Centrist Democracy Political Institute - Items filtered by date: June 2025
Wednesday, 20 May 2020 07:19
Pandemic reveals two most inutile institutions in this land
Let me continue my observations on the ABS-CBN issue that provoked a passionate response. But first, this personal background. I am very grateful to the Lord for letting me live this long – I am 95 – without the ailments that cripple the mind. This isolation enforced by the pandemic gave me time to think more deeply and read and review some of what I had written. I conceptualized and wrote my Rosales saga novels, “Tree” and “The Pretenders” when I was in my late teens and early twenties. Re-reading them now, I realize how mature they are. It was the war that matured us early. It was also during this period, I think, that my socio-political education really began. In late 1942, I was a peon in a surveying company in Floridablanca, Pampanga, mapping out the expansion of the airfield there. I saw those Japanese fighter planes and twin engine bombers take off and land. I marveled how a tiny Asian country produced them and challenged a big power like the United States. In my novel, “The Pretenders,” the industrialist, Manuel Villa, builds a steel mill. I realized that early that steel is the foundation of industry and modernization. I joined the old Manila Times in 1949 and started knowing our country better. I travelled all over Asia, too, and elsewhere, furthering my knowledge of agrarian problems and observing culture change. Coming from a farming village, my interest in peasant movements broadened, and I witnessed our peasantry brutalized, particularly by the sugar barons. That knowledge led to my understanding of the need for social change, for revolution even – a belief I hold on tenaciously to this very day.
World War II wrought profound changes in our society creating a new ruling class. Though the war battered us, in the Fifties and Sixties, we were the richest country in Southeast Asia, next only to Japan. Korea, Taiwan, and even Japan were very poor. So were all the ASEAN nations. We had the best schools and hospitals. Now, look at us, and our Asian neighbors who left us behind? Why, we are very poor? Our leaders, the writers of my generation know the answer. Development starts with capital, whether it is in government or in private hands. It is with this capital that we start industries, development. We had that capital but it was sent abroad, much of it, or spent in non-productive enterprises. Basically the holders of this vast capital – the oligarchy had no sense of responsibility, no love for this country which they had exploited. The Lopezes are a major part of it; the tip of the iceberg, so huge but unseen, like the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
Change
The modernization of Korea, etc. was not brought about by proletarian revolutionaries but by middle class professionals, soldiers, and enlightened businessmen backed by strong governments.
Some claim that this present generation of oligarchs had changed; I had shared the same hope, but a close look at the new oligarchs reveal that nothing has changed – the perspective, the form of investments, fancy condominiums, shopping malls, the casinos. Poverty has not been erased – all the social surveys show it. Hunger still prevails. The revolution I’ve dreamed of is yet to come. Peacefully I hope.
In a broader, deeper context, all over the world are giant corporations and billionaires. In the capitalist system, their goal is profit, their techniques are almost always exploitative. But some businesses (and billionaires), however, are not always motivated by profit. They are nation builders, humanitarians, who use their fortunes to build more humane societies. But I do not see this in the three generations of the Filipino oligarchs who have exploited this country and our people.
Marx was right; as we can see today, capitalism, motivated by unrestrained greed is far deadlier than this Coronavirus which, science hopefully can control or eradicate. But greed is an integral part of the human person. It can be tamed with the creation of new human institutions that will assure mankind an existence endowed with justice – if we have the will to do it.
All too often, we are lulled into acquiescence, if not apathy, by the seductive allure of slogans of universal abstractions like freedom and the gloss and glitter of instruments like ABS-CBN. Yes, ABS-CBN indeed has its uses. But reduced to its very core, it is pure entertainment. History is full of similar even analogous examples. When the ancient Romans were restive, the Caesars gave them parades and circuses. As for freedom, it is the camouflage of the true nature of ABS-CBN just like the sea that hides the iceberg. Freedom is also the sugar coating that attracts the libertarians, the sincere believers in human rights, who have no time to look deeper, beyond the glossy surface. Listen – the real issue with ABS-CBN and its owners is not press freedom. It is MONEY, POLITICS and POWER – how power is acquired, how it is abused and maintained, and most of all, how it obstructs this country’s economic and democratic development. If allowed to continue, will it now return the billions it owes the government?
The Lopezes are not alone; they are however the most visible tip of the iceberg. But if the Lopez empire can be toppled. Then, it should not be difficult to do the same with the others. The revolution, then, shall have begun.
Conclusion: ABS-CBN is not crucial to this nation’s survival nor does its closure mark the end of press freedom. Hundreds of TV and radio stations and broadsheets will continue to purvey news and views. And there is the omnipresent social media wide open to both idiot and intellectual. In fact, the removal of this media giant will contribute to the levelling of the playing field and the strengthening of democracy.
For so many of us who cannot think of the future and whose minds are focused only as far as the next election, remember this: Marcos, Duterte – they are minor incidents in our history, but the oligarchic families will be with us much longer and will most likely be replaced by heirs who will continue to exploit our country and our people. The struggle to create a just and sovereign nation transcends these politicians and their oligarch allies. The Filipino oligarchy is our entrenched enemy – not I or those like me who see and know the truth. I’ve tried to be honest with myself. I know I am expendable, but not as much as the peasant who produces our food. I have to distance myself from self-righteousness knowing I can be wrong. I do not profit from telling the truth. I am reviled instead. Listen – all of you who resent me and wish me ill – I have nothing precious, no fiefdom to lose – only this life and the little of it that’s left. I’ll use it writing.
World War II wrought profound changes in our society creating a new ruling class. Though the war battered us, in the Fifties and Sixties, we were the richest country in Southeast Asia, next only to Japan. Korea, Taiwan, and even Japan were very poor. So were all the ASEAN nations. We had the best schools and hospitals. Now, look at us, and our Asian neighbors who left us behind? Why, we are very poor? Our leaders, the writers of my generation know the answer. Development starts with capital, whether it is in government or in private hands. It is with this capital that we start industries, development. We had that capital but it was sent abroad, much of it, or spent in non-productive enterprises. Basically the holders of this vast capital – the oligarchy had no sense of responsibility, no love for this country which they had exploited. The Lopezes are a major part of it; the tip of the iceberg, so huge but unseen, like the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
Change
The modernization of Korea, etc. was not brought about by proletarian revolutionaries but by middle class professionals, soldiers, and enlightened businessmen backed by strong governments.
Some claim that this present generation of oligarchs had changed; I had shared the same hope, but a close look at the new oligarchs reveal that nothing has changed – the perspective, the form of investments, fancy condominiums, shopping malls, the casinos. Poverty has not been erased – all the social surveys show it. Hunger still prevails. The revolution I’ve dreamed of is yet to come. Peacefully I hope.
In a broader, deeper context, all over the world are giant corporations and billionaires. In the capitalist system, their goal is profit, their techniques are almost always exploitative. But some businesses (and billionaires), however, are not always motivated by profit. They are nation builders, humanitarians, who use their fortunes to build more humane societies. But I do not see this in the three generations of the Filipino oligarchs who have exploited this country and our people.
