ANL 1^st Quarter 2014 Issue

E d i t o r i a l

2014, Year of the Wood Horse: Kicking ass around!

But of course, the nation must rise!

In the aftermath of a debilitating series of disasters the country has gone through during the year of the water snake, 2013, the need to rise up and move on is even more commanding for a people who can only suffer from the follies of man himself, if not from an angry nature, or both.

But hardly the horror and trauma brought forth by the dreadful Bohol quake and Yolanda’s killer storm surge late last year, comes the year of the wood horse kicking up mid-January  a weeklong low pressure area-turned-cyclone “Agaton”  ushering early torrential rains for the year resulting to flash floods and landslides in eastern Mindanao and eastern Visayas.

Rarely two at onset-month of year, storm “Basyang”  straddled same route as “Agaton” but is miniscule in rain and wind pack to create worries for an inept government.

Like a storm surge, the killing spree on the streets of Metro-Manila and elsewhere by men riding-in-tandem on motorbikes is on the uptrend attacking with daring ease and alarming frequency at one or two attacks a day rendering police authority virtually inutile even as this feared phenomenon spikes crime rate around the country to worrisome level.

The nagging rice crisis won’t die down just yet. Talks of so-called rice supply shortage upping prices enormously was unveiled by media as being manipulated by a Mafiosi-type rice smuggling syndicate that is compounding the already dubious nature of the problem dragging the names of no less than high government men and agencies into the billions-worth new scam now being investigated by Congress. [Read following news feature on the topic].

The quarrel on the pork barrel is much alive as the proverbial thief lurking in the dead of night.  After the demise of the priority assistance development fund [PDAF] at the sala of  the Supreme Court, President BS Aquino III and his ilk are hanging on tooth-and-nail to yet another pig’s fat belly called “hol”DAP [disbursement acceleration program] clandestinely created September 2011 by Secretary Butch Abad’s Department of Budget and Management. DAP is under litigation at the Supreme Court for a verdict as to its constitutionality. Folks, let’s pray to Allah who certainly detests pork.

Having called on Allah to shed some mercy to a touted only-Catholic-country in Asia, we can only pray for the eternal repose of 34 Filipinos killed daily in road accidents while government transport regulators are idling by watching “colorum” buses plying routes with dead franchises and/or switching fake double-plates. The latest of which was a Florida bus unit that plunged into a 114 feet-deep ravine February 7 in Bontoc,  Mountain province killing 15 passengers including a local artist-celebrity and three foreign tourists. What’s deplorable on this tragic incident was that the said bus has no franchise and was  using  then a fake plate while government seems unknowing of such criminal acts!

Unknowing is definitely not for a contemptuous power supplier Meralco charging customers wilfully a hiked rate even while a Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order [TRO] on the matter is very well in effect. A monster-cheat and criminal this Indonesia’s Salim-controlled company disguising as Filipino-owned! 

Meanwhile, gluttony is a norm for the oil giants as they lubricate their pockets with fat price hikes running almost weekly. Goes with it a silly rollercoaster scheme of a huge increase for every miniscule rollback thus effectively passing on the buck to the overburdened consumers.

And going for the slaughter, BS Aquino III—doing a Marcos, or a “shameblance” of it—set the mantle of cyber martial law on “Black Tuesday”, 18 February 2014, when its appointee-Supreme Court virtually upheld in its entirety Republic Act 10175 [Cybercrime Prevention Act] enshrining  libel as constitutional—this necessary evil of a law to ever stay and haunt dissent, stifle freedom of expression and speech, astutely insulating the powers that be to being untouchables in a nefarious regime led by a moron crazed with  double-talk: “kayo ang boss ko!”  [you, people, are my boss!] laced with the now infamous pledge for a “daang matuwid” [straight path] sort of governance.  

At the end of the day, the “double-talk” remains just that--“empty talk”!

