Meet the cowinners

Meet the cowinners

This is the people’s verdict after the antigraft court’s guilty verdict on Estrada’s plunder case: Estrada and President Arroyo are cowinners. We just don’t know who, later on, will emerge as the bigger winner. But both won because this is how things are playing out.

Estrada is now seen as a martyr. Not bad for somebody who squandered his towering political mandate and ruined himself while in office in pursuit of his hedonistic, baser urges.

The sentiment that Erap was a victim of political prosecution and not a crook is an across-the-board sentiment. Only the billionaires share the sentiment of the Arroyo hard-liners that Erap is a thieving buffoon who deserves a lifetime in jail. The verdict only enhanced the already awesome popularity of Estrada.

Estrada’s popularity will lead to two scenarios.

First, a premature presidential pardon just like what Vice-President Noli de Castro had suggested. Expect de Castro to take it up with the national leadership in the name of his new buzzword—reconciliation. The leadership is inclined to respond positively and urgently.

Before we know it, before the Estrada hardliners can even agitate people to take up to the streets to protest, Estrada might be out of Tanay, although with a minor inconvenience—the mark of a pardoned convict. But with our moral bar so low, who cares?

Even if this does not take place, Estrada can just sit back and relax in his Tanay rest house cum jail and wait for 2010. Sure as the sun rises in the morning, the presidential candidate who will win in 2010 will have to have Estrada’s backing. With Estrada’s mass base, a big 30 percent of the voting population, the candidate only needs to work on his or her own 20 percent to win.

The 30-percent solid Estrada voting bloc will be of greater significance if there are three or more candidates. Victory in the 2010 presidential election will be owed to Estrada.

In this context, the 2010 winner can pardon Estrada right after assuming power and this will be a popular (very) decision.

Those who doubt the political leverage and muscle that go with popularity should take it from Homer Simpson. Son, he told Bogart Simpson, “Popularity is the most important thing in the world.”

Especially to politicians.

What made Mrs. Arroyo a cowinner? Easy.

With Estrada in Tanay, she can go about with her business of governing without having to worry about having Estrada on the loose and physically proselytizing about injustice and corruption. The second-level leaders of the opposition do not have Estrada’s clout and popular appeal and they can’t stir the crowds as deeply and passionately as Estrada.

So she is safe in office. From his Tanay detention center, Estrada cannot manipulate the events in the country and sow the seeds of popular revolt. To be agitated and rebellious, the Estrada crowds need his physical presence.

She actually bought enough time to decide on what her course for the next two years or so would be: governing well or the guillotine.

If she governs well within the next two years or so and make amends for the many corrupt, bizarre and mediocre acts her administration has committed since 2001, she will be spared the guillotine. She will exit office, if not on a blaze of glory, on an appreciative note from the nation.

But if the rest of her term will be of the same deplorable stuff: ZTE, Jose Pidal, “Hello, Garci,” she will suffer a fate worse than a Tanay detention.

The choice is hers. She has time on her side. She can still reverse what is looming to be a cruel verdict of history.

The verdict was a temporary hump for Estrada. It also gave Mrs. Arroyo enough time to make amends for her past indiscretions and work for an acceptable closure to her mistrusted presidency.

The nation, in some weird sense, is a bit of a winner. It got its break, a relief from a head-on clash between two contending political forces (both lusting for power) which our prostrate and polarized people do not even deserve.

With our national expectations so low, with our national mood so downcast, that can be considered a win.

Serving the President

Serving the President

Last week President GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo, through Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, asked Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to go on leave for two months so his health would improve. The 76-year-old Gonzalez, who is obviously afraid his leave would become permanent, the next day said he would take only a one-month leave because he did not want to be idle for a long time. He even made a great show of signing 20 documents in his hospital room.

We say, like some senators, that Gonzalez should make his leave permanent because it will be good for his health. He has rendered enough service (or disservice, depending on one’s point of view) to his country and should be allowed to rest. There are hundreds of brilliant lawyers who can fill his shoes at the Department of Justice. It is not as if Gonzalez is indispensable, and is the only one who is qualified to be secretary of justice.

From newspaper accounts, Gonzalez’s ailments are serious. Last month he was hospitalized for a bleeding ulcer. Gonzalez said the ulcer affected his legs so he found it difficult to walk without any help. There is a photo of him being assisted to his seat at a meeting in Malacañang last Wednesday, a piece of gauze over his right wrist. There is talk that he may have to undergo dialysis. The secretary is obviously very sick.

He is in no condition to remain in a key Cabinet post where every day he will be subjected to various pressures -- not just work and deadline pressures, but also political pressure. For his own good, the President should ask him to go on leave permanently.

Gonzalez is a prime example of a Cabinet member who has politicized his position. He has not dispensed impartial, unbiased and apolitical justice. In many of his decisions, actions and statements, he has been biased, political and very protective of Ms Arroyo. Most of the time, one listening to him would think that he is not the justice secretary but a political or publicity spokesperson of the President and her administration.

On the Subic rape case: From the start, Gonzalez expressed disbelief at “Nicole’s” claim that she was raped by four American Marines. In his statements it appeared that he was lawyering for the US Marines whose interests were already being protected by the US Embassy and Filipino attorneys acting as their defense counsel.

On the Julia Campbell slaying: Gonzalez exhibited the height of insensitivity when he blamed the victim, saying that “she was careless when she took a lonely walk by herself in a deserted area” and added, “[she] is also a little irresponsible.” Apparently he made the statements to try to erase the impression that peace and order is very bad under this administration.

On the extrajudicial killings: Gonzalez said that United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, who made a report on extrajudicial killings to the UN, was “just a ‘muchacho’ [a hired man]” of the organization. He was apparently downgrading Alston’s position to lessen the effects of his negative findings on the political killings.

On setting up a “rogues’ gallery” of purported coup plotters: On one hand, Gonzalez said there was nothing unconstitutional or illegal in this proposal. On the other hand, constitutionalists like Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J. and the Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties said the proposed rogues’ gallery would violate the right to privacy and cause a “chilling effect” on critics of the administration.

On the $329-million broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp.: Gonzalez said the contract was an executive agreement that did not need to go through a public bidding. He made the statement even without reading the contract, the original copies of which were lost and which had yet to be “reconstituted.”

These and other statements indicate that Gonzalez on many occasions acted not as a justice secretary but more like a political spokesperson or a propagandist for the President and her administration. His statements have hardly, if at all, promoted the ends of justice, but on the contrary, may have even caused injustice, as in the cases of “Nicole” and Campbell.

Gonzalez has rendered enough service to President Arroyo. He is no longer needed as a political spokesperson and propagandist -- unless she has secret political plans for 2010. For his own good and for the good of the nation, he should be allowed to retire permanently.

The rot must be stopped

The rot must be stopped

Gloria Arroyo has nothing to fear about a renewed investigation by the Senate into the "Hello Garci" tapes. One, she is in no danger of being impeached at the House which is packed with her running dogs. Second, she can nonchalantly shrug off any embarrassment that may arise as the inquiry unfolds; she has long demonstrated by her actions that she has the hide of a hippopotamus.