Marx was right; as we can see today, capitalism, motivated by unrestrained greed is far deadlier than this Coronavirus which, science hopefully can control or eradicate. But greed is an integral part of the human person. It can be tamed with the creation of new human institutions that will assure mankind an existence endowed with justice – if we have the will to do it.
All too often, we are lulled into acquiescence, if not apathy, by the seductive allure of slogans of universal abstractions like freedom and the gloss and glitter of instruments like ABS-CBN. Yes, ABS-CBN indeed has its uses. But reduced to its very core, it is pure entertainment. History is full of similar even analogous examples. When the ancient Romans were restive, the Caesars gave them parades and circuses. As for freedom, it is the camouflage of the true nature of ABS-CBN just like the sea that hides the iceberg. Freedom is also the sugar coating that attracts the libertarians, the sincere believers in human rights, who have no time to look deeper, beyond the glossy surface. Listen – the real issue with ABS-CBN and its owners is not press freedom. It is MONEY, POLITICS and POWER – how power is acquired, how it is abused and maintained, and most of all, how it obstructs this country’s economic and democratic development. If allowed to continue, will it now return the billions it owes the government?
The Lopezes are not alone; they are however the most visible tip of the iceberg. But if the Lopez empire can be toppled. Then, it should not be difficult to do the same with the others. The revolution, then, shall have begun.
Conclusion: ABS-CBN is not crucial to this nation’s survival nor does its closure mark the end of press freedom. Hundreds of TV and radio stations and broadsheets will continue to purvey news and views. And there is the omnipresent social media wide open to both idiot and intellectual. In fact, the removal of this media giant will contribute to the levelling of the playing field and the strengthening of democracy.
For so many of us who cannot think of the future and whose minds are focused only as far as the next election, remember this: Marcos, Duterte – they are minor incidents in our history, but the oligarchic families will be with us much longer and will most likely be replaced by heirs who will continue to exploit our country and our people. The struggle to create a just and sovereign nation transcends these politicians and their oligarch allies. The Filipino oligarchy is our entrenched enemy – not I or those like me who see and know the truth. I’ve tried to be honest with myself. I know I am expendable, but not as much as the peasant who produces our food. I have to distance myself from self-righteousness knowing I can be wrong. I do not profit from telling the truth. I am reviled instead. Listen – all of you who resent me and wish me ill – I have nothing precious, no fiefdom to lose – only this life and the little of it that’s left. I’ll use it writing.
Published in
News
Wednesday, 20 May 2020 06:57
The oligarchy and ABS-CBN: Don’t give them your ‘balls’
Let me continue my observations on the ABS-CBN issue that provoked a passionate response. But first, this personal background. I am very grateful to the Lord for letting me live this long – I am 95 – without the ailments that cripple the mind. This isolation enforced by the pandemic gave me time to think more deeply and read and review some of what I had written. I conceptualized and wrote my Rosales saga novels, “Tree” and “The Pretenders” when I was in my late teens and early twenties. Re-reading them now, I realize how mature they are. It was the war that matured us early. It was also during this period, I think, that my socio-political education really began. In late 1942, I was a peon in a surveying company in Floridablanca, Pampanga, mapping out the expansion of the airfield there. I saw those Japanese fighter planes and twin engine bombers take off and land. I marveled how a tiny Asian country produced them and challenged a big power like the United States. In my novel, “The Pretenders,” the industrialist, Manuel Villa, builds a steel mill. I realized that early that steel is the foundation of industry and modernization. I joined the old Manila Times in 1949 and started knowing our country better. I travelled all over Asia, too, and elsewhere, furthering my knowledge of agrarian problems and observing culture change. Coming from a farming village, my interest in peasant movements broadened, and I witnessed our peasantry brutalized, particularly by the sugar barons. That knowledge led to my understanding of the need for social change, for revolution even – a belief I hold on tenaciously to this very day.
World War II wrought profound changes in our society creating a new ruling class. Though the war battered us, in the Fifties and Sixties, we were the richest country in Southeast Asia, next only to Japan. Korea, Taiwan, and even Japan were very poor. So were all the ASEAN nations. We had the best schools and hospitals. Now, look at us, and our Asian neighbors who left us behind? Why, we are very poor? Our leaders, the writers of my generation know the answer. Development starts with capital, whether it is in government or in private hands. It is with this capital that we start industries, development. We had that capital but it was sent abroad, much of it, or spent in non-productive enterprises. Basically the holders of this vast capital – the oligarchy had no sense of responsibility, no love for this country which they had exploited. The Lopezes are a major part of it; the tip of the iceberg, so huge but unseen, like the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
Change
The modernization of Korea, etc. was not brought about by proletarian revolutionaries but by middle class professionals, soldiers, and enlightened businessmen backed by strong governments.
Some claim that this present generation of oligarchs had changed; I had shared the same hope, but a close look at the new oligarchs reveal that nothing has changed – the perspective, the form of investments, fancy condominiums, shopping malls, the casinos. Poverty has not been erased – all the social surveys show it. Hunger still prevails. The revolution I’ve dreamed of is yet to come. Peacefully I hope.
In a broader, deeper context, all over the world are giant corporations and billionaires. In the capitalist system, their goal is profit, their techniques are almost always exploitative. But some businesses (and billionaires), however, are not always motivated by profit. They are nation builders, humanitarians, who use their fortunes to build more humane societies. But I do not see this in the three generations of the Filipino oligarchs who have exploited this country and our people.
Marx was right; as we can see today, capitalism, motivated by unrestrained greed is far deadlier than this Coronavirus which, science hopefully can control or eradicate. But greed is an integral part of the human person. It can be tamed with the creation of new human institutions that will assure mankind an existence endowed with justice – if we have the will to do it.
All too often, we are lulled into acquiescence, if not apathy, by the seductive allure of slogans of universal abstractions like freedom and the gloss and glitter of instruments like ABS-CBN. Yes, ABS-CBN indeed has its uses. But reduced to its very core, it is pure entertainment. History is full of similar even analogous examples. When the ancient Romans were restive, the Caesars gave them parades and circuses. As for freedom, it is the camouflage of the true nature of ABS-CBN just like the sea that hides the iceberg. Freedom is also the sugar coating that attracts the libertarians, the sincere believers in human rights, who have no time to look deeper, beyond the glossy surface. Listen – the real issue with ABS-CBN and its owners is not press freedom. It is MONEY, POLITICS and POWER – how power is acquired, how it is abused and maintained, and most of all, how it obstructs this country’s economic and democratic development. If allowed to continue, will it now return the billions it owes the government?
The Lopezes are not alone; they are however the most visible tip of the iceberg. But if the Lopez empire can be toppled. Then, it should not be difficult to do the same with the others. The revolution, then, shall have begun.
Conclusion: ABS-CBN is not crucial to this nation’s survival nor does its closure mark the end of press freedom. Hundreds of TV and radio stations and broadsheets will continue to purvey news and views. And there is the omnipresent social media wide open to both idiot and intellectual. In fact, the removal of this media giant will contribute to the levelling of the playing field and the strengthening of democracy.
