Rough Groove

And the Bishops spoke.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has spoken yesterday and as they said, no, to the growing clamor of GMA resign, unlike the statements of the Cabinet 10, Ms. Cory Aquino, MBC, Liberal Party and other sectors. But at the same time the bishops were cautious and also said that the president “…to discern deeply to what extent she might have contributed to the erosion of effective governance and whether the erosion is so severe as to be irreversible.” They also called for the formation of a truth commission that will look into the various issues hounding the president and her family. This might have put a damper to the snowballing ouster calls and has given hope to GMA for her to have reason to hold on to the presidency much longer. Reactions are varied: some members of the business community called on Cory and the Makati Business Club (MBC) to rethink their positions in making the resignation call. The activist priest, Fr. Roberto Reyes, short of lambasted the CBCP by saying that the bishops were just displaying that they’re united and took the moderate route.

But then the CBCP statement was a good thing. The local clergy has, for a long time, been meddling in politics. The late Jaime Cardinal Sin was a prime example. With him gone, some bishops seem to be jockeying to fill in that activist role: Bishop Cruz is the prime mover of the Jueting scandal investigation; Bishops Tobias, Labayen and Iniguez meanwhile have been very critical of the Macapagal administration and at one time, held a press conference calling for her resignation and announcing the formation of a council that will be a caretaker government if ever GMA really resigns.

Its really time that the Church tend to its flock and not involve itself with dirty politics. Activist priests should not be exempt.

What’s next?

The president has already broken her silence and made her admission last night that the female voice on the so called Gloriagate tapes wherein she was discussing last year’s presidential election results with a senior election commission official was hers. That admission was long delayed: 22 days since it was first broadcast by a local radio station followed by a deafening silence on the president’s part and within the span of those days, calls for her resignation and snap elections were being thrown and shouted as transcripts, CD copies (both original and manipulated) as well as mobile phone ringtones of the “Hello Garci” (as popularly known) wiretapped conversation flourished in the streets, markets, media and the Internet. Protest marches staged by unlikely bedfellows: Friday by the ever persistent militant Left and the opposition composed of losing presidential candidates, FPJ loyalists (even if their idol is dead, still living in the past) and shady opposition figures whose credibilities are also questionable to the supposed Saturday march by the group of retired general Fortunato Abat whose plans are always hastily planned but also hastily cancelled and an impeachment complaint filed by an opposition group’s lawyer (his second time against the same person – he really hates Gloria Arroyo very much).

Now what. Reactions from different quarters range from the predictable scoffs of the opposition and the militants branding it as half truths and still lies (I wonder, if their scripts will ever change) and continuing their call for resignation and snap polls, to the administration allies’ and friends’ praise of statesmanship, to the ordinary man’s indifference.

What’s next? Lets just wait and see. As a defunct sitcom said: Abangan ang susunod na kabanata (Wait for the next chapter). The next few days would be interesting.

www.erap.ph

And so, Erap has set up his own website to have a venue so as to counter the governement’s “alleged” propaganda and distortion of the truth. Visitors can even write to the “President” and read columns and articles from loyalist newspapers. Unfortunately, my favorite, the Eraptions, his collection of jokes and malapropisms does not function.

Okay, at least the guy is still optimistic. Hope springs eternal. But he’s gota move on. He’s unfortunately stuck!

Mayo Uno in Cebu

Labor Day, as usual, militant workers groups were doing the rounds of the major streets not only in Manila and other cities but also in Cebu. Pressing for the rollback of oil rates, repeal of the oil deregulation law, stop to escalating power rates, increase of the minimum daily wage and demanding the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The same demands that are next to impossible, unrealistic, absurd and impractical that always fall on deaf ears. But maybe except for the wage increase wherein it was mandated by the President for the wage boards to review and commend an adjustment within a month.

These militants have always protested the escalating oil price and giving outmoded alternatives but either their playing dumb to world realities or just protesting for the sake of protesting. Seems to them that all these problems are just manageable and limited to the Philippines!

On the lighter side, while the rest of Cebu City’s populace gathered in various points of the city wherein both giant media networks ABS-CBN and GMA is battling out for the ratings and hearts of the Cebuanos, there at the reclamation area in Mandaue City, a kite festival was unfolding.

Boy with his kite entry. Not much participants in the contests but, hey, I enjoyed it.

*the photo size is output from the images generated by my Canon 350D after resizing to 300×200 pixels against the G5’s, after resize, of 300×225 pixels

Cebu split

Former senator John “Sonny” Osmena, and three House of Representatives from Cebu, after filing separate bills, Rep. Simeon Kintanar, Rep. Antonio Yapha and Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez are proposing the breakup of the province to form three new provinces to be called, Cebu del Sur, Cebu del Norte and Cebu Occidental. Also recently, Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz is doing consultations with her constituents regarding the creation of Mactan province. They’re citing that with the increased IRA (internal revenue allotment from the national government), it will spur growth and channel development to these areas which has, for a time, been eclipsed with the success of Cebu City. However, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and several quarters, are opposed to the plan citing data (incidentally provided by those from the other side of the fence, lead by the incumbent officials - the Garcias) that will just result to a budget deficit to the tune of P488 million, inefficient governance and the perennial problem of graft and corruption.

Irregardless of what the facts and figures say, it is exciting to note that the three representatives are on their last term as congressmen and are no longer eligible to run under the same office. And Osmena? He’s another prominent politician who, for the past few years, was often seen at the wrong side of history. If they get their wish, expect them to run for public positions in these new provinces, a clear strategy to further
cling to office.