A look at Bad Politics

I spent most of the day yesterday monitoring a picture in Facebook posted by an old school friend from Silliman University. It was a relief good being given to the earthquake victims in Negros Oriental bearing the name of Roel Degamo, the Governor.

I have spent some of the best years of my childhood as a student of Silliman University. I spent my four years of high school there and some college before going to the Academy. I have always said that if not for the Academy I would have graduated College from Silliman also. Fate had different plans for me and moved me away from the campus beside the sea but not before the school has taught me values that would place me where I am right now. It was in Silliman that I learned the value of service to others, the very value that propels me to do my job right now as a soldier.

Now, in the long thread that was created because of the outpour of reactions to that Facebook picture aroused issues that I wish to put into context and perhaps be able to illustrate my perspective in the kind of governance our people need.

I am presently deployed in one of the Barangays of Davao Oriental. Although a poor barangay but far better than those that I have been to before. In this community are several elementary schools and a young high school who will have their second set of graduates this coming March. In this place I am lucky that the Barangay Hall is pink. Lucky because the pink color on the wall of the Barangay Hall is a manifestation that the incumbent Barangay Officials are “berks” with the Governor of the province (pink is the provincial color). In one barangay that I have been to, somewhere in Davao del Sur, an unfinished covered court is the landmark of their Barrio center. It is unfinished because the Barangay Captain of that community is a “berks” of the losing gubernatorial candidate last elections. Work on his covered court was halted after the defeat of his candidate for Governor who was formerly the Representative of that Congressional District. Unlike this Barangay that I am presently deployed on, that community was unlucky. In that same municipality, only four out of the 16 barangays are electrified and their concrete road is limited to a few hundred meters stretch in front of the public market, the rest are all rough roads (as in literally rough). The Municipal Mayor of that town is again from the party of the losing gubernatorial bet. Perhaps with the COMELEC recently ordering a recount on the gubernatorial elections for the province of Davao Del Sur, a tinge of hope is present for those poor localities who are victims of bad politics. No violation is obvious as resources of the province are limited and projects are done on a priority basis. The determining of that priority lies entirely on those in control.

In Sultan Kudarat, it is a different story. Some Barangays do not have a Barangay Hall AT ALL. It’s not about whose party they were affiliated to during the last elections, it’s just that their officials would rather use the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of their turf to other “expenses” rather than where it is supposed to. How come the Commission on Audit (COA) has not discovered these anomalies? The answer lies on a technique that works perfectly well for these areas. When an audit is forthcoming, rumours of war will begin to spread. As the Auditors are fetched by the Host Officials that they will audit, they will then begin to tell stories of skirmishes between the rebel groups and the government that happened very recently. This will be supported by stories of deaths of innocent civilians that were caught in the crossfire. At the end of these stories, the Local Official will advise the Auditors to be careful. Needless to say, the Auditor will simply advise the Official to bring all his documents to the nearest safe community so that they can audit it there instead of going to their “dangerous” Barangay. Well, one would ask, how come nobody dared bring this up to the Ombudsman? Well, the people there do not even know how to say the word Ombudsman much more report these incidents to them. Also, the tradition of violence in these places is so rampant that one would rather keep their mouth shut than put their own lives or of their families at stake.

These observations form the foundation on why I find the “Degamo incident” in Negros Oriental very disconcerting. You see Negros Oriental is home to Dumaguete City, home to my alma mater whose tradition of Academic Excellence is world renowned. To put it simply, people in this province are educated plus they do not have the conditions that are present in the examples that I presented. I have very much accepted that a lot of work is to be done in those provinces whose bad politics are already deeply rooted and have been compounded by other problems. In Negros Oriental though, doing that is simply insulting the intelligence of the people. While Maguindanao was almost able to get away with zero votes to the late Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 elections, surely Negros Oriental is of a different lot; definitely of a different lot and a far better lot.

Today, the banner story of the Philippine Star states Secretary Robredo’s advise to the good governor regarding the incident. I’m hoping he might just do that for I am sure that the good people of Negros Oriental will not cease to create a noise until their politicians will know their place in our democracy. It is bad enough that they took advantage of the situation to gain political mileage, but to think that your citizens are stupid is just out of this world. Our people need good and credible governance. One that is founded on service above self and not for vested personal interests. This kind of governance is still a distant dream to many places especially here in Mindanao. While much work still has to be done in our part of the country, vigilance should be exercised by citizens of localities like that of Negros Oriental so as not to add to our already problematic political situation.

Matrapik pa po sa matuwid na daan pero sana yung nasa matuwid na na daan tumuloy tuloy na para konti na lang ang naliligaw.