The infamous Maguindanao massacre case of 2009 is going nowhere in almost five years of long and complicated court litigation typical of justice-delayed-justice-denied, only in the Philippines. The Luneta hostage taking of Taiwanese nationals killing at least eight of them in August 2010 remains unresolved four years after that bungled rescue operation by Philippine authorities resulting to a critically strained relations with Taiwan. Same is true with the unresolved Sabah standoff February last year between the royal forces of the Sulu Sultanate claiming Sabah and the Malaysian forces  that saw one more inept handling by the Aquino administration who, by a stroke of ignorance in both history and diplomacy savvy, even sided with the enemy and sold wholesale our Muslim brothers and for that matter—Sabah.

The displaced victims of killer typhoons Sendong and Pablo both in Mindanao two or three years ago are yet to be fully rehabilitated and languishing in poverty. Same is true with the crossfire victims of the Moro National Liberation Front’s September 2013 siege of Zamboaga City are still there—quite a number of them—in makeshift evacuation centres  with their children hungry and sick. What’s frightening about the case was that the culprits are still on the loose and fully armed.

The trauma ushered in by the horrible 7.2 magnitude Bohol quake that hit the island province October 15 last year still haunts the victims with recovery from vast destruction seen to last a decade or so as government ineptness prolongs the agony. Same is true with  the  thousands  of families  victimized  by the  dreaded  storm  surge  roused up by

record-strong typhoon “Haiyan”  [Yolanda] snuffing out about 7,000 lives with quite a number still missing under the rubbles of a virtually wiped out city of Tacloban in Leyte province, east Visayas.

With over four months since Yolanda struck early morning November 8 last year people were now restless and protesting on the streets due to  sluggishness of government action and inadequacy of support to an estimated ten [10] million victims in ravage areas of the Visayas and north Palawan in Luzon. This despite the formation of a government rehabilitation agency to cater to the needs of the victim areas and over PhP 3 billion-worth of local and foreign aid. There were reports even that quantities of relief goods were discovered rotting in government warehouses for unknown reason[s] or purpose[s].

The horrific truth is that time is running out. This early—on fire prevention month of March—the nauseating fire and smoke of a stinking traditional politics is very much upon this misruled and divided nation more than two years before the 2016 regular national elections.  Political camps are up in frenzy realigning forces thereby thrashing aside relevant issues in favour of their narrow parochial and/or dynastic interests.

And while the P-Noy government had just signed up an ambitious and hastily crafted Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro [CAB] this March 27, 2014 with the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front,  the nation is neither marching on to progress along a so-called “straight path” of governance. Rather, people were taken for a ride on a crooked, rough-and-tumbling  road to ineptness and  kleptomania.

But being fooled for too long now by crooks in high places, the horse’s instinct in us victims is but to kick the shenanigans’ asses for good!  editorial board . anl . 1^st Q 2014 

H o m e f r o n t   N e w s

Asingan. – While scribbling this news on a “stinking” piggery in a barangay of this town, a group of doting “balikbayans” who hail from this same locality were seen busy preparing supplies, equipment and personnel for a medical-dental mission slated April 4 as a “summer gift-activity” to their beloved birthplace--Carosucan Norte. With due respect to others in the group, known only to this writer were leading personalities Rudy Antonio and good wife Evelyn from Vancouver, BC; and Ronilo Corpuz from Vienna, Austria. Rudy and Ronilo were classmates of this writer and  members of Rizal Academy Class ’68. Kudos, good guys!

Said mission mentioned above somewhat offsets the unsavoury news topic pestering Carosucan Norte for a decade or so now re: a “stinking” piggery sitting right at the midst of a populated community with an elementary school nearby. A provincial road slices through the barangay and all types of transport vehicles and their passengers that pass through the area at critical hours of 4pm and 4am readily smell the foul odour of a poorly maintained [as shown on facebook photos] piggery said to be owned or, at least, under the name of a certain Alberto Lim.

What is even more “obnoxious” [like its “foul smell”] and alarming on the matter is the obvious political backing that the piggery seems to be enjoying all these years. People in the community easily associate a certain Chinese businessman and party-list politician from Rosales town as one of the backers of the piggery. The mayoral campaign in 2010 saw some promises to eventually close permanently the erring and DENR-padlocked   piggery. To the dismay of the entire community, the piggery reopened not long after the elections that year after allegedly posting a huge sum of a million pesos as penalty [fine] for violations of environmental rules and regulations in its management.

