Immigration blues

PEOPLE. THEY make an airline.
So proclaims a postered collateral of Cathay Pacific at a bus stop just outside Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport.
People. Bureau of Immigration people. They unmake an airport.
So experience shows at the DMIA, getting lesser known for Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, for the more appropriate Damn Moronic Immigration Agents.
January 21, 5:50 a.m. Past check-in at the Seair counter, our family group of eight adults and two children were on line to the immigration counters.
6:15 a.m. The public address system was already blaring “Seair flight DG 7924 bound for Hong Kong now boarding” and we barely moved a foot in the long queue of trudging travellers uniformly expressing disgust.
Of the six immigration counters, only two were manned. There were other immigration agents – I counted four outside the door marked “Bureau of Immigration” at the back of the counters – nonchalantly chit-chatting, viewing in some perversely sadistic way the chaos of herded passengers all wanting to get to their flights on time.
Then, came this balding immigration guy who squeezed past the lines holding aloft an embarkation card asking everyone if they had filled it up.
Idiot, I said not so silently as to be heard by those around me, the problem is not in that card. It is in you, insensate idiots. Why don’t you man your posts and get us all out here?
Yeah, they’re morons. A Caucasian at my back half-whispered. Always a pass through grinder at the DMIA (he made it sound damn ya) immigration, he said. They take the good memories out of my stay.
As though, we were heard, one more counter opened.
By the time we got through immigration, the Seair ground crew was rushing us to get to the plane as it was way past our flight time of 6:45 a.m.
I had in mind to demand a refund of our terminal fee. We did not even sit a second at the terminal, using it merely as an alleyway to the plane.
“We are sorry for our one-hour delay,” the captain of Seair flight DG7924 announced. “It is due to strict immigration security procedures.”
It took me supreme self-control not to shout “immigration idiocy!”
At Chek Lap Kok, the lines to the immigration counters were even longer. But processing was fast and efficient – taking us all of 10 minutes from the end of the line past the stamping of our passports.
No morons here eh, the Caucasian called out to me at the carousel as we waited for our luggage.
More fun in Hong Kong, I have written, somewhat, someway, somehow, here early this week.
Thereafter, it was back to the salt mines anew. Starting from – where else but – immigration at the DMIA.
January 25. Way past 11 a.m. Four counters were manned this time – one for foreign passport holders, three for returning – Filipino – residents.
There were almost as many natives as foreigners in the two flights that arrived. It would have made more sense if as many counters as those for locals were made for the foreigners. But sense is something alien to the immigration people at the DMIA.
How true, how true. Mabalacat’s double visionary Deng Pangilinan, a frequent flyer, said over coffee at Diva’s SM City Clark yesterday.
Idiocy reigns supreme at immigration branch in DMIA.
One time, Deng arrived late night and found but two immigration agents “zombie-like in going over travel documents” that he barely made it home – in Barangay San Francisco, all but seven kilometres away from the airport – before the cock crowed in the new day.
At another time, Deng said, there were very few at the counter for foreign passport holders. After finishing the line, the immigration staff closed the counter even when the other two counters were swamped with travellers.
It is standard operating practice in other airports – per Deng’s eagle-eyed observation – that once a counter gets through with the passengers lining to it, it is made available for the other, longer lines, so as not to inconvenience the passengers.
But no. The standard operating practice the immigration agents at DMIA know, and indeed, very adept at, is that which the public works engineers have crafted, mastered, grafted and corrupted. Or haven’t you heard of the mass pull-out and suspension of immigration agents assigned at the DMIA one or two years ago?
Yeah. Time for another mass purgation of the Bureau of Immigration branch at the DMIA.
More fun at Clark then.

More fun in HK

HONG KONG. Been there. Done that.
Quite a number of times, as a matter of fact, from pre-handover to post-Luneta hostage crisis. So what fun can still be had out of a place that has become all-too frequently visited?
One, find some spots out of the tour rut.
Two, get a totally new perspective, indeed, a new high out of the old familiar places. Simply by bringing the whole family around.
And what fun we -- three sons, three daughters, two sons-in-law, three grandkids and one nephew -- are having now here in cool, 11-degree C-chilly Hong Kong. Aye, if only for the opportunity to ramp in their winter collection, this trip is already one blast for my three girls.
Yeah, it's more fun in Hong Kong. With the whole family. It helps -- tremendously-- when one family member lives and works here. On the practicaly side, you just don't get a free place to stay in but a knowledgeable guide too. And then, the emotional rebonding, priceless.
Hectic is one adjective appended to Hong Kong. Just get to any MTR station and be devoured by the rat race, at a most frenzied pace. Which makes the Nan Lian Gardens and the Chi Lin Nunnery at Diamond Hill in Kowloon a most pleasant discovery.
Serenity comes right at the very entrance to the classical garden, the meandering pathwalk through clumps of "giant" bonsais and rock formations inspires contemplation, the pond -- really a lake in miniature -- with kois of bright orange, immaculate white, bursting yellow, deep black and shimmering gold opens up to meditation.
If it's solitude that one desired, the banyan grove makes the perfect spot, with but the soft whistling of leaves breaking the perfect silence.
From a promontory, the Perfection Pavillion -- a golden pagoda which bears some likeness to Kinkakuji in Kyoto -- and its orange Zi Wu Bridges radiate some glow of enlightenment amid the verdant calmness, touching the very soul, moving one to seek the Way.
The feeling of lightness of being transcends to some timeless eternity at the Chi Lin Nunnery -- in fact but a few hundred steps away -- amid the soothing chants, the gentle, barely audible tinkling of little bells and the fragrant aroma of incense at the different altars of the Tang Dynasty timber monastery.
Refreshed, renewed in some inner peace, we hied off to the Wong Tai Sin Temple at Sik Sik Yuen -- hope I got the name of the place right -- for more praying and incense offering.
Lest this be misconstrued: No, this is no religious pilgrimage we are making. Our Hong Kong-based son Jonathan, who is the main reason for the visit, is professedly irreligious. Finding the greater fulfilment in numbers -- the actuarial specialist that he is -- than in formulaic prayers.
Off to Disneyland then on our second day, January 22. A long-held dream -- as far back as when the kids were preppies and graders-- resurfacing when the wife and I did Annaheim's in 2006, finally fulfilled, the brood complete, plus three beautiful grandkids.
Planet Earth's happiest place, indeed. The child in everyone, no matter the age, finds eternal rebirth at Disneyland.
There, three generations of Lacsons, now blended with Pingol and Dy, heartily laughing, immensely enjoying jungle river cruises and space mountains, autopias and orbitrons; ooohing and aaahing at Tinkerbell and the Lion King, Buzz Lightyear and Winnie the Pooh and but of course, Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy in the Main Street parade of all the characters the Great Walt himself created and his consequent entertainment empire spawned.
And what greater climax of the day than the spectacular fireworks show backdropping -- and highlighting in all hues -- Sleeping Beauty' magnificent castle. Ah, how in childlike awe, I shed some tears of joy at wonderland.
We never really outgrow our childhood completely. Disneyland makes that a certainty.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, East and West find confluence, aye, a blending as in the yin and yang, most manifest in the oriental dragon -- to presage the Chinese New Year -- moulded in the silhouette of Mickey Mouse.
Yes, it's the Chinese New Year come. Got to leave for Tsim Sha Tsui to see the grand parade. Kung Hei Fat Choi, then.