Talk about irony

Forced to stay inside barracks while the rain perennially lashes itself outside, I had to make do with whatever entertainment I can find. There’s my laptop with three seasons of Brothers and Sisters and several recently downloaded (aka pirated) movies, Red Alert 3 and, of course, the ever-reliable Television set. I also get to explore my recently acquired Blackberry (I love it!!!) and in the process familiarize myself with Twitter. With my obvious boredom on a weekend, I get the chance to explore my thoughts of the things that happen around me. I can’t help it, it is just all over.

A few weeks back, while waiting for the Ferry that would bring me to San Carlos City from Toledo City, I happen to strike a conversation with another commuter. Upon learning that I was with the Army he began to ask me with many questions about my profession. I cannot remember much of the details in that conversation but what I recall the most was me saying that the Armed Forces has matured enough not to launch coups to express its dissatisfaction. It is the same statement that I say to everybody and I am proud to be able to say it. It meant that I am part of a professional organization. One that has matured to become truly the people’s Armed Forces. But this does not mean we are happy with how things are (me in particular). Although, I could personally say that another Magdalo-ish group is a distant probability, it is also wrong if the AFP will look like an insensitive institution that follows the President’s “tuwid na daan” without any protest. First, the All-out justice that was promised for soldiers last October is still OUT THERE. Then the hunt for one of the most successful military commander in recent time complete with a one million bounty while the government boasts of spending the country’s coffers WISELY. A million peso that is readily available to whoever can provide information that will lead to the capture of an effective retired soldier when as of today, the subsistence allowance for the soldiers is YET TO BE MADE AVAILABLE. Talk about irony.

I’ll stop now. I’m a soldier. Just do your job.

An open letter to the Class of 2010

In 2007, I was a graduating cadet at the Philippine Military. The whole Cadet Corps mourned the death of then 2LT Camelon and several other PMA graduates that followed after that series of skirmishes with the Abu Sayaff. I did not understand how it really felt but simply mourned the loss of an upperclass who graduated a year ahead of me.

In 2008, I triumphantly graduated from PMA. I was very eager to be part of something noble as an Army Officer. Shortly after I reported to Davao City together with my other classmates, we saw on the news how the peace talks between the government and the MILF collapsed because of the MOA-AD. I reported to a Battalion that participated in the military offensives after the forces of renegade MILF leader Ameril Umbra Kato attacked Maasim Municipal Hall in Sarangani Province. I arrived listening to very recent war stories and the heroism of one PFC Bayawanon, who was the only casualty of the Battalion in that military offensive. Shortly after that, in October 24, then 2LT Jeffrey Domingo was killed in Barangay Manurigao, New Bataan, Compostela Valley. He was the first casualty of my PMA class and we reported together in Davao barely six months ago. This was the time that I understood the reality of danger in my chosen profession. Unlike the death of an upperclass a year ago, I did not just mourn, I now lost a classmate. About two weeks after that, I will experience my first meeting with death. After we were dropped by three vehicles as we begin our military operation, explosions were heard from afar. The vehicles that hauled us were ambushed. The vehicle that I used was the one that was heavily damaged and the two escorts were killed. I did not remember much of that day only that I knew that those who ambushed our vehicles were already in position when we first passed. I would have been dead have they decided to attack when we passed.

In 2010, I was a team leader during the test mission of my Scout Ranger Class. It was my first time to go to Basilan Province in a municipality called Sumisip. On the third day of our military operation, an improvised explosive device exploded while we were trying to clear a hill that overlooked the road junction where our supplies will pass. Four of my companions were wounded, I was about 100 meters away from the blast. This was to be my closest brush with death.

Today, I hear the news about so many soldiers dead in Basilan, two of which where in my generation of cadets at the Philippine Military Academy, one an upperclass, and the other a constant companion in the discussion and debate society where we were both members. More importantly he was a classmate of my squadmates, he was part of the class that the Class of 2008 groomed to become soldiers. We taught them soldiery. Back in the days when we were cadets, it was hard to teach your squadmates what to expect in the "real" world. Although we had more experience, our idea of soldiery was confined inside the Academy. Maybe this time, I will have gained more of that "wisdom" to tell them something just as how I did it when I was their squad leader.

Dear Class of 2010,

I am writing this open letter because I feel that I have to express my sincerest sympathy over the loss of your classmate in Basilan. In the years that followed after graduation, a lot of my ideas changed out of the experiences I gathered through my years in the Army. After the death of my classmate in Comval Province, I took it as a constant reminder to always be very sure of every decision you make as an officer. In the process, I learned that to be able to decide well requires more than just being a PMA graduate. It means that sometimes we will have to stand our ground even if others will criticize us. It means that you will have to take an extra effort to understand your men so that when you go into the battlefield together your decisions will not just be tactical decisions, rather it will reflect the general well being of the men who follow you. I learned that as an officer, you must constantly persevere to be a better person on the premise that by being better you are giving the men that you lead more years to enjoy their life. I also learned that our motivations and aspirations as a Filipino soldier should be shared to our people. They may not believe you but you will become committed to show them that you are sincere.

