Jeremias Andrade Carrera
14 Mar 2007

Mr. Delfin:

My statement about the U. S. Supreme Court on the corrupt is only to show that even advance countries like USA where corruption exists to a much lesser degree, still treats corruption seriously, but not to indicate that USA has legal jurisdiction over the Philippines.

In the Philippines, corruption is part of the normal daily life, and GMA and the rest of the leadership including her avid supporters  treat it like it has no serious impact on the lives of the Filipino people, and even deny that massive graft and corruption exist. Many media people who had the guts to expose corruption were dealt with death like Mr. Ermin Garcia Sr. The present condition is the beautiful dream of the “millions and millions of Filipinos with GOOD HEART” as Mr. Oriel, the “Dreamer Extraordinaire “(Dr. Ex), would like everybody to call it.

Eduardo Pontaoe
14 Mar 2007

Mr. Sison,

Allow me to straighten this discussion before it gets out of whack. Let me be unambiguous. You said, “The vision of the people in their desire to make change whatever it is that needs to be change”. A vision is not a belief but the foresight to see in advance something to be accomplished.

The vision of Quezon was the independence of the Philippines. It was a grand design but the rest of the corrupt presidents that followed him lucked out as visionaries when they programmed their paths to Quezon’s dogma of running the country like Hell and hell it went.

Cases in point. The vision of Otto von Bismarck. He’d seen that within the chaos and confusion of warring German states, a confederation was possible under his iron will to unite the country in one solid political organism what we call Germany. The Magna Carta…the vision of Baron Godfrey to curtail the absolute power of the king, it was necessary to force King John to sign the charter, the precursor of our democratic rights. Since when did a vision become collective, Mr. Sison?

A vision is  a singular thought by a visionary with absolute determination. A vision grounded on speculation that it can be done with everybody, with no common ground is just banter amongst fools surrounded by incompetence. Charter Change…People’s Initiative are not visions for substitution. They are just proposals to modify the framework of government without changing the basic principle of governance. A shell game. A fox in sheep’s clothing.

To postulate that Mayor Braganza did not give up hope is foolhardy. By excluding himself in the service of his country, he surrendered all semblance of public service. It was not a gesture of expectation for change that will push him back but his acceptance that the Philippines is completely and undeniably lost.

Since when was a dream not a promise? A dream is a strongly desired goal or purpose… something that fully satisfies a wish….e.g., his goal is to become rich. A promise to one’s self is to make something good of himself. Daydreaming, Mr. Sison?

Ms. Ric
14 Mar 2007

The upcoming May election is certainly a hot topic within Filipino communities here in the US. Values, principles, and emotions ride high when trapped within the confines of community halls, living rooms, coffee shops, or even chat rooms. As oxymoron as it may sound, I am as much a realist as well as an optimist.

Philippines is evolving to the brink of extinction. It is tethering on the verge of falling off to an abyss. Imagine a child hanging on for dear life on a window ledge of a fire engulfed building. Not one person can go in to save him, but there are the spectators on the ground waiting, hoping, and praying for his safety. It will take this whole village to cushion this child’s fall and possibly save his life.

When corruption becomes so ingrained that it is not even a point of contention anymore, then time has come to acknowledge the fact that a cataclysmic change is needed for our dear homeland to have any chance of surviving at all. I am referring to a top-to-bottom change that has never been done before without having it as a result of a revolution, a holocaust, or a natural disaster.

It is possible to wipe out every single politician in power from the president all the way down to barrio captains and start fresh. Create a new government from scratch untainted of past relations or questionable pasts. Take chances on inexperienced citizens with the desire, commitment, integrity, and wisdom to serve their people. This can only be made possible when the whole nation buys into this new paradigm. A realist I am, hopeless, am not.

Rafael L. Oriel, Jr.
14 Mar 2007

Pessimism, defeatism, cynicism, what’s the difference? They are all the same negativity that has a way of attaching itself to human minds like parasites or virus with devastating effect of draining health and abilities. These three negative ways of thinking and perceiving the world can take away creativity, persistence, and abilities to achieve goals. A simple way to outcast negativism is to warn those who don’t have anything positive to say to just keep their mouths shut. Because the brain reacts more strongly to negative than to positive information, negativities work to undermine relationships, ruin sense of humor and destroy abilities to solve problems.

Fortunately, people had learned the power of positive thinking and are fighting back. They can no longer tolerate pessimism, defeatism and stagnation. Unfortunately, there are some standard bearers of defeatism and pessimism. They sow and preach pessimism knowing that defeatism stem from pessimism. They are just waiting for every opportunity to be able to say, “I told you so.” They totally do not care if the country and its people will sink to oblivion. In fact, there are some who will be very happy and will even do everything to make it possible.

We as Filipinos must do everything in all our power to save the country and its people. We should not allow pessimism, defeatism and cynicism rule our life. They never produce solutions and are contagious and destructive by way of shattering ideals and promoting demoralization and discouragement. We must totally refuse to accept their claim that “it can’t be done.” Filipinos in the country and around the world have the knowledge, experience and the weapons we need to fight the good fight in order to win the future.

It is a common knowledge that poverty, lawlessness, injustice and lack of education create breeding grounds not only for terrorism but also for insurgencies, including Muslim separatism and communism. These ugly scenarios are being used to entice recruits especially the poor, including university students, to what by this time should have been a declining movement. It does not mean that there are no beautiful and admirable scenarios in the country like the many children who are not begging in the streets, children who are not out of school, happy people full of smiles and laughter enjoying the company of their relatives and friends, gallant policemen and military soldiers risking their lives to serve and protect others, government officials who are working hard to serve the country and its people, politicians or exam takers who do not cheat, etc.

Also, we must bear in mind that some poor people also know how to be happy, contented and satisfied despite of their poverty and that rich people in spite of their prosperity are not immune from unhappiness, illnesses, tragedies, pain and sufferings. There are some rich people who are never satisfied and contented, they want more. There are also children from rich families who are separated from their parents, committed suicide, became lawbreakers and families with broken homes due to cheating, drug or gambling addictions including abusive and neglectful parents with no time to spare for their children.

I can go on and on but do you know what? These good and bad scenarios are global. It is also true in some other countries including those that are considered highly-developed. This is the reason why countries in the world are helping each other solve these global problems of poverty, homelessness, global warming, economy, terrorism, corruption, all forms of criminality, etc. I saw these common problems personally in countries that I had visited and I am always reminded of our beloved Philippines.

Sometimes, I wish I have the resources of those rich and famous who are just burning their money and/or wasting or throwing away good foods and other resources while other people in some parts of the world are starving or in dire need of help like those who were devastated by typhoon Reming and other calamities. Thanks to the flood of donations and help in kinds that are pouring in from generous foreign and local donors and benefactors. Instead of bickering, we must all help in making sure that all of these outpouring of generosity can reach the intended recipients.

Jess Delfin
14 Mar 2007

Mr. Jeremias Andrade Carrera,

Let the dreamers be, they can dream all they want. If they don’t realize that they have to do something for the dream to come to a reality, then so be it. The only negative thing is that these dreamers think that the readers are fools and they try to force their dreamlike and unrealistic views into them without any regard to the evidence to the contrary.

Unfortunately for these dreamers, good intentions (kuno) are enough. They don’t realize that most of these politicians are telling them what they want to hear so they can get their vote. The poor gullible Pinoy…

On another note, I don’t understand the relevance of the US Supreme Court in the state of the Philippine geopolitics. For all I know, the US Supreme does not have any jurisdiction in the Philippines.