang bukal ng mga artist galing sa mga woodcutters at metal engravers, at ang taas ng antas ng iliterasiya.

Sa pagdaan ng panahon, nagsanib ang sining ng Alemanya sa karikaturang Italyano.  Mula dito’y nabuo ang standard na makikita natin sa mga 18^th century cartoons.  Dito na unti-unting isinilang ang political cartoons.

Ang mga kartun na ito ay naging mahalagang midyum ng mga komentaryong tumatalakay sa mga seryosong usaping panlipunan, na ihinahayag sa paraang nakakatawa (at kung gayo’y katanggap-tanggap sa mga naghaharing uri noon) at nakadisenyo para maapektuhan ang opinyong publiko.

Ang political cartoon kung gayon ay kinakatangian ng karikatura, kung saan ginagawang katawa-tawa ang isang personalidad, at allusion, ang lumilikha ng sitwasyon o konteksto kung saan ilinalagay ang indibidwal.

Sa pagsulpot naman at pag-unlad ng peryodismo, nabitbit nito ang mga political cartoon at nalikha ang editorial cartoon.

Samantala, sa panahon ng kapitalistang pananakop, nakarating ang political at editorial cartoon sa Pilipinas.  Ang mga nakatalang pinakamatatandang political/editorial cartoon sa Pilipinas ay nalikha at nailimbag sa panahon ng kolonyalismong Amerikano at Hapon.   (May isang coffee table book nyan sa UP-D at may isang Japanese period na aklat naman sa AdeMU)

Gumanap din ng mahalagang papel ang political cartoons sa panahon ng batas militar pero limitado lang ang nakatalang partisipasyon ng editorial cartoon sa parehong panahon, dahil na rin sa tindi ng pagkontrol ng diktaturya sa halos lahat ng babasahin sa bansa.

Kaya nang “lumaya” ang peryodismo ng mga korporasyon, naibalik sa limelight ang mga kartun.  Pero dahil sa kawalan ng suporta ng mga akademyang pang-pamamahayag, muling naiusod ang kartun sa pinakalikod ng istruktura ng peryodiko.  Kung papansinin, sa kasalukuyan, karaniwang ang Art Director pa ang nasa Editorial Box at hindi ang Editorial Cartoonist.

Overall, nabansot ang natural na pag-unlad ng editorial cartoon sa bansa nang tuluyang mamatay ang kalayaan sa pamamahayag dito.

Narito ang ilan pang punto na nagpapakitang nakahon na lang ang “editorial cartoon” bilang palamuting editorial:

• Pagkawala ng editorial cartooning sa regular na kurikulum ng mga journalism courses sa bansa;
• Kapansin-pansing 1 to 2 pages na espasyong ilinalaan sa editorial cartooning sa halos lahat ng mga textbooks hinggil sa journalism sa bansa;
• Ang persepsyon ng nakararaming intelektwal na ang kartunista’y alagad ng sining at hindi mamamahayag;
• Kawalan ng sapat na tala ng kartunismo sa kasaysayan ng pamamahayag; at
• Ang kalakarang naglalagay sa mga kartunista sa pinakamababang bahagi ng organisasyunal na istruktura ng editorial board.

(pansinin na tumigil ito sa arena ng sining at hindi na ipinasok sa larangan ng pamamahayag)

Mula sa ganitong tala ng buhay ng editorial cartooning sa buong mundo ibinatay ang tinatanggap na depinisyon ng editorial cartoon – isang tipo ng ilustrasyon o comic strip na naglalaman ng mga mensaheng panlipunan o politikal, na karaniwang tumatalakay sa mga kasalukuyang kaganapan o personalidad na bahagi ng mga kasalukuyang kaganapan.

Tinukoy rin ng mga nakalimbag na mapagsisipian na ang isang editorial cartoonist ay isang artist.

Wasto naman ito.  Kung ang editorial cartoon ay mananatiling bahagi ng sining-biswal.

ANG SIMULA: EDITORIAL CARTOONING IS JOURNALISM

Narito ang wastong depinisyon ng editorial cartoon.

Ito ay isang ilustrasyon(Nasti style) o comic strip(Alti style) na naglalaman ng opisyal na posisyon ng buong editorial board.  Maaaring maging imahe ito ng nakasulat na editorial, o kaya’y maaari itong maging isang hiwalay na editorial na tumatalakay sa iba pang usaping panlipunan.  Isa itong kartun na likha ng editorial board.

Mula sa ganitong depinisyon, lalabas na ang editorial cartoonist ay isang journalist at hindi artist.

Sa depinisyong ito, ihinahanda natin ang rightful place ng editorial cartooning ngayong ganap na ang ebolusyon nito: sa pahayagan.  Sa journalism at hindi sa sining biswal.

Dahil kung ang editorial ang sinasabing utak ng isang pahayagan (dahil literate lang ang nakakabasa at nakakaintindi), ang editorial cartoon naman ang puso ng pahayagan (dahil ito ang may kakayahang pumukaw sa masa ng sambayanan na karaniwang walang access sa komersyalisadong edukasyon, dahilan para hindi makabasa o maka-unawa ng mga nababasa ang mga ito).

PAGDUROG SA PANINIWALANG ARTIST ANG EDITORIAL CARTOONIST 

Kung susuriing mabuti, ang dahilan ng pagkilala sa kartunista bilang artist ay ang naging kalakaran ng mga editorial board sa paggawa ng kanilang editorial cartoon.  Naging kaugalian noon ang magpatawag na lang ng magaling na kartunista para gawan ng imahe ang natapos na editoryal, o pumili ng dati nang gawang kartun na ipapaskil sa editorial cartoon box.

At dahil hindi nga nabigyan ng tsansa ang mga kartunista na maging journalist, sila’y naging mga alagad lang ng sining-biswal na may ispesyal na kakayahang gumawa ng kartung editoryal o kaya’y mga tagalikha ng kartung politikal.  Kaya sa pagdaan ng panahon, ang nahubog nila ay ang kakayahang gumawa ng magagandang satirikong biswal na ang naging pangunahing layunin pa ay magpatawa at hindi na magmulat pa.

Pero maari namang maging isang kartunista ang isang artist. In fact, maaaring maging kartunista ang kahit na sino.  Pero kailangan lang pakatatandaan na sa panahong gumagawa sila ng kartun, sila ay journalist at hindi kung anupaman.

Bilang journalist, ang kartunista’y dapat na naaarmasan ng mga pundasyon ng pamamahayag.  Kung wala nito, lahat ng likha nila ay magiging produkto lang ng sining.

Ang kaalaman sa mga pundasyon ng journalism ang nagbibigay sa kartunista ng kakayahang mag-isip ng kritikal at maging isang mahusay na mensahero ng opinyong publiko.  Ito ang malinaw na makapagbibigay ng kaibahan sa pagitan ng editorial cartoonist at artist.

PAANO GUMAWA NG POLITICAL/EDITORIAL CARTOON?

Limang hakbang lang naman ang kailangang gawin para makabuo ng isang malaman na editorial cartoon.

1. Magbasa.  Kailangang updated sa current events ang kartunista.  Kailangang malawak ang kaalaman niya, batay na rin sa requirement ng mga pundasyon ng journalism.
2. Gumawa ng posisyon sa isyu.  Kung editorial cartoonist naman, unawain ang posisyon ng editorial board sa isyu.
3. Mag-isip ng imahe o representasyon at konteksto.
4. Magdrowing.
5. Edit. Tingnan ang spelling ng mga label, tanungin ang sarili kung ano ang posibleng reaksyon ng pinatutungkulan, ayusin ang mga bahagi na maaaring libelous.
6. Finalize.  Submit.