I want you to know that I am together with you in mourning the death of your classmate, but I also want to motivate you to take your classmates heroism as your inspiration to be better at what you are doing. By doing so, you are putting value on his death. A lot of you ask questions now. When we had our first casualty, I asked myself why is death so sudden but so difficult to understand?

The media today speaks of the heroism of Lt Khe. You should take this opportunity to stand in front of your men and declare that he is your classmate. A lot of us will never have the opportunity to be heroes like those of them who died in Basilan, but by bringing life to the sacrifice of their death we become heroes in our own right. In our class we have this battlecry, BAGHAWI BUO. Incidentally, this was coined by our first casualty, Lt Domingo. After his death, those words have become so real to each of us in the class. In some way, his death has united us never to tarnish the name of our class, the Academy and the Armed Forces. I also pray that you class will draw the same inspiration from the death of your classmate.

I think I can safely say that the rest of my classmates also feel the same way over this tragic incident. We know the feeling of losing but still we will persist. As our song in the Academy would say: And when the taps shall sung for men, banners drape our last remain; Let singing comrades bury me, to the echoes of the strain.

1LT Cabales

The wrong crusade

I have been reading so much of this Willing Willie child abuse issue and I can't help but have my own opinion and blog about it.

For one, I never was a fan of Willie Revillame. I do not feel his sincerity and honestly I hate how his show seems to illustrate how poor our country is. It shows to the whole world that our people will do anything for money. I hate it when contestants, for lack of real talent, will simply make weird dance movements just to get the money that is bound to be given by the host after embarrassing themselves in front of the whole world. There have been thousands of stories among the shows followers, to include a close cousin of mine, who would do anything just to be a studio contestant in the show. There's an old lady who unknowingly exposed her breasts in live television, some probinsyana who travelled all the way to the show just to show-off her talent; and more recently a lady who peed on her pants because she did not want to go out of the long lines for the show for fear of losing her chance to be admitted. I hate how when contestants begin to tell their life story, tears automatically fall as if the whole world is upon them. All of these things illustrate to the whole world how poor our people are and, more importantly, how desperate they have become. But I will be the first one to say that those who criticize this TV host is barking at the wrong tree and perhaps should look at this whole fiasco in a wider perspective. They should realize that the antics of Mr. Revillame has somehow illustrated the true state of our country. When Willy was able to capture the taste of the masses, his competitors began to use similar methods. Even if these shows will never admit it, their gimmicks evolve into a format where ordinary people (especially those in poverty) get a once in a lifetime chance to win some money. Now, is it Willy's fault or is it simply because his person is "hate-able" than the others?

If one was to make a simple survey among poor people, they will all consent to doing what the boy Jan-jan did in exchange of ten thousand pesos. While the rest of the country is crucifying the host of the show where the young boy was allegedly abused, the money that resulted from it made a few of our countrymen happier. How come the "abused" is not complaining?

I am not also saying that we should just allow acts like those happen on air, I am just saying that inasmuch as Willy Revillame should be given some form of punishment for not exercising judgment to control acts that happen in his show, killing his show and cursing the host will not change any of the problems in our society that was exposed by the show. And for that, I would like to ask a simple question, are they after improving our society or do they have other motives? This people is so naive. They have not seen poverty in this country at its worst state. Is there no child abuse on small children ranging from six to ten years old who make three hour hikes everyday just to go to a dilapidated school with no facilities? Is there no abuse to children whose teachers complain of not being able to explain do them the word "dagat" as they have not seen any of that since birth? And I am just talking about children, I can go on and on with problems of this country fit for facebook pages that people can support to. If only this people will exert their effort into more pressing issues that can really help our countrymen. A few months back, I was watching some forum hosted by a social activist. She proudly claimed that our elected officials reflect the will of the people. Inside my head, I beg to disagree. Yes, I believe in democracy and the power of the vote, but that statement had to be examined closely. In the poor places that I have seen, they do not care of the power of the vote, they care about the power of money. For those of us who are lucky to be educated, we can appreciate the beauty of these things but for majority of our countrymen, its all about survival. I think we should remember Maslowe's Hierarchy of Needs. If we really wish to help our country, let us direct our efforts into issues that really matter. Destroying Willy Revillame will not really help. For one he is already very rich, closing down his show will not pull him down to poverty, but more importantly, our people will never gain anything our of a disgraced TV Host.

A Humbling Realization

Logging into the internet after weeks in the mountains somehow prepared me for all the bad news of our world. From what I have been updated so far, the three Filipinos convicted in China are dead, Willie Revillame is again in hot water because of his show, the AFP is the most corrupt government agency in the country and finally, the national transport strike slated tomorrow. All these added to the other problems and disasters that our world had in the past months or so. But then I am refusing to be eaten up by the misery of these things lest I become another cynic or self righteous blogger. I just came from a place they call Sitio Kamugna. Its the farthest Sitio of Barangay Datu Danwata, Malita, Davao del Sur. And it is from this place that I wish to inspire some form of hope amidst all the troubles we are facing.