For so many of us who cannot think of the future and whose minds are focused only as far as the next election, remember this: Marcos, Duterte – they are minor incidents in our history, but the oligarchic families will be with us much longer and will most likely be replaced by heirs who will continue to exploit our country and our people. The struggle to create a just and sovereign nation transcends these politicians and their oligarch allies. The Filipino oligarchy is our entrenched enemy – not I or those like me who see and know the truth. I’ve tried to be honest with myself. I know I am expendable, but not as much as the peasant who produces our food. I have to distance myself from self-righteousness knowing I can be wrong. I do not profit from telling the truth. I am reviled instead. Listen – all of you who resent me and wish me ill – I have nothing precious, no fiefdom to lose – only this life and the little of it that’s left. I’ll use it writing.
World War II wrought profound changes in our society creating a new ruling class. Though the war battered us, in the Fifties and Sixties, we were the richest country in Southeast Asia, next only to Japan. Korea, Taiwan, and even Japan were very poor. So were all the ASEAN nations. We had the best schools and hospitals. Now, look at us, and our Asian neighbors who left us behind? Why, we are very poor? Our leaders, the writers of my generation know the answer. Development starts with capital, whether it is in government or in private hands. It is with this capital that we start industries, development. We had that capital but it was sent abroad, much of it, or spent in non-productive enterprises. Basically the holders of this vast capital – the oligarchy had no sense of responsibility, no love for this country which they had exploited. The Lopezes are a major part of it; the tip of the iceberg, so huge but unseen, like the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
Change
The modernization of Korea, etc. was not brought about by proletarian revolutionaries but by middle class professionals, soldiers, and enlightened businessmen backed by strong governments.
Some claim that this present generation of oligarchs had changed; I had shared the same hope, but a close look at the new oligarchs reveal that nothing has changed – the perspective, the form of investments, fancy condominiums, shopping malls, the casinos. Poverty has not been erased – all the social surveys show it. Hunger still prevails. The revolution I’ve dreamed of is yet to come. Peacefully I hope.
In a broader, deeper context, all over the world are giant corporations and billionaires. In the capitalist system, their goal is profit, their techniques are almost always exploitative. But some businesses (and billionaires), however, are not always motivated by profit. They are nation builders, humanitarians, who use their fortunes to build more humane societies. But I do not see this in the three generations of the Filipino oligarchs who have exploited this country and our people.
Marx was right; as we can see today, capitalism, motivated by unrestrained greed is far deadlier than this Coronavirus which, science hopefully can control or eradicate. But greed is an integral part of the human person. It can be tamed with the creation of new human institutions that will assure mankind an existence endowed with justice – if we have the will to do it.
All too often, we are lulled into acquiescence, if not apathy, by the seductive allure of slogans of universal abstractions like freedom and the gloss and glitter of instruments like ABS-CBN. Yes, ABS-CBN indeed has its uses. But reduced to its very core, it is pure entertainment. History is full of similar even analogous examples. When the ancient Romans were restive, the Caesars gave them parades and circuses. As for freedom, it is the camouflage of the true nature of ABS-CBN just like the sea that hides the iceberg. Freedom is also the sugar coating that attracts the libertarians, the sincere believers in human rights, who have no time to look deeper, beyond the glossy surface. Listen – the real issue with ABS-CBN and its owners is not press freedom. It is MONEY, POLITICS and POWER – how power is acquired, how it is abused and maintained, and most of all, how it obstructs this country’s economic and democratic development. If allowed to continue, will it now return the billions it owes the government?
The Lopezes are not alone; they are however the most visible tip of the iceberg. But if the Lopez empire can be toppled. Then, it should not be difficult to do the same with the others. The revolution, then, shall have begun.
Conclusion: ABS-CBN is not crucial to this nation’s survival nor does its closure mark the end of press freedom. Hundreds of TV and radio stations and broadsheets will continue to purvey news and views. And there is the omnipresent social media wide open to both idiot and intellectual. In fact, the removal of this media giant will contribute to the levelling of the playing field and the strengthening of democracy.
For so many of us who cannot think of the future and whose minds are focused only as far as the next election, remember this: Marcos, Duterte – they are minor incidents in our history, but the oligarchic families will be with us much longer and will most likely be replaced by heirs who will continue to exploit our country and our people. The struggle to create a just and sovereign nation transcends these politicians and their oligarch allies. The Filipino oligarchy is our entrenched enemy – not I or those like me who see and know the truth. I’ve tried to be honest with myself. I know I am expendable, but not as much as the peasant who produces our food. I have to distance myself from self-righteousness knowing I can be wrong. I do not profit from telling the truth. I am reviled instead. Listen – all of you who resent me and wish me ill – I have nothing precious, no fiefdom to lose – only this life and the little of it that’s left. I’ll use it writing.
Published in
News
Wednesday, 20 May 2020 04:42
‘Balik Probinsya’: A distraction or palliative to Covid?
A GRUESOME silver lining to the coronavirus pandemic is probably resuscitating a program that past administrations decades back only paid lip service to and never had the gumption nor the political will to implement: “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa” (BP2)! If memory serves, even Imelda Marcos, the flip side to the conjugal dictatorship, only succeeded in leaving a similar concept behind, encapsulated as a haunting slogan. It was not altruism that moved her but her overarching notions of “what could be beautiful.” It was during the 5th International Monetary Fund-World Bank Conference in Manila in 1976 when the dictatorship wanted to show a “beautiful face” as its coming-out party after the 1972 martial law declaration. Central to BP2’s concept was to decongest the slums of Metro Manila, a blight which should be hidden from sight of the world’s bankers, financiers and economists who were here for the conference. What better program than to send back these dregs of society from whence they came.
Depopulate the slums
People are therefore wary of another “balik probinsya” (back to the province) initiative sprung at this critical time involving the same slums of Metro Manila as a panacea to the pandemic. Introduced on April 24 by President Rodrigo “Deegong” Roa Duterte’s (PRRD) favorite senator, echoing similar imeldific and tired old arguments seeking to “decongest overcrowded Metro Manila, providing incentives and livelihood opportunities to Filipinos who wish to return to their respective provinces….” Same old, same old. Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go simply filled in the blanks — that the lack of urban planning and rural development is one of the reasons why the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is spreading fast in the country’s metropolis — as if it was something new. Adding further: “As soon as the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is lifted and travel is gradually normalized, the government must encourage Filipino families to move out of Manila and other metropolitan areas. Government must provide them the means and incentives to go back to the provinces for good.”
EO 114
But what did the President really promulgate? Executive Order (EO) 114 institutionalized the program to “…ensure balanced regional development and equitable distribution of wealth, resources and opportunities through policies and programs that boost countryside development and inclusive growth; provide adequate social services; and promote full employment, industrialization and an improved quality of life in rural areas.”
