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Aug 25, 2004
an article i got from the e-group Plaridel_papers
Please find below M. Buencamino's "open letter to
Joma" (Today, 20 August) and L. Teodoro's response to
Buencamino's satirical piece (Today, 21 August).
Open Letter to Joma
BY MANUEL BUENCAMINO
Buencamino does political affairs analysis for Action
for Economic Reforms (AER).
“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar
doctrine that age brings wisdom.” –H. L. Mencken
Dear Joma,
I’m writing you this letter because I read your
statement titled, “BUSH REGIME IS SABOTAGING THE
GRP-NDFP PEACE NEGOTIATIONS AND ESCALATING US MILITARY
INTERVENTION IN PHILIPPINES.”
There, you accused President Bush of sabotaging the
peace negotiations because neither you nor your
organizations were de-listed from the terrorist list
of the US State
Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC) of the Treasury Department. You deduced that
“The Bush regime is thereby stirring up the civil war
between the GRP and the people's democratic government
(PDG) represented by the NDFP.”
So you issued a call to arms. “It is their duty [the
Filipino people and revolutionary forces] to fight
back and liberate themselves from US imperialism and
its die-hard puppets.”
Forgive me for asking but if you already knew that
Bush listed you as a terrorist in order to “stir up
the civil war,” why then did you do exactly what Bush
wanted you to do, declare war on “US imperialism and
its die-hard puppets” and “stir up the civil war?”
‘Di ba parang nagpa- uto ka?
Or maybe you’re just blind with fury because the US
Treasury Department froze the advance royalty payment
for your book. You argued, “This royalty payment has
absolutely nothing to do with terrorism. It is paid in
accordance with a pre-2002 contract which is perfectly
legal.”
And you devoted more than 200 words right in the
middle of your communiqué just to show how persecuted
you are. However, a better approach might have been
to remind the State Department that you traded your
M16 for a suit a long time ago and your main concern
these days is cross-town traffic—not cross-fires.
I understand you have to “let it all hang out,” but it
doesn’t look good when you go into a lengthy discourse
about your personal problems and then say “Back to
the question of GRP-NDFP peace negotiations,” followed
by a brief 80-word summary of why the peace talks
should be postponed until the GRP meets its
obligations under the Oslo I and Oslo II Statements.
In the paragraphs leading up to the frozen royalty
story, you delivered an appeal that reveals more than
it should. You said, “I fight by exposing the
injustices done to me and calling on the people to
support my cause,” thus making casus belli out of your
personal problems.
Frankly, you reminded me of Bush who exclaimed, “He
tried to kill my dad,” in the middle of a serious
speech outlining his reasons for toppling Saddam.
Once upon a time you called yourself Amado Guerrero,
the Beloved Warrior, and led your troops in a battle
royale against the GRP. Now, you hire American lawyers
to wage royalty battles against the US Treasury.
Joma, revolutionaries and rock stars don’t age well.
Those who live too long end up bloated like Elvis or
depraved like Mao. Those who die young become heroes.
It’s too late for you to die a young hero and it would
be unseemly, though tempting, for you to follow Mao’s
example and trade your “Little Red Book” for a private
little red house. And so your only option is a total
“make-over.”
In this regard, you should stop using laborious
phrases like “US imperialism and its die-hard
puppets.” They date you because no one talks that
way anymore. If you were to appear in a televised
interview, subtitles would be needed.
Joma, you are a revolutionary. Fire your lawyers, wear
the terrorist listing as a badge of honor and a
reminder that at least someone still takes you
seriously. At your age, you have to learn to be more
appreciative of life’s blessings
Sincerely yours,
Manuel Buencamino
Former “guerilla,” now Chief Image Consultant to Aging
Rebs
P.S. The GRP has a reputation for caving in to
“terrorist demands,” so you might actually be
negotiating from a “position of strength” if you wear
the terrorist badge to you next round of negotiations.
To whom it may concern
VANTAGE POINT By LUIS TEODORO
Academics favor indirection, subtlety, obscure
phrases. Unfortunately for them, Sison doesn’t write
for academics but for the many who actually make
history.
Although a few years his junior, I met Jose Ma. Sison
in the University of the Philippines years ago, in the
Philippine Collegian, of which he was research editor
during the editorship of Leonardo Quisumbing, then a
law student, and who’s currently a Supreme Court
justice. A liberal through and through with dreams of
a law career, I nevertheless ended up editing Sison’s
second book, Struggle for National Democracy (his
first book was a book of poems).
The editing task was itself a struggle. Although an
English literature major (he was then an MA student
and an instructor in the Department of English), Joe,
as he was then plainly known among friends, wrote in a
prose style we in the esoteric circles of the UP
Writers’ Club thought peculiar.
His syntax was unconventional, although his writing
was grammatically error-free. But he had this shocking
practice of actually naming things as they really
were, which among UP’s aesthetes was simply
unacceptable. Don’t say “everyday world,” say “the
quotidian universe.” Today we’re told not to say
“puppet,” say “dependency.” Don’t say “imperialist,”
say “hegemon.”
In Philippine Society and Revolution, which he wrote
under the nom de guerre Amado Guerrero, every
government this country has ever had is described as
“The Puppet _____ Regime,” etc. Why this repetition
despite its obvious demerits? That’s because that’s
what they were, puppet regimes all, and to call them
something else would have blunted its reality. As the
late critic Petronilo Bn. Daroy would say later, when
speaking of Sison’s poetry, Sison “is inspired, not by
the conventions of literature, but by the need to
relate to facts in Philippine social life.”
It’s a characteristic his prose hasn’t lost. In this
supposedly postmodern age, he still uses phrases like
“US imperialism and its die-hard puppets.” It’s true
no one talks like that anymore -- at least not in the
respectable, albeit “radical” circles of Philippine
NGOs. In fact, no one talked like that even when I was
a UP undergraduate, when we favored the obscure prose
of Lionel Trilling over the bare-bone clarity of Mao
Zedong’s “Talks at the Yennan Forum on Literature and
Art.”
Sison was on his part never “fashionable.” His books
were disdained as “simple” by PhDs who expected him to
produce treatises rather than manuals for the poor.
Some of his poems are derided for being direct rather
than metaphorical. But that was the price he paid for
choosing meaning above form.