'Ulol' deconstructed

CASE FILED: December 21, 2010.
Case Dismissed: June 16, 2011
Motion for Reconsideration with Motion to Inhibit and Re-Raffle Filed: July 2011
MR with MIRR Denied: December 29, 2011.
Such short shelf life attended the P20-million libel case initiated – and pursued – against this newspaper, principally against this writer by businessman Renato Romero, then “president of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, chairman of the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon and the private sector representative for business of the Regional Development Council.”
Such short time but long enough to impress upon one and all the primacy of the freedom of expression, the majesty of the law, and the triumph of reason over absurdity.
With much fanfare befitting a banner story and a four-column photograph of him and his lawyer in Sun-Star Pampanga, Romero took to court, er, the city prosecutor’s office this writer along with editor Joey Aguilar, GM Atty. Gener Endona, and – of all people – marketing manager Ning Cordero over my piece Romero ululating in Punto’s December 16-18, 2010 issue.
Romero ululating actually first came out as a letter to the editor in Sun-Star Pampanga as a response to its December 14, 2010 banner “Sector: Why no biz awardee in MOKA?”
In that story, Romero did not merely question why there was no winner in the MOKA business category but lambasted certain member of the board of judges thus:
“xxxOne or two of these, pardon my terms, ‘termites’, would destroy what we and Capitol have started in terms of development. Wala bang qualified sa sector namin? Galit ba sila sa amin? Is this the kind of government we have which allows such people to influence something? Where has professionalism gone? Changed with personal conflicts?...”
“xxxThere are at least two in these committees whom we really don’t see eye to eye with. With what happened , we might reassess and evaluate our position towards the provincial government and slow down a bit…”

Three-time loser
Romero was nominated for the award – actually, his third – so said the MOKA secretariat, having been nominated first time in the term of Gov. Lito Lapid, a second time during Gov. Eddie Panlilio’s, and this last at Gov. Lilia Pineda’s watch. Under different sets of judges, three time nominee there. Three time loser too. (Struck out at three, is there no provision in the MOKA to perpetually disqualify triple losers, if only to salvage pride and honor? The losers’ as well as the MOKA’s?)
I was a member of the 2010 MOKA board of judges that Romero assailed. In the spirit of fair play, I responded with Romero ululating.
In his complaint, Romero branded the article as “baseless allegations…shameful, heinous and unequivocally malicious, while being entirely false, malicious, offensive and derogatory to my good name, character and reputation tending to besmirch and destroy my honor, character and reputation – all to my damage and prejudice.”
Readily concurring was Sun-Star Pampanga in its banner, thus:
The businessman said the article tainted his reputation. Romero is seeking P20 million for damages.
Noel Canlas, counsel for Romero, said his client intends to donate the P20 million to the Philippine Press Institute for its programs on promoting responsible journalism. Part of the money will also be donated to the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary.
"We respect press freedom but we all know that with this freedoms comes responsibility. We believe that our client deserves a chance to clear his name and this case is within the legal process of achieving that," Canlas said.
Poor Philippine Press Institute, poor Mother of Good Counsel Seminary – my alma mater – deprived of a grand donation of P20 million! Poor Canlas too, sharing the fate of his losing client.

DISMISSED!
“There was nothing defamatory in the questioned article of Lacson.”
With that, 1st Asst. City Prosecutor Nereo T. Dela Cruz recommended the dismissal of the libel case which was approved by Deputy Regional Prosecutor Giselle Marie S. Geronimo on June 16, 2011.
“A reading of the article in its entirety does not show any public and malicious imputation of a crime, vice or defect, real or imagined, or any act of omission, condition status or circumstances tending to discredit or cause the dishonour of Romero.”
It furthered that Romero ululating: “is merely a reply to the statements of the complainant (Romero)” in the news story published in Sun-Star Pampanga, adding: “If the complainant has the right to comment on the actuations of the Board of Judges of MOKA, respondent Lacson’s right to reply should be respected as long as it sticks to the issue, nothing more, because he is one of the judges thereto.”
“Deemed privilege, a personal opinion in defense of himself against the attacks of Romero” the decision concluded that “The article “Romero Ululating” can be considered as part of the freedom of expression of its author Caesar Z. Lacson.”

Reconsideration, Inhibition
But Romero would not take the dismissal as the end of the libel affair.
In a story the day after the dismissal of the suit, Sun-Star Pampanga quoted Romero thus:
“After conferring with my lawyers yesterday, we have decided to file a motion for reconsideration on the libel case…
“We will pursue the case and prove not only to our colleagues but to everybody that our cause has merit.
Among the recycled arguments, Romero took the title of the article Romero ululating as by itself defamatory. He said in his complaint: “His (Lacson’s) choice of words in his column are maliciously designed to sow intrigue and ridicule me in public. The starting four-letter word “ulul” either in Kapampangan or Tagalog is an invective, a cussy word as it means crazy. Connecting this with the last syllables”lating” is the verb “ululating.”
I did not need any lawyer to absolutely obliterate that statement. Thus this response:
This can only be supreme absurdity.
The choice of words in a story is the sole responsibility of the writer, manifest as it is of his or her own creativity. The level of comprehension or miscomprehension of the reader does not fall within the writer’s responsibility as he would not know who reads his articles. Lacson – the writer – therefore cannot be responsible on the understanding or misunderstanding of his words by Romero – the reader.
The article Romero ululating is written in the English language. (But for the Tagalog quotations of Romero cited in the Sun-Star Pampanga banner it responded to.) Necessarily so, all the words used in that article should be taken in their English context. To append the meaning of a similar word in another language or dialect is to perverse the context, indeed the very meaning of the word. The writer could not be held liable for such perversion, the act being that of the reader.

