4:08 PM

Ricky Carandang reports quorums exist and joint session will begin shortly. Expected to last until 9 PM with continuation tomorrow. Each chamber will have 10 hours alloted for questioning; administration officials will testify as "resource persons."

4:11 PM

Both maces in their stands, signifying session has begun.

4:14 PM

Kabataan Party List Tweets "opening prayer asks for discernment, wisdom on whether or not to revoke martial law, justice for victims of Ampatuan massacre."

4:17 PM

UP Law Dean Leonen on ANC expresses opinion House members may actually display some independence because it's an election year. He expects administration officials to supplement President's report with "new evidence" of rebellion. ANC Alerts Twitter account reports Leonen's opinion: Rebellion case vs. Ampatuans to continue even if Congress revokes martial law in Maguindanao.

The Lobbyist Twitter account reports Senate seated to left of rostrum (facing it), House to the right. Senate has quorum. Roll call of House ongoing. 147 votes required to approve/reject martial law.

4:26 PM

Rep. Cuenco quizzing Speaker on rules adopted for joint session. Asking if motion to revoke Proc. 1959 can be amended? Nograles: No. Cuenco: Sixty days or nothing? Nograles: Yes. Rules submitted for adoption; Senate approves. House moves to consider President's report.

4:29 PM

One minute suspension per House Majority Leader Defensor.

4:31 PM

Session resumes. House and Senate move to include the supplementary report to President's report. Zubiri moves to suspend session momentarily to allow arrival of President's representatives.

4:38 PM

Session resumes. Speaker informs body AFP Chief of Staff Victor Ibrado will be late, plane arrives from China later; DND Sec. Gonzales is in Singapore and won't be appearing until tomorrow. Underlings will substitute for both today. Enrile formally confirms he also received phone calls Speaker mentioned.

4:40 PM

Sen. Roxas is recognized: points out schedule was not secret, joint session moved 24 hours; why can't Gonzales make it? Enrile says he can't answer, respectfully suggests Defense Secretary be asked when he appears. Roxas: why not Ermita, since he approves all travel? Enrile asks Ermita to answer. Ermita replies "because of important mission... negotiations between GRP-MILF requiring DND Sec. be accessible for immediate consultation."

4:43 PM

Camarines Sur Rep. asks why constitutional law authorities haven't been invited. Speaker says purpose of joint session is "merely" to listen to factual basis for Proc. 1959.

Sen. Gordon: We make history today. First time for a joint session to review factual basis of martial law. This is not a surprise; Constitution is clear Congress must be convened. I feel very disappointed and diminished that Sec. of National Defense who I saw last night in a hotel, and the Chief of Staff will not be here. To my mind if I may be so bold, we are a co-equal branch and we must review, it behooves administrators of martial law to appear before representatives. Their non-appearance suggests government case is weak; their leaving indicates everything under control (proceeds to disquisition on checks and balances). Expresses dismay at executive department's brushing off Congress.

4:49 PM

Enrile makes soothing comments about Gordon's speech.

Rep. Dilangalen: Cites Constitutional requirement for President to submit Report; parliamentary inquiry: why is the President not here? This is history. Speaker: the President has substantially complied with Constitutional requirement. Dilangalen: That's a given matter, does the President not have any courtesy of informing us personally? I ask this because I'm from Maguindanao, Datumanong and I very much affected; considering historical significance of this event, we thought if President declared martial law, we also believe the President should be here and explain to us. Only Datumanong and I can experience what it's like to represent an area under martial law; she may not consider this important to her? Why is she not here?

Speaker cites rules providing only the appearance of those already sent by chief executive.

4:53 PM

Brief recess to permit representative of Chief of Staff to take his place on the floor. Leonen on ANC bothered by Speaker answering for chief executive when Executive Secretary is there as alter ego of President. Leonen agrees with Dilangalen that President ought to have appeared.

4:58 PM

Session resumes. Secretaries Ermita, Puno, Devanadera, PNP Chief Versoza, Gen. Maclang representing Gen. Ibrado attending.

Sen. Pimentel raises parliamentary inquiry: Reiterates President's non-attendance; she cannot be compelled, but contends, since no precedents to go by, furnishing copies to legislators is not the report per se? Enrile: President has option to report in person or in writing; she opted to report in writing that "appears to contain facts" enough for deliberations; no grounds to compel President; Constitution precisely accorded her options.

Majority floor leader tries to introduce administration representatives...

Rep. Teddyboy Locsin: parliamentary inquiry. Points out Dilangalen is forum shopping -go to ShoeMart! While Supreme Court will inhibit itself while Congress deliberating; this is appropriate forum. Dilangalen tries to respond, Speaker insists on responding first. Dilangalen: no, Locsin's statement was preposterous and out of order! Speaker: Dilangalen has every right to speak. Dilangalen: I advise my classmate to read Constitution; why bar me here? I move he be declared out of order. Speaker: Chair has responded. Dilangelen: What about my motion to declare him out of order?

Session suspended.

5:17 PM

Leonen on ANC suggests there may not be a majority to decide question either way; suspensions allow lobbying on sidelines.

5:23 PM

Rep. Palatino Tweets 189 representatives responded to roll call; 70 representatives absent.

5:33 PM

Carandang reports House leadership trying to prevent a vote on motion to declare Locsin out of order; would set precedent to brawls; Dilangalen brought to House lounge to cool off. (I guess this is why Nograles wanted to duck having a joint session at all, he can't herd cats properly. Enrile must be chuckling.)

Vote calculations per Twitterer gino510: "24 Senators+270 Reps=290 Members provided that all posts are occupied. Majority is 148."