Mahalagang isa-isip na para sa mga bago pa lang gumawa ng kartun, hindi masyadong mahalaga ang ganda ng stroke.  Ito’y sa kadahilanang hindi nga artwork ang inyong ginagawa.  Mas mabigat ang pansing ibinibigay natin dapat sa laman at mensahe ng likhang editorial cartoon.

Sa isang banda, kapag araw-araw nyo nang pinapraktis ang inyong kartun, madedevelop na lang ang inyong kakayahang magdrowing.

ANG EDITORIAL CARTOON AT ANG PRESS FREEDOM

Patay na ang kalayaan sa pamamahayag sa Pilipinas.  Ang pagiging industriya ng pamamahayag ang kumitil sa sarili nitong kalayaan.   Nagdudumilat din ang dalawang klase ng sensorsyip na umiiral ngayon sa larangan ng pamamahayag: state censorship and corporate censorship.

Ang mga pamamaslang sa mga mamamahayag ay may katangiang sensorsyip din kung saan pinapatahimik ng tuluyan ang mamamahayag, kung hindi kayang pigilan ng mga teknikalidad ng batas at perang busal.

Kaugnay nito, mahalaga ring malaman na ang pundasyon ng journalism at press freedom ay ang RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KNOW.  Kung wala ito, ano pa ang silbi ng press freedom at pamamahayag?

Ang nakakalungkot lang, hindi na ito ang kairalan sa larangan ng korporasyong pahayagan.  Try checking this out.  Sa library, kunin nyo ang main section ng tatlong pinakamalalaking dyaryo.  Bilangin nyo ang mga news item at ang mga ads.  Mula dito, bilangin ang item na sa tingin nyo’y gobyerno ang source.  Bilangin din ang item na sa tingin nyo’y isang PR item lang.  sa ads naman, bilangin ang political ads at gov’t ads.  Kung pamilyar kayo sa kasalukuyang ad rates, mapapansin ninyo na mas malaking pera ang nakukuha ng main section kumpara sa impormasyong ibinabahagi nito sa mambabasa.

Ano ang kinalaman nito sa editorial cartooning? Simple lang, kung patay na ang press freedom, at di na iginagalang at kinikilala ang karapatan ng mamamayang maka-alam, patay na rin ang editorial cartooning.

At isang simpleng patunay ang nagaganap sa kasalukuyan.

Sa kasalukuyan ay wala nang editorial cartoon sa mga malalaking pahayagan sa bansa.  Kung babalikan kasi ang depinosyon natin sa editorial cartoon, otomatikong sasagi sa atin na ang pagdrowing ay isa lang bahagi ng paggawa ng editorial cartoon.  Malaking bahagi ng paggawa nito ay ang malayang diskusyon ng editorial board, pag-alam at pagsusuri sa mga datos na pinagbabatayan, at pagsusuri sa cartoon para masigurong ito’y responsableng kartun at hindi basta-bastang naninira ng puri o nagbabato ng mga malisyosong punto ng walang batayan.

(Sa aktwal na lektyur ay sinuri ang ilang halimbawang kartun na likha nina Rene Aranda at Jess Abrera, sa pagsusuri ay lumabas ang inisyal na pananaw na parehong hindi editorial cartoon ang kanilang likha sa araw na iyon.  Ang likha ni Aranda ay hindi tugma sa punto ng editorial ng Philippine Star, at ang likha ni Abrera ng Inquirer naman ay isang news representation lang, isang karikaturang walang allusion.)

Idagdag pa ang punto na hindi rin naman transparent ang trabaho ng editorial board.  Ibig sabihin, hindi alam ng karamihan ng mambabasa kung ano ang nagaganap sa loob ng editorial board meet.  Mahalagang malaman ang partisipasyon sa talakayan ng kartunista, dahil kung nagaganap ito, tunay na editorial cartoon ang kanilang nalilikha.

Sa karanasan ko, karaniwan nang ipinapadala lang sa kartunista ang gawa nang editorial at umaasa na lang ang board na makakalikha ng tamang kartun ang kartunista mula dito, o kaya’y kung anuman ang kartun na maisabmit ng kartunista’y siya na lang ipapaskil sa editorial cartoon box at kung gayo’y matatawag nang editorial cartoon.

Ang mga kartun sa editorial pages ng main papers sa bansa ay safe na masasabing political cartoons, pero hanggat hindi nasisigurong wasto nga ang pinagdadaanan nitong proseso, hindi natin maki-claim na isa itong editorial cartoon.

KINABUKASAN NG EDITORIAL CARTOON

Sabi nila, sa akademya nagsisimula ang ideya.  Dito rin nagsisimula ang mga pangarap, ang direksyon.

Kaya sinasamantala ko ang pagkakataong ito upang ipanawagan ang pagkuha ng journalism sa editorial cartooning.  Dahil kung patay na ang kalayaan sa pamamahayag sa labas ng apat na sulok ng akademya, at least ay mapanatili nating buhay ang ideyang ito sa loob ng akademya.

Magandang balita ang balaking ilagay ng inyong kolehiyo ang editorial cartooning bilang elective ng kursong journalism.  Kung susundin ng ibang akademya ang ganitong hakbang, hindi malaon ay mailalagay na sa regular na kurikulom ng inyong kurso ang editorial cartooning.

Samantala, napakarami ring posibilidad na maganap, sa aspeto ng popularisasyon ng editorial cartoon.  Maaring maglunsad ng cartoon festival (tinanggap ng pamunuan ng PUP Journ Dept ang ideyang ito), o kaya’y mga serye ng talakayang may kinalaman sa cartooning sa loob at labas ng inyong kampus.

Samantala, sa mga gagawa pa lang ng thesis, makakatulong kayo sa pagpapayaman ng literature ng editorial cartooning sa bansa.

Maaari ninyong tuklasin ang relasyon ng editorial cartooning sa kalayaan sa pamamahayag, sa iliterasiya sa bansa, sa ekonomikal na aspeto ng pahayagan.

Maaari ring alamin nyo kung ano ang nagaganap sa loob ng bawat editorial board meet ng mga pahayagan.  Malay nyo, kayo ang unang makapag-claim, officially, na meron pa o wala na ngang editorial cartooning sa bansa.

Kung malawak naman ang network ninyo, maari niyong i-research ang kalagayan ng mga kartunista sa bansa.  O kaya’y i-dissect ang mga grupong kartunista, kung sila nga ba’y gumagawa ng editorial cartoon o simpleng political cartoons lamang.

Sa mismong cartooning naman, marami pang pag-unlad ang pwedeng maganap.

Naumpisahan ko na ang ideya at praktika ng pag-grupo ng ilang mga kartun na lumilikha ng isang kolum.  Nailalabas ko na ito sa aking CARTOON.  Samantala, nariyan din ang ‘continuous editorial cartoon’, lalo na’t mabilis magbago ang kaganapang panlipunan sa kasalukuyan.

Nariyan din ang posibilidad ng animated editorial cartoon.  Sa bansa ay mangilan ngilan pa lang ang marunong gumawa nito.

Marami pang posibilidad, marami pang maaaring maganap.  Kung mapagtutuunan lang ng sapat na pansin at atensyon ang editorial cartooning sa bansa, tiyak na marami pa an gating malilikhang baryasyon, at kontribusyon sa pagpapa-unlad ng editorial cartoon.

Sa pagtatapos, umaasa akong nakatulong ang lektyur na ito upang ihanda kayo sa new beginning.  Para sa journalism.  Para sa cartooning.

Maraming salamat at mabuhay kayo!