This is simply a rehash of the Philippine Medium-Term Development Plan drawn up years ago. Ask the acting National Economic and Development Authority secretary; he should know. This is partly what we the Centrist Democrats have been demanding these past years — and more — which then candidate Deegong promised under the banner of federalism, which he then subsequently dropped as president. But don’t get me wrong. Many Davaoeños and Mindanawnons have issues against Imperial Manila, that for generations has been sucking the lifeblood of those in the periphery. And indeed, we want to go back to the provinces. We therefore support the BP2 but not on terms dictated by the central government, dammit! But on equitable conditions. On provisions where people from Mindanao, the Visayas and the less favored provinces of Luzon have a say. We understand, for the shortsighted, you want to get rid of the “pasaway” unable to observe physical distancing, precipitating the spread of the contagion. Fine. But this is just an elitist solution — shades of Imelda — to decongest, depopulate by sending them back, pronto, from their hovels to their probinsiya, where Covid-19 can wreak havoc, easing pressure on the imperial capital.
Bottom up and decentralization
But we people from the fringes, especially from Davao and Mindanao, have our own ideas too. To reiterate, we no longer welcome palliatives, band-aid solutions and motherhood statements. If federalism is too complicated, then we try autonomy and decentralization. Not just delegation of powers from the center — which can be rebuked on whim. It does not work that way. But if the central government advances the alibi that time is of the essence, then we negotiate. First, involve the planning of our hands-on provincial governors and key local government executives, not just the senators and congressmen and Malacañang bright boys. Any top-down planning and execution, even if the main sponsor is a Davaoeño, is bound to fail. Convert this sloganeering into real working programs by transparently harnessing the full strength of government, making sure that beneficiaries understand the ramifications for them to buy into. They need to trust that the government can make this sustainable, pouring in the wherewithal to make it worthwhile for them. And to let them appreciate that this is not an imeldific solution and that the whole process takes a little more time than that targeted to start upon the lifting of the ECQ or modified ECQ. And above all, this program is not principally to get them out of their slums, sterilize Metro Manila and throw them to the slums in the probinsya, but it is to provide them decent lives and fresh start.
What to do
Since BP2 is predicated on post-lockdowns, the government must therefore focus on the prompt and safe reopening of the economy. Vietnam, New Zealand, Taiwan and even South Korea managed their morbidity through a particular accepted system, recommended by the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “testing, tracing, and treatment (isolation/hospitalization).” This is where the Deegong should focus his energy, money and resources now as top priority. Put BP2 as an adjunct.
Lockdowns have proven to be effective up to a certain point, beyond which they become counterproductive. Studies show that in our eight-week lockdown, approximately 32 million workers were out of jobs and household expenditures, accounting for 68 percent of the economy, estimated at P2 trillion, are taken off the economy (Tony Lopez, CEO Biz News Asia). The government is running out of cash. In short, for the 800 Filipino deaths so far, the economic costs are staggering, driving the living to miserable lives, possibly lifelong poverty, business bankruptcy and, perhaps to some, despair and suicide. The government must carefully weigh the trade-off — survival of the 105 million Filipinos as against an acceptable percentage of morbidity. This is President Duterte’s call. No one else’s. In the recognized concept of triage, the leadership must so decide to sacrifice a lesser number for the greater good. Has the Deegong the stomach to allow 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 deaths to save 105 million souls?
The presidency at the top is a lonely job. Duterte’s type of alpha male leadership is not conducive for his subalterns to advance workable ideas. Creative ideas I fear are not generated during this critical juncture, as they need to undergo the crucible of debate by people who have the courage to confront him. Doable and creative ideas are fought upon and shaped, not imposed. PRRD by these precepts is exhausted and approaching his level of incompetence. The Filipino audience has been witnesses to his TV performances of late, showing him distracted, making him vulnerable and susceptible to slogans like BP2 — an appropriate solution for a long-term problem with an even longer gestation period. What is needed are solutions to problems of the here and now… not of later. I fervently hope Duterte sees his way clear through this.
Depopulate the slums
People are therefore wary of another “balik probinsya” (back to the province) initiative sprung at this critical time involving the same slums of Metro Manila as a panacea to the pandemic. Introduced on April 24 by President Rodrigo “Deegong” Roa Duterte’s (PRRD) favorite senator, echoing similar imeldific and tired old arguments seeking to “decongest overcrowded Metro Manila, providing incentives and livelihood opportunities to Filipinos who wish to return to their respective provinces….” Same old, same old. Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go simply filled in the blanks — that the lack of urban planning and rural development is one of the reasons why the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is spreading fast in the country’s metropolis — as if it was something new. Adding further: “As soon as the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is lifted and travel is gradually normalized, the government must encourage Filipino families to move out of Manila and other metropolitan areas. Government must provide them the means and incentives to go back to the provinces for good.”
EO 114
But what did the President really promulgate? Executive Order (EO) 114 institutionalized the program to “…ensure balanced regional development and equitable distribution of wealth, resources and opportunities through policies and programs that boost countryside development and inclusive growth; provide adequate social services; and promote full employment, industrialization and an improved quality of life in rural areas.”
This is simply a rehash of the Philippine Medium-Term Development Plan drawn up years ago. Ask the acting National Economic and Development Authority secretary; he should know. This is partly what we the Centrist Democrats have been demanding these past years — and more — which then candidate Deegong promised under the banner of federalism, which he then subsequently dropped as president. But don’t get me wrong. Many Davaoeños and Mindanawnons have issues against Imperial Manila, that for generations has been sucking the lifeblood of those in the periphery. And indeed, we want to go back to the provinces. We therefore support the BP2 but not on terms dictated by the central government, dammit! But on equitable conditions. On provisions where people from Mindanao, the Visayas and the less favored provinces of Luzon have a say. We understand, for the shortsighted, you want to get rid of the “pasaway” unable to observe physical distancing, precipitating the spread of the contagion. Fine. But this is just an elitist solution — shades of Imelda — to decongest, depopulate by sending them back, pronto, from their hovels to their probinsiya, where Covid-19 can wreak havoc, easing pressure on the imperial capital.
Bottom up and decentralization
But we people from the fringes, especially from Davao and Mindanao, have our own ideas too. To reiterate, we no longer welcome palliatives, band-aid solutions and motherhood statements. If federalism is too complicated, then we try autonomy and decentralization. Not just delegation of powers from the center — which can be rebuked on whim. It does not work that way. But if the central government advances the alibi that time is of the essence, then we negotiate. First, involve the planning of our hands-on provincial governors and key local government executives, not just the senators and congressmen and Malacañang bright boys. Any top-down planning and execution, even if the main sponsor is a Davaoeño, is bound to fail. Convert this sloganeering into real working programs by transparently harnessing the full strength of government, making sure that beneficiaries understand the ramifications for them to buy into. They need to trust that the government can make this sustainable, pouring in the wherewithal to make it worthwhile for them. And to let them appreciate that this is not an imeldific solution and that the whole process takes a little more time than that targeted to start upon the lifting of the ECQ or modified ECQ. And above all, this program is not principally to get them out of their slums, sterilize Metro Manila and throw them to the slums in the probinsya, but it is to provide them decent lives and fresh start.