5:42 PM

Session resumes.Locsin withdraws remarks to avoid offending Dilangalen. Dilangalen grudgingly reiterates why Congress convened: issue is whether or not we will revoke -revoke only!- Proclamation 1959. We are going to make a "political rrrrrrrreview" of whether to support revocation or allow for sixty days. Points out Supreme Court's role. Locsin erupts: If this continues, I might change my mind!

Session suspended.

5:46 PM

Session restored. House majority leader asks for Maguindanao Rep. to be recognized for "one sentence." Recognized for "a very brief remark." Dilangalen tries to be soothing in turn, peace is made. "I forgive you Teddyboy." Generally hilarity in Congress ensues.

House Majority Leader moves to recognize Sec. Ermita.

Ermita (in folksy uncle style): President issued Proc. 1946 to supress lawlessness in Maguindanao due to Ampatuan Massacre. Accordingly law enforcement agencies were mobilized to apprehend lawless elements involved in massacre. A day after proclamation, witnesses surfaced identifying Andal Ampatuan Jr. as leader of 100 armed men who undertook carnage; hence he was put under government custody and multiple murder charges eventually filed. Arrest of Ampatuan Jr. would have resulted in expeditious apprehension of other suspects but situation proved to the contrary; the Ampatuan group have since used their strength and political position to deprive President of power to enforce law and maintain public order and safety. Proc. 1959 is a faithful exercise of her sacred and prime duty to preserve and defend Constitution, execute laws and do justice to every man. There exists in Maguindanao an armed force whose effect is to prevent government from enforcing laws. PNP will give briefing.

5:54 PM

Roxas requests hard copies of written presentations. Dilly-dallying over secretarial question. Ermita: hard copies will be provided but we need Congressional staff to help in reproduction... Roxas says OK.

5:56 PM

PNP's Caro poised to give presentation; Rep. Golez interjects that Ermita's verbal report varies from hard copy; this is supposed to be report by President, for the record, is verbatim authorized by President? Ermita: The report is authorized by President, it will be shown in substance very similar to original report.

5:58 PM

PNP's Andres Caro, director of operations: Report on prevailing situation in Maguindanao, gruesome murder; actions taken, implementation of Proc. 1959. Background: even before gruesome murder, gubernatorial race expected to be hotly contested by two clans with known rido: Ampatuans and Mangudadatus. Mangudadatu sent his wife, etc. to file candidacy papers; at 10 AM 11/23/09 eight "behikels" were flagged down in a checkpoint manned by members of Maguindanao PNP and CVO's; thereafter abduction occurred as convoy brought 2.5 KM away from national highway. After receiving information convoy was abducted, 64th IB PA launched rescue op at 11AM, got there 1 PM met PNP official Dikay who said they had no knowledge; acting on information provided by informants, troops proceeded eastwards; about 1:45 PM troops met two men armed with M-16 rifle and shotgun claiming to be CVOs of Ampatuan, taken into custody for interrogation: at about 2PM troops stumbled upon gory crime scene.

At about 3PM Buluan Mayor Mangudadatu on helicopter spotted massacre. (recounts grisly scene). 22 unburied cadavers, 5 vehicles processed at about 8 PM.

(PowerPoint summary of activities presented: 2 CVO's taken into custody; aerial reconaissance udertaken; crime scene processed)

Day 2: Additional investigators dispatched; grave sites identified. Sketch of relative position of victims presented. PNP and AFP had to bring in fresh troops as existing troops implicated; augmented investigators and forensic scientists because of enormous casualties. President issued Proc. 1949 declaring state of emergency that evening.

Day 3: All permits to carry firearms outside residences, mission orders cancelled; exhumations in gravesites 1, and 2, including unearthing vehicles; disarming of 4 auxiliary companies of Ampatuans; 18 implicated policemen investigated; 21 CAFGU's taken into custody.

Day 4: Conducted joint operations (AFP-PNP): check points, choke points, patrols and security to vital installations; security details provided in ARMM capitol, office of governor, Maguindanao capitol; various municipal halls. Very important development: arrest of primary suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. on 11/26/09, subjected to inquest proceedings in General Santos City and then flown to Manila for detention at NBI. Various PNP officials relieved, transferred to Camp Crame for further investigation.

PNP reiterates Ermita's line verbatim: Arrest of Ampatuan Jr. would have resulted in expeditious apprehension of other suspects but situation proved to the contrary; the Ampatuan group have since used their strength and political position to deprive President of power to enforce law and maintain public order and safety.

Adds: local government offices closed, ranking officials refused to discharge functions. Civil registrar refused to issue death certificates supposedly on orders of Ampatuan, Sr. Judges went on leave, etc. "duly verified information disclosed Ampatuan group was behind closing of offices and simultaneous absence of judges." Movements of their troops confirmed: estimated over 2,000 armed combatants from various areas in possession of more than 2,000 heavy firearms; Ampatuan group consolidated, with over 1,000 strategically deployed or prepositioned in Maguindanao (cites areas, troops, arms, including armored vehicles). PNP's Caro consistently refers to Ampatuans and troops as rebels.

(PNP essentially reading the President's report verbatim)

6:23 PM

PNP's Caro Rattles off discovered caches of arms. Discovery of bogus markings on vehicles: all confirm rebellion, first, removal allegiance, and depriving chief executive of her powers and prerogatives and ability to maintain public order and safety. While government conducting ongoing operations; public safety still requires martial law and suspension of writ until time such rebellion is completely quelled.

