Thursday, July 02, 2009
More on the Digital Youth
A mentor of mine is currently looking at the current youth "generation's" fixation on connectedness in cyberspace. He problematizes the fact that for some of us, it's hard to find the off button to this cyber-addiction. A few months ago (I think), a friend of mine shared this article via Twitter. It features how this constant desire to be connected is slowly destroying our idea of solitude.
The End of Alone
By Neil Swidey | February 8, 2009 | [via Boston Blobe]
Don't get me wrong. I love technology. It's magical how it makes the world closer, and more immediate. Take, for instance, the real-time way we learned about the plane that skidded off a Denver runway and burst into flames in December. One of the passengers on Continental Flight 1404 used Twitter to share everything from his initial profanity- and typo-laced reaction to making it out of the fiery jet ("Holy [bleeping bleep] I wasbjust in a plane crash!") to his lament that the airline wasn't providing drinks to the survivors who'd been penned into the airport lounge ("You have your wits scared out of you, drag your butt out of a flaming ball of wreckage and you can't even get a vodka-tonic.")
Technology also makes life infinitely more manageable. It's what allows me to begin writing this essay from a packed coffee shop on a snowy winter afternoon while still being connected with my editors and finish writing it from my kitchen in the middle of the night, when all the interruptions of the day have faded away (unless I want to check Facebook to see how many of my friends are also nuts enough to be staring at a computer screen at 3 a.m.). And technology simply makes things more fun, like the way my wife will hold her iPhone up to a restaurant ceiling speaker and instantly be told that the vaguely familiar tune of funky '70s cheese she hears is "Sky High," by the one-hit-wonder band Jigsaw, rather than letting that little mystery make her cerebrum ache for the rest of the day.
So please don't confuse what I have to say for that tired Luddite screed about how technology is ruining us. It isn't.
Except it just might.
Because of technology, we never have to be alone anymore. And that's the problem.
I'M SITTING IN A PEW near the back of St. Anne's Church in Fall River, a soaring structure of Vermont blue marble that could rival a lesser European cathedral. It was built in the late 1800s, when the southeastern Massachusetts mill city's French Canadian community was big enough to warrant a church able to seat 2,000. On this blustery afternoon, the crowd is more like a tenth of that. The priest is talking, but the lousy PA system makes it hard to hear what he's saying. So I'm doing what I've done before in this situation: trying to keep my young daughters occupied by whispering for them to study their surroundings -- the exquisitely carved red-oak woodwork near the high ceiling, the enormous pipe organ in the rear balcony, the colorful stained-glass windows on every wall. With its combination of architectural grandeur and crumbling-plaster fatigue, the place is like Venice in the unforgiving light of morning, rather than the soft-lit romanticism of night. It's honest and beautiful.
Then I hear an odd chirping. My eyes follow my ears to a pew to my left and behind me, where a guy with slicked black hair and dark glasses is sitting. He's chewing gum and wearing one of those Bluetooth cellphone attachments in his ear.
Hey, man, I'm bored, too. But, c'mon, take that infernal thing out of your ear. Say a prayer. Collect your thoughts. Or just do what my 4-year-old is doing and stare at the ceiling.
Did I mention it was Christmas Day Mass?
Not long ago, I was sitting in the "quiet study" section of my local public library when a middle-aged woman wearing an annoyed expression plopped down in the green upholstered chair next to my table, her teenage daughter in tow. She flipped open her cellphone and dialed her daughter's therapist. After giving the therapist's secretary her full name and slowly spelling her daughter's -- loud enough for every soul in that wing of the library to hear -- she said, "We have an appointment for next week, but I want to know if he has any availability before that. She is really not doing well."
I looked up from my laptop, incredulous that a mother could be so blase about violating her daughter's privacy, not to mention library decorum -- and convinced that the therapist and the daughter must have no time to discuss anything besides mother issues.
Now, I know what you're going to say. There have always been boors blabbing in places where they should be quiet, blithely ignoring the shushes from librarians or the stares from fellow elevator passengers while behaving as though they're the only ones whose problems matter. Bad manners are bad manners, irrespective of technology, right?
Yes, only technology has vastly expanded this bad behavior, eroding much of society's stigma against it, and making it everybody's problem. But here's the real point: It is dulling our very capacity to ever be alone, or alone in our thoughts. The late British pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott popularized the phrase "the capacity to be alone" in the 1950s, to describe a pivotal stage of emotional development. Winnicott argued that an adult's capacity to be alone had its roots in his experience as a baby, learning to function independently while still in the presence of his mother. Yet today we're seeing this capacity weakened, whether we're in public places known for contemplation, like churches and libraries, or whether we're just sitting by ourselves at home, losing the fight to resist answering our BlackBerries (just ask our new president) or checking our laptops for Facebook updates.
"We've gone from an American ethic that championed the lone guy on a horseback to an ethic of managing multiple data streams," says Dalton Conley, a sociology professor at New York University and author of the new book Elsewhere, U.S.A.: How We Got From the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety. "It's very hard for people to unplug and be alone -- and be with the one data stream of their mind."
What's fueling this? Conley says it's anxiety borne out of a deep-seated fear that we're being left out of something, somewhere, and that we may lose out on advancement in our work, social, or family lives if we truly check out. "The anxiety of being alone drives this behavior to constantly respond and Twitter and text, but the very act of doing it creates the anxiety."
This is particularly true among young people, mainly because they don't know life when it wasn't like this.
I HAD A GREAT TIME in college and was fortunate to make lots of close, lasting friendships. But if I want to be honest with myself, I can remember plenty of times when I felt uncomfortable. And many of the earlier ones involved eating alone in the dining hall. I didn't eat by myself often, and when I did, it was usually a simple matter of conflicting schedules with my friends. But my unease sprang from my inability to convey that to the strangers around me. Honest, I'm not a loner. I had to learn to deal with the discomfort. Sometimes, it would force me to strike up conversations with strangers or be receptive when they engaged me. Other times, I would just sit alone and read or think. The discomfort never went away entirely, but it sure receded with practice.
If I were in college nowadays, I doubt that would happen. I would be filling my alone time texting any friend I could think of.
Whenever I'm on a college campus these days, almost all the students I see sitting by themselves are furiously thumbing their iPhones or BlackBerries. For all I know, they could simply be playing Sudoku. Yet the message they're sending is unmistakable. I am not alone.
Sure, texting a friend can make you feel less awkward. But, in the long run, so can learning to step outside of your shell, or becoming at peace within it.
This change in campus life isn't restricted to dining halls. The quads are teeming with ear-budded students texting and talking on cellphones rather than sitting with an open book or talking to the person next to them. In important ways, they're not fully there.
