Yesterday, the Inquirer’s editorial, Turtle-paced relief, looked at the controversy caused by a blog entry that questioned the speed at which donated relief goods made it out the door and into the hands of intended aid recipients. The editorial gave DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral’s response to the questions raised in the blog entry, but also pointed out that the DSWD’s own records showed a senator, congressmen, and cabinet members intervened in the release of relief goods, contradicting Secretary Cabral’s own policy of making relief and rehabilitation “politico-proof.”
The editorial also mentioned the 2006 South Leyte Mudslide, which had relief efforts marred by officials plundering relief goods and sending often inedible goods to the victims (Stella Arnaldo in her blog, points out the deterioration of the DSWD and corruption in its ranks dates back to the Marcos administration; the Guinsaugon tragedy took place under the current administration’s watch and partially explains the climate of hostility or suspicion that surrounds government relief).
By way of Cabral’s pointing out that the DSWD and government has to attend not just to relief, but rehabilitation, the problems involved, in the context of the 2006 tragedy, are illustrated by this detailed report, CDRC reports on Guinsaugon relief, circa 2007. There is great frustration over the seemingly-insurmountable problems our country faces, and how even people who want to help, sometimes find their efforts met with official hostility, or indifference, or even when embraced, ends up appearing to be too little too late: I tackled this in a previous entry, Republic of Sisyphus.
Today, my column, In defense of Esperanza Cabral, looks at the same issue: it essentially distills the findings I discussed at length in my blog entry, Flooded with relief. There were two incidents I mentioned by way of illustrating an ongoing debate on whether it is healthy or productive to question how officials go about their duties in times of emergency. The first concerns PNRC Chairman Richard Gordon and incidents such as the one chronicled in Urban Hermitage and in the blog of Faith Salazar, the response of the PNRC Chairman was to vow that no such things would happen again. Absolutely the correct response, considering an unusual burden Gordon has to bear, as the elected Chairman of a neutral humanitarian organization, while being, at the same time, an elected senator and presidential aspirant: balancing all these is something no previous chairman has had to contend with.
In times like these, I expect the DSWD to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The DSWD says there are not enough volunteers. I disagree. There are tens of thousands of Filipinos willing to help. The DSWD should have gone to the schools to ask for volunteers. There are countless employees in the private sector willing to help. The DSWD could have asked the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police to help.
I expect the department to take a more pro-active rather than a reactive stance. I expect the secretary to DEMAND that everyone help out. Lest we forget, human lives are at stake.
The value of the public fuss lies in the Secretary responding to the issues raised, by asking for help, which she did by contacting Gang Badoy, who has taken it upon herself to muster volunteers to help the DSWD (the only inaccuracy in the Secretary’s statement is that they are operating around-the-clock, which is not true in terms of the DSWD Relief Operations Center in Pasay: both in terms of the duty hours Cabral recommended to Badoy, 3-11 PM, which if true, meant that when we went we should have seen things winding down, or if round-the-clock as Cabral said, then certainly there would have been more activity than the sleeping guard and fluffy white dog we encountered: and that, incidentally, was the purpose of checking by going to Church Street that night).
Another problem is that the relief effort, even if government-sponsored, relies on volunteer manpower and the DSWD did not make calls for volunteers until it was faced with questions raised by the blogger. One lingering problem, too, is that the DSWD, when presented with volunteers, has told some that they’re not needed; but if volunteers are persistent and say they want to help with UNICEF, then they’re allowed in -to the same compound.
There are 5 (if my memory doesn’t fail me this time) huge warehouses. 1 warehouse housed the goods from UNICEF. The rest housed rice and other food stuff. The UNICEF goods are packed as starter packs for those families who have been relocated due to the floods. A starter pack consists of cooking pot stuffed with towels, bath soap, laundry detergent, water jug stuffed with 4 blankets, 2 plastic mats. These are then picked up by trucks and supposed to be delivered to the relocation centers. The rest of the warehouses pack food and snack packs, as far as I know because I did not actually pack one. Distribution is centralized through DSWD.
Those are the facts as I’ve seen them.
The blog that started it all, after checking the posted pics and what I actually saw, referred to the UNICEF warehouse. Is there corruption? I don’t think there is. At least not at the warehouse packing stages. Ensha and the volunteers seem intent only on the job at hand. (Bless you guys!)Security seems strict and I see no signs of pilferage. I’m not sure what happens after the goods leave the warehouse. I just hope they get to their supposed destinations. Someone needs to check on that.
Is there intentional hoarding? I don’t think there is either.
Goods are just moving slow. I posit 2 reasons:
1. There are not enough volunteers. Ms. Fabian says that on weekdays they only get around 40 volunteers. When I came there, there were not more than 15 working on a Saturday even when I posted on my FB page with my 1800 “FB friends”, several FB groups totaling around 400 members, twittered it, and SMSed to 20 buddies. 15/2000 is not a good ratio. Gang, I hope you are more successful. No volunteers.
2. Limits set by the management. When I was told that DSWD is no longer accepting volunteers for the weekend because there were already a lot of volunteers from UPS. I don’t have the exact count but I saw several hundreds. However, after 2 hours of work, I noticed that the other warehouses were empty. I strongly think the 5 huge warehouses could accomodate and harness at least 1000 per warehouse. When we were repacking at Red Cross Rizal in a 40sqm room, we had 600 volunteers at some points and managed to release 1000-2000 packs per mission and we ran several missions per day. The DSWD warehouses should be able to improve their output. They could run 24/7 on continous shifts when volunteers and managers (from DSWD, UNICEF, or volunteers) running the packing lines. In business, we call this a good problem. It is a scale problem.
My recommendations:
Train more packing line managers from staff and volunteers.
Run the lines as a 24/7 operation with your trained line managers.
Make the schedules public. Use social media, the internet, radio, whatever. (I know of some who volunteered but returned home when they were told they need no more volunteers. If I, myself, [emphasis mine] did not ask for UNICEF, the peeps at the DSWD office wouldn’t have volunteered the info. Clearly, we have communication problem here.)
Get more volunteers.
Those are my recommendations to the people in charge of the warehouses.
And there’s also this informative video by the same blogger, which was uploaded to YouTube:
Now early on it became clear that the climate of suspicion concerning the DSWD and all officials engaged in relief, is the sad history of previous relief efforts being marred by controversy. Combined with the wounded amor propio of DSWD officials and employees, you have a case of official denial combined with hostility aimed at all criticism and reaching for the bureaucratic equivalent of a gun to silence dissent (talk of the DSWD mulling filing libel suits against the offending blogger).
The thing is that the DSWD from its Secretary on down, can only be accused of working at government speed, when the public demands working at the double -a clash of cultures.
On the other hand, as I pointed out in my column, the DSWD can take pride in it opening up its activities to greater scrutiny than perhaps ever before, which is both good and bad. Good in that it proves that even if it’s doing its work more slowly (the DSWD could’ve easily said, but at least more methodically) than the public might desire, it can claim it’s being a good steward of the relief goods entrusted to it.
Consider the records that represent full disclosure the department’s prepared and put on line.
There are many ways to look at these documents to see what information they provide. Here are some that I attempted.
For example, you can look at the documents to see whether, in the face of the Secretary’s pledge to make the distribution of donated relief goods “politico-proof,” whether her pledge was carried out to the letter:
This is a detail of public interest not just because of the Secretary’s pledge, but because even if one assumes good faith on the part of the officials concerned, the impression that relief was released by means of the intervention of these officials -all of whom are affiliated with the administration- makes suspicions of partisanship unavoidable because reasonable.
Or, you can take a look and see which goods were sent to the Relief Operations Center established in the Presidential Palace:
This is of public interest, because early on during the Ondoy relief efforts, the Palace center found itself with no goods to repack; it had to ask for relief goods from the Ateneo de Manila University’s relief operations.This is a detail of public interest because it raises the question of whether this was the most efficient allocation of relief goods, considering relief goods were also being donated directly to the Palace for volunteers to repack and distribute.
Here’s another way to look at the public records provided by the DSWD.I decided to collate the donations made by the “big” donors, specifically international organizations such as the World Food Program and Unicef, foreign governments and related agencies such as the governments and embassies of Spain, France, Jordan, the Peace Corps, and large domestic corporations such as San Miguel Corporation and the Coca-Cola company:
Recall that one of the causes for the furor over the blog entry on the DSWD warehouse, was frustration with what was perceived to be the less-than-optimal speed at which foreign-donated goods were being distributed; there were even questions raised, by some, concerning whether or not foreign-donated goods were being set aside and only domestically-produced items sent out.What do the DSWD’s own documents tell us, is what I wanted to know.
In the first place, the question of foreign-donated goods being set aside raised a red flag, in the context of previous disasters, when officials kept foreign goodies for themselves and sent domestic products (sometimes past their shelf life) on to actual disaster victims.
There have also been many cases, formally and informally reported, of relief goods being sold on the black market for the private gain of officials and their friends. On the other hand, no one -not the original blogger who raised questions about the DSWD warehouse, or people who have gone there since- said any actual pilfering was going on.
Would the records bear this out? Because, as I said in my column, it’s a remarkable achievement in itself, for the DSWD warehouse to be secure, the donated goods intact, and no cases of pilfering reported.
The records, on the whole, to my mind, bears out the assertion of the Secretary of the DSWD that they are taking care of donations, and that they’re getting out the warehouses in relief packs. However, it’s extremely difficult to prove this conclusively, simply because of one thing: the manner in which inventory was received, is not the same as the manner in which inventory is reported as having been dispatched.
Consider this effort, which I began and which some other online volunteers participated in:
It proved extremely difficult to match many items. The official list of donations received often listed inventory in a manner that was not retained in the list of inventory released. This is an inventory record-keeping problem that can be solved by adopting methods used in big grocery chains, and maintaining a consistent reporting system throughout, from the arrival of goods, to their being loaded on the trucks.Basically, it would seem one method was used to keep one list, and another to report what was sent out, with no attempt being made to establish common parameters to make reconciling the two lists easy.
The result is that there appears to be more rice sent out than was released, and a discrepancy in the number of blankets received and sent out. Even figuring out whether as many 1.5 liter bottles of Coca-Cola were sent out as were received, or the same number of boxes of bananas donated were sent out, and the time that elapsed between receiving donations and dispatching them, is difficult.
Another effort, also by an online volunteer, this time focused on summarizing the items released, based on the items themselves and their reported unit cost:
A subsequent effort was this one, undertaken by an online volunteer, who tried to approach the problem by sorting the goods by kind and then reconciling the numbers received and number sent out:
There’s a need for additional data, too: for example, are family food packs composed of items taken from various sets of donations? If so, since the food packs are, presumably, standard sets, they’d represent standard deductions of inventory from other pooled items, so it should be possible to quickly calculate and report where inventory ended up, even if piecemeal.In addition, I have permission from the creator of the following three documents to share with you that volunteer’s efforts to sort the data provided by the DSWD to see what patterns might emerge.As the volunteer explained it, what was attempted was to generate new report views using MySQL database. The data from donation list and released summaries of the NROC were downloaded . Three report views were generated.
The first (above) is ORIGINAL DSWD DATA FOR NROC: a compilation of 2 dataset (donations and released items via NROC). This is basically the set of data used for the next two report views. Caveat: this needs to be double-checked against published data of DSWD just to be sure there aren’t any inadvertent discrepancies.
DSWD DATA FOR NROC - SORTED BY DATE,INOUT (above) in which the combined dataset by DATE and according to flow of donation (Is it a donation entry or is it a release entry) was sorted. This gives a general idea of the flow of activity regarding donations via NROC. First items out the door were door were blankets, clothing, baby supplies, food packs, noodles, water, water jugs, toiletries, etc.While donated pretty early on, medicines continue to remain in storage.
As the volunteer who prepared this document pointed out,
Unilab donated as early as Sept. 29 various medicines. Donations of medicine and medicine supplies from Kingdom of Jordan came in by Oct. 06. Donations of medicines from Phap Cares came in by Oct. 06 and Oct. 08. Donations of medicine from PNOC came in by Oct 10. There is one instance of UNICEF food & non food family kit (3,000 Pesos/pack) and several UNICEF Pabaon Packs (3,000 Pesos/pack) released on several dates. They may or may not contain medicines at all. One odd thing here is if these packs are from the UNICEF warehouse or not.
I think someone who is familiar with medicines needs to review the list. It’s important to know if the medicines donated are of non-prescription type.
DSWD DATA FOR NROC - SORTED BY ITEM NAME, DATE, IN OUT (above) in which what was sorted was the combined dataset by ITEM and then the flow of goods in chronological order. This is only partially useful since the item names caused some discrepancies in the display.All these unofficial, partial, volunteer, efforts are simply attempts to look closely at the information government provides, and to see whether the documents bear out government’s assertions.
On the whole, the documents are step in the right direction. Their usefulness, however, is compromised by some flaws in methodology that are obvious from the moment one tries to sort the data and compare lists. These flaws can be rectified, and should be rectified, because they prevent the records from serving their true purpose, which is to provide a clear, transparent, accountable reference system for the goods entrusted to government for the benefit of the people.
Personally, I don’t see how the government or its officials was hurt by questions being raised. In the few days since the whole issue came to the fore, consider what was achieved:
1. The DSWD finally seized the opportunity to call for volunteers, and the private sector responded.
2. The DSWD was able to inform the public, foreign and domestic, about how it goes about utilizing foreign and domestic relief donations.
3. The public was accorded ample opportunity to scrutinize the records of the DSWD, which it has been providing all along, and furthermore, the public was able to propose improvements to the manner in which donations are recorded as having been received, and then dispatched.
The sound and fury along the way is a small price for the good that was achieved, and more so, if the DSWD decided to implement and adopt some of the recommendations made by a public every bit as concerned as the DSWD is, to bring relief to typhoon victims.
It would be a terrible mistake, simply from a public-relations perspective, for the DSWD to attempt to file lawsuits against the blogger who dared to ask questions: it would only fortify, in the public’s mind, that the DSWD was caught going about its business in a lackadaisical manner, and only tried to look busy afterwards.
Postscript: As if things didn’t need to be more confusing, there is another, official, list of donations received by the DSWD, aside from the other one linked to, above! I am reproducing it and related documents here, simply for completeness and in case interested readers want to examine and compare the documents.
Here is the one I linked to, above, saved online as a Scribd document, and which was the basis of the various exercises shown above:
And here is the official list of disbursements (releases),also saved as a Scribd document:DSWD NROC Summary of Releases And, just for archiving purposes, a copy of the DSWD list of monetary donations received:DSWD Statement on Cash Donations as of 23 Oct 2009 1645H
Concerning this list, the comments of a volunteer might be of interest to readers:
I like the way DSWD tallied the monetary donations. They even included if the monetary donation was provided with an Official Receipt or not. The thing is, while that was good, something else was missing. There is no indication at all if any of these funds have been used already.
Currently, all people are focused on the actual goods for repacking and distribution but there is a large pie of the entire donations thatis not yet being moved it seem. That is, if we take the lack activity when it comes to monetary donations. I personally think, not only the slow movement of the relief goods should be given importance or highlight. A question should be raised if the fund was already used.
Look at this figure based on DSWD’s documents:
DOLLAR CASH DONATION (as of 23 Oct 2009) ——- US$ 212,508.57equivalent to 9,562,885.65 pesos (when using conservative Forex rate$1 = 45pesos)
PESOS CASH DONATION (as of 23 Oct 2009) ——- PhP103,799,354.06
TOTAL CASH DONATION IN PESOS ————– 113,362,239.71 pesos
DONATIONS VIA NROC (as of 24 Oct 2009) — PhP 59,426,418.75 (thereare entries w/o monetary values yet)
DONATIONS VIA CO (as of 16 Oct 2009) — (no total figures were provided but there is a monetized value which I did not compute anymore)
TRUCKING SERVICE (as of 01 Oct 2009) — (no monetary figure was provided at all)
TOTAL DONATION (CASH + GOODS + SERVICES) ———————-172,788,658.46 pesos
RELEASED DONATIONS (as of 24 Oct 2009) —– Php 45,263,281.28 (thereare entries w/o monetary values yet)
% OF RELEASED vs IN-KIND DONATIONS = 76.1669% was only released = 45,263,281.28/59,426,418.75
% OF RELEASED vs TOTAL DONATIONS = 39.928% was only released = 45,263,281.28/113,362,239.71
I suddenly remember visiting one website before who raised funds online. The site owner/blogger even received a cash donation personally. She disclosed online how the money was spent. Can’t remember exact details but I remember the blogger mentioned that sheshared a portion of the cash to a person/group who were in need of funds for their relief effort. Then In addition to that, the shopping expenditures (for the relief goods her own group planned to distribute) was even provided and any cash leftover was even mentioned.
The Social Weather Station released its latest survey, and here’s an extract from their press release:
Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III took the top spot in the people’s three best successors to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010, according to the Third Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, fielded over September 18-21, 2009.
Sixty percent gave Sen. Aquino’s name in response to the question, “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 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.” [Under the present Constitution, the term of Pres. Arroyo is up to 2010 only, and there will be an election for a new President in May 2010. Who do you think are good leaders who should succeed Pres. Arroyo as President? You may give up to three names].
The next most popular successor was Sen. Manny Villar, who was mentioned by 37%.
Aquino and Villar were followed by former Pres. Joseph Estrada at 18%, Sen. Francis Escudero at 15%, and Sen. Mar Roxas at 12%.
The survey found Vice-Pres. Noli De Castro mentioned by 8%, Sen. Loren Legarda by 5%, Defense Sec. Gilberto Teodoro by 4%, Sen. Panfilo Lacson by 2%, and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay by 2%.
At 1 percent each were MMDA Chairperson Bayani Fernando and Brother Eddie Villanueva.
Six percent could not give an answer, and 4% had no one to recommend.
The accompanying illustration, however, is more illuminating:
The question of the public’s own shortlist of successors for presidency has been tracked for two years now. Over that time frame, some names have remained in the running, and new ones have been added by the respondents. An interesting take on the results reported over the past two years can be found in Atheista.net’s It’s Time To Coin A New Term: Getting Roco’d, particularly in relation to two potential candidates, Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero.
Regarding Legarda, Atheista has this to say:
The sidelight perhaps is Loren Legarda. She probably won’t run for president; nor has she any chance of winning the top office for the rest of her life, but for a stretch of time from September 2007 to February 2009, Legarda was actually within striking distance of the top spot. This is reminiscent of the late Raul Roco’s performance in surveys prior to 2001 wherein he was constantly topping polls. While it was clear that Roco did himself in with the exposure of his lackluster political machinery, dodgy choice of senatoriables and *ugh* running mate; it is unclear what Legarda did to sabotage her own chances.
A lot of people hated Legarda for flip-flopping on Gloria – and ironically, this is despite the already growing hatred for the GMA Administration back in 2004 — but she still managed to bag 44% of the respondents’ votes of confidence back in 2007. I guess that only means that the 2004 incident was not the reason why she was dropped. The only hypothesis I could offer is that her supporters identified with Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar – the two candidates whose popularity rose as hers was plummeting.
