Health Secretary Pummeled by Men in Funny Hats Over Condoms

"To remain rooted in 15th century practices when we are dealing with the wonders of the 21st century gives God a bad name and suggests He can’t adapt to the power and wonders of the intellect He granted man." - Joe America, regular FV commenter.

CBCP legal counsel Atty. Jo Imbong goes head to head with Sec. Cabral.



Then Ricky Carandang asks Atty. Imbong, clearly there is a problem with the spread of HIV/AIDS, what does the church propose as a solution?

Imbong: ......... (coded: don't have sex)




Oh, and happiness, now the CBCP wants to ban condom ads. One wonders why they are not so rabid in fighting corruption.

Drowning in Manny

Horror of horrors, Manny Villar seems to have taken possession of my body. He haunts me everywhere I go and whatever I do. Since I no longer watch television nor listen to the radio, he stalks me on Youtube and Facebook. On the same day I saw a caravan of Villar's supporters handing out flyers in the UP Diliman campus, a friend texted he heard the Villar ad on the MRT. Manny is anywhere and everywhere, omnipresent - like God.

Manny Villar, utang na loob, lubayan mo ako.

As I watched men in orange caps accost UP students, I wondered how much he's been spending to win his prize. All this election spending is not a bit like our consumer-led economic growth, all hot air with no ultimate substance. Posters and flyers are printed, ads are produced and aired, thousands are hired to serve the Villar election machine. Tremendous economic energy expended...for nothing. But no, the presidency is well worth Villar's investment. If GMA is any indication, the chief executive's SAL has a tendency to skyrocket upon assuming office. The presidency has proven lucrative. What businessman can resist?

The Politics of Owning and Remembering EDSA

A monopoly on history is a monopoly of power. A monopoly of telling the narrative can only match the writer's ideological standpoint. What really happened in EDSA? Who were the protagonists? The bad guys? Those who chose to sit on the sidelines? What was the context in which the event happened? Was it planned or spontaneous? What were the events that led to it?

If remembering is a way to reconstruct events in history, then different sections of society will see the past through multiple views. The view from the left is not the same from the right. The view from the top cannot be the same as that from the bottom. What is not contested is that the People Power revolution was good. This is probably why so many camps seek to co-opt EDSA to suit their own purposes today. Co-opting EDSA endows one with magic/legitimising properties. Co-opting EDSA allows one to be morally right. And so it seems, rarely do we 'remember' in an entirely objective manner. On such a momentous event as the People Power revolution, the politics of remembering is rife.

Perhaps the tendency to multiple views on EDSA 1986 is a measure of how fractured and segmented we remain. In a sense, what was true twenty-four years ago remains true today. Those who would insist that no such fractures exist are ideologically blind if not idiots.

Suffering

The conventional wisdom goes, going through hardship makes us good people. Philosopher Julian Baggini doesn't seem to think so. So how did this nugget of wisdom become conventional? Baggini has a proposition:

Why then do so many persist with the idea that suffering is good for us? The religious need to, of course. If suffering is not, on balance, a good thing, then there can be no benevolent creator in charge of this show. But even without a theological motivation, the thought of so much suffering without redemption can be almost intolerable. Believing it has a point can be the only way to make life bearable.

Agora: a film review

(Spoiler free!!!)

"You do not question what you believe. You cannot. I must."

One pithy line neatly illustrates the tensions in Alejandro Amenabar's latest - Agora.

The "robe and sandal" epic portrays the ancient city of Alexandria in the twilight years of the Roman empire. The fraying political hold of the Romans leave a vacuum for religious factions to take over. Christians, Jews and Pagans all struggle to maintain influence over the city's governors and governed. And in the middle of the maelstrom, Hypatia, Neoplatonist philosopher/mathematician and part-time political advisor.



Based on real characters and events from the fifth century, the themes tackled in Agora are still very much contemporary. Amenabar's directorial eye casts reflections on humankind's search for meaning and order in the universe. The film also depicts the problematic posed by the intersection of the religious and political realms. And at the heart of it all, the struggle to reconcile faith with reason.

Oh, and let me say, atheists, agnostics, feminists, scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, RH advocates and people with non-universalizing tendencies will probably love this film. :-)

Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel for Senator

I have absolutely zero qualms endorsing Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel for Senator. I know her to be an uber hard-working member of Congress. She seems to be in so many places all at once, working on policy issues of import to the Filipino people. Too, it doesn't hurt that she's really easy on the eyes. She's even better looking in person believe you me. Hehehe.