To see how these technological patterns are changing the college experience, University of Toronto researcher Rhonda McEwen tracked the communication behavior of students across their freshmen year. She found them delaying the full plunge of forming new friend networks and breaking away from their old ones. In their first semester, the freshmen generally hold on tightly to their high school friends, talking with and texting them frequently and keeping up with them on Facebook. As the year moves on, they generally shift their high school friends to Facebook and instant messaging while focusing more of their texting and phone calls on their new college pals. In the summer, they shift back, with high school friends returning to the top of the communication hierarchy.
There are things to be happy about in these patterns. The lifeline of old friends can help staunch the feelings of loneliness that are as common to the freshman experience as rapid weight gain.
But those old contacts can also turn into a crutch that prevents students from truly engaging with the new world around them or learning to be alone in their own mind. One of the freshmen McEwen interviewed confessed that every day she spent her lunchtime sitting on the steps outside a campus building, calling or texting her sister. That was less painful for her than sitting alone. Yet like the helicopter parents who hover over their children at the playground in the hopes of shielding them from bumps and bruises, we can delay the hurt only so long. As the Talmud tells us, sometimes a little bit of pain can be a blessing.
"Loneliness is ubiquitous," says Amherst College political science professor Thomas Dumm, whose new book, Loneliness As a Way of Life, grew out of his experience of losing, in short order, his wife and mother to death and his daughter to college. "But people are less equipped to deal with it. Rather than going deeper, they try to push it aside."
How will this all play out in years to come? Leysia Palen, a University of Colorado computer scientist, worries that "how to be alone in a public space is a skill that is going to disappear." And that hole could become glaring when people's life circumstances change. "As friends die, do you find yourselves in a different reality than before? I don't have any problem being alone, but it's something I learned -- through living it."
More than anything, McEwen found in her University of Toronto study that college students are constantly connected to the point of having no concept of a truly unplugged life. There's a time-honored tradition in Canada of "going to the cottage," usually in the summertime, and being blissfully disconnected from the rest of the world. "The participants in my study had real discomfort going to the cottage," McEwen says. "If there's no cellphone reception, no Internet access, they think, 'What the hell am I doing out there?' "
It's hard to imagine a Henry David Thoreau emerging from this millennial generation, someone motivated to log two years and two months alone in the woods around Walden and wax about how he "never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude." He'd have no time to observe the bullfrogs or water his bean plants. He'd be too busy searching for a Wi-Fi signal.
DESCARTES, NEWTON, LOCKE, Spinoza, Kant, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard -- they share the distinction of having been some of the greatest thinkers the world has known. They also share this: None of them ever married or had their own families, and most of them spent the bulk of their lives living alone. In his provocative 1989 book Solitude: A Return to the Self, British writer and psychiatrist Anthony Storr made a persuasive case for the value of deep, uninterrupted alone time. He found it in ample supply in the lives of not just philosophers and physicists, but also some of the greatest poets, novelists, painters, and composers.
Maybe this concept of the lone genius is somewhat exaggerated. While Newton was celibate, many of these other thinkers had transient affairs and interacted to varying degrees with the world around them. Even Thoreau would leave his cabin every once in a while and stroll into downtown Concord to visit with friends. But the point is, they were all able to remove themselves from the bustle of daily life for long stretches, in order to contemplate and create. We're all the richer for their having done that. Now, ask yourself, when was the last time you were truly alone and unplugged for a long spell? How many of you can even say you've gotten this far in this essay without having once stopped to answer a call, reply to a text, or check your in-box? I must confess that I haven't. (Another confession: To ensure that I finish writing this, I've now moved myself to an undisclosed remote location where I'm sitting in a small windowless room with some sort of orange carpeting material on the walls -- no lie -- and where no Wi-Fi is available. Something tells me Descartes never had to go to these lengths for quiet time.)
It's important to distinguish between being alone and being lonely. In the new book Loneliness, University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo and his Massachusetts coauthor William Patrick argue the pangs of loneliness that we sometimes experience are the evolutionary equivalent of the shooting pain we feel after touching a hot stove. These pangs are ingrained reminders of how bad social disconnection is for our well-being. Cacioppo uses everything from brain imaging to blood-pressure analysis to demonstrate the serious drag on our health that loneliness can have.
At first pass, this line of thought would seem to contradict the argument Storr made in Solitude and pretty much everything I've written to this point. Yet that's not the case at all. It turns out that research shows people who feel lonely are no more likely to be physically alone. Cacioppo acknowledges that solitude can be very healthy, and he compares loneliness to a sort of thermostat, a state of mind that kicks in at different points for different people.
While we humans need social interaction, he's in agreement that we won't find it through Twittering and texting. Cacioppo points to research showing that electronic communication can increase social isolation and depression "when it replaces more tangible forms of human contact." Another team of psychologists termed this form of communication "social snacking." But, as he writes, a snack is not a meal.
So why do we feel so compelled to swap messages with people who aren't next to us and rack up hundreds of friends to keep electronic tabs on?
Dalton Conley, the NYU professor, says it's worth looking back several decades, to two groundbreaking social-science studies. (Both, as it turns out, are tied to the Boston area -- who knew we cold New Englanders could be so social?) The first is the 1967 experiment that indirectly made us all aware of the disturbing pervasiveness of Kevin Bacon in our lives. Psychologist Stanley Milgram gave a letter to a bunch of people in Omaha, Nebraska, and instructed them to hand-deliver it to someone they knew. The unstated goal was to get a copy to a stockbroker in Sharon, Massachusetts. The experiment laid the groundwork for the popular notion of "six degrees of separation." (Conley says newer research suggests the number is actually closer to eight.) The second study, based on interviews with Boston professionals that psychologist Mark Granovetter conducted in 1972, suggests that your closest friends are less valuable to you in finding new jobs or new mates than the friends of friends whom you don't know that well. The idea is that you're probably already aware of the same job openings or single people that your close friends know about. But those tangential acquaintances hold the key to new and potentially valuable information. Granovetter's paper, called "The Strength of Weak Ties," could have been used as the business plan for LinkedIn, the fast-growing site for professionals that is like Facebook except stripped of all mildly interesting content and about as much fun as a Chamber of Commerce networking night.
Here's the irony: The explosion of all this electronic networking and friending may ultimately rob weak ties of most of their strength. If we're all linked up with hundreds if not thousands of people, there is no longer much value to the information they possess. It's no longer exclusive. A stock tip whispered in your ear by someone in the know can make you a mint (if it doesn't land you in jail). But what good is a stock tip broadcast on CNBC?
SCHEHERAZADE QUIROGA has a heavy name but a buoyant personality. In August, the 28-year-old left her parents' home in Caracas, Venezuela, where she has lived her whole life, and moved here to begin a master's program in television management at Boston University. The first time she left her family was 10 years ago, when she and her sister took a guided tour of Europe. As soon as they arrived in Madrid, the first stop on the tour, she found a pay phone and called her mother in tears. "Mama, Mama!" she cried, "I miss you so much!" This past November, when she returned to Venezuela to vote and saw her family for the first time since moving to Boston, her mother came running over, saying, "I need to hug you!" Quiroga thought to herself, "It's no big deal."