Let’s put aside Gloria’s person and her obsession to carve out a legacy. After six years, we know her and her lying, cheating and thieving ways as well as the back of our hand. As to her legacy, she will be long remembered for, first, grabbing the presidency and, second, for stealing the 2004 election to stay in power.

Let’s take her out of the equation and focus our attention in grappling with the dangers exposed by the "Hello Garci" scandal. The issue goes beyond Gloria, who is already a lame duck and just marking time until her exit in 2010. The very future of the Republic is at stake.

Let’s stop being silly like Joker Arroyo, who apparently has lost his liberal vision and democratic moorings in his dotage. The "Hello Garci" controversy goes beyond the admissibility as evidence of the Arroyo-Garci recordings as Joker insists.

At this point, whether Garcillano was talking to his dog or to a ventriloquist is a subsidiary issue. We are talking about an intelligence agency, the Intelligence Service of the AFP, which has turned rogue by mounting a politically motivated wiretapping operation in violation of the law.

This is not the first time Isafp has engaged in contemptible and condemnable political action. Remember Isafp’s cooking up of a report about Ping Lacson’s hundreds of millions of dollar deposits abroad?

Isafp commanders and their superiors have perjured themselves in denying they had wiretapping equipment in their inventory. They have since denied any involvement in other wrongdoing such the kidnapping and killing of militants. So what’s the worth of the word of liars? What other skeletons are rattling inside Isafp’s secret closet?

We hope the Senate inquiry could come up with the answers. We also look forward to new laws that would put an end to the we-are-above-the-law mentality of these intelligence people. And not only of the intelligence types in the military. The danger farther down the road is a military completely beyond control of the civilian authority. Let us stop the rot before it infects the whole body.

Gloria may have condoned, if not ordered, the Isafp’s illegal actions. No matter, a single diseased sample does not make for a pathology infecting all.

We have given up on Gloria. But we continue to believe our people will one day – and may that day dawn soon enough – come to enjoy the blessings of democracy and of the rule of law as vouchsafed by the Constitution.

The health of our hospitals

The health of our hospitals

NATIONAL Hospital Week came and went with many Filipinos wondering about the health of our public and private hospital system. It’s a mixed picture with many municipalities in the South missing it services while urban residents complain about expensive healthcare costs.

The Philippine Medical Association reported that the number of public and private hospitals in the country dropped by 55 percent in the past 20 years, from 2,000 in 1987 to only 890 in 2007.

The PMA’s committee on legislation cited a number of reasons for the decline, including a shortage of medical professionals, principally nurses, high costs of medicine, bankruptcy and insufficient government funding for public health care.

The chairman of the committee warned more hospitals would close because of a new government policy that makes it easier for indigent patients to settle unpaid bills and to secure immediate discharge.

The Department of Health has denied there has been such a drop. The chief of the department’s bureau of licensing and regulation explained that while some hospitals may have closed down, new ones have also opened in the past two decades.

Hospital Week tiptoed into the calendar with a report that the Philippine General Hospital has started limiting admission to its maternity section to decongest its nursery.

The PGH spokesman explained that the nursery currently has an active population of 90 babies a day, against a normal capacity of 45 to 60. Services could suffer and the quality of care could weaken if the trend continues, he said.

Current policy requires that babies born normal be placed beside their mothers and not in the nursery. The hospital has advised expectant mothers to visit other hospitals or clinics.

Close to the observance, some newspapers reported that the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, the country’s largest maternity hospital, almost closed down due to questions of ownership “and possible duplications of function.”

Secretary of Health Francisco Duque III, in a meeting with hospital professionals, employees and patients, assured everyone that the 87-year old hospital was in no danger of a phaseout and that its services would continue beyond the end of the Arroyo administration.

The best news was the centennial of the Philippine General Hospital last week. The PGH is the country’s foremost public hospital, providing above-standard care to the poor since August 17, 1907.

The PGH is an important part of the University of the Philippines system, particularly its medical and nursing departments. It provides world-class training to top healthcare professionals. Its research and development program compares favorably with the best in Asia.

Generations of well-known Filipinos who have served in government and the private sector were born at the PGH. Millions have been served by its staff.

In its 100 years, the hospital has become the hope for the sick and the distressed, a sanctuary for Filipinos who know that their poverty is not a hindrance to good hospital care.

We should have a PGH in each administrative region, or a hospital similar to it in the provincial capitals and in the most populous cities. The modern public hospital is a gauge of government priority and an earnest of its social conscience. As a civilizing institution, the well-funded public hospital is indispensable in the life of the community and the nation.

Beltran Boulevard

IF you can’t stop children, spouses and assorted relatives of politicians from perpetuating political dynasties, you could at least prevent the high and the mighty from naming public places and government programs after themselves or their kin up to the fourth degree of consanguinity.

House Bill 2026 points out that 20 years after the adoption of the Constitution, Congress has not passed an enabling bill to end political dynasties. Meanwhile blue-blooded families continue to rule Philippine politics.

What’s the next best thing? “Simply ban the naming of public properties, public services and government programs after incumbent officials and their relatives,” the bill says. “This would at least put a stop to one of the most despised practices of political dynasties.”

Why despicable? Because these programs, projects and services are funded by taxpayers. To claim credit for public works is “immoral and unethical.”

We agree with the authors—Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casino, Liza Maza, Luzviminda Ilagan and Crispin Beltran. How often do we see posters and billboards advertising that a street-repair job is a project of Congressman Pedro Matakaw or see a city program named after Mayor Juan Mapi-ar?

The bill does not mention the popular practice of renaming roads, bridges and schools after a dead politician, a businessman or the uncle of an incumbent senator. The law says that no public space can be renamed without consultation with, or clearance from, the National Historical Institute.

House Bill 2026 is welcome, except that it will deprive us the pleasure of having a Satur Street, Anakpawis Avenue or a Beltran Boulevard. The Huk training school in Arayat, Pampanga, used to be known as Stalin University. That kind of public homage we will miss, too.

Lifestyle check

Lifestyle check

Conducting a lifestyle check on private citizens to flush out delinquent taxpayers is a good idea – if it can be implemented efficiently and if it targets the right people. In the absence of racketeering laws, the move can be used to nail down notorious smugglers, jueteng lords and other crooks who enjoy the protection of influential people. The lifestyle check, authorities said, would go hand-in-hand with a tax amnesty program. Both measures aim to boost revenue collection, which has fallen below projections, creating a bigger-than-expected budget deficit and costing the revenue commissioner his job.

On the other hand, if the measures simply provide yet another opportunity for large-scale tax evaders and crooks to keep their dirty money after giving a token tax payment to corrupt revenue collectors, the idea should be dropped. Gambling barons and smugglers can buy the protection of police and military officers, judges, prosecutors and politicians. How hard will it be for these crooks to pay off revenue collectors, many of whom are already used to accepting bribes? Corruption has long been one of the biggest hindrances to proper revenue collection. The same problem bedevils the Bureau of Customs and its efforts to stop smuggling. Many revenue and Customs collectors are likely to fail a lifestyle check.