MOKA loser loses again
Dismissal of libel vs. Punto upheld
So screamed our banner of January 16-17, 2012.
Romero’s Motion for Consideration with Motion to Inhibit and Re-Raffle was even found violative of procedures, leading the Office of the City Prosecutor to declare: “Perusal of the filed motion reveals that the same is not verified by the complainant-movant himself. On this ground alone, the motion must fail.”
Lapse in procedure already causing monumental collapse in Romero’s case there.
Still – and the more telling blows – came: “Technicality aside, the motion fails just the same. The grounds relied upon by the complainant in the filed motion are mere rehash of the arguments set forth in his complaint-affidavit and reply-affidavit both filed during the preliminary investigation and which were already threshed out in the assailed resolution.”
Thus the Office of the City Prosecutor here “DENIED” Romero’s motion to reconsider the resolution dismissing his libel complaint against Punto.
Of course, Romero could find solace in having 1st Asst. City Prosecutor Nereo T. Dela Cruz who penned the earlier dismissal of the suit inhibited.
Said the resolution dated December 29, 2011 signed by OIC-Deputy Regional Prosecutor Giselle Marie S. Geronimo: “Although the motion for inhibition is not well-grounded, the same is nonetheless granted in order to forestall any suspicion of partiality.”
The resolution made an affirmation of the rightness of the earlier dismissal of the libel case. In effect, upholding the soundness of Punto’s arguments against the illogic, if not absurdities, of Romero’s .
Consider:
“In the instant case, the word “ululating” is definitely not derived from the Filipino word “ulol,”meaning crazy, but is a regular English word found in the dictionary and which does not impute any circumstance or condition to discredit complainant’s reputation.”
That is a virtual summation of my arguments over the meaning of “ululating.” Reason victorious over absurdity here.
“The same is true with the phrase ‘spoiled brat who lost his second lollipop.’ Whiles it may have offended the complainant, it is not the defamatory words within the contemplation of the law. The rest of the words and/or phrases alluded to by the complainant/movant (Romero), when read in its entirety, do not clearly refer to complainant (Romero) alone but to businessmen as a whole.”
In his complaint, Romero argued: “Lacson overeacted, as shown in his choice of words” referring to him (Romero) as “ululating miserable loser; a blank ledger expecting a payback of whatever support he gives the provincial government; a spoiled brat who lost his second lollipop; a leech, a fool, and honor-chasing exploitative businessman who suck out the bones of laborers.”;
While the resolution granted that “some of the words and/or phrases used in the subject article may have been unpleasant” to Romero, it however cited MVRS Publications, Inc. et al., v. Islamic Da’wah Council of the Philippines, et al., G.R. No. 135306, January 28, 2003 thus: “It must be stressed that words which are merely insulting are not actionable as libel or slander per se, and mere words of general abuse however opprobrious, ill-natured, or vexatious, whether written or spoken, do not constitute a basis for an action or defamation in the absence of an allegation for special damages. The fact that the language is offensive to the plaintiff does not make it actionable by itself.”
Freedom of speech supreme!

Absence of malice
Malice – a vital element in libel, as any journalist who has been sued knows.
Quoted the resolution: “Malice connotes ill will or spite and speaks not in response to duty but merely to injure the reputation of the person defamed, and implies an intention to do ulterior and unjustifiable harm. Malice is bad faith or bad motive. It is the essence of the crime of libel.” (Arturo Borjal, et al., v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 126466, January 14,1999).
“Such malice, the complainant (Romero) failed to establish in the instant case,” it concluded.
Finally, the resolution upheld our contention since Day One: that Romero ululating took the nature of a fair comment, citing Arturo Borjal, et al., v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 126466, January 14,1999,: “…fair commentaries on matters of public interest are privileged and constitute a valid defense in an action for libel or slander. The doctrine of fair comment means that while in general every discreditable imputation publicly made is deemed false, because every man is presumed innocent until his guilt is judicially proved, and every false imputation is deemed malicious, nevertheless, when the discreditable imputation is directed against a public person in his public capacity, it is not necessarily actionable…If the comment is an expression of opinion based on established facts, then it is immaterial that the opinion happens to be mistaken, as long as it might reasonably be inferred from the facts.”
Ultimately: “As found in the disputed resolution, reading of the article in its entirety does not show any public or malicious imputation of a crime, vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, status or circumstance tending to discredit or dishonour the person of the complainant (Romero).”
Sweet vindication there.
Some losers just don’t know when to quit. But of course: as quitters never win, so it follows that losers never quit? Absurd. Still, loser.

