Case Closed

Separate Opinion : The Evelio Javier case

Isagani Cruz
Inquirer News Service

THE CURRENT controversy over the Garci tapes reminds me of the case of Evelio Javier vs. Commission on Elections, 144 SCRA 194, which was raffled to me shortly after the reorganization of the Supreme Court in 1986. The petitioner had complained of irregularities committed in the election for the Batasang Pambansa in Antique, but the case was intentionally ignored during martial law and was still undecided after Edsa I.

The records showed that Javier had failed to prevent the proclamation of the KBL candidate, Arturo Pacificador, and had gone to the Supreme Court for relief. While his petition was pending, Javier and some of his supporters were murdered in cold blood and in broad daylight. After studying the case, I recommended its dismissal, but Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee felt that the new Supreme Court should make a statement.

And so I wrote the decision on the merits, excerpts of which follow:

"The new Solicitor General has moved to dismiss this petition on the ground that as a result of supervening events it has become moot and academic. It is not as simple as that. Several lives have been lost in connection with this case, including that of the petitioner himself. The private respondent is now in hiding. The purity of suffrage has been defiled and the popular will scorned through a confabulation of those in authority. This Court cannot keep silent in the face of these terrible facts. The motion is denied.

"The abolition of the Batasang Pambansa and the disappearance of the office in dispute between the petitioner and the private respondent-both of whom have gone their separate ways-could be a convenient justification for dismissing this case. But there are larger issues that must be resolved now. The more important purpose is to manifest in the clearest possible terms that this Court will not disregard and in effect condone wrong on the simplistic and tolerant pretext that the case has become moot and academic.

"The Supreme Court is not only the highest arbiter of legal questions but also the conscience of the government. The citizen comes to us in quest of law but we must also give him justice. The two are not always the same. There are times when we cannot grant the latter because the issue has been settled and decision is no longer possible according to the law. But there are also times when although the dispute has disappeared, as in this case, it nevertheless cries out to be resolved. Justice demands that we act then, not only for the vindication of the outraged right, though gone, but also for the guidance of and as a restraint upon the future."

"Since this case began in 1984, many significant developments have taken place, not the least of which was the February revolution of 'people power' that dislodged the past regime and ended well nigh fourteen years of travail for this captive nation. The petitioner is gone, felled by a hail of bullets sprayed with deadly purpose by assassins whose motive is yet to be disclosed. The private respondent has disappeared with the 'pomp of power' he had before enjoyed. Even the Batasang Pambansa itself has been abolished, an 'iniquitous vestige of the previous regime' discontinued by the Freedom Constitution. It is so easy now, as has been suggested not without reason, to send the records of this case to the archives and say the case is finished and the book is closed.

"But not yet.

"Let us first say these meager words in tribute to a fallen hero who was struck down in the vigor of his youth because he dared to speak against tyranny. Where many kept a meekly silence for fear of retaliation, and still others feigned and fawned in hopes of safety and even reward, he was not afraid. Money did not tempt him. Threats did not daunt him. His was a singular and all-exacting obsession: the return of freedom to his country. And though he fought not in the barricades of war amid the sound and smoke of shot and shell, he was a soldier nonetheless, fighting valiantly for the freedom of his people, against the enemies of his race, unfortunately of his race too, who would impose upon the land a perpetual night of dark enslavement. He did not see the breaking of the dawn, sad to say, but in a very real sense Evelio B. Javier made that dawn draw nearer because he was, like Saul and Jonathan, 'swifter than eagles and stronger than lions.'

"... a new government has taken over in the wake of the February revolution. The despot has escaped and, with him, let us pray, all the oppressions and repressions of the past have also been banished forever. A new spirit is now upon our land. A new vision limns the horizon. Now we can look forward with new hope that under the Constitution of the future every Filipino shall be truly sovereign in his own country, able to express his will through the pristine ballot with only his conscience as his counsel.

"This is not an impossible dream. Indeed, it is an approachable goal. It can and will be won if we are able at last, after our long ordeal, to say never again to tyranny. If we can do this with courage and conviction, then and only then, and not until then, can we truly say that the case is finished and the book is closed."

Glo's Not Indispensable

Separate Opinion : Looking for a leader

Isagani Cruz
Inquirer News Service

AS an ordinary citizen observing the swirl of current events, I would say that the opposition to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is losing steam. Her foes are being routed by the propaganda countercharge mounted by their intended victim. They probably now realize that Ms Arroyo is not the pushover they had imagined her to be.

In the view of her critics, the ouster of President Arroyo was practically a done deal two weeks ago when former President Corazon Aquino publicly asked her to resign. That immediately created a snowball effect. One Opposition leader predicted that the chastened Gloria would be history in 72 hours. It is now going three weeks since that confident boast but Ms Arroyo is still in Malacañang.

What stopped that dangerous momentum on its tracks was another former President who came to La Gloria's rescue. This was Fidel V. Ramos who presided at the hastily convened conference she called to ward off the growing clamor for her resignation. She sat silently as Mr. Ramos regrouped her demoralized forces and commanded them to fight back. They obeyed, and the tide began to turn in her favor.

Now the anti-Gloria campaign is back to square one. The five committees of the House of Representatives have resumed their investigation of the Garci tapes but without the original moral indignation and inquisitiveness. It is not likely to go far without the principal witness, who has so far not surfaced despite the supposed determined search being conducted by the police and military authorities. Some say Virgilio Garcillano is already dead, like Bubby Dacer, who also knew too much.

The Senate investigation of the jueteng scandal also faces a blank wall. Evidence of the alleged involvement of the Arroyo family in the payola distributed by the gambling lords is mostly hearsay if not also generally unconvincing. Bong Pineda, whom the senators want to question, is out of the country and beyond their jurisdiction although they have ways to compel his return if they really want to. The probe is likely to meet the same fate as the investigation of Sen. Panfilo Lacson four years ago that was never resolved by the past Senate.

The surveys in Metro Manila showing Ms Arroyo's declining popularity among its residents have been dismissed by her supporters as not reflective of the people's will outside that region. Metro Manila is not the Philippines, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita declared, arguing that the rest of the country is still for the President. Malacañang has also pooh-poohed the President's poor ratings and has pointedly asked who are paying for such surveys.

A recent study made by the research group of this paper revealed that the majority of the 79 provinces in the country are still for President Arroyo. At least the governors and mayors are, although it is not certain that they control their constituents. Assuming that they do, the national consensus still appears to be for the resignation of the embattled chief executive.

The other remedy is also problematic. Impeachment can succeed only if the vote requirements in the Constitution are satisfied. To date, the House of Representatives has not mustered the one-third vote of its members needed to impeach President Arroyo. The proponents have so far mustered only some 50 of the needed 79 votes. Even if the number is reached and the case goes to the Senate for trial and decision, the outlook is also dim for Ms Arroyo's foes. The vote needed to convict is two-thirds of the 24 members, of whom only eight are now in the opposition.

Things can change drastically if the evidence in the legislative investigations, and particularly in the impeachment trial if ever it is conducted, becomes irremediably damaging to President Arroyo. Some of her supporters may join her opponents. But even that is not certain if we go by our experience in the Estrada impeachment. Despite the shocking revelations at the trial of his misdeeds, he would have been absolved if the case had continued. Up to the last minute, his 12 allies in the Senate remained steadfast.

The trouble with those who want President Arroyo out of Malacañang is their lack of an effective leader. The "trapo" [traditional politicians] in the opposition will not do because the people do not trust them. The religious and military leaders, like Archbishop Oscar Cruz and Gen. Fortunato Abat, have moral but hardly any political following. The Hyatt Ten may have valid cause for complaint but most of us do not even remember their names. The people who want to oust President Arroyo want to be led, but there is no leader to lead them.

Somewhere among the 86 million Filipinos such a leader must be waiting to be called to bring us to the Promised Land after these many decades of fruitless search. The poet Thomas Gray mused: "Full many a gem of purest ray serene / the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear, / full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen / and waste its sweetness in the desert air." Such is the leader who is yet to be discovered. Released from obscurity, such a leader can guide the nation, with its full support, to the true path of morality, freedom and democracy.

IPP Blues

As I See It : IPP with P14,000 to build P800-M power plant?

Neal Cruz opinion@inquirer.com.ph
Inquirer News Service

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo dared the opposition to impeach her. Don't march in the streets, she challenged, impeach me. She refused to answer directly accusations against her. "I will answer you in the proper forum [meaning, in the impeachment trial]; prove your case in court" was her mantra.

Now it is becoming clear why she prefers to be impeached. There may never be an impeachment trial. Pro-administration congressmen will block the impeachment bid because they have the numbers.

"We have an overwhelming majority in the House," boasted Speaker Jose de Venecia. And Malacañang itself has boasted that it has signed up 170 congressmen who pledge to crush the impeachment bid. Expect pork-barrel allocations to flood the districts (and pockets) of pro-administration congressmen. Expect the coffers of the National Treasury to be drained even more. Far from our taxes going back to us in the form of services, they go instead to the yawning pockets of congressmen.

That is why an impeachment trial is a very imperfect way of replacing abusive, corrupt and incompetent presidents. A president may be as guilty as hell, but he/she goes or stays not on the basis of guilt but on how many legislators are in his/her pocket.

The opposition is not disheartened, though. It believes there are still enough congressmen out there who will sign the impeachment complaint when the time comes. They just don't want to come out now so that administration operators will not twist their arms to support President Arroyo.