Exposed anew the reality that ransom was indeed paid for Vagni’s release before SONA.

waiting for the CIA talks result, and vagnis release.

Its now out and waiting for you to grab your copy!

Laugh out loud as you enjoy the chit-chat between our very own Kap Glory and the Lord!  Plus a simple chat between the Lord and Lucy the devil.

Syempre, di mawawala ang State of the Village Address ni Kap Glory, and her declaration regarding her political life.

Sounds familiar?  That’s because the Brgy RP is a caricature of the Philippine society.  We laugh amidst the crises and we make fun of the people who made our simple life miserable.  It’s Pinoy way of dealing the pain.  It’s Brgy RP.

P15 only if you buy directly to us!

You can also sell these and earn extra income!  email us to know how.

For more inquiries: send us an email at cartoonskartunpa@yahoo.com

Here is the cove and back cover of the latest CARTOONS!

You can now reserve a copy by sending us messages thru wordpress, thru email (cartoonskartunpa@yahoo.com) and thru txt (0916-8984422).

Look for Kap Glory and place your order now.

Cover Price is now P35.  Printing cost in Manila is way way high.  Diyos ko day!

Samantala, the Brgy RP Komix is P20.  Order nah!  Abangan nyo kami sa UP College of Masscom, pati na rin sa PUP College of Masscom.

She’s not a giant at all.  She just used the perfect tools to be the biggest personality in the country today.

Positibo!

May swine flu ang mainstream media ng Pinas!

Nang mapulot ng Pinoy Mainstream Media (PMM) ang swine flu mula sa Mexico, nagtuluy-tuloy na ang pagdevelop ng sakit at mabilis itong kumalat sa halos lahat ng malalaking institusyong midya sa bansa.

Kapansin-pansin ang tingkad ng epekto sa naghihingalong katawan ng PMM.  Binulag at inalis ng swine flu ang kakayahan nitong mag-analisa ng mga datos.  Ang resulta, nagkasya ang PMM sa pag-self quarantine sa isang kwartong puno ng opinyong publiko.

At habang magkakasama sa kwarto, walang habas na tinerorize ng PMM ang opinyong publiko.  Halos 24 oras nitong ibinandila ang lumalaking bilang ng kaso ng swine flu habang panaka-naka lamang ipinapaalala ang mga pamamaraan umano para makaiwas sa naturang lagnat.

At kahit anong paghuhugas kamay pa ang gawin, at ilang libong “Happy Birthday” pa ang kanilang kantahin, hindi maitatatwang ang PMM ang naging dahilan ng pagsambulat ng takot sa opinyong publiko.

Narito ang mga punto:

1. Laging lead story sa TV ang animo’y bilangan ng kaso ng swine flu.
2. Walang analisasyon ng mga kaso.  Ni hindi man lang maipunto na ang mga nagkasakit ay yaong mga kabataan at mga taong nasa edad na malalakas pa ang katawan.  Nakakatawa nga na ng may mamatay, agad nilang pinalutang ang punto na may iba pang sakit ang ale at maaaring ito ang nagging dahilan ng pagpapanaw ng naturang babae.
3. Ni hindi man lang sila magtaka kung bakit hindi pinapabalik sa country of origin ang mga may swine flu  umano na naharang sa ating mga paliparan.  Bakit pinaalis pa ito ng bansang kanilang pinanggalingan at hindi na kinwarantin doon?
4. Ni hindi sinuri ang background ng mga korporasyong gumagawa at nagbebenta ng mga medical mask at mga gamut kontra sa trangkaso.
5. Ni hindi man lang naiugnay ang global financial crisis na maaaring dahilan ng swine flu scare, para bumenta naman ang produkto ng mga korporasyong naapektuhan ng krisis na ito.

Nawala ang senses ng PMM dahil sa swine flu.

Pero sa kabilang banda.  Baka naman wala talagang sakit.  Nagsasakit-sakitan lang.

Malay natin.  Isa na pala itong bagong porma ng advertising.  Pagpapaputok ng hysteria para tumaas ang benta ng isang partikular na kompanya.

(sa kasalukuyan ay unti-unti nang tumatahimik ang media sa usapin ng swine flu.  ito’y dahil na rin sa pakiusap at, maaaring kontrol, na ginagamit ng gobyerno.  pero ingat muna kabayan, baka kayo’y mahawa pa.)

ARMED STRUGGLE OF THE BANGSAMORO MUSLIMS IN THE PHILIPPINES:

 Written by: DATUAN SOLAIMAN PANOLIMBA-North Cotabato, Philippines

 Bismillaher Rahmaner Raheem. Asalamo Alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuho.

 The Bangsamoro Muslims of Mindanao and its islands have fought the longest and bloodiest struggle in the entire history of mankind in the world which extends to about four hundred eighty seven (487) years already up to this writing. First, the Bangsamoro people fought, without let up, against the Spanish colonial power for 377 years from 1521 to 1898. Second, they fought a bloody war against the American imperialist from 1898 up to 1946.And third, they are still fighting against the Philippine neo-colonial power from 1946 up to the present.

 In fact the present JIHAD FIY SABILILLAH waged by the Bangsamoro people is a continuation of the struggle which had been fought by their ancestors and forebears demanding for freedom and independence. The 487-year war which has been fought by the Bangsamoro is replete with historical facts.

 ”But what is surprising is despite of the long period of war being fought for; the Bangsamoro people are still engaged in a war for freedom and independence. The struggle which has been fought by the Bangsamoro in four hundred eighty seven years (487) had extensively covered by the Muslim historians and authors in their books such as Dr. Cesar Adib Majul in his “Muslims in the Philippines, 1973, Manila, Philippines, ” Dr. Alunan C. Glang in “Muslim Secession or Integration, 1969, Quezon City, Philippines, ” and Salah Jubair in “Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny, 1997, Lahore, Pakistan.”

 THE FIRST MORO WAR:

 After securing the friendship with Rajah Humabon of Cebu, Ferdinand Magellan, who led the Spanish colonial adventure in the Far East, invaded the small kingdom of Mactan in 1521. The island was then ruled by Rajah Lapu-Lapu who did not want to be a friend of foreign colonizer.

 It can be noted, therefore, that Visayas before was believed under the influence if not one of the principalities controlled by the Moro Sultanate of Sulu or Maguindanao at that early period of time. See Map of Moro Sultanate, principalities and areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao at the time of the arrival of Spaniards in 1521. (Source: London Library and Museum). Unfortunately, Magellan died in action on April 27, 1521 that drove the Spaniards back to the West and by such incident, they had narrated their fiasco under the hands of the native inhabitants.

 Thus, Lapu_Lapu stood as the first native chieftain who fought against foreign attempt to colonize the Moro homeland.

The Spanish dream had yet started so that in 1522, with Captain Sebastian Del Cano at the head of the Spanish survivors, Spain became the first circumnavigator of the globe as declared.

 SPAIN’S AGGRESSION:

 Crown Prince Felipe, known as King Philip II of Spain, directed Captain Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, the viceroy of Mexico, to go to the Philippine island and to make it a permanent Spanish colony. He landed at Cebu where he had established the first Spanish settlement in 1565. In 1569, he proceeded to Panay where a second Spanish settlement was created.

 After quelling some minor resistances staged by the native inhabitants, he sent Captain Martin de Goiti to Luzon, particularly in Manila where a well-fortified Moro principality was located. It was ruled by Rajah Solaiman and assisted by Rajah Matanda. Tondo then was ruled by Rajah Lakandula. Records has showed that these Manila chieftains where of Bornean origin. In fact, their relationship with the Sultan of Borneo was categorized as very closed to each other.