Since martial law imposed Dec. 4: AFP/PNP operations have arrested 64 suspects including Ampatuan Sr., Zaldy Ampatuan and others. To date, arrests and searches in houses of Ampatuan residences, government offices, etc. and disarming of forces resulted in confiscation of 929 assorted weapons and high-powered firearms and 430,000 rounds of ammunition and 4 armored combat vehicles and others painted with official markings. The fact remains Ampatuan clan and followers remains a formidable force that must be confronted head-on by AFP-PNP with full force of law and backing of Congress.

PNP presentation ends.

6:28 PM

House majority leader moves to begin interpollations. Rep. Plaza reiterates request for hard copy of report. Rep. Antonino: for clarity, noticed in presentation, certain acronyms used; can PNP say what CVO for example, mean? Or RAG? Nograles: That shall be answered at the proper time.

Sen. Zubiri moves Sen. Aquino be recognized to begin interpollations. Sen. Roxas asks: Report rendered by PNP official constitutes President's report in entirety? Enrile: Understanding of Chair is President submitted report to Congress and materials being presented by resource persons are in support of her report. These are evidential matters being presented to establish facts in report of President. Roxas: This is mechanism by means President is rendering report, so utterances of police official is in effect President's report in writing? Is presentation what was contemplated in Constitution? For chambers to determine what to do relative to martial law, if this is report, then discussions must be circumscribed by contents of report, no new facts can be brought into discussion? Then our discussions will focus only on what Gen. Caro has rendered before chamber.

Enrile: Sec. 18 of Art. VII says if President suspends writ or declares martial rule, the President is required, mandatorily to submit report of that fact to Congress. Now, the Constitution did not define contents; I assume from experience, report requires justification for martial law in Maguindanao; President has to tell members of Congress the factual basis upon which she acted. This is new innovation under present Constitution... We received a copy of this report, more or less general description of facts being presented to this chamber, so the purpose of resource persons is to buttress the report so we will get the, uh, facts, and determine whether indeed the event that justifies martial law, which is, is there rebellion, which can only be justified by narration by events on the ground, whether there was, indeed, a public rising for an objective defined in statute books as rebellion.

Roxas: So precisely, Executive Branch being given opportunity to support whatever was contained in written report, I wish to put on record that the Executive Branch has set forth the elaboration by Gen. Caro.

Enrile: I would liken it to a pleading in a court to detail the facts to spell out the conclusion that indeed there was a rebellion.

Roxas: Caro a stipulation of facts?

Enrile: No, in the nature of evidence; I don't know if it was proper to have placed him under oath, in fact he was testifying before Congress.

Roxas: What officials doing is to render support for President's report.

Enrile: Yes.

6:40 PM

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez: Parliamentary inquiry on terms of reference. We have Proc. 1959; then 20 pp. report of President signed by Sec. Ermita, then Ermita's report different from 20 pp. report; then Caro's report, then Ermita's letter deleting paragraph from 20 pp. report; so what is basis of interpolation? Compares Proc. 1959 to Marcos' Proc. 1081 which detailed basis for proclamation. Government today only alleges possibility of rebellion. What are we to consider?

Nograles: You can interpolate later and ask those questions based on documents available to you and documents being photocopied for distribution. Majority Leader of Senate has already recognized Aquino. Please allow first Senator who has taken the floor to be recognized.

(Representatives keep firing off parliamentary inquiries anyway)

6:45 PM

Aquino: to Puno, to lay predicate for 1st question. Papers quoted Puno as not having agreed to martial law?

Puno: Until situation developed where police officers went absent on leave and joined rebel forces and significant portion of civilian armed volunteers joined rebel group, up to that point I did not believe martial law required. After receiving reports separate rebel armed group was formed, we concurred with martial law.

Aquino: Brawner made statement no need for martial law in Maguindanao or elsewhere because of "level of normalcy." Gonzalez on Dec. 1 made similar statement; also Puno's opinion in undated national security briefing martial law required. To Ermita: when did change in stand take place?

Ermita: At the time briefing was given on Dec. 4, a report was presented before National Security Group of normalcy in the ground in the sense AFP had conducted operations on ground, just as PNP had been sent to area to undertake needed investigation; which means there was no actual violence on Dec. 4, hence reported by AFP and corroborated by PNP there was normalcy at that particular moment; however as pursuit went on, reports filtered and reported to Office of President and continuing conferences pointed to need for additional measures; as born out by briefing officer, situation had to be properly controlled if first to account for perpetrators, second to allow investigators to do work; and at same time gather evidence on the ground; as shown by martial law declaration, afterwards proved there was destabilization in the area, witnesses afraid to come out, judges unwilling to issue warrants, etc. This is why after Dec. 4 it continued to deteriorate.

Aquino: For clarity: no violent clashes from state of emergency; have there been violent clashes?

Ermita: Dec. 1, none; by Dec. 4, reported that some, including those not disarmed, were preparing.

Aquino: So answer is no violent clashes since state of emergency?

Ermita: No clashes, but they were just regrouping.

Aquino: May we know if any high-powered firearms with AFP-PNP markings that fell into hands of armed have been identified?

Ermita: AFP to answer question.

AFP: There are three possible bases for the firearms in the possession of Ampatuan rebel armed groups: 1. acquired from legal sources, meaning commercial companies; 2. acquired from illegal sources, meaning enterprising civilians or possibly retired personnel; 3. acquired from the past conflicts in Mindanao, remnants or residuals of conflict (MILF MNLF).

Aquino: Have they been identified as to who should be in custody of the same, would a governor however powerful have means to acquire mortars, etc. that require DND certificates; they have serial numbers, are we to get it AFP does not know provenance of weapons and how Ampatuans got hold of them?