Marking Mabalacat

SOON-TO-BE-city Mabalacat is celebrating its tercentenary this year. Over espressos and cappuccinos at Starbucks-SM Clark last week, our group of media boys had a grand time picking brains and pitching corn on the subject Mabalacat at 300.
Malinis. Masala. Masaya. Mabalacat. Deng Pangilinan sloganeered.
Malugud memalen. Arnel San Pedro pitched in.
Mayor Marino Morales! Ashley Manabat exulted.
Masalese manungkulan! Deng ejaculated.
Marakal asa ….Deng’s elbow on his rib stopped Rey Navales from completing whatever it was he wanted to append to the mayor.
Melanie Marquez. Maricel Morales. Chimed in Peter Alagos, shifting the focus of the talks from politics to Mabalacat beauties.
Teka, teka. We seem to be limiting ourselves to the letter M. Mabalacat has more things, people, events of interest and value other than those that start with the letter M. Let’s go over the alphabet. A is for…
Anthony Dee, may he rest in peace. Never retreated, never surrendered unto death.
B…Boking, is there anyone or anything else?
Yes, how about balacat, the tree whence the town’s name came.
Comes C for Clark, a large chunk of its land lying in Mabalacat.
Caragan too, the Aeta king of ancient Mabalacat after whom the town’s signature festival is named.
And Community College, the first local government-established and -run tertiary-level institution in Pampanga, maybe even in Central Luzon.
D now…No brainer there – Dau, once center of the PX trade and reputed to be biggest barangay in the country in terms of voting population.
And also for Don Bosco, the premier elementary and secondary school for boys, finding refuge in the town after its old campus in Cabalantian was buried in Pinatubo sand.
E…E…not so easy now…”Education… the great equalizer, the sure way to get out of poverty.” So Boking decreed. So it shall be with 31 one educational institutions comprising one state college, one private college, one technical training school, two public and two private high schools and 25 elementary schools divided into two districts, aside from a number of TESDA-accredited institutions offering vocational-technical skills training.
F can well be for Fred Halili, the charismatic and colourful visionary mayor during the Marcos era who sparked the second Japanese invasion of the town – with donations, grants and other as some sort of reparation for WWII.
G goes for golf at Marina, the poor man’s green. And for a while – in the immediate post-Pinatubo period – the only playable course hereabouts.
H, the Kapampangans have it silent in their speech but in Mabalacat there’s Haduan Falls, waiting to be tracked and tabbed in the tourist trap. Hilbero too, the Guy championing the town’s tourism potentials.
Impossible is nothing. So goes the Adidas blurb. Impossible is nothing. So it is, with term limits, to Boking.
J? How about Jo-pilan? The street where your friendly, unlicensed pharmacists live. And thrive.
K can only stand for Kamikaze, birthed in Mabalacat – where now stands a shrine, blown – in self-immolation – on the decks of US aircraft carriers.
L – lapse of memory here, couldn’t think of anything associated with Mabalacat that begins with L…except some extremes unflattering to Boking: On one hand, the ladies’ man in him. On the other, his loss in 1992 despite getting endorsement from both Lakas-NUCD and LDP, whose standard bearers, Fidel V. Ramos and Ramon Mitra were locked in a bitter fight for the presidency.
Myriad M’s still…Makati north of Manila, Boking’s favourite moniker for his town…McDonald’s Dau, the first franchise of the fast food chain outside Metro Manila… Marina Arcade, Dau’s largest and most popular retailer of PX goods – from Playboy and Penthouse to Architectural Digest, from Salems and Benson & Hedges to Jim Beam and Fundador, yes, even Rambo knives and used Stinger missile launchers…Mabalacat Water District, national hall of famer as best water service provider. (Take a bow, Chairman Deng.)
N stands for NLEx, the North Luzon Expressway which northern terminus is sited in Sta. Ines, fast tracking travel and transport, harbinger of progress.
O is for Our Lady of Divine Grace, the town’s patroness.
Ody Fabian too – God bless his soul – Mabalacat’s pride in the field of journalism.
P for pindang damulag – the town’s best kept food secret – far better than Pampanga’s other “bests” – waiting to be discovered.
Also for PELCO-2, making Earth Hour – that annual one-hour power put-out – more than a daily affair in Mabalacat.
Querubin Fernandez, poet-laureate who writes in the amanung siswan at its purest, great pride of the Kapampangan race.
Q is for quarry too – rich resource for the town’s coffers. And bone of contention with neighboring Bamban.
R – comes immediately to mind Rox Pena, honourable town councillor, eminent environmentalist, propagator of the balacat tree.
Then the resettlement sites – Mawaque and Madapdap – ending the diaspora of those displaced by the Pinatubo eruptions.
Ssss…Sogo – so clean, so good – so swoon Lotharios of all ages of Pampanga’s finest love nest. With condoms upon request, no laying there of unwanted eggs.
SCTEx, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, concreting the synergy of the former bastions of American imperialism into engines of national development; confluencing with the NLEx at Mabiga in Mabalacat, but of course..
To a T is Tipco – Trust International Paper Co., the first of the big-time investors locating in Mabalacat, pioneer in paper manufacturing sans the decimation of forests.
T makes Tarzan too. Tarzan? Yes, Lazatin the congressman, father of the impending City of Mabalacat.
U…U…uh-oh – Unity. Solidarity. Teamwork. Fidel V. Ramos’ slogan – vintage 1992 – appropriated by Boking.
V…Boking’s favourite invocation – vox populi, vox dei – in clearing doubts about the integrity of his elections in, let’s see now: 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010, and still counting.
W…Boking’s wit to the fore anew – “With the strongest of conviction and without any fear of contradiction…” the mayor’s recurring refrain in just about any talk lasting at least five minutes.
Willy Tan, the emerging giant of a housing developer, taking off where the troubled Globe Asiatique sputtered. Which leads us to X…
Xevera Mabalacat, the very template of housing development, gifted the municipality a magnificent town hall and the archdiocese an imposing church, built and ran a school for free to the residents’ children – now in a limbo of uncertainty.
Y? Need still ask? Yes to cityhood! Yes to Cong Tarzan!
Zingers, I hope, you found here aplenty.
Mabalacat 300 years hence, Boking pa rin.