And here’s Atheista on Francis Escudero:
One interesting sidelight is how surprisingly bad Chiz Escudero’s showing has been. Despite topping the recent senatorial polls and taking every opportunity to spew out empty words on television, Escudero’s preference ratings have stayed pretty much the same over the last 2 years. There is no momentum at all. I won’t even be surprised if he finishes a distant third (or even fourth) when all is said and done. Joseph Estrada might even erode his chances of a third spot finish (not that it matters!) since Escudero’s base of support is supposedly the youth – a demographic that is also captured by the Aquino juggernaut.
Personally, I think the survey results are useful not in terms of presenting a snapshot of how voters might vote, were elections held today, but rather, who, in the public mind, are the real contenders at this point in time. I’ve suggested in the past that we’re seeing a return, in voter attitudes and orientation, towards seeing the presidential contest as a two party fight, which is a more natural order of things as far as a presidential system with no runoff elections is concerned.
From this perspective, the fight for the presidency is between Benigno Aquino III and Manuel Villar Jr. The other candidates will determine who gets to shave off votes from the leading contenders and who ends up losing more votes to the minor candidates more than the other.
My take is that when the respondents get to that third possible choice, they end up naming their father, mother, wife, uncle, mayor, themselves! or some other unknown that together with everybody else’s third choices usually make up to half of the SWS data!
But as it should, the data does add up to 300% in all columns. I have a theory I cannot prove, that it is actually the second placer in these SWS polls that represents a kind of plurality choice. Noynoy has come out of nowhere (less than 0.14 percent!) to take a whopping –but sympathy confounded–60%.
Now there’s a graphic in the entry that’s quite interesting. Philippine Commentary for some time has been pointing out that what gets lost in all the reporting and commentary on the SWS surveys is the percentage of undecided voters or those who decide on no choices whatsoever:
The Chart above does not include the present survey, the first one which has Aquino manifesting himself as a top-of-mind choice among respondents as a potential president. If you remember the surveys, prior to the Aquino phenomenon, had Villar as the front-runner; in fact it seemed entirely possible he’d reached the critical 25% threshhold political pros considered the make-or-break level for a presidential candidate: it’s what would mark a candidate as the man to beat in a presidential election in a multi-candidate race.
There were questions raised about whether or not Villar’s reaching the crucial 25% level in the surveys represented his peaking too early or not; this question was complicated by the entry of Aquino, and initial survey findings of his obtaining startlingly high figures not only in Luzon, but the Visayas (Lito Osmena’s privately-commissioned Cebu survey) and Mindanao (Rodrigo Duterte’s privately commissioned Davao congressional districts survey).
Whether one doubts the usefulness or even methodology of the question SWS has been tracking for two years now, the question of whether or not Villar had peaked too soon, for example, or the percentage of support Aquino actually enjoys, can only be answered by surveys that ask potential voters to make specific choices based on who they’d vote for, were elections held that day.
There was a rider -a privately-commissioned set of questions- attached to the SWS September 18-21 Survey, which addresses the questions of who, specifically, voters would vote for, for the presidency, vice-presidency, and in terms of tandems.
Here are the results of that privately-commissioned rider set of questions:
Based on the above, Villar seems to have peaked; or at the very least, the entry of Aquino, whose national results are in harmony with previous location-specific surveys, and make him the front-runner, means the Villar campaign has to work doube-time; what I don’t know, because these were the only results provided me, is if there were other candidates reflected in the results or whether the rider limited the choices to the figures above.
Typhoon Pepeng is wreaking havoc in Northern Luzon. There are reports of landslides, floods, and devastation in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and my homeland of the Cordilleras. The worst part for me, personally, is that many of my friends still live in the area, and are suffering the brunt of this storm. Messages from friends are describing a waterworld in Baguio that I never got to experience in 22 years of living there, and it saddens me to realize that the geography of Northern Luzon makes it a challenge to help people.
Let us rise up to that challenge; not only as Filipinos, but as human beings who help out in times of calamity, disaster, and devastation.
For us here in Metro Manila, the Internet has been a powerful tool for rescue and recovery in the wake and wrath of Typhoon Ondoy. We can harness that same power for the victims of Typhoon Pepeng up north, and perhaps translate that to a relief effort that will alleviate their suffering.
The scale of the calamity -following at the hells of the calamitous past days in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces- means all those involved in Typhoon Ondoy relief are already exhausted and resources are stretched. The ongoing power failures in Metro Manila are also surely hampering the coordination of relief and rescue efforts, as well as the receiving, collation, and transmittal of information.
Other media organizations establishing their own maps (see ABS-CBN’s Northern Luzon Floods October 2009) but I think it’s necessary at this point to appeal to the media organizations, considering the scope of the disaster and the manner in which the public is turning to media as an adjunct to official channels, to consolidate their efforts. All media outfits can rely on the same map and form a pool of volunteers to maintain it. A common reference is a wiser use of resources than simply insisting on duplicating work or information on the shallow basis of not using information branded by one media entity.
Once again, online volunteers are passing along updates and appeals for rescue/relief. Volunteers are also preparing themselves for a fresh round of relief efforts.The ad hoc tools that emerged from the Ondoy Calamity have been brought out once more and are being used for consolidating and collating rescue efforts, situation updates, and aid efforts.
Please make sure that all appeals for help or situation reports you encounter online are reported here: RescueHub North Luzon: SOS Calls. Encourage people to send SMS (Text) updates if no Internet Connection to For any concerns or to report additional cases, please contact us at 09159885674 (Edgar), 09233151120 (@kay_bu) or 09299509173 (@bicolanodevil).
See Ralph Guzman: Holtine Numbers for Northern Luzon Typhoon Victims for national and regional numbers to call. I suggest we all use this directory as the Master Directory, and perhaps find a way to maintain a Consolidated Directory for all bloggers to refer to, again to minimize unecessary duplication of effort. Zambales is operating on this principle.
For organizations and volunteers, concerned family members and friends, please refer to Bayanihan Online, which is consolidating Twitter/FaceBook updates, appeals, and information.
Donations to the Philippine National Red Cross, to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, various Catholic and religious charities, will be required.
11 AM PAGASA says Typhoon Peping may reach Supertyphoon status. No change to Metro Manila weather expected over next 24 hours but f you have relatives please alert them that Typhoon Peping’s landfall expected Oct. 3. somewhere up North. Possibly Isabela or Tuguegarao or Aparri.
11:22 PM Was informed some International Groups wanting to donate used clothing faced problems with Bureau of Customs, citing law forbidding importantion of used clothing. A Malacanan official tells me Customs will forfeit the ban provided the clothes are claimed by DSWD which will wash and fumigate the used clothing and then distribute it to those in need. Please advise foreign donors/groups of this official advisory.
For NGOs and other organizations engaged in rescue and relief operations, please bookmark Bayanihan Online. They are regularly collating and republishing Twitter alerts on missing persons, places needing relief/rescue, and security alerts for communities.
There is a growing need for these particular items of clothing for relief:
1. Underwear
2. Diapers
There is also a need for medicine to be donated, particularly serum for anti-tetanus treatment. PGH in dire need of expressed breastmilk. They will process donations (pasteurize, etc) and bring to evacuation centers. PGH Milkbank, 4th flr. Call 5548400 local 3409. Ask for any NICU fellow. Or call Dra. Silvestre or Lita Nery 09185557565,09185557565.
1:45 AM The President, at 9 PM issued a five-fold directive concerning issues raised over Customs imposing fees or impounding foreign donations, remittances, fraud and profiteering:
4:51 PM GMA7 News reports Angat dam releases water warns Norzagaray, Hagonoy, Calumpit, Pulilan, San Rafael, Angat, Bustos, Baliuag and Plaridel.
4:40 PM De La Salle Brothers Disaster Response: Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation Unimart Business Center Peso Account No. 1-296-71477-8 US Dollar Account No. 8-296-00115-6 Swift Code: RCBC PHMM
4 PM From Emy de Lara of Ayala Corporation:
Aside from providing assistance for its own employees, BPI has created an account to accept public donations and has made a contribution through some organizations. It will manage its own efforts through BPI Foundation. Deposits may be made to BPI Acct # 0011149022 (Ayala Foundation for Typhoon Ondoy)
Globe has pledged P1M each to ABS-CBN and GMA7, P1M to GK, and P2M worth of goods to Net25, DSWD, and direct to families in Marikina and Rizal areas. It has also set up Libreng Tawag services and hotlines plus Donate-A-Load services for Red Cross. Selected Globe Business Centers are accepting donations.
MWC is working to restore service in its concession area and estimates that 55,000 households are still without water (equivalent to approximately half a million people). It has fielded water tankers in San Mateo, Rodriguez, Pasig, parts of Taguig, and Marikina.
ALI has opened up relief goods drop areas in the malls and consolidating the goods at Building 6. Packing operations will start tomorrow. Some initial packing and delivery of goods took place Sunday night.
AFI has worked with AC to make a call out to Ayala employees for cash donations (through an AFI) account and for donations in kind via ALI Malls and Globe Business Centers. AFI has also posted online donation buttons on its website and through myAyala is posting donation buttons on other sites. We have also sent out e-blasts to AYLC alumni network and to AF-USA network. We have recruited volunteers from among staff and friends and deployed them to ALI and Globe for packing of relief packs for victims.
We also received a call from Philippine National Red Cross to request use of a chopper to get an aerial view of the affected areas. We’ve coordinated with Ayala Aviation to run that trips.
We’ve also made a request from WWF for a five-day weather forecast which we will circulate to all concerned so we know what’s in store for us.
On a more unusual note, we have an AFI employee who is part of the Philippine Dragonboat team. When I called him Sunday to say boats were needed, he gathered 40 team-mates and arranged for the 4 dragonboats docked at Philippine Navy to be trucked to a spot in Marikina so they could launch the boats and do rescue operations. Today, they have moved those boats to Pasig to continue work. Talk about bayanihan spirit and volunteerism!
2:47 PM We are all calling on all GK HEROES!!!
In response to the massive disaster wrought by Typhoon Ondoy in Metro Manila and other nearby provinces, Gawad Kalinga calls on all the living everyday heroes to take part in bringing concrete hope to the affected families.
The communities need the following :
1. Within the next three to four days (Sept. 28-Oct. 1), ready-to-eat food which do not need to be cooked like boiled eggs, sandwiches, cooked rice, sardines, tuna, meatloaf, bread, margarine, peanut butter. They also need bottled water, everyday clothes (including underwear) for both adults and children. Please send mats for the families to sleep on.
2. By October 2, please prepare food packs of canned goods, rice, instant mami, instant pancit canton, bread and bottled water.
You can bring all goods to Operation GK Walang Iwanan Headquarters at RFM Gym along Pioneer St., Mandaluyong City (contact person : Raul Dizon 0917-888-8109).
You can also deliver straight to our command centers at the following areas :
1. GK Camacho, Marikina (Bodoy 0917-888-8276)
2. GK Tatalon, Quezon City (Bobby 0918-906-9075)
3. GK Brookside, Quezon City (Rabbi 0906-462-7232)
4. GK Sitio Ruby, Quezon City (Benjie 0906-286-4447)
5. GK Sitio Pajo, Quezon City (Mar 0919-208-8784)
6. GK Selecta, Cainta (Dolphy 0928-604-4632)
7. GK Caliuag, Pasig City (Ryan 0922-859-6453)
8. GK Pinagsama, Taguig City (Raul 0919-229-1416)
9. GK PBA, Pateros City (Cesar 0905-235-7929)
For your cash donations, here are the following ways to transmit :
2. Gawad Kalinga US$ Savings Account 3104 0162 34 BPI EDSA Greenhills with Swift code : BOPIPHMM
(Should you need receipts, please fax your deposit slip to : Delfin Mangona, Operation GK Walang Iwanan at 632-726-7405. Kindly indicate name of donor and contact number.)
3. For donations outside the Philippines, you can choose from the following :
ANCOP USA
You can send your checks to ANCOP USA, PO Box 10095, Torrance, CA 90505.
Or go to www.ancopusa.org if you prefer to do it online via credit card.
AYALA FOUNDATION USA
You can issue checks payable to Ayala Foundation USA with project noted (Gawad Kalinga Ondoy Relief) and send to :
Ayala Foundation USA
255 Shoreline Drive, Suite 428
Redwood City, CA 94065
Tel. no. 1-650-598-3126
Fax No. 1-650-508-8898
Email info@af-usa.org
or you can donate to Ayala Foundation USA via credit card by visiting http://www.af-usa.org/donate_now_form.asp. In “choosing organization to receive the donation”, please choose “Gawad Kalinga-Community Infrastructure Program” for now. By tomorrow, September 29, Tuesday Philippine Time, you will be able to choose “Gawad Kalinga-Relief”.
DONATE ONLINE AT www.gk1world.com
Visit us at www.gk1world.com and click on “Operation GK Walang Iwanan (Click to Donate)”. This facility can accept donations from all over the world.
Daily updates on the needs of affected communities will be posted on www.gk1world.com so we can respond quickly and appropriately. Thank you for all your prayers and all the effort in doing as much as you can for the people in need.
Let us help rebuild and restore hope. Walang Iwanan!
2:04 PM If you know of overpricing for meds/basic goods call the DTI hotline at 751-3330. Save receipts as evidence. I hope a blogger will set up an entry to catalog prices of basic goods/medicines as reported by people, to help the authorities monitor the situation. Prices are being affected by the devastation, by panic-buying, and even generous people buying in bulk to donate goods for relief.
12:37 PM Commission on Higher Education announced classes suspended at all levels, private & public schools until Saturday in NCR, other areas under state of calamity.
11:44 AM The Ondoy Manila disaster map has been massively expanded to include provinces outside Metro Manila. Help out by filling out the Map Update Form (for those maintaining the map, perhaps it’s time to color code past/ongoing events).
So many heroes. So many victims. There is growing awareness of the necessity of knowing which bank accounts, etc. are verified, so that donations aren’t diverted to fraudulent ends. Check the Online Donations Options page for a list of verified bank accounts (domestic and international).
There are Filipinos abroad, in particular, who may not have much cash but are willing to gather relief goods if there’s a way to send the stuff home. Please get in touch with the nearest Philippine embassy or consulate first! There is the unfortunate but distinct possibility relief goods you send home would be intercepted by the Bureau of Customs and either impounded or taxed!
Please review the Philippine National Red Cross’ advisory concerning donations of goods/items for relief:
1. Send a letter of intent to donate to the PNRC
2. A letter of acceptance from PNRC shall be sent back to the donor
3. Immediately after shipping the goods, please send the (a) original Deed of Donation, (b) copy of packing list and (c) original Airway Bill for air shipments or Bill of Lading for sea shipments to The Philippine National Red Cross National Headquarters c/o Secretary General Corazon Alma de Leon, Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila 2803, Philippines.
A similar process might be required even if you just want to send relief goods to your neighborhood, home town or province. I understand in some cases embassy/consulate officials have told Filipinos abroad they don’t want the hassle of dealing with relief goods, send money instead. You may want to do that, but also, please consider that it might take too long to send actual relief goods right now, anyway: actual goods required might be for schools, institutions, when the rebuilding begins.
You may think the title of that blog is alarmist but it’s true. Cotabato City, Mindanao, has been flooded since June of this year. Emergency funds are running out precisely at a time the government has to earmark funds for Metro Manila relief.
2:20 AM Operation Tulong Bayan is in need of volunteer doctors, nurses, and allied medical practitioners for medical missions to commence this Saturday. They also need free medicines. Please contact Jig Abella at 09202030170, Expo Centro, besides Farmers Market, Araneta Center, Cubao, QC. It’s between MRT Cubao Station and P. Tuazon, along EDSA.
As local communities in Metro Manila recover, they’re pitching in to help other areas. See Superbianca for details. I’ve taken the liberty of including information from her blog, below, especially for those in Australia, etc. interested in helping out.
Globe Telecoms has waived the transaction fee for donations via SMS to the Philippine National Red Cross. Philippine Air Lines has committed to transporting relief goods to Manila from other parts of the Philippines free of charge.
1:18 PM Report profiteers! Tonyo Cruz reports Generic Doxycycline 100mg caps for anti-leptospirosis prophylaxis last Friday P2/cap. Today P5-P10/cap at boticas across PGH
Operation TULONG BAYAN
Priority Message
Monday, 28 September 2009
Heartfelt thanks to those who have so far volunteered their time and muscle! Our work is far from over, we hope you will continue to volunteer in the coming days as most drives like this lose their ‘pull’ quickly. We also profusely thank the individuals and companies that have donated so much to our relief drive and pray that they and many others will continue to keep the donations coming in.
WHERE WE ARE:
CUBAO - Cubao Expo Centro, EDSA corner Gen. MacArthur, Araneta Center (the old Seafood Market)
MAKATI - White Space, Pasong Tamo Extension (close to Cantinetta Resto and BMW showroom)
As of Saturday, 26 September, all Piso Piso Para kay Noynoy and Mar donations have been earmarked for Tulong Bayan relief operationsOn Sunday, 27 September, we distributed over 2100 relief packages to three communities within Metro Manila and today, 28 September, are in the process of loading our trucks with over 3000 packs to be distributed to prioritized communities.
We are in need of the following items that can be delivered to Cubao Expo or White Space as soon as possible:
Rice
Sardines in tetra packs
mongo beans
sugar
dried fish
salt
cooking oil in sachets
bottled water
candles
matches
detergent soap
tarpaulin sheets 5-10meters per sheet (for shelter)
used cardboard or cartons (for bedding)
slippers
clothing
blankets
We will be accepting these donations, hopefully in bulk, throughout the week, and thank you in advance. Our brothers and sisters are in desperate need, please help as much as you can!
Those that wish to donate money can please deposit to the following accounts specially earmarked for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy: Payable to CORPORATE NETWORK FOR DISASTER RESPONSE
BDO Galleria Branch, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Savings Account 004640030358
BPI Ayala Paseo Branch, Current Account 0031065402
Once again, thank you for your help, we look forward to seeing you and accepting your donations very soon! Operation Tulong Bayan Volunteers!
12PM Urgent Message concerning more rains. From UP Councilor Bong Ong, here’s the standard relief pack:
In a heavy plastic bag:
2 canned goods(sardines, pork and beans, vienna sausages, etc.)
2 packs instant noodles
1 loaf of bread or 8 packs biscuits
1 liter water
Help the relief operations by prepurchasing/prepacking these packs and donating where needed. Call/contact ORCA which is composed of volunteers who will come and collect your donations. you may want to organize a similar effort within your neighborhood/community.
10AM: Regions III and IV-A are also badly hit from accounts tricking in; relief operations will have to be greatly expanded. The first wave of volunteers and rescue workers are reaching the limits of their endurance and more volunteers and workers will be required. The Red Cross and other aid organizations are asking people to focus on donating relief goods as staffing requirements seem to be well in hand.
Volunteers from around the world are expanding and maintaining, with the support of Google, OndoyManila, consolidating the efforts that began with Ondoy map for Marikina and Rescue Hub Info Central. Please consider lending a hand, specially if you know GoogleMaps, to help expand coverage to other devastated areas of Luzon.
While your memory is still fresh, please make a checklist or put down notes on your experiences getting information, or how rescue and relief reached your area. One big shortcoming of our institutions is the lack of a proper post mortem after emergencies like this one, with an eye to improving things and helping authorities and citizens work together. In particular, there are concerns the many help lines were, in fact, practically useless, and also, that over-reliance on cellphone communications may have hampered things. Either leave a comment here or make a blog post if you can, to help collate information on these and other issues.