The brutal, sometimes awkward directness of Sison’s
prose is one reason why, as respected as his name is
in those areas of the Philippine countryside where the
National Democratic Front has established its own
governments, among the press and academia he’s too
easy a target -- a reverse example of the icons adored
in respectable circles, the very mention of whose
names invites paeans. Academics favor indirection,
subtlety, obscure phrases. Unfortunately, again as
Daroy noted, Sison doesn’t write for academics but for
the many who actually make history.
But only years later did I discover why Sison wrote
and talked in a way so unlike what academia favored.
It wasn’t only because he liked naming things for what
they really were; he’s actually interested in
communicating to the legions of the poor, which makes
him a rare bird indeed. Thus did he also take the
greatest pains to learn the Filipino language, a task
difficult enough for a non-Tagalog, but even worse for
an English literature major.
There is a name for what the United States has been
doing for the last one hundred years. It is
imperialism -- and it does have “die-hard puppets” who
are, well, die-hard puppets. Putting it thus is
certainly far from the current fashion. But isn’t
what’s happening in Iraq imperialism, and doesn’t the
US’ listing of Sison as a terrorist, a form of
meddling in this country’s affairs?
The same aesthetics of “relating to facts,” rather
than that of “[waging] royalty battles against the US
treasury,” it seems to me, moved Sison to mention the
personal difficulties he has suffered as a result of
the “terrorist” listing. In the past Sison has
mentioned not only that he is no longer chairman of
the Communist Party, but is still blamed for
“ordering” everything from ambushing government
patrols to executing military agents and torturers --
acts which incidentally may not even be terrorism, if
one went by the meaning of the word as consisting of
indiscriminate acts of violence for political ends.
He has also pointed out that as a passport-less exile
in the Netherlands (and please don’t say “self-exiled”
because there’s no such thing), he has been denied the
right to medical care among the consequences of his
being so listed. How else convey to others a sense of
the injustice, which would be an abstraction
otherwise, except by relating what it has meant to
one’s own life, about which one has the most direct
knowledge?
Few people do age gracefully, and one need not even
mention Mao Zedong’s alleged senior depravity --
mostly according to his doctor, by the way, who made a
zillion dollars by writing that book. But here’s even
worse news: even fewer people were ever really perfect
even in their youth, except in their own minds.
Sison had -- still has, I understand -- an eye for the
ladies, a fact many feminists point out whenever his
name is mentioned. Rizal had a girl in every port.
Antonio Luna had a temper that cost him dearly.
Bonifacio had an authoritarian streak. Ninoy Aquino
played up to the gallery even during martial law when
he was on trial for his life.
No, I’m not saying that Sison’s in the same league as
any one of these men, who are rightly regarded as
heroes. But he does command the attention and respect
-- though no longer officially, but in the manner of
an elder statesman -- of a social movement. Like them
he’s also, and he’s never been, perfect. But who is
and who’s ever been?
The important thing is what one has contributed to
this country. As armchair a revolutionary as I have
always been, I am, as many others are, grateful for
the 45 years of his life Sison has given to the making
of the movement that at the very least has forced
governments to look into the causes of poverty and
discontent.
But I agree that their looking into them doesn’t mean
their addressing them -- which is why, I suppose,
there’s a logic to Sison’s thesis that the only way
that will happen is for the poor themselves to take
power.
Personally, I don’t find that a prospect as awful as
much of the intelligentsia does. The world has never
been as dangerous, the United States never more
arrogant and more eager to lay it waste than today. At
home in the country of our despair, no one really
believes that the ruling system can ever do anything
-- nor does it really want to do anything -- to make
things any better for the many. On the contrary, they
will do everything to keep things the way they are,
for their sakes as well as those of their patrons at
home and abroad.
It’s not the poor who are responsible for this state
of affairs, but their supposed betters, a category in
which, I suppose, people like me and the stalwarts of
“civil society” are included. But we haven’t been any
better, and have instead helped make such a mess of
things we’re actually killing people daily without
knowing it. Maybe the poor can do better, because no
one else can.
It won’t do to “advise” those who have actually done
something to -- ho, ho, ho -- undergo a make-over in
the same way that US journalists have “advised” North
Korea’s Kim Jong Il to change his hairdo and
jumpsuits. It trivializes things despite the horrors
of the present, as if hair and suit -- and prose style
-- were what really mattered.
The “advice” that Sison accept the “terrorist” label
as “a badge of honor,” I can only presume, was given
in the same spirit, which is why it can’t be taken
seriously. There are terrorists indeed in this country
and in the world, and can you imagine what wearing
that tag as a “badge of honor” would do? It would make
the military dance with glee to the tune of “I told
you so,” for one thing. But even more fundamentally,
that tag just doesn’t apply.
I’m not alone in saying this. Dozens of other people
say so, and they include lawyers, judges, bishops, a
governor and former senator, and at least one
(current) UP president.
And that’s what really counts, doesn’t it, the truth
-- rather than being perceived to have aged
gracefully, or to have developed a way of talking and
writing a professor of English would approve of? And
isn’t one of the things that’s wrong with this world
and this country the fact that even without our adding
to it, words are debased and used not so much to
enlighten as to prevent understanding, and meaning
sacrificed for the sake of appearance and form?
Posted at 06:26 am by dadogente
May 20, 2004
Torture at Abu Ghraib Followed CIA's Manual
Published on Friday, May 14, 2004 by the Boston Globe
Torture at Abu Ghraib Followed CIA's Manual
by Alfred W. McCoy
THE PHOTOS from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison are snapshots
not of simple brutality or a breakdown in discipline
but of CIA torture techniques that have metastasized
over the past 50 years like an undetected cancer
inside the US intelligence community. From 1950 to
1962, the CIA led secret research into coercion and
consciousness that reached a billion dollars at peak.
After experiments with hallucinogenic drugs, electric
shocks, and sensory deprivation, this CIA research
produced a new method of torture that was
psychological, not physical -- best described as "no
touch" torture.
The CIA's discovery of psychological torture was a
counterintuitive breakthrough -- indeed, the first
real revolution in this cruel science since the 17th
century. The old physical approach required
interrogators to inflict pain, usually by crude
beatings that often produced heightened resistance or
unreliable information. Under the CIA's new
psychological paradigm, however, interrogators used
two essential methods to achieve their goals.
