The world is at a doldrum these days, to say the least. The gathering of warships in the Mediterranean Sea is an omen of nasty things to come.
Whatever the outcome, bloodshed will be the name, death will be the game, war will be for all a burden.
Sabado, Agosto 31, 2013
Biyernes, Agosto 30, 2013
Janet Napoles' surrender and the NBI
Barely a week after President Aquino announced a PHP 10 million reward for information that will lead to the arrest of Janet Napoles, the latter found herself surrendering to no less than the president himself.
If there is one thing I observed in the run up to Napoles' surrender, it is the veritable fact that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) seems to show with finality and clarity that it is INDEED AND IN FACT incompetent of the highest degree. Ever since the arrest warrant was issued for the arrest of the controversial "pork barrel" queen, the NBI has failed to arrest, much less locate her.
The NBI is useless, incompetent and basically inutile. If anything, it is an embarrassment to any government. It is a paper agency. It exists only to issue NBI clearances and other security documents. If the NBI could not even locate Napoles, who the entire time was just hiding in Metro Manila, how could such agency be counted upon to secure evidence and find fugitives who hide all around the country?
The agency is a bunch of moronic, myopic and fickle minded bureaucrats who stuff themselves with tax payers money and splurge it on houses, cars and vacations. In fact, the agency should be awarded, along with the Philippine National Police (PNP) a lifetime achievement award for gross incompetence!
If there is one thing I observed in the run up to Napoles' surrender, it is the veritable fact that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) seems to show with finality and clarity that it is INDEED AND IN FACT incompetent of the highest degree. Ever since the arrest warrant was issued for the arrest of the controversial "pork barrel" queen, the NBI has failed to arrest, much less locate her.
The NBI is useless, incompetent and basically inutile. If anything, it is an embarrassment to any government. It is a paper agency. It exists only to issue NBI clearances and other security documents. If the NBI could not even locate Napoles, who the entire time was just hiding in Metro Manila, how could such agency be counted upon to secure evidence and find fugitives who hide all around the country?
The agency is a bunch of moronic, myopic and fickle minded bureaucrats who stuff themselves with tax payers money and splurge it on houses, cars and vacations. In fact, the agency should be awarded, along with the Philippine National Police (PNP) a lifetime achievement award for gross incompetence!
Huwebes, Agosto 29, 2013
U.S. Strike on Syria Imminent: Implications for Middle East Stability
By now it is undoubtedly clear that chemical weapons were indeed used in the killing of several Syrian men, women and children last August 21. Now the big question on everyone's mind is, what will America do about it?
Before answering such a question, a primary task will be to identify who perpetrated the attack? Some reports indicate that a few days before the chemical attack, Israeli intelligence intercepted chatter from Syrian military commanders about the movement of chemical stocks. Although such actions are circumstantial evidence, we need to wait further results from the U.N. inspection team currently in Syria to determine what chemical was used and another pertinent technical data which could point to the real actor behind the attack. FP reported that US intelligence even overhead a panicked call between a regime official and a commander of a chemical unit about the release of chemical agents that killed 1,000 people. What is not clear is whether the attack was even ordered by Assad or was the work of a rogue general.
Second, the need to act is needed otherwise it will embolden the Assad regime to escalate the brutality of future its actions. As the CNN report indicate, to not act would do more harm than to act.
Now comes the question, what should America do? The Obama administration is loathe to get the US involved in anther Middle Eastern quagmire and so the most likely US response would be a missile or drone attack. Such attack would lessen the risk to US life, indeed avoid it altogether. Regardless, any military response must not be too crushing as to actually collapse the current regime. However unpalatable that may sound, the risk of a militant Islamist regime that has a high likelihood of taking its place is too high and not to mention the ensuing free for all slaughter that will eventually come through as rebels kill each other off as they scramble to consolidate power. Remember Iraq after Saddam's fall?
Without doubt, the fall of the current regime will trigger a graver, more brutal, chaotic and repressive Middle East, much worse, much, much worse than Iraq has ever been as Iran will surely insert itself as it already has through Hezbollah further into the conflict. The proxy war now played out between Saudi Arabia and Qatar on one side and Iran through Hezbollah on the other will become full blown to say the least. Meanwhile, civilians will die as never before since the start of the conflict two years ago. Killing will become a constant, daily, hourly even phenomenon.
