Get well Rene Saguisag

The memory just can't be erased. Rene Saguisag was one of the finest symbols in the fight against dictatorship in the 80's. He saved many lives and suffered many indignities. Of one thing we can be sure: he remained true to the call to protect the down-trodden. Get well. Our condolences on the passing of Dulce.

By the way, we find this joke a bit too early in the telling to be funny.

Open those gates!

Had I run and won for captain in my barangay, one of the first things I would have done was to open the gates. In the neighborhood I live in (Teachers Village, UP Village, Sikatuna Village) many roads, maintained and lit by taxpayers, have been expropriated by homeowners, including my favorite senator, Miriam Defensor Santiago, who have carved for themselves private enclaves on public property.
All one has to do is have a petition on grounds of barangay and national security approved by the village council. Howard Calleja, whose English and logic leave much to be desired, was just interviewed by Ricky Carandang on the subject. If it's private property then there's not much controversy, but the state still can exercise right of way. But public property! (hey we don't need more legal analysis; what happened to Dean Bocobo's show?).
Because of these gates, one has to go through long detours at night, contributing to unnecessarily to climate change.
I wonder why the so-called 'progressive' and 'left-wing' and 'pro-poor' groups don't bitch about this. Maybe their leaders live in these villages?

The captain of my barangay

six paradoxes and a little candor

According to some pundits, the fabric of our society is about to be shred to pieces, even if there is no sign of any thread which can be woven to clothe us while we try to find a warm home henceforth.

Poverty and discontent are widespread, as is confusion. Let me cite some paradoxes:

1. The economy is improving while average family incomes are declining;
2. Average family incomes are declining even as more and more are going abroad to remit incomes to their families;
3. Remittances are increasing while real incomes are decreasing;
4. The people who go abroad are unhappy but continue to keep ties with the country;
5. They continue to keep ties with the country but their families remain unhappy;
6. They are unhappy but they continue to tolerate GMA.
   

More than ten years ago, a friend who spent more than six years in Moscow to study cinematography shared this joke with me:

The 6 paradoxes of socialism

1. there is no unemployment but nobody works;
2. nobody works but everybody gets paid;
3. everybody gets paid but the shops are empty;
4. the shops are empty but all get what they need;
5. they all get what they need but remain unhappy;
6. they remain unhappy but they all vote for the communist party.

The comparison might be a little stretched, but there are a few parallels. Let me be candid. I took part, as a communist then, in securing a scholarship for the friend above in Moscow. I have many unanswered questions about what may come next if we kick out Gloria. But I can't stand the lying that passes off as governance.

My goodness, Ambassador Kristie Kenney!

If you were quoted properly in this Inquirer report US envoy backs 'accidental gas explosion' theory, you should immediately issue a clarification.

BAGUIO CITY -- The Philippine National Police’s “accidental gas explosion” theory has found another backer in US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, who said American experts had also concluded that the Oct. 19 blast at the Glorietta 2 mall in Makati City was “a tragic accident.”

Kenney, who was in Baguio for several engagements, said those saying otherwise should realize what a terror attack in Metro Manila would mean to the country as a whole.

“[An accident in the heart of a city] is never a good thing … but it is much better than having it [turn out] to be a bomb,” the ambassador said Tuesday.

“If there was a bombing at a shopping mall in the middle of Metro Manila, I want you to think about the kind of travel advisory America would have to put out and the devastating impact that would have on business,” she said, adding:

“I don’t think investors worry about an accident,” although the business community would “obviously want to know why it happened.”

You should realize by now that your unfortunate remarks just add fuel to the fertile minds of local conspiracy theorists who will now say you're in cahoots with authorities in a very complicated cover-up, because the logic of your statements is this: better think about the effects of a theory borne out by the facts, because they can be more devastating than the blast. Better to tailor the 'cause' to the 'desired effect' is what you seem to have said.

This is how the embassy release should read:

"We support all efforts to let the evidence speak for itself."

Publish this and you can gracefully shut up.

Snared in Pinky's Web

Helplessly trapped in Pinky's web on ANC this morning was the arachnophobic Rep. Prospero Nograles, who confessed on the Malacanang meeting last Saturday. Naplantsa na ang gusot. All's well in the family known as the Mafia in Sicily.

Jose de Venecia to Gloria: There's nothing you can do to change my mind about you...
Gloria: Buang man ka dong. Pakusia kos imong bugan bi.