Yes, you congressmen were elected by the people. You represent them, not Ms Arroyo. Eight out of every 10 Filipinos don't want her as president anymore. Do as the people order you to do.

* * *

Some over-smart power plant operators apparently think Fidel V. Ramos is still president of the Philippines, or is its president again, from the way an independent power producer (IPP) is trying to smuggle a deal with the government. Ramos was notorious for signing so many onerous contracts with IPPs during his term that are now one of the main reasons for our very high electricity prices.

Oriental Mindoro province, with 400,000 electricity consumers, is serviced by one electric cooperative, Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Ormeco). It has a long-term contract with Mirant, a big international firm with other power plants all over the Philippines, to supply it with electricity. The contract still has many years to go.

However, Ormeco entered into a contract with a new IPP named Power One to supply it with electricity, long before its contract with Mirant expires. Luckily, before the contract becomes valid, it has to be approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Under the agreement, Power One would have to put up a power plant costing at least P800 million to be able to supply electricity to Ormeco. During public hearings conducted by the ERC in Mindoro, however, it was found out that Power One has an authorized capital stock of only P1.56 million, with cash on hand of only P14,000! Furthermore, Power One has no track record to speak of in the energy industry. How can a company with P14,000 cash on hand build a power plant costing close to P1 billion?

Needless to say, all the local officials of Oriental Mindoro and the two congressmen of the province, oppose the contract. The City Council of Calapan (site of the proposed facility), represented by city legal officer Dante A. Manzo, has urged the ERC to dismiss the application of Ormeco to register its contract with Power One. Manzo questioned the "undue haste" with which Ormeco concluded the Energy Sale Agreement with Power One without the benefit of a competitive selection process in clear violation of guidelines set by the Department of Energy (DOE).

Evidently, the bilateral contract was fast-tracked without going through the processes mandated by the DOE and ERC for contracts of such nature.

Rep. Rodolfo Valencia, a former governor, cited the risk to the energy requirements of the province of entering into contracts with entities that may fail to deliver a vital service such as electricity. Why did Ormeco close such a controversial deal with Power One?

Valencia warned of negative repercussions for the population of Oriental Mindoro serviced by Ormeco should Power One fail to deliver. "Why must we needlessly risk the energy security of our province?" he asked. "It is unthinkable to depend on an entity that has not even put up a single power plant nor have the resources to do that."

Besides, if the contract with Mirant is unilaterally canceled, Mirant will have to sue Ormeco and the ERC for breach of contract and damages going into hundreds of millions of pesos.

Napocor's Boast

Napocor expects to break even this year

XFN-Asia

STATE-OWNED National Power Corp. (Napocor) said Wednesday it expected to finally break even this year, after losses going back to 1998, as it cuts costs and looks to higher revenue in the wake of tariff hikes.

The power producer registered a net loss of 29.9 billion pesos in 2004, a significant improvement from the previous year's 117.02 billion loss.

Napocor was earlier this year allowed to raise its electricity tariff by an average 0.0556 peso per kilowatt-hour.

That followed a rate hike of 0.98 peso per kWh approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission in September last year.

In a statement, Napocor said it expects its interest expenses to decline to 22.64 billion pesos this year from 30.25 billion pesos in 2004, after the national government early this year absorbed about 200 billion pesos out of Napocor's total debts of 500 billion pesos.

Napocor said it also expects to reduce its operating expenses due to stringent cost-cutting measures implemented this year.

"This includes the economic dispatch of its power plants as well as an improved generation mix that will see an increased utilization of the cheaper fuel types of hydro, geothermal and natural gas, and a reduced utilization of oil and coal, which are more expensive," it said.

The rate hikes and debt transfer were meant to attract bidders for the generation and transmission assets of Napocor.

Nieves Osorio, president of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM), the state agency tasked to sell Napocor's assets, said Napocor planned to borrow 200-400 million dollars in the second half of the year, possibly through a bond issue in the international market.

She declined to give details. With INQ7.net

EPCIB Case

Breaktime: If it ain't broker
Conrado R. Banal III
Inquirer News Service

NOBODY could say if the officials of the central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) one-day passes from basement ward attendants, but they actually tried their luck at … well, peace talks.

Heading the BSP peace panel was the new capo de tutti capi of the country's monetary and financial system, BSP Governor Armando Tetangco.

Apparently, Tetangco wanted to broker peace between the two warring groups of stockholders at Equitable PCI Bank, the country's third largest bank in assets.

Featured in the squabble were the Go family, who owned 25 percent, on the one hand, and on the other the state-run pension funds Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System (SSS) plus Trans Middle East of the Romualdez family and the group of mall mogul Henry Sy, which together owned about 47 percent.

In the BSP-brokered peace talks, Tetangco's panel spent roughly 30 minutes with the Go family, led by Equitable PCI chairman Antonio Go, before the Go family sued for snacks.

The GSIS-SSS-Trans Middle East-Sy group, also known as the government side, got a treat from the Tetangco panel when it faced them for hours.

Nobody could say if the ease by which the Go family hurdled the BSP brand of peace process was any indication of which side Tetangco was leaning on.

* * *

IT SEEMS the Tetangco panel needed to work more on the government side, because the Tetangco panel gave the government an offer it could just refuse.

In effect, to bring about peace in the bank, the Tetangco panel simply wanted the government side to give way to the Go family.

After all, the Go family wanted to control the bank, with their 25-percent ownership, at the expense of the GSIS and the SSS.

Sure, by suggesting that GSIS and SSS should give way to the Go family, Tetangco and company probably only wanted to protect public interest.

The GSIS and SSS, as you know, invested only P16 billion of our retirement, disability and death benefit funds in Equitable PCI Bank about six years ago.

Our pension funds also have nothing to show for their investments in the bank up to now. In fact, the market value has been cut by about half.

For our sake, the Tetangco panel proposed three innocent-sounding steps toward peace in the bank -- i.e., status quo in the stranglehold by Go family.

And they were that the two sides (1) keep the management, (2) stop the filing of court cases, and (3) split the board seats between them.

By the way, in another stroke of brilliance to protect public interest, the Tetangco panel also told the two sides to stop talking to the media. Hmmm.

There, it's the media menace all over again. At the first sign of trouble, we always get the blame. It's as if we are the ones fooling around.

* * *

AND so, since the Tetangco panel asked the two warring groups to stop filing cases, only two days after the peace talks, no wonder, the Go family filed three cases in succession.

Nobody could say if the Tetangco panel-brokered peace was part of the strategy, but the Go family filed a case before a Makati City court, another one before the Court of Appeals, and a third one before the Supreme Court.

All of the cases involved the 10 percent of Equitable PCI supposedly in "treasury shares," which the bank bought with its own money, not the Go family's money.

Six years ago, the Go family and the GSIS-SSS went into a joint venture to buy the former Philippine Commercial International Bank (PCI Bank).

The GSIS-SSS gave P16 billion in hard cash.

The Go family contributed fond wishes.

In other words, the Go family simply used the money of the bank in the joint-venture buyout. And all these years, the Go family has been using the "treasury shares" to help them keep control of the bank, even with only a 25-percent ownership.

In all those three cases, which the Tetangco panel supposedly did not want the warring groups to file, the Go family sought to keep their command over the "treasury shares."

* * *

EARLIER, a Makati City court issued an injunction involving those "treasury shares," in effecting negating a temporary restraining order issued by another Makati court on the same shares.

Down here in my barangay, where GSIS and SSS members struggle to make ends meet, that is also known as "forum shopping," meaning, it is bad.

Supposedly, a retired justice filed a case, asking the Makati court to force the corporate secretary of the bank, a young lawyer named Nilo Divina, to recognize those "treasury shares" at the last annual meeting of stockholders.

In other words, the Go family could use the "treasury shares" -- once again.

Another Makati court had issued a temporary restraining order on the same "treasury shares," saying that they could not be used at the annual meeting.

First of all, one court cannot issue an order against another court. That is the rule. Otherwise, the courts can do nothing but fight one another, much like our politicians.

Of course, there could always be millions of reasons a court would break the rule. In this case, unfortunately, the interests of SSS and GSIS members were not one of them.

* * *

IN effect, even if the case was supposedly filed against the bank, the restraining order actually favored the Go family at the stockholders' meeting.

And Divina, as corporate secretary, followed it willingly without much of a whimper.

At the stockholders' meeting, by the way, Divina took it upon himself to preside, taking the role of the chairman, who was none other than Antonio Go.

Divina, without much ado, threatened to throw out those who did not follow the script that the Go family had prepared for the meeting.

He just declared them out of order, including GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia, who questioned the use of those "treasury shares" at the meeting.

In effect, the court injunction order told Divina to do something that was against the by-laws of the bank. Divina did not even protest against it.

Under the bank by-laws, you see, treasury shares cannot be used to determine the existence of quorum in the stockholders meeting.

The government side has been arguing, if that was the case, it followed that those shares could not be used to vote for board members.

For how can you use something that's not supposed to be there in the first place?

The government side complained that not only did the Go family, courtesy of the corporate secretary Divina, use the treasury shares to determine quorum, they also used the shares to vote for their nominees to the board of directors.

They of course voted for themselves. Oh, of course, and also their attack dogs!

* * *

SINCE the Go family disregarded the Tetangco panel no-court-case peace initiative, the government side thus also went straight to the Supreme Court.

Otherwise, the government side would have lost their battle for reforms in the bank by default. In college girl-speak, they were "making tulog in the pansitan."