 Rajah Solaiman who led the fight for freedom and independence, declared to the foreign aggressors the following words: ” WE WISH TO BE THEN FRIENDS OF ALL NATIONS. BUT THEY MUST UNDERSTAND THAT WE CANNOT TOLERATE ANY ABUSE. ON THE CONTRARY, WE WILL REPAY WITH DEATH THE LEAST THING THAT TOUCHES OUR HONOR.”Unfortunately, on June 3, 1571, Rajah Solaiman perished at the historic Battle of Bangkusay, a place off the coast of Tondo, but he left with a patriotic landmark in his defense of freedom and independence of the country. The next to fall, despite of a fierce defense by the native inhabitants, was the Muslim principality of Mindoro in 1574.

 Then came the short-lived Magat Salamat Uprising in 1587. Emerging victorious over the pockets of resistance were the Spanish conquistadors. So that within a span of 11years, they were able to overlord the territory of Luzon and Visayas. Legaspi, who was appointed as the first Governor-General, had made Manila as the seat of Spanish colony in Luzon and Visayas, which was collectively called as “Filipinas” or “Philippine Islands” eventually.

 ”Salah Jubair succinctly wrote “it is necessary to clarify, contrary to popular perception, two important points in history: Firstly, the first group of people whom the Spaniards in 1570 called “Moros” were those in Manila and environs and not the Islamized natives in Mindanao and Sulu and secondly, the first Moro-Spanish War was not fought in Mindanao and Sulu but right in what is Metropolitan Manila.

 ”THE MORO-SPANISH WAR:

 The 377 year of Moro-Spanish War represents an uninterrupted bloody war which had been fought by the Moros against the Spaniard’s attempt to subjugate them as a people. At first, the Spaniards thought that Borneo was more of a threat to the Manila colony than the Muslims of Mindanao and Sulu. So they invaded Borneo in 1578. However, after their Bornean expedition, the Spaniards had turned their eyes on the Moros in the South, particularly, Sulu which they were suspecting of having an alliance with the Borneans.

 The Spanish colony towards the Moros was basically spelled out in the instructions of Governor-General Francisco de Sande to Captain Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa in May of 1578. Figueroa was officially commissioned to subdue the Moro Sultanate of Mindanao and Sulu.

 It was clear then from the instructions given to him, Spain sought to achieve two things with respect to the Moros of Mindanao namely: 1. Get them to acknowledge Spanish sovereignty over their territory. 2. Promote trade with them, limiting their trade to the Philippine islands and exploring natural resources of Moro land with a view to their commercial exploitations. 3. Bring an end to Moro “piracy” against Spanish shipping, and an end to Moro raids on the Christianized settlements of the Visayas and Southern Luzon. 4. Hispanize and Christianize the Moros, along the same lines followed with respect to other lowland Filipino (Indio) groups.

 According to Dr Peter G. Gowing, the last line Spanish policy was the reason if not the root of the Moro’s fierce resistance to the Spaniards and their Christianized Filipino allies. Capt. Figueroa was instructed to order the Moro chief not to admit any more “preachers of the doctrine of Mahomet since it is evil and false, and that of the Christianity alone is good.” Ad-dressing himself to the “Lord of Mindanao, ” the instruction includes: “You shall tell him that our object is that he be converted to Christianity and that he must allow us freely to preach the law of the Christians, and the natives must be allowed to go and hear the preaching and to be converted, without receiving any harm from the chiefs.

 ”Furthermore, Figueroa was instructed to ascertain who the preachers of Islam were so that they can be arrested and brought them before the Governor-general. He was also commanded to destroy any Masjeed he founded “where that accursed doctrine has been preached and you shall order that it be not be rebuilt. “As he was instructed to meet force with force and to punish the Moros as he deemed best “taking special care not to trust them…..,” the Moros responded to such designs with violence and warfare. In 1596, during the initial Spanish campaign in Buhayan (Buayan) in the heart of Mindanao, Figueroa met his disastrous defeat.

 The erstwhile Spanish conquistador suffered death at the hands of the Moro warriors led by Datu Ubal (Mangubal in Moro tradition). The initial Spanish campaign in Mindanao had ignited and caused the series of bloody encounters between the Moros and the Spaniards, in which,it was carried up to the coming of the Americans in 1899.

 MORO WARS:

 In retaliation to the Spanish cruelty, the Moros had carried out the war to the Spanish settlements in Luzon and Visayas. In 1599 led by Datu Sirongan and Datu Salikula of Mindanao, the Moros raided the northern islands and return home with rich war booty including several captives. The Moro actions had created fear and anxiety among the Spanish and Filipino settlements in Luzon and Visayas.

 In succeeding years, the Moro buccaneers harassed Spanish shipping, and so were dubbed “pirates”. But to the Moros they believed they were fighting a war in defense of freedom and independence. Thus, Sultan Kudarat I, after his ascension to power to the Sultanate of Mindanao in 1619, declared a Jihad against Spain whom he had emboldened more than ever the Moros to fight for home, country and Islam. Their expeditions carried Jihad to the coasts of Visayas and Luzon.

 From then on, the Moro war vessels periodically raided, killed and plunders Spanish settlements. Thus, it was dubbed really a bloody war. The Spaniards counter move was seen in their series of punitive expeditions against the Moros. The expeditions were made up of Spanish-led Christian Filipino forces. Which eventually, the Spaniards had succeeded to establish forts in Moro homeland, however, their colonies were only confined inside their fortified garrisons. They failed to subdue the Moros who were periodically attacking their forts.

 From the 18th up to the 19th centuries of Spanish successive engagement in the “Moro Wars”, it was never followed by effective and permanent occupation of the Bangsamoro ancestral homeland. The American historian Dr. Najeeb Saleeby rightly observed that “the Moros fought for home and country, for freedom to pursue their religion and way of life, and for liberty to rove the seas whichever they would.” For over 300years, they had made a shamble of Spain’s Moro policy.

 Even with the importation of Spanish war vessels in the middle of the 19th century did not stop the Moro raids of Spanish and Filipino settlements of Visayas and Luzon. Despite of being guerilla fighters, the Moro exacted a heavy toll of casualties, however, when entrenched in their ‘cota’ (fort) they simply could not be rooted out.

 When situation demanded they would have readily killed their wounded and gave no quarter to the Spanish and Christian Filipino enemy. They fought ferociously, and their usual tactic was to wear down the attackers, obliging them eventually to withdraw. At the close of the 19th century, the Spanish colonial power in Luzon and Visayas was threatened by the Filipino Revolution of 1896 and the coming of the American colonial power in 1898.

 Subsequently, the Treaty of Paris was concluded on December 10, 1898 between the United States of America and Spain wherein the latter had ceded to the Americans her former colony in Mexico, Honolulu and the Philippine Islands with the amount of $20 million. With this treaty, the Spaniards abandoned their colony in the north by virtue of the Treaty of Paris. So that the Moros of the south remained a free and independent people. Thus, they were not subjugated by their conquistadors.

 AMERICAN AGGRESSION:

 The Bangsamoro people of Mindanao were already enjoying freedom and independence when the Filipinos declared a revolution against Spain in 1896. When the Americans arrived in the Philippine islands in 1898, the Philippine Revolution was already in progress in Luzon and Visayas. The so called “Spanish-American war” was also nearing its end.

 For instance, Commodore George Dewey, commanding the American naval flotilla, defeated the Spanish Pacific Squadron during “Battle of Manila Bay” on May 1, 1898. Subsequently, the United States of America assumed the authority in the Philippine Islands by virtue of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. But the Filipinos, who declared the independence of the First Philippine Republic on June 1, 1898, had to fight a new imperialist power.