In the first stage, interrogators employ the simple,
nonviolent techniques of hooding or sleep deprivation
to disorient the subject; sometimes sexual humiliation
is used as well.
Once the subject is disoriented, interrogators move on
to a second stage with simple, self-inflicted
discomfort such as standing for hours with arms
extended. In this phase, the idea is to make victims
feel responsible for their own pain and thus induce
them to alleviate it by capitulating to the
interrogator's power. In his statement on reforms at
Abu Ghraib last week, General Geoffrey Miller, former
chief of the Guantanamo detention center and now
prison commander in Iraq, offered an unwitting summary
of this two-phase torture. "We will no longer, in any
circumstances, hood any of the detainees," the general
said. "We will no longer use stress positions in any
of our interrogations. And we will no longer use
sleep deprivation in any of our interrogations."
Although seemingly less brutal, no-touch torture
leaves deep psychological scars. The victims often
need long treatment to recover from trauma far more
crippling than physical pain. The perpetrators can
suffer a dangerous expansion of ego, leading to
cruelty and lasting emotional problems.
After codification in the CIA's "Kubark
Counterintelligence Interrogation" manual in 1963, the
new method was disseminated globally to police in Asia
and Latin America through USAID's Office of Public
Safety. Following allegations of torture by USAID's
police trainees in Brazil, the US Senate closed down
the office in 1975.
After it was abolished, the agency continued to
disseminate its torture methods through the US Army's
Mobile Training Teams, which were active in Central
America during the 1980s. In 1997, the Baltimore Sun
published chilling extracts of the "Human Resource
Exploitation Training Manual" that had been
distributed to allied militaries for 20 years. In the
10 years between the last known use of these manuals
in the early 1990s and the arrest of Al Qaeda
suspects since September 2001, torture was maintained
as a US intelligence practice by delivering suspects
to foreign agencies, including the Philippine National
Police, who broke a bomb plot in 1995.
Once the war on terror started, however, the US use of
no-touch torture resumed, first surfacing at Bagram
Air Base near Kabul in early 2002, where Pentagon
investigators found two Afghans had died during
interrogation. In reports from Iraq, the methods are
strikingly similar to those detailed in the Kubark
manual.
Following the CIA's two-part technique, last September
General Miller instructed US military police at Abu
Ghraib to soften up high-priority detainees in the
initial disorientation phase for later "successful
interrogation and exploitation" by CIA and
military intelligence. As often happens in no-touch
torture sessions, this process soon moved beyond sleep
and sensory deprivation to sexual humiliation. The
question, in the second, still unexamined phase, is
whether US Army intelligence and CIA
operatives administered the prescribed mix of
interrogation and self-inflicted pain -- but outside
the frame of these photographs. If so, the soldiers
now facing courts-martial would have been following
standard interrogation procedure.
For more than 50 years, the CIA's no-touch methods
have become so widely accepted that US interrogators
seem unaware that they are, in fact, engaged in
systematic torture. But now, through these photographs
from Abu Ghraib, we can see the reality of these
techniques. We have a chance to join fully with the
international community in repudiating a practice
that, more than any other, represents a denial of
democracy.
(Alfred W. McCoy, professor of history at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the author of
"Closer Than Brothers," a study of the impact of
torture upon the Philippine armed forces.)
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company
Posted at 01:46 pm by dadogente
Apr 29, 2004
Prof. Bien Lumbera's Speech
ALING BAYAN ?
SINO ANG ANG NAGHIHINTAY SA IYONG HANDOG NA TALINO AT
TALENTO?
Ni Bienvenido Lumbera
Pananalita sa Pagtatapos ng Klase 2004 ng Kolehiyo ng Arte at
Literatura,
U.P.
24 Abril 2004
Abril 1954 nang magtapos ako sa Unibersidad ng Santo Tomas. Limampung
taon na ang nakararaan, at bilang graduate na pinaglaruan na ng
panahon,
gusto ko sanang angkinin ang karapatang magsalita bilang ako sa
okasyong
ito. "Talino at Talento: Handog sa Bayan" ang tema ng ating seremonya
ngayong hapon. Gusto kong baguhin ang anggulo ng tema. Gusto kong
gawing tanong ang anyo ng pamagat: "Aling Bayan? : Sino ang Naghihintay
sa Iyong Handog?" Hangad ko sanang itampok ang Bayan at ang tinig
nitong ipinaaabot sa mga estudyanteng KAL na lilisanin na ang Kolehiyo
ng
Arte at Literatura sa araw na ito.
Sa inyong pagbabasa ng diyaryo, panonood ng TV at pakikinig sa radyo,
bawat isa sa inyo ay minumulto na ng Bayang naghihintay sa inyong
lahat.
Ang Bayang iyan ay lipunang naghihikahos, halos walang tinig sa
pamamahala ng ating buhay, at wari'y walang kulturang agad
nagpapakilala
sa atin bilang nagsasariling bansa. Ito ba ang Bayang paghahandugan mo
ng talino at talento?
Nang magtapos kami ng mga kaklase ko noong 1954, inakala naming
maaliwalas
ang tanawing aming sasapitin. Sampung taon nang tapos ang digmaang
naglugmok sa Bayan sa paghihikahos at ang mga guho ng digma ay
napapalitan na ng mga buong gusali. At ang karahasan at kriminalidad
na
ibinunga sa kanayunan ng rebelyong Hukbalahap ay waring pinayapa na
ng
panunungkulan ni Ramon Magsaysay bilang Defense Secretary. Sa ibang
panahon na namin matutuklasan na kami pala ay piniringan ng edukasyon
at
ng midya kaya't hindi namin namalayan na may ginagawa palang
pagmamaniobra ang CIA sa pamamalakad ng gobyernong diumano ay
nagsasarili
na. Akalang itinanim sa aming kamalayan na sumusulong na ang Filipinas
sa pagiging pangunahing bansa, kung hindi man sa buong Asia, ay sa
Timog-Silangang Asia man lamang.
