When Rey Teves, my partner was alive, we used to entertain a lot of our friends and colleagues witha duet of songs of the 60’s. Even up to the time just before his demise in November of 2009, we performed impromptu mini-concerts whenever we have small gatherings. Our repertoire contained the songs of Elvis Presley, our idol – Everly Brothers, Cliff Richard and others. According to some friends from the Student Catholic Action (SCA) days, they have heard our songs maybe a million times. Ok, so this is an exaggeration, but at least – a few thousand times – to be safe.

Status of Philippine Stab at Diplomacy

Since we started calling our fishing grounds in the West Philippine Sea as ‘PANATAG SHOALS’ and China naming it ‘HUANYANG ISLAND’ – our relationship with China began to be defined in an altogether different terms.

Centuries have passed and we never had this problem. Until possible oil fields can be extracted underneath.With China’s voracious appetite for ‘black gold’ to fuel its economy, trouble began.

On January 2013, the legal battle was ignited as the Philippines filed legal claims to U.N. Convention Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to invalidate the “Nine-dash” line of China. The complaint was rejected by the latter for they do not adhere to the policies of UNCLOS. . China is of course flexing its muscles and wants to show to the world big time that history and indeed the whole of the Pacific is hers for the taking!

China wants one-on-one talk with the Philippines. We want a multilateral one.

Where things stand now

1. A bully of a country decided to ease a weakling from the playground – as it were.
2. We have initiated talks with neighboring countries that has likewise been bullied by China; Vietnam for one.
3. We decided to come up with another agreement with the US - ‘EDCA’ – The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. Outgoing AFP Chief General Emmanuel Bautista minced no words: “EDCA is a creative way for the Philippine Government to improve deterrence and face challenges to national security with the help of an ally, the United States...” In short, we sought out a much ‘bigger bully’ to be on our side. However, EDCA’s constitutionality remains questionable.
4. Meantime China increased military presence by putting up several structures and reportedly preparing to put up an air strip.
5. The Philippines show bluster by grounding an old unusable warship at the Ayongin Shoal since 1999, the BRP Sierra Madre, now using it to house our troops – supplying it recently with Jollibee and KFC.

Considerations as China is concerned

1. China obviously believes in ‘Might is Right’ while the Philippines sticks to the Arthurian principle embodied in Knights of the Round Table ‘Right is Might’.
2. China can impact negatively on our economy as she showed several years back when she banned our banana, pineapples and other agricultural exports.
3. China can suspend their tourist from coming to the Philippines as shown after the botched Rizal Park hostage rescue. This also showed how incompetent are uniformed personnel are.
4. It has a 1.4million standing army with modern equipment.

What do we have

1. We have God on our side since we are predominantly a Catholic Country; and Allah is on our side too for the 10% of our Muslim brothers.
2. We have 120,000 thousand soldiers for a ratio of only 1:12. Kayang-Kaya yan plus we have ‘anting-antings’. These are the bravest and courageous soldiers in the world – except we value and honor our defeats (Bataan march, etc) than our victories.
3. We have the WWII vintage BRP Gregorio del Pilar Warship and Vietnam war antiques, but Filipinos are good at repairs.
4. We have the best Coast Guards in the world – in fact 3 of them climbed Mount Everest (although we can’t count on how this will impact on Chinese fishermen raids).
5. Now presumably, we have the Americans ‘on our side’. But the problem with recruiting a bully to our side fighting another bully is – what if both agree that for their mutual economic benefits, they don’t need the Philippines after all.

Possible solutions

1. Let’s start a movement for the Philippines to be the 51st State of the USA. Thus we truly can be part of America.
2. Or, we just simply declare war against China.

The problem is – what if we win?

(Readers of this Blog are encourage to present solutions)

Have you come across a new and exotic word lately? You have just encountered one. ‘Semenekaki’ has host of meanings depending upon the disposition of the user at a particular point – and the gravity of the topic or situation being confronted.

It is incumbent upon us to push for the immediate passage of the Political Party Development Bill if we are to have truly honest, free and credible elections next year.

The political party system in the Philippines remains weak and personality-oriented rather than based on ideology, program and platform. These parties are vital to strengthening Philippine democracy as they sustain popular support and build political constituencies for their party platforms and programs of governance.

Political parties play a crucial role in instituting and implementing policies to address the long-term needs of the people. Lastly, there is a need to strengthen the political party system in the country if we are to achieve genuine development and democratization.