Sure, she's a decade older than that girl crying from the pay phone in Madrid. But the real difference is that, although she's living abroad now, she hasn't really had to leave her family. Every night at 9 o'clock, she logs on to the Internet video chat service Skype and catches up with her mother, usually for two or three hours at a stretch. "I don't feel the distance as much," she says.
What's wrong with this? On one level, nothing at all. Quiroga is sociable, happy, and well adjusted. She's managed to form close friendships with other students in her program while still keeping strong ties with her family.
But if international travel and study were once surefire ways for people to learn deep truths about themselves as they experienced new cultures, that's probably not the case anymore. Contrast Quiroga's Boston experience with the backpacking tour Dalton Conley took alone across Bolivia and Peru in the early '90s. Once, after making vague plans to meet up with a friend in La Paz, he took a hellish bus ride clear across the country, suffering altitude sickness along the way, only to arrive at the station in the Bolivian capital and find out that his friend had just left. He spent much of his time in South America feeling lost, miserably alone, and utterly disconnected from his normal life. "But I look back at it as one of the greatest experiences of my life," he says. "It helped in forming a sense of who I am."
I ask Quiroga when she feels truly unplugged and off the grid. (I've learned to be specific with this question. Another college student I posed it to said her definition of being unplugged was keeping her cellphone on vibrate.)
She pauses. Her green eyes widen. Then she smiles. "Hmm. I think only when I'm on the T and we go into the tunnel. As soon as the Green Line train hits Kenmore and goes underground, I think, 'Well, that's it. No one can reach me now.' " She smiles again. "Isn't that sad?"
Neil Swidey is a staff writer for the Globe Magazine. E-mail him at swidey@globe.com.
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Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Internet and Generation Formation
Ever since I shared my undergraduate thesis to Mark (Ruiz), I started to work on re-writing it and re-reading my source literature. I promised Mark that I'll blog about the sociology of generations, albeit a simpler version, but this post is not about that one (I'll find time to write it someday).
I would just want to share something I found in the internet. It's a part of a speech by June Edmunds in 2007 on his contemporary re-appropriation of Karl Mannheim's sociology of generations. Below is a short excerpt where he discusses the relationship of new media and the formation of an active generation.
Bryan [Turner] and I suggested that 9/11 could bring about the formation of a second global generation similar to the 1960s – a generation which both shares its information and ideas across borders and acts with global impact. Two factors seem especially important in the construction of global generations. First, the growth of electronic forms of global communication technology. Whereas print media and the radio shaped international and transnational generations, electronic technology has led to the globalization of trauma because new media mean that events can be experienced simultaneously across the globe, transcending time and space in unprecedented way. Second, the increase in mobility, tourism, education, global labour markets and so on.
However, I’ve started to rethink this issue and to question whether these new electronic communications technologies have the ability to generate a global generational consciousness. What they do is that they provide a very instantaneous vision of things; but these media images are transitory- we move on from them very quickly on to the next ‘trauma’ . And it is this very immediacy and transitory nature of mediated experience of trauma which is what inhibits the creation of a genuinely active global generation. So I’m starting to change my mind about the earlier argument we made. There is a very instant nature of global communication which means that these events do not have a long-lasting event and do not create a global political generation anything equivalent to the 1960s generation.
[via Media Research]
I remember in one of the TindigNation meetings, Noli Benavent (creator of the STOP CON-ASS NOW! cause in Facebook) was having an intense discussion with other members of TindigNation about the merits of cyberactivism. Some of the leaders (members of a more senior, actualized generation) are pointing to the fact that cyberactivism can only go so far and that it needs to lead towards street activism.
Well, we can look at it in several angles - division of labor, developmental stages of activism, diversification of means of dissent, and the argument that the internet can never replace actual street protest. Nonetheless, Edmund's point on the relationship of this new media and the formation of a "generation for itself" merits much consideration.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Small is Beautiful
Man is small, and, therefore, small is beautiful.
When will everything be enough?
In anticipation of the movie "Up", see other real-life "nail houses" here.
I'm off to Roxas City in Capiz tomorrow. It will be my second time there. Please pray for our safety.
My flight is in the morning but I still can't sleep. Maybe I'll go find some e-books of/on Niklas Luhmann. Sir Leland got me interested. But he's German so his works will definitely be top-tier esoteric.
I'm looking forward to graduate school.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Another Peasant Leader Murdered
Peasant leader shot dead in DumagueteMARK JOSEPH UBALDE, [via GMANews.TV]
06/10/2009 | 07:42 PM
MANILA, Philippines - A militant leader was shot dead on Wednesday in Central Philippines after attending a rally against the constituent assembly being pushed by the House of Representatives.
Fermin Lorico, chairman of the KAUGMAON-Kilusan ng Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), was shot thrice at the back of the head near his office at San Jose Extension street in Dumaguete City at around 4:00 p.m.
The group immediately accused the military for the killing.
“No one else would do this than the 79th Infantry Batallion of the military," KAUGMAON spokesperson Juliet Ragay told GMANews.TV in a phone interview.
Ragay said Lorico had been a vocal supporter of farmers’ rights in the province and had accused the military of committing abuses against peasants.
“[Lorico] was a good man. He even served in the church," Ragay said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has repeatedly denied involvement in the killings of peasant leaders, dismissing it as part of leftist propaganda aimed at tarnishing the military’s image.
“These accusations of human rights violations, disappearances… nothing has been proved. It’s all propaganda," said Brig. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, AFP-Civil Relations Services chief.
In a separate interview, PO3 Dante Maribao of the Dumaguete police said that investigators are now conducting an autopsy on the victim. He refused to give other details in the shooting.
Grabe na! Maniniwala pa ba ako na walang kinalaman ang mga sunud-sunod na pagkamatay ng mga pinuno ng iba't ibang pangkat ng mga pesante? Grabe nang karahasan ito!
Above is the only picture I was able to take during the anti-conasswang rally yesterday afternoon in Ayala Ave. It was nice to see familiar faces in the rally. It was my first time to be in a rally with the Liberal Party and to be actually in the crowd (for the most part of the February 2008 rally during the height of the NBN-ZTE issue, I was at the backstage because I hosted a segment of the rally). I hope I can find better pictures later.
Gloria at Cha-cha... Ibasura!
Who was able to attend the TINDIGNATION concert rally in Gate 2.5 ADMU? How was it? I hope it was successful. Sorry I wasn't able to go. Bawi na lang next time.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
RIP Ka Rene Penas
At 5:39AM today, I received a devastating text message from Ate Jane of KAISAHAN:
Ka Rene Penas, farmer leader and paralegal from Sumilao, was ambushed at around 11pm last night, 5June. He was on his way home when he was shot. We are condemning this brutal death of a leader who lived a life fighting for agrarian reform and social justice: for their land in Sumilao, for other land cases, and for CARPER. Pls pray for his loved ones and for justice to be served.