AFP: We have accounted for weapons, 347, in special companies; the others, we are identifying and cannot identify sources because of tampered serial numbers.

Aquino: Crime laboratory can't help?

AFP: It can.

Aquino: What powers can president wield not already covered by her calling out armed forces?

Devanadera: The only thing the President can do is to call on armed forces and police to come to a particular area, in this situation, Maguindanao...

Aquino: To suppress lawless violence?

Devanadera: Yes.

Aquino: What else, under martial law?

Devanadera: Martial law and suspension of writ, with twin exercise of extraordinary powers are addressed to quell rebellion; in calling out power, rebellion need not be present; just to address lawlessness. However in other two powers, rebellion required.

Aquino: There are no additional powers granted to AFP, PNP under martial law? Unlike in 1972?

Devanadera: Yes, Constitution, civilian government still function.

Aquino: So why is calling out not sufficient?

Devanadera: One is for lawlessness, the other, rebellion.

Aquino: Who exactly committing rebellion?

Devanadera: Ampatuan group, plus their armed forces or people heavily armed.

Aquino: These same forces were previously agencies of the state, organized under auspices of the state?

Devanadera: Yes. To defend republic and the people, now transformed into private army, following rule of their leaders now, not the republic.

Aquino: For rebellion, public uprising, armed, for purpose of removing control required?

Devanadera: Well, in that, there need not be violent clashes; we have seen in reports as submitted there was massing of these people who are heavily armed.

Aquino: Nobody has presented any evidence they are withdrawing allegiance or seceding. Caro mentioned even building in physical control of state; courts issued warrants of arrest; ARMM proposed budget to us yesterday; did any armed groups make overt statement of rebellion?

Devanadera: Courts weren't functioning, even today. Processes availed of came from other provinces; with respect to removal of allegiance, etc. includes reports from AFP. PNP that armed men were not following orders from duly-constituted government but merely from Ampatuans.

Aquino: Is there a separatist group that is aligned with Amaptuans as mentioned by Caro, is it named and does it have leaders, unknown to general public?

Devanadera: Let us reiterated filing by Executive Secretary on Dec. 9 to correct report, that deletes that portion for clarity (reads Ermita's communication). This substitution became necessary because...

Aquino: If there is a deletion there is no separatist group? A new rebel group?

Versoza: There is no uh, no other group allied with Ampatuans.

Aquino: Were 62 charged with rebellion rebels before or after massacre?

Ermita: After the massacre. (Proceeds to eat up Aquino's time by reading Dec. 9 letter)

Aquino: When Puno was initially delegated to attend to disciplining local government units, were LGU officials who refused to exercise their functions, did you appoint successor, why or why not?

Puno: Supervision was what was delegated bound by organic laws that have been passed, and Local Government Code. They have autonomy in ARMM, and we only get involved in administrative cases only upon direction of President in capacity as executive; on our own we do not have jurisdiction; with respect to organic law, our power circumscribed by organic act which provides supervision in finances from national government, grants-in-aid; conservation of rights of Christians and Lumads, general enforcement. We do not have authority to remove officers, principles of succession in place.

Aquino: You are powerless when everyone from governor down to board member refuses?

Puno: Authority to suspend regional governor and only regional governor for limited period. It's governor who appoints subordinate officials in turn.

Aquino: But if governor has already been suspended, acting governor could have reorganized and not have failure of governance.

Puno: Acting governor takes oath only tomorrow.

Aquino: So what buttresses argument local government has failed given there are those willing to take over positions, given Caro says government in custody of official buildings?

Puno: Report we received resulted from closure of these municipal halls by mayors concerned when police instructed to safeguard financial records. Necessitated control by PNP.

7:16 PM

Aquino time up. House Majority leader: Dilangalen recognized. But first brief suspension to allow Gen. Ibrado to join panel. ON TV Kit Tatad argues Ermita signing report for President makes report invalid; the obligation is specific and personal.

7:29 PM

Session resumes, then suspended again.

7:32 PM

Dilangalen recounts meeting Zaldy Ampatuan at airport, day after massacre. Invited him to see his father. They went, met Dureza, who was conferring with Ampatuan Sr., suggested Ampatuan Jr. be presented to him. Ampatuan Jr. committed to present himself for investigation -belies his having "surrendered." Thence, inquest, NBI jail, cases of multiple murder filed. To Devanadera: what is development of case, besides Ampatuan Jr. and included as accused?

Devanadera: Status of case: vs. Unsay Ampatuan, information filed in court; Andal Sr., other Ampatuans, others: under regular preliminary investigation. Canapia, Dilon, going through different process, inquest, case filed in court. We can see for Ampatuan Sr. under regular preliminary investigation.

Dilangalen: All other respondents other than Ampatuan Jr. under preliminary investigation, filing Dec. 18? Cases of rebellion filed?

Devanadera: Yes and yes.

Dilangalen: Did PNP or military attempt to arrest or put under house arrest, the Ampatuans before martial law?

Devanadera: I am not in position to answer. (redirected to PNP, Puno)

PNP: No attempt to arrest the other Ampatuans before martial law.

Dilangalen: To Gen. Ibrado, Maj. Cabangban told CNN they had restricted movements of Ampatuans in order not to contaminate area, so anytime warrant issued, they could be arrested. This was before Dec. 4. Did this have full support, acquiescence of Chief of Staff, possible case of restriction of liberty?

AFP: Troops instructed to put up checkpoints, control points around residences but not for the purpose of restricting their movements.