What to do
Since BP2 is predicated on post-lockdowns, the government must therefore focus on the prompt and safe reopening of the economy. Vietnam, New Zealand, Taiwan and even South Korea managed their morbidity through a particular accepted system, recommended by the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “testing, tracing, and treatment (isolation/hospitalization).” This is where the Deegong should focus his energy, money and resources now as top priority. Put BP2 as an adjunct.
Lockdowns have proven to be effective up to a certain point, beyond which they become counterproductive. Studies show that in our eight-week lockdown, approximately 32 million workers were out of jobs and household expenditures, accounting for 68 percent of the economy, estimated at P2 trillion, are taken off the economy (Tony Lopez, CEO Biz News Asia). The government is running out of cash. In short, for the 800 Filipino deaths so far, the economic costs are staggering, driving the living to miserable lives, possibly lifelong poverty, business bankruptcy and, perhaps to some, despair and suicide. The government must carefully weigh the trade-off — survival of the 105 million Filipinos as against an acceptable percentage of morbidity. This is President Duterte’s call. No one else’s. In the recognized concept of triage, the leadership must so decide to sacrifice a lesser number for the greater good. Has the Deegong the stomach to allow 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 deaths to save 105 million souls?
The presidency at the top is a lonely job. Duterte’s type of alpha male leadership is not conducive for his subalterns to advance workable ideas. Creative ideas I fear are not generated during this critical juncture, as they need to undergo the crucible of debate by people who have the courage to confront him. Doable and creative ideas are fought upon and shaped, not imposed. PRRD by these precepts is exhausted and approaching his level of incompetence. The Filipino audience has been witnesses to his TV performances of late, showing him distracted, making him vulnerable and susceptible to slogans like BP2 — an appropriate solution for a long-term problem with an even longer gestation period. What is needed are solutions to problems of the here and now… not of later. I fervently hope Duterte sees his way clear through this.
Published in
LML Polettiques
Wednesday, 13 May 2020 07:09
The 2022 trigger
ALL politics, in any jurisdiction, is back to the drawing board. We cannot campaign the traditional way simply because of physical distancing, masks and shields, and “no” to huge gatherings. In the United States, it’s now peer-to-peer and the tele-town hall that are driving the gatherings, but very online — another chapter of the e-Campaigning initiated by the Obama campaign circa November 2008.
Congress, with a lead time of two years before May 2022, must be able to scope the landscape: how do you do general registration, how will campaigning be by February 2022 and how would election day be? These are not easy questions for the simple reason that the election body is really in a legacy system that does not understand or chooses not to understand data, systems and analytics. Since 2010, when we started the automated election, not a single chair has reported to Congress on the demographics and psychographics of Filipino voters as an aggregate and as broken down by regions, provinces, cities, municipalities and barangay (villages). They do not even do a 100-percent closedown of an election cycle, ensuring that every vote is reflected in the main tally board. Data on votes are more complete at the local level and it seems that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc will just adopt the norm of previous years with the reasoning that the local Comelec failed to submit a complete report and that those who need data should go to the local level.
The worst part is when you request for an updated Registered Voter File, Comelec Central will give you a photocopy, spending for the cost per page and it is not even in Excel format. The Comelec is so archaic that big data and data analytics is not a priority.
Decades back, Peter Wallace and I advocated for voting by smartphones, but this was rejected at the time. Today, mobile is king. Just look at the Philippine data in “We Are Social 2020”: there were “173.2 million mobile connections in the Philippines in January 2020. The number of mobile connections in the Philippines increased by 38 million (plus 28 percent) between January 2019 and January 2020. The number of mobile connections in the Philippines in January 2020 was equivalent to 159 percent of the total population.”
Mobile is the most democratic tool in the country because the internet has equity issues when it comes to 60 percent of Filipinos who are in rural Philippines. The “last mile” has not been connected to the grid. It would seem it is not even a priority for government, much more the telecommunications companies, which look at bottom lines to determine interconnection. In January 2020, internet users numbered 73 million and a penetration rate at 67 percent.
In terms of social media use, there were 73 million users as of January 2020. The number of users in the Philippines increased by 5.8 million (plus 8.6 percent) between April 2019 and January 2020. Social media penetration in the Philippines stood at 67 percent.
And the excitement and the tandem pairing, as well as numerous floats being made prior to March 16, came to a halt with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). The pandemic is the defining moment for any political leader, elected or appointed. How they responded, took care of their constituents, made the residents feel government is present would be the basis of that moment in time when voters realized we elected the wrong person or there can be better leaders than what we have right now. Even at the barangay level, residents are now talking of the kind of help they got at the community level and why others are getting better service compared to the rest.
And this is what politicians should remember. They are being judged right now by their constituents and they will bring that to the polls an emotional tug on the heart that cannot be changed by a narrative made solely for a 90- or 45-day campaign period. Covid-19 is the campaign. If local government units (LGUs) and national officials do not get it, they may get the ire of the community come May 2022.
Take the case of a lady mayor in Mindanao. She distributed rotting rice. The recipients are posting comments on the rice being given: “Mabaho talaga at marumi…sayang ang pondo ng pamahalaan (Really smells bad and is dirty…the government’s fund is being put to waste).” The alleged supplier is a dummy of the mayor, said to be a “small-time rice dealer whose capacity was way below the 250,000 bags the LGU procured.” Apparently, it was the second relief operation conducted by the mayor. In the first, the mayor gave 3 kilograms of cheap rice, some canned goods and instant noodles to the tune of P200 million, and not everyone got their share. The Social Amelioration Program aid distribution was reportedly a “mess, with cops threatening people not to post complaints in social media or face arrest.” The mayor also duped President Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor of Dava o City and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Emerging of Infectious Diseases by increasing the number of persons suspected of being Covid-positive from nine to 60 so their LGU could remain under enhanced community quarantine instead of graduating to general community quarantine. Why? So the mayor could continue using the supplemental budget amounting to P.5 billion that the council approved last week. And that city was under siege in the previous administration and has not recovered from it.
Covid-19 made real to Filipinos see what is wrong in the system — from a centralized government pretending to be decentralized; from how Metro Manila eats a huge allocation from other regions. Imagine, 83 percent of commerce comes from the epicenter of the pandemic. And the call for “Balik Probinsya” (Back to the Province) is being applauded by the majority because the megapolis way is not a sustainable development. When you strain capacities because of population density, a local chief executive can’t do much. Federalism became apparent to all, that having this kind of overtly central development is no way to address equity issues. Then again, a parliamentary form of government ensures one lens, one context, one solution for all, instead of asking for the immediate resignation of the health secretary just because he would not dance along with certain interests. Capacities, marks, personal protective equipment and testing kits are all felt needs globally. We are not an exception. In fact, the early lockdown helped us address the constraints and hopefully, by the new norm, we could have leapfrogged with the assistance of the private sector and our international allies and friends.
The pandemic showed to all the grit of certain local chief executives; after all, the presidency is an executive function. The senators and congressmen were left on the wayside, creating their own narratives just to maintain presence. But the people are looking not at them but at good executive leaders. Pre-Covid-19, names were ahead of some. Today, who holds the key for 2022 is the “hillbilly” from Davao City. If the country gets out without a relapse, the mayor never thought to be presidential in any quarters as defined in the old norm will be able to consolidate further and extend his administration. No relapse, a States of the Nation Address in July and a budget for economic reboot going to preelection year of 2021 has strengthened his hand to changing this country, from governance to economics and infrastructure.