9/27/09
2 AM : Updated information by freely borrowing latest update from Bury Me in This Dress.
9/26/09
6 PM : There are also updates at Random Salt and Sour Politics. Also, a list of impassable roads. If you are an IT professional or student, please consider helping with the Sahana FOSS Disaster Management System. The estimate of the authorities as of late afternoon, September 27, is that 25% of the metropolis remains submerged. People are still trapped on the roofs of their houses or in the 2nd or 3rd stories of buildings; there remains a crucial shortage of boats and inflatable craft; donations of bottled water, canned goods, cooking oil, salt, bedding (sheets, blankets, sleeping mats) and clothing are direly needed.
12:37 PM Commission on Higher Education announced classes suspended at all levels, private & public schools until Saturday in NCR, other areas under state of calamity.
11:44 AM The Ondoy Manila disaster map has been massively expanded to include provinces outside Metro Manila. Help out by filling out the Map Update Form (for those maintaining the map, perhaps it’s time to color code past/ongoing events).
So many heroes. So many victims. There is growing awareness of the necessity of knowing which bank accounts, etc. are verified, so that donations aren’t diverted to fraudulent ends. Check the Online Donations Options page for a list of verified bank accounts (domestic and international).
There are Filipinos abroad, in particular, who may not have much cash but are willing to gather relief goods if there’s a way to send the stuff home. Please get in touch with the nearest Philippine embassy or consulate first! There is the unfortunate but distinct possibility relief goods you send home would be intercepted by the Bureau of Customs and either impounded or taxed!
Please review the Philippine National Red Cross’ advisory concerning donations of goods/items for relief:
1. Send a letter of intent to donate to the PNRC
2. A letter of acceptance from PNRC shall be sent back to the donor
3. Immediately after shipping the goods, please send the (a) original Deed of Donation, (b) copy of packing list and (c) original Airway Bill for air shipments or Bill of Lading for sea shipments to The Philippine National Red Cross National Headquarters c/o Secretary General Corazon Alma de Leon, Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila 2803, Philippines.
A similar process might be required even if you just want to send relief goods to your neighborhood, home town or province. I understand in some cases embassy/consulate officials have told Filipinos abroad they don’t want the hassle of dealing with relief goods, send money instead. You may want to do that, but also, please consider that it might take too long to send actual relief goods right now, anyway: actual goods required might be for schools, institutions, when the rebuilding begins.
You may think the title of that blog is alarmist but it’s true. Cotabato City, Mindanao, has been flooded since June of this year. Emergency funds are running out precisely at a time the government has to earmark funds for Metro Manila relief.
2:20 AM Operation Tulong Bayan is in need of volunteer doctors, nurses, and allied medical practitioners for medical missions to commence this Saturday. They also need free medicines. Please contact Jig Abella at 09202030170, Expo Centro, besides Farmers Market, Araneta Center, Cubao, QC. It’s between MRT Cubao Station and P. Tuazon, along EDSA.
As local communities in Metro Manila recover, they’re pitching in to help other areas. See Superbianca for details. I’ve taken the liberty of including information from her blog, below, especially for those in Australia, etc. interested in helping out.
Globe Telecoms has waived the transaction fee for donations via SMS to the Philippine National Red Cross. Philippine Air Lines has committed to transporting relief goods to Manila from other parts of the Philippines free of charge.
1:18 PM Report profiteers! Tonyo Cruz reports Generic Doxycycline 100mg caps for anti-leptospirosis prophylaxis last Friday P2/cap. Today P5-P10/cap at boticas across PGH
Operation TULONG BAYAN
Priority Message
Monday, 28 September 2009
Heartfelt thanks to those who have so far volunteered their time and muscle! Our work is far from over, we hope you will continue to volunteer in the coming days as most drives like this lose their ‘pull’ quickly. We also profusely thank the individuals and companies that have donated so much to our relief drive and pray that they and many others will continue to keep the donations coming in.
WHERE WE ARE:
CUBAO - Cubao Expo Centro, EDSA corner Gen. MacArthur, Araneta Center (the old Seafood Market)
MAKATI - White Space, Pasong Tamo Extension (close to Cantinetta Resto and BMW showroom)
As of Saturday, 26 September, all Piso Piso Para kay Noynoy and Mar donations have been earmarked for Tulong Bayan relief operationsOn Sunday, 27 September, we distributed over 2100 relief packages to three communities within Metro Manila and today, 28 September, are in the process of loading our trucks with over 3000 packs to be distributed to prioritized communities.
We are in need of the following items that can be delivered to Cubao Expo or White Space as soon as possible:
Rice
Sardines in tetra packs
mongo beans
sugar
dried fish
salt
cooking oil in sachets
bottled water
candles
matches
detergent soap
tarpaulin sheets 5-10meters per sheet (for shelter)
used cardboard or cartons (for bedding)
slippers
clothing
blankets
We will be accepting these donations, hopefully in bulk, throughout the week, and thank you in advance. Our brothers and sisters are in desperate need, please help as much as you can!
Those that wish to donate money can please deposit to the following accounts specially earmarked for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy: Payable to CORPORATE NETWORK FOR DISASTER RESPONSE
BDO Galleria Branch, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Savings Account 004640030358
BPI Ayala Paseo Branch, Current Account 0031065402
Once again, thank you for your help, we look forward to seeing you and accepting your donations very soon! Operation Tulong Bayan Volunteers!
12PM Urgent Message concerning more rains. From UP Councilor Bong Ong, here’s the standard relief pack:
In a heavy plastic bag:
2 canned goods(sardines, pork and beans, vienna sausages, etc.)
2 packs instant noodles
1 loaf of bread or 8 packs biscuits
1 liter water
Help the relief operations by prepurchasing/prepacking these packs and donating where needed. Call/contact ORCA which is composed of volunteers who will come and collect your donations. you may want to organize a similar effort within your neighborhood/community.
10AM: Regions III and IV-A are also badly hit from accounts tricking in; relief operations will have to be greatly expanded. The first wave of volunteers and rescue workers are reaching the limits of their endurance and more volunteers and workers will be required. The Red Cross and other aid organizations are asking people to focus on donating relief goods as staffing requirements seem to be well in hand.
Volunteers from around the world are expanding and maintaining, with the support of Google, OndoyManila, consolidating the efforts that began with Ondoy map for Marikina and Rescue Hub Info Central. Please consider lending a hand, specially if you know GoogleMaps, to help expand coverage to other devastated areas of Luzon.
While your memory is still fresh, please make a checklist or put down notes on your experiences getting information, or how rescue and relief reached your area. One big shortcoming of our institutions is the lack of a proper post mortem after emergencies like this one, with an eye to improving things and helping authorities and citizens work together. In particular, there are concerns the many help lines were, in fact, practically useless, and also, that over-reliance on cellphone communications may have hampered things. Either leave a comment here or make a blog post if you can, to help collate information on these and other issues.
9/27/09
2 AM : Updated information by freely borrowing latest update from Bury Me in This Dress.
9/26/09
6 PM : There are also updates at Random Salt and Sour Politics. Also, a list of impassable roads. If you are an IT professional or student, please consider helping with the Sahana FOSS Disaster Management System. The estimate of the authorities as of late afternoon, September 27, is that 25% of the metropolis remains submerged. People are still trapped on the roofs of their houses or in the 2nd or 3rd stories of buildings; there remains a crucial shortage of boats and inflatable craft; donations of bottled water, canned goods, cooking oil, salt, bedding (sheets, blankets, sleeping mats) and clothing are direly needed.
Rescue Operations
National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) (+632-9125668, +632-9111406, +632-9115061, +632-9122665) Help hotlines: (+65 734-2118, 734-2120) ndcchelpdesk@gmail.com
Philippine Coast Guard (+632-5276136)
Air Force (+63908-1126976, +632-8535023)
Metro Manila Development Authority (136)
Marikina City Rescue (+632-6462436, +632-6462423, +632920-9072902). To check for missing relatives call Marikina City Hall 646-1634 or 646-2360.
Pasig Rescue Emergency Number (+632-6310099); Pasig Mayor Eusebio gave his cel number for urgent messages of help and rescue : 09189275074
Quezon City Rescue (161)
San Juan City Hall Command Post (+632-4681697)
Bureau of Fire Protection Region III (Central Luzon) Hotline: (+63245-9634376)
Senator Dick Gordon (+639178997898, +63938-444BOYS, +632-9342118, +632-4338528)
Senator Manny Villar (+639174226800. +639172414864, +639276751981)
Civil Society/ Media
Philippine National Red Cross (143, +632-5270000)
Philippine National Red Cross Rizal Chapter operations center hotline: (+632-6350922, +632-6347824)
Go to GMA Facebook page & post complete addresses and names of people in need of immediate help.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer is launching a relief drive for the victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” in partnership with the Philippine National Red Cross, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Assisi Foundation and the Sagip Buhay Foundation. Donations in kind, such as instant noodles, canned goods, formula milk, blankets and clothes, are urgently needed.
These may be brought to the Inquirer office at 1098 Chino Roces Ave. corner Mascardo and Yague Streets, Makati City, and to any of its classified ads branches, and to any McDonald’s branch within Metro Manila. For questions and other concerns, please call 8978808 loc. 260 and look for Megi Garcia.
ABS-CBN Typhoon Ondoy Hotline: (+632-4163641)
Jam 88.3: (+632- 6318803) or SMS at JAM (space) 883 (space) your message to 2968
GMA Kapuso Helpline: (+632-9811950-59)
Sahana Disaster Management System needs IT volunteers. http://sahana.kahelos.org. Email sahana@kahelos.org.
Makati Medical Center (MMC), Cardinal Santos Medical Center and PLDT of the Metro Pacific Group of Companies will be conducting a week-long medical mission in areas adversely affected by Typhoon Ondoy.
Makati Medical Center will cover the Cainta/Rizal area, Cardinal Santos Medical Center will handle the Pasig area and PLDT will assist the Marikina area. Doctors and personnel will be deployed to provide consultations and distribute medicines at designated evacuation center in these areas.
MakatiMed’s Health Services Program (HSP) center, located at the ground floor of the hospital, will be open 24/7 this entire week to assist typhoon victims.
To become a volunteer, please submit your name and contact details to Dr. Victor Gisbert at 0917-8922807 or Dr. Johnny Sinon at 0917-5261345.
For donations, in cash or in kind, please send your contributions to Ms. Jocelyn or Ms. Fatima at the Social Services Office, Ground Floor, MakatiMed, Amorsolo St., Makati or call 8888-999 locals 7124 and 7104.
Rubber Boat, 4×4 Trucks, Chopper Requests
NCRPO (+632-8383203, +632-8383354)
Private citizens who would like to lend their motor boats for rescue please call emergency nos: +632-9125668, +632-9111406, +632-9122665, +632-9115061)
You can also text (+632917-4226800 or +632927-6751981) for rescue dump trucks.
For those who are able to lend 4×4 trucks for rescue: Please send truck to Greenhills Shoppng Center Unimart Grocery to await deployment, Tel No. (+632920-9072902).
Petron & San Miguel Corporation are lending choppers for rescue operations, call/text: (+632917-8140655) ask for Lydia Ragasa
Power Supply
Meralco (+63917-5592824, 16211, +63920-9292824) If you want service cut off to your area to prevent fires and electrocution.
Relief Aid and Donations
URGENT:
Donations of heavy duty flashlights needed for rescue operations in Cainta area. Contact Cielo at (+632918-8824356)
Businesses/ Commercial Establishments
Aranaz Stores in Rockwell & Greenbelt is accepting donations of any kind for Payatas communities affected by Ondoy
Aunt Genie’s Breadhouse in Cebu – 1279 Talamban, Cebu City In front of the Talamban Sports Complex – drop off point
Binalot at Greenbelt 1, call Tetchie Bundalian at (+632922-8573277)
Brainbeam Events, Inc. 2/F MB Aguirre Cornerhs Bldg,15 Pres Ave cor Elizalde Sts, BF Homes Pque across the old Caltex in BF. Will accept relief goods.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf will be accepting canned goods, water, clothes, blankets, towels, medicine, and emergency supplies (no cash) in all our branches on behalf of the victims of Typhoon Ondoy starting today until Friday. Your generosity will be much appreciated during this difficult time for our brothers and sisters in need.
Every Nation, FORT will accept donations for Red Cross esp. purified water, canned goods, and infant formula. Location @ 32nd St cor University Pkwy across Market Market.
Junior Chamber International Manila Baypark Tent, Roxas Blvd. will accept goods starting Monday.
Luca stores (Rockwell, Shang-rila, Eastwood, or GA towers): Send your old clothes & donations (no cash pls).
Manor Superclub, Eastwood City will accept goods and other emergency items starting Sunday at 10 am.
Ministop IBARRA (Espana cor. Blumentritt, Sampaloc Manila) is also accepting relief goods, Food (non-perishable goods only) Clothing, Medicines, Beds, Pillows, Blankets, Emergency Supplies to help Typhoon Ondoy victims.
Moonshine boutique in Rockwell also accepting relief good to help Ondoy victims in Marikina and Cainta.
Myron’s Greenbelt will accept relief goods
Papemelroti stores in 91 Roces Ave. / Ali Mall Cubao / SM City North EDSA / SM Fairview / SM Megamall / Glorietta 3 in Makati / SM Centerpoint / SM Southmall are accepting relief goods (canned goods / milk / bottled water / clothes NO CASH pls.)
PowerPlant Mall accepting donations for ABS-CBN foundation. Dropoff at admin office, P1 level.
R.O.X. Recreational Outdoor eXchange is accepting donation for relief good for Typhoon Ondoy victims. You can bring it in the store located in B1 building Bonifacio High St., Tel. No. (+632-8564638/39)
Shell gas stations – drop off point
Total gas stations- drop off point for relief goods.
Petron – drop off point for relief goods.
Team Manila stores in Trinoma, Mall of Asia, Jupiter Bel-Air and Rockwell shall be accepting relief goods (Canned Goods, Ready-to-drink Milk,Bottled Water and Clothes) for distribution by Veritas.
Whitespace 2314 Chino Roces Ave Ext as a Makati drop-off for relief goods.
Jollibee branches in Metro Manila – drop off point for relief goods.
McDonald’s branches in Metro Manila – drop off point for relief goods.
Government/ Civil Society/ Movements
Operation Tulong Relief Operations: Clare Amador (+639285205508) or Jana Vicente at +639285205499). Drop off for relief donations is at Balay Expo Center across Farmers Market Cubao. e operational again tomorrow, 8:00am, at the following hubs: Cubao - Cubao Expo Centro (the old Seafood Resto), EDSA corner Gen. MacArthur, Araneta Center, QC. Makati - White Space, Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati (near BMW). We urge students to come and help. We need candles, matches, clothes, blankets, salt, cooking oil (in sachets). Please spread! Thanks!
People can now seek financial help and assistance from PAG-IBIG Fund: Call 724-4244.
In Cebu City, PLAN ONDOY now mobilized by the Rotary Clubs in Cebu. Drop off centers in Cebu: Julie’s Bakeshops, Andorra Tiles office.
Victory Fort is opening its doors to those affected by the typhoon. Call 813-FORT.
ABS-CBN through Banco de Oro account number 56300-20111 account name: ABS-CBN Foundation Incorporation
Akbayan’s taking donations, call 433-69-33/433-68-31 to donate or volunteer.
Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC): Relief goods for typhoon victims being accepted at 72-A Times St., West Triangle, QC. Tel (+632-9299820/22)
Corporate Network for Disaster Reponse bank account no. 0031 0654 02 BPI Ayala Paseo Branch for cash donations
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan is accepting donations @ AGS Bldg Annex, 446 EDSA Guadalupe Viejo. Contact Vina Vargas at (+632917-8081247)
Kabataan Partylist - Drop off donations or volunteer at 118-B Sct. Rallos QC. 09266677163 or kabataanpartylist@gmail.com
Luzon Relief: Donations can be brought to RENAISSANCE FITNESS CENTER, 2nd Floor, Bramante Building, Renaissance Towers Ortigas, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City starting MONDAY (Sept.28) / 9am 7pm Contact Person: Warren Habaluyas (+632929-8713488) or email at luzonrelief@gmail.com
Miriam Quiambao drop off point: One Orchard Road Building in Eastwood, or message http://www.twitter.com/miriamq for more details.
Move for Chiz is asking for volunteers and donations at Bay Park Tent, along Roxas Blvd., beside Max Restaurant and Diamond Hotel in Manila, or at Gilas Minipark at Unang Hakbang St., Gilas Q.C.
Philippine Army Gym inside Fort Bonifacio or GHQ Gym in Camp Aguinaldo are now distributing donations for Ondoy Victims.
Relief Efforts for Pasig at Valle Verde 1 Village Park, contact (+632916-4945000, +632917-5273616)
Relief Operations Center at AGS Annex, #446 EDSA Guadalupe Viejo after PET Tower contact Ares at 0917.855.4935 or Rachel at 0918.924.1636
Sagip Kapamilya hotlines (+632-4132667, +632-4160387) #13 Examiner St. West Triangle, QC. and Scout Mayoran, cor. Morato, near Alex III.
Tulong Bayan hotlines for donations and volunteers are (+632908-6579998) Marilyn, (+632939-3633436) Jenn (+632-9137122, +632-9136254 & +632-9133306). e operational again tomorrow, 8:00am, at the following hubs: Cubao - Cubao Expo Centro (the old Seafood Resto), EDSA corner Gen. MacArthur, Araneta Center, QC. Makati - White Space, Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati (near BMW). We urge students to come and help. We need candles, matches, clothes, blankets, salt, cooking oil (in sachets). Please spread! Thanks!
TXTPower now accepts donations via SmartMoney 5577514418667103, GCash 09179751092 and Paypal http://is.gd/3GvuN
World Vision partners with Phil Coast Guard and kind individuals for relief distribution to 3k families. Call (+632-3747618 local 242) or text (+632917-8623209) to help.
Worldvision Foundation is also accepting donations/volunteers to pack relief goods in QC. For $-donations, BPI:USDacct #4254-0050-08
Religious/ Schools & Universities
Assumption College San Lorenzo is now accepting donations. Please drop them off at the AC guardhouse.
Ateneo de Manila University is now accepting donations for the victims of Ondoy. Donations can be dropped at MVP Lobby. For those stranded/those who need help: To all students who need help or know of people who need help. Please text the name, location, and contact number to (+6329088877166). ATENEO, which is now an open shelter, accepts refugees. Call (+632917-8952792)
Caritas Manila Office at Jesus St., Pandacan Manila near Nagtahan Bridge (+632-5639298, +632-5639308)
CCF St Francis Mall, Ortigas is now accepting goods for donation.
CFC Center Ortigas is now open for donations in cash or kind. Call (+632-7270682 to 87) or text (+632922-2542819)
De La Salle University-Manila – The Sagip Metro relief operation will start to accept donation for Ondoy victims starting Monday @ 8:30 am. Please bring goods to the South Gate of DLSU-Manila.
De La Salle Zobel will be accepting donations tomorrow at Gym 5 (Near Gate 7 in Molave St.)