Dilangalen: Reads report of raids on Ampatuan properties; Cabangbang says government tried to build case, but took long, so government gave us free hand, so we needed declaration of martial law.

AFP: The raid conducted on warehouse was done after martial law declared.

Dilangalen: Confirmation of statement of operations officer of Eastern Command, Cabangbang, that movements restricted to prevent contamination, DOJ having difficulty making case?

Devanadera: The reason no information has been filed against Ampatuan Sr. is because he has to undergo regular preliminary investigation -subpoeanas, etc. Only after prosecutors find indictment warranted is information filed in court, then warrant issued.

Dilangalen: Ampatuan Jr. presented himself to authorities; inquest undertaken; inquest requires arrest; but he was not arrested, but still seized and charges filed Branch 15 Cotobato City.

Devanadera: There is order from SC approving transfer of venue to Quezon City.

Dilangalen: No sitting judge there because judge was murdered?

Devanadera: I don't know; all I know no judges at that time.

Dilangalen: For your information, Branch 15 vacant since death of judge, not filled by Office of the President; branch 13, 14 it is not true there are no judges; they are on travel with approval of Supreme Court. Now in whereas clauses of Proc. 1959, re: condition of peace of order deteriorated to extent public safety endangered, I hope lady Secretary informed definitely no judges there because in Branch 15 no one appointed by President for vacancy; the other judges are on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia with approval of Supreme Court. And Supreme Court spokesman belied your assertion justice system not functioning, SC had designated judge who issued commitment order.

Devanadera: Special designation.

Dilangalen: Heavily armed groups have established positions, depriving executive of powers, etc.: let me recall provision of Constitution... Removing imminent danger thereof in 1935 Constitution. Comment?

Devanadera: Yes, present Constitution different from old; martial law allowed only with invasion or rebellion, and restrictions imposed.

Dilangalen: So clear only actual invasion or rebellion when public safety requires it is martial law or suspension of writ allowed. A few days ago Justice Sec. asserted martial law declared because of looming rebellion in Maguindanao. Referring to heavily armed groups establishing positions etc. Am I correct? Looming rebellion?

Devanadera: Let me clarify-

Dilangalen: You are referring to 1935 and 1973 Constitution not 1987 Constitution- looming rebellion not grounds...

Devanadera: We studied 1935 Charter in Ateneo. Let me explain context: attributed to me in answering a question on what happened after massacre and what came to my knowledge, when I saw reports, I thought I saw a looming rebellion, but after further study it presented to me there was actual rebellion. I have made clarifications.

Reiterates, based on evaluation, chief executive had been, in effect, deprived of ability to enforce laws... There were already reports of something that was uh, shaping, my first reaction was, is there an actual rebellion or looming rebellion, it was a question I posed.

Dilangalen: But your account suggests there was looming rebellion at time of issuance of Proc. 1959... Anway, so local government offices were closed and officials refused to discharge functions. Suppose I'll present an order from military commander, Ferrer, directing closure of capitol and all offices, will you agree with me the closure of the offices was not because of Ampatuans but because ordered by martial law administrator? Because I present order where Col. Ferrer ordered closure of capitol; I even called DILG and inquired, before martial law, are Ampatuans under arrest, because no one could visit? Cabangban said they have to seal the area to prevent contamination so they could also easily arrest.

Devanadera: I am not in a position to comment. (redirected to AFP)

AFP Ibrado: We did not issue any order to close government offices in Maguindanao.

Dilangalen: Suppose I can present a letter? I got text message video will be sent of military physically closing offices. Now (to Devanadera), local civil registrar refused to accept registration of death certificates purportedly upon order of Ampatuan Sr. What is relationship of this to rebellion? When government official prevents functions, it's not rebellion, it's grave coercion; there's grave coercion everywhere. So martial law everywhere?

Devanadera: We cannot take one uh, one uh, situation in isolation but take all reports all together. And uh, when it comes to rebellion, we have that situation based on the reports that uh, the armed uh, groups, were already in effect, depriving chief executive of its powers to enforce laws, they were already having their own organization, own government, so not anything looming, something actual.

Dilangalen: Article 144 etc. insists there must be public uprising for the purpose of removing allegiance from national government, etc. Since when did Ampatuans act to secede?

Devanadera: Armed groups formerly organized to defend republic this time was transformed into private army getting orders only from Ampatuan clan, based on reports.

Dilangalen: CVOs, Cafgus, PNP, AFP? Already loyal to Ampatuans and not Republic of the Philippines?

Devanadera: That's in the report.

Dilangalen: But these were under supervision of the Philippine Army. Cannot be established unless under supervision of military officer. Why break in chain of command? How come PNP left and changed loyalty? During budget hearing I raised point to Puno and Versoza how come provincial director only a major? Should be full Colonel, so how come. Everything became uncontrolled because AFP and PNP not doing its functions now blaming Ampatuan or fault of AFP PNP?

(silence)

8:05 PM

Dilangalen concludes. Senator Joker Arroyo next.

Arroyo: Problem with martial law as we knew it in 1972 is that it was abused. Now martial law in 1972 was under 1935 Constitution and Proc. 1081 vesting in President sole authority to do what he could. That was the problem and we suffered 14 years. We have Proc. 1959 based on Constitution of 1987. All three branches mandated by this Constitution in implementation of martial law: President imposes, Congress reviews it, Supreme Court can decide factual circumstances. To Sec. of Justice: Supposing Congress does not revoke martial law, it continues; let us suppose there are abuses, will the Executive recognize the continuing power of Congress to review the acts of the President? In case President or agents abuses, Congress can again convene and check actuations of President?