At the hands of the inept and corrupt, the lifestyle check on private citizens is bound to net a couple of small fry who cheat on their tax payments to make ends meet. The worst use for the lifestyle check is for political harassment, which some quarters in the opposition fear. It is often said that those who follow the law have nothing to fear, but in this country, being law-abiding does not guarantee protection from state persecution. The fear is valid, considering the track record of the administration in using state power to harass political enemies.

Fiscal reforms and their positive effects on the economy have been undeniable achievements of this administration. Now weak revenue collection is threatening that bright spot. In moving to increase government earnings, the administration will need proper focus and must keep its revenue collectors on a tight leash.

Dying in Sulu

Dying in Sulu

What, exactly, is happening in Sulu? The high death toll reported last week has caused many to sound the alarm, not only in Camp Aguinaldo but even in the halls of Congress.

It has since become clear that the Armed Forces sustained the losses not in a single firefight, but in two encounters. The grief the public feels remains sharp, but it becomes a bit more bearable when the fog of war lifts a little.

The brutal fact remains, however: Too many soldiers lost their lives last week in the battlefields of Sulu. What did they die for?

They died in pursuit of the remnant Abu Sayyaf, and especially of two Jemaah Islamiyah leaders: Dulmatin and Umar Patek. That they were killed, in all likelihood, by members of the Moro National Liberation Front, an organization the government signed a peace accord with a decade ago, makes their sacrifice all the more heartbreaking.

Or all the more pointless—if, that is, we credit those who have never believed a lasting peace with Moro separatist groups was possible. For them, every armed encounter, every ambush, is fresh proof that Muslims cannot be trusted.

For those of us who believe in the possibility of lasting peace in the South, however, every armed encounter, every ambush, is proof positive that the peace process is as necessary as ever.

Certainly, the government’s iron fist must come down hard on those who coddle the JI terrorists and the Abu Sayyaf bandits. But the government must do so without losing sight of the true national interest: not merely to pursue the terrorists or to punish those who offer them sanctuary, but to establish the basis of a lasting peace. As President Macapagal-Arroyo said in the first of three statements she released over the weekend: “The military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf must continue, not as an act of vengeance but as a strategy to win the peace.”

Much about the offensive in Sulu remains confusing, and confused. But this much we can say.

THE KILL RATIO. The other day, Rep. Roilo Golez asked plaintively why the kill ratio, as it were, was almost 1:1. Perhaps a congressional investigation was in order? As a graduate of the US Naval Academy, however, Golez should have known better. This is guerrilla warfare. Rebels are not obliged to tell the media how many casualties they sustained; in fact, they remove bodies from the battlefield as soon as they can, because they can.

After two encounters last Thursday, for example, it was reported that only five Moro rebels had died. That is to say, only five bodies of men identified as belonging to the MNLF were found. But Jolo brigade commander Anthony Supnet said he had found out from residents in the area that about 40 rebels were actually killed. In contrast, Supnet said, “We cannot hide our casualties.”

THE ROGUE MNLF. All the President’s statements notwithstanding, the offensive against the Abu Sayyaf at this stage involves—or rather consists mainly of—attacks on MNLF redoubts in Sulu suspected of harboring the bandits and the JI leaders. Because “blood ties are very strong in Sulu,” as one peace advocate and long-time Sulu researcher told this newspaper, the AFP is actually engaged in combat with armed men who do not think of themselves in the same way the AFP, and the public at large, thinks of them. Said Victor Taylor: “What needs to be stressed is that from the perspective of the fighters, the organizational labels that the government uses, such as ‘rogue MNLF-Abu Sayyaf,’ have no meaning. It’s the common enemy that binds them together.”

That common enemy, unfortunately, is the AFP.

THE SPIRAL OF WAR. Is this reality “on the ground,” as both military commanders and armchair warmongers are fond of saying, evidence that peace with our Muslim brethren is only an illusion? No. Peace with the majority of our Muslim citizens is a triumphant fact; peace with one major Moro separatist movement a true feat; peace with the other separatist group still, despite recent encounters, closer at hand.

Over and above the snarling image of remnant MNLF units who retained their arms, we must acknowledge the reality of thousands of former MNLF rebels successfully integrated into the AFP or fully rehabilitated into mainstream life. In fact, some of those killed or wounded or involved in last week’s offensive were ex-MNLF “integrees.” We don’t doubt their sense of duty, their patriotism.

‘Killing Fields’

‘Killing Fields’

VISITING the Killing Fields museum in Cambodia, one is both appalled and mesmerized by the almost two million skulls and skeletons of ordinary Khmers or Cambodians, aged at least 14 years at the time of their murders, sickeningly piled on top of one another. In response to the massive genocide committed by communist forces led by French-educated Saloth Sar, also known as Pol Pot, the United Nations established a national prison center to house the top leadership of Khmer Rouge while awaiting prosecution to be apparently initiated through an international criminal tribunal. Unfortunately, after more than 30 years after the start of the national massacre on a scale that former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says is still almost impossible to comprehend, the trial of these ruthless Khmer Rouge leaders has not even commenced. Only a single communist leader has been apprehended for the genocide.

Cambodia has already marked its 30th anniversary of the dubious liberation of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge, which then embarked in a national experiment of utopian social engineering supposedly to create a singular and unified proletarian class. The socio-political experimentation, however, left more than a fifth of its population dead and the rest of the nation mourning the decaying corpses and broken bones of their relatives that continues to haunt them today.

But Pol Pot and many of his chief lieutenants have already died while many of those responsible for the genocide are aging. Kang Kek Leu, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, is the Khmer Rouge chief executioner Duch, and director of the Tuol Sleng torture prison. He was the first to be even arrested eight years ago; there have been no arrests ever since. He just recently became the lone inhabitant of the national prisons created by the UN International Criminal Tribunal. It is anticipated that other top regime leaders will soon be arrested, which may include Khmer Rouge Head of State Khieu Samphan, Deputy Chairman Nuon Chea, and Foreign Minister Ieng Sary. Although these murderers have denied their leadership roles to the butchery claiming unawareness of the killing fields occurring in distant zones under the command of more junior communist cadres, Kang Kek Leu is the link, the middle person, or the joint nexus anticipated to “explain the decision making for the killings and the chain of command and responsibility” from Pol Pot to the top leaders down to the senior officers then to the junior cadres.

The international community seeks a closure to the evils of the national massacre but this can only be attained by sending the message that crimes against humanity, of such massive degree, committed with impunity, shall never be tolerated and those responsible for such universal atrocities and gore must be punished. Many Cambodians may have no direct recollection of Pol Pot or the massacres in their country and may even wonder if the money is better spent on irrigation or drinking water rather than for the initiative of a protracted, tedious trial that may raise renewed violence and bloodshed throughout their volatile nation. But many do clamor for justice.