Full circle

DEADER THAN dead.
That is the Lakas-Kampi party, to hype the words by House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman the weekend just past.
Locked in mortal combat with Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez over the minority leadership, Lagman was emphatic: “There is no more Lakas-Kampi, there is only Lakas-CMD with a few remnants of Kampi most of whom formed their own party, the NUP (National Unity Party).”
Lagman, chairman of Lakas-CMD, earlier accused Lakas-CMD chair emeritus Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of plotting his ouster from her hospital-arrest bed in favour of Suarez.
Lakas-CMD evolved from the Lakas-NUCD formed in to prop the candidacy of Fidel V. Ramos who lost the LDP convention to House Speaker Ramon Mitra. Kampi was founded as the Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino in 1998 to provide a party for GMA, and merged with Lakas to form what was then the union of the two biggest political parties in the Philippines.
A monolith, that union eventually, came to be.
A column titled “Legacy” we wrote sometime in March 2008, thus:
"LET US work hard together for the good of the nation and for our party’s victory in 2010, when by the mighty hand of Lakas and the blessings and support of the Filipino people, I shall pass on the torch of national leadership in a milieu of tranquility, justice, hope and economic well-being for our beloved countrymen.”
With that statement spoken at the national directorate assembly of the Lakas-CMD, has President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered her legacy speech?
Don’t know really but GMA said so much and meant little with that simple paragraph…
There is some cocky sureness that the merger of Lakas and Kampi which GMA endorsed during the assembly will not only win in 2010 but will dominate Philippine politics in “a two-decade period.”
Why, the usually God-invoking GMA did not even need to ejaculate “Providence” to ensure victory and domination, confident of “the mighty hand of Lakas” and the “blessings and support of the Filipino people” as the only requisites…
“Our merged party (Lakas-Kampi) will be a colossus that calls to mind Mahathir of Malaysia, whose decades- old dominant political machinery, supported by key business groups, provided the underpinning for Malaysia’s development.” Ironically, on the same day the President said this, her model – Malaysia’s United Malays National Organization – suffered an embarrassing electoral debacle.
Opposition leader and former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim made a spectacular political comeback after being sacked in 1998, tortured, tried and convicted in court – for sodomy, among others – and imprisoned. Anwar is a friend of the pardoned Erap Estrada. Some foreboding signs here?
Forebodings – of doom, we sensed then.
Again, in August 2009, we found time to write here under the title “The Party’s over”
PAMPANGA IS “99.5 percent” the bailiwick of the newly merged Lakas-CMD-Kampi Party.
So enthused 2nd District Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo as 311 elected officials at all levels took their oath of office as members of the administration party before a beaming President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“Higanteng partido (giant party),” Mikey’s enthusiasm could not be contained, notwithstanding the conspicuous absence from the oath-taking rites of notable Pampanga political leaders Senator Lito Lapid, his son former Gov. Mark Lapid, Vice Gov. Yeng Guiao, governor-in-waiting Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda, and 4th District Rep. Anna York Bondoc-Sagum.
Their very absence may well tell a story totally different from Mikey’s.
For now though, let us indulge Mikey’s fancy
So what’s with the “99.5 percent”?
Said Mikey: “That 0 .5 percent, we can do without that person. But he’s free to join us.” You’re a dummy if you did not know whom Mikey referred to there.
“This is a party of politicians and sectors,” Mikey said. A potent combination in winning elections there, he did not have to say.
And to the President, the devotion of the son and the obeisance of a vassal:
“We believe you…We love you. These are the generals of your army that will ensure the votes for your presidential anointee.”
Even as he admitted to some “squabbles “ within the ranks, Mikey affirmed that local officials have “united for GMA.”…
Watching Monday’s oath-taking event and reading accounts of it pricked my sense of déjà vu: some trip down memory lane with all feeling of dread and none of nostalgia.
It’s the Marcos era there all over again.
“Higanteng partido” was the Kilusan Bagong Lipunan (KBL), the lone monolith built upon the remains of the Liberal Party (LP) and the Nacionalista Party (NP). Yes, Viring, we once had a two-party system here, just like in the States. Patterned after the States’, as a matter of fact: the LP, a poor clone of the Democratic Party; the NP a third-rate trying hard Grand Old Party copycat, to paraphrase Sharon there. Cuneta, the megastar that is, not the Israeli hawk Ariel.
Not only 99.5 percent but all of 100 percent was the whole Philippines a KBL bailiwick, all semblance of opposition – no matter how rag-tag – losing either the elections or life itself. A case in point: the 1978 Batasan elections in Metro Manila where Ninoy Aquino was soundly beaten by one unknown septuagenarian named Floro.
More than “we believe you…we love you,” it was “we adore you…we glorify you” then, total obeisance to the Great Ferdinand and the Beautiful Imelda being the order of the day.
Yet, for all the power, the kingdom and the glory of Marcos’ KBL, it took but a widow in yellow to end its reign, it took but a simple housewife to sweep it to history’s dustbin.
Déjà vu, nay, some karmic cycle ominous here?
Deader than dead.
So Lagman declared that the Lakas-Kampi coalition has “ceased to exist.”
The karmic cycle is complete. Sic transit gloria mundi. Thus passes the glory of the world.

Field of dreams

YOU HAVE to give it to Victor Jose “Chichos” Luciano, still – or is steeled more apt? – president-CEO of the Clark International Airport Corp.
Since Day One of his watch, Chichos has remained steadfast, if not obstinate, in his faith in the potential, aye, the destiny of the Clark International Airport to be a truly international airport if not the premier global gateway of the country. A cursory scan of all those pressed releases churned out of the CIAC public affairs office is all it takes to believe in Chichos’ vision for the CIA.
Some vision that, with but a little reading of those same CIAC releases, will prove to be way too long in verbalization but utterly short in materialization.
A case in point is the “terminal fever” that has afflicted CIAC since the mid-point of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. So still remember the Terminal 2 project promised to be finished before GMA stepped down?
In September 2006, GMA presided over the laying of the time capsule for the construction of Terminal 2. It was announced then that the sum of P3 billion, to come from the Manila International Airport Authority, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and the Bureau of Immigration, among other agencies will be allotted for the project.
That was the first and last time we heard of that.
Then came the $1.2 billion proposal from an ALMAL Investments Co., a subsidiary of the Kuwaiti mega developer M.A. Kharafi Projects, “to cover all civil components of the DMIA Terminals 1, 2 and 3 plus the adjacent 1,500 hectares in the aviation complex strictly following the CIAC original master plan.”
Travels to Kuwait and Egypt by CIAC officials and even GMA herself yielded nothing but loose talks of Rolexes and Patek Philippes finding themselves on non-Arab wrists.
Thereafter followed the CIAC report of a group of major government-linked and private firms in Malaysia called Bristeel Overseas Ventures, Inc. (BOV) offered to infuse at least $150 million in foreign direct investment to immediately undertake the much-needed expansion of the passenger terminal of the Clark International Airport.
And then we came to read that in a regular meeting on May 17, 2010, the CIAC Board “resolved to accept for detailed negotiations” the proposal of the Philco Aero Inc. on the Passenger Terminal 2 Development Project of the DMIA, as it was deemed “superior” to the BOVI proposal.
A year and eight months after, not a single hollow block for the Terminal 2 project is in place at the CIA.
Last week, CIAC was high with terminal fever again.
Chichos announced that “they” are pushing for the construction of a budget terminal that will handle about 10 million passengers a year at the CIA.
According to the press release, “The new facility, amounting to P12 billion, will take three years to complete and make (the CIA) the second largest airport in the country, next to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.”
“This budget terminal is the kind of terminal that meets the requirements of our airport in Clark. Our terminal right now can only accommodate 2.5 million. So we need a budget terminal to effectively say that DMIA is the next budget airline airport of the country.” So was Chichos quoted directly.
Hyping further: “AirAsia is seen to carry some 800,000 passengers every year and an additional increase of 500,000 each year. AirAsia alone is expecting to have five million passengers out of Clark in the next four years.”
Great, if not unreasonable, expectations from Air Asia there, Mr. Luciano. If we may be so blunt.
Why, Air Asia – its Philippine subsidiary that is -- only last August brought in its brand new plane with the declaration that starting December it would be flying from Clark to Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore, plus “maybe” Puerto Princesa and Davao.
It is now January and the only Air Asia-Philippines flights we heard of – again through Chichos – were those to Cagayan de Oro bringing relief goods to the victims of Typhoon Sendong.
Indeed, this same Air Asia Phil. asked a number of local mediamen to block off three days last November for a fam-trip to Kuala Lumpur. If Businessweek’s Peter Alagos had not been so direct as to ask Air Asia Phil. about the trip a day before the scheduled departure, the mediamen would not have known that the trip was cancelled.
As Air Asia Phil. could not be relied upon on a simple cancellation of a scheduled trip, how can it be expected to deliver on such a gargantuan undertaking as bringing in 800,000 passengers to Clark each year?
Still we indulge in Chichos’ wet dream for CIA and hear him on: “The airlines are already here. So the budget terminal is timely.”
Yeah, we are reminded here of the memorable misquote from the Kevin Costner 1989 baseball movie: “If you build it, they will come.” Albeit in reverse.
They are here – the airlines. So we build the terminal. Ah, what dreams – to Chichos – do come.