Devanadera: There are grounds martial law can be declared; President submits itself to Congress for verification and validation; as for other actuations of Congress we submit it to wisdom of Congress.

Arroyo: Does President accept power of Congress for continuing review? If we do not revoke this, what check is there on the President, without continuing review, otherwise there can be no check at all. If we let go of you now, when can we revoke it then? A week from now, if abuses, how can we correct the situation?

Devanadera: Since there are no precedents, I will suppose this will partake of some academic discussion; I would like into powers of judiciary.

Arroyo: I cannot agree judiciary should interfere with political departments of government. Now there is power to review or revoke, left to Congress. Problem is if today we say go ahead, simple question: a week from now can we not convene to review again?

Devanadera: I would venture into proposition that Congress has power to look into basis if martial law declaration...

Arroyo: At any time? Not saying if we let you go now, you can do what you want.

Devanadera: I don't see any impediment to Congress inviting again. For anything we can have a committee investigation...

Arroyo: We don't want the judiciary to decide a quarrel between legislature and executive, we cannot make Supreme Court arbiter of our powers. I want clear-cut answer Executive recognizes if abuses committed, Congress power to convene again recognized. It's as if this is a one-shot deal, we meet, either revoke or allow; this cannot be; there's a continuing power to review.

Devanadera: Yes.

Arroyo: If that's position we can look more kindly on this martial law.

Devanadera: I also believe judiciary in case of any abuses, people not deprived.

Arroyo: No, no, this is a provision doing away with all other provisions; the point is you must assure us Executive will also do right thing and we cannot rely simply on the promise you will do right thing; we want recognition of continuing power of Congress to review or revoke.

Devanadera: We acknowledge that proposition.

Arroyo: Has there been incident since imposition of martial law or what was it called, state of emergency, any abuses?

Devanadera: I don't know of any. (redirected to Ermita)

Ermita: No complaint received from any sector whatsoever.

Arroyo: Power is issuance of warrants of arrest and warrants of seizure; before martial law you couldn't seize; now you can arrest and seize provided within three days you have to file case in court. Now, uh, other than that there is no other extra power given to President?

Devanadera: Yes.

Arroyo: This 1959 identifies MILF as excluded from coverage; two encampments in Maguindanao are we supposed to understand those are untouchable because of agreement government has with peace efforts?

Ermita: This is in recognition of the fact that this administration has primacy of peace process in its mind, insomuch as two panels, GRP-MILF have agreement suspending military actions. Was felt observance of peace process necessary so as not to impede resumption of peace talks.

Arroyo: Government has been fighting MILF; despite continuing fight, this and past administrations did not see fit to impose martial law. Comes the massacre, one incident, martial law is imposed. Enlighten us why this kind of disparity, war with MILF no martial law, then this gruesome and unpardonable massacre but martial law imposed immediately?

Ermita: Administration feels we should not jeopardize objectives of peace process.

Arroyo: Let's say Congress votes not to revoke. We have no assurance President will not, what do you call this, lift martial law because crisis is over. What then are assurances of Executive martial law will not be unnecessarily prolonged?

Ermita: In same manner basis was made taking note of report of AFP-PNP same way President will I suppose decide whether to lift. But lifting martial law will not necessarily mean state of emergency will be lifted.

Arroyo: Despite limited powers -warrantless arrest, seizures- temptation is strong military will not lift, we need assurances.

Ermita: By way of example, should authorities on ground, PNP AFP, DILG, observe control has been stabilized, therefore no more need, then I suppose appropriate decision will be made.

Arroyo: We hope it will be made, martial law is an abnormal situation, a government that operates by virtue of martial law is not a normal situation. Maguindanao is fraction of entire Philippines: but impact and image of entire Philippines affected. Effect is like Pakistan, places in Africa, etc. So, uh, well, along the way, if you could give some inputs, you have to persuade us the President means business and that the earliest time it will be lifted will be beneficial to the country.

8:28 PM

Arroyo (mercifully) ends. Short suspension to allow resource persons to have dinner, resumption after 15 minutes. (In Congressional time, this means 1 1/2 hours!)

9:21 PM

Session resumes. Rep. Edcel Lagman begins with review of circumstances that justify martial law. Emphasizes Constitutional Commission's deleting "imminent danger thereof" as grounds. Asserts Congress lacks continuing authority to review implementation of martial law. Can only review, once, the factual basis for imposing it, and only with an eye to revoking if Executive unable to prove case of rebellion or invasion and public safety requiring martial law. Ask Devanadera if she still accepts Joker Arroyo's proposition.

Devanadera (backpedaling from corner Arroyo pushed her into earlier) I agree with you and believe judiciary is best forum; if you want to be very literal, Constitution only specifies Congress' power to revoke or to extend.

Lagman: Not just literal, but legal and moral. To all resource persons: did authorities recommend to President to "froclaim" martial law and suspend writ of habeas "koorpoos" because of actual rebellion in Maguindanao?

Ermita: Recommended by body to President after briefing by AFP and PNP and DILG Secretary.

Lagman: Uh, Honorable Executive Secretary, was this collective decision recommending to President, uh, based on, uh, on an actual finding by those making recommendation that uh, actual rebellion is occurring in Maguindanao?

Ermita: Not on whether actual fighting going on; the actual determination of elements of rebellion came from reports that armed groups indeed prevented authorities from exercising duties, reports of PNP, DILG and NBI that there was difficulty in obtaining warrants, because no judges willing, hence necessary to declare martial law.

Lagman: A perusal of text of Proc. 1959 would show absence of a clear, categorical statement a rebellion was actually occurring in Mindanao. Would that be an accurate reading of the text?