Mga anak kami ng panahon ng "special relations" ng Filipinas at
Estados
Unidos, at ang Fulbright Exchange Program ay tanggap ng mga edukadong
Filipino bilang katibayan ng mga biyaya ng palitan ng kultura ng
dalawang
bayan. Sa pamamagitan ng Fulbright Program, libo-libong nakapagtapos
ng
kolehiyo ang nag-ambisyong makarating sa Estados Unidos at doon
nagkamit
ng titulong gradwado at ng tatak na "State-side."
Sa madaling sabi, walang agam-agam naming pinasok ang Bayang
naghihintay
sa paglilingkod ng mga bagong intelektuwal. Aywan kung mapalad nga ang
aming graduating class dahil sa aming kawalang-muwang kung itatabi sa
klase ninyong mulat ang mata sa mga katiwalian sa ating lipunan. Sa
ano't anuman, nakabungad kayo sa Bayang kulang sa maraming bagay,
lalong-lalo na sa katiwasayang dulot ng maunlad na ekonomiya at maayos
na
demokrasya. Ano kaya ang sinasabi sa inyo ng Bayang iyan? Ano ang
kaanyuan ng hinihinging handog sa inyo?
Sa Bibliya, sa librong Henesis, may taong hiningan ng Diyos ng handog,
at
ngayon sa ating panahon, ang kanyang halimbawa ang mapagkukunan natin
ng
pahiwatig kung paano dapat harapin ang hamon ng lipunang inyong
papasukin.
Ang taong iyon ay si Abraham na inatasan ng Diyos na ihandog bilang
sakripisyo ang kaisa-isang anak na si Isaac. Walang sinasabi ang Banal
na Kasulatan tungkol sa niloloob ni Abraham habang paakyat siya sa
bundok
ng pag-aalay kasama ang kanyang bunso. Ang tanging isinalaysay ay ang
kanyang pagtalima sa di-mababaling atas ni Yahweh. Ano ang ipinamalas
ng
halimbawa ni Abraham? Una, pagkilala sa kahalagahan ng
pagsasakripisyo;
ikalawa, tibay ng loob na isakatuparan ang hinihinging sakripisyo; at
ikatlo, ang walang pasubaling pag-alinsunod sa atas na isagawa ang
sakripisyo. Tunay na kahindik-hindik ang halimbawa ni Abraham at hindi
naman kailangang pantayan ng KAL graduate ang taas ng antas ng
pagsasakripisyo ni Abraham.
Sa ating panahon at sa ating bansa mismo, may tatlong kabataan sa aklat
na
pinamatnugutan ni Asuncion David Maramba na nagpamalas ng kabayanihang
pambihira ngunit kayang abutin ng karaniwang kabataan. Sa Six Young
Filipino Martyrs (Anvil,1997), tinipon ni Maramba ang talambuhay ng
anim
na kabataang itinuring niyang martir ng paglilingkod sa bayan. Ang
nais
kong tukuyin ay isang doctor na buong giting na ginamit ang kanyang
talino at talento upang mabigyang lunas ang mga dukhang kababayan sa
kanayunan ng Samar. Ang isa naman ay babaeng naging organisador ng
kababaihang sa panahong itayo niya ang organisasyong Makibaka ay walang
sariling tinig gayong sinasabing katuwang sila ng kalalakihan sa
pagsunong sa kalangitan. At ang ikatlo ay isang makata na kung
saan-saang landas napaligaw sa paghahanap ng kanyang pagkatao hanggang
marating niya ang kabundukan bilang mandirigma para sa mga kababayang
magsasaka. Bawat isa sa kanila ay iminulat sa kalagayan ng Bayan nang
sila ay abutan ng Unang Sigwa ng 1970 sa mga kolehiyong kanilang
pinaag-aaralan. Dahil ang graduating class na ito ay sa UP
nagtatapos,
natitiyak kong alam ninyo na ang tinatawag na "sigwa" ay ang malawakang
pagkilos ng mga kabataang nanawagan at kumilos para sa radikal na
pagbabago ng lipunang Filipino noong 1970. Dinala ng Unang Sigwa ang
mga
kabataan sa mga kalye, plasa at baryo ng Kamaynilaan sa kanilang
pagpapalaganap ng ideolohiya ng Pambansa Demokrasya.
Ang bakas ng Unang Sigwa ay naiwan kahit sa kamalayan ng mga kabataang
Filipinong hindi naging bahagi ng pagkilos noong 1970, at nang sumunod
na
mga buwan na lamang napasanib sa makabayang kilusan. Ang bakas na iyan
ay nalimbag sa imahinasyon ng panahon sa pamamagitan ng mga tula,
kuwento, awitin at pagtatanghal na madamdaming naglarawan sa api at
pinagsasamantalahan sa lipunan, at magiit na nag-udyok na lumahok ang
mga
mamamayan sa pagtatatag ng kaayusang may tunay na paglaya at
demokrasya.
Kung may Yahweh na nag-atas sa mga bagong Abraham na mag-alay ng
sinunog
na handog sa ikaluluwalhati ng Bayan, iyan ay ang panawagan ng Unang
Sigwa na paglingkuran ang sambayanan na binubuo ng mga manggagawa,
magsasaka at ang iba pang pinakaaba sa lipunan.
Si Dr. Remberto de la Paz, taga-Maynila, ay piniling sa kanayunan
magdoktor dahil doon niya nakita ang pangangailangan para sa isang
manggagamot na handang manggamot nang hindi naniningil. Ang pagpili
niya
sa Catbalogan, Samar, ay kanyang sariling pagsalungat sa
pangingibang-bayan ng maraming kabataang doctor na kapanahon niya.
Isang awit ang inialay sa kanya ng makata at mang-aawit na si Jess
Santiago. Sa awit, isinanib ni Santiago ang boses ni Bobby de la Paz
sa
kanyang tinig: "Bakit ka aalis, bakit ka lilisan/Di mo ba naririnig ang
daing ng bayan? /Kay dami ng maysakit na di nalulunasan, / Bakit
ipagkakait ang iyong kaalaman?" Narito sa mga salita ng
makata-mang-aawit ang sumbat ni Bobby sa mga kapwa doctor na natitiis
magsawalang-kibo sa harap ng laganap na kahirapan ng mga Filipino sa
kanayunan.