And so it seems to me that the BSP-brokered peace served as a ruse. It could have stopped the government side from taking the initiative.

How else could you look at it? Look, one of the other proposals by the Tetangco panel was for the two warring groups to split the board between them.

That means, the Go side (with 25-percent ownership) would get seven seats, and the government side (with 47-percent ownership) would also get … well, seven.

Aside from its using bad mathematics, as in "25 equals 47," the proposal of the Tetangco peace panel reeked of a sellout -- with GSIS and SSS members as the merchandise.

Under the Tetangco panel's bright idea, the swing vote in the board, the one remaining seat, would go to management.

Thus, Equitable PCI president Rene Buenaventura, who would take the management seat, should become the most powerful man in the bank.

The Tetangco panel did not mind that Buenaventura was the same guy who, in past tussles between the two groups, forgot to stay neutral by siding with the Go family.

Which only makes you wonder where the Tetangco panel learned its math. No, don't tell me, not from the ward attendants! With INQ7.net

EPCIB Blues

In fairness to Equitable PCI Bank directors, officers

Inquirer News Service

THIS is in reaction to Conrado Banal III's column, "If it ain't broker." (Inqurirer, 8/2/05) I have previously opted to remain silent despite the continuing tirades of Banal against the Equitable PCI Bank and some of its directors and officers, but I believe it is now incumbent upon me to react to his lies to do justice to the reputation of all the parties -- Antonio L. Go who represented the Go family, Social Security System president and CEO Corazon S. de la Paz, Government Service Insurance System president and general manager Winston F. Garcia, lawyer Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez who represented Trans Middle East Corp., and lawyer Nilo T. Divina -- who attended the meetings called by Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the Philippine central bank) last July 20.

As president and CEO, I was requested to be present in two meetings. The meetings were called for the sole purpose of ensuring that the bank can continue to conduct normal operations and service the needs of its clients. It was clear to all the parties that any suggestions to be discussed during the meetings will all be pursuant to the said objective—the protection of the bank and its stakeholders.

Banal's statement that "the Tetangco panel simply wanted the government side to give way to the Go family" is a malicious lie which casts aspersions on all those who were in the meetings. Discussed in the meetings were three main topics:

1. To allow the Equitable PCI Bank's management to continue running the day-to-day affairs of the bank and to exercise its authority under the limits previously granted to it.

2. To minimize heated public discussions of the shareholder issues as these may cause undue concerns on the part of the bank's clients and depositors.

3. For the major shareholder groups, to continue discussions so that a final resolution of the various issues can be arrived at as soon as possible, including the final composition of the board, where all shareholder groups would have the proper representation by virtue of their proportionate shares in the bank.

I can attest that the discussions were very open and cordial. There was never any impression on the part of the shareholders' representatives that the BSP panel was taking sides.

It is very sad that Banal would make up a story portraying that the meetings, wherein he was not even present, had objectives other than ensuring the protection of the bank and its clients. I do not know what motivated him to insist on a particular column slant, which none of the parties in the meetings ever saw.

I also take this opportunity to comment on Banal's continuing lies against my person and his oft-repeated statements that I have been siding with the Go family. I believe that the best proof that this allegation is false and one that is not shared by any of the major shareholder groups is the fact that the existing management team under my leadership was elected by both boards of directors.

If it ain't broker – Breaktime, by Conrado Banal III (Aug. 2, 2005)

RENE J. BUENAVENTURA, president and chief executive officer, Equitable PCI Bank, Makati City

Digital Films

There's The Rub : Time out

Conrado de Quiros dequiros@info.com.ph
Inquirer News Service

TIME out to talk about more serious things. There's a bit of good news amid the squalor of bad news in this country, and that is the lease on life digital and independent ("indie") films are giving the local movie industry.

In case you still haven't heard, the local movie industry is virtually dead. You can hear its dying gasps from here to Aparri. That industry, which used to produce close to 300 movies a year, is now producing only 70 or so. And the survivors aren't doing all that well. Reputable directors and actors have turned to TV instead, where work may not be vastly lucrative but it is at least steady. Their talents though are being frittered away in productions -- "fantaseryes" [TV fantasy series], "telenovelas" [TV soap], and so on -- that cater to the least common denominator. These are hard times.

The obvious way out seems to be for the industry to explore new avenues-new stories, new faces, new ways of filmmaking-to lure back audiences. But exploration or experimentation is the last thing producers want to do, given the high cost of making movies, particularly star fees, and given the not-so-sterling showing of movies that have done exactly that over the years. Their instinct has been to rely on formula, which demonstrably no longer works. It's been a chicken-and-egg situation for some time, one seemingly without resolution.

Digital and Indie films, which are often one and the same, may just have found the answer to it. They are relatively cheaper to make. And their makers can afford to experiment the way the producers of commercial movies cannot, or do not. They have lower costs-cheaper equipment, lower fees (the better-known faces are going to them for the psychic income more than the financial one)-and are in a better position to recover them even with smaller audiences.

Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, the director of "Mga Pusang Gala" [Stray Cats], tells me she used digital cameras that cost P3,000 a day. Their analog counterparts range from P15,000 to P20,000 a day. Of course, the high-end digital cameras would have cost P40,000 a day, but only George Lucas' cousins in the Philippines would contemplate renting that.

Nap Jamir, the cinematographer of "Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros," agrees and says the trick is using the P3,000-a-day digital cameras creatively to overcome their limitations. Lighting in particular can do wonders to hide the blemishes. Which he shows in "Pagdadalaga": the graininess shows only in the daytime street scenes, which look a bit overexposed.

If those two movies, "Mga Pusa" and "Pagdadalaga," are anything to go by, Filipino movies are more likely to recover faster than Filipino politics. Both represent the wave of the future in terms of infusing local filmmaking with new sensibilities. "Mga Pusa" makes the bigger gamble by aiming at a middle-class audience, with its middle-class themes, middle-class language (the dialogue is in English in many parts) and middle-class attitudes. It adopts a self-conscious or self-mocking stance toward this: One of its main characters is a romance novelist for a company whose editor cannot appreciate writing stories for the middle class because their audience is "masa" [masses]. In one scene, his editor tells him no masa woman lives alone, his premise for a story is implausible. His editor tries to corroborate this with his secretary who promptly answers, "I do."

I can only hope the movie itself meets with a long queue in movie houses defying "wise-money" expectations.

"Mga Pusa" tells of a gay man, Boyet (Ricky Davao), and his neighbor, a single woman, Marta (Irma Adlawan), who are at the mercy of their itinerant lovers. Its theme is (almost inevitably) that literal stray cats are more worth caring for than their human counterparts. It goes on to explore the relationships between Boyet and Irma and their lovers with impressive richness and complexity. One may quibble about the tone being a little uneven at times (it strives to maintain a tragicomic one throughout, though not always successfully) and with some parts being a little predictable, but those are nothing. They are more than offset by the movie's humongous virtues, not the least of them the acting and directing. Ellen essays one very mature and confident directorial job for a first outing, and the lead players are fantastic, Adlawan in particular.

The movie's many allures start off with its title, which of course is richly ironic, the coming-of-age, or into maidenhood, of a boy named Maximo. The curious title refers to a gay boy living in the slums with his family of petty crooks who falls in love with a cop, which divides his loyalties. That premise, while being dramatic, also risks being contrived, and the movie teeters on the edge of the latter in some parts. But it manages on the whole to walk the tightrope, and ferociously gracefully. The movie is at its best in exploring the relationships between the family members. It does a magnificent job not just giving a face to people who proverbially live on the knife's edge but in demolishing the stereotypes about them, which are really just two ways of saying the same thing. It gets a trifle shaky in the dynamics between (the quite literal) cops and robbers.

Michiko Yamamoto, the scriptwriter who also wrote "Magnifico," gets to be a better storyteller by the day. The performances are uniformly riveting, Ping Medina (Pen's son) is a revelation. But the plaudits easily go to Nathan Lopez (Maximo) who was given a special citation by the Cinemalaya Awards. It is totally deserved. That boy is going places, very far places.

What can I say? It's nice to know that art at least is flourishing in this country even if morals are not. Never mind the local movie industry. Do yourself a favor. Go watch these movies.

Mendoza's Column

Commentary : Light

Lourdes Didith V. Mendoza
Inquirer News Service

AFTER GOING through one political crisis after another, Filipinos may have felt that it's all right to let their guard down, for the light at the end of the tunnel seemed to be getting nearer. However, as another crisis grips us, the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to look like a train coming right at us. I'm actually hoping that it is; I'm naively wishing that those who really have good intentions for the country will smartly step out of its way, and the ones who don't we can push, not to their deaths, but to the open doors of the train so that they are brought somewhere far away. But I am sure they will stay on the railroad tracks, thinking that the light is an approaching diamond's brilliance.

This isn't hopelessness speaking, it's actually hope misplaced because of the darkness of confusion. But what can one do? We've invoked Christian and moral principles left and right to undo the mess that we have created. We've come up with all sorts of studies to improve the quality of our lives. We have set up various committees, organizations and associations to carry out concrete actions for the country. But it doesn't feel as if we have progressed as a nation. It just feels as if we have given more importance to the quantity of what we do or say, but not the quality.

I was fortunate to come across a group that values quality work and words. This group is not made up of learned men or women who shape our society, but maybe someday it will be. This group is made up of young men and women who moved and shook their little slum community.