 Maverick as it was, the Americans sought the forging of the Bates-Kiram Agreement on August 20, 1899 with a view to neutralizing the Moros of the south while they were still engaging the forces of President Emilio Aguinaldo in the north.

 After three years of Filipino-American war, the Americans were able to crush the Philippine revolution and declared a general amnesty in 1902. The Americans, after having a unilateral abrogation of the Bates-Kiram Agreement, had now turn their eyes to the Moros of Mindanao.

 In May 1899, the first US Army contingent landed in Jolo, Sulu. The US troops had also occupied Zamboanga on November 16 and followed the Cotabato areas in December. This began the American occupation of Mindanao which ended in May 1920 when the Department of Mindanao and Sulu was abolished as a government unit.

 MORO-AMERICAN WAR:

 For all practical reasons, the American occupation of the Moro land was a direct affront to the freedom and independence of the Moros. The lesson from the Spanish policy of subjugation was still fresh in the minds and hearts of the Moros. With the Americans, the Moros have had similar views, as a threat, and a change of colonial master which had the same intention with that of their predecessor, that is, to subjugate them as a people.

 Thus trouble had erupted as early as May 1899. But this time, the next generation of Moros took the cudgel. Soon various confrontations flared up in Mindanao and Sulu. This led J. Ralston Hayden, an American writer, to note that “never during the entire continental expansion of the United States had armed encounters been as frequent and serious as that between the Moros and American troops.”

 The Moros’ determination to defend their religion and country had prompted the American colonizers to comment that “THE ONLY GOOD MORO IS A DEAD MORO.” Record has showed that there were at least 20,000 Moros who were killed in action from 1899 to 1916. From 1904 to 1906 alone, the Moros suffered about 3,000 killed as against 70 Americans.

 Large-scale engagements were recorded between the American troops and the Moro warriors in several parts of Mindanao and Sulu from 1902 to 1935. The most serious were those staged by Panglima Hassan, Datu Ali, Datu AmpuanAgaus and Jikiri.

 Shortly after the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth Government on November 15, 1935 with Manuel L. Quezon as the first President, the Moros had viewed it as the transfer of colonial government to a new master. It could be noted, therefore, that Mindanao and Sulu were forcefully annexed to the Commonwealth government. Again, the Moros rose in arms in defense of their freedom and independence.

 The most serious armed rebellion that took place in Mindanao was happened in June 1936. It was spearheaded by Hadji Abdulhamid Bungabong of Unayan, Lanao del Sur and lasted for several years. The Moros fought gallantry and heroically in a series of wars called “COTA WARS”. The grievances were contained in a petition letter sent to the President of the United States of America. The issues presented were:

 1. Moros had become second class citizens.

 2. The Moro Province be segregated once independence is given to the Filipinos.

 3. Acquisition of lands in the Moro Province be reserved for the Moros.

 4. Islam must not be curtailed in any manner.

 The uprising lasted until the dawning of the Japanese interregnums in 1941. The Moros were once again caught in the crossfire between two colonial masters. But now between the Americans and the Japanese which saw its peak from 1942 to 1945.

 PARLIAMENTARY STRUGGLE:

 In 1946 it saw the final annexation of the Moro land to the new Philippine Republic. Historians, in the likes of Salah Jubair, have succinctly observed that “The U.S. colonial government and the succeeding Filipino neo – colonial power have utterly failed to stamp out Moro resistance. But they have succeeded in rendering the Moro traditional power structure effete and almost obsolete.”

 ”The main casualties were the sultans and datus, whose authority had been squelched to the extent, that they had become mere symbols of the past and mute relics of history,” he pointed out. “The sultan-people direct dealing, ” he continued “has been almost severed and , to get rid of the evils of dual rule, meaning sultan and government ruling simultaneously, the Commonwealth government directed all state-installed officials in 1936 to take over the roles so far exercised by the sultans and datus.”

 Elaborating that the disintegration of the traditional socio-political order and the ever-tightening imposition of the secular-materialistic concept of life bequeathed by the Americans, Salah Jubair said that it has created an extensively difficult situation for the Moros. Consequently, those who were won over to the American side, freely or under duress, were the ones who with their pens, slogans and orations adopted and pursued the parliamentary or unarmed way of struggle.

 These crops of Moro intellectuals asked the United States government to separate the Moro Province, either as colony or as independent state. Singly or in chorus, they unanimously refused to join the Filipinos in their demand for independence. It was true that they did not succeed, neither did they achieve anything of consequence in terms of the real liberation of the Moros-that obviously, was already fore doomed from the start.

 But there is no gain slaying the fact that they did their best in their own way. Yet, on the other hand, by following the unarmed way of struggle, they were deeply entangled into the Americans cobweb and continued to become subservient to the whims and caprices of the new colonial masters.

 Failing to achieve their aspiration to be free and independent during the American colonial days, the Moro parliamentary struggle dragged to the post-war Philippine administrations. Couple with some isolated disturbances, armed clashes between Moro warriors and government troops were reported in various parts of Mindanao.

 The off-and-on armed skirmishes continued to plague the countryside in open defiance of government authorities. Whatever it may said about the post-war pocket uprisings in Mindanao and Sulu, it could be attributed to the fact that the Moros have never abandoned their desire to be free and independent from the clutches of neo-colonialism in their sacred and ancestral homeland. Nurtured by socio-cultural discrimination, the most known of these uprisings were those led by Kamlon Hajji, Abdulmajid Panondiongan, Tawantawan and Hadjal Uh. It took billions of pesos from the national coffers in quelling these insurrections.

 Such that amid cries of national neglect and apathy, Congressman Ombra Amilbangsa of Sulu Province had gone to extent of sponsoring a bill in Philippine Congress in 1961 which sought to declare the independence of the Province of Sulu from the Philippine Republic. The Moro solon was disgusted by the chronic ills and inequities prevalent in the Philippine society where the Moros were the direct victims. His bill did not merit the attention of his colleagues in Congress and his move was simply dismissed as a “drama” or “attention-calling.”

 MORO STRUGGLE CONTINUED:

 In 1968, the then Governor Datu Udtog Matalam of the empire Cotabato Province created the Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM) seeking the separation of Mindanao, Sulu, Basilan, Tawitawi and Palawan from the Republic of the Philippines and to establish an Islamic State in the sacred and ancestral homeland of the Bangsamoro people. But the dream and aspiration of the grand old man of Cotabato failed.

 Finally in 1972, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and its military wings, the Bangsamoro Army led by Prof. Nur Misuari went public declaring armed struggle as its principal instrument in the formation of a Bangsamoro Republik encompassing Mindanao, Sulu, Basilan, Tawitawi and Palawan. It sought to liberate Moro people and homeland from Philippine colonialism.

 The reverberating sounds of the firearms and mortars of the Bangsamoro Revolution led by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) pressured the Philippine government under the then dictator President Ferdinand Marcos to entered into an agreement with the MNLF leadership in December 23, 1976. The agreement was known as “Tripoli Agreement of 1976.” It sought to establish an autonomous government for Muslims in South of the Philippines under its sovereignty and territorial integrity. But Pres. Marcos grossly violated the letter and spirit of the entire agreement.

 Then President Corazon (Cory) Aquino catapulted to the Philippine presidency in 1986 because of the Peoples Power Revolution against Pres. Marcos, she created the Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), but still failed to finally solved the Bangsamoro problem in Mindanao and its islands.