The West will never be able to guarantee a friendly and reasonable ally to replace Assad. At the current retinue of rebels, none could possibly be counted upon to respect personal liberties, not to mention the rights of minorities such as the Alawites, Christians and other religious groups. The collapse of the Assad regime will precipitate the genocide of the Alawites as they move into its coastal strongholds.
America should militarily strike Assad after the chemical attack, but only after a thorough UN report has been made, studied and published so as to categorically lay the blame for the attack on the current regime and to ensure that a strong message is sent to Assad to avoid such future tactics.
The mistakes of Iraq must be avoided by America this time. All possible research has to be done to gather all needed information. War is a messy business, and in many cases, is needed to ensure peace, save lives and restore order, but it must be planned well to ensure that it will not create even more problems than it purports to solve.
Before answering such a question, a primary task will be to identify who perpetrated the attack? Some reports indicate that a few days before the chemical attack, Israeli intelligence intercepted chatter from Syrian military commanders about the movement of chemical stocks. Although such actions are circumstantial evidence, we need to wait further results from the U.N. inspection team currently in Syria to determine what chemical was used and another pertinent technical data which could point to the real actor behind the attack. FP reported that US intelligence even overhead a panicked call between a regime official and a commander of a chemical unit about the release of chemical agents that killed 1,000 people. What is not clear is whether the attack was even ordered by Assad or was the work of a rogue general.
Second, the need to act is needed otherwise it will embolden the Assad regime to escalate the brutality of future its actions. As the CNN report indicate, to not act would do more harm than to act.
Now comes the question, what should America do? The Obama administration is loathe to get the US involved in anther Middle Eastern quagmire and so the most likely US response would be a missile or drone attack. Such attack would lessen the risk to US life, indeed avoid it altogether. Regardless, any military response must not be too crushing as to actually collapse the current regime. However unpalatable that may sound, the risk of a militant Islamist regime that has a high likelihood of taking its place is too high and not to mention the ensuing free for all slaughter that will eventually come through as rebels kill each other off as they scramble to consolidate power. Remember Iraq after Saddam's fall?
Without doubt, the fall of the current regime will trigger a graver, more brutal, chaotic and repressive Middle East, much worse, much, much worse than Iraq has ever been as Iran will surely insert itself as it already has through Hezbollah further into the conflict. The proxy war now played out between Saudi Arabia and Qatar on one side and Iran through Hezbollah on the other will become full blown to say the least. Meanwhile, civilians will die as never before since the start of the conflict two years ago. Killing will become a constant, daily, hourly even phenomenon.
The West will never be able to guarantee a friendly and reasonable ally to replace Assad. At the current retinue of rebels, none could possibly be counted upon to respect personal liberties, not to mention the rights of minorities such as the Alawites, Christians and other religious groups. The collapse of the Assad regime will precipitate the genocide of the Alawites as they move into its coastal strongholds.
America should militarily strike Assad after the chemical attack, but only after a thorough UN report has been made, studied and published so as to categorically lay the blame for the attack on the current regime and to ensure that a strong message is sent to Assad to avoid such future tactics.
The mistakes of Iraq must be avoided by America this time. All possible research has to be done to gather all needed information. War is a messy business, and in many cases, is needed to ensure peace, save lives and restore order, but it must be planned well to ensure that it will not create even more problems than it purports to solve.
Miyerkules, Agosto 28, 2013
The Unholy Character of the Philippine Legislature
The scandalous incident surrounding the PDAF imbroglio highlights the mob like nature of Philippine Legislative processes. Where else in the world will you find a Congress that hands out money to anyone they like in the guise of conducting various imagined social activities, plans and programs. Congress is supposed to be that branch of government committed to the crafting of prudent, relevant and essential laws, not giving social work and programs directly to its various constituents.
This frankensteinian concept of congress is ripe, as expected, to essentially breed corruption at its highest order. Instead of focusing on legislation, congress becomes one professionalized criminal enterprise with tentacles that practically covers the whole spectrum of Philippine society. This cancerous order of robbery conducted under the very noses of the people who pretended to elect them pretends in turn to serve and legislate.
Congress in the Philippines is really a playground of the rich and corrupt, almost mafia-like, as it is characterized by relations of kith and kin, immune to the constraints of law itself and insulated from the harsh realities of Filipino life as almost all its members are cocooned in a lifestyle of wanton excess and decadence.