The current Senate and House of Representatives versions of the Political Party Development Bill should be amended; and pertinent provisions, harmonized:

• Adopt the term “national political party” instead of all references to political

parties;

• Support a strong provision prohibiting Political Turncoatism with penalties;

• Support the creation of a campaign finance department at the Commission

on Elections (COMELEC);

• Impose stricter and well-defined standards and parameters for the

registration of political parties;

• Allocate a major share of state support fund for political party development

• Adopt an effective system for reasonable measures of allowable political

party campaign contributions and expenditures together with strong penalties on violations.

The development of interparty discussion mechanisms would promote wider space for democratic political participation and advance broad and meaningful citizen participation. It would also support intraparty democracy and strengthen party linkages.

The passage of this Political Party Reform Bill will change the way politics is being done in the country since it aims to strengthen the political parties by promoting party loyalty and by getting rid of patrons.

We mentioned in an earlier blog that members of political parties in the Philippines do not pay dues and do not have a real stake in them. These parties are funded by self-proclaimed candidates, party big-wigs and oligarchs. To understand why this system exists, one must seek for what is missing in what is - for such a long time -- existing.

The reality in the local political landscape is that political parties are only active during election season. Off-season, they tend to “hibernate.”

Ideally though, political parties ought to have activities throughout the year. In-between campaign periods, representatives must conduct continuous dialogue with the people and the institutions that govern them.

Political parties are key actors in a democracy. They serve as a linking and leading mechanism in politics being a means of mobilization of the masses as well as the socialization of leaders. They also function as a source of political identity - next to religion, political parties should be how citizens are identified or the point of reference. Furthermore, political parties are a channel of control. Without political parties, citizens are not represented in governing institutions, cannot control power and participate in decision-making. Thus – in the long term -- they cannot prevent the abuse of power.

Political parties are the backbone of democracy in modern societies. They are organizations that aggregate the interests and resources behind policies. They gain power and authority by engaging in elections.

If political parties would only function according to what they were meant for, then all the citizens of this country stand to truly benefit from them.

What are they for, anyway?

Political parties are supposed to be the channels of communication between policy-makers and citizens. They should also take an active role in informing and educating the country’s citizens about politics so they could make informed choices. They should have a fair, democratic and reasonable process of selecting candidates for different public positions.

Political parties are crucial in turning the tide of public opinion, in the creation of laws and in public administration at all levels. They offer the population their plans to implement these changes.

A party must write a unique platform or vision of governance with a set of principles and strategies. This vision defines the ideological identity of that party; and members are expected to go by these principles and strategies as political parties offer the direction of government. Voters must be given a choice as to who must govern them based on what candidates and their parties stand for.

These parties must:

- have clear program orientation

- provide policy options for voters

- strictly follow internal democratic procedures

-organize activities for members and interested citizens even during off-election season

-hold elected representatives accountable in-between election and campaign periods

It is therefore important for political parties to be owned and controlled by their members.

 

Turncoatism or Butterflyism has been with us since as far back as we can remember. In local parlance, one who does this is called “balimbing,” in reference to a fruit with many sides.

Turncoatism happens when a politician who runs for public office changes parties at a drop of a hat whatever seems most convenient at the moment. More often than not, these so-called public servants switch parties whichever the incumbent President or padrino of a political party is affiliated.

Senate Bill No. 3214 – also known as the Anti-Balimbing Bill – seeks “to punish political turncoats and provide a state subsidy for political parties” according to an article by Christian Esguerra. Esguerra writes that the bill defines political turncoatism as ‘the change of political party affiliation by any candidate within eight months prior to an election – whether or not elected –from the time he was first nominated.’ It adds that ‘no violation shall exist if a member’s party has been abolished or coalesced with another group or if he or she has been expelled in writing,’ the bill states.

Section 13 states that “an incumbent official who switches parties shall be ‘deemed to have forfeited’ the office; and that politician will also be disqualified from running in the next election and from being appointed to public office ‘for three years after the expiration of his/her term.’

What people don’t understand is how damaging this could be to our political system/life and our life as a people. The leaders of a party must have many punishments and rewards at their disposal – nomination of various offices, support in passing favoured legislation, and so on.

For truly democratic political parties to flourish, and if they are to be independent of grantees of big donations, the state will have to provide subsidies. This will ensure that parties would be independent of grantees of big donations (a.k.a. “padrinos”), be able to field qualified leaders and organize continuous dialogue between the citizens and their elected representatives.

Turncoatism should be curtailed. The amount of donations for the work of political parties should be limited to PhP1 million per natural person and PhP10 million per juridical person (company).