Here is "GMA" stating her reasons for not endorsing Rep. Risa for senate.



And here is the story behind Risa's signature scarf.

Noynoy and Great Expectations

Sen. Noynoy Aquino was twenty minutes late. The Blogwatch livestream interview had been scheduled at 6:00pm last Saturday and there were around 20 bloggers in attendance. I arrived a little after 5 o'clock at the designated venue, earlier if the traffic lights nearby had been working properly. This is democracy in action. Traffic flows bitch on all of us in equal measure.

He didn't come with a swarm of guards, in he strode in sombre black - bright, naked. His face was clear though, belying the long day of endless talk and consultation. I have met many politicians in the last year and a half. Sins committed in wielding power weather faces quickly. Lying and cheating shadow eyes. Too, I have become quite adept at detecting bullshit. I do not impress easily. I was neither impressed nor lied to.

He sat in comfort in front of us, the bloggers on either side, cameras in corners. It was an intimate tête-à-tête. I was less than 1o feet away. One quivers in the presence of power, invisible strings pull the spine to straight, the feet to point in the correct direction. One is instantly on alert - as when a predator eyes her prey. I felt no such tension in the presence of the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. I took pictures freely, tried to key in notes, whispered side comments with other bloggers. I slouched.

Show me the Money!

Public finance is probably not such a hot topic for opinion-makers and news writers. We do not often hear about the state of the country's national purse - what we make, what we save (if any), what we spend on, how much goes to what. Numbers probably seem a snooze compared to the political scandal of the moment.

But think about it - public finance deals with the most intimate aspect of our political identity - the money we are obliged (coerced) to give to our country. If you tally all that is automatically deducted from your income, what could you have bought instead? Would you have been able to send another sibling to school? Better medical treatment for your folks? A house? Seen this way, 'public' finance suddenly becomes very personal. What have we given up to the state, what have we sacrificed in our personal lives to be able to pay taxes?

Being Human

To deny the body its due is to deny an essential aspect of the human condition. While we are beings of reason and of will, these are tempered by the materiality of hunger and pain. Who we are and what we believe are products of the conditions in which we live. Our values – the things we value, are shaped by our material circumstances. To illustrate, a Canadian might not think twice about leaving leftovers in a restaurant. A Filipino would. Food does not comprise a substantial percentage of a person’s income in Canada. It does in the Philippines. And so, Filipinos value food more than Canadians – and behave in ways that reflect this value.

Interrogating the voters’ motivations for voting a certain way, Cocoy is disturbed by the reasons given by the poorest - “Feed us. That’s the only thing that matters. We don’t’ care whether you steal. We don’t care about your fight. Just feed us.”

He writes, “What I think this survey tells us is that right here, right now, more and more Filipinos are focusing on the material, the bodily needs, rather than the big picture.” Indeed, this may be true. But this reasoning has a logic all its own. Those who suffer hunger will make rational decisions - food and comfort now will weigh more than a nebulous future. When one makes do with P200 a day for example, what is the point of living beyond the mere moment?

Also, valuing a president who “cares for the poor” more than one who is “not corrupt/clean” reflects two things – the condition of powerlessness and quasi-feudal values.

The powerless will not think to question the actions of the powerful. The inhabitants of Tondo will not think it their place to question whether Manny Villar has behaved according to the dictates of the law. What is the point when they cannot do anything about it anyhow? All they will care about is that Villar, the quasi feudal lord, will provide as he sees fit. This system of patronage does not only exist between politicos and the many poor. It is endemic in our entire political system.

It is good to dream the impossible dream. But surely, we all must temper idealism with a little bit of humanity.

Manny Villar's C5 at Taga Explained in Seven Minutes

Here is a brief explanation of what the C5 extension brouhaha is all about.


For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Winnie Monsod explains:

"On the basis of the map, it is clear... there are two alignments - MCTEP and the C5 extension project. It is also clear that one of them was unnecessary. Why? It has to be the burnt orange project because the other project had already been approved earlier. It is also clear that the C5 extension project is gonna be more costly because it is longer and it is built wholly on government funds. Third, because what the government spent on the road right of way for the old project will now go to waste. Why will it go to waste? Well really, can you imagine the joint venture partner building this project when there is this road parallel to it, almost beside it, sometimes overlapping it. Who will want to pay toll when there is a free road right next to it. And finally it is very clear that the greater length of the C5 extension project enables it to pass through all the Villar properties...