The Park Seven Youth Club is a small group of young people who came up with a small project: building a fence that will separate their community from a smelly creek that runs the length of their neighborhood. They didn't get any support from the adults in the neighborhood at first. Nobody ever thought of putting up a fence that would eliminate the hazard of children falling into the creek, which had happened many times. Or if somebody did, nobody took the initiative to make the community safer by building a fence. Yes, lots of people in their area look after their own families, but nobody thought of going beyond their own families except the members of the Park Seven Youth Club. It was this group of young people who thought of making their community safer for all families living there.

The group was able to find the funds needed to buy the materials to build the fence. When the members brought all their purchases home, people started talking. The talk ranged from mere curiosity to allegations of pocketing funds.

The kids ignored all these and focused on the work they had to do. This doesn't mean that they were not hurt by the gossip that reached their ears; they were, but they knew they had to complete the fence before the rainy season started, and nobody was willing to do it, except them.

What hurt the kids most was a direct attack by one of their affluent neighbors. You see, the homes of these kids are wedged within one of the well-heeled subdivisions in Quezon City. One subdivision resident approached them one day, after seeing all the things they bought and hearing all the hammering going on as the kids built the fence. He sarcastically asked them, "If you can get money for a little fence, why can't you get money to buy your own house and lot?"

Despite the snide remarks, the members of the youth club continued with their project. In fact, they have already finished building the fence, with a bit of help from a few adults from the neighborhood who taught them how to weld metal, paint and mix cement. The focus and diligence of the group members caused dramatic changes in their community.

Initially, the residents were skeptical about the project, but later on, as they saw the fence slowly rising right in front of their eyes, members of the community rallied behind the group. Even the "barangay" [neighborhood district] council captain and the councilors gave their support.

Now the community is a hub of activity. The kids' project has spurred the residents to action. Some residents, with the help of some councilors, have constructed a small park. The neighborhood association set up a small stage near the park and the fence. Now, in the middle of their slum community is an oasis of recreation and leisure. The construction of that oasis was inspired by the work of the Park Seven Youth Club.

After building the fence, the members of the club went beyond their primary goal of making the community safer. They have also deconstructed some of the obstacles that hindered the community's progress. They disproved the notion that the youth of their community are good for nothing and that only adults can get things done. They also disproved the notion that a slum community should always be despairingly bleak and dark.

People may think that the members of this youth club are such small players. After all, they are poor, young and mostly unlearned. But these marginalized characters have proven that though sidelined and silenced, the quality of their work shines so bright as to enlighten the residents of their slum community. This, the light of young and hardworking people, should be the kind of light on which we should place our hope.

Cheating Fields

By Carolyn Arguillas in Maguindanao
NEWSBREAK Contributing Writer

"So will I still lead by more than 1M?

"Hello. Doon ba sa Lanao del Sur tsaka sa Basilan di raw nagma-match yung SOV (Statement of Votes) sa COC (Certificates of Canvass)?

"Yung kabila may teacher daw silang hawak Calanguyan, Tawi-Tawi"

"Oo sabi ni Teng dapat sigurado natin consistent yung mga documents sa Maguindanao."

DB, a "political operator" (one who conducts "special ops" or special operations for "principals" or candidates) in a national election, laughs as he explains why President Arroyo seemed so frantic in her wiretapped conversations with Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, about SOVs and COCs that did not match and documents that must be "consistent."

"You have to be consistent. You have to make sure the total number of votes you add to your principal's votes from your 'target' (read: candidate or candidates whose votes will be reduced in favor of your candidate) does not exceed the total number of votes cast. The documents must correspond. It shouldn't be so blatant."

What started as a "trial and error" method among friends in Northern Mindanao ("including Garci") to ensure the victory of a "principal" 10 years ago, has since been "perfected" and practiced elsewhere, DB says.

"Operation Dagdag Bawas was just a cottage industry then. Today it has become a multimillion business," DB adds.

But that's getting ahead of the story.

Corrupting the Comelec
Even before the "Hello Garci" tapes, the ARMM provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur and the Islamic City of Marawi, had been perceived as venues for electoral fraud. For Benjamin Abalos Sr., chair of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the blame for the fraud in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao does not lie with the Comelec.

Commissioner Resurreccion Borra went a step farther. In remarks at the covenant-signing with ARMM candidates on July 18 in Davao City, he challenged "politicians and candidates" to "stop tempting [and corrupting] the Comelec officials in the field."

"The vicious cycle of poverty in the ARMM will remain," Borra said as he asserted that politicians use the internal revenue allotment (IRA) "to corrupt Comelec officials."

Abalos, on the same occasion, said he does not blame his people in the field because "ever since history Mindanao has always been problematic. It only became the center of attention now because of Gloriagate."

Apparently peeved by questions on the Comelec'S capability to supervise the elections in a controversial region, Abalos said: "Where did the birds and the bees come from? Here in Mindanao. But why are we the only ones who are deemed evil?"

The "birds and the bees" became a famous phrase when Elpidio Quirino ran for president in 1949. His opponents and critics claimed that Quirino won because even the birds and the bees and the dead voted in Lanao.

Then dreaded by many, the Moro areas were used by politicians in Manila as a virtual "reservoir of votes" especially since the road system and communications were very poor. Those who eyed national seats but were losing in other areas could win in places like Lanao or faraway Tawi-Tawi, where no one would dare investigate "ghost towns" and where election results, because of the distance, came in trickles.

Because firearms were plenty in the area, a politician unsure of winning could resort to harassment so that Comelec would declare a failure of election and hold special polls.

Cleaning Voters' List
When Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986, among the first things that the Aquino administration sought to do was to clean up the voters' list and purge the list of "ghost towns."

Datu Michael Mastura, historian and former Maguindanao representative to Congress, recalls there was a purging of the "ghost villages" and the voters' list, but only to a limited extent.

An Aquino partymate told this reporter that the purging was "done on a selective basis."

"Those who cooperated with the administration were preserved. But all were done without the knowledge of Cory [Aquino]," he said.

The latest effort to purge the list of multiple voters was in 2003 when registration was computerized and required photographs.

Abalos says at least 100,000 multiple registrants had been discovered but still have to be excluded from the voters' list. Ten thousand of them were charged, he said.

Lintang Bedol, Maguindanao election supervisor, says 30,000 of these multiple registrants are from Maguindanao and a thousand of them are "under investigation."

The 100,000 registrants in the ARMM or the 30,000 in Maguindanao alone could have voted last year and could still vote in this year's ARMM polls because "they have not been convicted," Bedol says.

Aside from these multiple registrants, a major problem facing the Comelec in Maguindanao is the substitution of voters. "The greatest number of election fraud cases would involve substitution of voters," he says.

As of April 28, 2004, according to Comelec records, ARMM had 1,057,458 voters, distributed as follows: Maguindanao (334,287); Lanao del Sur (275,572); Sulu (209,677); Tawi-Tawi (120,455); and Basilan (117,467).

A hundred thousand multiple registrants represent 10 percent of the total voting population in the ARMM. They can make or unmake a candidate for senator, vice president, or president.

Abalos says these multiple registrants can still vote if they insist. "You can't do anything because [they're] registered."

DB says Operation Dagdag-Bawas takes note of the areas with multiple registrants as it does "controlled areas."

He emphasizes that the operation is not a one-shot deal. It is, he says, a continuous effort that requires investments in nurturing friendships with election officials in the field and the central office in Manila, especially since elections come at least once in three years. The operator also has to befriend mayors and governors, town officials, the military, the media, or anyone whom you could approach for help during election time.

When Comelec field officials go to Manila, DB says, they sleep on tables in the central office because their per diem is not enough. "We pity them, so we treat them at restaurants and bars and provide lodging, not necessarily in hotels but in apartelles that are comfortable enough." The Comelec officials never forget these "acts of kindness," DB says.

Negotiations may come in months before the elections (he tells his contact in the Comelec, "Give me two slots at this price") or immediately after the votes are cast, for "emergency" padding of votes although that would mean competing with other political operators. The highest bidder wins.

In 1995, DB says, the cost of a vote in the Dagdag-Bawas operation was P3 each. When a desperate candidate needed a hundred thousand or a million votes, he/she could get that number provided he/she paid. By 1998, the cost of the vote had risen to P7. In 2001, the price was as high as P15 because political operators of candidates belonging to the same party were outbidding each other.

Last year was even worse, he says, with one senatorial candidate paying P50 per vote. The market price then was P10.

"You have to know which areas are the controlled areas so you can plan ahead," DB says.

For DB, a "controlled area" is either an area controlled by a politician, where one's principal can be assured of "secured votes," or an area where friends from the Comelec can help.

'Treasure Hunting'
Mastura refers to DB's "special ops" as "treasure hunting."

"Normally," he says, the ones interested in this scheme are candidates for national posts. In the Senate, "treasure hunters" include those who are aiming for number one and the tailenders.

"They come here to go treasure hunting for votes for dagdag-bawas," Mastura says. But he adds, "That did not start here. Locals were just used."

The reported helicopter chase from Cagayan de Oro to Iligan to Marawi between Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza and Partido ng Masang Pilipino's Jimmy Policarpio in May 2001, was reportedly part of "special ops." DB says helicopters are the quickest means of moving within Mindanao, and the fastest way to bring cash, too.

Dureza was reportedly trying to prevent Policarpio from delivering cash to Comelec officials in the ARMM for deposed President Joseph Estrada's senatorial bets.

Dureza says he monitored reports that Policarpio was giving money to Comelec personnel so they tried to prevent that from happening by following him. He denies he was carrying money.