Grabe! Sumosobra na sila! P*t*ng*na naman! Paano na ang asawa't mga anak ni Ka Rene? Kung akala nila manghihina ang loob ng mga magsasakang humahanap ng katarungan dahil sa pagkamatay ng isa sa kanilang mga pinuno, nagkakamali sila! Lalo lang nilang ginalit ang mga magsasakang matagal nang nagtitiis sa hirap!
Ka Rene, kung nasaan ka man, nawa ay maging masaya ka. Itutuloy po namin ang laban na inyong sinimulan noong ikaw ay nabubuhay pa.
Nawa ang kapayapaan ng Panginoon ay sumaiyo.
According to Ate Jane, the body of Ka Rene is still in the very spot where he was shot down last night in Sumilao, Bukidnon. The SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operative) has yet to remove his body.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Thanks for the Laughs
Conan O'Brien is back on air as the new host of The Tonight Show.
Watching Coco Christopher O'Brien (as declared by Tom Hanks in the June 2 episode) at night makes the stress go away for a bit.
Thank you.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Con-Asswang
Roxas: ‘Con-asswang;’ form of witchcraft[via Inquirer.net]
MANILA, Philippines—In an impassioned privilege speech in Filipino, Sen. Manuel Roxas II denounced the passage of House Resolution No. 1109 and described the viva voce voting as a form of witchcraft.
HR 1109 calls for the convening of a constituent assembly (Con-ass) with the House and the Senate voting jointly on amendments to the 1987 Constitution.
The opposition claims the passage of HR 1109 in the House of Representatives could pave the way for Charter change and serve as a “prelude to an Arroyo dictatorship.”
“I call it kaaswangan. I challenge the President to either stand by [HR 1109] or reject it. Where does she stand in this most important, most crucial issue?” said Roxas, a presidential aspirant.
In Filipino folklore, an “aswang” is a vampire-like creature that is said to prey on small children and even the dead. By the senator’s own admission, the myth of aswang was popular in his hometown in Capiz province.
Roxas brought leis of garlic, which he said was the best defense against aswang, to the session hall.
He said he had decided to wear a garlic necklace “to ward off the aswang called constituent assembly or Con-asswang.”
He added that the President should order her allies in the House to stop this “stupidity.”
From Brian Ong:
Read the list of congressmen here who signed House Resolution No. 1109.
based on this document. http://www.scribd.com/doc/14523445/House-Resolution-No-1109
Those who voted "Aye" may not have signed this HR 1109. Feel free to copy and paste this list to your blog post or Facebook notes and state
""I am ashamed of my Congressman (enter name if applicable) for supporting HR1109."
NAME DISTRICT/ AREA
ABANTE, BIENVENIDO M. "BENNY" 6TH District Pandacan
ABLAN, ROQUE R. JR \Ilocos Norte, 1st District
AGBAYANI, VICTOR AGUEDO E. Pangasinan, 2nd District
AGYAO, MANUEL, S Kalinga Province
ALBANO (III), RODOLFO T. Isabela, 1st District
ALFELOR, FELIX R. JR. 4th District, Camarines Sur
ALMARIO, THELMA Z. Davao Oriental, 2nd District
ALVAREZ, ANTONIO C. Palawan 1st District
ALVAREZ, GENARO RAFAEL M. JR. Negros Occidental, 6th District
AMANTE, EDELMIRO A. Agusan Del Norte, 2nd District
AMATONG, ROMMEL C. Compostela Valley, 2nd District
ANGPING, MARIA ZENAIDA B. Manila, 3rd District
ANTONINO, RODOLFO W. Nueva Ecija, 4th District
APOSTOL, TRINIDAD G. Leyte, 2nd District
AQUINO, JOSE S. (II) 1st District Agusan del Norte
ARAGO, MARIA EVITA R. 3rd district, Laguna
ARBISON, A MUNIR M. Sulu 2nd District
ARENAS, MA. RACHEL J. Pangasinan, 3rd District
ARROYO, DIOSDADO M. Camarines Sur, 1st District
ARROYO, IGNACIO T. 5th district Negros Occidental
ARROYO, JUAN MIGUEL M. 2nd District of Pampanga
BAGATSING, AMADO S. Manila 5th district
BALINDONG, PANGALIAN M. Lanao del Sur, 2nd District
BARZAGA, ELPIDIO F. JR. Cavite, 2nd District
BAUTISTA, FRANKLIN P. Davao Del Sur, 2nd District
BELMONTE, VICENTE F. JR. Lanao del Norte, 1st District
BICHARA, AL FRANCIS C. Albay, 2nd District
BIRON, FERJENEL G. Iloilo, 4th District
BONDOC, ANNA YORK P. Pampanga 4th District
BONOAN-DAVID, MA. THERESA B. Manila, 4th District
BRAVO, NARCISO R. JR. Masbate, 1st District
BRIONES, NICANOR M. AGAP Party list
BUHAIN, EILEEN ERMITA Batangas, 1st District
BULUT, ELIAS C. JR. Apayao Lone District
CAGAS (IV), MARC DOUGLAS C. Davao Del Sur, 1st District
CAJAYON, MARY MITZI L. Caloocan, 2nd District
CAJES, ROBERTO C. Bohol, 2nd District
CARI, CARMEN L. Leyte, 5th District
CASTRO, FREDENIL H. Capiz, 2nd District
CELESTE, ARTHUR F. Pangasinan, 1st District
CERILLES, ANTONIO H. Zamboanga Del Sur, 2nd District
CHATTO, EDGARDO M. Bohol, 1st District
CHONG, GLENN A. Biliran, Lone District
CHUNG-LAO, SOLOMON R. Ifugai, Lone District
CLARETE, MARINA C. Misamis Occidental, 1st District
CODILLA, EUFROCINO M. SR. Leyte, 4th District
COJUANCO, MARK O. Pangasinan, 5th District
COQUILA, TEODULO M. Eastern Samar, Lone District
CRISOLOGO, VINCENT P. Quezon City, 1st District
CUA, JUNIE E. Quirino, Lone District
CUENCO, ANTONIO V. Cebu City, 2nd District
DANGWA, SAMUEL M. Benguet, Lone District
DATUMANONG, SIMEON A. Maguindanao, Lone District
Dayanghirang, Nelson L. Davao Oriental, 1st District
DAZA, NANETTE C. Quezon City, 4th District
DAZA, PAUL R. Northern Samar, 1st District
DE GUZMAN, DEL R. Marikina City, 2nd District
DEFENSOR, ARTHUR D. SR. Iloilo, 3rd District
DEFENSOR, MATIAS V. JR. Quezon City, 3rd District
DEL MAR, RAUL V. Cebu City, 1st District
DIASNES, CARLO OLIVER D. (MD) Batanes, Lone District
DIMAPORO, ABDULLAH D. Lanao Del Norte, 2nd District
DOMOGAN, MAURICIO G. Baguio, Lone District
DUAVIT, MICHAEL JOHN R. Rizal, 1st District
DUENAS, HENRY M. JR. Taguig, 2nd District (2nd Councilor District)
DUMARPA, FAYSAH MRP. Lanao del Sur, 1st District
DUMPIT, THOMAS L. JR. La Union, 2nd District
DURANO (IV), RAMON H. 5th District, Cebu
ECLEO, GLENDA B. Dinagat Islands, Lone District
EMANO, YEVGENY VICENTE B. Misamis Oriental, 2nd District
ENVERGA, WILFRIDO MARK M. Quezon, 1st District
ESTRELLA, CONRADO M. (III) Pangasinan, 6th District
ESTRELLA, ROBERT RAYMUND M. ABONO Party List
FERRER, JEFFREY P. Negros Occidental, 4th District
GARAY, FLORENCIO C. Surigao Del Sur, 2nd District
GARCIA, ALBERT S. Bataan, 2nd District.