Unfortunately, however, the great vanishing tribunal to end the impunity of the worst genocidal criminals of Asia is now a global embarrassment, with America contributing nothing to the effort to hold those genocidal terrorists accountable. While America aspires to pursue the globalization of democracy, the world’s tyrants and genocidal terrorists are escaping their deserved punishment because America has not even contributed a single cent to the effort to prosecute and to bring to trial these mass murderers that have committed the worst crime since Adolf Hitler. If America refuses to act, will the Association of Southeast Asian Nations take the cudgels for the ordinary Asian? Or is respect for human rights and dignity of its individual citizens just a myth that may never see fruition, especially in the lands of tyrants?

On the wrist

On the wrist

Lintang Bedol got a mere slap on the wrist, opposition politicians chorused yesterday, after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc found the controversial provincial election supervisor of Maguindanao guilty of indirect contempt.

Bedol was found guilty of four counts of what amounts to gross disrespect of the Comelec. “And since we found that he appears to have lost respect [for] the institution,” Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said, “the institution, in an attempt [at] self-preservation, will have to show that [it] means business to discipline its own people.” Bedol’s penalty: up to six months in jail and a fine of P1,000.

Not surprisingly, the opposition found the sentence too lenient. “The Comelec is clearly treating Bedol with velvet gloves,” said Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel of the party-list group Akbayan. The "punishment is too light,” said Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Compared to the many allegations of both retail and wholesale fraud that marred the vote in Maguindanao province last May, the penalty is certainly light. But it is important to remember that the “slap on the wrist” is only for one case, the one for indirect contempt. Nothing in the resolution suggests that the Comelec has given up on probing the allegations of election fraud, or that Bedol won’t be called to account for those same allegations in the future.

Indeed, the resolution ends by ordering the commission’s legal department to “determine whether or not any election offense or crime under the Revised Penal Code has been committed by ... Bedol, and to initiate the filing of the necessary charge/s therefor.”

It’s a slim hope, but we’ll take it.

We’ll take it, even though the resolution seems to have been written out of wounded institutional pride, with references to the Comelec’s “integrity” and to its “self-preservation and defense” littering the official prose. We’ll take it, even though we are fully aware that lesser penalties have been used to dodge any serious review of government corruption before. We’ll take it, even though Bedol walked free yesterday after posting bail, and even though he can still file a motion for reconsideration.

The possibility that he will be made to pay for his studied insolence (or perhaps it comes naturally to him?) is a small victory for election reformers, but it is, nonetheless, a victory.

* * *

In the face

The resolution finding Lintang Bedol guilty of indirect contempt should not lull the Commission on Elections (Comelec) into a false sense of complacency, into thinking it had swallowed the bitter medicine and done its duty.

Finding Bedol guilty was easy; now the hard work begins. After all, the real assault on the Comelec’s “integrity” did not take the form of Bedol’s haughty catch-me-if-you-can insolence; it consisted of the massive election fraud allegedly perpetrated by or under Bedol.

In other words, the pain that the election commissioners feel about the public esteem it has lost was caused, not by Bedol’s disrespectful conduct toward the commissioners, but by Bedol’s disrespectful conduct toward Maguindanao’s voters.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon got it right: “What [Bedol] did with the CoCs [certificates of canvass that Bedol said were stolen] asked for by the Comelec was the most contemptuous act. What he did undermined the credibility of the election.”

It is for this very reason that the finding of guilt in Bedol’s indirect contempt case, while a small victory in itself, cannot be considered victory enough. By all accounts, the Maguindanao vote for national positions was inescapably tainted. And we mean all accounts, because even Comelec Chair Benjamin Abalos called the Maguindanao results statistically improbable, and even Team Unity’s spokesmen fumbled and named different candidates as rather conveniently topping the vote.

To be sure, Bedol’s official cockiness is grating, but we hope the Comelec realizes what the rest of the country already suspects: He is cocky not because he thinks he cannot get caught, but because if he gets caught, he will bring other election officers and perhaps higher officials down with him.

On this point public opinion is undeceived: Those who conspired to manipulate the Maguindanao vote slapped the Comelec in the face.

No closer to the truth

No closer to the truth

The law penalizing a new crime called electoral sabotage with life imprisonment may finally get its test case, and the felon may turn out to be… not Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol, but a journalist or two who dared to cast aspersions on the integrity of the Commission on Elections.

Comelec officials, to no one’s surprise, allowed Bedol yesterday to post bail after ordering him imprisoned for six months for indirect contempt of the poll body. If the Comelec keeps this up, detention centers could be filled to overflowing with Filipinos who hold the poll body in contempt. Bedol, after spending a night at the Comelec main office instead of in a hotel at taxpayers’ expense, coughed up the required bail of P15,000 but was stranded by floods in Manila. He is certain to return to Maguindanao, where the credibility of the vote in the May elections remains under a cloud of doubt.

Bedol has often been described as the Virgilio Garcillano of the recent midterm elections, and the comparison is not far off the mark. Both men have been implicated in electoral fraud in Mindanao, and both have refused to come clean on the scandals. Both have regarded the accusations with disdain, acting as if they are sure the truth will never be known. Garcillano was cocky enough to campaign for Congress in Bukidnon last May using the nickname “Garci” after initially denying that he was the man with that name in wiretapped phone conversations. Three years after the presidential election where Garcillano is suspected to have rigged the vote in favor of the incumbent, the nation is no closer to the truth.

Now the allegations of poll fraud are focused on Maguindanao. Election returns from the province disappeared, slowing down the national canvassing. Comelec officials later declared that the missing returns had been found. To this day the authenticity of the returns that were “found” has not been established beyond doubt. The mess lies squarely on the shoulders of the Comelec official in charge of the vote in Maguindanao. That happens to be Bedol, but he’s not the one who will get a life term for electoral sabotage. He gets six months and a fine of P1,000. Journalists who criticized the Comelec are the ones who will be locked up for life.

Rules of conduct

Rules of conduct

he recent scandal over shakedowns and shady horse-trading in the Commission on Appointments might yet lead to something good. Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles, the newly designated head of the CA contingent in the House of Representatives, is proposing “rules of conduct” for members of the House team.

Nograles was one of two congressmen mentioned by his predecessor in the CA team, Prospero Pichay Jr., who supposedly raised certain “concerns” with Finance Secretary Margarito Teves when the Cabinet member faced CA confirmation. Teves was bypassed by the CA. His father, Negros Oriental Rep. Herminio Teves, later denounced the CA confirmation process, accusing members whom he did not identify of shaking down officials who need the com-mission’s nod.

Though no names were mentioned, Pichay came out to defend the CA, engaging Teves and his son in a war of words. Watching this public washing of dirty linen, Filipinos simply waited for the verbal skirmish to end, believing the scandal would die down with lawmakers never lifting a finger to change anything in the CA confirmation process.

Probably because his name cropped up in the scandal, Nograles at least is now making noises about introducing new rules to be observed by the House CA contingent, whose members the elder Teves accused of engaging in the shakedown. Nograles has a general idea of the new rules of conduct he is seeking: he said the CA must act swiftly and with transparency on matters requiring the approval of the commission. These include appointments to the Cabinet and the diplomatic corps and military promotions.