Sometimes, those we never count to be leadership material turns out to be what the country needs. Some would grudgingly say yes, others will look for that audacity in the next, while the remaining would probably say they want the usual. Voters will just have to be reminded of the various crises and that trigger will define 2022.
Congress, with a lead time of two years before May 2022, must be able to scope the landscape: how do you do general registration, how will campaigning be by February 2022 and how would election day be? These are not easy questions for the simple reason that the election body is really in a legacy system that does not understand or chooses not to understand data, systems and analytics. Since 2010, when we started the automated election, not a single chair has reported to Congress on the demographics and psychographics of Filipino voters as an aggregate and as broken down by regions, provinces, cities, municipalities and barangay (villages). They do not even do a 100-percent closedown of an election cycle, ensuring that every vote is reflected in the main tally board. Data on votes are more complete at the local level and it seems that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc will just adopt the norm of previous years with the reasoning that the local Comelec failed to submit a complete report and that those who need data should go to the local level.
The worst part is when you request for an updated Registered Voter File, Comelec Central will give you a photocopy, spending for the cost per page and it is not even in Excel format. The Comelec is so archaic that big data and data analytics is not a priority.
Decades back, Peter Wallace and I advocated for voting by smartphones, but this was rejected at the time. Today, mobile is king. Just look at the Philippine data in “We Are Social 2020”: there were “173.2 million mobile connections in the Philippines in January 2020. The number of mobile connections in the Philippines increased by 38 million (plus 28 percent) between January 2019 and January 2020. The number of mobile connections in the Philippines in January 2020 was equivalent to 159 percent of the total population.”
Mobile is the most democratic tool in the country because the internet has equity issues when it comes to 60 percent of Filipinos who are in rural Philippines. The “last mile” has not been connected to the grid. It would seem it is not even a priority for government, much more the telecommunications companies, which look at bottom lines to determine interconnection. In January 2020, internet users numbered 73 million and a penetration rate at 67 percent.
In terms of social media use, there were 73 million users as of January 2020. The number of users in the Philippines increased by 5.8 million (plus 8.6 percent) between April 2019 and January 2020. Social media penetration in the Philippines stood at 67 percent.
And the excitement and the tandem pairing, as well as numerous floats being made prior to March 16, came to a halt with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). The pandemic is the defining moment for any political leader, elected or appointed. How they responded, took care of their constituents, made the residents feel government is present would be the basis of that moment in time when voters realized we elected the wrong person or there can be better leaders than what we have right now. Even at the barangay level, residents are now talking of the kind of help they got at the community level and why others are getting better service compared to the rest.
And this is what politicians should remember. They are being judged right now by their constituents and they will bring that to the polls an emotional tug on the heart that cannot be changed by a narrative made solely for a 90- or 45-day campaign period. Covid-19 is the campaign. If local government units (LGUs) and national officials do not get it, they may get the ire of the community come May 2022.
Take the case of a lady mayor in Mindanao. She distributed rotting rice. The recipients are posting comments on the rice being given: “Mabaho talaga at marumi…sayang ang pondo ng pamahalaan (Really smells bad and is dirty…the government’s fund is being put to waste).” The alleged supplier is a dummy of the mayor, said to be a “small-time rice dealer whose capacity was way below the 250,000 bags the LGU procured.” Apparently, it was the second relief operation conducted by the mayor. In the first, the mayor gave 3 kilograms of cheap rice, some canned goods and instant noodles to the tune of P200 million, and not everyone got their share. The Social Amelioration Program aid distribution was reportedly a “mess, with cops threatening people not to post complaints in social media or face arrest.” The mayor also duped President Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor of Dava o City and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Emerging of Infectious Diseases by increasing the number of persons suspected of being Covid-positive from nine to 60 so their LGU could remain under enhanced community quarantine instead of graduating to general community quarantine. Why? So the mayor could continue using the supplemental budget amounting to P.5 billion that the council approved last week. And that city was under siege in the previous administration and has not recovered from it.
Covid-19 made real to Filipinos see what is wrong in the system — from a centralized government pretending to be decentralized; from how Metro Manila eats a huge allocation from other regions. Imagine, 83 percent of commerce comes from the epicenter of the pandemic. And the call for “Balik Probinsya” (Back to the Province) is being applauded by the majority because the megapolis way is not a sustainable development. When you strain capacities because of population density, a local chief executive can’t do much. Federalism became apparent to all, that having this kind of overtly central development is no way to address equity issues. Then again, a parliamentary form of government ensures one lens, one context, one solution for all, instead of asking for the immediate resignation of the health secretary just because he would not dance along with certain interests. Capacities, marks, personal protective equipment and testing kits are all felt needs globally. We are not an exception. In fact, the early lockdown helped us address the constraints and hopefully, by the new norm, we could have leapfrogged with the assistance of the private sector and our international allies and friends.
The pandemic showed to all the grit of certain local chief executives; after all, the presidency is an executive function. The senators and congressmen were left on the wayside, creating their own narratives just to maintain presence. But the people are looking not at them but at good executive leaders. Pre-Covid-19, names were ahead of some. Today, who holds the key for 2022 is the “hillbilly” from Davao City. If the country gets out without a relapse, the mayor never thought to be presidential in any quarters as defined in the old norm will be able to consolidate further and extend his administration. No relapse, a States of the Nation Address in July and a budget for economic reboot going to preelection year of 2021 has strengthened his hand to changing this country, from governance to economics and infrastructure.
Sometimes, those we never count to be leadership material turns out to be what the country needs. Some would grudgingly say yes, others will look for that audacity in the next, while the remaining would probably say they want the usual. Voters will just have to be reminded of the various crises and that trigger will define 2022.
Published in
News
Wednesday, 13 May 2020 05:56
ABS-CBN closure will strengthen our democracy
THE ABS-CBN media behemoth is an anomaly that has made a mockery of our democracy. This started in the late 1950s, when the landlord oligarch clan, the Lopezes, added to their empire what was then a new medium, television, which proved to be more powerful in reaching the masses than their Manila Chronicle newspaper.
We are the only country in Asia to have such a powerful oligarch as the dominant player in broadcast media, the most effective venue in the modern era for molding the masses’ political consciousness and choices.
Japan has the mammoth NHK, South Korea’s three major network are either government-run or funded, and Singapore’s broadcast and print media are subsidiaries of the government investment fund Temasek Holdings.
Here we have an oligarch clan (in ABS-CBN Corp.), a triumvirate of magnates in another (GMA7) and a foreign tycoon (Indonesian Salim in TV5).
Worse for our democracy, the Lopezes weren’t just ordinary oligarchs. They owned for many decades the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the monopoly electricity distributor in Metro Manila, whose fortunes were 100 percent dependent on government regulations.
The Lopezes’ ABS-CBN made presidential elections a farce.