The place is said to be the core of the insurgency in this part of the country. Its location is the boundary of Alabel and Malungon Towns of Sarangani; and that of Malita, Davao del Sur. Although I came there to look for the bad guys, I was greeted with the good guys. The three people I met there may perhaps be the most committed government workers in the whole country.

Ma'am Pearly, Sir Lemuel and Sir Ryan, they should be the model upon which every Filipino should build their character on. These three are teachers of the Tribal Filipino School of Kamugna. They are not popular people, they are teachers, but more than that, they provide me with a living hope that all is not lost in this problematic country of ours. From Poblacion Malita to the center of Barangay Datu Danwata, these three will ride on a "habal-habal" motorcycle for three hours. If one thinks that their troubles end there, it has not begun. Once they arrive at the Barangay Center, they will begin a two day hike towards Sitio Kamugna crossing seven (yes, as in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven) mountains that they have to climb. They do this twice a month. First is when they report to their school and then second is when they will go down to civilization to enjoy their one week rest. And they have been doing this for the past three years. And that is because the school has only existed for three years and they have made it their crusade to see to it that the children of this far off sitio will finish primary school. Although they are employees of the Department of Education, they use their personal money to provide basic school supplies for the children that they teach and all other things that they deem necessary to educate these children. Sadly, they have succumbed to the uncertainty of relying on government support to do what they have to do. More than educating the children, they also have to educate the parents on the value of education. That entailed shouldering every requirement for education as long as the parents will continue to allow their children to attend school. While the rest of our citizens complain about many things in our country, these three continue to strive to do what they have to do. Being a soldier with my own set of complains and difficulty on the job, it humbles me that they persist. Consider this, when Japan was hit by a tsunami, the Japanese people took it as an opportunity to unite and together rebuild their country. When our oil prices fluctuate, transport groups lunch a nationwide strike to crucify our government. I would like to think that many of the things we consider as "problem" is the least of our worries. I believe our problem is the way we see ourselves as Filipinos and our roles in helping our country. When oil prices go up, we demand government subsidy, we refuse to take part of our government's struggle to cope up with these prices even if it is common knowledge that we do not have a say on the prices of this commodity in the world market. We have somewhat assumed that the government "enjoy" the fluctuation of these prices and so we blame them and insist on lower prices even if it will take a toll on our dwindling financial resources. Our people is so disgusting. When my wife and I disagree on something, I have made it a point to at always look at our marriage before reacting or doing anything that might destroy it. At some point in my life, I have accepted that marrying her was a permanent thing and that whatever our issues are we should be united in working together to make our marriage work despite our issues. The government is like married to its people. The two should work together to be able to move forward. When they come into difficult odds, they share the burden of making it through. While the husband in a marriage is expected to provide for the family, the wife is to support him. I believe I have seen a government trying to provide a good life for all of us despite the diffiuclt times, but I have yet to see the support of the people. None of our Presidents was ever good enough. Our people is so selfish.

Moments ago, I learned that some advertisers have withdrawn their ads on Willie Revillame's show as a result of the child abuse fiasco. I believe both sides have valid points. My concern though is how the very incident mirror the kind of society we have. Mind you, this is not the first time that something ridiculous happened in these type of shows all for the money. There was one old lady whose breast accidentaly popped out on live tv, a big winner who was later found out to have cheated her way to big bucks, a woman who peed on her own pants and many other incidents... All for the money. While others would claim that it was a case of child abuse, I also would like to think that the young boy and his aunt did not care as long as they get the big bucks. I somehow get this idea that if our people can muster that kind of attitude in doing their individual responsibilities as workers, family members, students or whatever responsibility they have the big bucks mught just come in the long run. Our people seem to think that the good life that everybody dreams of will come by some strike of lightning. People will line up to these shows very early in the morning just to get a shot at whatever price in store for them. This is also true with lines on Lotto outlets and even illegal number games. But when doing ordinary jobs, its always more of complaining rather than doing it well. Our people are so foolish. I can rant on and one with so many observations like this. I guess with the kind of people we have nothing will ever be good enough. If only we can just be like the three Teachers at the Tribal Filipino School of Kamugna. I am making my commitment to helping this country:

I will never complain about my job (or maybe I will just keep it to myself)

I will always remember that doing my responsibility as a citizen is my simplest contribution to nation building

I will always tell people of stories like that of Ma'am Pearly, Sir Ryan and Sir Lemuel. I will always be persistent with what I have to do even if I am not noticed.

Lastly, I will pray that my countrymen will do the same.

May God Bless our Nation....