GARCIA, PABLO JOHN F. Cebu, 3rd District
GARCIA, PABLO P. Cebu, 2nd District
GARCIA, VINCENT J. Davao City, 2nd District
GARIN, JANETTE L. Iloilo, 1st District
GATCHALIAN, REXLON T. Valenzuela City, 1st District
GATLABAYAN, ANGELITO C. Antipolo City, 2nd District
GO, ARNULFO F. Sultan Kudarat, 2nd District
GONZALES, AURELIO D. JR. Pampanga 3rd District
GONZALES, RAUL T. JR. Ilo ilo City
GULLAS, EDUARDO R. Cebu, 1st District
GUNIGUNDO, MAGTANGGOL T. Valenzuela City 2nd District
HOFER, DULCE ANN K. Zamboanga Sibugay, 2nd District
JAAFAR, NUR G. Tawi-Tawi, Lone District
JALA, ADAM RELSON L. Bohol, 3rd District
JALOSJOS, CESAR G. Zamboanga del Norte, 3rd District
JALOSJOS-CARREON, CECILIA G. Zamboanga del Norte, 1st District
JIKIRI, YUSOP H. Sulu, 1st District
KHO, ANTONIO T. Masbate, 2nd District
LABADLABAD, ROSENDO S. Zamboanga del Norte, 2nd District
LACSON, JOSE CARLOS V. Negros Occidental, 3rd District
LAGDAMEO, ANTONIO F. JR. Davao del Norte, 2nd District
LAPUS, JECI A. Tarlac, 3rd District
LAZATIN, CARMELO F. Pampanga, 1st District
LIM, RENO G. Albay, 3rd District
LOPEZ, JAIME C. Manila, 2nd District
MADRONA, ELEANORA JESUS F. Romblon, Lone District
MAGSAYSAY, MARIA MILAGROS H. Zambales, 1st District
MALAPITAN, OSCAR G. Caloocan, 1st District
MAMBA, MANUEL N. Cagayan, 3rd District
MANGUDADATU, DATU PAKUNG S. Sultan Kudarat,
MARANON, ALFREDO D. III Negros Occidental, 2nd District
MATUGAS, FRANCISCO T. Surigao del Norte, 1st District
MENDOZA, MARK LEANDRO L. Batangas, 4th District
MERCADO, ROGER G. Southern Leyte, Lone District
MIRAFLORES, FLORENCIO T. Aklan, Lone District
NAVA, JOAQUIN CARLOS RAHMAN A. (MD) Guimaras, Lone District
NICOLAS, REYLINA G. Bulacan, 4th District
NOGRALES, PROSPERO C. Davao City, 1st District
OLAñO, ARREL R. Davao Del Norte, 1st District
ONG, EMIL L. Northern Samar, 2nd District
ORTEGA, VICTOR FRANCISCO C. La Union, 1st District
PABLO, ERNESTO C. APEC Party List
PANCHO, PEDRO M. Bulacan, 2nd District
PANCRUDO, CANDIDO P. JR. Bukidnon, 1st District
PICHAY, PHILIP A. Surigao Del Sur, 1st District
PIñOL, BERNARDO F. JR. North Cotabato, 2nd District
PUNO, ROBERTO V. Antipolo City, 1st District
RAMIRO, HERMINIA M. Misamis Occidental, 2nd District
REMULLA, JESUS CRISPIN C. Cavite, 3rd District
REYES, CARMELITA O. Marinduque, Lone District
REYES, VICTORIA H. Batangas, 3rd District
ROBES, ARTURO G. San Jose Del Monte City, Lone District
Rodriguez-Zaldarriaga, Adelina Rizal, 2nd District
ROMAN, HERMINIA B. Bataan, 1st District
ROMARATE, GUILLERMO A. JR. Surigao del Norte, 2nd District
ROMUALDEZ, FERDINAND MARTIN G. Leyte, 1st District
ROMUALDO, PEDRO Camiguin, Lone District
ROMULO, ROMAN T. Pasig City, Lone District
ROXAS, JOSE ANTONIO F. Pasay City
SALIMBANGON, BENHUR L. Cebu, 4th District
SALVACION JR., ANDRES D. Leyte, 3rd District
SAN LUIS, EDGAR S. Laguna, 4th District
SANDOVAL, ALVIN S. Malabon-Navotas, Lone District
SANTIAGO, JOSEPH A. Catanduanes, Lone District
SANTIAGO, NARCISO D. (III) ARC Party List
SEACHON-LANETE, RIZALINA L. 3rd district of Masbate
SEARES-LUNA, CECILIA M. Abra, Lone District
SILVERIO, LORNA C. Bulacan, 3rd District
SINGSON, ERIC D. Ilocos Sur, 2nd District
SINGSON, RONALD V. Ilocos Sur, 1st District
SOLIS, JOSE G. Sorsogon, 2nd District
SOON-RUIZ, NERISSA CORAZON Cebu, 6th District
SUAREZ, DANILO E. Quezon, 3rd District
SUSANO, MARY ANN L. Quezon City, 2nd District
SY-ALVARADO, MA. VICTORIA R. Bulacan, 1st District
SYJUCO, JUDY J. 2nd Dsitrict, Iloilo
TALINO-MENDOZA, EMMYLOU J. North Cotabato, 1st District
TAN, SHAREE ANN T. Samar, 2nd District
TEODORO, MARCELINO R. Marikina City, 1st District
TEODORO, MONICA LOUISSE PRIETO Tarlac, 1st District
TEVES, PRYDE HENRY A. Negros Oriental, 3rd District
TUPAS, NEIL C. JR. Iloilo, 5th District
UNGAB, ISIDRO T. Davao City, 3rd District
UY, EDWIN C. Isabela, 2nd District
UY, REYNALDO S. Samar, 1st District
UY, ROLANDO A. Cagayan De Oro City, Lone District
VALDEZ, EDGAR L. APEC Party List
VALENCIA, RODOLFO G. Oriental Mindoro, 1st District
VARGAS, FLORENCIO L. Cagayan, 2nd District
VILLAFUERTE, LUIS R. Camarines Sur, 2nd District
VILLAROSA, MA. AMELITA C. Occidental Mindoro, Lone District
VIOLAGO, JOSEPH GILBERT F. Nueva Ecija, 2nd District
YAP, JOSE V. Tarlac, 2nd District
YU, VICTOR J. Zamboanga Del Sur, 1st District
ZAMORA, MANUEL E. 1st District, Compostela Valley
ZIALCITA, EDUARDO C. Parañaque, 1st District
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
The Questionable SWS Survey and the Eighth Regime
Today, Inquirer.net posted a news item entitled "SWS survey puts Villar on top".