While the outcome of presidential elections are determined by a complex of factors, ABS-CBN has been a dominant factor, a big kingmaker, as the masses are hypnotized by ABS-CBN as they watch the 6 p.m. news while waiting for their teleserye or comedy programs.
Santiago
Miriam Defensor-Santiago in 1992 had tapped the idealism not only of the youth, but of the masses on a scale rivaling that of Rodrigo Duterte more than two decades later. The Lopezes, though, backed Fidel Ramos, their patron Corazon “Cory” Aquino’s anointed. It was enough for a dozen or so coverage by ABS-CBN showing Santiago in a tantrum, and spreading the meme (before that word was invented) of Miriam as “Brenda” — for brain-damaged — to get the dull general win the elections.
Despite media’s portrayal of him as a dum-dum, Joseph “Erap” Estrada was politically astute and sent all his celebrity “eraps” like Fernando Poe Jr. and allegedly his studio’s starlets to the Lopezes’ to get ABS-CBN behind his presidential bid. The Lopezes also hated candidate Jose de Venecia for his alleged support of the Marcos regime.
Or, perhaps, Erap did what medieval kings did, which was to establish an alliance through their children’s marriage. We learned about that only a year after the elections, when Manuel “Beaver” Lopez Jr. married Erap’s unica hija (at least with Loi) Jackie.
The Lopezes, however, didn’t hesitate to abandon Erap — loyalty hasn’t been that clan’s strength — when the going got tough, as the jueteng and other scandals gave the Yellows and Ramos who feared Estrada would prosecute him for the so-called Centennial funds corruption, more than enough issues to stage a second People Power uprising.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo tried very hard to get the Lopezes to her side, when she assumed power by accident in 2001. As Arroyo’s chief of staff, I attended a few dinners with Oscar and Manolo at her family’s Forbes Park home to shoot the breeze as they say, although after the main meal the two Lopezes would meet with Arroyo at her living room, with no other people there.
Arroyo
The Lopezes needed Arroyo badly at that time. While Cory was in power, they racked up hundreds of millions of loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines in the hope of quickly building up the empire they lost during martial law. However, they couldn’t seem to put their finances and even their house in order, especially after their primus inter pares Eugenio Lopez Jr. died in 1999.
That was the worst time for the patriarch to pass away as the 1998 to 1999 global financial crisis hit, and the Lopez empire had accumulated substantial foreign debt, the peso equivalent of which more than doubled as the exchange rate zoomed form P26 in 1996 to P54 by 2003.
The biggest problem though of the Lopezes involved their family jewel, Meralco, since the so-called Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) was passed in June 2001, but was implemented only starting 2007 due to delays because of the suits against it that dragged on up to the Supreme Court.
I was assigned both before the law was passed and after to help Meralco with a small group of Arroyo’s closest Cabinet members in getting their “side” into the Act and then having their side taken into account by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that decides on how much Meralco could charge its customers.
With then Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas 2nd (who was believed to be very close to the Lopezes, his fellow Ilonggo), Energy Secretary Vicente Perez Jr. and presidential legal counsel Avelino Cruz Jr., we met several times in secret with Meralco Chairman Manuel Pangilinan and his vice president, a lady in charge of electricity economics.
Unbundled
We spent so many hours poring over the details of how the firm’s prices were to be “unbundled” (i.e., its costs made transparent), how the Ó“performance-based rating” system which replaced the “return on rate base” method that had been in effect since 1986, would work in practice.
While purportedly aimed at encouraging private sector investment in the power industry, the new pricing system made electricity costs in the country one of the highest in the world, while turning Meralco into a cash cow for its owners.
For some reason I don’t know though – I left Malacañang in 2005 to become the ambassador to Greece — Arroyo, or the Energy Regulatory Commission delayed the implementation of the new price system. With Meralco’s costs zooming up because of the peso’s devaluation, it was racking up so much losses to nearly keel over.
Coincidentally or not, the so-called Hello Garci scandal broke out in 2005 when Arroyo was recorded talking over the phone with a Comelec commissioner before the 2004 elections. The group of inane Cabinet members called the Hyatt 10 resigned and called for her resignation, Cory and Cardinal Jaime Sin demanded that the president step down. ABS-CBN became vicious in its attacks against Arroyo.
With their finances getting worse, the Lopezes sold Meralco to their ally, the Indonesian Anthoni Salim, in March 2009. A few months later, the ERC implemented the Epira’s pricing system. Meralco’s profits starting that year zoomed, with its dividends expanding from P1 billion in 2007 to P2.8 billion the year Salim took over and to at least P12 billion every year since 2013.
Aquino 3rd
In the 2010 elections, ABS-CBN went all-out for Benigno Aquino 3rd’s presidential bid, its huge corps of journalists throwing dirt on the main rival then, the magnate Manuel Villar, tagging him as “Villarroyo” and running “investigative reports” alleging how he got highways in Las Piñas built near the vast subdivisions he was developing. Villar ended up third, with Manuel Lopez’s in-law Estrada the runner up.
The Lopezes’ kingmaker role in the post-war era isn’t really new, as a University of California doctoral dissertation narrated:
“The Lopezes are the only family that has consistently stayed on the fringes of power since 1945, when they came to power with [Manuel] Roxas. Consistently they have been the manipulators of political balances in this country. When they abandoned Quirino and the Liberal Party in the 1950s, there was a stampede out. When they joined the Magsaysay bandwagon in the 1960s, they forced Garcia down.
“Then Macapagal came; but in two years the Lopezes were able to bring about a crisis of major proportions against him, and so bring on his downfall. And it was the Lopezes who engineered the coup of Ferdinand Marcos against Senate President Rodriguez that started his bid for the presidency. They rode with Marcos (and supported his bid for the presidency in 1965, and then abandoned him in 1969). What makes them so deadly? One: their control of media. They have one of the best radio and TV networks in the country.”
Now do you think that Sen. Miguel Zubiri’s complaint that with ABS-CBN closed he won’t be able to watch ANC in the morning anymore, the sympathy that 2,500 of its employees (per BIR figures) will lose their jobs, or the fear we won’t be informed about the pandemic anymore make any sense?
This Congress, the 18th, and this President, Duterte, the only president who won without ABS-CBN’s backing, will go down in history as oligarch-killers, as builders of Philippine democracy.
We are the only country in Asia to have such a powerful oligarch as the dominant player in broadcast media, the most effective venue in the modern era for molding the masses’ political consciousness and choices.
Japan has the mammoth NHK, South Korea’s three major network are either government-run or funded, and Singapore’s broadcast and print media are subsidiaries of the government investment fund Temasek Holdings.
Here we have an oligarch clan (in ABS-CBN Corp.), a triumvirate of magnates in another (GMA7) and a foreign tycoon (Indonesian Salim in TV5).
Worse for our democracy, the Lopezes weren’t just ordinary oligarchs. They owned for many decades the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the monopoly electricity distributor in Metro Manila, whose fortunes were 100 percent dependent on government regulations.
The Lopezes’ ABS-CBN made presidential elections a farce.