To whom goes the million bucks? The DENR’s regional office at Region 1 sounds vague in saying they punishes the piggery owner[s] on the latter’s environmental violations [cleanliness, waste disposal, etc.] but says the local government is answerable for the “noise and odour” issues attributed to the piggery. On splitting the blame; and a million bucks for a fine, at least, for now, everybody backing the piggery are happy! At the expense of the entire community, its own schoolchildren, and the commuting public. Which prompts us to ask: Peoples’ welfare, or cold cash for Lim and his backers?!

--o0o--

Meanwhile, at barangay Ariston Este in the easternmost side of town, another contentious issue has likewise been dragging on for quite sometime now, a Yamashita-like treasure hunt activity at a private lot of the Delfin family that has been going on-and-off for almost two decades with  a dozen or so treasure hunter groups changing hands with nary a rewarding result as of yet.

Puzzling as most treasure hunts were, this one at the Delfin family backyard in Ariston Este has been dragging on for long without any tangible result and yet one-after-another hunting group  despairing and quitting empty handed exits out only to be replaced by one more interested party. This hunter’s appetite for the puzzle’s pieces though is not the concern of this writer nor the community residents affected by the rowdy, noisy and destructive nature of the digging operation.

The extensive deep-digging operation has now eaten up a land surface of about 200 square meters and is already eroding lot boundaries with neighbours who have started complaining years ago of encroachment to their private domain. Moreover, silt and fine sand being pumped out from the open pit are being discharged into outlying rice paddies    via a nearby small irrigation canal that is now filled up to ground level with dirt and sediments. This aside from the noise pollution coming from both men and machines [booms and backhoes] used in the daily operation.

Quite puzzling, too, is the nonchalance of both lot owner and contractor-hunter on the discomfort and environmental consequences of the hunting operation which reportedly have not secured any permit and/or license from government to conduct such major land bashing and treasure hunting. Local barangay officials who are at hearing distance of the operation were silent [or silenced?] all those years! Backers at work, too?!

--o0o--

Still at the homefront, this national interest news is less expectedly a surprise for a shocker in a banana republic but nevertheless the “mother of all suckers”. The headliner screams: “Supreme Court clears Marcos heirs of ill-gotten wealth charges!”

Thus read in part the Manila Standard Today news story dated March 31, 2014: “THE Supreme Court has junked the ill-gotten cases against the heirs and in-laws of the late President Ferdinand Marcos due to a lack of evidence;  and took the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Solicitor General to task for bungling the job.

The dismissed cases involved the alleged accumulation of P200 billion in ill-gotten wealth and the acquisition of media networks IBC-13, BBC-2 and RPN-9; the alleged use of De Soleil Apparel for dollar salting; and the alleged acquisition and operation of the bus company Pantranco North Express Inc….”

“What the hell is this lousy joke,” grumbled an old colleague and comrade in the “parliament of the streets” upon reading what he feels was a thoughtless decision of the country’s highest court.

And for the bonus to those forgiving and forgetful souls of a dysfunctional society—the leeches are back with a vengeance virtually up there at their former foothold. Lick their asses so you may live puffing their hot air.  engr. jlsevilla, anl asingan correspondent

E  D I T O R I A L     B  O A R D

MEMBERS:  Rudy D. Antonio [Canada Correspondent];  Engr. Silver Casilla  &  RN Merly Grospe-Mayo [U.S. Correspondents];  Ronilo R. Corpuz [Vienna Correspondent];  Fely Dumaguing-Malgapo [Milan Correspondent];  Engr. Joe  L. Sevilla [Asingan Correspondent];  Col. Lalin Layos-Pascual;  Ross C. Diaz;  Engr. Lorie  dG.  Estrada;  CPA Rod A. Layco;  Wena Agaton-Balino [Photo & Lay-out Artist];  Ruben “Bencio” Balino [ Editor-In-Chief].