Ermita: You may be correct there was no actual rebellion going on but all indications on the ground indicated inability of authorities to undertake their duties...

Lagman: We are happy to note there was an admission there was no actual rebellion in Maguindanao. But the presence of armed groups would be indicative of lawless violence which is not synonymous with rebellion. Caro stated this was worst election-related violence (referring to massacre) an act of gross lawlessness but definitely not rebellion. May I ask Secretary of Justice what facts convinced her that instead of a looming rebellion, there is actual rebellion in Maguindanao?

Devanadera: Upon arrest of Ampatuan Jr., my first reaction to reports was, it may be a looming rebellion, but when I shifted to other reports, it was clear it was not something looming but it was actual rebellion, we were able to conclude because we got information heavily armed groups took very strategic positions within Maguindanao such that they were in effect preventing the implementation of laws and giving threat to public safety. (Quotes from President's Report) So those were the events, that was the situation presented to us.

Lagman: When we look at the elements of rebellion, the elements are, public uprising, taking arms against the government, in Maguindanao, prior to the declaration of martial law. Was there a public uprising?

Devanadera: The fact there was a massing of many people who were heavily armed and taking strategic positions to prevent enforcement of the laws, to our minds this has satisfied first element of rebellion.

Lagman: That would be indicative of lawlessness, as Fr. Bernas says. The power to prevent violence was sufficiently covered by power of President to call out armed forces. Were there overt acts?

Devanadera: There were overt acts; you mentioned Bernas, he wrote in his column the Revised Penal Code is not required as sole grounds...

Lagman: You assert one basis was civil government ceased functioning, is that grounds for establishing rebellion?

Devanadera: All the events have to be considered together to appreciate that actual rebellion was going on...

Lagman: To my mind non-functioning of civil authorities would be indicative of sedition, not rebellion (cites Art. 192 of Penal Code). But sedition not ground for declaring martial law.

Devanadera: Sedition definitely, is different from rebellion...

Lagman: My point is preventing civil authorities from exercising their function is an element of sedition. Prior to Dec. 4 when martial law was declared, from the Maguindanao situationer, there is no report in that situationer of actual armed, public uprising against the government. Review the report given us to by PNP Caro, there is no mention that prior to Dec. 4 there was public uprising, an armed uprising, against the government, so that would negate factual basis of declaration of martial law and suspension of writ.

Devanadera: (Falters)

Lagman jumps in and ends his questions.

9:43 PM

Zubiri moves to recognize Jinggoy Estrada.

Estrada: (to Ermita) Proc. 1949 declared state of emergency; then ordered transfer of general supervision of ARMM from OP to DILG. Thereafter DILG issued department order authorizing task force to mobilize DILG officials to ensure functions and duties of ARMM Governor are performed in accordance with law. Were these issuances not enough to control situation in Maguindanao?

Ermita: It was thought at the time state of emergency would suffice, magnitude of the problem had not been captured by the Executive based on reports. For that matter, issuance of Administrative Order delegated authority of supervision to the Sec. of DILG in order that functions of local government would not be hampered. At that point not yet very clear situation had deteriorated "so bad" it would require martial law.

Estrada: Some personalities were pinpointed as inciting the rebellion. Who were they?

Ermita: At that particular moment only ones identified within 48 from the "happening" on Nov. 23 was the mayor (Ampatuan Jr.).

Estrada: Martial law still needed since government already functioning?

Ermita: Could not be said at that point -with arrest of Ampatuan Jr.- as situation developed, after witnesses came out after arrest of Ampatuan Jr. later only after they were convinced they'd be assured protection; only then did investigators extract information about other personalities, including well, the rest of the Ampatuans in office.

Estrada, asks Ermita enumerate municipalities in Maguindanao;how many functioning?

Ermita: 16/22 under control of Ampatuans.

Estrada: (to Devanadera) You said judiciary is not functioning? What's basis?

Devanadera: What I said is, courts which has jurisdiction over Maguindanao not functioning in the manner we know how courts function; for example, if prosecutors need to file an information, the DOJ need not communicate with the Supreme Court for the Supreme Court to designate a judge; under normal situation you go to court, it will be raffled and judge attend to case; but not in Maguindanao.

Estrada: So you went out of your way to inform Supreme Court of problem in Maguindanao, what was response of Supreme Court?

Devanadera: They had to look for judge from another province just to attend to our filings. In same manner law enforcement agencies needed search warrants, I had to communicate with Supreme Court so a judge would issue search warrants; it took three days for Supreme Court to find a judge -from Kidapawan City. Places needed searching, law enforcement lost opportunities for search. I don't think that's normal courts.

Estrada: Only one judge functioning in Maguindanao?

Devanadera: I can't say functioning; we have to inform Supreme Court for him to go to Cotabato City from Sultan Kudarat.

Estrada: Because he fears for his life?

Devanadera: That's what we were told. (asked again about rebellion) All the acts in Maguindanao can be considered as actual rebellion...

Estrada: Did NBI report to you any lawlessness in Maguindanao?

Devanadera: NBI, especially GenSan given specific tasks, there seemed to be some kind of informal division of tasking on the field, that must be reason no such report from NBI to me.

Estrada: Who is highest commander in Maguindanao now?

AFP (Ibrado): Gen. Ferrer, also commander of Eastern Mindanao Command.

Estrada: Basis for his selection?

AFP: Highest-ranking officer... Commander ....

