(This is a repost)
Dear Friends,

After several emotional and stressful days following the release of the Commission on Elections’ resolution declaring Benjamin Dy as the winner of the 2007 Isabela gubernatorial race against incumbent Governor Grace Padaca, we can now take a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. The Dy camp’s motion for execution pending appeal was denied, allowing Gov. Padaca to continue as Isabela governor even as she appeals the COMELEC Second Division’s controversial decision.


In the course of five days, we, the friends and supporters of Gov. Padaca, have managed to raise funds for the publishing of a public statement declaring our support for her. The statement was signed by Filipinos from around the nation, including Isabelinos and overseas Filipinos. It was published in the Philippine Star last December 16, 2009 in a full page advertisement. A Tagalog version was also published in Abante the following day, December 17, 2009.


We also came out in support of Gov. Padaca on December 17 when hundreds of supporters from different groups held a peaceful rally in front of the Comelec office as the Second Division decided on the Dys’ motion for execution pending appeal. Among those who came were Gov. Padaca’s fellow Kaya Natin! Champion for Good Governance, Pampanga Gov. Ed “Among Ed” Panlilio, himself awaiting the COMELEC 2nd Division’s decision on the recount case in his province; Atty. Roberto “Bobby” Laurel, president of the Lyceum of the Philippines University where Gov. Padaca graduated as magna cum laude; Arch. Adonis Simpao, the official Liberal Party candidate going up against none other than Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Pampanga’s second congressional district; running priest Fr. Robert Reyes, and YouTube star Mae Paner a.k.a. Juana Change.


Since December 12, people had been generously giving various amounts to fund the publication of the statement and the rally through bank deposits and cash donations. Governor Padaca and the leaders of Kaya Natin! have always been a champion of transparency and accountability, and as such, we would like to practice what we preach. Below is the summary of the donations we have received from December 12-18, 2009 as well as the expenses we have incurred for this cause.


TOTAL DONATIONS: Php 325,218.50

EXPENSES: Php 204,686.75

BREAKDOWN OF EXPENSES (in Php)

Noise Barrage (Dec 14, ADMU Gate 2.5) 186.75

Tarps 3,500

COMELEC Rally 12,000

Philippine Star full page ad 151,000

Abante full page ad 38,000

CASH ON HAND (for future activities): Php 120,531.75


As of December 19, 2009, we have officially turned over the remaining funds to Governor Padaca, which she advises to keep on hand for future activities related to the case.


On behalf of Governor Grace Padaca, we would like to sincerely thank everyone for believing in the truth and in the integrity of Gov. Padaca, for donating to our fight, and for upholding the standards of good governance not just in Isabela but in the entire Philippines. We hope that you will continue to support Gov. Padaca and our other Champions of Good Governance and Ethical Leadership as we continue to fight the good fight in our country.


We pray that God will reward your generosity a hundredfold!


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


Kaya Natin,

Kai Pastores

Harvey Keh

Who would have thought it would take the death of a human being to bring about the rebirth of a nation? If this paradoxically sounds like the saga of Ninoy who sacrificed his life against a dictatorship, a new catalyst highlights the other dimensions of injustices and inequalities that systematically and continuously plague this country. Rejuvenated by the passing away of Ninoy's better half and venerated beacon of democracy, the people wage anew the fight against deplorable practices of traditional politics and the wanton corruption of democratic principles by enterprising breeds of greedy and self-serving politicians. Indeed, the spontaneous outpouring of grief during Cory’s wake and funeral cortege was more than just an expression of public condolence; in fact, this was a very strong statement of a national convalescence in search for change.

It was difficult not to take notice of this new wave of people power—of the wisdom of crowds clamoring for the restoration of genuine reforms in the socioeconomic and political climate across the archipelago. If the recent poll surveys are indications of smart choices, then we know who these crowds look up to.
We therefore welcome the declaration of Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino to run as President. In the same spirit, we also thank Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas, who gave way to extend his hand of unity with Noy and become his running mate as Vice President in the coming 2010 National Elections. We trust the duo best represents a team who shall heed and carry on the people’s aspirations for a better Philippines—dear motherland we have longed to see stand tall again, lifted back to her lofty position of respect and dignity she once enjoyed in Asia and the rest of the world.

We, the undersigned, therefore express our firm and wholehearted support for the Aquino-Roxas ticket, predicated upon mutual crusade and participation in the restoration and promotion of good governance, transparency, accountability, and honesty and integrity in government. As Mindanaons, we also stand behind a team who we believe will pursue the attainment of lasting peace, the promotion of development, and the care for the environment. Inured already as we are by cynicism of political promises, we remain fervent in our hope that these visions will not be regarded as mere motherhood statements but as categorical targets for reforms to bring back our trust and respect to the government.