Man of the Year 2011

RIGHTING – rather than just fighting – wrongs.
Forged in the crucible of the Marcos dictatorship, Edgardo Dizon Pamintuan is steeled in the protection and promotion of human rights, and thus fated to a public life of correcting human errors, political, social and fiscal, administrative and criminal: his end in view, a society grounded on the democratic ideals of equality and liberty; his goal-in-hand, a community sharing in prosperity.
Pamintuan’s persona as honourable mayor of Angeles City makes the latest – if arguably, the greatest – testament to this: taking over a city awash in wrongs, if only to set everything in it aright, and how! As a call of duty, at the instance, mayhaps even at the insistence, of destiny.

City accursed
Nowhere was the accursed state of the Angeles that Pamintuan inherited more graphically presented than in the city turned into an open dump of stinking garbage, uncollected since the Nepomuceno administration’s defaulting on its P64-million debt with the Kalangitan sanitary landfill.
Consequently, Sapang Balen Creek was made to serve as the city’s most convenient depository of wastes: biodegradable, non-biodegradable, non-segregated from the households, the meat processing plants, yes, even from the city abattoir.
No amount of sumpa cast upon the polluters of Sapang Balen by the Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio David, auxiliary bishop and Holy Rosary parish priest, stirred, much less moved Nepomuceno’s city hall to lift a cleaning hand, sufficing itself in lipping support to the leadership of the prelate.
A travesty, Among Ambo retorted, as it is city hall that should lead the cleaning of Sapang Balen, the support coming from the citizens. There lay where the responsibility truly rested, and sadly failed.
Elsewhere was just as bleak, benighted even: a number of city hall offices literally lost in the dark of an outage imposed by the Angeles Electric Corp. failing to collect from the Nepomuceno government.
In the dark, the devil dances in delight. So it is alliterated, as much as clichéd. So it was in Angeles. The darkness of the human soul found manifest in the series of murders: city icon Aling Lucing, the sisig queen, businessmen Ting and Punzalan, the half-brother of apl.de.ap of the Grammy Award-winning Black Eyed Peas, Pulung Maragul chairman Edilberto Cayanan and ex-Malabanas chairman Thelmo Lalic, a number of foreigners – both tourists and retirees, among scores of others – almost all the cases yet to find a single suspect. This, notwithstanding the Nepomuceno administration spending tens of millions of pesos in upgrading the police’s firepower and mobility. Why, for just four motorcycles, over P4-million was spent! And these were neither Ducatis nor Harleys.
Dying was fairly easy in the city. To the underprivileged, the indigents most especially. What with a city hospital living up to the Mona Lisa ditty – “…they just lie there, and they die there.” For lack of medical facilities, shortage of medicines and dearth of health workers.
Getting proper public education was difficult. The sore lack of classrooms and teachers as acute as the availability of city-sponsored scholarship grants. Even as the City of San Fernando started its own college in 2008, and the still-aspiring-to-be-a-city Mabalacat establishing its community college even earlier, Angeles – a city since 1963 – did not have its own. A solid indictment of the city government’s failure to provide for the education of its youth. A crime of heinous proportions, given the constitutional guarantee of free education; a sin of mortal proportions, given the moral authority reposited in the state.

Grand edifice complex
It is incorrect to say though that the Nepomuceno administration did not do anything in the face of all these problems besieging Angeles City. As a matter of record, it did. And in so doing displayed its grand edifice complex.
One, it engaged in a beautification and lighting campaign of all rotundas along the city’s main avenues – setting multi-colored-blinking lights thereat, which – it was storied—contributed to the increase in the number of vehicular accidents in the city.
Two, it contracted an P800-million loan from the Philippine Veterans Bank for the construction of a sports complex in Barangay Mining, the access road to which built specifically for tricycles; the valuation of the site, given to speculation, raising so much suspicion.

Up to the task
More maladministration than simple mismanagement, the Nepomuceno government’s undoing of Angeles City assumed the proportions of the mythic Augean stables requiring no less than herculean efforts to clean up.
Up – and apt – Mayor Pamintuan is proving himself to that task.
Sound fiscal management shielded the city government from the whammy that was the P40 million slashed from the city’s internal revenue allotment arising from the Supreme Court decision upholding the establishment of 16 more cities in the country.
Pamintuan was the least worried of the loss and its effect on the programs, projects and services to his constituency: “Our daily cash balance has never gone below P100 million, our cash position totals to P297 million. This despite the inherited debt of P17 million in electric bills alone.”
Not to mention the P64-million debt the previous administration incurred with the Kalangitan landfill which Pamintuan likewise solved via renegotiation, that even accrued to savings of up to P600,000 monthly for the city. Garbage fees have been reduced from P1,500 to P1,300 per ton.
The city’s “significant turnaround” in its fiscal management included revenue-raising programs, and the exorcism of ghost employees from the city’s JO (for job order) workforce, reaching up to 65 percent. Greater confidence in the Pamintuan administration has brought in greater investments too.