If such reforms push through, the executive branch should do its part and start showing the CA due respect. This administration has treated the CA with utter disregard, allowing Cabinet nominees bypassed several times to stay at their posts for over a year by virtue of interim appointments. Protests from the CA have been muted, possibly because of the shady deals exposed by Teves. If the CA does not want to be rendered irrelevant by the executive, it should show that it deserves respect.

Not so wholesome Cebu

Not so wholesome Cebu

Bird watchers on Olango Island, Cebu, could watch strange birds on the uninhabited Sulpa Islet on August 2. A Japanese couple was having sex—with penetration and everything—on the beach while two companions were video filming the scene. Policemen promptly arrested the four Japanese after bird sanctuary wardens on nearby Olango Island who caught the action on their binoculars, alerted the police in Lapu-Lapu City.

The story naturally made it to the headlines in the local news. Newspaper photographers took pictures of the steamy video footages and the pictures were published on the front pages of the local papers. The penetration part was, of course, blurred but probably few if any readers had problems imagining what was hidden. The four Japanese—three men and a woman—pleaded guilty to a violation of Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code, paid a fine of P6,000 each and were released.

Tourism officials were upset about the incident which, according to them, has damaged the image of Cebu as a wholesome tourism destination. However, those of us who live in Cebu know that it is so-so with the wholesome image of Cebu as a tourist destination. Thousands of young women work in establishments that sell sex. The women are forced to let men—Filipino as well as foreign—grope them, as this is part of guest relations. The customer-friendliness goes as far as stripping inside private rooms. And, of course, going out with the customer if he wants to have sexual intercourse. The managers of the establishments would usually deny that they have anything to do with this, but the fact is that no less than our government has imposed on the female guest relations officers (GROs) the keeping of an updated health card. This card is the government’s assurance to the customer that the girls are free of sexually transmitted diseases. We don’t want our foreign tourists to contract an STD or HIV in this wholesome tourism destination, do we?

Some years ago I attended a press forum with officials of the local Departments of Tourism and Health. They were arguing for the health card to protect Cebu’s image as safe and clean for foreign tourists who come here and seek sexual services.

An NGO workers once told me about some Japanese men who returned to a mountain barangay in Cebu City where they were going to have fun with some children. During the sightseeing earlier that day, the parents had approached the men and offered them their children. Other parents have no calms about pushing their teenage daughters into relationships with foreign men—I remember meeting a Swedish national on Bantayan Island. He had two teenage girls in tow. The parents of the girls had told them to befriend the Swede. With the aggressive promotion of the Philippines as a retirement haven, expect more of this kind of prostitution.

Foreign men are occasionally caught in hotel rooms taking nude photos of teenage girls. Once, a foreigner was arrested in Cebu City for shooting his own video in a hotel room. He was having sex with a young girl while her female friend was filming the couple.

What harm did the four Japanese do? While what they did was extremely stupid, they did not involve any Filipinos in their activity. They didn’t prostitute or corrupt any minors. They offended the senses of the general public, but probably the policemen have viewed the videos more than once, and not for purely investigative purposes. The punishment the Japanese was meted—a fine against pleading guilty—for once gives us hope that the justice system is fair, reasonable and efficient.

Sex sells and the four Japanese who could thank the timely intervention of the police for not getting a severe sun burn, were top news in Cebu for a day. The Japanese had to leave the country without their video. End of story. But thousands of Filipino women, girls and boys continue to service their male customers, many of whom are foreign tourists, risking their health and destroying their self-worth, their dignity and their lives. Not enough is being done to confront and end this continuing crime. Authorities, instead of regulating prostitution through the issuance of health cards, should work harder to create jobs that will uplift rather than destroy the human spirit.

Blasting the corrupt

Blasting the corrupt

Here’s something refreshing from China—and it’s not about the trade war.

The British Broadcasting Co. has reported that an online game called “Incorruptible Fighter” has become so popular that its Web site has crashed. Since its launch nine days ago, the game has been downloaded more than 100,000 times. It is currently being updated to meet the unprecedented demand.

Players get ahead by killing and torturing corrupt officials and assisting honest ones.

“Along the way, they are led through a series of moral challenges before entering a corruption-free paradise,” the BBC said.

The game was designed by a regional government in east China to highlight the problem of corruption among public officials.

China has become aggressive in its crackdown on corrupt officials. In recent weeks, high-profile cases have been exposed. A former food and drug watchdog head was executed after being convicted of taking bribes, and the former leader of Communist Party in Shanghai was expelled from the party after being linked to a pension find scandal.

Gamers say they feel a “great sense of achievement when [they] punish lots of evil officials.”

This sentiment could well be uttered by anybody from the Philippines, equally plagued with corruption—in the event, and we hope it’s not remote, that some form of justice against corrupt officials is served.

The Chinese definitely have no qualms using this violent approach. We don’t always agree with them, but we do here, as far as the attitude against the crime is concerned. Corruption is never to be taken lightly or accepted as a given.

TV as a reflection of society

TV as a reflection of society

WHAT appears on television in most countries is a useful reflection of what topics are on the mind of the people and what is considered socially acceptable.

Both Philippine and Brazilian television have current shows that reflect similarities in outlook that come from being developing and Catholic nations.

In Brazil this month I watched the country's most popular telenovela "Paraiso Tropical" (http://paraisotropical.globo.com) which airs on the country's largest TV network Globo. One of its main characters is a social-climber prostitute called Bebel played by Camila Pitanga. She was originally supposed to be an evil "contravida" [villain], but her struggle to lift herself out of prostitution by snagging a rich husband is being viewed positively by a majority of the show's viewers, making Pitanga one of the show's and country's hottest new stars.

In a newspaper interview the head writer of "Paraiso Tropical" said that he and the other writers of the telenovela were surprised that Bebel turned out to be such a favorite of the viewers. But in a country like Brazil where there are so many poor people, and the gap between the rich and poor is still so large, is it no wonder that viewers identify and root for a character such as Bebel?

In the Philippines, ABS-CBN television is embarking on a similar “telenovela” [TV soap] with the launch of "Margarita."

So far only teaser ads are being shown, but it seems to be the story of a female dancer torn between loving two men a la "Burlesk Queen." Starring Wendy Valdez of “Pinoy Big Brother” fame, I'm sure Margarita will undoubtedly pull herself out of the sleaze of nightclubs and into a better life, only to be eternally haunted by her fleshy origins. But the new telenovela is not getting very good previews, even though no one has seen any episode of it yet. One Filipino blogger said: "Brace yourself for crappy acting from the lead stars Wendy, Bruce and Diether on July 30."

ABS-CBN is launching "Margarita" as a replacement for their martial arts, science-fiction telenovela "Rounin," which has been a dismal failure with viewers.

Obviously, television executives believe that viewers will be able to identify more with the struggles of a showgirl than with the flying fights of the characters on "Rounin."