Para kay Lorena Barros ang handog na hinihingi ng Bayan ay ang paglaya,
at
dito ay kanyang pinagtuunan ng pagsisikap ang pag-oorganisa ng
kababaihan sa lilim ng Makibaka na siya ang tagapangulong tagapagtatag.
Sa kabila ng mga pasubali ng mga kasama sa kilusan, iginiit niya na may
naiibang pangangailangan ang mga babae na hindi kayang pangalagaan ng
organisasyong kinabibilangan magkasamang babae at lalaki.. Ang panahon
at pisikal na lakas ay ginugol ni Lorena sa pag-oorganisa bagamat
ang
tunay niyang mithiin ay humabi ng mga tula. Iilan lamang ang naisulat
niyang tula sapagkat inuna niyang tugonin ang pangangailangan ng
sektor
na kanyang pinaglilingkuran. Nang siya ay mapatay ng mga sundalo ni
Diktador Marcos, isa na siyang pulang mandirigma na itinalaga ang buhay
sa pagpapalaya ng sambayanan. Sa mga taludtod ng kanyang tulang papuri
sa kabayanihan ng mga kasamang maagang nalagas sa pakikibaka, wari'y
tinutulaan niya ang kanyang sariling sakripisyo bilang buko ng
bulaklak
na hindi nabigyan ng pagkakataong makabukad. Anya: "How like this pure
white bud/are our martyrs, fiercely fragrant with love/ for our country
and people!/ with what radiance they should still have unfolded."
Isa pang makata ang tumugon sa mala-dios na atas ng pangangailangan ng
Bayan, makatang sa simula'y naakit ng kulturang "Amboy"nang siya ay
manirahan at mag-aral sa E.U. bilang iskolar ng gobyernong Amerikano.
Tinagurian siyang "Rimbaud" ng Filipinas dahil sa kanyang masidhing
pagsisikap na lasapin ang sarap ng pagiging "hippie" sa mga taon ng
paglaganap ng mga kaisipan ng Unang Sigwa. Sinubok niya ang mga
drogang
panggalugad ng imahinasyon, naging isang ispiritwal na lagalag sa
paghahanap ng kanyang identidad bilang indibidwal. Sa mga huling taon
ng
maikli niyang buhay natuklasan niya ang landas ng paglilingkod sa mga
kababayang isinadlak ng makapangyarihan sa laylayan ng lipunan sa
kanayunan. Ang mahabang pagkaligaw ni Emannuel Lacaba ay nagdala sa
kanya sa gubat at kabundukan. At doon niya nakamtan ang kanyang
hinanap
kung saan-saan. Ayon sa kanya, "The road less travelled by we've taken
-- /And that has made all the difference: / The barefoot army of the
wilderness/ We all should be in time, Awakened, the masses are
Messiah./
Here among workers and peasants our lost/ Generation has found its
true,
its only home."
Sa halimbawa ng tatlong martir ni Maramba, sinasagot ang tanong sa
bukana
ng aking pananalita. Aling bayan? Ang mga Filipinong pinagkaitan ng
kasalukuyang kaayusan sa ekonomiya at politika, silang walang tinig at
ayaw kilalanin ng mga lider na humahawak ng kapangyarihan sa lipunan.
Tulad ni Yahweh hinihingi ng Bayang iyan ang inyong kahandaang
maghandog
ng talino at talento para sa mga abang pinabayaan. Hindi iisa ang
tugong
hinihingi sa inyo, maraming iba-ibang sakripisyo ang pwedeng ialay, at
maraming landas patungo sa altar na paglalagakan ng handog. Marahil
ang
isang kahingiang dapat tugunin ng bawat isa ay ang kahingiang
hubarin ang dating sarili upang pagbuksan ang personal na
transpormasyon
ng mag-aalay ng talino at talento. Ang paghuhubad na iyan ay itinulad
ni
Eman sa pagtatapas ng magsasaka sa niyog:
Like husks of coconuts he tears away
The billion layers of his selfishness.
Or learns to cage his longing like the bird
Of legend, fire, and song within his chest.
May binabaklas at may isinusuko. Sa ganyan nagiging karapatdapat ang
handog.
Maraming Salamat at Mabuhay kayo!
Posted at 09:27 am by dadogente
Apr 28, 2004
Smudge Campaign Laban sa Progressive Party Lists Orgs
Si Rep. Satur Ocampo sa kumbensyon ng Bayan Muna-Las Pinas.
Ang pinagdausang covered court na ay isa sa
maraming proyekto ng Bayan Muna Partylist na mula sa kanilang CDF.
Nasaan ang mga NPA?(maliban na lang na dito sila nagbabasketball)
Nuknukan ng Kagaguhan! Yan si Norberto Gonzales ang National Security Adviser ni GMA.
Nitong mga nakaraang Linggo ang mga progresibong partylist ay pinagbintangan ni Gonzalez na mga front organizations ng CPP. At ang Bayan Muna-ang nakakuha ng pinakamataas na boto sa 2001 eleksyon at nangunguna din sa surveys sa partylist system, ay nirerechannel ang CDF o countrywide devt fund para tulungan ang NPA. At dahil dito dapat lang daw idisqualify ang mga partylist na ito.
Bakit kamo nuknukan ng kagaguhan si Gonzales?
Una, Ang Communist Party of the Philippines ay matagal ng ligal. Simula ng ibinasura ng gobyerno
ang Anti-Subversion Law(sa panahon ni Ramos) ay otomatiko na rin nitong isinaligal ang CPP. Ang dahilan, gusto ng gubyerno na ibaba na ang armas ng NPA(o itigil na ang armed struggle), at lumahok na lang sa eleksyon at iba pang "ligal" na paraan para "mabago ang lipunan".
Panagalawa, mayroong sangay ng gobyerno na nago audit ng pondo ng mga congressman(kasama ang Bayan Muna reps) at hindi muna sya nag aksaya ng panahon para tingnan ko saan nga ba napupunta ang pondo ng BM. Mismong BM na ang naghahamon nito.
Pangatlo, karamihan ng mga proyekto ng BM ay sa mga liblib na pook sa kanayunan, mga lugar na kitang-kita ang kapabayaan at pagwawalang bahala ng gobyerno- ito ang priority na pagsilbihan ng BM. At karamihan dito ay mga patubig, kalsada patungo sa nayon o syudad, schools, multi-purpose halls. Mapapkinabangan ng buong mamamayan, hindi gaya ng mga paintings na binili mula sa pondo ng GSIS na ngayoy nagkakalugi na.