There remains the issue of the overprice of the Villar properties...there were 22 properties that had to be bought to get a right of way for the C5 extentions project. The average price paid for the non-Villar properties was P2,422 per square meter. The average price paid for Villar properties was P11,519 per square meter for mostly raw land."

Shadowlight

This house. It used to fill with noise. Now it is mostly quiet. Human denizens have been replaced with mewing, barking creatures. This house of my youth, my childhood. Ghostly quiet, a mute witness to nigh three decades of history. Underneath the gray of neglect, I see the white walls. They used to echo laughter, idle talk, forceful anger. I care not to have repairs made. The peeling paint, the dripping ceiling, the rot in the wood are all in mute understanding, this house will soon lay to rest. And with it shall be buried lives fully lived. I have not regrets. Soon I shall leave, far longer than before. I am fine with the possibility of never coming back for good. With me I take memories of good and bad. My parents’ house, the shrine to their dreams fulfilled. They were never mine. The mango tree blooms for the nth time, its fruits even now falling useless on the roof, on the ground. I remember when it was planted first. I was five. It is beautiful in shadowlight.

Reforming the Reformists

Yesterday I had the occasion of attending the talk “How Much Reforms are there in the 2010 Campaigns?” organized by the Ateneo School of Government. Discussants present were Joel Rocamora of the Institute of Popular Democracy and Ramon Casiple of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform. Allow me to echo the gist of the discussion.

Is Noynoy the Reform Candidate?

Rocamora was clearly partisan and really only spoke of the Aquino platform.

He speaks of a Reform Constituency that has been brewing in the past two or three years. This ragtag group was energized by the massive turnout of people at Cory’s funeral and the consequent decision of Noynoy to run for the presidency.

Rocamora asseses the “reform” elements of the Aquino platform. He argues that there are enough reformers among the inner circle of the Aquino campaign. These include former senior government officials such as Butch Abad, Johnny Santos, Dinky Soliman and Chito Gascon. He claims that every single one has serious reform credentials. However Rocamora acknowledges that there are also non-reformers among the ranks, attracted by the huge Aquino lead in the early surveys. As a result, there is a struggle within the campaign but “so far, it is the reformers who have managed to run the campaign because of the absolute support of Noynoy and Mar.”

Rocamora groups the reform measures under two broad rubrics – “Anti Rent-seeking reforms” and “Redistributive reforms.”

The anti rent-seeking reforms are meant to curb corruption, allow the leveling of the playing field in business by reforming the regulatory system running the economy and strengthen the capacity of government to provide infrastructure by removing patronage in the allocation processes.

Now why is the majority of the reform measures unveiled so far in the economic sphere? Rocamora proffers an answer – a big chunk of Noynoy’s supporters are in the business sector. Those present at the pow-wow last week were not only MBC members but also managers (Management Association of the Philippines) and finance people (FINEX). Rocamora recounts a chiding he got from former NatDem comrades - Is this, finally, the “reform bourgeoisie” a-coming? “Hey, you’ve been looking for a national bourgeoisie for forty years,” he replied. Indeed, half a century late, in my opinion. But better late than never.

The second umbrella of reforms are meant to be ‘redistributive.’ The Aquino platform is strong in the support for urban land reform. It seems I have read accurately between the lines of his Economic Vision speech as Rocamora acknowledges that “Agrarian Reform is one of the vulnerabilities of the campaign, in particular of Noynoy, because he has not yet figured out how to deal with Hacienda Luisita.”

Reformers must trump those who would hold the Status Quo

Rocamora describes a campaign team with different clusters of reformers. The clusters are charged with different issue areas and are tasked to translate policy papers into speeches. We can expect such speeches to be delivered in the coming months.

In conclusion, Rocamora expresses his concern not for the prospects of reform but what an Aquino administration might face once it is in power. He is not confident that reformers will get the majority of the Congress (both the lower House and Senate). This will make it difficult to pass reform measures initiated by the Executive.

An Aquino-Villar Contest

The second discussant, Mon Casiple, concludes that the presidential race is really only between two contenders at this point.

With regard to platforms, Casiple is circumspect. He says “these are statements of intentions designed to attract the greatest number of votes.” A platform is not a program of government – which will not be unveiled until after a candidate wins. On the other hand, he acknowledges, a platform cannot be all that different from the nitty-gritty of governance.