Some commentators made a big deal when "Paraiso Tropical" launched in Brazil because it includes a gay, male couple. But they are depicted as young, professionally successful men who live together in a nice apartment. Globo said it was never going to show the couple kissing each other as it had polled its viewers and found out that the majority of Brazilians were not ready to see that just yet on their TV screens.

But Globo television has been hyper-successful in making and exporting telenovelas to countries around the world. One such weekly series, "Malu Mulher," was a huge hit when it aired in 1979. Starring Regina Duarte, one of Brazil's best actresses, as a recently divorced sociologist living in Sao Paulo with her 11 year old daughter, the show was innovative and progressive for dealing with such sensitive topics such as abortion, divorce and the rights of working women.

I was delighted to find the whole series on DVD when I was in Brasilia. I immediately bought it and watched a few episodes at home, finding that it still was excellent even 28 years after it first aired. What was amazing to me was the bold dialogue of the characters, especially given the fact that Brazil then was still under a military dictatorship and all television shows were closely scrutinized by government censors who strictly monitored programs for anything they could consider immoral or subversive.

If only Philippine television could produce something similar, instead of the dopey programs that networks currently churn out.

Beware Of Bigots

Beware Of Bigots

I received messages from two individuals, a columnist and a political spokesman, who are both my friends but who clashed with opposing views during the recent political campaign. They had exchanged harsh words owing to being on conflicting sides of the political fence. One can even say that both had been nearly insulting one another. I thought it would be one of those things that had always bothered me -- when friends of mine fight and I get caught in between.

But, as it turned out to be, both were also Christians, not so much the talking only kind, but the types who strive to live out what they believe in. One of them, the political spokesman, asked me last week to set him up with the other so that they could personally meet and maybe become friends. He had read an article of the columnist praising the work of Gawad Kalinga and the leadership of Tony Meloto, the very work and Filipino leader that the political spokesman had been helping all along in his home province. Immediately, he sensed that a shared value and admiration would be solid equity for reconciliation and friendship.

I, of course, was only too happy to say yes. I knew that both were basically good persons but headstrong in their beliefs and courageous enough to stand their ground in the line of fire. As it turned out, before I could do anything to set up a meeting between the two, they bumped into each other in the lobby of a popular hotel. Without hesitation, the political spokesman approached the columnist and mutual respect was quickly established. Both agreed to be very articulate about their views, and both accepted the high probability that these views would clash every so often. But both knew they would be Christians first, forgive each other should anger get in the way, and move on to work on their friendship after.

In the midst of hypocrisy and belligerence, the example of these two good men is truly refreshing. They do not brandish their shared religion, but they struggle to maintain integrity in their lives. Both are in difficult fields, one deep in political dynamics and the other writing opinions about those dynamics. Politics can be unkind, and so can the pen. Most people are not especially challenged and will never have to go through harsh words and try to build friendships after them. I am simply blessed to two friends who will try to show me and others that they are bigger and better than the issues they take sides with, or against.

A good disposition and a healthy capacity for respect are rare, though. One would think that a fun-loving and hospitality-oriented people would easily bend to accommodate or defer to others. Unfortunately, that is not so, mainly because the seed of divisiveness has been inculcated into our operating system and a false pride always ready to take offense. At the same time, there is a special history with bigots in our colonial past, especially bigots with a religious color.

By definition, a bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially, one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance. Another dictionary simply says that a bigot is a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion. A third points out that a bigot is one who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.

It may be easy for us to identify certain personalities as bigots because there are always some around us. Bigotry is irritating when the bigot is an ordinary person. When the bigot, though, has power, position and resources, bigotry becomes dangerous. How many died during the Inquisition? How many died during the Holocaust? Bigots are everywhere, in racists, in fanatics, in terrorists.

Most of all, though, bigots have a tendency towards hypocrisy, especially with a religious nuance. They are most destructive when they hold leadership positions and influence their disciples towards violence -- or mass suicides. By the narrowness of their minds and their emotional constipation, bigots invariably go to extremes in any spectrum.

The history of mankind is littered with stories of bigots and bigotry. They make up the most noisy, the most argumentative. After all, it is only they who are right and utterly intolerant of the other view. Colored with religion or a belief system, bigots can be seen preaching fire and brimstone, yet themselves indulge in their own perversions. In the old days, scriptures seemed to refer to Pharisees and Scribes as the biblical bigots whom Jesus Christ had a special disdain for. Of course, they killed Him.

I had thought for a long time that politicians were bigots because of their hypocrisy. I apologize, though. The hypocrisy of politicians is mostly devoid of a holier-than-thou arrogance. The hypocrisy of politicians is derived more from too many promises which they do not keep. It is a milder form of hypocrisy, and one that does not fool many people anymore. The one with a religious color, though, is the more deadly because it is much more deceptive where disciples follow a false prophet.

No wonder that I feel so uplifted when two individuals who had pushed their opposing views publicly simply leaned on basic decency and Christian training to quietly set their differences aside and try to find common ground for building friendship. Of course, they quickly find basis to like each other. All they had to do was want it, all they had to do was walk their talk.

I feel a deep satisfaction having as my friends two gentlemen who saw amity as a higher option over political issues. One told me, "Tonypet is a likable person." The other said, "Billy is a good man." No arrogance, no hypocrisy, no bigotry.

Roadblocks

Roadblocks

If only for the tedious recitation of politicians’ names and the infrastructure projects they have requested, the unabashed display of patronage politics has become the most remembered aspect of President Arroyo’s recent State of the Nation Address. Since then the annual report to the nation continues to draw reactions, a number of them from unbiased quarters whose observations the administration would do well to remember.

Share prices dropped when Fitch Ratings voiced the biggest concern: with a budget deficit that is expected to be much larger than projected for the year, how did the administration intend to finance the President’s so-called “legacy projects”?

The other major concern has been voiced even by pro-administration politicians: the projects in the pipeline provide opportunities for corruption, which can result in overpriced and substandard finished products or more white elephants. The country has enough roads and bridges to nowhere. Controversy can taint even foreign-funded projects, such as the broadband contract with a Chinese company. Certain quarters have also expressed concern about the qualifications of contractors who will be awarded legacy projects proposed by lawmakers under the congressional pork barrel.

These are valid concerns that the administration cannot ignore. Among the projects mentioned by the President were new or larger airports. But the country cannot even open a new airport terminal, which is now rotting away from disuse at the NAIA.

Corruption is also one of the biggest roadblocks in taming the deficit. The Office of the Ombudsman has made some progress in going after the corrupt in the largest fund-generating bureaus, Customs and internal revenue. But it will take time and many more indictments as well as political will to clean up the two bureaus that have consistently topped all surveys on the most corrupt government agencies. Competing with the two bureaus for the lowest rungs in transparency ratings is the Department of Public Works and Highways, which will be tasked to undertake many of the projects mentioned in the President’s legacy list.

Critics of the SONA point out that instead of a roadmap to 2010, President Arroyo had merely presented a map of roads in the archipelago — a lesson in Philippine geography. If the President wants to achieve her legacy, there are heavy roadblocks that she must get out of the way.