Pangapat, ang Party list system ay nilikha sa panahong naibalik na daw ang "demokrasya" sa pilipinas- noong edsa 1986. At para di na muling magalsa ang mamamayan, kailangan daw kalahok na ito sa gobyerno. pwede na daw magkaroon ng mga representante o tinig ang mga marginalized sector. Sa ginawa kaya ni Norberto Gonzales ay nakapanghihimok ito na makilahok at makapanumbalik sa tiwala ng mamamayan sa obvious na bulok na gobyerno?
Ang mga grupong inakusahan nya ng fronts ng CPP-NPA ay mas dapat pa ngang pasalamatan, dahil sa kabila ng pagiging mapagsamantala at mapangapi ng gobyerno at ang eleksyon ay isa lamang moro-moro, sila ay nagbabakasakaling may maliit na puwang para sa pagbabago.
Posted at 12:16 pm by dadogente
Apr 15, 2004
sino nga bang magandang iboto?
To start with its good to have an overview of our right of suffrage and the state that "gave" this right.
I will focus on its essence and the hidden reason for this right.
Ang pagkakaroon ng estado ay epekto ng dalawang magkatunggaling uri (classes) at ang lahat ng activities ng state are all but simple manifestation of this class struggle. The reason for the emergence of the state is to maintain the power or hegemony of a class to another class. The state first came into existence when society first created classes, itoy sa Master and Slave society. Ang M/S society ay ang ikalawang bahagdan sa history ng sangkatauhan(ang una ay ang Primitve Communal Society-ditoy wala pang mga uri). Sa M/S society ang pangunahing mga uri ay of course teh Masters and the slaves. To protect their ownership and dominance, the masters have to create the state and other branches/aspects of it. Pakete ang estado, nde mo maihihiwalay ito una sa armed compononent (in the case of the phils. AFP,PNP,CAFGU AND RELIGOUS CULTS LIKE TADTAD) nya, pangalawa ang mga diff branches of repression(jails, courts, ELECTION etc) and deception(school, religion etc.)
So nang lumaon, from slave society naging feudal society and now capitlist society, ay "umunlad ng umunlad ang state". This are in terms of cleverness in presenting and decieving the classes. Using sweet terms like freedom and democracy, the power over their future or in our case today teh pwer to choose who we want to vote or give the power to.
In reality we have no choice, iisa lang ang kulay nila. ano nga ba ang pagkakaiba nila Aguinaldo at Gloria? di bat pareho silang tuta ng mga dayuhan, sunud-sunuran sa mga dikta nila? Si Aguinaldo ay pinatapon sa kung saang bansa at muling sinundo para makipagtulungan sa bagong mananakop na mga puti(take note may bayad sa kanya) para pasukuin ang mga katipuneros na patuloy ang paglaban(mula sa panahon ng kastila hanggang panahon ng Kano).
So again, the essence of the existence of the state is to put the dominance of one class to another, Politicians came from one class, in the case of the Phils, the Landlord class(abnormally, their still here though Feudalism is the thing of the past) lead by teh Cojuancos, aquinos, lobregats, sorianos and Bourgiesie (here Bureaucrat Capitalist, we have petty-bourgiesie and nat'l bourgiesie)
Lead by the Ayalas, Lopezes, Tantongcos, Tan, Sys etc. And naturally they have their represtntives or they themselves run for a Govt Seat. The political parties are their parties. The Lakas are for the Aquinos, Ramos, Arroyos(for now) NPC is formed or owned danding Cojuanco.
So to summarize, the right of suffrage and ergo the election will not bring about change and doesnt show democracy. For the existence of teh State is contradictory to the essecne of Democracy. The Majority is not being followed, the workers(15%) and teh peasantry (75%), in fact are being repressed and oppressed. It will not uplift our lives.
Medyo napahaba na, back to our Title, Cno ang magandang iboto.
Ang magandang iboto, of course ay yung LESSER EVIL. At sino ang Lesser Evil sa presidentiables?
i made a list.
ARROYO-- IS NOT A LESSER EVIL, SHES THE MOST WICKED OF THEM ALL!! I WILL NOT VOTE HER, AND SA mga nagbabasa PLEASE DONT VOTE GMA AND THE WHOLE TICKET UNDER K-4(or is k9 better? mga tuta kasi) Dong kahit maliit ito! major pain ito. Sa mga progressives ay 39 lang naman ang pinapatay at ang responsable sa krimen na ito ay prinomote na brig.Gen, si Col. Jovito Palparan ng 204th Brigade na nakabase sa isla ng Mindoro. Again dont vote GMA!!! IF you need more info on why i dont want GMA, dont worry ill post it here. PWEDE CYA MAGING PATUNGAN NG PAA.
FPJ--- magugulat kayo(or ikaw lang, oo dahil ikaw lang magisa ang nagta tyaga sa pagbasa nito. or make it the 2 of us, friend.) i know, kasi hes considered a lesser evil. Given the fact that hes a newcomer would support that. I know that you will rebutt that hes a friend of Erap, but FPJ AND ERAP are 2 diff animals! erap entered politics as early as 1970. remember he was the mayor of San Juan.a Senator, vice president until his fall from malacanang. and logically when youre a veteran in politics you will create alot of "contacts" not just in politics but also in Business, be it legal or not. PWEDE CYANG MAGING PREZ.
LACSON---HES SECOND TO GMA. ALOT OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS DURING AND AFTER MARTIAL LAW. MARAMI ITONG KINURYENTENG ITLOG, UTONG, SINGIT AT BURAT MAKING HIM THE ELECTRIFYING TF KING! At hinde lang yan Druglord king din. Pls Dont vote PING! PANGLAN NA LANG NAKAMAMATAY NA! PWEDE CYANG MAGING PATABA SA LUPA GAYA NG MGA PINAPATAY NYA, DIRECTLY AT INDIRECTLY(dahil sa mga sinira ng drugs na pinapakalat nya)
ROCO-- HES A LESSER EVIL ABSOLUTELY. Pero kung hindi ka bingi at mejo iritable ka sa maiingay at naninigaw wag mong iboto ito. Kung titingnan ang record nito medyo maganda, kaya medyo ay dahil kasama yan ni Gloria na bumoto at nag approve ng pagsali sa WTO AT iba pang usapin sa Globalization. Pero medyo nagpoposturang anti-Globalization dahil sa matiniding pagtutol ng tao dito. BTW, WALA na namang nangyari sa ministerial meeting ng wto. gusto sanan ng us at iba pang imperialist na may buksan ang ekonomya ng mga mahihirap na bansa. sorry na lang sila. May tsismis na mag baback out na daw cya dahil wala ng pera sa kampanya, maaaring totoo. PWEDE CYANG MAGING PREZ.