 Until in 1992, when President Fidel V. Ramos became president of the Philippines after President Cory Aquino, his government negotiated with the MNLF leadership which resulted to the creation of Southern Philippine Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) on September 2, 1996. But still the Bangsamoro dream of freedom and independence became more obscure. It was because of the fact that all agreements entered by and between the MNLF and GRP are only a showpiece of the Philippine government in order to smokescreen the oppression, colonization, exploitation and extermination of the Bangsamoro people. This regional set-up of government is nothing but an adjunct of the Filipino colonial government. It is being used by the Philippine government to further fortify the Filipino colonialism over the Bangsamoro people and their ancestral homeland.

 So that when the MNLF leadership compromised the liberty and independence of the Bangsamoro people in December 1976, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), chaired by the late Ameril Mujahideen Ustadz Salamat Hashim went public assuming and leading the JIHAD FEY SABILILLAH of the Bangsamoro people for final liberation, freedom and independence, nsALLAH SUBHANAHO WA’TAALA.

 Late Ustadz Salamat Hashim, then Ameril Mujahideen and Chairman, Central Committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said and we quote, “Any solution less than full independence of the Bangsamoro people will not work. Past experiences since the be-

ginning of the annexation of the Bangsamoro homeland to the Philippines in 1935, have proven that the Bangsamoro Muslims could not live a normal life under a corrupt and secular government and that the two nations, the Bangsamoros and the Filipinos, could not get along with each other because of their distinct religions, customs and traditions. It will be for the best interests of the Bangsamoros and the Filipinos if both are free” and quote.

 Wasalamu Alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuho.

I thought i should post these.  In order for your, Barangay readers to have a glimpse of the “other side”.

Read on..

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“Naenara” News – Statement & Commentary     [ 2009-06-14 ]

Lee Myung Bak Group’s Ulterior Motive of

Anti-DPRK False Propaganda Disclosed

The Lee Myung Bak group is deliberately spreading misinformation about the north these days through the “Chongwadae,” the “Intelligence Service,” the “Ministry of National Defence,” the “Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,” the “Ministry of Unification” and other institutions.

The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea released its information bulletin No. 950 on June 12 refuting the false propaganda.

It says: The group of traitors is now leaving no means untried to spread misinformation about the north in a bid to build up public opinion. It is letting media use such misinformation as “the north’s preparations for a missile launch”, “restarting nuclear facilities” and “stockpile of ammunition”. It is also making phone calls to “legislators” to let them know about the above-said misinformation.

The fuss made by the Lee group about “information about the north” was prompted by its wicked and foolish attempt to calm down the anti-Lee Myung Bak resentment of people from all walks of life which has reached the point of eruption in the wake of the death of the former “president” in south Korea, get rid of a tight corner and justify the fascist suppression of the forces supporting the June 15 Joint Declaration under the pretext of “security,” the information bulletin notes, and goes on:

The secretariat vehemently denounces the Lee group’s opening of “information about the north” as another vicious anti-DPRK racket to incite the consciousness of confrontation with the DPRK in south Korea, build up public opinion on “security crisis” in a bid to weather the ruling crisis and justify its moves for confrontation and war against fellow countrymen.

The Lee group is sadly mistaken if it thinks it can get rid of the abyss of ruin through false propaganda aimed at inciting the confrontation with fellow countrymen and red herring.

The Lee group had better make an apology before the nation for its crimes against the nation, people and reunification and immediately step down without delay instead of working hard to prolong its despicable remaining days through such mean and nefarious anti-DPRK ruckus.

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“Naenara” News – Statement & Commentary     [ 2009-06-12 ]

S. Koreans Called Upon to Deal Telling Blows at Lee Myung Bak Group

A spokesman for the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea issued a statement on June 10 on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the June Popular Resistance in south Korea.

Through the June popular resistance that raged throughout south Korea for more than 20 days the south Korean people fully demonstrated the indomitable fighting spirit and patriotic stamina to do away with the outsiders’ colonial domination and fascist rule and achieve without fail independent and democratic new politics, a new life with their own efforts, the statement said, and continued:

The resistance clearly proved that nobody can quell the people’s desire for independence and the need of the times and there is nothing to fear when broad popular masses rise up, united close as one.

22 years have passed since those historic days but the south Koreans have not yet been freed from the harsh colonial rule of the US.

The Lee Myung Bak group of pro-US conservatives, in particular, openly called for “giving priority to south Korea-US relations” right after its seizure of power and restored the harsh fascist dictatorial system, turning south Korea into a graveyard of independence and democracy and the worst tundra of human rights in the world where the independent right and dignity of the people are wantonly violated.

The Lee group has become evermore frantic in the confrontation with the DPRK alongside its US and Japanese masters in its crafty bid to escape the stern punishment of the people enraged by the political catastrophe, the daily deteriorated people’s living and brutal fascist suppression.

The situation prevailing in south Korea urgently calls on the people of broad strata to turn out as one in the same fighting spirit as displayed by the participants in the June popular resistance and make a clean sweep of the group of traitors and wage a courageous do-or-die struggle to greet the day of independence, democracy and reunification.

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“Naenara” News – Statement & Commentary     [ 2009-06-12 ]

US, Chief Culprit of Nuclear Proliferation

The United States is wholly to blame for sparking a new nuclear arms race and a thermo-nuclear war as it is taking the lead in developing nuclear weapons. No matter how noisily it is trumpeting about nuclear disarmament, nobody will lend an ear to it.

The nuclear disarmament touted by the US has nothing to do with the efforts to prevent a nuclear war and defend the peace and security of the world as it is nothing but hypocrisy and deception.

The basic factor of the nuclear proliferation lies in the US quest of hegemony. The US policy based on the double standards is the main source of upsetting the world nuclear non-proliferation regime and disturbing the international stability.

The US is conniving at the development of nuclear weapons and access to them by the pro-US forces and its allies, backing them and even cooperating with them, prompted by its double standards and biased stand. But it is seriously calling into question the “nuclear issue” of those countries which do not curry favor with it and behaving as if it were a “nuclear judge.” This is the height of sarcasm.

The US has undisguisedly pursued a policy of nuclear blackmail, ignoring the requirements of the NPT and the obligations under it, while frantically stepping up the preparations for mounting a preemptive nuclear attack on other countries any moment.

The Korean peninsula is exposed to the biggest danger of a nuclear war in the world.

The US war maniacs are threatening to mount a preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK without any advance warning after singling it out as one of the targets of their preemptive nuclear strikes.

It is self-evident that the DPRK can never abandon its nuclear deterrent unless the US nuclear threat is removed.

The US contends that it should have a monopoly of nukes while other countries should not be allowed to have access to them and it is free to brandish its nuclear stick and attempt to mount a preemptive nuclear attack while other countries should not be allowed to have any nuclear deterrent to counter it. What brigandish logic it is.

If the US is truly interested in preventing the spread of nukes, it should cease the modernization of nuclear weapons and take the lead in nuclear disarmament.

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“Naenara” News – Statement & Commentary     [ 2009-06-12 ]

June 10 Independence Movement, Struggle for Independence against Outsiders

June 10 this year is the 83rd anniversary of the June 10 Independence Movement waged by the Korean people against Japan. The movement was an eruption of their pent-up grudge and resentment against the Japanese imperialists’ ferocious colonial rule over Korea and a massive patriotic struggle to get back the territory of the country occupied by the latter and achieve the sovereignty of the nation.

Through the movement the Korean people displayed their indomitable will and patriotic stamina to achieve independence and sovereignty without fail, disclosed the Japanese imperialists’ barbarity and the deceptive and crafty nature of their “cultural rule” and dealt telling blows at their colonial rule.