Roll call

Roll call

Leaders of the House of Representatives were pleased to announce a record attendance at the start of their session yesterday, with 204 of the 236 members answering a roll call. This was probably the result of a proposal from the minority bloc to compel attendance during session days through a roll call at the start and end of every session.

No one knows how long House members can keep up the high attendance before diligence slackens and absenteeism again becomes the order of the day. The House is in session for only three days every week. Lawmakers have more recesses and vacations than schoolchildren. Despite the limited working days, absenteeism afflicts not just House members but also certain senators, as records of the 13th Congress show. House members point out that they spend the days outside the session hall visiting their districts and meeting with their constituents. Senators do not have such an excuse.

It’s true that the task of legislation requires touching base with the public. But the task also requires painstaking study, paperwork, and yes, attendance during deliberations on proposed pieces of legislation. Even legislators with the requisite expertise can find the job of crafting laws an enormous challenge. Those who lack the qualifications for the job, including those who won a seat in Congress simply by virtue of their popularity or a well-known surname, should be under greater pressure to prove their worth. If they can contribute little to the actual crafting of laws, they should at least see to it that they are present when their votes need to be counted. Congressional leaders, for their part, should set the example in seeing to it that every session day will have a quorum.

Taxpayers’ money is spent for the upkeep of two congressional chambers. Apart from getting operational funds, lawmakers also have control over the use of billions of pesos in public funds under the pork barrel system. Lawmakers must remember that they are public servants under the payroll of Juan de la Cruz. Congressional inquiries are fine as long as they don’t keep hitting dead ends; an investigation must result in legislation. And lawmakers must show up during session days to get some work done. Surely this isn’t too much to ask.

Monday and Friday

Monday and Friday

YOU'LL like this. Monday's leader opinion column (really an advert for GMA television) was an omigosh-shock-horror expose of one of Davao's girly shows. How the girls earn a peso or two by flaunting their bods.

A couple of pages further on there was a full-color, whole-page feature on the world's highest paid supermodels. Girls who earn a peso or two by - um - flaunting their bods. Hypocrisy anyone?

Monday was also Sona day which, as time goes on, seems to be less a serious statement of intent and more an honors list. No? Read the papers, watch the news - everybody and their dog have been jumping up to complain that they, dammit, didn't get a mention.

The MILF (murder and mayhem our specialty), Cebu (in the person of Representative Antonio Cuenco), and, a few evenings ago on television, Joker Arroyo were all fluffed up because he wasn't singled out for approval.

I reckon one of Davao's councilors hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that the Sona was, after all, only a speech made by a politician. And we all know what to make of those, don't we?

Moving smoothly on and dress-down days, those Friday's and Saturday's when office workers leave their uniforms at home and wear something more personal, more them. It's a ritual I've never understood - uniforms promote team spirit and, more importantly, to any visitor they give an impression of neatness and efficiency. Why throw away such advantages?

Friday last I paid a visit to Davao's legal office and after the usual gasps and oohs and ahs - undoubtedly something to do with my manly physique and rugged good looks - I was afforded every courtesy, tendered every consideration and left 30 minutes later well pleased with the information I'd called for but -it was Friday and a dress down Friday.

Now imagine me a Japanese businessman visiting the legal office to clear up a point of local law. Here's Davao City's legal office, the legal office of the premier city of Mindanao and yet some of its staff look to have been outfitted by the “ukay-ukay” store around the corner, one woman in particular wearing a denim jacket and below, a pair of ripped and torn raggedy jeans. What tales I'd take back to Japan!

Have a no-uniform day by all means but surely there must remain some sort of dress code, some benchmark of presentable appearance.

Still on governmental issues, a lot has been made this last couple of weeks of the lunatic proposal that the LTO become an insurance agency but so far every commentator has missed the point. It's nothing to do with public money finding its way into private pockets (perish the thought), nothing to do with rooting out fake agencies (just publish a list of LTO approved companies) and all to do with the government's plan to load us all down - despite GMA's promise to the contrary - with yet more bureaucratic red tape and more government employees paid for by you and me.

No gobbledegook this week. I was tempted to take the hatchet to Tek Ocampo's Monday column "Forbidden Dance," Tek writing as if shower girls hadn't been around for the last twenty-five years and, outside their clubs, advertised with twinkly sparkly lights. But I won't.

Problems juvenile justice law (RA 9344) failed to anticipate

Problems juvenile justice law (RA 9344) failed to anticipate

Imagine the following: A criminal gang recruits youngsters 15 years old and younger to its fold. The children are instructed in the trade secrets of the underworld. Armed with criminal skills, they are fielded by their syndicate masters to engage in mugging, porch-climbing, armed robbery, murder and other offenses.

When the youthful perpetrators are caught, the police have no option but to turn the kids over to social workers who, after documenting the cases, are obliged to release them. Under the recently enacted Republic Act 9344—also known as the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006—minors aged 15 and younger have no criminal liability.

That scenario is, of course, a hypothetical one; however, it is not entirely implausible. R.A. 9344, which its proponents hope would guarantee children’s rights, may have in fact exposed minors to further exploitation by criminals—thanks to certain provisions of the law.

For years many well-meaning groups and individuals have advocated the passage of a juvenile justice bill. Helping boost their campaign were numerous media reports of youngsters confined in jails along with adult crime suspects. According to social workers and advocates of children’s rights, the experience exposed the youths to abuse by both their jailers and older detainees. In far too many cases too it turned the kids into hardened criminals.

President Arroyo affixed her signature to R.A. 9344 on April 28. Fifteen days later the entire text of the law was published in newspapers, thus completing the process of its enactment. It was a moment of triumph and vindication for many professional social workers—meaning those who are certified as such and duly licensed by the Professional Regulation Commission—and nongovernmental children’s advocates.

An immediate effect of R.A. 9344 was the retroactive dismissal of criminal cases filed against thousands of children aged 15 and younger throughout the country. As this was being written, no exact figures were immediately available although the commonly accepted range was from 1,500 to 4,000 “youth offenders.”

Some of them were confined in facilities specially designed for minors, such as Quezon City’s Molave Youth Hall, jointly operated by the city’s Social Services and Development Department (SSDD) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. However, the vast majority of youngsters who ran afoul of the law were detained in city and municipal jails—along with adult inmates.

R.A. 9344 provides that children 15 years and below are exempt from criminal liability. Criminal charges can be filed against those older—up to 18—but only if they are found to have committed the offense “with discernment,” that is, they were aware that what they were doing was wrong.

The law requires police and other law enforcers to immediately turn over to social workers children caught committing criminal acts. And the lawmen—relieved of the onus of jailing minors—have been only too eager to comply with the requirements of R.A. 9344.

The problem was that government social workers have found themselves swamped with problems that the law’s authors obviously did not anticipate. And by social workers I mean those employed by the various cities and municipalities; they are independent of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. As a result of the government’s policy of devolution in the late 1990s, the DSWD no longer has a significant local presence.