BRO. EDDIE VILLANUEVA--- HES ALSO A LESSER EVIL, ACTUALLY KALABAN NG EVIL ITO. DAting Aktibista si Brother or make it Kasama or ex- comrade na lang. Naging chair ng Kabataang Makabayan(KM) sa Bulacan. Naging ka collective si Idol na idol na Joma. Pero dahil galing sya sa uring Panginoong Maylupa, nde nag tagal ang kanyang pananalig sa pambansang-demokratikong kilusan. At ngayon ngay leader ng JESUS IS LORD na minsan ay naging myembro din ako dahil sa kapapanood ko ng Shaider at Bioman. Tinawag daw cya ng Dios para tumakbo(reminds mo of Benevolent Assimilation), pero sabi din nya galit daw cya kay Gloria dahil walng isang salita. Sa mga Atheist di ko ikakampanya. pero sa mga Christian di na kailangan. PWEDE DING CYANG PREZ.
EDDIE GIL--- Mayaman daw cya at kaya daw nyang bayaran ang utang ng Pilipinas. ito daw ang kanyang unang gagawin. Sana ang una nyang gawin ay matulog para naman bumalik sya sa sarili nyang katinuan, kung meron man. Nde ko alam kung parating sabog o gutom lang. Kung ikaw ay malungkutin iboto mo ito. Ako? wala nman pinagiba cla GMA, ERAP, LACSON AT IBAPANG PRESIDENTIABLE AT POLITIKO KAY EDDIE GIL. Lahat naman cla ay nakaktawa, may iba ibang degree nga lang. Itong si Panot ay Bentong comedy, ang mga "nakapagaral" Charlie Chaplin style, tahimik pero Slapstick! PWEDE CYANG MAGING KAPALIT NI BENTONG!
Posted at 12:54 pm by dadogente
Jan 19, 2004
Matagal nang hindi nasundan ng article o kung anuman ang blog na ito. And to be honest, i planned to just forget about this.
Pero matindi ang tawag ng pagsulat(o pagorganisa o simpleng paglabas ng mga galit o hinanakit sa bulok na sistema) kaya eto ako, pinipilit na magbalik.
Maganda nga ang The Passion of the Christ ni Mel Gibson, kaya ang epekto ang pasko ng pagkabuhay ng Freehands.
Posted at 02:12 pm by dadogente
Sep 1, 2003
Is the Philippine government bombing its own people for dollars?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4733855,00.html
Stark message of the mutiny
Is the Philippine government bombing its own people for dollars?
Naomi Klein
Friday August 15, 2003
The Guardian
What does it take to become a major news story in the summer of Arnie and Kobe, Ben and Jen? A lot, as a group of young Philippine soldiers discovered recently. On July 27, 300 soldiers rigged a giant Manila shopping mall with C-4 explosives, accused one of Washington's closest allies of blowing up its own buildings to attract US military dollars - and still barely managed to make the international news.
That's our loss, because in the wake of the Marriott bombing in Jakarta and newly leaked intelligence reports claiming that the September 11 attacks were hatched in Manila, it looks like south-east Asia is about to become the next major front in Washington's war on terror.
The Philippines and Indonesia may have missed the cut for the axis of evil, but the two countries do offer Washington something Iran and North Korea do not: US-friendly governments willing to help the Pentagon secure an easy win. Both the Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri have embraced Bush's crusade as the perfect cover for their brutal cleansing of separatist movements from resource-rich regions - Mindanao in the Philippines, Aceh in Indonesia.
The Philippine government has already reaped a bonanza from its status as Washington's favoured terror-fighting ally in Asia. US military aid increased from $2m (£1.25m) in 2001 to $80m a year, while US soldiers and special forces flooded into Mindanao to launch offensives against Abu Sayyaf, a group the White House claims has links to al-Qaida.
This went on until mid-February, when the US-Philippine alliance suffered a major setback. On the eve of a new joint military operation involving more than 3,000 US soldiers, a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters that US troops in the Philippines would "actively participate" in combat - a deviation from the Arroyo administration's line that the soldiers were only conducting training.
The difference is significant. A clause in the Philippine constitution bans combat by foreign soldiers on its soil, a safeguard against a return of the sprawling US military bases that were banished from the Philippines in 1992. The public outcry against the February announcement was so strong that the entire operation had to be called off and future joint operations suspended.
In the six months since, while all eyes have been on Iraq, there has been a leap in terrorist bombings in Mindanao. Now, post-mutiny, the question is: who was responsible for these? The government blames the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The mutinous soldiers point the finger back at the military and the government, saying that by inflating the terrorist threat, they are rebuilding the justification for more US aid and intervention.
The soldiers claim that:
· Senior military officials, in collusion with the Arroyo regime, carried out last March's bombing of the airport in the southern city of Davao, as well as several other attacks. Thirty-eight people were killed in the bombings. The leader of the mutiny, Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes, claims to have "hundreds" of witnesses who can testify to the plot.
· The army has fuelled terrorism in Mindanao by selling weapons and ammunition to the very rebel forces the young soldiers were sent to fight.
· Members of the military and police helped prisoners convicted of terrorist crimes escape from jail. The "final validation", according to Trillanes, was Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi's July 14 escape from a heavily guarded Manila prison. Al-Ghozi is a notorious bomb-maker with Jemaah Islamiah, which was linked to both the Bali and Marriott attacks.
· The government was on the verge of staging a new string of bombings to justify declaring martial law.
Arroyo denies the allegations and accuses the soldiers of being pawns of her unscrupulous political opponents. The mutineers insist they were not trying to seize power but only wanted to expose a top-level conspiracy. When Arroyo promised to launch a full investigation into the allegations, the mutiny ended without violence.