Decades have passed since the movement but the southern half of Korea is still trampled underfoot by foreign armed forces. This has prevented the national sovereignty from being achieved nationwide.

The reality goes to clearly prove that it is impossible to expect reconciliation and unity of the nation and independent reunification of the country nor is it possible to escape war disaster as long as foreign forces’ moves for aggression are connived at and the Lee group, following them, is allowed to remain in force.

Koreans who love the country and the nation and value its dignity and sovereignty should join the ranks of people out in the nationwide struggle for independence against outsiders. It is necessary to check and foil the scenario for establishing the “triangular military alliance” involving the US, Japan and south Korea and the reckless racket kicked up by the belligerent forces at home and abroad to ignite a war of aggression against the DPRK and resolutely smash the Japanese reactionaries’ wild ambition to stage a comeback to Korea.

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“Naenara” News – Statement & Commentary     [ 2009-06-13 ]

Political Terrorism

The death of former “president” of south Korea Roh Moo Hyun was a politically motivated premeditated and deliberate terror and shuddering murder committed by the pro-US conservative forces of south Korea according to their despicable scenario for politically motivated retaliation.

What merits a serious attention is that the case was neither mere revenge of those “in power” upon those who “lost power” nor the murder prompted by hostility towards Roh.

The case was an unprecedentedly brutal action and a hideous anti-reunification fascist man-killing farce intended to suppress and eliminate the forces struggling to achieve national independence and reunification through alliance with the north and scrap the historic October 4 Declaration. The Lee Myung Bak group dealt a politically fatal blow at the man who signed the declaration and thus forced him to commit a suicide, bringing to light once again its traitorous act of denying the declaration and ambition for confrontation with fellow countrymen contrary to national reconciliation and unity and independent reunification.

Now people’s indignation and grudge against the Lee group of traitors are towering in south Korea in the wake of the death of the former “president.” South Korean people from all walks of life are unanimous in saying that the death of Roh was “a politically motivated murder by the Lee Myung Bak regime” and “de facto death caused by torture” and strongly demand traitor Lee make an apology for it and call for “wholesale resignation of the Cabinet” and “investigation into the state administration.”

With no sleight of hand can the Lee Myung Bak group evade the responsibility for the tragic death nor can it bar the resentment of the people from developing into all-people resistance.

The Lee group will surely have to pay dearly for its unprecedented crimes.

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“Naenara” News – Statement & Commentary     [ 2009-06-14 ]

Lee Myung Bak Group’s “Story about Counterfeit Money” Rebuked

A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea on June 12 gave the following answer to the question put by KCNA refuting the racket kicked up by the south Korean puppets against the DPRK over the “story of counterfeit money,” pursuant to the US policy:

The right-wing conservative media in south Korea including Dong-A Ilbo are floating stories that in November last year the Pusan local police office uncovered and arrested four south Koreans who tried to circulate counterfeit 100 US dollar notes after smuggling them into south Korea from China and the investigation resulted in clearly proving that those were counterfeited in the north.

Meanwhile, the puppets and the intelligence authorities of the US are spreading the fiction, claiming that they agreed to tighten the watch over China and other countries where “counterfeit money” is in circulation in order to check the smuggling of “the north’s counterfeit money” and to intercept the shipment of various materials which can be used for counterfeiting.

The “story about counterfeiting” was concocted by the Bush administration in the past in a bid to justify the financial sanctions against the DPRK. But when the story turned out to be a plot of the CIA it became a laughing stock of the world and the US stopped talking about it any longer as it was nothing but a poor scenario with neither plausibility nor evidence.

As widely known to the world, it is south Korea and the US where counterfeit money is openly circulated and all sorts of irregularities and swindles are rampant.

This being a hard reality, the puppets, in league with the US, revived the outdated anti-DPRK scenario which had been thrown into the dumping ground after its true nature was brought to light. This only reveals the deplorable position of those forces hostile to the DPRK in which they find themselves, much upset by their failure to seek a pretext for imposing additional “sanctions” against the DPRK over its just measure for bolstering up its nuclear deterrent for self-defence.

The Lee Myung Bak group would be well advised to stop peddling the US hackneyed scenario that can convince no one so that it may not suffer bitter shame and confess to all cases of irregularities and corruption.

Ni ROLAND TOLENTINO

Kulturang Popular 

Bulatlat

Naalaala ko nang huling gumamit ng ganitong formula, sa klase sa chemistry. Hindi nga ba’t ang urban legend ay tinanong daw ni Eddie Ilarde, host ng noontime show na Student Canteen, ang kontestant, “Ano ang pangkaraniwang tawag sa NaCl?” At dahil hindi makasagot ang kontestant, nagbigay ito ng clue. “Ito ang binubudbot niyo sa itlog ng inyong Mister.” Dali-daling sumagot ang kontestant, “Pulbos!” Namula si Ilarde, humagalpak ng tawa, pati ang mga audience sa studio. Nagtataka lamang ang kontestant kung bakit.

Masasabi na ganito rin ang reaksyon ng mga nabiktima ng swine flu virus, A(H1N1) o Influenza A subtype H1N1, na madalas makabiktima sa mga baboy at ibon. Isa itong uri ng lagnat. At kung lagnat lang, bakit nagkakagulo ang mundo, at maging ang World Health Organization (WHO) ay nagdeklara na ng status ng pandemiko ito. Ito ang unang deklarasyon ng WHO ng antas ng pandemiko sa loob ng 40 taon.

Tanging mga nabibiktima at pamilya nila ang nakadarama ng pagtataka—kung ano itong bagong virus na dumapo sa kanila. Na parang sila lang ang hindi nakakaintindi kahit sila lang ang direktang naapektuhan nitong low-risk na virus. Ayon sa WHO noong Hunyo 2009, may 27,737 ang may kaso ng H1N1 sa 74 na bansa, at 141 na ang namamatay resulta nito. Ang mga high risk sa H1N1 ay ang historikal na naisantabi: nakakatanda, nagdadalangtao, musmos, mga may sakit sa puso at baga. Tila sinasalamin ng virus ang mga aktwal na naeetsapwera sa kasaysayan.

Sa katunayan, ang mga nababalitaang may kaso ng H1N1 virus ay galing sa mga pribadong eskuwelahan: De La Salle University (DLSU)-Taft, DLSU-St. Benilde College, Ateneo de Manila high school, FEU-East Asia College, at St. Andrews School sa Parañaque. Ang narinig kong biro sa UP ay hindi raw kasi lubos na mayayaman ang mga estudyante, kakaunti lang ang nakakapagbiyahe sa labas ng bansa kaya wala pang insidente ng H1N1 virus sa kampus.

 Ang hindi isinasaad ng mga kaso ay hindi naman talaga maykaya lamang ang may akses sa biyahe sa labas ng bansa. Hindi ba’t ang migranteng manggagawa na bumubuo ng mga sampung porsyento ng populasyon, mga 12 hanggang 15 milyong Filipinong OCW ay nanggaling sa lampas pa sa 74 na bansang apektado ng virus? Dagdag sa matinding kondisyon ng paggawa sa ibayong-dagat, pati ang kalungkutan sa pagkawalay sa pamilya, ang H1N1 ang bagong risk factor ng pagiging migranteng manggagawa.

 At kung isasaalang-alang din ang demographics ng OCWs, karamihan na nito ay mga babae, marami rin ang may sakit o lalong nagkakasakit sa pagtratrabaho sa ibang bansa. Samakatuwid, kasumpa-sumpang maging OCW sa kasalukuyang panahon. Itong idinadambana ng estado bilang “bagong bayani” ay dinadakila lamang sa kanilang kapasidad ng magremita ng foreign currencies sa bansa. Lampas pa rito, pambubusabos ang trato ng estado. May plano ba ito para sa mga OCW na naging biktima ng virus, o ang kanilang pamilya rito?