A cursory look at the make-up of the current Philippine legislature will show a club practically for the rich, the highborn and the fabulously moneyed class. They perpetuate themselves by giving themselves and their closed circle of croonies enormous sums of money bled by the work of millions of daily Filipino wage earners.
Tragedy is the Philippine congress itself! The single most structurally oppressive institution in Philippine life. Exasperating is a word that best defines its vision, its mission, enrichment of the moneyed class as it preys on the crawling bodies of millions of Filipino wallowing in a sea of grinding poverty and marginalized, abused and exploited millions more who work in foreign lands.
Tragedy.
This frankensteinian concept of congress is ripe, as expected, to essentially breed corruption at its highest order. Instead of focusing on legislation, congress becomes one professionalized criminal enterprise with tentacles that practically covers the whole spectrum of Philippine society. This cancerous order of robbery conducted under the very noses of the people who pretended to elect them pretends in turn to serve and legislate.
Congress in the Philippines is really a playground of the rich and corrupt, almost mafia-like, as it is characterized by relations of kith and kin, immune to the constraints of law itself and insulated from the harsh realities of Filipino life as almost all its members are cocooned in a lifestyle of wanton excess and decadence.
A cursory look at the make-up of the current Philippine legislature will show a club practically for the rich, the highborn and the fabulously moneyed class. They perpetuate themselves by giving themselves and their closed circle of croonies enormous sums of money bled by the work of millions of daily Filipino wage earners.
Tragedy is the Philippine congress itself! The single most structurally oppressive institution in Philippine life. Exasperating is a word that best defines its vision, its mission, enrichment of the moneyed class as it preys on the crawling bodies of millions of Filipino wallowing in a sea of grinding poverty and marginalized, abused and exploited millions more who work in foreign lands.
Tragedy.
Martes, Agosto 27, 2013
The Suffocating Talk on PDAF: The Pork Barrel as Greasy as it could Get
I have been quietly listening to the barrage of unending coverage over the PDAF of lawmakers making a constant buzz over the airwaves over the past four weeks. Indeed, it is bordering on obsession. Everyone talks about it, no one seems really to understand its implications - ever.
While President Aquino has signaled his willingness to revamp the PDAF, unless the Filipino people truly become politically mature, socially proactive and culturally re-educated about our own culture, we will have more of the same, as usual.
The PDAF is a symptom of the damaged, sclerotic cultural climate that the Philippines can't seem to get over. It is the entrenched character of patronage politics, the Filipino sense that politics is really stealing, the belief that corruption is unavoidable, and so therefore everyone must just take advantage of power and connections and get the best for oneself and one's family.
The Filipino lack of national cultural consciousness is at the root of the problem. Unless we educate ourselves about ourselves, about our culture, about our heritage, then government is seen by the people and politicians alike as a treasure chest to be plundered. The Filipino people is as guilty as the rapacious politicians who steal from the national coffers almost as a hobby bordering on kleptomania. In fact, the Filipino people perpetuates corruption, allows corruption and practically advertises the need for corruption when the average Juan demands from politicians money during elections, begs for money instead of better services, and most of all, tolerates corruption by repeatedly electing the same set of rotten cabal of political cadre with nothing to offer to the people except saturate them with money and other superficial material assistance during elections only. It is as if the Filipino people demands mediocrity from its political leaders - nothing else by that chronic slave attitude of perpetual sucking up to those in power.
They say that even in a flawed democracy like ours, it is still the people who elects, who chooses, who tolerates the ingrained culture of thievery in Philippine politics. There is corruption because the average Filipino accepts corruption as a necessary facet of politics.
Hope is nowhere to be found than the Filipino mind realizing its self-induced surrender to the whims of vested interests must go. We have to GROW up as a people politically, culturally and nationally. Otherwise, a year from now, we will have more of the same, this brouhaha about the Napoles Scam will just be another figment of our fickle national memory - until of course the next juicy political scandal rears itself again.
While President Aquino has signaled his willingness to revamp the PDAF, unless the Filipino people truly become politically mature, socially proactive and culturally re-educated about our own culture, we will have more of the same, as usual.
The PDAF is a symptom of the damaged, sclerotic cultural climate that the Philippines can't seem to get over. It is the entrenched character of patronage politics, the Filipino sense that politics is really stealing, the belief that corruption is unavoidable, and so therefore everyone must just take advantage of power and connections and get the best for oneself and one's family.