Seal of Good Housekeping
No less than the Department of the Interior and Local Government has given due recognition to the sound fiscal management of the city, bestowing upon the Pamintuan administration the Seal of Good Housekeeping that carried with a local government support fund of P25 million to be utilized as capital expenditure to augment the approved 2012 annual investment program for implementation of projects ranging from rural electrification to roads, from local economic enterprises to flood control and drainages, or as support to the national projects as the Millennium Development Goals and the Philippine Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.
Pamintuan said the P25-million LGSF can very well serve as a “buffer” to the loss of P53 million in IRA shares this year.

Solid fiscal fundamentals
Odious they truly are, but comparisons between past and present administrations make the standards of a city’s progress, or retrogress and so make an imperative study. Thus Nepomuceno’s 2009 fiscal accomplishments matched against Pamintuan’s January-November 2011 achievements:
In real property tax collection: Nepomuceno – P177,912,354.34; Pamintuan – P194,182,200.56.
In business tax collection: Nepomuceno – P223,045,646.10; Pamintuan – P309,957,893.70.
In non-tax revenues as regulatory fees like permits and licences, service users charges, income from economic enterprises, other income and receipts: Nepomuceno – P80,657,085.12; Pamintuan – P91,743,520.27.
In total income from local sources: Nepomuceno – P481,615,085.56; Pamintuan – P595,883,614.53.
Cold, hard figures showing who enriched – immensely – the city coffers. The difference implying – albeit not affirming – who enriched whom as immensely.
The increase in the financial resources of the city directly translates to the increase in public spending for programs and projects redounding to the benefit and welfare of the Angeles City constituency.

EDucation
The Agyu Tamu tertiary scholarship fund was increased to P5 million in 2011 and to be upped further to P6.5 million in 2012 to accommodate more deserving but indigent students.
In partnership with 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin and the private sector, the city government is currently engaged in the rehabilitation of dilapidated classrooms and the construction of additional ones throughout the city’s public elementary and high schools.
For 2012, the centrepiece project of the Pamintuan administration in the field of education is the Angeles City College to start construction in January at the Agyu Tamu Sports complex beside the Angeles City National High School compound in Barangay Pampang.
A total of P300 million has been allocated for the college, the amount coming from the P800-million loan the Nepomuceno administration contracted for a sports complex.
Prudence, said Pamintuan, dictated that an education facility can better serve the “felt and urgent needs” of the Angeleno than a sports complex.
The Angeles City College will specialize in market-responsive courses that fit the available job opportunities at the Clark Freeport Zone and the emerging enterprises in the city.
It is reported that at any given day, Clark has some 3,000 job vacancies but the locators have problems in recruitment because of an apparent mismatch of the skills and training of the available manpower with the job requirements.

PESO serves
That the City Public Employment Services Office was elevated to the national PESO hall of fame in 2011 is proof positive of the Pamintuan administration’s success in providing jobs to the Angelenos.
In the three consecutive years that the city PESO won the National Best PESO Award, it was able to serve 9,373 residents with 5,326 directly finding employment within the city and 548 abroad.
The city PESO is also continuously engaged in providing free training programs to the out-of-school-youth to afford them sources of livelihood.

Street wise
Angeles City was a study in anarchy, where its streets were concerned. Traffic was horrendous, the lights installed by the Nepomuceno administration at major intersections – reportedly at a cost of millions – serving more decorative than utilitarian purposes. The traffic aides – what little presence of them – more part of the jams than the smooth flow of vehicles.
Pamintuan’s approach to the problem was holistic: deploying 150 traffic enforcers on all major roads, clearing the sidewalks of ambulant vendors, re-routing traffic from chokepoints, holding consultative meetings with stakeholders like TODAs and JODAs.
Pamintuan’s close coordination with Representative Lazatin and the Department of Public Works and Highways also effected the widening and asphalt-overlaying of principal streets in Sto. Domingo, Pandan, Pulung Bulo, Sto. Cristo and Sto. Entierro, and in the widening of the Pulung Bulo bridge to four lanes.

Healthcare
Unarguably, the greatest achievement of Pamintuan in the field of health for 2011 was the establishment of the renal care unit at the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center.
With its 15 dialysis machines, the RCU has started serving some 350 mostly indigent patients a month – a tremendous help, given the high cost of dialysis treatment in private hospitals.
The city government has likewise embarked on a program to expand the bed capacity and improve the facilities and services of the RLMMC, to be at par with the best private hospitals in the city.
In this regard, P50 million – again from the P800-million loan for the sports complex – has been allotted for a new annex building of the hospital.
“We are convinced that Mayor Pamintuan is doing an incredible job in fulfilling his health programs for his constituents and this is the reason why WMRI continues to prioritize Angeles City among its recipients.”
So said George Samson, the chief executive officer of the US-based World Medical Relief Inc., recently as he disclosed that a 40-foot container van of medical equipment including ultrasound and electrocardiogram machines, hospital beds, wheelchairs, dental chairs, emergency carts, laboratory instruments and other medical supplies, set to arrive in January 2012 solely for the RLMMC.
The WMRI had, as far back as Pamintuan’s first term as mayor in 1992-1995, already donated to the then Ospital ning Angeles numerous medical equipment most of which are still in use today at RLMMC.
In 2011 alone, medical equipment the city received from the WMRI comprised of a C-arm X-ray machine, a cardiac monitoring machine, an ultrasound machine, reverse-osmosis machine for dialysis system, defibrillator and a phaco-machine.
Aside from the WRMI,
Through its heath outreach program, the city has been continuously giving free medicines, including maintenance medicines for hypertension, diabetes, heart ailment and others, to the public at the RLMMC, the city health office, the mayor’s office and his my home and during the regular barangay days. Tens of thousands of people continually benefit from this program.