Kaya hindi mayamang sakit ang H1N1. Ito ay tumatabas sa lahat ng uring may kapasidad makapaglakbay dahil sa kanilang sobrang finansyal na yaman o lakas-paggawang naibebenta sa labas ng bansa. Na kahit hindi pangmayaman, ang minamarkahan ng mga bagong global na sakit—swine flu, bird blue, SARS—ay ang kapasidad ng katawang uminog sa globalisasyon dahil sa angking finansyal at lakas-paggawang yaman.

Mabilis-bilis ang pag-akyat ng insidente ng kaso ng H1N1: noong 11 Hunyo, 92 pa lamang ang kaso; noong 12 Hunyo, 111 na ang bilang. At nadaragdagan din ang mga bilang nang nakakaligtas sa pagkasakit. Sa katunayan, mas mapanganib pa ang insidente ng dengue kaysa H1N1 sa bansa. Na masasabi ring ‘great equalizer” dahil walang pinipiling biktimahin, mayaman man o mahirap.

Ang hindi sinasaad nito ay ang mas maraming rekurso ng maykaya kaysa wala sa dengue, maging sa H1N1. Marahil, sa pagkakaraon ng tsansang magkasakit, pantay ang mayaman at mahirap. Pero sa tsansang gumaling sa mga sakit, mas nakalalamang ang mayaman sa mahirap. At ito ang kwento ng pagkakasakit sa bansa. Hindi patas ang laban.

Hindi nga ba’t si Manny Pacquiao, nang makabalik sa bansa pagkatapos ng laban sa Las Vegas, ay hindi nagpapigil. Tinatwa ang self-quarantine policy na magkukulong sa balikbayan sa kanyang tirahan sa loob ng sampung araw para lamang tamasain ang pag-ambon ng papuri at parade ng mga politikong tagasuporta?

Sa global na antas, hindi rin patas ang labanan. Ang deklarasyon ng pandemikong antas ng H1N1 ng WHO ay nagpapaalarma sa dami ng gitnang uri na nagnanais maprotektahan ang sarili laban sa sakit na ito. Ang patent para sa Tamiflu, gamot para sa maraming uri ng influenza, kabilang ang avian flu ay pinanghahawakan ng Gilead Sciences. Noong 1997, si Donald Rumsfeld, ang magiging Defense Secretary ng US sa ilalim ng pagkapresidente ni George Bush, Jr., ang chairman of the Board ng kompanya.

Mapapapayag niya ang gobyerno ng US na mag-stockpile ng Tamiflu na nagkakahalaga ng $2 bilyon. Si Rumsfeld din ay kaduda-duda ang koneksyon sa pharmaceutical industry. Kumita raw ito ng $10 milyon sa pagbebenta ng isang pinaghihinalaang carcinogenic na sweetener, ang Nutrasweet.

Noon pa man, pinagsamantalahan na niya ang paggamot laban sa swine flu nang magpamalawakang bakuna si Gerard Ford noong 1976. May 50 katao ang namatay rito. Noong 2006, humingi ang administrasyong Bush ng $7.1 bilyong budget para pondohan ang pananaliksik sa sakit at gamot nito.

Malaking negosyo ang epidemiko sa US. Ito ang pagkakataon na ang sabwatan ng negosyo at politika ng bansa ay natutunghayan. Sa Pilipinas, ito ang pagkakataong preprente at magpapapogi ang mga ofisyales ng kalusugan. Hindi nga ba’t sa monitoring lang ng salmonella sa peanut butter, cocaine sa energy booster drinks, prevensyon ng dengue, melamine sa imported na gatas ay buzing-buzy ang mga ito?

Kaya nakakapagtaka na hindi gaanong pumapapel si Gloria Arroyo. Low-profile pa rin, katulad ng pagtahimik nito sa Constitutional Assemly (Con Ass) na itinataguyod ng Lower House. Noong nagka-SARS sa 2003, si Arroyo ang prumonta sa pagdeklara ng unang biktima ng sakit sa bansa, maging ng ofisyal na polisiya ng kanyang pamahalaan sa sakit na ito. Pero sa pagkakataong ito, na pwedeng-pwedeng pumapel si Arroyo, nananahimik ito at pinagkakaabalahan lamang ang simpleng operasyon ng kanyang opisina.

Na ang mga sakit ay ibinabaling muli kay Arroyo ng cause-oriented groups ay hindi naman bago. Sa panahon ng SARS, inakusahan ni Robert de Castro, deputy secretary-general ng Bayan-Muna na si Arroyo ay mayroong exklusibong strain ng SARS (Severe, Acute Recollection Syndrome) nang banggitin ng pangulo na magpapadala ito ng Philippine contingent sa humanitarian mission sa Iraq. Nakalimutan na raw ni Arroyo na US mismo ang may kagagawan ng humanitarian crisis sa Iraq nang bombahin at makidigma ang US.

Sa nakaraang anti-Con Ass, anti-Arroyo rally sa Ayala Avenue noong 10 Hunyo, heto ang referensya sa pangulo sa isang poster ng Bayan-Southern Tagalog: “Mag-ingat: Baboy ng Malacanang, nagtataglay ng Influenza G (C-H-A-2) ‘Gloria Forever Virus’.” At ito ang kontraryong edukasyon sa mga global na epidemiko. Lampas sa pagtuturo sa mamamayan na maghugas ng kamay, o magsuot ng surgical mask, sa pagpapapogi ng mga opisyales ng kalusugan, ang self-reflexive gesture na kuntsabahan ni Arroyo sa global na negosyo at imperialismo ay pumapaling muli para bigwasan ang kanyang pagkapangulo.

Na hindi siya pogi at kaya ng ganda powers nitong gawing shield of protection ang mga pandemiko para manatili sa kapangyarihan. At ang araw-araw na operasyon ng pagkabangkaroteng nanlilimas ng yaman ng bansa, nagyuyurak sa karapatang pantao, nagpro-promote ng malamang ay pinakamaraming retiradong heneral bilang ambassador at ofisyales ng bansa, ginagawang katawa-tawa ang rule of law ay hindi lubos na swabeng gumugulong.

Natitinag ito ilang saglit at oras ng protesta. Para sabihin nga na ang pinakamalaking sakit na umaapekto sa bansa ay hindi naman talaga H1N1 o dengue, kundi si Arroyo mismo.

and counting

O nagtutulug-tulugan?

Pwedeng kasal ng Lakas-Kampi, pwedeng kasal ng Con-Ass at Swine Flu.

Heart?

For the first time, we are going to release a number of copies in Manila(clear photocopy)!

You can now grab your copy at Comic Odyssey!  Sa 3rd floor, East Wing po ng Robinsons Galleria sa Ortigas!

We are currently looking for more interested stores to display/sell the materials (all interested stores/stalls, please email us on the above stated address).

We are also offering special discounts for bulk orders (per 100 copies).

Editorial cartoons in this issue tackles the Pacquiao hang-over, Hayden Sex Video Scandal, Swine Flu Hysteria, a glimpse on the Lakas-CMD and KAMPI merger, the Mindanao Order of Battle, and Lt Sg Nancy Gadian’s struggle against corruption in the AFP.

And we inserted the first part of the Pambatang Gender Education Komix. Guaranteed kid-friendly and absolutely no sex-related discussion (good for as young as 5 years old–and parental guidance is advised).

Cover Price is P30!

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Mabuhay ang indie Pinoy na komiks!