Thus we enjoin everyone to rally their support behind the Noy-Mar tandem by making this forum the start of a people's campaign for genuine change in the sociopolitical landscape.

Done this 30th day of October 2009, in the City of Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, the Philippines.

CPM-CDO, YCD, BALAOD-MINDANAW, BALAY MINDANAW, AKABAYAN-CDO AND CONCERNED KAGAY-ANONS

The Baselines Bill is currently causing a stir.But what exactly are baselines?

Baselines define our territorial sea. The Territorial sea, as distinct from inland and internal waters consists of a marginal belt of maritime waters adjacent to the baselines extending twelve outward.

The 1982 convention on the Law of the sea defines baselines as the low-water line along the coast as marked on large scale charts officially recognized by the coastal state. The width of the territorial sea is measured from the baselines.

Archipelagic states like the Philippines, draw straight baselines instead of the normal baselines. The normal baselines follows the sinousities of the coast while straight baselines are straight lines drawn connecting the selected points on the coast without appreciable departure from the general shape of the coast.

These specific points are enumerated in the baselines bill.

2010 Philippine Presidential elections is fast approaching

Political ads are already shown in our television sets. Politicians are gearing up for the electoral contest, big political parties are merging in order to be stronger in the hope of capturing a big portion of the political pie.

But what’s in it for the ordinary folks. Elections after elections s/he listens to the same old promises, the same thing over and over again. There are a growing number of people, the youth especially, who are already apathetic about elections, saying whoever wins nothing will change, so why vote?

Elections after elections, recycled politicians addicted to power and corruption, run for office in the hope of holding on to it. When their term ends, this just run for another position for a term and then run back again to the position they so desire. While Political dynasty is forbidden in the constitution, it is practiced anyway with no enabling law to back it up and give it some teeth. It is not surprising to see a municipality or province which is run by a family or clan.

For the “Trapos” (Traditional Politicians) the criteria for a candidate are popularity, money, and machinery. It does not matter whether the person has integrity or not. He or she just need those three. When the name of Chief Justice Puno came up as a possible presidential candidate, these trapos said that he has a dim chance of winning because he has no money and machinery.

While there are really good and progressive politicians there are only a handful of them. These few are constantly harassed for being good and honest with their job. Take for example Governor Ed Panlilio, as a result of his expose that a palace staff distributed envelopes containing Php 200,000.00 Php 500,000.00 after the meeting of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with 200 officers of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, he now faces a recall of elections on the ground of loss of confidence. The recall makes no sense at all. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cheated in 2007 election, and yet she got away with it.

The House of Representatives showed its true colors when they passed a resolution extending the life of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for the second time and without compulsory mode of land acquisition which is the life and soul of CARP. These landlords get elected because they have the money to win it and when they get elected, they bring hell just to protect their own interest.

However inspite of all these, Elections is also a time to hope. A hope that somehow things will change and new, progressive, honest politicians and with integrity will somehow get elected and be thorn among the traditional corrupt and recycled politicians. A hope that gives a man the passion to volunteer for a clean and honest elections and that somehow our democracy will work. Though that hope have been frustrated many times before, it still persist. A light amidst the encroaching darkness.

The sun has already shone here in Cagayan de Oro city. After that gloomy week, 16,104 families or 83,321 individuals jampacked in various evacuation centers in 47 barangays or more than half of the city's 80 barangays have been displaced. Cagayan de Oro Disaster Coordinating Council have placed the initial damages to crops and livestocks at P250 million.

What happened last week has never happened in the city for decades. A historian said that the last big flood in the city happened during the 1960’s, but the recent one is probably way bigger. I think this is caused by mining, quarrying and an almost depleted forest.

Mayor Constantino Jaraula suspended all quarrying and mining operations, an act which should have been done years ago. Different sectors have been calling for it to stop for a long time. But as we all know, government needs to be poked in the head in order for it to act. Farmers have to hunger strike and walk the miles and miles in order to be heard. In this case, mother nature has to have landslide and floods in order for her to be heard.

But it is not government responsibility alone. It is everyone’s responsibility to take care of the earth. It transcends boundaries political or geographical.

People are going back to what’s left of their homes, trying to rebuild their lives. Its like starting back to zero for those whose house and crops are completely destroyed. Relief goods are pouring out from individuals to organizations. I think the United Nations World Food Program is giving 600 tons of rice.

I am glad that the sun is up and the rains, floods and landslides are gone.