What Casiple advises us to do in the coming months is to listen to these platforms carefully and to “read between the lines.” While ALL platforms look to be “reformist”, there are nuances. He cites the difference between Aquino and Villar is that the former explicitly calls the Arroyo administration “corrupt” while Villar blames the “corrupt system.” Aquino has also categorically said he will not raise taxes while Villar leaves the possibility of raising them.

Casiple advises voters to deal with the record of these candidates and the “circumstances of their way to the presidency.” Here I suppose he means for us to judge whether these politicians have played fairly to win the prize.

Non-conventional Campaigns

Casiple proposes that the 2007 elections opened the field for non-conventional campaigns of non-conventional politicians. Fr. Ed Panlilio and Grace Padaca came completely from left field but won governorships against conventional wisdom. Casiple acknowledges that the Noynoy campaign is also a non-conventional one. It has so far swept aside Mar Roxas, Noli de Castro and Chiz Escudero. He hints at Joseph Estrada throwing in the towel as well.

Casiple concludes by saying the reform agenda, at this point, is not a laundry list of policy initiatives. It is “more about symbols” and a negotiation of what we mean by “reform.” He says what we know at this time is that we are rejecting the status quo. I take this to mean we are rejecting nine years of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

UP Academic Congress: Beyond 2010 - Leadership for the Next Generation

February 1 to 5, 2010. 8am - 6pm, Malcolm Hall, UP Diliman

DAY 1 - February 1, 2010, Monday

8:30 AM Start of Registration Proper
9:30 AM Opening Ceremonies
9:30 – 9:45 AM Opening Remarks by Dean Marvic M.V.F. Leonen
9:45 – 10:00 AM Message from UP President Emerlinda R. Roman
10:00- 10:45 AM “What Truly Matters to Filipinos?” by Prof. Randolf S. David
10:45 – 12:00 AM Open Forum
12:00 – 1:30 PM Lunch Break
1:30 – 3:30 PM Session 1: Jobs and the Cost of Doing Business
3:45 – 5:45 PM Session 2: Debt and Deficits

DAY 2 - February 2, 2010, Tuesday

8:30 AM Registration Proper
9:00 – 11:00 AM Session 3: Political Economy of Mindanao
11:00 – 1:00 PM Lunch Break
1:00 – 3:00 PM Session 4: Health and Politics

DAY 3 - February 3, 2010, Wednesday

8:30 – 10:30 AM Session 5: Diaspora of Filipinos
10:30 – 12:30 PM Session 6: Property Reform and Related Issues
12:30 – 1:30 PM Lunch Break
1:30 – 3:30 PM Session 7: Urban Development and Housing
3:45 – 5:45 PM Session 8: Science and Technology

DAY 4 - February 4, 2010, Thursday

8:30 – 10:30 AM Session 9: Confronting Trade, Markets and Regulation
10:30 – 12:30 PM Session 10: Foreign Policy
12:30 – 1:00 PM Lunch Break
2:00 – 4:00 PM Session 11: Climate Change and DRR

DAY 5 - February 5, 2010, Friday

8:30 – 10:30 AM Session 12: Culture of Impunity
10:30 – 12:30 PM Session 13: Elections and How to Choose Leaders
12:30 – 1:00 PM Lunch Break
1:30 – 3:30 PM Session 14: Labor
3:45 – 4:45 PM Summary by the Chief Rapporteurs
4:45 PM Closing Remarks by UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio S. Cao
Session 15: Energy Security (Third week of February)

Surely, a Place for Critical Philosophy

Still the greatest influence in the critical perspectives of my field, Prof. Duncan Foley reminds me why I found Marx fascinating.

Is Marxism Relevant Today? from Committee on Global Thought on Vimeo.

(Around 20:00)

"The other thing that I'd like to say about Marx, at least from my own reading...is that he problematizes reality in the following sense. We have an awful tendency to sort of putter along, get up in the morning, get dressed and assumed that the way things are is somehow the way things have to be. Actually, mainstream economics goes further than that and has a big strength that says the way things are is the best way things can possibly be. Marx when he was a young man wrote a piece called 'For the Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing' and he lived that out and wrote that out to a very considerable degree. And the more you read Marx, the more, I hope, you will be drawn to find the world we live in extremely puzzling, extremely problematic, extremely strange as to why it is just the way it is. And why the things happen that do happen."

Surely, in the short history of modernity and global capitalism, this is not as good as it gets.

Hitler Reacts to the Reproductive Health Bill

This clip, from the German film "The Downfall" is probably the most parodied clip on Youtube. See Hitler react to the news of the RH bill not making it in Congress.