DLSU Medical Center will accept canned goods, blankets, clothes, water. Location is at Congressional Avenue, Dasmarinas, Cavite. Telephone lines are at(02) 844-7832 and (046) 416-4531
Hillsborough Village Chapel: Water, blankets, shoes, and clothes may be sent to Hillsborough Village Chapel in Muntinlupa City. These will go to families whose houses were washed out in the nearby sitios.
La Salle Greenhills for Greenhills/Mandaluyong/San Juan Area, if you want to help out with the rescue and relief operations, you can drop off your donations (clothes, food, etc..) at LSGH Gate 2 or volunteer from 9am to receive, sort, repack the donations.
Our Lady of Pentecost Parish (+632-4342397, +632-9290665) per Gabe Mercado, donations are very much welcome. The Parish is located at 12 F. Dela Rosa corner C. Salvador Sts., Loyola Heights, Quezon City.
Playschool International in Better Living is open to receive relief goods. Feel free to drop it there for your convenience. No Cash Pls.
Radio Veritas at Veritas Tower West Ave. Cor EDSA (+632-9257931-40)
Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan Task Force Noah, a disaster response arm of the Jesuits, is accepting donations. Please drop it off sa Ateneo Cervini Dorm.
St. James Church Multi-Purpose Hall – Drop off point
St. Pedro Poveda College is now accepting relief goods. call the Social Action Center 6318756 loc. 121
UA&P Please contact Dae Lee [SEB EVP] @ 09178323533 needs donations and volunteers.
UP College of Arts and Letters (CAL) is accepting goods and cash. Donation center at CAL/text 0929-6454102.
UP Diliman USC is collecting food, clothing and/or cash. Contact TITUS 09178001909, JOSE 09273056607 and TIN 09154906106
Katipunan Avenue. Contact Erica Paredes at (+632917-4741930) they need bread, packed juice, sandwich filling (tuna, chicken, anything) You can help her make them, deliver the sandwiches to her house, or help her distribute! Call for more details.
Xavier School in San Juan is now accepting donations, please bring to Multipurpose Center (MPC).
Private Citizens
MAKATI:
5729 Calasanz St., Olympia Makati City or call for pick up at (+632-5017405 or +632-7290530) c/o Omel Santos
SOUTH:
Accepting relief goods in SOUTH AREA. Please contact Anne at (+632915-2854240)
Karen Ang
3 Kagandahan corner Kabutihan Streets, Kawilihan Village, Pasig 0920-9520900 Will forward donated relief goods to Red Cross
PROVINCIAL DONATION/RELIEF CENTERS:
BAGUIO:
- donations can be dropped off at the ABSCBN Baguio Office
- donations are also accepted at the Baguio Convention Center Executive Room from 10am til 4pm starting tomorrow til Friday. Volunteers are urged to come.
- Organizing a soup kitchen. Baguio donating vegetables to arrive via Victory Liner. Contact Dave at 09178396179.
BULACAN:
- Red Cross Bulacan accepts donations. It is located in Malolos Bulacan, near Bulacan capitol
CAGAYAN:
- send your donations to the kkp office in xavier university, ATENEO DE CAGAYAN.
CAVITE:
- DLSU-Dasmarinas is also accepting donations, pls proceed to the 2nd floor of SBC Building
BATANGAS:
- DE LA SALLE LIPA is now accepting your donations, drop off point is at the college lobby.
- For your donations, drop off center is at the Coliseum in the University of St. La Salle. 435-3857
- CAFE BREIZH wil be a drop off center for donations. text 09193651101 for details.
DAVAO:
- ATENEO DE DAVAO is accepting in kind donations for ondoy. drop off at the samahan office in jacinto campus.
- BANTAY BATA 163 davao located at matina,davao city is also a drop off point for any in-kind donations.
ZAMBOANGA:
- ATENEO DE ZAMBOANGA is accepting donations. You may bring them to the SACSI office. Look for Alma Curesma, 991-0871, loc 2224 or 2225.
People Tracker (using your phones, get your friends and family to turn on their finderservice for you)
FINDERSERVICE. For Smart, text wis <your name> <your mobile> to 386.
FINDERSERVICE. For Globe, text find <your name> <your mobile> to 7000.
E-Donations
Helping the Red Cross
Red Cross Load Donations: Right now the easiest way to make donations from the seat of your chair is via mobile phone load. The Red Cross Rescue and Relief Operations. Text: RED<space>AMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart)
SMS: text RED to 2899 (Globe) and 4483 (Smart)
G-Cash: text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882
TXTPOWER.org: Paypal, Smart Money (5577-5144-1866-7103), G-Cash (0917-9751092) funds collected will be given to the Philippine National Red Cross
Please send cash or check donations to the PNRC National Headquarters in Manila. Checks should be made payable to The Philippine National Red Cross. They can arrange for donation pick-up.
METROBANK Port Area Branch
Peso Acct.: 151-3-041-63122-8
Dollar Acct.: 151-2-151-00218-2
Type of Acct. : SAVINGS
Swift Code: MBTC PH MM
BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS Port Area Branch
Peso Acct.: 4991-0010-99
Type of Account: CURRENT
BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS UN Branch
Dollar Acct.: 8114-0030-94
Type of Account: SAVINGS
Swift Code: BOPI PH MM
Note: For your donations to be properly acknowledged, please fax the bank transaction slip at nos. +63.2.527.0575 or +63.2.404.0979 with your name, address and contact number.
For Credit Cards: Please fax the following info to +632.404.09.79 and +632.527.0575: Name of card member, billing address, contact nos. (phone & mobile), credit card no., expiration date, CCV2/ CVC2 (last three digits at the back of the credit card), billing address, amount to be donated. For online donations you may also visit our website at www.redcross.org.ph .
Most urgent needs
Food items: Rice, noodles, canned goods, sugar, iodized salt, cooking oil, monggo beans and potable water
Medicines: Paracetamol, antibiotics, analgesic, oral rehydration salts, multivitamins and medications to treat diarrheal diseases
Non-food items: Bath soaps, face towels, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, plastic mats, blankets, mosquito nets, jerry cans, water containers, water purification tablets, plastic sheetings, and Laundry soap
FOR THOSE OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY WHO WANT TO DONATE:
TXTPower.org has set up a paypal account for donations. Your money will be forwarded to Red Cross.
Kapuso Foundation is also accepting credit card donations.
2/F GMA Kapuso Center
Samar St. cor. 11th Jamboree St. Diliman, Quezon City
Call 9827777 loc. 9901/9904/9905.
accepts relief goods and cash
for those in SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA:
- You can deliver relief goods to 303/5 Stromboli Strait, Homebush Bay 2127. You can also contact through Twitter at @allorange if you want to arrange for a pick up in the city.
for those in TORONTO, CANADA:
- Pinoys in Toronto are spearheading efforts to help, visit this website for details.
Please send in-kind local donations to The Philippine National Red Cross National Headquarters in Manila. They could also arrange for donation pick-up.
INTERNATIONAL:
1. Send a letter of intent to donate to the PNRC
2. A letter of acceptance from PNRC shall be sent back to the donor
3. Immediately after shipping the goods, please send the (a) original Deed of Donation, (b) copy of packing list and (c) original Airway Bill for air shipments or Bill of Lading for sea shipments to The Philippine National Red Cross National Headquarters c/o Secretary General Corazon Alma de Leon, Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila 2803, Philippines.
9/26/09
The news is grim. People on their roofs, people losing their homes, loved ones separated, refugees everywhere, the most recent report is 5,000 people stuck in the Trinoma Mall in Quezon City. I have yet to confirm this but have heard this is the worst deluge since 1967; PAGASA reported that in three hours, as much rain as normally falls in two weeks soaked the Metropolis. Reports from the rest of Luzon -with most of Luzon’s provinces, including the National Capital Region placed under a State of Calamity by the President- are only now trickling in. Rescue and relief efforts over the years have gotten increasingly efficient, but this is one of those events that happen so suddenly, no one can possibly prepare for it.
Fellow bloggers may want to help on collating specific types of information they encounter online: appeals for rescue, traffic/flood updates, places to send relief goods, power failures, etc. This allows relief workers and media to focus on who needs help, while avoiding the risk that the ones who get rescued are those whose appeals are reTweeted most often, while others asking for help get overlooked, for example.
You will be a big help by collating information because relief/rescue workers and media can then periodically refer to your blogs to help evaluate what’s going on and what still needs to be done. Numbers are being collated here and in Sour Politics and Random Salt.
At a time like this, there is so much human compassion and so much frustration, too. So even if it’s by means of this small, online way, we can all pitch in.
The President and the former Senate President both had the same problem: much as they tried to entice the Vice-President to join them for the 2010 campaign, he turned both down. In Nobody Loves Me, Manuel Buencamino says the President was scorned once, but Villar’s been scorned twice: his efforts to entice both Senator Chiz Escudero and the Vice-President being rebuffed. Only then did Villar make noises about Senator Pia Cayetano being his (third) choice for Veep. Yesterday, there was talk that Wowowee host Willie Revillame would announce his entry in politics as Villar’s Veep, but it seems more likely that Revillame might instead head the Nacionalista senate slate.
The President did better in terms of having on hand what’s been widely-discussed as her personal choice as her successor, her Defense Secretary, Gilbert Teodoro Jr. (the choice of the President’s husband supposedly being the Vice-President). She did better because her defense secretary is a closer approximation of what she has put forward as her advantages as a chief executive: hard-working, highly educated, a reliable coalition player. His list of priorities and to-dos is in harmony with the existing administration agenda (more or less). And he isn’t shy about it.
And he’s been moderately successful in inspiring the faithful to work to ensure that the good times keep rolling on.
You’ll see that there was a bump (above, in blue) in the Defense Secretary’s being in the limelight when the Frankenstein coalition declared it intended to make him their official standard-bearer. the problem is whether that bump can be sustained; there seems to be the belief that simply because he’s been anointed by the President’s people, Teodoro’s campaign will not only take off like a rocket, but that it makes him, almost immediately, a candidate on par with, say, Aquino, or Villar or Escudero.
Today’s Inquirer editorial, The company he keeps, points out that much as Teodoro puts a refined face on the Frankenstein coalition, no one has any illusions as to what the coalition consists of, what it’s done, and what it will do if it stays in power. Which may account for the bump being much smaller than one might expect if Teodoro were to be weighed on his own merits. But the reality is his merits aside, the very viability of his campaign, such as it is, rests entirely on the very same ruling coalition that shares the President’s present lack of palatability to the public.
A friend did a similar search (annotated with red arrows, below) that suggests the endorsement of the party elders was a much-needed boost. All along, he’d lacked exposure even abroad (hence “gilbert teodoro soes not have enough search volume for ranking”), which had basically paid attention to Estrada and Aquino in the news.
Another search by my friend (below) shows how humdrum the campaign was until the entry of Aquino; and how the trajectory of Aquino (blue) suddenly puts what had seemed to be the gaining momentum of an Estrada comeback (in green) in stark comparison. If every candidate registers a momentary, steep, ascent upon announcing his candidacy, then Aquino’s set the threshold, which Teodoro’s obviously failed to seriously rival; put another way, Villar (red) and even Estrada (green), should they formally announce, are already at rates that could potentially mark Teodoro’s peak; they would pull away from Teodoro at his best and potentially intercept Aquino.
My own search is below.
The chart above suggests that the past year saw the Villar campaign (orange), well-oiled, chugging along; his closest rival being Chiz Escudero (green). Just when Villar was breaking away, Aquino (red) entered the fray; so almost immediately, just as Villar became the front-runner, he was displaced by Aquino, who took off like a rocket. But even then, Villar remains the leading contender to Aquino.
Contending for front-runner status, then, are Aquino and Villar; contending for rival to them, in turn, in Escudero. With the Vice-President apparently dropping out of the race, it will be interesting to see how his followers redistribute themselves among the other contenders.
However, Teodoro simply isn’t a real contender at this point, and it would be surprising to see him become a serious contender anytime soon. Anytime ever.
Then again, this has surely been plotted out and projected by the Palace. They know they will never have a frontrunner or even a truly viable contender. What they do have, is someone who acts as a consolation to the faithful, keeping them from getting too depressed. It also takes Teodoro out of action precisely when the more thuggish side of the administration will be required, going into 2010.
Teodoro is useful in simply taking the front-runner, Aquino, down a notch or two; by putting forward their non-candidate candidate, the administration simply fosters the (wrong) perception that somehow, their candidate’s on par with Aquino; it diminishes, in turn, Villar and Escudero.
Then again if you want to be pragmatic about it, it’s also like the story of the tar baby. Teodoro is the tar baby; if Aquino, like Brer Rabbit, makes the mistake of engaging Teodoro as if he’s a serious candidate, it bogs down Aquino in a fight along the irrelevant lines the Palace wants (”qualifications and experience” the same argument Marcos used against Cory; when the reason that Teodoro is below ground level in terms of public perception is that his qualifications and experience, such as they are, have been put at the service of the President and her Frankenstein coalition, which makes them as appealing as qualifications and experience doing book-keeping or money laundering for The Mob). Bogged down wrestling the tar baby, Aquino would then be fair game for Villar or Escudero to jump on his back -the real fight.
Which, to the truly pragmatically inclined, might suggest either or both are the actual Anointed Ones of the President, not Teodoro. The clue to see which might be the True Anointed is to see who, explicitly or implictly, gets the support of this man:
The one on the left, Ramon Ang of San Miguel, for example. The man in the middle, Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. collects the dividends but no longer does the grunt work; the lady on the right, the President, presides over a coalition notorious for getting candidates to run, only to leave them in the lurch, without machinery or funding, once they’ve committed (ask Cesar Montano and Manny Pacquiao, both of whom were popular to start with).It’s interesting that the end days of her administration are focused on closing truly big deals (with San Miguel, for example).
A candidate like Teodoro, who starts off not even within striking distance of the leading candidates, is someone no administration will back up fully with its resources. Those resources would be better used to reclaim the Senate, for example, or maintain its existing bailiwicks on the local level. The only use Teodoro serves is a political tar baby.
But the Frankenstein coalition includes its group of business backers; and it will be interesting to see on whom they’ll be placing their bets. If they spread out their funding, that means the administration coalition’s history; if they continue to bet big, it will be in expectation of maintaining or even expanding, the benefits they’ve received from the President and her people. To see who they back, is to see the administration’s true Anointed One(s).
I’ve put together a comparative chart of presidents elected to office, so that readers can take a look at past presidential biodatas, for the purpose of evaluating those seeking the presidency in 2010. Lists like these, however, can’t reflect the changing attitudes and preferences of voters as to what they consider essential requirements for the presidency.
For example, there are basically two eras: 1935 to 1969 (the last pre-martial law presidential election) and post-1986 to the present. In the first era, Ramon Magsaysay, the lone non-lawyer prior to 1969, would be in many ways the major exception to the expectation of a long, sustained, record of public service beginning in local, then provincial, and legislative and executive positions. But in many ways he was the harbinger of our modern, post-party machine politics, and so ties in to the post-1986 trend Marcos helped launch by means of institutionalizing mistrust of lawyer-presidents.
Of the twelve presidents elected in national elections, the following observations can be made.
Education: seven were lawyers (all of whom were top ten in the Bar exams); two had degrees in economics; two had doctorates; only one didn’t finish college.
Pre-profession: Aside from their main professions, six had other professions/occupations, including two poets.
Military: Five achieved officer rank in the military.
Judicial: none served in the judiciary.
Legislative: three served as municipal councilors; eight have served in the lower house, with four serving as committee chairmen, and two of them as Speaker of the House; eight have been senators, and three have been Senate President, and two, Senate President Pro Tempore.
Executive: One has served as mayor; five have been provincial governors (including Magsaysay’s serving as Military Governor of Zambales); nine have held presidential or executive appointments in the bureaucracy or civil service; in addition, seven have held cabinet portfolios, with two each holding the National Defense and Foreign Affairs portfolios. Six have been elected Vice-President, four have succeeded to the presidency from that position (three by virtue of the death of the president, one by authority of the Supreme Court).
This entry was first published on August 12, but has been constantly updated. As much as possible, updates are to the timeline itself, updated every day; updates to previous dates are, as much as possible, cited in the latest date addition for easy reference. As a general note, concerning the two documented dinners of the President ($15,000 in Washington, DC and $20,000 in New York City,) the Philippine Peso equivalents for each are 720,152.14 and 960,202.85 respectively; at 50 persons in Washington and 15-50 persons, depending on the testimony, in New York, that comes out to $300 per head in Washington and to $400 to $1,333 per head in New York City. A range of $300 (14,412.27 Pesos) to $1,333 (64,037.14 Pesos) per head for the two meals.
The question then, is, are these reasonable costs per head? See Forbes Magazine’s 2008 article, The Most Expensive U.S. Restaurants, to see that neither are the DC resto, Bobby Van’s, nor Le Cirque in New York City, in the league of most expensive restaurants; yet the per-head costs of the President’s meals were on par with the reported costs of the truly expensive places: and this is because, as all the reports suggest, the costs of food were increased by the wine bills for each meal. And the dinners have triggered fierce criticism from the public because of the contrast the costs represent with assistance the President herself extends to poor citizens.
“Moderating the Feed”
On August 12, in a Publisher’s note, the Philippine Daily Inquirer pointed out the following:
TWO RECENT news stories and an editorial mistook an intellectual exercise for hard fact.
Yesterday’s editorial mistakenly attributed the alleged itemization of the Le Cirque bill incurred by President Macapagal-Arroyo and her party to the “New York Post.” In fact, the hypothetical itemization was done by columnist Manuel Quezon III in his blog on Aug. 8, and introduced as “a theoretical breakdown of how the presidential party could have racked up the bill.”
Our story on Aug. 9 reported that “The purported menu included caviar; such appetizers as lobster salad, wild burgundy escargot and soft shell crab tempura; main courses of black cod, halibut, Dover sole, saddle of lamb and prime dry-aged strip steak; and Krug champagne at $510 a bottle.” There was, in fact, no such menu, only a hypothetical list of ordered items.
Our story on Aug. 10 reported that “The restaurant tab, purported copies of which have since circulated on blogs, showed that the Arroyo delegation had five servings of wild golden osetra caviar ($1,400), 11 bottles of Krug champagne ($5,610), and 25 orders each of the Chef’s Seasonal Menu and Tasting Menu (totaling $1,450 and $4,500 respectively), along with 17 other items.” There were no such copies circulating, only links and images from Quezon’s blog.
Based on these two stories, yesterday’s editorial criticized the presidential party’s insensitive self-indulgence. We stand by that assessment, however, since the original New York Post report is a fact. It read, in part: “Macapagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000.”
The reality everyone’s confronted with here, is that nature abhors a vacuum. It’s no surprise then, that in the face of Press Secretary Cerge Remonde’s vacuous handing of the Le Cirque brouhaha, the public and press have had to seize on anything to compensate for official vacuity. isn’t something anyone should tolerate in government. Or perhaps it’s more appropriate to compare Le Cerge’s vacuousness to a black hole.
Surely, he has gotten all the facts; but once he has them, nothing apparently escapes –certainly, not the facts. A kind of destabilizing energy, of course, radiates from him, but it’s along the lines of that tried and tested political dictum of the administration –if you can’t beat ‘em, confuse ‘em!