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification again

Arroyo Visited flood victims in Cagayan de Oro as part of his Mindanao Visit. She had her Photo ops, distributing relief goods to flashflood victims distributing food and medicine personally in front of the camera. At least the flood victims will have something to eat for a day or two.

She also also supported the Cagayan de Oro Flood Control Development Master Plan. In an interview, Mayor Jaraula proudly described the plan, “reforestation coupled by logging ban”, he said logging ban is useless without reforestation and vice versa. Well and good, but it concern of depleting almost zero forest cover in Cagayan de Oro has been voiced out by concerned citizens and advocates for a long time. I guess the city government needs to be nudged by mother nature in order to act. The plan is in itself good but it needs to be implemented as soon as possible and give it some teeth. The plan for now is good only in paper.

The flood victims are still in Macasandig Gym and in West City Central School. They cannot go back to their homes because obviously their homes are destroyed. It’s like starting back to zero. In these times, establishing a house is difficult. Clearly they need some assistance in rebuilding their homes. The victims also expressed that they be given a relocation site so that they will not have to go back to the flood prone areas in which they have lived. Second, they also wanted to also have some livelihood assistance.

The interventions mentioned above are good but I think they missed the most obvious and immediate concern that the flood victims needed.

The Valley Golf brawl has once again demonstrated the potential power of blogs to correct an injustice. In this case, the Pangandamans with a direct link to the President of Philippines being one of her Cabinet secretary and on the other hand the ordinary citizen, the De la Paz Family.

GMA must have her hands full these days, Pangandaman with his Valley Golf Brawl and Gonzales with his Alabang boys bribery case. These issues are distracting her from her main focus, Charter Change and term extension.

Ducky Paredes (http://www.duckyparedes.com/blogs/) has an interesting account of the incident saying that “he ignores the testimonies of the so-called victims or the alleged ruffians”. The De la Paz were the ones who started the fight. These are, he says, accounts from “caddies of parties, the marshal, the starter and other club personnel”.

But Bambee de la Paz wrote in her blog that “Right in the clubhouse. I came back after the fight was over and talked to the receptionists. They say they did not see anything. The general manager of Valley Golf would not give us the names of the men who made my brother's ear bleed. It took him an hour. Maybe even more than that. He seemed to not want to help us. Because, we were against the SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM and the MAYOR OF MASIU CITY, LANAO DEL SUR. They were all scared.”

The Pangandaman’s did not see it coming. They did not expect the power a single blog post can do. It eventually tilted the power relations to what is now even playing field, with the Pangandaman’s on the now on the defensive end, trying to block the full force of the blogosphere. Its like Manny Pacquiao, the underdog versus the much bigger De La Hoya.

These are signs of Hope, a beacon of light for those who seek justice in an otherwise unjust system, justice finding its way out into what ever channels it can find.

In a Democracy, elections should be held sacred.

There are a lot of political movements going on lately, the ouster of many villar as senate president, talks of charter change, term extension, impeachment, to name a few.
The timing for charter change is already very suspicious. As the term of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends, there is a move of charter change and term extension. As I remember in 2004 presidential election, Federalist here in Cagayan de Oro supported Gloria because she promised that when she is elected she will move for a Federal System of Government. When she got elected she was silent on the issue and never talked about it. The point is she just said she supported a move for charter change only for political gains. Now, as her term ends, Cha-cha resumes.

Any talk of Charter Change should only be done when Gloria is already out of office.

“Walang Gloria sa Cha-Cha”

Obama has just won the 2008 US presidential elections. I bet that not only the United States is overwhelmed but also the world. Television News, newspapers, radios, the internet and especially the blogging community will all be telling something about the historic event.

After long long years, a black American has become the president of the United States. It tells a lot about the struggle of black Americans from slavery. I bet Martin Luther King and all those who died in the civil liberties movement is smiling down on earth and rejoicing, wherever they are.

I just hope that one day the Philippines will have a moment of this proportion, of a nation so thrilled about the prospects of the future. The Philippines also needs change especially structural change.

While Philippine Politics has become a boring subject of vote buying, smearing, vote rigging, hello garci, “dagdag bawas”, I still believe that the Filipino people can still rise above it. Definitely, change will not come from the top, nor from most of the politicians, who time and again have promised change and promised a lot but still delivered that same old social cancer of corruption, greed and the status quo.

As Obama faces enormous tasks and expectations ahead, we also face an equally enormous task. The struggle to make ends meet, the struggle against poverty and bringing food on the table, the struggle for peace especially in Mindanao, the struggle of everyday life.

The Philippines has been needing change for a long time.