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Embattled Senator Manny Villar has emerged as the leading presidential contender in the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Station.
Villar, who has been accused of using his position to benefit from the C-5 road extension project, posted a high 22 percent approval rating from 7,000 respondents polled nationwide by the SWS between April 16 and May 6, 2009.
Vice President Noli de Castro followed Villar with 18 percent ; Senator Francis Escudero and deposed President Joseph Estrada with 14; Senator Loren Legarda with 10 percent; Senator Manuel Roxas with 9 percent; Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson with 6 percent, Makati Jejomar Binay with 2 percent; Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando with 1 percent.
This survey is questionnable on five basic grounds:
- This survey result has no corresponding press release in the official SWS website. SWS always posts their survey results in their website, so why not this time?
- The survey question in this new survey ("Sa mga sumusunod na pangalan sa listahang ito, sino po ang malamang ninyong iboboto bilang PRESIDENTE ng Pilipinas, kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngayon?") is vastly different from the question in the last SWS survey ("Sa ilalim ng kasalukuyang Konstitusyon, ang termino ni Pang. Arroyo ay hanggang sa taong 2010 lamang at magkakaroon ng halalan para sa pagka-pangulo sa Mayo 10, 2010. Sinu-sino sa palagay ninyo ang mga magagaling na lider na dapat pumalit kay Pang. Arroyo bilang Presidente? Maaari po kayong magbanggit ng hanggang tatlong sagot."). Why would SWS suddenly change the survey question if it seeks to show upward or downward movements in the polls?
- Pulse Asia has just released its recent survey results on the presidentiables. Noticeably, the sampling dates of the Pulse Asia survey (May 4 - 17) coincides with that of this supposed SWS survey (April 16 - May 6). Past surveys of the two polling stations do not coincide with each other. Why change it now?
- There is also a noticeable change in the movement of Sen. Mar Roxas in the two polls. In the Pulse Asia survey, he moved up by 5 points (most improved performance in the polls) while in this supposed SWS survey Mar moved down by 6 points!
- Look at the tabulated results of this supposed SWS survey. It shows the results of the past surveys. Noticeably, the figures are different from those in the official SWS surveys posted in their website
So where does this survey come from?
The congressmen in Batasan are currently rail-roading charter change. They have been at if for many months now. But it seems like this push for H.R. 1109 ("A Resolution calling upon the members of congress to convene for the purpose of considering proposals to amend or revise the constitution upon a vote of 3/4 of all the members of congress") will push through because they are only seeking to pass it through a simple majority vote of the quorum. The dogs in in Congress will not rest tonight until they pass this resolution - as Ricky Carandang said, "the chacha express has arrived".
Expected to follow shortly, maybe even tonight or tomorrow, are the specific amendments to the charter, including something that will eventually pave the way for Arroyo’s continuation in power in one form or another.
And so despite all the denials, the House has finally done it.
What happens next?
This nation has been a formal state six times in its history. First as a colony of Spain, second as the short lived Malolos republic, third as the Commonwealth under the United States, fourth as a Japanese colony during World War II, fifth as the postwar republic that lasted until 1972, sixth was the Marcos Bagong Lipunan, and seventh was the new 1986 regime.
Today could very well go down in history as the day that the Eighth Regime was born.
God help us all.
[via RickyCarandang.com]
What is this sham?! Congress should have used their time today to vote on the CARPER bill yet here they are trying to consolidate their powers and their wallets (c/o GMA's moneyman Rolando Andaya).
Do your jobs! Stop f*cking with the people!
Monday, June 01, 2009
Latest Pulse Asia Survey and Passing the CARPER
Noli, Chiz, Erap, Manny, Mar tied in latest survey[via abs-cbnNEWS.com] | 06/01/2009 10:31 AM
Senator Manuel 'Mar' Roxas II gained ground in the latest opinion poll of Pulse Asia, allowing him to join a pack of five leading candidates for president in the 2010 elections.
Based on the May 4-17 survey of Pulse Asia, the race remains tight with Vice-President Noli de Castro, Senator Francis Escudero, former President Joseph Estrada, Senator Manuel Villar, and Roxas in a statistical tie.
De Castro was chosen by 18% of respondents; Escudero was chosen by 17%; Estrada by 15%; Villar by 14%; and, Roxas by 13%.
The survey has a margin of error of plus/minus 3%.
"If the May 2010 elections were held today, [these] five individuals would garner the same percentages of votes cast," according to Pulse Asia Inc. Chief Research Fellow Ana Maria Tabunda.
Roxas was the biggest gainer from the February 2009 survey, gaining 5 points.
Senator Loren Legarda was sixth with 7% in a statistical tie with Senator Panfilo Lacson (4%) and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay (4%).
They were followed by Senator Richard Gordon (1%), business tycoon Manny Pangilinan (1%), Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno (1%), and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro (1%).
The survey is based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above.
Respondents were asked to choose their preference for president from a list of 16 names.
More on the Pulse Asia survey:
Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today attributed his 5-point gain in the latest Pulse Asia Ulan ng Bayan survey to his pro-poor advocacies and programs.
Roxas, who scored 13% in the May 4 to 17 survey conducted among 1,2000 respondents, a 5% gain from his 8% score in February polls. Respondents were asked the question: "Sino ang inyong iboboto bilang presidente kung ang eleksyon ng 2010 ay gaganapin ngayon?"
"Nararamdaman na ng taumbayan ang aking pakikipaglaban para sa mahihirap," he said, adding: "Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga taong naniniwalang mababago ko hindi lang ang kanilang mga buhay kundi ang pamamalakad ng ating bansa."
The senator has come out with an infomercial reaching out to the marginalized sector of society where he is seen as riding a 'padyak' (or a 'trike' or 'traysikad') with a six-year old girl selling sampaguita leis in and being driven by a teenager forced to work as a 'padyak' driver to augment his family's income.
The senator likewise regained his title as Visayan chief, getting 22% among the other potential presidential candidates in the 2010 presidential elections.
"Malaki ang utang na loob na tinatanaw ko sa taumbayan, lalo na sa aking mga kababayan mula sa Visaya na patuloy na sumusuporta sa akin," he said.