The story begins on July 31, a few hours after the President was informed Cory Aquino had died, and she’d taped her bungled message to the nation (private media had to clean up the RTVM tape sent them, as the video showed the President, to put it diplomatically, displaying signs of relief and even levity during the taping). The press contingent was left in Washington while the President sped off to New York City.
Late that evening, the President had what would turn out to be that infamous Le Cirque dinner. It wasn’t officially announced; in fact it wouldn’t become public knowledge until the New York Post’s notorious Page Six gossip page reported it on August 7, although the first person to break the news was fashionista Bryanboy, via Twitter.
In contrast, every conceivable opportunity to portray the President as moderating her grief by engaging in the hard world of serving the nation, was lovingly covered, documented, and reported by RTVM –including working meals. This is important to bear in mind because at one point, Le Cerge insisted what they had at Le Cirque was “just like any other working dinner.” And emphatically denied the dinner had anything to do with the President’s wedding anniversary.
Later on, Le Cerge began to modify his story. In showbiz terms, “in fairness,” it has to do as much with the bumbling of the President’s other allies, as Le Cerge’s seemingly infinite capacity to do so on his own. He said 15-20 people dined with the President; Rep. Suarez later said no, it was more along the lines of 50 people (to bring the per unit cost down?): including American Secret Service agents as among the beneficiaries of the meal, which could lead to those agents being charged criminally or administratively for accepting perks from foreigners while on duty; so since then, it seems everyone’s tried to keep mum on who, exactly, was at the dinner.
Then Le Cerge insisted that Rep. Martin Romualdez paid for the dinner until Romualdez’s staff denied it, saying it was the congressman’s brother, Daniel, who paid for dinner –but not before the President’s own son, Rep. Mikey Arroyo, enthusiastically thanked Romualdez for paying. It’s a pretty boorish crew that accepts a dinner without bothering to find out who, exactly, was hosting it.
Le Cerge then said no one had fun, that everyone wolfed down their food in an hour; but Senator Lapid complained the dinner took ages and he was exasperated by all the cutlery and changes in courses.
So Palace has remarkably not taken the pains to correct two details widely reported in the press.
First, the total spent, reported by the NY Post at $20,000. No one has categorically denied that was the actual amount. At best we have Le Cerge remarking, early on, he though it wasn’t that much –but then he didn’t even know who really footed the bill, so obviously he’s not an informed source.
Second, there’s the impression the Le Cirque dinner took place on August 2, which would make it a kind of reward for the President’s hectic August 1 schedule. But it took place on July 31, but for the Palace to emphasize this would then focus attention on the distinct possibility she rushed to New York to make it to the dinner.
To keep up the confusion, the President’s dining pals inadvertently leaked all the other places the presidential party dined at: Wolfgang’s Steakhouse on Park Avenue (per Rep. Amelita Villarosa) after the St. Patrick’s Mass; and dinner that evening at Bouley’s Restaurant (per Rep. Hermilando Mandanas); the President’s husband, before she could snatch him away from the clutches of reporters, enthusiastically burbled he intended to take her to an “expensive restaurant” that night –it turns out, with the usual hangers-on.
The result is the President’s own people were the ones to point out the President made time for communal dining on three occasions and not just at Le Cirque, originally portrayed as a working dinner until everyone ended up admitting it was a wedding anniversary dinner –followed by a wedding anniversary lunch and yet another wedding anniversary dinner. None of these meals, until after the fact, were publicized.
Le Cergue then started making arguments like a circus freak: if it was really ostentatious, we should apologize, but it wasn’t, so we won’t -$20,000 being carinderia-style small change? Then he argued that if one invites the President of the Philippines to dinner, you wouldn’t have it at hotdog stand. King George VI who was invited to have hotdogs in Hyde Park by FDR, must be rolling in his grave. But then again GMA’s beloved Obama, too, has a déclassé liking for… chili dogs and burgers and indeed, his “beer summit” at the White House swept aside all American notice of his tete-a-tete with our president -who probably needed to console herself with wine at Le Cirque.
The President’s boosters have gleefully latched on to the media’s mistake of taking their cue from Jejomar Binay’s inadvertently confusing a theoretical computation posted on my blog for the actual bill, as a vindication of their hard-working president.
It’s the opposite -a deeper indictment of the President and her people: an honest mistake by media cannot be put on the same level as the disingenuous handling of the issue by the Palace, which has left press and public starved for facts.
The Timeline
So, in light of the above, the following timeline. Because events prove that those capable of providing the facts, of being proactive in the face of the public reaction to the New York Post’s revelation, themselves confused matters.
The day after the State of the Nation Address, President Arroyo and party (the party included the President’s husband; Executive Secretary Ermita, Defense Secretary Teodoro, Agriculture Secretary Yap, Foreign Affairs Secretary Romulo and Press Secretary Remonde; Speaker Nograles; and some 20 legislators) departed for their 72nd trip overseas, on 1 PM flight, PR 116, for Vancouver, switching to a chartered PAL flight to Washington, DC, according to the newspapers.
6:20 PM Scheduled arrival in Washington D.C. Venue: Andrews Airforce Base. The President, during the FILUSA dinner, will explain why they missed their scheduled arrival:
You know when we arrived in Canada a half an hour ahead of schedule, so I was so happy… Oh, we’ll arrive in Washington half an hour ahead of schedule instead combination of paper work and inclement weather along the way made us not leave half an hour ahead of schedule…
8:30 PM The President’s actual arrival at Andrews Airforce Base with what a Palace press release calls “a lean delegation of legislators and a number of Cabinet members.”
The President was billeted at the Willard Hotel. She occupied the Capitol Suite.
The President’s delegation includes-
Family:Atty. Arroyo, the President’s husband; the President’s sons, Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo and Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Arroyo
Cabinet: Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, Labor and employment Secretary Marianito Roque, Global Warming Adviser Heherson Alvarez, Solicitor General and Acting Justice secretary Agnes Devanadera, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando, deputy presidential spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo, Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara of Radio-TV Malacañang, Juris Soliman, chief of staff of Atty.Arroyo, and Remedios Poblador.
(The Ombudsman, according to former Justice Sec. Raul Gonzales, accompanied the President so that a reconciliation could be brokered with Solicitor-General Devanadera).
The President’s media team included Usec. Romeo L. Junia, press undersecretary, OPS; Asec. Maribel C. Dario, Asst. Press Secretary, OPS; Rosalinda Jacoba Coni, Advance MARO Project Officer, OPS-MARO; Rodrigo Del Agua, Presidential Close In Writer, OPS-PND; Jose L. Ogrimen, Jr., Special Assistant to the Press Secretary, OPSEDP; Exequiel Supera, Presidential Close in Photographer, OPS-Photo; Ruby Jane Villaverde, MAROCo- Project Officer, OPS-MARO; Janet V. Mariano, Advance MARO Project Officer, OPS-MARO; Luis Morente, Presidential Close in Writer, OPS-PND and Enrico Borja, Presidential Close in Photographer, OPS-Photo.
Senate:Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago, Manuel Lapid.
House of Representatives:Speaker Prospero Nograles, Jr., Marikina Rep. Del de Guzman, Pampanga Reps. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. and Anna York Bondoc, Manila Reps. Benny Abante and Zenaida Angping, Cebu Reps. Ramoncito Durano VI and Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, Camarines Sur Rep. Felix Alfelor, Quezon City Reps. Annie Susano and Vincent Crisologo, Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas Deputy Speaker Amelita Villarosa, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez, Abra Rep. Cecilia Searez-Luna, Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, Malabon Rep. Alvin Sandoval, Pangasinan Rep. Rachel Arenas and Bohol Rep. Edgar Chatto, Surigao del Sur Rep. Francis Matugas, Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron, La Union Rep. Thomas Dumpit, party-list Reps. Rodante Marcoleta, Catalina Leonen Pizarro, Godofredo Arquiza (with wife Remedios), Agapito Guanlao (with wife Socorro), Carissa Cosculluela (Buhay), Daryl Grace Abayon (Aangat Tayo). (Originally, 100 congressmen had wanted in on the trip.)
Local government:Gov. Tet Garcia (Bataan); Mayors Marides Fernando (Marikina) Nitoy Durano (Danao City).
The meeting with the President of the United States in the Oval Office includes the cabinet, such as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Secretary of Trade and Industry, the Secretary of Defense, and the respective heads of the Senate and House of Representatives or their representatives. Recently, the Executive Secretary is also included. It is really the President’s personal selection which cabinet members are included. As a rule of thumb, that means a total of six including the President (1+5).
There has been much controversy about the limited number allowed in the Oval Office. Congressmen accompanying our President fervently believe that they have a “God-given” right to also meet the American President and, of course, to avail of a photo opportunity. . Even members of the press accompanying our President have had a similar presumption. Because of the strictures of protocol and US practice and failure to accommodate these demands, I have incurred in the past the ire of our venerable legislators and pundits.
Turning now to the US visit this week of President Arroyo, I am informed that some 30 members of Congress are going to Washington “at their own expense” to accompany her. The problem with this is that it gives rise to a perception of extravagance and ostentatiousness from a developing country. This additional entourage really has no added value to the President’s delegation for a meeting in the White House. To be precise, they have no role to play. All they do is encumber our embassy staff in Washington with the burden of finding “things” for them to do so that they can justify their own travels to the press and their constituents. Dyahe!!!
Asked what the House of Representatives delegation would do in the US, he said the congressmen would attend meetings in New York City. He did not specify the meetings, however.
”In New York, there will be a lot of meetings about the economy anddiscussions on possible legislations that will produce win-winsolution to both America and the Philippines,” Nograles said in a text message.
”It’s work and meeting here for all of us, the schedules are hectic,” he said.
Be that as it may, the Philippine delegation this time was billeted at the much larger Willard Hotel instead of at the 220-room Four Seasons Hotel where it stayed in May 2008 when Mrs. Arroyo was invited to the White House by President George W. Bush.
Officials said it was an event organized and attended by FILUSA members at their own expense and initiative. The President, however, seems to have indicated the dinner was a government initiative:
Thank you very much for coming despite the very short notice and thank you for waiting.
A backgrounder (July 22) on FILUSA, from Yen Macabenta:
There was also a “newly-organized” group called Fil-USA, purportedly established to spread the word about the accomplishments of the Arroyo administration. Needless to say, we’ve never heard of Fil-USA.
July 30
The President’s planned activities for the day had tentatively included meetings with national intelligence director Adm. Dennis Blair and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee; lunch with leaders of the RP-US Friendship Caucus; coffee with Sen. Harry Reid; and a forum on the Coral Triangle by the National Geographic Society. Other reports prior to the President’s departure mentioned the President was slated hold talks with officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and representatives from the US Veterans’ Affairs Office before dining with members of the Filipino community.
The Voice of America reported the President was expected to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The following meetings were documented by government media, as having taken place in the President’s hotel room, it seems in rapid succession.
10 AM Meeting with Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence (Venue: Capitol Suite, Willard Hotel)
10:30 AM Meeting with Sheila Jackson Lee (Venue: Capitol Suite, Willard Hotel)
A call by Jeffrey Schafer, Citi Group Executive Director for Asia Pacific & Former Assistant Secretary of Treasury:
A courtesy call by Former Senator Ted Stevens:
The President, accompanied by Speaker Nograles, then called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the US Capitol:
12:30 PM During a luncheon reception the President conferring the Order of Lakandula on various members of the RP-US Friendship Caucus in the Veterans Committee Room, Cannon House Office Building:
The President apparently had time to return to the Willard Hotel to change costume from blue to red.
3-4 PM President Arroyo meets with President Obama for half an hour to 45 minutes in the Oval Office, followed by a brief press availability (according to Ellen Tordesillas, the Secretary of Finance was bumped off the meeting to accommodate presidential factotum Remedios Poblador; while the Secretary of National Defense got bumped off so that Global Warming Adviser Heherson Alvarez could make it).
Obama mentioned the Philippines was ASEAN Coordinator with the United States. Palace announced it as token of esteem by the American president. Diplomatic sources later clarified to Ellen Tordesillas (veteran of the Department of Foreign Affairs beat) that when President Arroyo was designated coordinator for Asean, it was in keeping with established practice. According to Tordesillas (in an e-mail to me),
The chore of coordinator with Asean dialogue partners is by rotation in Asean. Last year, for example, the Philippines was coordinator for Asean-Russia. It was Thailand that was coordinator US-Asean last year. Philippines was vice-coordinator to Thailand. New designations were decided last July, during the ministerial meeting in Phuket, as part of Asean’s housekeeping.
6 PM Stakeholders’ forum on the Coral Triangle (Venue: Grosvenor Auditorium, National Geographic). The President went to the National Geographic Society to give a briefing on the Coral Triangle.
7:30 PM Philippine Media Interview – Joe Taruc (Manila), Rey Langit, Jennlyn Kabiling (Washington): President Arroyo and party then return to the Willard Hotel where she records some press interviews.
9-10 PM (?) Only on August 12 would the public find out that the President had dinner at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in 15th St., NW. As The Washington Post’s Reliable Sources blog would post at 1:o2 AM EST on August 12,
The group took over one of the restaurant’s private rooms and dined on lobster, steak and fine wines; at the conclusion of the meal, an unidentified woman opened a handbag stuffed with cash, counted out bills and paid the $15,000 tab — which included a generous tip.
The dinner would be confirmed, on the record, by a congressman, Danilo Suarez, and by one anonymous source on August 12-13 when the story broke. It would take Rep. Suarez some time to realize he actually invited the President to have dinner and paid for it.
July 31
What were documented were the following, all at the Willard Hotel.
10:30 AM A courtesy call by Attorney-General Eric Holder:
11 AM A courtesy call by Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood:
This was immediately followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, again, with La Hood:
A courtesy call by the US Trade Representative, Ron Kirk:
1:30 PM A courtesy call by Senators Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka to receive Presidential Citations:
2 PM A courtesy call by Veterans Affairs Secretary Shinseki:
Afinal courtesy call by Nicola Goren:
4 PM President Arroyo is advised that President Aquino has died. She asks for confirmation.
4:30 PM President Arroyo meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Willard Hotel in Washington for 30 minutes. Confusion surrounded the meeting, with some officials insisting it had been canceled hours after the meeting took place. Clinton was informed of Aquino’s death not by the President, but by a Filipina reporter.
5:30 PM An hour after her Clinton meeting, the President then tapes an official message on the death of Mrs. Aquino:
(The original version sent media outfits includes the President breaking out into a big smile after concluding her message, but media outfits suppress this out of deference to the President.)
For her message, the President put on a grey suit.
7:30 PM (?) The President then left the media contingent behind in Washington and went ahead of schedule to Andrews Airforce Base, for a flight to New York City, her haste in doing so subsequently making sense to some observers only in terms of her having to keep an appointment to dine at Le Cirque.
She was reportedly brought directly to her New York billet, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The President occupied the presidential suite, though reports of the suite rate at $3,500 a night remain unconfirmed (a 2002 article cites the presidential suite at $7,500 a night). Also unconfirmed is that 60 other rooms were booked for Filipino officials/staff at $990 a night.
A news item, Arroyo orders 10 days of mourning details the President’s options at the time (as relayed to reporters left behind in Washington DC):
Upon arrival at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, the President was met by top Cabinet officials led by Ermita, who advised her to cut her trip short.
Ermita said Arroyo could afford to skip the rest of her trip—stops in Chicago and Guam until Aug. 5—because her scheduled meetings with Filipino-American organizations could be moved to another time.
A press conference is scheduled at 11 a.m. Saturday (11 p.m. Sunday in Manila), where Ermita will report on the President’s return date…
While she was pondering on cutting her trip short, Arroyo signed Proclamation 1850 setting a period of national mourning from Aug. 1 to 10, with all flags to be flown at half-staff at all government buildings and installations in the Philippines and abroad.
Ermita said Arroyo could afford to leave for home on Saturday night (when a dinner party with FilUSA at the Newark Sheraton was scheduled) or Sunday morning (when she was to attend Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral).
She was scheduled to leave New York for Chicago on Aug. 3.
It was on the evening of her first night in New York City, that the President and party had dinner at Le Cirque. (One member of the President’s party later said the dinner was originally planned somewhere else; see this interesting comment by Market Manila on the logistics of the variously-mentioned dining venues that have emerged in the news.)
Ermita said Mrs. Arroyo would be canceling her trip to Chicago, San Francisco and Guam and would fly directly to Manila from here on Monday.
Ermita said the party was scheduled to arrive in Manila before dawn Wednesday in time for the funeral rites for Mrs. Aquino.
Meanwhile, a full day of courtesy calls.
Coca-Cola executives pay a courtesy call on the President in her hotel room:
Chardan Capital Bank executives call on the President in her hotel room:
Market America executives call on the President in her hotel room:
Dr. Vassilis Morfopoulos, Managing Director of Basic International Development Corporation, called on the President in her hotel room:
The President then had a working lunch -in a private room, of the Peacock Alley, of the Waldorf-Astoria- with Hedge Fund executives, but documented by RTVM:
Apparently having decided not to leave for Manila just yet, the President made a FILUSA appearance at the Newark Sheraton in New Jersey (uncontroversial, because publicly announced ahead of time):
It’s entirely possible FILUSA event in New Jersey was along the same lines as the FILUSA event in Washington -organized by the Philippine government.
The only thing that marred the President’s dinner was that the Philippine press contigent boycotted the dinner due to the hostility of one of the FILUSA top honchos, as reported in the Philippine Star:
FILUSA was organized early this year by pro-Arroyo sympathizers and claim to have chapters in Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey and California.
When Mrs. Arroyo and Obama had talks at the Oval Office on July 30, the day after her arrival in Washington, FILUSA members rallied in front of the White House shouting slogans in support of her, while a much larger anti-Arroyo leftist group taunted her for being a US lapdog.
FILUSA organized a dinner for Mrs. Arroyo in Washington in recognition of her being the first Southeast Asian leader invited by Obama to the White House and the President was effusive in singling out organizer Jacqueline Lingad Ricci for praise.
While the President was in New York, she motored to New Jersey for another FILUSA dinner in her honor.
At the New Jersey dinner Ricci confronted one of the Filipino reporters covering the event and lambasted him for “lying” in his reporting and yet “wanting to eat our food.”
The reporter walked out and, in solidarity, all the other reporters followed him and boycotted the event.
The President also recorded an interview with CNBC:
10 AM President Arroyo attends Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for President Aquino, but Archbishop Timothy Dolan, according to the Inquirer also mentions from the pulpit that the High Mass was also to celebrate President Arroyo’s 41st anniversary.
The President is frosty to the media when asked for further comment on Mrs. Aquino’s death.
At this point, having been advised of potential travel plans on July 31, the Manila Bulletin reports the President announced yet another change in her travel plans, this time, for a side trip to Silicon Valley:
Mrs. Arroyo, who arrived here from Washington, DC last Saturday, is scheduled to take a chartered flight out of New York City on Monday afternoon and proceed to San Francisco, CA and then to Manila. The revision in the President’s flight does not change the arrival date in Manila on Wednesday.
“Are you going with us to Silicon Valley? Are you going with us to San Francisco? We still have a last event in Silicon Valley signing,” she asked reporters after a church service at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral here.