Pakistan and the Philippines: Notes on variations on a theme of oft-sung songs dictators sing

After hearing the news on Pakistan yesterday, I asked an American colleague whether he could imagine GMA taking a leaf from the best-selling song hits of Musharaf. After a few glasses of wine we listed the following observations about dictators:

1. They are infected by a virus called messianism. They want to save us from ourselves.
2. That they claim they can do so because they know something we don't.
3. And when we ask for the info we don't know, they say we shouldn't even know what it is we don't know.
   
4. They have info we don't because we can't handle it soberly.
5. They can handle the info better because, they don't really want to rub it in, they are superior.
6. They are superior, because, not having been breast-fed, they steeled themselves drinking milk from the bottle.
7. But most of all, they were not born with sin, having been immaculately conceived inside the womb of their parents' cow.
8. Moo! You know nothing about national security!
9. They get invited to international conventions of solipsists and we don't.
   

All dictators spring from the old obscurantist tradition that they hear things from the creator reserved for true believers.

As oil prices poise to breach a hundred per barrel, energy secretary Angelo Reyes does the right thing: Nothing.

Reyes is doing right by not announcing any populist moves. After all, at least as far as I'm concerned, the oil deregulation regime has been doing just fine. If we were in the late '80's or mid-90's, the scandal-ridden administration would already have been ousted by a coup by right-wing adventurists, who, in those times, timed their moves based on the movements of prices in the world oil market.

It is now close to a decade since we finally smashed the old illusion that oil price subsidies were pro-poor, perpetuated for a long time by the middle and upper class leaders of so-called 'people's organizations.' Note that at that time nominal prices were below 20 dollars per barrel. Now the high is about five times. But we don't hear of any outrageous manifestos that the increase is caused by the local ruling class in conspiracy with foreign capitalists, do we?

I have a list of measures the energy secretary might consider, but none of these will lower gasoline prices for the middle class. In the meantime, he should just stand his ground.

Here's a list of easy energy saving tips promoted by Iran's revered president.

Barangay elections and how Abalos is laughing now...

If you're reading this, you're probably one of those who didn't bother to vote in the barangay elections. You can be excused because most in the middle class don't appreciate what village officials really do, aside from ensuring our homes and cars in our 'exclusive' villages, some situated on streets actually maintained and lit by the taxpayer at large.

But this new scandal at the Comelec cries out for attention.

To ANC's Marieton Pacheco: did they bend your rmind?

Members of the Psychic Entertainment Network were featured in ANC yesterday. One remote-sensor, a mind reader, and a telekineticist. The mind-reader begged off from displaying his skills. Yes, the trio were careful to describe the abilities as 'skills' rather than as special powers.
The remote-sensor, with a metal blindfold, was able to pick milk from a set of five glasses; the other four contained water. In his commercial act, he said, the four would have contained acid.
The fork bender impressed Pacheco because after quick hand-wringing movements, he seemed to have bent the teeth and even the handle. Had I been there, I would have re-arranged the tests to eliminate loopholes in the demonstrations.
I would have placed a black hood on the remote-sensor and a plastic sheet in front of the bender.
Here's an informative video from Michael Shermer, my favorite skeptic, on spoonbending.

Here's my challenge to Marieton. If you claim you were not taken in for a good ride, let's invite the PEN at my expense and at a place and time of their choosing.
If they pass my tests, good. We can hire them to lecture to all the bloggers out there, brimming with self-importance, to hone their skills enough so that we can finally concentrate on GMA, and force her to leave Malacanang telekinetically. Deal?

Mukha Mukasey; implications for the Philippines

The Democrats, because of attorney-general-nominee Mukasey's amiable face, are inclined to confirm him, except for this one fly in the ointment: Mukasey refuses to say whether waterboarding constitutes torture.
In a previous post, I pointed out that a senate Democrat mentioned the case of a US soldier who was prosecuted for using waterboarding on a Filipino insurgent. The effect of the method is to make the captive feel he is drowning. Now, if that is not torture, I don't know what is.
In his speech at the Heritage Foundation yesterday, George W. explained his tortured logic why Congress should just confirm the nominee immediately:

1. If the menu of methods in interrogation were to be published, suspected terrorists could adopt mitigation measures. How? By bringing scuba gear or snorkels all the time, during suicide missions, especially, I suppose. And Osama might send his trainees to explore the rich marine life in the Philippines in aid of proper certification as a torture-proof and dead terrorist. That makes sense and would be good for Philippine tourism. (How about this Ace Durano and GMA? Why don't you testify bravely against your idol?)
   
2. Mukasey has not been briefed on the method and could not possibly make a judgment. So brief him immediately then.
3. The whimpy Democrats, ever soft on national security, are just making political hay.
4. Finally leading to his pitch on the "war on terror", soi-disant, the US should employ all means to accomplish the ends of his foreign and phallic fallacy.
   