[via senate.gov.ph]
Side-note on the Bacolod trip: I actually met the guy whose life-story inspired the padyak commercial of Sen. Mar Roxas. He's a nice guy who just graduated from college. Astig siya at mabait. He puts his family first and his story is truly an inspiring tale of a young man's self-less sacrifice for his family.
Saludo ako sa'yo bro!
Thank you Senate for heeding the call to pass CARPER!
Senator Manuel " Mar" Roxas said that he voted in favor of the measure "nothwithstanding a possible conflict of interest" since the Roxas-Araneta was also a landed family.
"I voted in favor of this measure on the premise that such a vote does not benefit my family's interests but the greater number of our people, farmers and farm workers," said Roxas.
The 12 senators who supported the measure were Senators Enrile, Honasan, Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, Joker Arroyo, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Pia Cayetano, Roxas, Richard Gordon, Rodolfo Biazon, Francis Pangilinan, Francis Escudero and Manuel Lapid.
[via Inquirer.net]
Lalaban tayo!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Homesick
Some of my friends envy me for having a job that includes traveling around the Philippines. So far, it has been a great experience for me. I never had enough money to travel on my own so it's incredible to go to these provinces for the first time and as the months go on, I'm expected to travel to more places. But one thing I've learned in all these travels is that I'm not a good tourist. I'd rather get stuck in the hotel or inn or the house that is hosting me than to go around town. I'd rather stay there and watch television or take a nap than to go out to the nearest hang-outs. In addition, I found out that these travels do take a toll on me. For some reason, I'm starting to feel homesick. It's not that I want to go home. I'm just craving for the familiar - places, food, things, habits, and people.
I think that the nature of work is quite demanding and fast-paced. To compensate, I crave for old habits (i.e. comfort food, company of old friends, familiar sights and sounds). This pang of homesickness could be my brain telling me that I need to slow things down and have some more time with myself and with the people I love.
Next stop: Roxas City, Capiz.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Sleepy
My flight for Bacolod is at 4:55AM. I plan to leave the office at 2:30AM. I'm quite sleepy. I just came from an event - work-related of course. I want to sleep but I'm afraid that I might not wake up. The aircon is in full-blast. I'm being tempted to sleep. I'm so sleepy I'm already forgetting that I'm afraid of being alone in a room at night. Well, I have a companion with me, but he's still in the 11th floor (hi lorenz!).
I'm sleepy and I'm tired.
I need some time to think about what I have been doing. I think I'm missing something. I think I'm not pushing myself enough. I need to be more generous.
For now, I have to drag myself to Bacolod.
Please pray for our safe and successful travel.
I refuse to surrender!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sana Tama ang Ginagawa Ko
Ilang taon na rin nang una akong namulat sa kalagayan ng mga pesante kaya naman nang mabalitaan ko na pinagtabuyan at pinagtitira ng water cannon ang mga magsasaka sa harap ng kongreso kahapon, sumama ang loob ko.
Sumama ang loob ko dahil ipinakita na naman ng gobyerno na sila'y mga manhid at mga inutil.
Sumama ang loob ko dahil pinili na naman ng mga mambabatas na ihian at duraan ang mga magsasakang nagtatamasa ng lupa nila.
Ngunit sumama rin ang loob ko sa aking sarili sapagkat sa nakaraang ilang buwan, hindi ko man lang nagawang magpakita ng aking suporta sa kanila, 'di tulad nang ako'y nasa kolehiyo pa.
Ngayong nasa isang politikal na organisasyon ako, nasabi ko tuloy sa sarili ko - sana tama ang ginagawa ko.
Ito ang kwento ni Ate Jane tungkol sa naganap kahapon:
Water cannon 5-25-09Today I was water cannoned for the first time. The farmers, joined by workers, urban poor, and the Church marched to Congress to demand the passage of HB 4077 or the CARPER bill. When we reached Batasan, the Sumilao, Banasi and Calatagan farmers built a camp outside of the main gate. Their reason: “we are not allowed to enter the premises of Congress and be part of the discussions of the bill, which is set to affect us. By all means, we will monitor the proceedings from the outside. Besides, this is a public office; it should be available for citizens’ use.” But as the farmers were setting up their tents, the Quezon City Police District demanded the tearing down of the makeshift structure. When Bishop Broderick Pabillo tried to negotiate, the police aimed their truncheons at him and the farmers. What followed was a long mayhem wherein the farmers, workers, urban poor, religious, NGOs, and Bishop Pabillo tried mightily to resist the dirty and smelly water.
But experiencing water truncheons is not my only first for today. It is my first time to experience harshness in the hands of the police while pursuing a legitimate and moral asset reform measure. We were not carrying a political issue. We did not demand GMA’s ouster. We were asking that an important measure be discussed and passed into law. Even the anti cha cha call was not highlighted. And still, despite the tired and confused look of the farmers, Nograles’s response was to hose down the marchers.
Today I learned what power is. It is the arrogance that emanates from a chamber that calls itself the people’s representatives when its response to a peaceful assembly of citizens is water cannon. Never mind that old and women farmers were at the front. Never mind that Bishop Pabillo and the nuns were at the frontlines. No, the macho speaker fired water and threatened that he would remove CARPER from his priority list of legislation because of the events of today. So now, it is our fault? We were not even inside the halls of Congress! From whence does his logic come from?
Or is he so arrogant and feeling-all-powerful that reason escapes him?
[via Ate Jane's Blog]
Press Release
May 26, 2009
ROXAS SLAMS VIOLENT DISPERSAL OF FARMERS IN BATASAN
URGES GMA ALLIES TO HEED PUBLIC CLAMOR FOR CARP EXTENSION
Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today denounced the violent dispersal of farmers holding a rally in front of the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City on Monday afternoon and slammed Malacañang allies at the House of Representatives for their indifference to the group's demands.
"Walang mararating ang ating bansa kung pinamumunuan ito ng isang administrasyong nabubuhay sa ilusyong walang ibang mahalagang tinig kundi ang sa sarili niya," he fumed over reports that a team from the Bureau of Fire Protection used water canons to disperse hundreds of rallyists, including Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, who was with the farmers.
"Mariin kong kinukondena ang marahas na pagdi-disperse ng napakaraming mga magsasaka mula sa Batasan kahapon ng hapon. Kasama nila ang mga taong-Simbahan, kabilang si Bishop Roderick Pabillo, mga maralitang tagalungsod, at mga lider mula sa hanay ng manggagawa na nakiisa sa kanilang mga hangarin," he added.
The rallyists, composed mostly of farmers from all over the country, have been holding a vigil infront of the Batasan Pambansa since April 13. They are clamoring for an extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which is due to expire on June 30. CARP ensures the farmers' rights over the lands they till.
The House began its marathon sessions on Monday to pass priority measures eight days before Congress adjourns sine die on June 5. It has at least 12 measures in its unfinished business, including Speaker Prospero Nograles' House Resolution 737 seeking to amend the Constitution's economic provision; the bill for the extension of the CARP with reforms and another measure related to the 2010 elections.