Reporters, who have complained about the lack of transparency in the President’s itinerary in the US, told the President that they would not be able to join the hastily arranged San Francisco leg.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita earlier said the President’s plane will just land in San Francisco for refueling.
Incidentally, the use of a chartered jet contradicted the reasons given by Cerge Remonde, in the wake of criticism that the President was obviously not doing any rushing to get home as soon as possible. See this Philippine Star report:
Mrs. Arroyo’s only public engagement on Sunday was to attend mass at St. Patrick’s which had been scheduled before news of Aquino’s death broke.
Filipino community leaders said Mrs. Arroyo would have made more impact had she headed to the airport after mass and .boarded a flight for Manila.
But Sunday was the 41st anniversary of her wedding to First Gentleman Mike Arroyo so the guess was that she wanted to celebrate the event on the ground rather than aloft.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said President Arroyo could have flown anytime she wished had she been on a chartered flight, but she was on a commercial flight to save on costs and had no control over flight schedules. But she has decided to curtail her trip and cut the Chicago, San Francisco and Guam portions out.
But she took a chartered flight to make a side trip to Silicon Valley after all.
The same Bulletin report had the President’s husband (before his wife corraled him to stop him from talking further to the media) saying,
He said he gave President Arroyo a bouquet of roses and was expected to host a dinner at a fancy restaurant last night.
(”Last night” referring of course, to the nightof the day the interview was given).
12 Noon (or thereabouts) Wedding anniversary lunch at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse on Park Avenue near the Waldorf-Astoria where the President was staying.
8-11 PM President and party have dinner at Bouley’s Restaurant, and judging from what the President’s husband told the Bulletin, at the First Family’s expense. This would be mentioned, first, by Rep. Hermilando Mandanas on August 11 and confirmed by Rep. Bienvenido Abante on August 13.
August 3
President Arroyo reportedly departs New York for San Francisco in the late afternoon.
August 4
August 5
The President arrives and visits Cory Aquino’s wake.
August 6
August 7
8:04 AM Fashionista-blogger bryanboy is the first to Tweets:
from my friend in NYC: “President Macapagal-Arroyo’s dinner at Le Cirque here in NY cost the taxpayers of the Philippines $15,000!!!”
The New York Post’s infamous Page Six publishes its article on the President le Cirque shindig but reports the bill at $20,000:
The economic downturn hasn’t persuaded everyone to pinch pennies. Philippines President Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was at Le Cirque the other night with a large entourage enjoying the good life, even though the former comptroller of her country’s armed services, Carlos Garcia, was found guilty earlier this year of perjury and two of his sons were arrested in the US on bulk cash-smuggling charges. Macapagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000.
The article establishes the following:
1. The dinner took place “the other night,” relative to the publication date of the story, August 7.
2. The President was accompanied by “a large entourage” to “enjoy the good life”.
3. The President ordered several bottles of very expensive wine.
4. The dinner tab was $20,000.
Incidentally, there’s a curious item in Get It From Boy, on Gen. Garcia’s son turning his bail tracking device into a fashion statement! The Post story was picked up by New York Magazine, in cityfile and Grub Street.
Ellen Tordesillas blogs and Tweets about it close to midnight. She says Press Secretary Cerge Remonde confirmed the dinner took place.
August 8
I posted my entry Saint and Tippler with an image that attempted a theoretical breakdown of how the presidential party could’ve racked up the bill:
The theoretical computation, prepared by an accountant friend, was based on ongoing online discussions on how the President and her party could have run up a $20,000 tab. The choices were made based on the published menu and wine list of the restaurant. Unfortunately, within hours and over subsequent days, the image was circulated as a facsimile of the tab, which it was nor ever pretended to be.
1:05 AM A former senator gets an email (date/time: Saturday, August 8, 2009, 12:37 AM), with the following in it:
I’m overly sensitive today especially when I have learned from one of my patients who works as a waiter at a Filipino-French restaurant in New York, that GMA and twenty three of her entourage had a dinner that cost the Filipino taxpayers $40,000 during her recent state visit to the US. He claimed that their wine alone cost $16,000 and they paid in HARD COLD CASH. That is the cost of one dinner alone and how many dinners and lunches did they have during their stay in the US?
However, in no media reports would a “Filipino-French restaurant” or any bill amounting to $40,000 be mentioned, nor payment in cash while in New York.
11:44 AMManuel Buencamino raises the relevant questions concerning the $20,000 tab:
Did she pay cash or charge? Who actually settled the bill? I doubt the restaurant would gave the tab to Gloria and she whipped out a bag of cash or her Amex black card.
At any rate….
If the taxpayer picked up the bill then I object.
If she paid for it out of her own pocket then she must have an incredible annual income.
If the bill was paid by a friend then that falls under the ban of government officials receiving large gifts.
If the party went dutch treat, then I want to know who “advanced” payment.
1. Yes, there was a dinner at Le Cirque. Reps. Danilo Suarez and Deputy Speaker Amelita Villarosa said “she remembered dining at Le Cirque but not the details because she had several lunches and dinners during the trip.”
2. The dinner took place on August 2.
3. It was hosted by Rep. Martin Romualdez.
4. The Palace did not know how much was spent for the dinner.
2. Dinner was soup, salad, one main course, and dessert. Remonde says some diners had red wine.
3. Remonde says that in keeping with the death of Cory Aquino, the President and husband chose not to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
4. Remonde says 15-20 people were at the dinner;:
According to the press secretary, Romualdez invited the President and her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, for dinner with some chosen members of the Philippine delegation and diplomats based in New York.
5. The presidential party included “some chosen members of the Philippine delegation and diplomats based in New York” who traveled by bus to the restaurant. This number is significant because it suggests familiarity with the restaurant, which has tables that seat 8 persons each; two tables, which is the number of tables Remonde said were occupied, would seat 16 individuals maximum. But with a $20,000 bill, the per person cost of a 15-20 person meal would be much more difficult to justify than a larger party, which is eventually the assertion that would dominate the alibis.
6. On ANC’s “Dateline Philippines,” Remonde attributed the Le Cirque story to Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, ignoring the story having broken in the New York Post, and even earlier Tweet by bryanboy, and sustained interest by bloggers.
“The truth of the matter is when we went there, there were many Filipinos already dining in the restaurant,” he said, adding some of the Filipinos managed to get their pictures taken with the visiting President.
Which may account for the Palace’s disinclination to contest the cost of the dinner.
1. The President was originally invited by Rep. Romualdez’s brother, architect Daniel, who lives in the Hamptons, to have dinner at the yacht club, but that it was full. So they ate at Le Cirque itself (which brings up a logistical question concerning travel times from the airport, to the Hamptons, to Le Cirque, to the Waldorf-Astoria or some permutation thereof).
2. Suarez reiterates Rep. Martin Romualdez paid for dinner.
11:25 AM PDI publishes What’s wrong with eating in a hotdog stand? in which the date of the Le Cirque dinner is still identified as having taken place on August 2.Concerning the August 2 dinner, Cerge Remonde said,
During the dinner on August 2, Remonde said the Malacanang group occupied two tables and ordered a set menu consisting of soup, salad, main dish, drinks, and coffee and tea.
But was he referring to an actual August 2 dinner, with the menu he described, or was he referring to Le Cirque?
4:09 PMTorn & Frayed in Manila zeroes in on the reality-trumps-fiction aspect of the whole story:
Philippine public life often has a novelistic, chiaroscuro quality to it; only it is the sort of novel where you think “how unrealistic, that would never happen in real life.”
Gloria’s now infamous $20,000 meal at the Le Cirque in New York is a good example of the Philippines failing the real life test.
Eight thousand miles away from GMA and her sycophants tucking in at the Le Cirque trough, a woman lay dying in Makati Medical Center. Cory Aquino devoted her life to ending the gross excesses of her predecessor, the conjugal dictatorship, the worst of which were committed in, guess where, New York. As a symbol of how we are back where we started that $20,000 bill could hardly be bettered.
Except that it could bettered. The knee jerk response to Malacañang’s excesses (as with the envelope handed out to Ed Panlilio and the other 190 elected officials who visited Malacañang duing the impeachment hearings) is always “oh the president wasn’t paying, it was one of her supporters.” And who was the generous host on this occasion? Leyte Congressman Martin Romualdez, Imelda’s nephew. You couldn’t make these things up.
1. Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo thanks Rep. Martin Romualdez for footing the bill for the Le Cirque shindig.
2. But an aide of Rep. Romualdez, lawyer Nick Esmale says that it wasn’t his principal that paid; Architect Daniel Romualdez, the congressman’s brother, is the one who paid the bill.
3. This contradicts what Sec. Remonde and Rep. Suarez have been saying about which Romualdez paid for the bill.
1. There were more than 50 in the group that dined at Le Cirque, including the President’s security people and Secret Service agents. This figure contradicts the 15 or so persons mentioned by Sec. Remonde a day or two before.
2. He repeats his comments to media, of the Le Cirque dinner being Plan B after dinner at the yacht club in the Hamptons didn’t push through, are republished here.
Also in the same story, is an assurance by Sec. Remonde that,
To quell speculations of Ms Arroyo’s supposedly wasteful spending in her US trip, he said he would ask the deputy executive secretary for finance and administration to release this week a financial statement on all expenses for the visit.
No such report has been released as of August 15 .
“The food is good but the place is not fashionable. With our numbers, the $20,000 is cheaper,” Suarez said.
Since Filipinos are hospitable people, Suarez said the delegation allowed those who accompanied them to partake of dinner, “including the American security personnel assigned to the President by the State Department.”
August 11
Leyte Samar Daily Express publishes a rather confusing story, in which lawyer Nick Esmale, a staffer for Rep. Martin Romualdez, says:
“The report was not only factual but unfair. It was not FM but his elder brother Daniel who foot the bill,” Esmale said over the phone, addressing the solon through his nickname.
He described Daniel to be one of the most successful Filipinos in the United States and is considered to be among the leading personalities in his profession.
Daniel, who chose to stay and live in the US since the 1986, is an architect by profession.According to Esmale, Daniel learned that his younger brother was in New York together with the President who was then on a state visit.
“So he asked his brother if he could host the President to a dinner. But he was not around during the dinner,” Esmale said.
(Who was absent, Daniel or Martin Romualdez?)
New York Post’s Page Six publishes a follow-up story, confusing the theoretical computation for the real thing:
OUR little scoop about the $20,000 dinner Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo enjoyed last month at Le Cirque has blown up into a political firestorm in her homeland, where memories of Imelda Marcos’ shoe collection are still fresh. Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay pointed out that the cost of the dinner for 25 could have fed “almost 3,000 hungry families with three square meals.” A copy of Arroyo’s tab, posted on several blogs, showed 11 bottles of Krug champagne were ordered at $510 a pop. The entourage — who were charged $238 a head for the feast — also devoured Osetra caviar at $1,400 for five ounces. An Arroyo spokesman said Leyte Province Rep. Martin Romualdez, part of the delegation, footed the bill. But Philstar.com quoted Binay, “What they did was deplorable, especially if taxpayers’ money was spent. If they spent private money, what they did was in bad taste and again showed insensitivity to the millions of Filipinos who face hunger daily.”
New York Magazine makes the same mistakes, citing the theoretical bill as fact.
Remonde said he finally located the “source” of the information detailing what Ms Arroyo and her party supposedly had at Le Cirque—a blog.
He said the blog made assumptions about how the bill could have reached close to $20,000, based on the menu.
One computation making the rounds of blogs pegged the total bill at $19,866 with such items as Wild Golden Osetra Caviar ($1,400) and 11 bottles of Krug champagne ($5,610).
The widely circulated New York Post, which reported on the dinner, said Ms Arroyo “ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000.”
Remonde insisted the meal that Ms Arroyo and her group had at Le Cirque was “simple” and without caviar and champagne.
Close to 20 congressmen went with the President in the US trip last week of July, including Nograles. But the House leader left ahead to speak at the Asean parliament assembly in Thailand.
At least four House members who joined the trip claimed no knowledge about the Le Cirque dinner even amid Malacanang’s admission.
Pangasinan Representative Rachel Arenas told reporters to instead talk to Romualdez.
Marikina Representative Del de Guzman said they had dinner but not in Le Cirque. He said he ordered spaghetti.
Mindoro Occidental Representative Amelita Villarosa confirmed that they had dinner on August 2, but that she could not recall the name of the restaurant. She said the restaurant sounded like “Wolfgang,” and that the steak costs about $20 per serving.
Batangas Representative Hermilando Mandanas said the dinner he attended on August 2 was at the Bouley restaurant, which lasted 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Newsbreak reported the congressmen’s recollections as follows:
Curiously, other solons who joined President Arroyo in her working visit to the U.S. denied the dinner was at Le Cirque.
Occidental Mindoro Rep. Amelita Villarosa said they didn’t eat at Le Cirque, and that the food was not that expensive.
“Hindi Le Cirque yun. Parang ano nga, Wolfgang. It was the last dinner before we left New York. The president was there. It was not expensive. The steak was only around US$20,” she said.
Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas denied it, too.
“I was in the dinner on August 2, 2009 with President Arroyo from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. It was not at Le Cirque. There was no champagne, no caviar, etc. I don’t know who paid and how much,” he said.
“I have never been at Le Cirque. The first time I learned about it was from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Baka kuryente yan, but then again I am surprised Secretary Remonde let it pass,” Mandanas added.
Remonde has admitted the presidential entourage had dinner at Le Cirque, but denied it was lavish.
Marikina Rep. Del De Guzman also said he never ate at Le Cirque. “I ate spaghetti in a different restaurant. It’s not in Le Cirque,” he said.
Both accounts have the congressmen thereby revealing the other places the President dined: Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, Park Avenue (near the Waldorf-Astoria where the President stayed in New York) and Bouley Restaurant.
Both accounts helped confirm the Le Cirque dinner as having taken place on July 31; and that other meals were had at other places on August 2. (An Inquirer report on August 13 will mention that Rep. Hermilando Mandanas said the Bouley’s dinner took place from 8-11 PM.)
And also, that the initial published report of the le Cirque tab totalling $20,000 still stands uncontested by Palace or either of the Romualdez brothers.
House on a Hill attempts to do some sleuthing, too, primarily in terms of Le Cirque’s menus (though oddly enough she couldn’t find caviar on the menu):
Despite the paper’s shady ethics and less-than-credible stories, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the New York Post’s Page Six article “Eat and Drink” about Mrs. Arroyo’s Le Cirque dinner is false nor inaccurate. Even the most lurid publications do manage to come out with bits of truth on occasion.
That the dinner actually took place is not denied. Mrs. Arroyo and her husband did dine at the Le Cirque with a number of people. That Le Cirque is an expensive restaurant is not being contested either. Most Americans cringe at $20 dinners and Le Cirque’s is pegged at $58. I’ve seen its website and the photos of the restaurant are straight out of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The burning issues are, first, the total cost of the dinner and, second, who paid for it and with whose money.
The Reliable Source has learned that three days earlier, Arroyo and an entourage of about 65 people (including security and food tasters) had dinner at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse on 15th Street NW hours after she met with President Obama. The group took over one of the restaurant’s private rooms and dined on lobster, steak and fine wines; at the conclusion of the meal, an unidentified woman opened a handbag stuffed with cash, counted out bills and paid the $15,000 tab — which included a generous tip.
The Philippine Embassy did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
(Anyone want to link this story to Medy Poblador replacing the Secretary of Finance at the Oval Office meeting? Update: on August 14, columnist Lito Banayo does just that.)
BEFORE their $20,000 meal at Le Cirque, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and an entourage of about 65 — complete with food tasters, Secret Service and a kitchen monitor to watch food preparation — dined at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in DC on July 30. “The party spared no expense, and had lobster, steak and expensive wines,” said a source. “They paid their $15,000 bill, including a generous tip, with cash — which was counted out, unseen, underneath a table by a staff member.” Meanwhile, we’ve learned that Philippine Congressman Martin Romualdez, who allegedly paid for the Le Cirque feast, is a nephew of Imelda Marcos — who was exiled and acquitted in the US of racketeering charges before returning to her country.
I have a friend who works in the catering services in Dubai airport which provide the food for all airlines going out of Dubai. My friend shared a tidbit when GMA twice visited Dubai and in both times, GMA’s party specified that lobsters be included in the food to be provided to her charter flight when they depart Dubai. That’s why when the Washington Post’s article mentioned ‘lobsters’, it kind of confirmed my friend’s tidbit of GMA’s penchant for the expensive lobsters for her in-flight food. Next, I’ll ask my friend how much did the GMA party rack up for their in-flight catering.
In his two-page letter of complaint, Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez must look into the issue as public officials embroiled in the controversy may be held liable for violating several laws, including Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, the Revised Penal Code, and Presidential Decree 46 which makes it punishable for public officials and employees to receive gifts on any occasion.
In a Palace briefing, lawyer Romulo Macalintal blew his top and said the media had no right to raise morality as an issue when they were accepting advertisements
from politicians obviously violating the law against premature campaigning.
Which is as much an indictment of members of the President’s own cabinet and the ruling coalition as it is possibly of the media.
But it seems from Washington to New York to Manila, the alarm bells are ringing.
7:52 PMBefore NY, there was a $15k Washington dinner. A member of the President’s party, the garrulous Rep. Danilo Suarez (of whom Jarius Bondoc asks, why the gallantry in footing the President’s bill?), confirms the dinner took place but won’t confirm specifics:
In Manila, Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez, who was with Mrs. Arroyo in Washington, confirmed that they dined with the President at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse. He however did not confirm the reported $15,000 bill and was coy on who paid for it.
“I doubt if you will spend that much there. Parang Italianni’s yan e (It’s just like Italianni’s),” Suarez told GMANews.TV in a telephone interview.
He also said he could not remember how many they were, and whether they went to the restaurant hours after Mrs. Arroyo met with President Obama.
Suarez refused to divulge more details, saying he and his colleagues in the House have decided not to issue any more statements about the President’s dinners in the US since an “impeachment” case has been filed against her.
Executive Order (EO) 825, signed on July 29, set up the local group as counterpart to the national anti-hunger task force, to implement programs at the regional and provincial levels.
10 AM (approx) Elbert Cuenca reproduces an SMS message,via Twitter (see here, here, and here) supposedly from an employee in the Philippine Consulate in New York City (hat tip to The View from Saturday). I also got it as a forwarded message, and here it is in full:
Im ok, sir. Same here, im also ashamed about d extravagant stay. Her Waldorf suite, $3,500/day, $950/day for each of d congressmen and others. 60 rms wr ocupied in waldorf. 2 days they feasted in Le cirque charge to our office. At least 50 dined for 2 nites. They all came in stretch limos, rented for 3 days.
Reporters begin sleuthing around to see if there is any basis to this SMS. The alleged details above deviate in many respects from the official stories thus far: in terms of there being multiple Le Cirque dinners, in the number of persons (only Rep. Suarez said 50 people dined at the restaurant), even vehicles used (Sec. Remonde said most went by bus). (Update: the SMS would finally be categorically denied by the Consul-General on August 16.)
The source, who was among the reported 65 people in Mrs. Arroyo’s entourage, confirmed they had dined at the Bobby Van’s Steakhouse on 15th Street in Washington D.C. last July 30.