While the outcome of presidential elections are determined by a complex of factors, ABS-CBN has been a dominant factor, a big kingmaker, as the masses are hypnotized by ABS-CBN as they watch the 6 p.m. news while waiting for their teleserye or comedy programs.
Santiago
Miriam Defensor-Santiago in 1992 had tapped the idealism not only of the youth, but of the masses on a scale rivaling that of Rodrigo Duterte more than two decades later. The Lopezes, though, backed Fidel Ramos, their patron Corazon “Cory” Aquino’s anointed. It was enough for a dozen or so coverage by ABS-CBN showing Santiago in a tantrum, and spreading the meme (before that word was invented) of Miriam as “Brenda” — for brain-damaged — to get the dull general win the elections.
Despite media’s portrayal of him as a dum-dum, Joseph “Erap” Estrada was politically astute and sent all his celebrity “eraps” like Fernando Poe Jr. and allegedly his studio’s starlets to the Lopezes’ to get ABS-CBN behind his presidential bid. The Lopezes also hated candidate Jose de Venecia for his alleged support of the Marcos regime.
Or, perhaps, Erap did what medieval kings did, which was to establish an alliance through their children’s marriage. We learned about that only a year after the elections, when Manuel “Beaver” Lopez Jr. married Erap’s unica hija (at least with Loi) Jackie.
The Lopezes, however, didn’t hesitate to abandon Erap — loyalty hasn’t been that clan’s strength — when the going got tough, as the jueteng and other scandals gave the Yellows and Ramos who feared Estrada would prosecute him for the so-called Centennial funds corruption, more than enough issues to stage a second People Power uprising.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo tried very hard to get the Lopezes to her side, when she assumed power by accident in 2001. As Arroyo’s chief of staff, I attended a few dinners with Oscar and Manolo at her family’s Forbes Park home to shoot the breeze as they say, although after the main meal the two Lopezes would meet with Arroyo at her living room, with no other people there.
Arroyo
The Lopezes needed Arroyo badly at that time. While Cory was in power, they racked up hundreds of millions of loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines in the hope of quickly building up the empire they lost during martial law. However, they couldn’t seem to put their finances and even their house in order, especially after their primus inter pares Eugenio Lopez Jr. died in 1999.
That was the worst time for the patriarch to pass away as the 1998 to 1999 global financial crisis hit, and the Lopez empire had accumulated substantial foreign debt, the peso equivalent of which more than doubled as the exchange rate zoomed form P26 in 1996 to P54 by 2003.
The biggest problem though of the Lopezes involved their family jewel, Meralco, since the so-called Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) was passed in June 2001, but was implemented only starting 2007 due to delays because of the suits against it that dragged on up to the Supreme Court.
I was assigned both before the law was passed and after to help Meralco with a small group of Arroyo’s closest Cabinet members in getting their “side” into the Act and then having their side taken into account by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that decides on how much Meralco could charge its customers.
With then Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas 2nd (who was believed to be very close to the Lopezes, his fellow Ilonggo), Energy Secretary Vicente Perez Jr. and presidential legal counsel Avelino Cruz Jr., we met several times in secret with Meralco Chairman Manuel Pangilinan and his vice president, a lady in charge of electricity economics.
Unbundled
We spent so many hours poring over the details of how the firm’s prices were to be “unbundled” (i.e., its costs made transparent), how the Ó“performance-based rating” system which replaced the “return on rate base” method that had been in effect since 1986, would work in practice.
While purportedly aimed at encouraging private sector investment in the power industry, the new pricing system made electricity costs in the country one of the highest in the world, while turning Meralco into a cash cow for its owners.
For some reason I don’t know though – I left Malacañang in 2005 to become the ambassador to Greece — Arroyo, or the Energy Regulatory Commission delayed the implementation of the new price system. With Meralco’s costs zooming up because of the peso’s devaluation, it was racking up so much losses to nearly keel over.
Coincidentally or not, the so-called Hello Garci scandal broke out in 2005 when Arroyo was recorded talking over the phone with a Comelec commissioner before the 2004 elections. The group of inane Cabinet members called the Hyatt 10 resigned and called for her resignation, Cory and Cardinal Jaime Sin demanded that the president step down. ABS-CBN became vicious in its attacks against Arroyo.
With their finances getting worse, the Lopezes sold Meralco to their ally, the Indonesian Anthoni Salim, in March 2009. A few months later, the ERC implemented the Epira’s pricing system. Meralco’s profits starting that year zoomed, with its dividends expanding from P1 billion in 2007 to P2.8 billion the year Salim took over and to at least P12 billion every year since 2013.
Aquino 3rd
In the 2010 elections, ABS-CBN went all-out for Benigno Aquino 3rd’s presidential bid, its huge corps of journalists throwing dirt on the main rival then, the magnate Manuel Villar, tagging him as “Villarroyo” and running “investigative reports” alleging how he got highways in Las Piñas built near the vast subdivisions he was developing. Villar ended up third, with Manuel Lopez’s in-law Estrada the runner up.
The Lopezes’ kingmaker role in the post-war era isn’t really new, as a University of California doctoral dissertation narrated:
“The Lopezes are the only family that has consistently stayed on the fringes of power since 1945, when they came to power with [Manuel] Roxas. Consistently they have been the manipulators of political balances in this country. When they abandoned Quirino and the Liberal Party in the 1950s, there was a stampede out. When they joined the Magsaysay bandwagon in the 1960s, they forced Garcia down.
“Then Macapagal came; but in two years the Lopezes were able to bring about a crisis of major proportions against him, and so bring on his downfall. And it was the Lopezes who engineered the coup of Ferdinand Marcos against Senate President Rodriguez that started his bid for the presidency. They rode with Marcos (and supported his bid for the presidency in 1965, and then abandoned him in 1969). What makes them so deadly? One: their control of media. They have one of the best radio and TV networks in the country.”
Now do you think that Sen. Miguel Zubiri’s complaint that with ABS-CBN closed he won’t be able to watch ANC in the morning anymore, the sympathy that 2,500 of its employees (per BIR figures) will lose their jobs, or the fear we won’t be informed about the pandemic anymore make any sense?
This Congress, the 18th, and this President, Duterte, the only president who won without ABS-CBN’s backing, will go down in history as oligarch-killers, as builders of Philippine democracy.
Published in
News
Categories
Archives
Comments
-
This is really interesting, You're a very skilled blogger. I've…
Written by Merrill
on Thursday, 24 March 2016 12:35
Incompetence Kills
(LML Polettiques)
Newsletter Subscription
PARTNERS:
Contact Us
+63 (82)222-2771 Davao
+63 (02) 470-9076 Pasig
+63 (02) 470-9076 Pasig
3rd floor Metro Lifestyle Complex Building,
F. Torres Street Corner Jacinto Extension,
Davao City, 8000 Philippines
F. Torres Street Corner Jacinto Extension,
Davao City, 8000 Philippines
5F 501 Taipan Place Don F. Ortigas
Jr. Road Ortigas Center, Pasig City
Jr. Road Ortigas Center, Pasig City
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