Strangely, the authors of R.A. 9344 consulted DSWD officials extensively but hardly touched base with city and municipal social workers—who are now expected to implement the new law’s provisions whether or not they are ready to do so.

Last week, for instance, police began turning over to the QC Molave Youth Hall dozens of minors—including those apprehended outside Quezon City. The number of minors police have been bringing to the city’s SSDD is growing at such a rate that QC social workers fear they will soon have little time left for their other programs, including hundreds of day-care centers.

But the strain on local resources is just an aspect—albeit an important one—of the complications brought on by R.A. 9344.

Last week, for instance, police turned over to the QC SSDD a 15-year-old boy accused of raping a 14-year-old girl. Under the new law, the boy cannot be held criminally liable even if he were to own up to the charge.

“Nonetheless, a crime has been committed,” said one of the QC social workers. “A 14-year-old girl was victimized. What do the authors of R.A. 9344 expect us to do? Tell the girl nothing really happened to her?”

The parents of the 14-year-old complainant are at a loss too. To whom, they ask, should they go now to get justice for their daughter?

As youth offenders flooded Molave Youth Hall, QC social workers tried to get advice from one of R.A. 9344’s authors, Sen. Francisco Pangilinan.

When they called up his office, a member of Pangilinan’s staff reportedly said that the senator was “unavailable.” Instead, the QC social workers were told to refer their questions to the DSWD.

One of the questions the QC social workers wanted to ask the senator was: What if criminal syndicates begin employing minors—who cannot be charged, thanks to R.A. 9344—to commit armed robbery, murder and other crimes?

For instance, even before R.A. 9344 was enacted, many of the reported cases of cellular phone snatching were perpetrated by teenage muggers. In some instances, the mugging victims were knifed or shot to death. It should not be too hard to imagine how youths who cannot now be held criminally liable could be further emboldened to commit such crimes.

Pangilinan unfortunately could not be reached for comment, much less guidance.

Girls in trains

Girls in trains

There are three ways to climb the Quezon Avenue Metro Rail Transit station, but unless you take the elevator, all three ways amount to scaling endless sets of stairs. I go up across McDonald’s, past the two men hawking FX rides to Ortigas and the bedraggled, skinny little girl who looks down at my offer of a partially eaten ice cream cone.

Once there, you climb, calves screaming, up the more-often-than-not broken escalator, past signs draped on the wall of the next building. There are offers of plastic surgery discounts, before-and-after pictures of broken yellow teeth, and training advertisements for those who seek a career in the call center industry. Learn to speak American from real Americans! Apply now! There’s a rhythm to the ascent, a 1-2-1-2 tapping of boot heels, pink flip-flops and grimy sneakers; an orchestra directed by clacking stilettos. When you hit the top, high above the slow crawl of morning traffic, a line snakes past two tables, where a listless pair of inspectors tap bags with wooden sticks. From there, it’s mechanical. Stick the card into the slot, whisper a quick prayer to the gods that there’s enough credit left for a return trip, push against the metal railing, and trudge down to the yellow arrow at the very end of the platform.

A year ago, when they first cordoned off this area with a guard standing on a blue box and printouts that proclaimed the first few cars were only for “female, elderly, children and handicapped,” I continued to ride with the men. I’m all for offering special privileges for the elderly and the handicapped, as well as those hauling along small children. But in the age of Oprah and mountain-climbing women, not to mention a female President who has proven she has just as much bullheaded machismo as all three of her male predecessors, this sort of legislated chauvinism seems backward.

Every time I shoved myself into the men’s section, I thought of it as a silent protest against segregation. Sometimes, it was not so silent, on the occasions I had to explain to the guards that I wasn’t illiterate, that I deliberately chose to sweat in the back cars, and that yes, I could shove an elbow into a harasser’s balls if I had to. I thought of it as my early morning crusade—what can I say, I was a 20-year-old college kid with angst to spare. It took a full month when I realized that by forcing my way in, I was depriving men of space, seats and oxygen.

So I packed up my indignation and resigned myself to the women’s section. Four days ago, I caught the MRT at the last stop, Taft. The women flooded the car, enough to fill seats on both sides. At Magallanes, the doors slid open, and a pregnant woman slipped in. She was thin, with bony wrists clutching the metal pole at the other end of the aisle. When I stood up to offer my seat, I had to walk over to the other side of the train to tap her on the shoulder. She smiled, moved toward the seat I vacated, just as a curly-haired girl in an orange T-shirt, black leggings and flat pink patent ballet shoes shoved her behind and leopard-print hobo bag into the empty blue seat. Then she looked at the pregnant woman, looked at me, then looked away and pretended to sleep.

The pregnant woman shrugged. I think she was used to it. Then the doors slid open again to let in another flood of females. I lost sight of the girl, but not my temper. And during all 10 stops to Quezon Avenue, not a single one of the sneakered, IPod carrying teenagers who had snared their seats from Taft Avenue stood up to let the pregnant woman sit. I felt the same way Jesus Christ probably felt when vendors sat chattering outside the temple doors. Pissed.

It used to be that when a man stood up to offer a woman his seat, it was because the woman he was standing up for might be his mother, his sister, his wife; and that by standing up, perhaps somewhere, sometime, some man might stand up for his own mother, sister or wife. Is this why women don’t stand up for other women, because they can’t see themselves in the pregnant woman barely able to keep her footing?

The standards for manners have evolved, of course. Fragility is no longer gender-based, so manners differ from one person to another. I like to think, however, that manners are something like human rights. Inasmuch as culture is negotiable, there are certain non-negotiables, like torture, like genocide, like child molestation. When it comes to manners, whether you’re man, woman, or teenager coming home from a shopping spree, you stand up for the old man or woman, for the handicapped boy, for the pregnant mother. You do not, for example, look up at her, then shove earphones into your ears and pretend not to see her. The privilege of anonymity is a wonderful thing in a world of cameras and cell phones and speed; that privilege, however, does not extend to callousness. One incident in a train may not seem like a big deal, but if you don’t stand up for the pregnant woman, you’re bound to sit back when the man gets run over on the side street, or when the child is kidnapped before your eyes.

I thought that the reason I was writing this column was indignation, some sort of righteous anger. I changed my mind when a friend asked me, when I was telling the story, why I didn’t speak up, why I didn’t ask one of the girls to make way for the pregnant woman. And that’s when I realized the reason I had to write this was to make up for that, to apologize, in a way, for being afraid to rock the boat and make a scene, or for simply not knowing how to.

I like to think those girls who sat with their eyes on their Adidas sneakers wanted to do something, only that they didn’t know how, or if they should. The darling girl with her leopard print bag will always stay in my head as someone whom I would love to meet in a back alley somewhere. As for the rest, maybe they were like me, recklessly passionate, but because of some sort of misplaced shyness, or lack of knowledge, became incapable of concrete action.

So I write this today, indignation deflated, in an attempt to make it up to a woman with thin wrists wearing a flowered shirt. I want her to know that yesterday, I stood up for an old lady with a grandson, and that after me, a girl in a nursing uniform stood up for someone’s mother.