DB says Policarpio "was just a smokescreen," and was in fact so "high profile" so that the administration's political operators would monitor him. "What they did not know was we were there, on the ground. They didn't see us. We saw them."

Mastura said the "treasure hunters" take advantage of the "controlled votes" although he adds that "controlled areas" are not a monopoly of the ARMM. Outside the ARMM, politician's bailiwicks are also "controlled votes."

DB acknowledges they operate in "controlled areas" outside the ARMM and outside Mindanao.

No Actual Voting
Mastura says that with the holding of more elections, "people have become aware... This is not to say there is electoral awareness or education. But they know [an election] can be manipulated so people don't care."

Vote buying, he says, did not originate in the Moro areas. He says money is given only to the power broker. In the controlled areas, "there is no need to buy votes because there is no real voting."

Mastura says the "treasure hunters" take advantage of the controlled vote. "Controlled votes are captive votes. You can predict a captive vote."

In "controlled areas," Abalos says one candidate can have his opponent get zero either "through force" or "through love."

Datu Zacaria Candao former ARMM and former Maguindanao governor, says that, indeed, in "controlled areas," there is "no actual voting." Datu Guimid Matalam, the ARMM vice governor under Nur Misuari and a candidate for governor this year, says the same. So does Datu Ibrahim "Toto" Paglas, another candidate for governor.

Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema says there has never been an honest election in the ARMM.

When the ballots and other election paraphernalia are sent days earlier, Candao says, "the following will happen: they'll fill up the ballots, fill up election returns. There is no actual voting. They will just leave 10 to 20 pieces to be filled up on election day."

Like Mastura, Paglas, and Matalam, Candao, who had been elected governor of Maguindanao several times and was the first elected governor of ARMM, looks forward to "an election that will reflect the will of the people."

Candao says that in 2001, he filed a petition for an annulment of votes credited to his rival candidate for governor, by presenting as evidence the book of voters which the voter signs before casting his/her ballot.

"The book of voters contained identical signatures from cover to cover," he says. He asked Comelec to receive the evidence, which had been examined by a technical team from Comelec Manila, but Comelec "never gave me a schedule of hearing."

Candao says Malacañang played a "very big role in influencing Comelec... I failed to get that [schedule of hearing] in three years," by which time [2004], the term of office for the post he vied for had ended.

Power Competition
Abhoud Syed Lingga wants the electoral process examined deeper and revised to make it truly reflect the will of the Moro people. Lingga, head of the Bangsamoro Research Institute, acknowledges that elections are not the traditional way of choosing leaders. But he says elections are "within the democratic teachings of Islam."

Lingga explains that the ARMM has many competing powers—constitutional power, traditional power or the influence of datus, and revolutionary power or the power of the liberation movements.

"When there's competition of powers in society, the tendency is for the system to break down," he says, recalling that even before the emergence of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, there was already a competition between constitutional power and the power of the datus. Sometimes, he says, there is a "marriage of convenience to balance constitutional power and the power of the datus. In many cases, the datu class also gets the political positions."

Add to all these problems Comelec's lack of funds, and you'll see why "independence" may be alien to election officials.

Abalos says that in most towns, there is only one Comelec official, who cannot be expected to be in each and every precinct during the election.

In Maguindanao, Bedol says he has 28 casual employees out of 68 personnel. In the 6 newly created towns, "you do not find any election officer there except one coming from an adjacent municipality. We pair that election official with a casual to be appointed with the consent of the Comelec."

He says he keeps begging for the Comelec's budget every year. "We always criticize Comelec," he says, "but please consider that [election] officials in the municipalities do not even have funds for stamps to use in sending mails."

"So you have to be friendly with local officials. Help us resolve this," Abalos appeals.

—MindaNews

Send us your feedback: letters@newsbreak.com.ph

Teodoro's Column

Commentary : The Ramos factor

Luis V. Teodoro
Inquirer News Service

DESPITE her basement-level approval and trust ratings-and calls for her resignation from the opposition, business groups, academe, erstwhile members of her Cabinet, former political allies, Corazon Aquino and a broad range of militant, religious, people's and non-governmental organizations-President Macapagal-Arroyo has so far defied predictions that she would be forced out of office by the hemorrhage of her support that began last July 7.

The Catholic bishops' decision not to ask her to resign came later. What stopped the bleeding was former President Fidel Ramos' declaration of support, on condition that she preside over Charter change and the shift to the parliamentary system.

The Ramos "solution" to Ms Arroyo's predicament put him on collision course with former President Aquino and the Franklin Drilon faction of the Liberal Party. But not surprisingly, Ramos' act was followed by the jumping of the remaining Cabinet members, House Speaker Jose de Venecia and the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrat party to Ms Arroyo's defense. The threat of military intervention also waned as the Armed Forces chief of staff declared the AFP's "neutrality."

Like Ramos, De Venecia is focused on changing the present presidential system to a parliamentary one, as all third-termers in both houses of Congress are. Barred from seeking fourth terms under the present system, these third-termers can see to it that they can run for parliament in 2006.

But the far juicier prospect is that a parliament under Lakas-CMD's control can hand over to failed presidential aspirant De Venecia the post of prime minister. Ramos is himself not very popular among Filipinos. But he would share in the spoils once a parliament is in place, perhaps, as a president with powers equal to those of the prime minister, or in some other equally pivotal capacity.

While Ramos seemed to speak only for himself in supporting Ms Arroyo, he spoke with a political and military network behind him. In the process, he also assured the United States-never a disinterested observer of Philippine politics-that the nationalist provisions in the present Constitution, which foreign investors detest, will soon be things of the past. Ramos' proposal for Ms Arroyo to stay on until 2006 also appealed to the middle class' concern for order, and its cynicism over what another political upheaval could accomplish.

As a result of Ramos' intervention and, later, of the Catholic bishops' support, Ms Arroyo got a chance to remain in office long enough to deliver her fifth State of the Nation Address last July 25. Despite her vast unpopularity, her putrid record of governance and the general perception that she cheated in the May 2004 elections, Ms Arroyo may not be forced out of office in the immediate future.

But she will eventually have to go, four years before her putative six-year term ends. Under Ramos' proposal, constitutional amendments would be completed by the end of this year, followed by their ratification in January and by parliamentary elections in May 2006. The proposal is silent on whether Ms Arroyo can run for member of parliament in those elections. If the new Constitution that Ramos wants would allow it, and she did run in an election with a modicum of integrity, she would risk being trounced so severely it would validate the widespread view that she "won" in 2004 only by cheating.

Between now and that moment when she makes her supposedly dignified exit, Ms Arroyo will have only Ramos, De Venecia, the Lakas-CMD and the Ramos wing of the military to lean on. She has lost the support of those civil society leaders she put in her Cabinet and of those NGOs that made billions out of her generosity. She has also lost the confidence and approval of much of the business community, the middle class and academe.

The rank-and-file nuns and priests and their leaders in the religious orders who do not share the Catholic bishops' moral ambiguity demand her resignation, while millions of Filipinos prefer that someone else run the country. Given these conditions, Ms Arroyo is likely to end up a painted Malacañang figurehead while Ramos and company rule. And they will make sure that she remains as vulnerable for the next 10 months as she is currently.

With Ms Arroyo's hands thus tied, the truly honorable and genuinely dignified way out for her is to resign now. This is to assume that Ms Arroyo will choose dignity over expediency, and that she will reject being diminished personally and politically. Assuming Ms Arroyo is not removed from office via People Power, and Ramos has his way, she will probably stay on to implement the Ramos agenda no matter what the conditions.

That agenda, without the cliches and the pretty words, is for Ramos, De Venecia and their cohorts to get back to or stay in power via the shift to a parliamentary system. They claim that a parliament will solve the problems of the political and electoral system, including its non-representative character, corruption and lack of integrity. But unless the Filipino millions are empowered, elite dominance, misgovernment and corruption will continue in a parliamentary system as these have prevailed in the presidential one. A parliamentary system will thus make reforms even more difficult, if not impossible.

The prospect for the disempowered is continuing exclusion even as the Ramos "solution" to the present crisis will also intensify intra-elite contention. The business-landlord-Catholic Church faction of the elite will not look kindly at a second Ramos presidency, for example, and neither will the other military factions. Indeed, unless Ms Arroyo resigns now and denies them the pleasure of having her as their flunky, only Ramos and company and their partners will end up benefiting from a crisis that has divided and debased the country, exposed the bankruptcy of its political and electoral system, and the rot at the heart of Philippine "democracy."

Luis V. Teodoro is a professor of journalism at the University of the Philippines.

Dy's Deadly Secret

Unforgettable golf round bared Dy's 1-year secret

Tony S. Bergonia
Inquirer News Service

IT WAS one round of golf that Faustino Dy Jr. and his golfing buddies—former senator Vicente Sotto III and Rep. Luis ''Baby" Asistio—would never forget.

It was during the ninth-hole break at a newly opened Sun City golf course outside Los Angeles late last June that Dy, former governor of Isabela, let out one secret that he had been keeping to himself for more than a year, according to a source close to the former governor.

The secret: A meeting that Dy attended in La Vista in the home of the First Couple in Quezon City shortly before the May 2004 presidential elections.

According to witnesses brought out in the open by Archbishop Oscar Cruz, it was in that meeting where money changed hands to influence the outcome of the elections.

According to another source close to Dy, the former governor is trying to stay away from the heat generated by that secret at home.