The Filipino lack of national cultural consciousness is at the root of the problem. Unless we educate ourselves about ourselves, about our culture, about our heritage, then government is seen by the people and politicians alike as a treasure chest to be plundered. The Filipino people is as guilty as the rapacious politicians who steal from the national coffers almost as a hobby bordering on kleptomania. In fact, the Filipino people perpetuates corruption, allows corruption and practically advertises the need for corruption when the average Juan demands from politicians money during elections, begs for money instead of better services, and most of all, tolerates corruption by repeatedly electing the same set of rotten cabal of political cadre with nothing to offer to the people except saturate them with money and other superficial material assistance during elections only. It is as if the Filipino people demands mediocrity from its political leaders - nothing else by that chronic slave attitude of perpetual sucking up to those in power.
They say that even in a flawed democracy like ours, it is still the people who elects, who chooses, who tolerates the ingrained culture of thievery in Philippine politics. There is corruption because the average Filipino accepts corruption as a necessary facet of politics.
Hope is nowhere to be found than the Filipino mind realizing its self-induced surrender to the whims of vested interests must go. We have to GROW up as a people politically, culturally and nationally. Otherwise, a year from now, we will have more of the same, this brouhaha about the Napoles Scam will just be another figment of our fickle national memory - until of course the next juicy political scandal rears itself again.
Lunes, Agosto 26, 2013
Bayani ng Bayan
Kahapon ay idinaos ng sambayang Filipino ang Araw ng mga Bayani, isang pagkakataon para kilalanin, bigyan pansin at parangalan ang mga aral, buhay at bilin ng ating mga bayani, bayaning nagluwas ng kanilang sariling mga buhay para sa inang bayan, para sa bayang sa larangan ng kasaysayan ay nagdusa, naghirap, at inapi.
Kailangan ng Pilipinas, higit man sa nakaraan, ang pagusbong nga mga bagong bayani. Mga bayaning hindi takot ipaglaban, isulong at ipagtanggol ang interes, kalinangan at buhay ng Pilipinas. Kailangan ng bayang nga mga taong buo ang pusong ibigay ang sarili sa ikabubuti, ikasusulong at ikagagaling ng bayan.
Ang pagkabayani ay hindi lamang isang estado ng pag-iisip, ito ay isang katayuang pagmamalasakit, pagsisikap, pagtulong at paglaban para sa kaluwalhatian ng bayan, ng bawat mamamayan, ng kinabukasan nating lahat.
Ang isang bayani ay isang mamamayang sa isip, sa puso at sa gawa ay panatag ang tiwala na kayang umunlad ang Pilipinas kung kayang ipagpaliban ang mga makasariling, makapamilyang gawaing naghubog sa ating kasaysayan simula ng sakupin tayo ng mga dayuhang mapang-api. Ang bayani ay tayong lahat na naniniwalang kung tulong-tulong, uunlad ang bayan, uunlad tayong lahat.
May pag-asa ang bayan, ang pag-asa ay tayong mga mamamayan.
Kailangan ng Pilipinas, higit man sa nakaraan, ang pagusbong nga mga bagong bayani. Mga bayaning hindi takot ipaglaban, isulong at ipagtanggol ang interes, kalinangan at buhay ng Pilipinas. Kailangan ng bayang nga mga taong buo ang pusong ibigay ang sarili sa ikabubuti, ikasusulong at ikagagaling ng bayan.
Ang pagkabayani ay hindi lamang isang estado ng pag-iisip, ito ay isang katayuang pagmamalasakit, pagsisikap, pagtulong at paglaban para sa kaluwalhatian ng bayan, ng bawat mamamayan, ng kinabukasan nating lahat.
Ang isang bayani ay isang mamamayang sa isip, sa puso at sa gawa ay panatag ang tiwala na kayang umunlad ang Pilipinas kung kayang ipagpaliban ang mga makasariling, makapamilyang gawaing naghubog sa ating kasaysayan simula ng sakupin tayo ng mga dayuhang mapang-api. Ang bayani ay tayong lahat na naniniwalang kung tulong-tulong, uunlad ang bayan, uunlad tayong lahat.
May pag-asa ang bayan, ang pag-asa ay tayong mga mamamayan.
Linggo, Agosto 25, 2013
My Favorite Plane
Burly yet sexy
Big yet suave
Embracing wings
Moving sight
Elegant in the skies
Royal on land
A road to air adventure
Adventure in the sky
Someday I will ride you
To kiss the skies forever.
Mag-subscribe sa:
Mga Post (Atom)