ANL Nov-Dec 2013 Issue

Special Editorial Issue

Please Pray For The Philippines!

“Pray before the fact…not after,”  opines “get real post”  blogger “benign0”  on taking a swipe at Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle’s  consoling homily in a mass following the onslaught of typhoon Yolanda.  Mr. “benign0”  [name in lower case, zero @ end] admonishes Cardinal Tagle in calling the horrible event an  “…opportunity for God to listen to His people…and the victims’ resilience, steadfast and deep-seated vow inspires the world community and the universal Church…”

But for “benign0”  here, he defines “prayer” in a more philosophical dimension. He considers “prayer” as not a mere chant or uttering a yearning tendered to one’s God. He considers “learning” as a form of prayer, e.g., learning ahead of the fact in order to anticipate and mitigate things to come. [Read text of this timely blog at tail-end of this issue for everyone’s reflection].

Meantime, Asingan NewsLine  joins the nation in praying for this  country of ours. Deliver us, oh, Lord! from pestilence in the likes of Bohol’s 7.2 magnitude quake; Yolanda’s storm surge; and the pestering stupidity and ineptness of a government ruled by power tripping age-old political dynasties and kleptomaniacs!

And as we seek divine intervention for most of the country’s problems, dear Lord, we realize that much of these “most[s]”  are the dire consequences of man’s indiscretions, of greed and narrow interest as opposed to the wellbeing of the helpless many and deprived citizens of this banana republic. This we pray, Father,  not after the fact, but as a case we tender to Your “court of judgement” that the evildoers shall perish with gluttony.

On the ground—unlike in heaven where souls were judged equally by the Lord—prevails in our midst the proverbial “great divide” where corrupted power rules in comfort while the destitute pushed further into the precipice. At the height of the quarrel on the infamous “pork barrel” menu in the Aquino regime’s cuisine, the long-disguised rice sufficiency posturing of government raised hell of a panic when a rice shortage instead sets in even before killer storm “Yolanda”  came surging ashore. Prices of the staple rose up sharply and didn’t revert back fully to normal level until now.

Top of Form

Scam-tired and tax-robbed, quake-ravaged and storm-torn, the country reels every now and then on the heel of weekly hikes in gas prices putting the burden to  commuters and small motor vehicle owners, including ordinary housewives managing the home. Despoiling any hope there is for the closing year, announcements were made on impending hikes in both water and power rates, social security and philhealth premiums, as well as a raise on fare at the Manila Railway Transit. Mall heists and bus accidents were a disturbing trend as the year goes for a disquiet end. The country’s helpless stance on our territorial dispute with a bullying China at West Philippine Sea proves even more a pitiful economy with nary a teeth to confront an expansionist enemy.

And no light is in sight at the end of the tunnel. More than four years after its execution,  the heinous Maguindanao massacre that killed 58 people [mostly mediamen]  is observed by legal luminaries as merely 20% gone through court litigation. The August 2010 infamous Luneta hostage taking has not been settled until now with the Honkong government whose eight tourist-citizens died in the shabbily-handled incident. The Zamboanga siege by Moro rebels this year that killed more than 200 people, wounded hundreds more and imperilled business by the billions in a month-long standstill will most likely go down the gutter as another casualty in our double-faced justice system.

The culture of impunity hereabout scares the wit not only of political activists involuntarily silenced, e.g., killed outright or mysteriously disappeared, but same true with mediamen killed one after another while on search for truth or simply espousing vital issues and advocacies. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists ranks the Philippines as third-worst in its “Impunity Index” of countries that fail to combat violence against the press. For the period Nov-Dec 2013 alone four attacks on press people were made with three killed bringing to 75 the total of fatalities since 1992. For 2013, no less than eight media people were murdered.

UNESCO head Director-General Irina Bokova condemns these media killings, saying: “Media workers in the Philippines have been paying a heavy price for exercising their right to free speech and in providing society with independent news and reports,” she noted. “It was ‘very important’ that those responsible for these murders be brought to trial,” she stressed. Sadly, hardly anyone prosecuted and jailed for all these heinous killings.