Dy had been licking his wounds in California following one of the biggest political upsets in Isabela and Philippine history.

"He doesn't relish being in the limelight as a result of this (scandal)," said the source. In fact, the source said, Dy is even angry at Philippine media because "now they run after him, but when he was campaigning (for reelection) he was all but ignored."

A day after that fateful round of golf, the golf buddies met again in another location and discussed details of the secret.

Contacted yesterday, Sotto confirmed that there was such a round of golf played but did not say much else.

Dy, a member of the political dynasty that has ruled Isabela for years, lost his reelection bid for governor to radio broadcaster Grace Padaca, a political neophyte.

Another source said while Dy was not volunteering to testify and in fact is reluctant to take the witness stand in the ''jueteng" investigation at the Senate, he said ''he would not tell a lie" if asked to testify.

The source, who helped in Dy's failed campaign for reelection as governor of Isabela, said the former governor shared the secret not knowing it would soon make headlines and rattle allies and officials of Malacañang back home.

According to the source, Dy also took flight after finding out with certainty that he was on the hit list of the New People's Army, who was believed to be supportive of Padaca during the elections.

How it got to bishop

Sotto, a key opposition figure, came home early this month with Dy's secret. The source said he passed the secret on to former Quezon City Rep. Tony Aquino, Sotto III's partner in a BMW dealership in Libis, Quezon City.

It was Aquino, said the source, who brought Dy's secret to Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who had been waging war on jueteng and demanding that President Macapagal-Arroyo come clean on it.

But Bishop Cruz initially hesitated to take the information hook, line, sinker since it appeared to be hearsay, the source said.

Bishop Cruz, the source added, wanted Dy to come out in the open or execute an affidavit attesting to what he saw, heard and did in the afternoon meeting at the house of the Arroyos in La Vista.

A group says no

It was the bishop's way of making sure the witnesses who volunteer information to him are not feeding him falsehoods.

The source said the "secret" was offered to a civil society group that was critical of Ms Arroyo. The group turned down the offer.

According to jueteng witness Sandra Cam, the meeting was more than just a social gathering among Ms Arroyo, Dy and several regional directors of the Commission on Elections.

In a press conference in Intramuros with Bishop Cruz and two other jueteng witnesses, Cam said millions of pesos changed hands during the meeting, which she said was called to make sure Ms Arroyo won by at least a million votes over her closest rival, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.

At the meeting also, according to Cam who was quoting another source, was Lilia Pineda, mayor of Lubao, Pampanga and husband of suspected jueteng lord Bong Pineda.

Cam said her informant told her that Pineda, in the presence of Ms Arroyo, gave out P2 million in cash to each of the election officials who were there. Mayor Pineda denied the allegation.

Hogwash

Palace officials described the allegation as 'hogwash."

Dy and Padaca were among the names mentioned in the now controversial ''Gloriagate" tapes that former NBI Assistant Director Samuel Ong brought out in the open.

In a transcript of the tapes prepared by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), the controversial former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano was supposed to have discussed the case of Dy with an unidentified caller.

Dy was moving heaven and earth to prevent a loss to Padaca.

Arangkada for July 30, 2005

 

              LAPOK NI GLO

 

Human nabulilyaso ang iyang press conference sa Malakanyang sa niaging adlaw, kanus-a iyang giabog ang foreign correspondents gikan sa Palasyo ug ang gihatagan og higayon mao rang labing taphaw nga mga pangutana, hingpit na gyong nisutoy nang media blitz ni Presidente Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pinaagi sa pagpa-interview sa pinili nga news organizations.

Pero tak-om lang gihapon siya labot sa labing importanteng kontrobersiya nga nakapatay-og sa iyang administrasyon: Ang audio recording sa giingong panag-istorya nilang kanhi Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. Di siya mokomentaryo sa bisan usa sa 15 nila ka panag-istorya nga klarong gitumong pagmaniobra sa resulta sa eleksiyon sa niaging tuig. Di pa gyod gani siya moangkon hangtod karon kon si Garcillano ba "ang opisyal sa Comelec" nga iyang gika-istorya.

-o0o-

Maapiki na gani si Presidente Arroyo, pananglitan dihang gikuhaan siyag reaksiyon sa pasangil ni Arsobispo Oscar Cruz nga nakasaksi siya sa paghatag og tag-P2 milyones nga jueteng payola ngadto sa 13 ka regional directors sa Comelec sud mismo sa iyang pinuy-anan sa La Vista, Quezon City sa wa pang eleksiyon sa Mayo sa niaging tuig, modayon siyag ingon nga naghinobra nang "trial by publicity" batok niya.

Mahimo bang hunghongan ang presidente nga way laing kapaingnan ang mga namasangil batok niya gawas sa katawhan nga maabot lang pinaagi sa media kay:

• Una, di siya mapasakaan og kaso sa korte kay duna siyay immunity;
• Ikaduha, lisod dangpan ang kapolisan ug ubang ahensiya nga gitugyanan pag-imbestigar sa dagkong krimen kay pulos man giduma sa iyang mga tinudlo; ug
• Ikatulo, ang impeachment nga maoy gitakda sa konstitusyon nga paagi pagtangtang niya sa katungdanan maglisod pag-ugpo tungod sa makabungog niyang mayoriya sa duha ka bay balaoranan.

-o0o-

Hapit ko mahagbong sa akong lingkoranan dihang niingon ang presidente nga di siya motubag sa mga atake batok niya kay di siya gustong mobawos paghimo og personal nga mga atake sa iyang mga kaatbang. Kinsa man intawoy iyang ilaron? Ang iyang pagpakahilom sa niaging kapin sa usa ka buwan natapakan sa gatosan ka pilo sa bastos ug iresponsableng kampanya sa iyang gamhanang makinarya sa propaganda nga nibuong sa kadungganan sa tanang nipaluyo sa sibawng awhag para sa iyang resignasyon sa Malakanyang.

Ang labing klarong mga ebidensiya nga siyay utok, o labing menos siyay nagtugot, sa pagpanglabay og nangalisbong lapok sa mga bakak ngadto sa iyang mga kaatbang mao ang nabistong pagpagawas sa Malakanyang og minilyon ka pesos pagpalit sa sipsip nga mga sakop sa media ug ang pagdumili niya pagbadlong ni Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, nga klarong maoy gihimong berdugo sa iyang administrasyon, pag-insulto sa tanang nangahas pagbarug batok niya—gikang Susan Roces ngadtong Cory Aquino, kanhi budget secretary Emilia Boncodin ug sa party list groups. [30]   leo_lastimosa@abs-cbn.com

New YOU?

Posted by Yvonne Chua 
PCIJ

IF no "constructive group" has emerged yet from the Armed Forces, it's because military intelligence is keeping a close watch on political dissent from the ranks since the political crisis started in early June, says former Army captain Rene Jarque.

Jarque, who served as special assistant to the Secretary of National Defense for defense policy and strategy before he left the service in 1998 to work as an executive abroad, also describes the AFP as "a confused organization," with officers and men harboring varying sentiments on the turmoil—from " inis (irritation)" due to red alerts that inhibit their movement to indifference or "walang pakialam" to concern "na sana maayos na ang gulo (hope all this ends soon)."

In a five-page analysis entitled "What's with the Armed Forces?", Jarque says the generals owe their positions to President Arroyo and have much to lose if she goes.

"The higher you go up in rank, the more compromises you have to make, the more you become involved in unethical conduct and corrupted by the system," the former Army captain says. "And many, if not all, of the generals and ex-generals have skeletons in their closets."

Meanwhile, the senior officers (majors to colonels) are "siguristas," what with their careers to protect. Some have also been tainted by corruption, notes Jarque.

But he believes there exceptions or those who may rise and lead the disgruntled junior officers and soldiers when the situation is ripe.

Jarque says the junior officers (lieutenants and captains) are the "most aware of the inadequacies of the government and the inept leadership in the AFP," as they bear the brunt of the battles against the rebels in the countryside.

Although this is where one would find the sentiment to be constructive or to intervene the strongest, he says at the same time the junior officers are too low in the chain of command to lead a "constructive" group and will be closely watched by military intelligence.

As for the enlisted personnel (privates, corporals and sergeants), Jarque says these are "economic soldiers" who are afraid to lose their jobs and more worried about day-to-day survival. "But if this group can be organized, they are a very powerful bloc," he says.

According to Jarque,  what is also keeping members of the armed forces from joining the fray is "there is no unity of command among the attacking forces."

"The battle lines though are not clear as it has presently many fronts with many warring parties and conflicting interests," he says.

He also identifies the involvement of leftist organizations in the opposition as a major factor behind AFP's  hesitation to intervene. Soldiers still perceive leftist groups as the "enemy of the state," says the former Army captain.

Last week, a manifesto purportedly issued by the Young Officers' Union (YOU) announced the group was breaking a 10-year peace accord to try and bring down President Arroyo.

Although YOU founders disowned the manifesto, saying the group was disbanded in 1995, they did not discount the possibility that disgruntled officers and men may have revived the YOU.

On the eve of Arroyo's state-of-the-nation address, another group claiming to be junior officers of the AFP and representing disgruntled soldiers expressed their support to calls for a "change in government."

Two men, clad in military uniforms, with armbands and their faces covered, appeared on a videotape sent to ABS-CBN. The videotape was entitled "Protector of the Filipino People." 

RP's Unemployed

 Posted by Yvonne Chua 
PCIJ

TWO surveys on employment were recently released—and their findings hardly jibe.