"Matagal nang inaantay ng mga magsasaka ang makatarungang resolusyon sa problema ng repormang pang-agraryo. Malinaw ang ginagawang pagtapak sa karapatan ng ating mga magsasaka. Anumang hinaing, mula sa magsasaka o sa ano pa mang sektor ng lipunan, kailangan itong dinggin sa isang makataong paraan. Hindi tayo aabot sa maayos na solusyon kung sa tuwinang may maglalabas ng kanilang saloobin ay bobombahin sila ng tubig," the Visayan senator said.
"Kasangga ako ng mga api, at patuloy tayong lalaban para sa makatarungang resolusyon sa mga hinaing ng ating magsasaka," he vowed.
[via Senate.gov.ph]
Monday, May 25, 2009
COMELEC's E-mail to Me
A few weeks ago, I blogged about my voter's ID and how the COMELEC has yet to print it.
Today, I got this e-mail from COMELEC.
Sir/Madam,
We would like to inform you that the voters id is ready for printing. As of now, We are doing our best to print all id's by regions so that we will meet before 2010 elections, as soon as we have your id's printed, We'll definitely forward to your respective Comelec office. As of now, we have no forms for the Voter’s id, right now we have purchase request for Voter’s id Form and we already for bidding process.
Thank you.
Well, it's another automated message. But the short message just goes to show how backwards COMELEC is.
Electoral reforms please!
My Mar Roxas Pitch
As some of you may have known, I'm currently working in the team of Senator Mar Roxas. I'm currently looking for other reform-oriented youth who would like to form a coregroup in Ateneo (and beyond) who will help craft a youth-agenda and will campaign for Mar Roxas.
I know some of you may have the following apprehensions and I'll try to briefly answer them as best as I could:
1. Why be partisan (instead of non-partisan)?
For many years I have been supporting non-partisan movements during elections, particularly the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV). So why go and be partisan this time? First, I was really inspired by how Obama won last year. People outside the formally-organized team were actually campaigning for him. Now that I'm getting experience in Mar's team, the more I realize that it's really difficult to find a perfect president. But what we can do is to perfect someone to be our president. That's the opportunity we have with Sen. Mar. Second, I think that non-partisanship and partisanship are not mutually exclusive, rather they complement each other. It's hard to inspire people to register and vote if they don't see a viable candidate to vote for. This is the same reason why I hate the "lesser evil" discourse. It hinders people to try to learn about the candidates. Third, inevitably, we voters will choose a side come election day. But why wait for May 2010? Fourth, if we want to make our candidates accountable to us, then we should start providing them the support as early as now. We exercise our citizenship by helping our fellow Filipinos discern better by pumping life and enthusiasm into the campaign of our country's future leaders. We should remember that if we do not participate, then we again leave these campaigns in the hands of older people who may or may not understand us anymore. Is that what we want for our future?
2. Why now? Isn't it too early?
Although the filing for candidacy has yet to have begun (thus, technically, we have not official list of presidentiables yet), many are already starting their campaign as early as 2007 (i.e. Manny Villar). I know many are thinking that Mar Roxas is a traditional politician because he has TV ads already. Well, if Mar won't do that, then he'll be behind those who have already organized on the ground. In fact, Mar's team started late! That's why he's behind in both the Pulse Asia and SWS surveys. Personally, I think that the official campaign period (Feb-May) is too short. Remember, the Obama campaign lasted a year! A three-month campaign period will not educate voters enough to enable them to vote wisely. Thus, candidates resort to mere media blitz.
I firmly believe that what we do in the team is the best way to go. We organize communities and help them in crafting a people's agenda that Mar will carry as his platform when he finally officially declares his presidency. This is definitely time-consuming but this is the best way to engage people for the sake of genuine democracy. It is for this same reason why I'm asking for people to be part of a core group in Ateneo (and beyond).
3. Why Mar Roxas?
Well, this one can take quite a while. So, if there are people who are interested, I'm offering my time to meet with you guys for one hour in your venue of choice (refereshments are on me) so that I can tell you why I have chosen Mar and why you should too. But basically it's because of his track record, his priorities, and the people he's with. You can read this .txt file for more info on that.
Once again, I'm open to meeting with you guys, just tell me when and where (preferably, I meet you as a big group already).
If you have more questions, here is my calling card:
Thank you!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Waiting for my Flight
My flight was scheduled at 7:35pm. But the airplane has yet to arrive. The airport voice said that we will have to wait until 9:05pm. Good job Cebu Pacific.
Today is a long day for me. I woke up at 4:30am so Ate Cristy (my friend in Davao and staff of Councilor Pete Lavina) and I can go to the terminal where we can ride a van going to Kidapawan. I was scheduled to give a talk on Sen. Mar Roxas to the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP). I was scheduled for 8am but we arrived at 9:30am since we reached Kidapawan (safe and sound) at 8:30am and it took us an extra hour to get to the actual venue.
I personally think that the talk went well. I (hopefully) was able to get the attention of the group. I was also able to answer the questions of the students (on the padyak commercial, on Korina, on Sen. Mar's platforms, on Chiz, etc). Unfortunately, since I got to start my talk at 11:00am, the open forum was promptly cut shot to give way to lunch. Ate Cristy and I didn't stay for lunch since I had another group of students to talk to at 3:30pm in Davao.
We were able to leave the venue at a few minutes past 12:00pm. Unfortunately, instead of riding a van back to Davao, we boarded a bus. It was a bad decision riding the bus to go back to Davao. It was slower than the van we rode in the morning and it had to stop in three bus terminals (each stop lasted from 15 to 30 minutes). It took us a total of five hours to go back to Davao.
I really didn't want to make a bad impression to the students that I was supposed to meet so I was very apologetic to them. I had no idea the ride back to Davao would take that long. I didn't even get the chance to eat lunch (my first meal of the day).
An empty stomach didn't stop me from talking to twelve (?) students that I met with. It's a good thing that Ate Cristy volunteered to buy food for the both of us while I proceeded with my short talk on Sen. Mar. It was refreshing to talk with fellow students (as compared to sitting in a bus for five hours) so even if the food was already bought, I didn't pause for a bite. I only started to eat during the question & answer portion of my talk. I had to apologize for my bad manners since, in the interest of time, I was talking while my mouth is full.
I bid farewell to the group at 6:00pm since I had to be in the airport by 6:30pm. Here I am a few hours later, sleepy and tired after a long day in Kidapawan and Mindanao. All-in-all it was a great trip.
Next stop: Bacolod (May 29 - June 1).
Thank you to Ate Cristy for being a great friend and companion. Thank you Joy for accompanying me during my first night, yesterday. Thank you NUSP for allowing me to speak. Thank you to Sir Jun for setting up the meeting with Davao students (and with Steve). Thank you to the UM students for the patience and understanding. Thank you Steve for giving me a ride to the airport.
See you very soon!