ABS-CBN’s Balitang America learned that the group agreed to dine out after President Arroyo was interviewed by Manila-based radio stations.
The source denied the dinner was lavish or extravagant…
The source told Balitang America that only Mrs. Arroyo and ranking Philippine officials, which included Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Agriculture Arthur Yap and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, and a group of congressmen, sat down on the long table for dinner.
The source said Mrs. Arroyo and the top Philippine officials ordered fresh oysters for appetizers and feasted on steaks and lobsters for the main course.
The rest of the party, the source added, were spread out in various tables or just standing around eating hamburgers and drinking soda.
The source also revealed that Mrs. Arroyo and her group were so full, they decided to walk back to the Willar Hotel, about two blocks away from the popular steakhouse.
1. Besides free meals, congressmen enjoyed free hotel accomodations, although he would not say who actually paid for the hotel rooms.
2. While Abante denied being at the Bobby Van’s dinner in Washington or in the Le Cirque dinner in New York, he did attend dinner at Bouley’s Restaurant that took place on August 2. This meal had originally been mentioned by Rep.Hermilando Mandanas; the report says he mentioned at the time (August 11) that the dinner took place from 8-11 PM.
“The issue at hand cannot be the sincerity of this President’s commitment to uplifting our poor,” Anthony Golez, deputy presidential spokesman, said in a statement.
“Whatever monies may have been spent for the appropriately ceremonious conduct of her official trip abroad are but a tiny fraction of the billions of pesos she has committed, and will continue to commit, to the alleviation of hunger and the amelioration of poverty in our country.”
“In their frenzy to score media points at the President’s expense, these critics will go so far as to demean and debase the office of the Presidency itself, not just its current occupant,” said deputy presidential spokesperson Anthony Golez in a press briefing.
“They would now have us believe that the leader of our nation is somehow not good enough to be hosted in the best hotels, or chauffeured around town, whenever he or she travels abroad as the representative of one of the fifteen largest countries in the world,” he added.
Returning to the confusion over which of the Romualdez brothers actually picked up the President’s tab, Stella Arnaldo in her blog comments as follows:
I have it on good authority though that Daniel didn’t pay for the dinner either. Apparently it’s a well-known fact among those close to the Romualdezes that while Daniel may be generous in charitable events, he is “too kuripot” to shell out that much for a lavish dinner where he doesn’t even personally know half of the guests. “It’s actually Martin who is galante,” as per a source. Martin is so galante, he is said to have gifted the presidentita a Rolex w/c costs anywhere bet. $3,600 to $11,000. Hmmm….
“I was the one who paid for the dinner. I invited the (Arroyo) family and our group, we were more than 60, including Secret Service agents and drivers,” Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez told The STAR.
He said the Washington Post and the New York Post erred in reporting that a female staff member opened a bag full of cash and took out $15,000 to pay for the dinner.
“Actually, my first choice was Morton’s steak house, but since there was no space for us there, we settled for Bobby Van’s. The cost would have easily been at least 20 percent more had there been space at Morton’s,” he said.
He said he saw nothing wrong with the Washington and New York City dinners since “it was their (Arroyos’) wedding anniversary.”
Suarez revealed that there was another dinner in New York City for which the presidential entourage also spent a big sum.
“Perhaps, even that, the papers might discover,” he said.
This latest alibi brings up some interesting points:
1. On August 12, Rep. Suarez, while confirming the dinner had taken place, had declined to state who paid for it.
2. But the next day (August 13, or in time to meet presstime August 14) he finally recalled who paid (he did!).
3. It raises the question of how the balding, grey-haired Suarez could be mistaken for a woman with a handbag, unless he attended the dinner in drag and carries around a purse.
4. He has begun to lay the basis for the handling of another New York dinner revelation (based on details originally leaked by his colleagues and mentioned in the timeline above, covering August 2).
5. In the story above, Rep. Bienvenido Abante, in addition to his August 13 statements that congressmen’s hotel rooms had been paid for by others (though he declined to say who, exactly), added:
a. Congressmen were billeted both at the Willard and the Waldorf-Astoria, same as the President, upon the invitation of the Palace;
b. And that he assumes the Palace paid for their trip and their accomodations.
6. Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni saysm in the same report, a “fact-checking investigation” will be undertaken.
7. The report also mentions the details being bruited about since the day before: 60 rooms booked at the Waldorf at $990 a night. Perhaps reporters are zeroing in on this tip.
Certainly, these tips are leading reporters and columnist like Jarius Bondoc to focus on previous presidential trips, and scuttlebutt from OFWS, in this case from a hotel worker, circa April 15, 2009:
“Si Pangulo pala nag-check in dito two nights and one day lang sila ang dami nila kasama, si Angelo Reyes at madami pang iba, mga 50 sila.Grabe ang gastos nila 150,000 dirham lang naman ang mga kuwarto kada gabi, times P12 per dirham equals P1,800,000!!!
“Mga fine wine ang in-order at mga Wagyu beef, ito ‘yung steak na pinaka-mahal, at champagne Dom Perignon.
“Tapos ’yung taga-Mindanao na governor ata ’yun, ang in-order na cognac ay ’yung 800 dirham (x P12) per shot, e naka 14 shots lang naman siya…
Asked about the reported woman with the handbag, Suarez said: “No, I paid.”
He also said it was usual for Ms Arroyo’s friends and allies to treat her: “It’s normal, it’s normal. Even here, we invite the President for dinner.”
He added that people were making too much of the dinners when there were important deals that Philippine officials had been able to negotiate with the US government.
Suarez said the food bill amounted to about $11,000; adding the service charge and taxes, it came up to $15,000.
He pointed out that it was a big group that included the security staff and Secret Service agents.
Suarez said Bobby Van’s Steakhouse was the second choice after Morton’s Steakhouse.
In the same article, acting Justice Secretary (and concurrent Solicitor-General) Agnes Devanadera, who’d previously opined that the President can’t be impeached for the dinner, says she was part of the group that dined at Le Cirque: but she only had salad as she was “missing rice.”
8 AM In a Malaya report, the deputy presidential spokesman clarifies that the President’s lawyer does not necessarily speak for the either the President or the Palace:
[Golez] also said the questions of Romulo Macalintal on the Philippine media’s morality Wednesday for harping on the expensive dinner in New York and Arroyo’s ballooning wealth is not necessarily shared by Malacañang, even if Macalintal is the President’s lawyer.
Macalintal, in a radio interview, said it is typical to spend $15,000 on fine dining in the US. “Palagay ko, kung sa Amerika gagastusin iyan palagay ko ganyan ang magagastos. Siguro tingnan natin kung iyan ba ay illegal o immoral,” he said.
He said with 65 members in Arroyo’s entourage, each would have consumed $230.77 or P11,036 – which he said would not have been immoral.
Macalintal on Wednesday turned the tables on the media for making a moral issue of the President’s spending too much in the New York dinner. He said media companies earn millions from the “illegal” political advertisements of presidential aspirants, who use public money for their propaganda, and challenged them to turn down these ads.
Not only presidential aspirants have the so-called infomercials. A number of Cabinet men eyeing elective posts have similar ads.
Suarez said several people heard and witnessed him invite Mrs. Arroyo to dinner at the Morton’s Steakhouse, also in Washington, but the “more fashionable” restaurant was already packed, so they ended up in the middle-class Bobby Van’s, which is equally famous in D.C.
“After the meeting of the President with President [Barack] Obama, I told the president that her 41st wedding anniversary is nearing and I would like to host a dinner,” Suarez said…
The congressman said he was seated at the back of the long table, which was inside a special room at the Bobby Van’s, and had to ask someone to get the receipt.
“We were seated behind. Pinakuha ko ang receipt, then I gave the money,” he said, indicating that he paid cash.
“I think we should stop making the President a punching bag, and let us concentrate more on the donut, not the hole. And let’s look at the better things in life,” he told reporters in Malacañang after the ceremonial signing into law of the Magna Carta for Women.
4-5 PM On ANC Presidential Spokesman for Economic Affairs Gary Olivar says of the sustained criticism of the President, her travels, and the meals:
“These are people overly concerned with delicadeza. Other things are more important to her.”
Gary Olivar also responded to question concerning the President’s travel expenses by saying that while the Commission on Audit had released figures, they had their own Department of Budget and Management Figures that not only are much less, but reflect a savings from the budgeted amount. Therefore, there should be a process to resolve the conflicting figures:
But Gary Olivar, Arroyo’s presidential spokesman on economic affairs, disputed Guingona’s claims.
He explained that based on an advisory of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in 2008, the president only spent P233 million for foreign trips, around P11 million less than the actual travel budget of P244.6 million.
“What we have is a difference of numbers between what is advised by the DBM and what the COA [Commission on Audit] report is alleged to have stated,” he said.
He also said that the Palace did not use contingent funds to augment Arroyo’s travel expenses, claiming that no releases were made by the DBM in 2008 from the contingent fund for these expenditures.
Olivar said the law allows the Office of the President to exceed its budget for foreign travel. He cited Section 62 of the 2008 GAA, which allows agencies to utilize their savings under the Maintenance and Operating Expenses even without prior approval by the DBM.
Deputy presidential spokesman for economic affairs Gary Olivar said the Palace respects the plan of some senators but said it is puzzling because details of her trips are open to the public.
He said the Commission on Audit (COA) has offices in various government agencies and its records are available for scrutiny.
“So people who want information on auditable activities and transactions can just go to the COA and go through the process of asking for information and people can also be assured that if anything wrong happens, COA would do its job that’s why COA is there in the first place,” Olivar told a news briefing.
Meanwhile, Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez confirmed yesterday that President Arroyo and her large entourage had another expensive dinner in New York City other than the controversial $20,000 meal at the posh Le Cirque French restaurant.
“Yes, there was a second dinner in New York. But I was not there. I had other engagements,” he said.
He could not say where it was exactly or how much the presidential entourage paid.
1. Having apparently told ABS-CBN that he’d invited the President to dinner, but that his invitation had been declined, he now said what happened was, he’d invited the President to Morton’s but the place was full, and so the presidential party ended up at Bobby Van’s:
“I think some of the congressmen and some senators were there when I said, ‘Ma’am, if you have some free time, I would like to invite you and the group to Morton’s,’” he said.
But Morton’s Steakhouse was closed, so the group settled for Bobby Van’s.
2. Instead of personally paying the bill as he’d claimed in his 2nd version of the steakhouse alibi (after initially simply confirming the dinner had taken place, but saying he didn’t know who’d paid), he now presented a 3rd version more in keeping with the Washington Post report:
The woman reported by the Washington Post as having paid the $15,000 bill in cash was a member of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), Suarez said.
“I don’t want the Americans to think that I paid for the dinner. Besides, why should they care as to who paid [for the dinner]?”
He added: “It was the PMS who made the arrangement.
“What I told them was, ‘Show me the receipt and I’ll give you the money.’ We did it discreetly.
Why he wouldn’t want the Americans to think he paid for dinner, he didn’t explain.
3. He said he originally wanted to pay by credit card, feared he’d exceed his limit, so opted for cash -which he’d been authorized to bring out of the country by the Central Bank.
So at this point, the Washington alibi has returned to trying to adhere to the Washington Post’s details. While the New york alibi is expanding to begin paving the way to include any further revelations that might emerge from leaks like the supposed SMS from a consulate staffer.
9:16 PM In NY consul says banquet story inaccurate, Philippine Consul-General Cecille Rebong, who used to be the President’s Palace protocol person, is said to have sent an August 14 report to the Press Secretary quoting a Filipino-American paper’s debunking the New York Post story:
Rebong told Remonde that Manny Caballero, writer of the Filipino Reporter, had interviewed Le Cirque’s contact manager Mario Wainer and wrote a story about the dinner that came out in the paper’s August 14-21 issue.
In the story, “Mr. Wainer was quoted as saying `It’s a lie’ and `It’s far from the truth,” Rebong said, adding that Wainer said Arroyo and her entourage “had dinner here like everyone else.”
Remonde refused to answer follow-up questions.
Rebong furnished him a copy of Caballero’s story, and vouched for the credibility of the weekly, Remonde said.
“Let the document speak for itself,” Remonde said, when asked if Malacañang was standing by the document.
Philippine Consul General in New York Cecilia Rebong disclosed that the August 14 to 21, 2009 issue of the Filipino Reporter in New York reported that the $20,000 dinner tab controversy is a “lie,” based on an interview with Le Cirque contact manager Mario Wainer.
Wainer was quoted as saying, “it’s a lie” and “it’s far from the truth.” He said: “President Arroyo and her group had dinner here (Le Cirque) just like everyone else.”
“The $20,000 dinner tab was not true,” Rebong also said.
She added: “The article said the Filipino Reporter suggested to Mr. Wainer ‘that in the light of conflicting claims in Manila and by critics of Mrs. Arroyo and by the New York Post, on one hand, and the President’s men, on the other, perhaps, Le Cirque should issue a statement to clarify the issue.’ However, Mr. Wainer replied that we (Le Cirque) do not involve ourselves in politics.”
The online edition of The Filipino Reporter was last updated June 19-25, 2009. Manny Caballero, columnist, doesn’t have a new column on the topic. However, the blog Memypoliticsandmyworld publishes what may be the article in question.
An article in The Negros Chronicle categorically denies that any member of the media covering the President’s visit ate either in Bobby Van’s or Le Cirque.
The article quotes Mario Wainer, contact manager of Le Cirque, as saying, “It’s a lie, it’s far from the truth,” adding, “President Arroyo and her group had dinner here just like everyone else.”
When asked “whether the mention of $20,000 dinner tab was accurate,” Wainer “became furious and said it was not true.” His response to Manny Caballero’s question suggests that the response was a denial of the theoretical breakdown being a facsimile of the bill; because Wainer on the other hand, refused to categorically confirm or deny the actual amount spent:
“He said he was not supposed to reveal any figure for the customer’s privacy but the New York Post story was false.” But then, false how?
1. The President was there with a small instead of a large entourage? (See August 9; this would be in keeping with Remonde’s original assertion that only 15-20 people were at the dinner; but it makes the per-person bill close to $1,000 a head)
2. The President did not order several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab to $20,000? But if the tab was not $20,000 was it lower? Or higher? Remonde, Suarez, etc. have never categorically disputed the supposed amount: if that wasn’t the amount why were they unwilling to categorically deny it?
So the denial raises even more questions. If you check the Filipino Reporter story, it was published on August 14, therefore, written on or before then; and it was only on August 14 that the Philippine media sorted out it had been incorrectly reporting my theoretical computation as the actual bill.
In other words, Wainer was responding exactly as Remonde did –by saying the supposed bill couldn’t be real, because, indeed, the bill being alleged as real was not real at all.
“News reports have reached the Philippine Consulate General in New York insinuating that our funds were used to pay for expenses related to the recent official visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to New York and that this arrangement would cause possible delay in the payment of salaries of consulate personnel. News also said that somebody from the consulate general relayed this information to some media agencies in Manila,” she said.
“I categorically state that these reports are not true. The funds allocated by the Department of Foreign Affairs to the consulate general in New York are never used to pay for expenses related to official/working visits of the President. The consulate funds were not used to pay for hotel accommodation, transportation, meals, or any expenses related to the recent New York visit of the President. More importantly, nobody from the consulate in New York contacted any media agency in Manila about this matter and therefore, all these allegations supposedly coming from a consulate staff are false.”
Epilogue
As for high society, which took much of my time in the past, I must say that its days are over. Finished. Society, as we knew it in the 1950’s till the 1980’s is dead. It has been killed by new contending forces and has sunk without a trace. The rise of new classes, a drastic change in public ideology and the social contract, the expanding economy have done it in. It’s almost as if there had been a revolution. The detritus is the new cafe and club society we see parlayed and hyped up in the lifestyle sections of the press today.
— Chito Madrigal Collantes, In her autobiography, Picture Me
Machiavelli advised that the appearance of piety is politically more important than piety itself. In a society that puts a premium on social conventions, conforming to those conventions is more important than whether anyone involved actually feels anything about the event concerned. But the broader debate concerns changing definitions of acceptable official behavior.
This is the continuing political dilemma the President faces as a result of the Le Cirque dinner story. And that’s only one story that actually became story primarily because of the bill involved. The President has been fortunate in that details haven’t been leaked concerning other dinners or lunches she had while in New York, because as it is, she’s been given some slack in some quarters on the belief she only had one fancy dinner to mark her wedding anniversary. This is because others considered the dinner inappropriate considering the President herself had enjoined her countrymen to mourn Cory’s passing. The President’s husband did tell the press, after their wedding anniversary Mass, that they had a lunch lined up.
What then, is the moral, such as it is, of the tale? In terms of political communication, only that days of furious crisis management by the Palace have failed to debunk the original assertions of the New York Post:
1. A wedding anniversary dinner took place on July 31 (not on August 2, the actual anniversary) at Le Cirque (there were other anniversary-related meals on August 2 itself);
2. The President was accompanied by “a large entourage” to “enjoy the good life”;
3. The President ordered several bottles of very expensive wine;
4. The dinner tab was $20,000.
So that, just when the Palace thought it had turned the tables on the Philippine media, the Washington Post reports a $15,000 steakhouse dinner in Washington DC.
Which has opened up another can of worms -and there’s nine years’ worth of those cans ready to burst open, it seems. Though Carmen Pedrosa thinks Gloria is no Imelda.
This week there were columns by David Pilling in the Financial Times, an obituary in the BBC, in even as Time Magazine devoted its Asian edition cover to Cory Aquino, Ellen Tordesilla came upon a shining example of the President getting some foreign media exposure too -in the (in)famous page six section of The New York Post. The Post reported that the President spent a cool $20,000 on a dinner at Le Cirque. The bill bloat seems to have come from several bottles of wine. The restaurant says its wine ranges from $28 to $12,000.
The contrast with the Cory a new generation has come to know and appreciate, couldn’t be more vast. I wonder how someone like Bookmarked! who was touched by the events of the past days, or someone like Quiet Time Ramblings, who went to the wake and described her experiences there, will feel about articles like the New York Post’s.
Summing up Cory’s life continues among bloggers. Some more noteworthy entries follow.
That procession in the rain was Cory’s last duty of state; the final act in the public drama. It was also, to those who understood it, the concluding chapter in a love story. At the end of the cortege was a relatively modest grave, no grander than that which a successful small businessman might have, dug beside the spot where Ninoy lay. It was where she wanted to go. When she first learned she had colon cancer more than a year ago, Aquino told her family she would refuse aggressive treatment. Her time, she said, had come. Her daughter Kris related how, when the end was near, she was called back into the room by a nurse from the corridor, where she had stepped out to drink some coffee. Cory bade her daughter bend and said, “I can see him now. Your father is holding out his hand to me.” Dylan Thomas wrote of grave men “near death, who see with blinding sight”; of those on their deathbeds who, perhaps from the effects of medication, delirium or that blinding sight see before them those to whom they would come. Underneath the story of the People Power revolution was also a story of a woman who avenged her husband and reached out to him across the gulf of death with the frail hand of love.