According to the Social Weather Survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations for the second quarter of this year, unemployment among Filipino adults reached a new record high of 20.3 percent last May.

The April 2005 Labor Force Survey of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), on the other hand, placed the unemployment rate at 8.3 percent and the number of jobless Filipinos at 2.9 million for the month of April.

The disparity stems largely from how the SWS and the government define and measure unemployment.

The SWS continues to define the unemployed as those who report that they are (1) not working and (2) also looking for work.  Government, however, has revised the official definition of the unemployed to include a third criterion: those available for work. 

The new definition, which took effect starting the April 2005 Labor Force Survey, effectively excluded 1.9 million persons from the ranks of the jobless in the Philippines. Under the old definition, the unemployment rate would have stood at 12.9 percent and not 8.3 percent.

Another difference between the two surveys: The SWS statistics on employment and unemployment refer to the population of adults, or those 18 and above, which is different from the official Philippine labor force definition which starts at age 15.

According to DOLE, even under the old definition, the unemployment rate declined from 13.7 percent in April 2004 to 12.9 percent of April this year.

The SWS survey, meanwhile,  said that adult unemployment in the Philippines has been extremely high for four successive quarters, starting from 19 percent in the third quarter of 2004, 18.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004, and 16.5 percent in the first quarter of 2005.

"These are the only times when adult unemployment has been above 15 percent, ever since the SWS unemployment statistical series started in 1993," the SWS said.

The research outfit added that current high levels of unemployment are consistent with the high levels of hunger and poverty reported by the Social Weather Surveys in successive quarters.

Gloriagate Blogs

Posted by Alecks Pabico
PCIJ

LET a thousand (journalist) blogs bloom.

No doubt about it, the current political crisis rocking the Arroyo administration has made blogging, for all its unmediated, instantaneous and personal nature, an attractive reporting medium for Filipino journalists. Of course, the case for blogging journalists has already been made by the likes of Manuel L. Quezon III, Jove Francisco (By Jove!), Chin Wong ( Digital Life), Erwin Oliva (cyberbaguioboy), to name a few, even before we at the PCIJ started venturing into the blogosphere ourselves.

Recent welcome additions to the journalist blogging community are GMA Network's Howie Severino (Side Trip with Howie Severino), who has a blog on blogs today, and Philippine Daily Inquirer's editorialist John Nery (Newsstand). Much earlier, we also saw GMA reporters coming out with blogs of their own — Tina Panganiban-Perez ( crimson page) and Joseph Morong (Essays and Other Lullabies). The media network is said to be encouraging its reporters to go into blogging.

Another journalist has also been blogging anonymously since May at The Early Edition.

While the mainstream media based in Metro Manila seem slow in grasping the potential of blogging as an important addition to the journalistic toolkit, interesting developments have happened elsewhere. In Cebu, Sun.Star has spiced up its coverage of "Gloriagate" by launching the Citizen Watch: The Arroyo Presidency blog. There's also dyAB, the first radio station (as far as I know) that is complementing all its programs with blogs ( dyAB Abante Bisaya). 

Gloria's Fighting Words

(Text of Pres. Arroyo's Nationwide TV/Radio Address on July 7, 2005)

 

Mga Minamahal kong kababayan.

When I was young and my late father Diosdado Macapagal was president of our country, I thought of him as the "good guy" and his political opponents on the other side were the "bad guys".

Because of my father's influence, I had always thought of myself as on the side of the good. Thus, it is very painful for me to know that among many of our countrymen today, I have been demonized as the "bad guy." This is unfair, but it is a cross that God in His wisdom has given me to bear, so I will bear it. I have never questioned God's ways before, and I will not do so now.

When I first entered politics in 1992, little did I know that within a decade, I would become president of our country. And little did I expect that within another five years, there would be calls from civil society for my resignation from office or for the formation of a "Truth Commission" regarding some of my political actuations.

When I spoke before the nation some two weeks ago, I did so against the advice of my legal counsel. But I thought that speaking before you, the Filipino people, was the right thing to do. Shameless people have peddled the lie that I confessed to cheating. What I disclosed was that I talked to an election official. But that this had taken place after the certificates of canvas had already been used to proclaim the winning senators, and it was those same certificates of canvass that showed that I won by around a million votes. That is the truth.

Indeed, it is right for our country to confront the truth, but if we do so, let's confront the biggest, most painful political truth. The big truth that we are aware of deep in our hearts, but that we collectively sweep under the rug. The big truth whose debilitating effects on our country, year after year, decade after decade, have developed into feelings of disgust, hopelessness and even despair among large segments of our society.

The truth that I discovered from my beginnings as a neophyte politician in 1992, rising to become a veteran politician through the years, is this: over the years, our political system has degenerated to such an extent that it is very difficult to live within the system with hands totally untainted. That is the truth. In addition, our system has degenerated to such an extent that more often than not, it is political agenda first, and national interest last. For example, we have endless investigations and scandals in aid of political and media projection, rather than in aid of legislation or executive action. That is the truth. Because of this system of politics, our country has been left behind by other countries in the region, and our best and brightest, the cream of our youth, are voting with their feet to leave the country. That is the truth.

I do not blame any individual or political block for this sad state of affairs. It is simply the truth that the political system that I am part of has degenerated to the point that it needs fundamental change. We are collectively to blame, so we must collectively be the solution. Let he who is without sin, cast the stone. To those who feel that they cannot cast the first stone, I invite you to help in the solution.

My proposed approach to reform our system of politics and governance is something that I had wanted to bring forth during the upcoming state of the nation address. However, because our country is hungry for a resolution to the political uncertainties that have plagued us these past few weeks, I will bring it up now.

First of all, I am not resigning my office. To do so under circumstances that connote an EDSA 3 would condemn any successor to the possibility of an EDSA 4, then an EDSA 5, and so on, unless our political system were first reformed to make it more responsive to the people's will, such that changes in leadership come about in an orderly and stable manner.

The world embraced EDSA 1 in 1986. The world tolerated EDSA 2 in 2001. The world will not forgive an EDSA 3 in 2005, but would instead condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable. And the Filipinos as among the finest people in the world, but who always shoot themselves in the foot. Under those circumstances, who would invest money in the Philippines? How would we weather the difficulties arising from the price of crude oil being at its highest in history?

What I intend to do is to work with legislators and civil groups who believe that changes in the fundamental law of the land are necessary in order to confront such basic issues as federalism, the character of our legislative process, reducing red tape in government processes, running for public office under a true party system and with less need to raise campaign funds, modernizing the economic provisions of our constitution, and so forth.

At the same time, I will restructure and strengthen the cabinet, giving it a free hand to meanwhile reform and manage our day to day governance with as little political interference as possible, even from me.

This is how we will proceed.

First, I'm asking my entire cabinet to tender their resignation in order to give the executive a free hand to reorganize itself. I'll ask our sectors to give me the names of candidates that we can invite to replace those who will not return to the cabinet, or even to help out at other levels of the executive.

Second, the cabinet will be given a free hand on governance, while I focus on the fundamental changes that we need to put in place.

Third, I will begin to reach out to the political and civil sectors that have an interest in the various advocacies that are relevant to our constitution. Federalism, for example, is an advocacy that I had espoused long ago.

This is neither political ploy nor gimmick. I believe that this process will quickly lay the foundation for deep reforms in our society, including reforms in our political way of life. This would be a legacy that our generation of politicians and citizens could collectively be proud of. I now have grand children to play with and to help bring up. Like all of you, I want our children to grow up in a better Philippines. I have prayed on this, and I hope that I have discerned God's will properly.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

RP Blessing

Commentary: For the Philippines, credit downgrades may be a blessing

By William Pesek Jr. Bloomberg News

ING Bank analysts recently made an odd announcement: Philippine dollar-denominated bonds are the "most attractive" among Asia's sovereign debt issues. Didn't they notice that two major international rating companies had recently downgraded the credit of the Philippines?

 

Actually, ING's analysts are well aware of the country's fiscal difficulties.

 

Budget deficits here are bloating the national debt, which has risen 75 percent since Gloria Arroyo became president in January 2001. Yet ING analysts may be justified in giving Arroyo, a trained economist, benefit of the doubt.

 

"We believe 2005 could be a breakthrough year for the Philippines, when growth breaks out on the upside and fiscal woes diminish," ING said in a recent report.

 

There are myriad reasons to be skeptical about an economy that is increasingly referred to as the Argentina of Asia. Investors do not soon forget when nations declare a moratorium on foreign debt payments, as the Philippines did 20 years ago and Argentina did in 2001.

 

Convincing markets that Philippine debt will not spiral out of control is a challenge in the best of times. But these are reasonably good times for the Philippines. The economy is growing at a pace of around 6 percent, a rate that the United States, Europe and Japan can only dream of. And Arroyo isn't facing an election, as she did in 2004.

 

The Philippines now has an opportunity to reduce the budget deficit and ensure that more of its 86 million people share in the economy's growth. It should also remind investors that the nation has solid, investment-worthy companies, as well as outsourcing industries with attributes they may not find in China, India or Malaysia.

 

The government should also inform travelers that Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam don't have monopolies on beautiful tourist destinations. In short, this is an occasion to remind the world why it should not sell the Philippines short.

 

Will the government take advantage of this opportunity? There is reason to be optimistic, and, as counterintuitive as it may seem, the Philippines has Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's to thank for that.