The New York Times explains Mukasey's refusal better: the administration does not want to open the door to prosecution of those who used the method before it came to public attention.
Does this debate have any implications for the Philippines? Are our definitions of torture rigorous? What are these?

Ruben Carranza Jr., formerly defense assistant secretary under Erap, recently reminded me that since EDSA 1, no one has been prosecuted successfully for torture. What a shame.

A new voice on ANC?

At dinner last Sunday, my guest revealed that DJB_Rizalist would soon have a variety/talk show on ANC. That would be a fine addition to the channel's steadily improving menu. The guest, a mid-level Palace official, said there were just a few more hurdles before this new baby of Twink Macaraeg could be delivered by Caesarian bisection. Hail,hail! I will not reveal her identity on grounds of national security, on which Dean is notoriously obsessed.

The Dean, the most famous , opinionated, outspoken, and sometimes bullying 'neocon' blogger from the Philippines will now have access to a greater audience, or, should I say, we will now have greater access to his independent and sometimes courageously outrageous opinions.
The Philippine Onion's media critic, The Small and Medium, has the complete story. Tim Sebastian rejects ANC offer.

Donald Rumsfeld on Glorietta blast:it's WMD, stupid!

This is my response to John Nery's recent blog Sleepless in Glorietta:

Dear John,

Skepticism is generally healthy, especially when it is solidly grounded. I have examined the premises of yours and find them wanting. To summarize, you “have a hard time believing” the conclusion because:

1. A few hours after the explosion, the PNP Chief himself aired the possibility that the blast was caused by a bomb. Yet, the well-written editorial you adverted to had this correct assertion: We recognize their testing of new theories as consistent with the emergence of new facts. Rather than being a basis for skepticism, this point tends to diminish it.
2. The visits by the PNP top brass to the various newsrooms were highly unusual. It could be that this is merely the way the new Chief does business, but as one can readily see from a comparison of the same-but-different front pages of the Inquirer and the Star the day after the visit, this kind of unusual attention stokes a journalist’s hard-earned skepticism. Couldn’t this have (when was this visit?) been just a media management attempt on such a disconcerting incident? I wonder why the Inquirer did not have the more appropriate headline “PNP officers visit PDI, eat own crow in front of editors!” consistent with your head “Palace fixes 190 congressmen” on the bribes scandal.
3. The police generals were quick to adopt an aw-shucks attitude when questioned about the technical details of the (new) theory they were proposing. But since then, police have also released a lot of information tending toward the gas blast theory, including the two reports featured in a special section of PDI with many photos of the basement which showed no signs of a bomb explosion.
4. My own sources tell me about other findings, other “facts” unaccounted for in the new theory. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to corroborate what they say. Why don’t you share these ‘facts’ for the careful consideration of your anxious readers? The Inquirer should also post the Australian report in its website.

The officials should be castigated for their rush to judgment early on. On the other hand we can’t be faulted for our rush to skepticism considering the current political atmosphere. But might we be faulted for a lingering, adamant, and unreasonable skepticism oblivious of the established facts already made available? A professional skeptic like me was instantly skeptical of the members of the Psychic Entertainment Network featured in ANC yesterday, but that is because of my appreciation of mainstream science. Would you happen to know of any arcane scientific findings which cast doubt on the gas blast theory? In other words, tell us what in the future needs to be established for you to find the theory easier to believe.

Before I forget let me attempt to dispose of the initial finding of RDX on one sample from the ground floor. In my earlier and long blogs on the subject, I raised the possibility that this was simply a false positive, owing to the limitations of the test itself. Because of the absence of reference to this in the reports of the foreign investigators, I take it that they were not able to replicate the result, and did not emphasize the fact out of professional courtesy to their local counterparts. I have read almost all the PDI articles on the blast but could not find any reference to any of your reporters pursuing this false positive angle.

Finally, your skepticism reminds me of ex-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s disengenuously original defensive remark: The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence in regard to the failure of investigators to find the slightest trace of WMD in Iraq post invasion.

Sincerely yours,

viking logarta

Dead but not buried

If you're reading this coming in from the Halloween holidays, let me tell you this. If you thought Speaker Joe de Venecia will no longer be around, either you are dead, or just dead wrong. While you were away, the presidential security guard (PSG) was able to thwart another Palace coup. By the dead asking why she had not joined them as she had promised years ago.

The dead but not buried.

After all, the dead represent the largest constituency in Philipine politics.