And after four years and two months after the infamous Maguindanao massacre where 37 press people were lined up and fired upon together with 21 ordinary civilians, no one has yet been convicted. Despite alleged recent moves to speed up trial, the case is seen to drag on for years in the country’s overburdened court system.

Indeed, 2013 was far more discomforting than previous years as the inexperienced, less statesman BS Aquino III and his corrupt leadership pushes further a nation that has long been a laughing stock in these parts.  eb-anl . nov-dec 2013

F  E  A  T  U  R  E

GET REAL POST

We beg to differ. 

Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle should just shut up about the Yolanda victims

December 2, 2013

by benign0

Recall the monstrous earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck Japan back in 2011 causing untold death and suffering there. The stoicism and quiet grace with which the Japanese greeted the unimaginable destruction and loss of life, mobilised its forces to assess and respond, and reached out to the global community to receive assistance speaks volumes of the magnificence of Japanese society. Japan’s prayers are different from our prayers. Being a predominantly Shinto and Buddhist society, Japanese prayers generally express a profound respect for nature and an acute mindfulness for one’s surroundings. Emphasis is on a life led in harmony with nature and recognition that one is but a part in a vast ecosystem.

In contrast, Catholics see nature as subject to man, and man subject to the “mysterious” whims of their wrathful and all-controlling God. As such, a Catholic’s prayers put emphasis on their subjection to the will of God (to explain adversity) and their being showered with his graces (to explain good times). For Catholic Filipinos, prayer is surrender, while for the Japanese, prayer is expressed as reverence for a system of which one is but a mere part. A Catholic’s prayer is about deliverance from the physical world, while that of the average Japanese is about embrace of the physical world.

After-the-fact reflection is clearly evident in how the Roman Catholic Church is pitching its case for relevance in the aftermath of the disaster wrought by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). Former Church media spokesman Monsignor Ramon Aguilos reportedly quoted Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle in a mass he officiated last week, thus:

“The eyes of the world and the universal Church are on you, people of Tacloban and Leyte. Instead of me consoling you, it’s you who are consoling me. Your resilience, your steadfast, deep-seated vow inspire the world community and the universal Church,” Tagle said in his homily, as quoted by Aguilos.

Tagle also urged the faithful to not be afraid to ask God why they were suffering due to Yolanda. He said that like a child, they had the right to ask this question from their parent.

“This is an opportunity for God to listen to His people,” Tagle said.We should “not be afraid to ask God why [we] suffer[...]“; An “opportinity for God to listen to His people”…

All sounds nice and peachy, doesn’t it? That is, if you manage to suspend your higher thinking faculties indefinitely. But try latching on to such words when the proverbial brown stuff remains scattered all over the place since it hit the proverbial fan a couple of weeks ago and doing so will feel more like trying to hang on to a greasy pole. It’s all so nebulous. You can’t grasp it or harvest any real meaning out of words like these. All you really get is a temporary emotional fix. Try and apply these words to the real work that needs to be done in the coming months? Well, good luck with that. God listens, perhaps. But chances are, you will have to rely on a really colourful imagination to work out what his answer is.

You wonder how not just a handful of people but an entire global organisation can get away with routinely issuing virtually meaningless words like these. On what basis, exactly, does Tagle say with this sort of perception of certainty that the plight of the people of Tacloban “inspire the world community”? What is the precise nature of this “inspiration”? Which specific sectors in this “world community” are being inspired? What exactly is the logical and tangible earthly relief being offered here? Ask the right questions and you will get shut down, unfortunately.

The Church does not really promise much to the living. As far as religious “faith” is concerned, the real party happens after you die. So no problemo, man. All you get in the world of the living is a God who “listens”. Oh yeah, and watches too.

Perhaps what we need more of in the future is a different form of “prayer”. And here, when I say “prayer”, I don’t mean the sorts of prayer we are encouraged to chant to ourselves to give ourselves some sort of nebulous assurance that our future is taken cared of by an omnipotent and omnipresent being. What we can do better is pay attention to the abundance of real knowledge that modern technology allows us unprecedented access to that we can learn from. A start would be applying a more serious effort to studying the way that other disaster-prone country anticipates adversity and copes with its aftermath when it does visit — Japan.