 

Both rating companies cited the nation's deficit when they cut their Philippine ratings this year. Just 10 days after the downgrade from S&P, the House of Representatives voted to increase the value-added tax to 12 percent from 10 percent. Doctors, lawyers and oil importers are being called upon to pay taxes for the first time.

 

A sense of crisis is sometimes needed to prod politicians into action. Only such pressure, it appears, will force this nation's bureaucracy to make necessary compromises.

 

Let's hope that dynamic stays in place. If the Philippines can't get things on the right track while its economy is growing at 6 percent, when can it?

 

Unfortunately, the Senate ended a recent special session without passing the House of Representatives' tax bill. Doing so would not only bolster tax revenue to narrow the budget deficit and ease concern that the nation will default on its debt, but it would also send a message that the government is committed to reform efforts.

 

Explaining why it didn't happen, the president of the Senate, Franklin Drilon, said: "We don't want to rush."

 

Yes, you do want to rush, Senator. Otherwise, markets will grow even more impatient.

 

So far, investors do not seem to be panicking. The difference in yield between the Philippines' 8.25 percent bond due in 2014 and comparable U.S. Treasuries has shrunk to 3.99 percentage points from 4.24 percentage points four months ago.

 

Yet investor tolerance is a finicky thing. When it comes to budget deficits, the Philippines really is different. The United States, which has no track record of default, gets the benefit of the doubt from investors even as its record budget deficit widens apace. The Philippines lacks the same fiscal latitude.

 

In January, the Philippines held its biggest overseas debt issue, selling $1.5 billion of 25-year debt. It may sell another $2 billion by the third quarter. Showing global markets evidence of fiscal progress would lower its financing costs.

 

A third of the annual budget now goes to interest payments. Lower borrowing costs would leave one of Asia's more fragile economies more money for schools, health care, roads and bridges. Considering that a third of its population lives on less than 60 U.S. cents a day, the Philippines could use all the extra cash it can find.

 

Like all windows of opportunity, this one may not stay open for very long. If the Philippines uses it wisely, its bondholders could be a happy bunch.

 

Zobel's View

In the Philippines, an Asian Success Story With a Difference

By Jaime Zobel de Ayala

Since the Cold War ended, East Asia has emerged in the public consciousness as the strongest challenge to the West's continued preeminence. The economic performances of Northeast and Southeast Asian countries are frequently lumped together and then compared to those of the United States and other Western nations.

Japan leads the Asian pack. Insofar as other Asian economies approximate its features, they are rated successes. So far it has surmounted every challenge to its primacy. Challenges that sapped the strength of other countries have only made it stronger.

Those challenges have included a currency that was too strong, an excessive dependence on foreign oil, and the hostility of major trading partners. As Japan spreads its influence beyond its borders through investment and trade, its self-reliant strength at home has not been diluted, despite its current short-term political headaches.

In "Looking at the Sun," the American writer James Fallows concludes that a Japanese-style partnership between the state and the private sector for national progress is the best way to succeed. He marvels at how Japan used a kind of economic judo to turn what were once seen as the West's defining strengths - private enterprise, free trade and liberal democracy - to the disadvantage of the West.

The image of the West has taken a beating from comparisons with East Asia. The Philippines, often seen as a pale imitation of the West, has thus also fallen in esteem. Democracy and free enterprise are blamed for the weak governments, confused societies, wayward citizenry and lurching eco nomies of the West, and of the Philippines. In stark contrast are the strong governments, disciplined societies, cooperative citizens and smoothly rising economies of East Asia.

The Philippines was the first country to shake off colonialism in Asia and the first to recover from the ravages of World War II. It was also the first Asian nation to stage a nonviolent revolution, setting a pattern of political development throughout Eastern Europe that brought the Cold War to an end. All this is in the past. Countries with economic strategies and political systems that are diametrically different from those of the Philippines are now held up for admiration.

The Philippines is now restructuring its economy, in cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to bring it even closer to the Western model of free enterprise at home and free trade abroad, with the government involved in government and business in business only. The Philippines upholds individual rights at home and international law abroad.

The problem with a democracy is that it is a nice place to live in but you are not sure to eat. The problem with a dictatorship, as Filipinos discovered, is that you are not sure to eat or live. The authoritarian experience of other countries in the region has been different. They are lucky. But the Philippines has to live and act on the basis of its own sad experience.

The critics are right: Philippine democracy is having a hard time solving the problems that a dictatorship created. Half of the nation's revenues go to servicing a huge foreign and domestic debt inherited from the Marcos years. Democracy is expensive - but it is not a luxury. For the Philippines, it is a necessity.

Philippine democracy can hardly be described as a failure. Among Asian countries, we have solved the deadly problem of political succession without tanks in the streets. Communist insurgency in the Philippines is fast winding down. The liberal culture, while explaining the indiscipline of our society, also accounts for its extraordinary tolerance. We have no racial problems.

Philippine solutions are not neat, but they involve a sense of community and cooperation. The problem of policy inconsistency between administrations has been solved. Without skipping a beat, President Fidel Ramos took up the essential policies of the previous democratically elected administration.

The administration of President Corazon Aquino prepared, and the Ramos government has implemented, the deregulation of foreign exchange and other measures to open the economy, improve efficiency and competition, and strengthen the private sector. Mr. Ramos has called for stronger English-language instruction and education in basic skills to recover or retain the country's former advantage in these areas.

The Philippines is moving toward economic recovery. Interest rates are low. Inflation is in single digits. The foreign exchange rate is stable. Investments in housing and construction are rising. Consumption is increasing. There is vigorous development in new growth centers such as Cebu, in the central Philippines, and Davao in the south. The troublesome power shortages are almost over. The government budget deficit is being addressed with new tax measures. Economic growth will likely hit 5 percent this year, after adjustment for inflation.

The Philippines has made its choice - private free enterprise rather than the East Asian way of directed economies. But, like the rest of Asia, the Philippines will leapfrog economically where it can, in areas where it has comparative advantage. These include widespread literacy, competence in English, and superior skills, even if wages are higher than in most of Southeast Asia.

The Philippines would prefer a strong economy built from the ground up, complete with heavy industry and a thriving agriculture. But the country will harness growth areas wherever they can be found. This may buy time to acquire the scientific and technological culture essential to real, substantive development.

It is too soon to say that one way is best for all time, and another a hopeless failure. As they say in America, it ain't over until the fat lady sings. And she's not in the stadium yet.

The writer is chairman and president of Ayala Corporation, one of the largest companies in the Philippines. He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.

Copyright © 2005 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com

Democratic Left

Posted by Luz Rimban
PCIJ

WHEN political activists calling themselves the democratic left gathered to launch their "Laban ng Masa" campaign last week, the event almost went unnoticed. After all, the group didn't have big political names in its roster, apart from the veteran activists, university professors and marginalized party list representatives in Congress. Besides, in the heat of the political season, what were another gathering, another mobilization, and another march?

Among political forces opposing President Gloria Arroyo, it seems that this group would not be too far from other opposition groups that have been asking her to step down. Their call, the demand for a "transitional revolutionary government" sounds very much like the "caretaker government" proposed by the political opposition allied with former President Joseph Estrada and the forces of the late presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. Like that sector of the opposition, the democratic left wants the 1987 constitution scrapped so that the country and the government can start from scratch.

But that's just about all they have in common. Not only does the democratic left want the President to step down, they are also calling for an end to elitist rule. In other words, they want President Arroyo to go, and to take with her the elite—the ruling class—including the worst of the country's traditional politicians now waiting in the wings for the demise of the Arroyo government.

Former University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo, who is leading this group, believes that Arroyo is to blame for mismanaging the economy and should have been asked to resign, even before the jueteng and "Hello Garci" scandals broke out.

"To win the elections, (Arroyo) used billions of pesos of government funds that belonged to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Social Security System (SSS), and other government financial institutions, not to mention the money that came from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the PAGCOR," said Nemenzo in his keynote speech.

"And now, how does she plan to solve the problem she created? By raising taxes. But Arroyo is not taxing the rich because she's afraid of them. Instead, she's imposing taxes like the EVAT that businessmen could pass on to ordinary people. In other words, she is making us pay for her election campaign," Nemenzo added.

The solution, says the democratic left, is a transitional revolutionary government like the one that replaced the Marcos dictatorship after EDSA 1. But that revolutionary government, they say, remained in the hands of the elite represented no less by one of their own, Cory Aquino. Which is why fundamental change never happened.

Still, Aquino projected an image that was motherly, untainted and unambitious, and managed to move the middle class against Marcos in 1986. The democratic left still doesn't have a Cory Aquino, in a society where icons and symbols mean everything to people.

They're also wary of supporting leaders who might just turn out like Arroyo. "We don't want to go into a framework of supporting the lesser evil, because the lesser evil eventually becomes the greater evil," says Ronald Llamas, national president of the party list group Akbayan.

For now, the question of a leader is what hobbles this "third pole," as the democratic left forces like to call themselves. Supporting Poe's widow Susan Roces might place them in the same league as the traditional politicians, although it's an option they're probably considering. But Nemenzo told the crowd gathered at the UP Bahay ng Alumni last week to expand their choices of a leader beyond the options the media have offered. He mentions the names of UP professors Randy David and Walden Bello, and economist Alejandro "Ding" Lichauco.

Whether the democratic left option is a shot in the dark, or the answer to the middle class's frustrations with traditional politicians and the elite, depends on how they intend to carry out this idea of a "transitional revolutionary government," and whether they are able to get their message across. What was a long-term vision needs to be refocused for the here and now, as change seems imminent.