Though the soldiers' tactics were widely condemned in the Philippines, there was widespread recognition in the press, and even inside the military, that their claims were "valid and legitimate", as retired navy captain Danilo Vizmanos put it to me.
Local newspaper reports described the army's selling of weapons to rebels as "an open secret" and "common knowledge". General Narciso Abaya, the chief of staff of the Philippine armed forces, conceded that there is "graft and corruption at all levels". And the police have admitted that al-Ghozi couldn't have escaped from his cell without help from someone on the inside. Most significant, Victor Corpus, the chief of army intelligence, resigned, though he denies any role in the Davao bombings.
Besides, the soldiers were not the first to accuse the Philippine government of bombing its own people. Days before the mutiny, a coalition of church groups, lawyers and NGOs launched a "fact-finding mission" to investigate persistent rumours that the state was involved in the Davao explosions. It is also investigating the possible involvement of US intelligence agencies.
These suspicions stem from a bizarre incident on May 16 2002, in Davao. Michael Meiring, a US citizen, allegedly detonated explosives in his hotel room, injuring himself badly. While recovering in hospital, Meiring was whisked away by two men - who witnesses say identified themselves as FBI agents - and flown to the US. Local officials have demanded that Meiring return to face charges, to little effect. BusinessWorld, a leading Philippine newspaper, has published articles openly accusing Meiring of being a CIA agent involved in covert operations "to justify the stationing of American troops and bases in Mindanao".
Yet the Meiring affair has never been reported in the US press. And the mutinous soldiers' incredible allegations were no more than a one-day story. Maybe it just seemed too outlandish: an out-of-control government fanning the flames of terrorism to pump up its military budget, hold on to power and violate civil liberties. Why would Americans be interested in something like that?
· A version of this article appears in the Nation. Naomi Klein's most recent book is Fences and Windows
www.nologo.org
Posted at 02:00 am by dadogente
Aug 21, 2003
Sayaw sa Bubog
-The Jerks-
Buwan ng Pebrero
Buwan ng pagbabago
Anong klaseng pagbabago
Ano sa palagay mo?
Bumaha ng pangako
Lason ay isinubo
Tuloy sa pagkakapako
May utang pati apo
Kasinungalingan, isang kahangalan
Walang libereng kalayaan
Ito'y pinagbabayaran
Palabas na moro-moro
Ito kaya ay totoo?
EDSA ng pagbabago
Saan, kailan, kanino?
Sayaw, sayaw, sayaw sa bubog
Ang naglalakad ng tulog
Tiyak na mauumpog
Tuloy ang ligaya
Sa iba't ibang hacienda
Manggagawa't magsasaka
Kumakalam ang sikmura
Sari-saring kaguluhan
Nakawan, karahasan
Kailan n'yo titigilan
Ang mga mamamayan
Buwan ng Pebrero, buwan
Ng pagbabago saan, kailan, kanino?
Posted at 01:06 am by dadogente
Aug 20, 2003
Buksan ang iyong Puso
-Buklod-
Capo V
G D Em Bm7
Ano kayang bukas ang darating
C G
sa bayang may pasakit
A9 D
pagkat biyayay ipinagkait
G D Em Bm7
Kayrami nang batang nagigising lamang
C G
sa maagang pagpanaw ng
A9 D
pag-asa o buhay
C Bm7
Buksan ang iyong puso
Am7 G
Huwag ka nang magsawalang kibo
C Bm7
Pagluhay di sapat
Am7 G
ang kailangan ay pagganap
Am7 Bm7
Ibahagi ang panahon sa
C D G
pagtugis ng nilalayon
Damhin mo ang hapdi at pait ng kahirapan
na ngayoy nararanasan
ng iyong mamamayan
Ilang na bang musmos ang sinawi ng dalita
Ilan na bang mga bayani ang nag-alay ng buhay
Kailan mo pakikinggan
Ang tawag ng bayan
Ngayon na ang panahon
Ang pagkilos moy kailangan
Nagpipiglas ang damdamin
Maayang bukas ay yakapin
Posted at 01:55 am by dadogente
Aug 19, 2003
Patuloy ang pananalasa ng rehimeng Gloria-macapagal arroyo. Nitong nakaraang byernes bagong biktima nya ang hanay ng media practitioners. Patunay ito ng kabalintunaan ng kanyang progpaganda ng kalayaan at demokrasya sa lipunan.
Si Tina Panganiban-Perez, isang reporter ng GMA 7 ay inakusahan ng pangulo na sumusuporta sa rebelyon. Ang basehan(!): ang paginterview kay Sen. Honasan.
Nagsimulang magdadakdak ang head of state sa isang public ocassion sa Oriental Mindoro. "kinausap" nya ang reporter habang nagdidinner at sinabing ang paginterview nya kay Honasan (na sinasanbi ng malacanang na utak ng mutiny) ay nasa panahon ng state of rebellion, kaya ito ay pagsuporta sa rebelyon. Pero sumalungat ang reporter at sinabing Aug.12 ang interview, the day after the state of rebellion was lifted. Pero sumingit agad ang pangulo, "no!, it was during and thats abetting rebellion." Natural na tugon na ito ang trabaho ng mga reporter, maginterview, magreport at pumunta sa mga personahe o lugar ng balita. Sarcastic answer na "really?" ang hindi natural na tugon ng isang pangulo.
Si Tina Panganiban-Perez ay ang unang reporter na nakapag interview sa Sen. nang sya ay magtago.
Ang insidente ay malinaw na pagalipusta sa karapatan sa pamamahayag at karapatan sa katotohanan. Tila hindi pa ito sapat para sa rehimen kaya under surveillance ngayon ang mga mediamen na ayon sa malacanang ay mga spy ng "enemies of the state".
Kapraningan ang ipinakita ng pangulo. Di hamak na mas katanggap-tanggap pa ang isang lasing, may katwiran at risonable na kausap. Siguro lasing din si Gloria... sa alak ng kapangyarihan. Darating na lang ang araw na gigising sya kasama ang mga kagaya nyang nalasing at isinuka na ng kasaysayan.
Posted at 06:57 am by dadogente
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