Caring for Mother Earth
“When we started cleaning Sapang Balen some years back, we were told by the city government (under then-Mayor Francis Nepomuceno) that they would support us. No, we told them, we are the one’s supporting you. Today, that has come to pass, the city government of Mayor Pamintuan leading, all of us supporting. This is a dream come true.”
So hailed Bishop David Lingap ku king balen. Malinis a Sapang Balen, the program to clean the city’s principal waterway as well as other creeks and rivers.
Initiated by Pamintuan, the clean-up drive started last October with scores of students, city employees, civic groups and individual volunteers clearing with their bare hands, rakes, shovels and other implements the Sapang Balen and Abacan creeks of wastes. It will be undertaken every first Saturday of the month “until the waterways are restored to their pristine nature.”
“Taking care of God’s creations, of Mother Earth herself, for the next generation is also paramount in my hierarchy of values,” Pamintuan says, seeing in the devastating typhoons and floods “nature exacting its toll for all the abuses man committed against her.”
Task Force 1 Million Trees has been formed by the city government with the express intent to plant that number within the current term of Pamintuan to re-green Angeles and alleviate the ill effects of climate change.

Cultural revival
“Above all, a city needs a soul.” Famous words of the Blessed John Paul II. And what makes a city’s soul but its faith-based culture and tradition?
Pamintuan sparked a cultural renaissance in the city with the revival of long-lost festivals and practices like the serenata, the las flores de los angeles, the lubenas for Christmas, the Crissotan, the polosa, among others, and the celebration of the arts in the monthly music-painting-photography fusion dubbed Art at the Park on the grounds of the Museo ning Angeles.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Mount Pinatubo eruptions, the city government commissioned the publication of Agyu Tamu: Turning Tragedy into Triumph celebrating the indomitable spirit of the people of Angeles.
The defining festival of the city – Tigtigan, Terakan king Dalan – that which sounded the call for the Angelenos to rise from the ashes of the volcanic eruptions and soar – phoenix-like – to the firmament of development, that which was reduced to insignificance by the previous administration with its insipid “street party” perversions of it, came back with a vengeance with the return of Pamintuan – breaking records in attendance and cash flows to fund more socio-cultural projects for the city.

Empowerment
“I want Angeles City to be the most sensitive city and local government in the Philippines to gender equality and gay rights.” Thus declared Pamintuan in his speech at the induction rites of the city-based United Gay Power Movement (UGPM) last November.
Pamintuan directed the creation of a Gay Rights Desk as an adjunct of the Angeles City Multi-Sectoral Consultative Council where LGBTs – that is lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders – in the city can expect various types of services and projects for the promotion of their rights and welfare.
“It is our way of recognizing the role and potentials of the gay sector in the development and progress of our city,” Pamintuan said.
Pamintuan’s initiative has merited delight from the gay community.
“We are thankful for the city government’s support in the endeavors of the gay community in Angeles leading towards our full empowerment as a sector,” said Michelle Jhoie Ferraris, UGPM president. “Through united gay power and action, we will show the community why we are here and not just to make you beautiful, not only to make you laugh, but even more so, to actively contribute in the genuine development of this vibrant city and our society.”
The gay sector is but the latest among the groups that have been empowered by the Pamintuan administration, engaging them in the various programs and projects of his administration as well as in policy-formulation. Represented in the collegial Angeles City Multi-Sectoral Council are the city chamber of commerce and industry, the senior citizens, the academe, labor, market vendors, the youth, artists and craftsmen, indigenous people, even the urban poor.
Pamintuan has made governing Angeles City a shared responsibility. More than protection and promotion, what Pamintuan achieved here is the optimization of the inherent right of the citizen in a democratic society.

P-Noy's populism

“KAYO ANG boss ko.”
To that declaration made in his inaugural address, President Aquino has steadfastly held. By far doing nothing that will displease his people, indeed, subjugating himself to their will. At least, that which the unscientific sampling of ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol says is the prevailing thought of the greater majority, and/or that which the Social Weather Station periodically proffers as the real sentiments of the Filipino people.
No matter Teddy Boy Locsin’s derogation of survey results as “the breadth of ignorance out there,” Aquino – his decision-making leads us to believe – adheres to the doctrine of vox populi, vox dei. Of God speaking through his people, and therefore Aquino could do no wrong in following them.
So it is with that solid conviction – of heeding the voice of the Filipino people – that Aquino defied the Supreme Court TRO and dropped the bar on the fleeing – if only to seek medical treatment abroad – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
So it is with that that unshakeable faith – of him doing the will of the Filipino people – that Aquino caused – and his Liberal party effected – the impeachment of GMA-appointed Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Subscribing to the popular will. That may well be the mission statement of the Aquino administration. So, isn’t that the very core of democratic tradition? Of government by, of, and for the people. Aye, the very pith of democracy itself.
How dare now of Senator Joker Arroyo insinuating Marcosian tendencies in Aquino’s style of governance and (dis)respect for the rule of law?
The Joker said so much when he called President Aquino “intolerant of any kind of dissent, any kind of disagreement with what the government does.”
And practically idiotized P-Noy thus: “He doesn’t understand what government is. He thinks that good intentions justify doing anything. He doesn’t understand the workings of the Constitution.”
Too bad, ignorance is no ground for impeachment.
Aquino’s populist leanings do indeed remind us of Marcos, putting himself in the very mould the dictator crafted of the Filipino politico: “populist, personalist and individualist.”
Yeah, Marcos used the populist platform to arrogate unto himself the sovereign will of the Filipino people in order for him to fight certain evils besieging them, the oligarchy and the communist insurgency, most notably.
As Aquino is now banking on his popularity to wage war against the judiciary and the sickly, if not truly sick, GMA.
As the once popular Marcos went down in infamy, so the still popular Aquino should take stock, at this early, of the impermanence of popularity, of the ephemerality of celebrity.
As the erudite Chief Justice Reynato Puno put it during one celebration of Ethics Day at the Philippine National Police: “…the great truths – whether religious truths, moral truths or political truths – are not determined by popularity vote, because oftentimes the majority rests only on what is momentarily delightful or what is pleasantly pleasurable.”
Aquino may well heed too that English scholar and theologian of the 8th century, Alcuin saying: “And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is very close to madness.”
Surely, no voice of God obtained in such “riotousness…close to madness.” Nor in that which Locsin called the “breadth of ignorance out there.”
Something for Aquino to ponder. In his sober moments, if ever he could be detoxed of the exhilarating whiff of popularity.