Unlike our prayers, which are generally uttered after the fact of a tragedy, the Japanese people, in a manner of speaking, “pray” before the fact. The vast and carefully thought-out measures they had put in place to anticipate and mitigate the risk of a disaster such as the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, is Japan’s “prayer” for its dead and suffering in the aftermath. Such a sort of prayer, in my opinion, is far superior to the Catholic’s prayer. Being done before the fact, it frees minds to focus on acting with clarity of purpose when adversity strikes, rather than imprisoning minds with questions about and surrender to a god’s “purpose” as the case would be for after the fact prayers.

And that is what true resilience is and where real inspiration comes from — when there are convincing results rather than unsubstantial hope, and where there is clear evidence of self-reliance rather than protracted neediness.

While the loss of life in Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 monster earthquake is staggering, it cannot be said to be one that resulted from any form of reckless neglect. Because the Japanese had done all it can in life to respect the living it has little need for prayers — only a focus on action and learning and the tangible support coming from nations that are, themselves, possessing of characters consistent with an ethic underpinned by respect for human dignity in life.

benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.

N  E  W  S  L  I  N  E

NOTA BENE.  Watch out for at least a couple of explosive Asingan news coming out in the next issue [Jan-Feb 2014] of Asingan NewsLine, titled: “Politics of Patronage; of Accommodation; of Convenience!”  For a title, it sounds not a news but a commentary, or a feature article. But no…two big spanking news under it!

Mandela with another icon Comandante Fidel Castro of Cuba

MEANWHILE,  Asingan NewsLine  expressly manifests deep mourning at the passing away early November of Nelson “Madiba” Mandela, 95--a “dear comrade and great father to his people”;  “prime leader in the fight against apartheid”;  and “iconic leader of freedom and world democracy”. 

The world shall surely miss your brand of leadership: Fierce in your persistence and unwavering in the face of persecution, hardship and even death. We’ll find solace at the thought  that our “discriminated race” and the world’s oppressed shall emulate your deeds and sacrifices and embolden them to seek genuine freedom, justice and prosperity that you’ve fought for.

Bye for now, Madiba! Your journey is our journey.

E  D I T O R I A L     B  O A R D

MEMBERS:  Rudy D. Antonio [Canada Correspondent];  Engr. Silver Casilla  &  RN Merly Grospe-Mayo [U.S. Correspondents];  Ronilo R. Corpuz [Vienna Correspondent];  Fely Dumaguing-Malgapo [Milan Correspondent];  Engr. Joe  L. Sevilla [Asingan Correspondent];  Col. Lalin Layos-Pascual;  Ross C. Diaz;  Engr. Lorie  dG.  Estrada;  CPA Rod A. Layco;  Wena Agaton-Balino [Photo & Lay-out Artist];  Ruben “Bencio” Balino [ Editor-In-Chief].

ANL Sep-Oct 2013 Issue

Special Editorial Issue

Tumultuous Period

People’s wrath and nature’s rage all but made September-October a tumultuous period for year 2013—a year of the water snake;  also a year of the female specie as in “pork barrel queen” Janet Lim-Napoles;  a year, too, of the water which was aplenty  during the period swept by a record-total of six tropical storm.

Amid seething people’s protests against the callousness of government officials prowling on workingmen’s hard-earned cash, armed uprising by members of Nur Misuari’s spurned Moro National Liberation Front broke out October 9 in the southern city of Zamboanga claiming over 200 lives and inflicting huge business losses in three weeks of fighting.

Mother nature seems angered too with the insensitivities of man. It sired six cyclones including “Santi”  that wrought havoc to Central Luzon. A debilitating 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook up central Visayas October 15, tearing down walls and towers of century-old churches in Bohol and Cebu provinces and obliterating some Bohol towns with kilometers-long ground cracks, dozens of sinkholes and landslides in several higher grounds. About 230 people perished.