There is at the location where the multitudes gathered in Manila to chase out Marcos an artistically inept statue of something called Our Lady of EDSA. It is a hideous representation of the Virgin Mary as she is believed to have come to a poor and desperate nation. It’s a terrible statue — all gray concrete and rain stains. But nobody minds its aesthetic defects because everyone who was there in 1986 saw the real Lady of EDSA in the flesh: a little woman, once beautiful in youth, in a dowdy yellow dress giving multitudes for a moment a glimpse into all that they could be. She could be their mirror because she was empty of normal ambition; and that is the way of miracles, when we see the extraordinariness of it all for the first time because we have learned to see. Goodbye Cory. And thank Ninoy for us.
It has become fashionable these days to say you failed. That the freedom that you helped us win in 1986 has not gotten us any closer to building a just and prosperous society. That while you yourself were not corrupt, your relatives and your advisers were. That we’ve simply replaced one set of thieves and murderers with another.
It has become fashionable these days to blame you for all of that. Because you didn’t do enough to prevent your revolution from being dismantled from within.
But the people who say that fail to see what 1986 was really about. It wasn’t about you saving us from the Regime and everyone living happily ever after. You did your part everytime you were called upon to do so. The problem was we expected you to do it all by yourself while we stood on the sidelines. We didn’t realize that we had a role to play too and that one person would not be able to do it alone. You didn’t fail. We did.
Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino embodies, in ways that people would be hard-pressed to actually articulate, the revolutionary trajectory of the Filipino in their quest for self-realization and the establishment of a true government of the people, for the people and by the people. We see in her the personification of what can be done to make the best out of a bad situation. It has not been new to us. Emilio Aguinaldo was thrust in the global political sphere in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, and exhausted every effort he can in order to maintain the independence his people were able to grasp from Spanish hegemony, if not for the tragic mistake of trusting the “cold, calculating Sons of the North.” Manuel Quezon, for all his flair, pushed on the platform of immediate independence despite its unfeasibility not just solely because he wished to strengthen his political acumen but because he is also among those who wanted a Philippines that truly speaks for itself.
Cacique democracy, it must be admitted, can never be separated from Tita Cory’s political identification. And yet despite this, it appears that, similar to that a creole like Quezon gained Malacanang at the downfall of the Federalistas, she was able to achieve what before seemed already a hopeless effort: an inauguration of a new revolutionary tradition. Though many would say that, in her later years, she is a fading voice of conscience in a society that has already lost its own and is apathetically (and pathetically) bumbling towards a hand-to-mouth existence, no one can claim that all that effort for re-imagining and reinstating what the people seeks for themselves did not make any relevant impact on the people’s fight. Her humble demeanour, never the first to impose but willing to strike back (as witness her denouncement of her own Vice-President, Salvador Laurel, after his turnaround during the Christmas Coup of 1989), appeals to our masses in the same way that we have a fanatical devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary (she herself being one), the essential mother figure. That Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attempted to ape it (and ultimately failed to do so) shows us how permanent an image she has imprinted in our cultural consciousness.
The death of President Aquino cornered the Filipino people in such a situation: we are reminded of how we whitewashed our hopes, how fragile we have become in the face of change, how impatient we are at engaging in long struggles, and more importantly, how infantile our democracy is. After her tenure, President Aquino was the subject of criticism because of acts of injustices which transpired during her time: the refusal to repudiate national debt, the Mendiola Massacre, and the exclusion of Hacienda Luisita from the agrarian reform project. These, of course, were all very real but Cory was neither the best executive this country ever had. Amidst the criticism to her government, the spirit of forgetting intervenes to make the most of us surrender to the conditions of what we were born into, hence making us prisoners into another vicious cycle of stagnation. Cory Aquino’s life was a life of suffering, but it was a suffering with acceptance and suffering for a purpose. Her greatness certainly does not lie in her acuity at managing the bureaucracy; it rests within her courage and faith as an ordinary person to heed the call of democracy and freedom which are far larger than her own life.
Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom, Hannah Arendt says. But in order to do so we must know first of which crimes against the country should be placed under the platform of justice. It is only then that we may proceed to making the guilty accountable and to growing more maturely from what has happened. Whatever fate the Philippines has experienced for the past two decades is surely not the result of a case of a quick forgive; it is rather the consequence of forgetfulness and an allergy to learning from the past.
As the rest of the Filipino nation poured out their sympathy for Cory, I cannot help but fear that what we have been grieving over is not the loss of a great woman and her extraordinary life. I fear that what we have seen is regression into the nostalgia of a golden age we enjoyed but did not care to fight for and preserve. The task then is for us to move out of the preference for forgetting and do so as how Cory did: inspire one another with the spirit of revolution and hope.
I contented myself with the proposition that my current disposition is valid, politically correct and consistent with the masses’ interest and pulse. Cory will not have my sympathy.
But then again, as I was watching Mrs. Aquino’s funeral service, I cannot help but notice the continuing pouring of support and sympathy from many people. I am not talking about here of middle class people who we often associate with Cory but rather, of ordinary, everyday people; the labanderas, the obreros, the manangs, the urban poor, the probinsyanos; the very same masses we from the broad left movement have sworn to serve with utmost passion and dedication.
They have no anger in their eyes, no impassioned tirades on the Aquino government’s horrible mistakes, no finger pointing, no rage, no resentment. All I saw on television was a long yellow line of sad heart-broken faces waiting for their turn to view their president one last time; mourning as if they too have lost a loved one, grieving as if they too lost something important in their life.
My first reaction was sheer amusement and bewilderment which immediately turned into anger. How could the people have possibly forgotten? How could have they possibly forgiven Cory and her regime when they were never given any exoneration from their misery and poverty in the first place? How could they idolize her and identify with her?
I concluded this could be the result of the Filipino people’s overt romanticism, its legendary propensity to easily forgive and forget which inevitably fused with corporate media’s proclivity for creative spins and spectacles. I said to myself, this would quickly fade as it was quickly created with the people going back to reality; back to their wowowee dreams, back to our same old rubbish shitty lives.
However, each passing day was a revelation. Particularly, what struck me most was when people were asked why they were there. Almost all answered that they wanted to pay tribute to the woman who helped them restored democracy, who helped them reclaimed what was rightfully theirs. From the mother who brought her daughter all the way from Isabela to teach her about democracy, the students who were too young to even remember Edsa 1 up to the laborers and the poor who proudly claimed to have been participants to people power 1, 2 and even 3, all said it was because of democracy.
Then it finally dawned on me why this woman despite her regime’s numerous social and economic transgressions is so loved and cherished by a people representing three generation of Edsas. It’s not so much because she is religious, a mother-like figure to many, a glorified widow or simply a martyr; beyond the labels, our ideological flexing and the comfortable branding of pundits, Cory has been duly recognized by the people as an icon in their transition from despotism to rule of law, their struggle from tyranny towards a sense of freedom and democracy. Cory is first and foremost the representation of that ideal, of that difficult journey towards democratization, of that collective national experience.
And it did not stop there. She will also be remembered as a defender of that particular form of democracy flawed and wanting it may be in so many ways, not measuring up to our Marxist concept of a democratic archetype. From people power 2 which removed an incompetent and corrupt regime up to her participation in the fight to throw out the illegitimate Arroyo regime and its sinister plan to amend the constitution, Cory will be remembered and respected as a person who despite her privileged status joined the people in their most trying and important political junctures.
She will also be remembered for her seemingly incorruptible disposition and her lack of desire to cling to power more than what was bestowed to her. This is in sharp contradiction with the succeeding governments that followed her especially the current Arroyo regime which has shown its penchant to further its illegitimate rule through a combination of brute force and fake consent.
To us she was the symbol of the world we wanted: a world where people could speak their minds without disappearing, where public servants actually served, where leaders were honest, just, selfless, intelligent and dignified.
You don’t have to be 35 and up to know that that was not the world we got. These days when we speak of politics at all it is with indifference, anger, or “Please, could we talk about something that doesn’t make us nauseous?” But there was a time when we could discuss government with hope, pride and trust in our leaders, and that was when Corazon Aquino was president.
It did not last. We were cruelly disillusioned: “Pare-pareho lang naman pala kayong lahat.” The revolution had failed us, if it was a revolution at all. Later, whenever Tita Cory urged us to join mass protests against official corruption we still went, but many of us wondered what for. Massing on the streets would cause traffic jams, disrupt business, generate bad press for the country. We should be mature, let the democratic process take its course.
In other words we had resolved to suck it up. Grownups do it all the time.
So we did what was deemed pragmatic. We made compromises and dug in.
We didn’t want any trouble. We got by; some would argue that we did pretty well under the circumstances. But something rankled. If we were doing the right thing, why were we beginning to loathe ourselves?
We heard ourselves speaking with fond nostalgia about how orderly the city was during the Marcos years, how at least there was support for the arts. More and more we found ourselves throwing our hands up and saying, “Whatever.” Is that what being an adult is like, saying “There’s nothing I can do”? No more applying your imagination, just sheep-like acceptance? Because if that’s maturity, it is not a good thing.
When I heard the news of President Cory Aquino’s death I was surprised at how upset I was. I found myself getting teary-eyed when talking about her. Most times I will gouge your eyes out before I let you see me cry, but in this instance it’s all right — my friends are getting soppy, too. On TV, hardcore former coup plotters are weeping because Tita Cory is dead.
Thousands of people with nothing to gain lined up for hours at La Salle and at Manila Cathedral to pay their last respects to our president. They had nothing to gain but their self-respect and the feeling that they had a country. Politicians promise us everything, but sometimes all we really want is to feel that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.
On Monday morning on EDSA I thought it was 1986 all over again. Why this massive outpouring of grief and affection for a symbol we thought we had outgrown?
I think Tita Cory reminds us of our other, better selves — the ones who were prepared to make sacrifices for a noble cause. Politicians and governments have sorely disappointed us, but we never lost faith in Tita Cory the human being. She never mocked our aspirations or knowingly insulted our intelligence. She defended the Constitution from those who would bend it to their own ends; she rejected the idea of perpetuating herself in power. Say what you will about the missed opportunities and lost chances, Cory Aquino was decent to us.
She was a good person.
And after all our “growing up,” “learning to face harsh reality” and losing our illusions, it turns out that character does matter. Being good does make a difference. You will not receive praise or payment for it, and other people will mistake your goodness for weakness, but it resonates among people you won’t even meet.
(above: Philippines Free Press editorial circa Cory’s return from her US visit in 1987)
The Philippine Daily Inquirer marked Cory Aquino’s passing with the editorial Our eternal flame, our Cory and marks her burial today with the editorial, ‘Paalam’; today’s entry is this initial survey of some of the most important -because meaningful- commentaries to emerge in the wake of Cory Aquino’s passing, interspersed with some initial thoughts on what these summations represent. In addition to those linked below, among the essential readings to emerge over the past days are entries in Torn & Frayed in Manila and in village idiot savant; a humorous vignette from Ambeth Ocampo; and finally, Cory herself, by means of the transcript of Cory Aquino’s last interview with Jessica Soho.
I have fallen in love with the same woman three times; In a day spanning 19 years of tearful joys and joyful tears.
IF Ninoy fell in love with Cory three times, the country fell in love with her thrice: as a widow in 1983, as a candidate for president in 1986, as an icon of democracy in 2009 –so said Fr. Manoling Francisco, the Jesuit, during the necrological rites the evening before Cory Aquino was finally laid to rest.
Of that love affair, it must be said in addition that all three times involved Cory as conscience of a country: and that the love affair was stormy in its own way and that there were periods of separation.
Writing twenty-three years apart, the late Teodoro M. Locsin Sr. and Eric Gamalinda both saw the same thing. A castrated country that needed Cory to restore its manhood.
Locsin had written of Cory, in a Philippines Free Press editorial dated February 7, 1986,
There has never been anything like it in Philippine history: “a woman telling the machos of business and industry to do what she is doing, to stand up to the injustices against which they have been content merely to complain. That the economy is being ruined, has been ruined, from which they happily drew so much profit in the past; that the system under which they prospered is in dire danger of total collapse and eventual replacement by one that would have no place for them is evident to them. Free enterprise, that holy of holiest in their minds, is doomed by crony capitalism. And one with any sense of morality, of human right and dignity, can only recoil from government by, for, and of one man clearly determined to maintain his rule at whatever cost to the nation. But it took a woman to do what a man, or men, should have been doing: Fight! Being a man was sadly inadequate. One had to be something else. Be a woman — like her! Like Cory.
Eric Gamalinda, writing in his eponymous blog on August 1, made a similar observation of Cory’s doing the machos one better:
We wanted Cory Aquino to be strong so we could remain passive. We wanted her to save us so we could refuse to save ourselves. She was there so we could continue the infantile neurosis that has always sustained the Philippines’ need for a ‘guiding’ power – God or a dictator, choose your daddy – and has always justified its corruption and poverty. She was, as so many predicted during the heyday of the people power revolution, our Joan of Arc. We knew we would burn her for allowing us to corrupt the vision we wanted her to sustain. We forgot so soon that she had achieved what no man in our supremely machismo-obsessed country had done – to get rid of the Marcoses. For that alone, we should be grateful. If the Philippines never rose from the ‘long nightmare’ after she took over the presidency, we have no one to blame but ourselves.”
If Locsin, at the time Cory Aquino was on the threshold of power, and Gamalinda, at a point when people began penning summations of her life, could look at Cory from the perspective of a nation that had lost its manhood, castrated, so to speak, by the dictatorship, in contrast to their perhaps hypermasculine approach three women’s observations –indeed, their own struggles, at the end of Cory’s life, to attempt to sum up the meaning of her public life from her becoming a widow to her passing- make for a composite that accurately gauges the public reaction to Cory’s death.
Sheila Coronel, writing for the online news magazine The Asia Sentinel, tried to evoke the country’s –and Cory’s- commingled suffering in 1983 and the resulting common cause in 1986. Recalling Cory’s decision to run for president against the dictator, Coronel recounted Cory,
In a voice that betrayed no emotion… told the large crowds that had gathered to see her [in 1985] that [in 1983] she had asked to be left alone with her husband’s body. ‘Ninoy,’ she told him, ‘itutuloy ko ang laban mo (I will continue your fight).
Coronel mused,
Those who did not live through the 1980s will find all this too melodramatic. But the Philippines was a different place then. We were a country ruled by a dying dictator being kept alive by frantic doctors and dialysis machines behind the walls of the highly fortified presidential palace. As Ferdinand Marcos lay on the throes of death, palace factions conspired, the army was restive in the barracks and the air was rife with rumor and intrigue.
Indeed it had been the distinct possibility Marcos was either dying or was in a terminal condition conducive to eyeing his ultimate standing in the history books, that had led Ninoy Aquino to come home in his Quixotic quest to reason with the dictator. The response to Ninoy’s reasonableness was bullets.
And so, as Coronel puts it,
Into this twilight came Cory Aquino. She was the grieving widow of Marcos’s martyr. She had been purified by suffering, her agony mirroring the nation’s. In 1986, she told the crowds that gathered in rapt attention, ‘I am just like you, a victim of Marcos.’ How could any Filipino not be moved?
Though Coronel points out that there would be some, like her, who subsequently remained unconvinced of the miraculous aspect of the national deliverance –and redemption- at Edsa.
Churchill had cautioned his people in the aftermath of the “Miracle of Dunkirk,” that “wars are not won by evacuation”. The agnosticism of those attempting to sum up Cory’s life and determine its ultimate meaning must therefore ultimately stand mute and abashed before Cory’s unshakeable belief in the miraculous aspect of Edsa resulting in national deliverance because peaceful –and made possible, as a victory, by an evacuation –not of brave soldiers from an entrapment seemingly impossible to escape, as the British in Dunkirk, but of am ailing, drug-addled dictator and his family from their antiseptic palace to embittered exile in Hawaii.
The difficulty with Edsa as National Deliverance extends not merely to the agnostic who acknowledge incomprehension in the face of miracles, but outright skepticism and hostility from those whose faith is of the incongruous kind anchored in historical materialism. For as columnist Manuel Buencamino, writing on the day Cory was buried wrote in The Business Mirror, what the Filipino people gathered at Edsa did was not just to “snatch victory from the jaws of defeat,” as Cory herself put it in her famous speech to the US Congress. What Filipinos did was slay dogma:
In 1986, the Filipino people, inspired and emboldened by the sincerity and courage of Corazon Aquino, took back the democracy that was taken away from them in 1972. Armed only with their faith and a firm belief in their capability to decide their own future, they faced down tanks.?
Their valor and audacity proved that Mao’s famous adage on power was just another lie foisted by oppressors. Edsa established, once and for all, that power comes not from the barrel of a gun but from the hearts of the people.
Dissent to this and similar verdicts, of non-violence as the dominant political discourse since Ninoy’s martyrdom, was registered with some vehemence at first, until it became obvious that the country had once more united in defense of Cory and was quite prepared to stare down any rumblings of either Marcosian machismo or Agitprop from the other extremity of the political spectrum –at which point it became more muted. At the heart of the big push that end up faltering, was the re-assertion of Cory as irredeemable Class Enemy, and of what was put in place at Edsa as “mere” restoration and indeed, betrayal.
In other words, at the end of Cory’s life came a renewed effort to dismiss her along either that of Marcos’ false bravado or according to the doctrines of a movement that would have preferred Cory a martyr because, like Ninoy, it would have saved the cost of bullets for liquidating two more class enemies.
But as journalist Malou Mangahas wrote in the blog of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism,
The Cory years launched a whole new regime of good programs that by quality and quantity surpass the combined achievements of her three successors.
The three post-EDSA presidents after Cory - Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph E. Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - practically just had to breeze through the presidency all because Cory had done most of the work for them. And yet, by all accounts, they built less and destroyed more of what Cory had set out to do for the nation. And yes, they probably did more bad than all the good and not-so-good things that Cory did.
Mangahas briskly recounts what these achievements were:
Apart from a new Constitution, Cory gave the nation groundbreaking policies and reforms, notably the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the Commission on Human Rights, the Local Government Code, the Family Code, the Administrative Code, the Expanded Value-Added Tax, the Generics Act, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, the National Youth Commission, and a bounty of laws for mothers, children, rebel-returnees, and indigenous communities.
Mangahas continued,
As well, Cory freed political prisoners, forged peace with rebels, and nursed to life the communities struck down by the biggest disasters in recent Philippine history (the 1990 earthquake and the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in1991).
And it is from Carla Montemayor, in a commentary published online for the GMA Network’s online news outfit, that the closing summation comes. Fr. Francisco discreetly didn’t mention that the Cory in between her 1986 incarnation as challenger, and vanquisher, of the dictator, and her apotheosis, after her passing, as a kind of mediatrix and patroness of democracy in 2009 – was a Cory whose popularity ebbed and more often than not, waned, so that, as she ended up calling each one of her successors to task, with varying (and decreasing) levels of success, her intrinsic worth came increasingly into question, particularly by the political class.
Montemayor, looking at Cory –whether idolized or contemptuously referred to as a has-been- pointed out that
In Cory we saw how each decision had a moral quality to it; that she tried, even in the most ambiguous of predicaments, to determine what was right and wrong, what was just and unjust. It says a lot about the state of our society that one has to be heroic just to stay decent.
And it is this that is the uncontestable verdict: of a woman who personified heroic virtues –much to the chagrin of enemies old and new; and in contrast to a country that, in paying final tribute to her redeemed itself once more, purging itself of cynicism at least for the five days between Cory’s passing and her burial.