Bohol’s famous Lobok Church in ruins after the October 15 magnitude 7.2 earthquake 

Even as the pork barrel [a.k.a. PDAF, or priority development assistance fund] scam heats up,scores of other financial scandals involving government executives crop up one after another proving only too well that the government bureaucracy is one big syndicate bled  with cash by hungry political zombies headed no less by the chief executive of the land who is hanging on tooth-and-nail to his trillion-worth pork barrel.

The so-called DAP [Disbursement Acceleration Program] created in October 2011 by the BS Aquino administration is a less-known or virtually hidden multi-billion racket and milking cow of high government officials until media got wind of it October this year. But with poor intellect and stubborn as he is, Mister Aquino on October 30 went on primetime TV to defend PDAF as constitutional and the DAP as no pork, miserably missing the point which is the people’s ire and dislike of cheaters and robbers in chiselled attire stealing hard-earned people’s money.

Government-owned and controlled corporations [GOCCs] like the National Livelihood Development Corporation [NLDC], the Government Service Insurance System [GSIS], the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System, the government-owned gambling agencies PAGCOR and PCSO, the health insurance system Philhealth, the billion-dollar earner Malampaya Oil, to name a few, are virtual “private purses” of executives and directors appointed and allied with the Aquino leadership in the form of “fat bonuses and fringe benefits” exorbitantly high in the millions for each on midyear and Christmas.

For Aquino, revenues from billion-dollar earners Malampaya Oil and the giant gambling institutions PAGCOR and PCSO are added to his pork with only him and no one else in the discretion.

The privately owned loan and pension system SSS [Social Security System] entrusted  to government’s managerial hands wasn’t spared by hungry wolves appointed by the powers that be to lead said agency. Our very own Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle wept in one forum while tackling this sad state of corruption in high places unique to this home called Philippines.

Then there were more. If Janet Napoles holds congress and Malacanang palace by her palm, then there was this multi-millionaire woman trader, Leah Cruz, who monopolizes the onion and garlic industry from his undisputed influence emanating from the Department of Agriculture headed by Secretary Procy Alcala. A certain Ma’am Arlene holds sway at the Judiciary. So we have now  three branches of government at the filthy hands of shadowy characters all!

In the face of all these, who will weep next? Certainly, not an offended people and demeaned nature. Not for long.  Not when people and nature were forlorn, cheated and robbed. Not when “trapos” [traditional politicians] say they never knew a Janet Lim-Napoles when the truth is—for years in the works—she’s long been their good patron, ally, or family friend all rolled into one.

The century-old rebellion in Mindanao either by rebels or so-called “terrorists” speaks for itself of a society, on the one hand, and a government-state, on the other hand, clashing in opposition over their respective goals and class interests. It even denotes a leadership that cannot even grasp clearly the dictates of his/her country’s history.

Certainly, mother nature is sore at its condition of wanton neglect and plunder. Deforestation, typhoons, flooding and earthquakes can be mitigated by education and preparedness, by government action and support, by less corruption, by honesty and sincerity of leaders from top to bottom.  But at the rate the so-called “mandated public servants” are  [mal]performing and robbing people’s pockets,  stagnation prevails.

Then can we pray:  “Cometh not the most tumultuous point when the angered and violated sought a payback!” eb . anl . sep-oct 2013

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[Nota Bene: Please see/read inadvertently unpublished ANL Jul-Aug 2013 Issue at bottom of this newsletter by clicking “Older Posts”].

E  D I T O R I A L     B  O A R D

MEMBERS:  Rudy D. Antonio [Canada Correspondent];  Engr. Silver Casilla  &  RN Merly Grospe-Mayo [U.S. Correspondents];  Ronilo R. Corpuz [Vienna Correspondent];  Fely Dumaguing-Malgapo [Milan Correspondent];  Engr. Joe  L. Sevilla [Asingan Correspondent];  Col. Lalin Layos-Pascual;  Ross C. Diaz;  Engr. Lorie  dG.  Estrada;  CPA Rod A. Layco;  Wena Agaton-Balino [Photo & Lay-out Artist];  Ruben “Bencio” Balino [ Editor-In-Chief].