(Estrada and Ibrado wrangle over whether AFP considered an actual rebellion occurring, Ibrado replies they view as serious the presence of armed groups; Estrada switches to discovery of buried ballot boxes; PNP clarifies it was sack of voters' IDs; questioning shifts to total arms confiscated)

Estrada: Why do Ampatuans have AFP "ammunitions"?

AFP: I can only account for firearms issued to Cafgus...

Estrada: Any intelligence reports of Ampatuans possessing AFP ammunition?

AFP: Well, there are so many possible reports...

Estrada: If there hadn't been massacre, martial law, you wouldn't have discovered arms, ammo, even alleged police cars, you mean to say you never received reports they had these things?

AFP: About hidden guns, ammo, we didn't know they had them, but we know there are CVOs and other personalities armed and with them.

Estrada: (asks do you admit your intelligence is weak? AFP says no... Estrada shift questions to PNP): would you say you've been remiss in your duties regarding peace and order?

PNP: We are maintaining our functions in coordination with local chief executives who supervise local police forces, we work in coordination also with AFP and we uh, are always in coordination with local government officials.

Estrada: What serious degree of lawlessness prompted Pres. Arroyo to impose martial law and justify its continuation?

PNP: Movement of armed troops... We observed movements of armed men upon arrest of Ampatuan Jr. We saw also direction of the local government officials, especially Gov. of Maguindanao to go to their area, with CVOs being retained by members of Ampatuan family. Immediately after massacre, we also received reports of movements of armed men, and when we pursued perpetrators of crime, we were informed some had joined CVOs.

Estrada: Considering CVO's under your control, would you say ineffective because PNP unable to control?

PNP: CVO's under local government units. (describes CVO system)

Estrada: CVO's armed? Who provides arms?

PNP: Yes, this is subject of our investigation... Most of those involved in massacre were in the CVOs.

Estrada: Any report arms issued to CVOs landed with Ampatuan family?

PNP: CVOs armed by chief executives, especially Ampatuan family.

10:13 PM

Speaker says next person to interpolate (last for the night) is Satur Ocampo.

Ocampo: What we are discussing is extremely serious. There is a tendency to downplay this situation. This was very serious, suspension of writ and martial law separate acts are unprecedented. Were emergency, suspension of write, martial law really called for by the situation? Report says all law enforcement agencies had been mobilized for investigation and apprehension of those involved in massacre. Things started with lawlessness -the massacre- but element of rebellion entered the picture after the arrest of Ampatuan Jr. when government expected swift apprehension of other suspects; government says contrary happened. Since then, government asserts chief executive deprived of authority... and separatist group joined forces with Ampatuans (per report, except separatist reference has been deleted).

And yet Caro made reference to the separatist word; and yet, Exec. Sec. in his amending letter, said this should be interpreted with reference to Ampatuans and no other group; while Justice Secretary says it was Ampatuan forces acting to remove allegiance. But first version of report clearly stated a separatist group -that can only be MILF. Yet Proc. 1959 exempted MILF from coverage. The one putting proclamation together was confused. As Lagman said, proclamation does not categorically state rebellion was ongoing. So it was not rebellion, but lawlessness taking place in Maguindanao.

From Dec. 1-4 the "rebels" were massing... but were they taking up arms? No report of this anywhere. Any actual engagement? You all said no, but that there was effect of rebellion as allegiance taken away from the government. I've been accused of rebellion, twice, and acquitted twice. Rebellion requires an overt act. When I was a prisoner under martial law -the Executive Secretary was there, you first to visit me when I was in isolation- a three year military commission could not prove rebellion against me, because no proof I took up arms. Until I escaped. When I was accused again, as a member of this Congress, Norberto Gonzales said it took nine months to prepare case against us, 139 documents, but July 1, 2007 SC said no evidence of rebellion. In my view, the rebellion in Maguindanao is ongoing -on the part of the MILF. The Ampatuans are not engaged in rebellion -their crime is the massacre- yet overnight the CVOs, Cafgus have transformed into a rebel army?

These occurences -state of emergency, suspension of writ, martia law- an admission government is useless, and requires one executive action over the other?

Ermita: Precisely, Proc. 1949 declared state of emergency, because at that point in time, determined it was adequate just to call out armed forces to suppress lawless violence; but as situation developed, as days went on and situation evaluated, they discovered this was insufficient. Hence collegial recommendation to President to resolve situation by means of martial law. Now the martial law of the past is different from martial law today, suspension of writ not automatic and not open-ended. If martial law had not been imposed, the arrest of those investigators knew had to be taken in couldn't have occurred because they were surrounded by their armed supporters. disarming wouldn't have been easy without martial law.

Ocampo: Proc. 1946 hasn't been lifted, correct? So all three in effect?

Ermita: Correct.

Ocampo: You intend to use up entire 60 day time frame?

Ermita: The 60 days is the limit but I would like PNP and AFP to give us update on how suspension of writ and martial law have succeeded...

PNP: We've seized many firearms, vehicles, made searches at various places, private property and government property (municipal hall properties).

Ocampo: But what's happened to massed-up forces? Standoff?

PNP: We're conducting patrols. Sightings say they've moved towards the East, we encountered a group at Datu Unsay, there was shootout, also in a recon operation, they were fired upon when recovering firearms, we have also arrested persons suspected of having allowed the hiding of several armored trucks and the fake police vehicles... Also arrested persons in various municipalities and filed rebellion charges versus 24 persons including Ampatuan Sr. and Zaldy Ampatuan today. We will be analyzing... We are continuing security operations.

Ocampo: You've filed rebellion charges, this is the subject of preliminary investigation?

Devanadera: Inquest for rebellion.

Ocampo: What's your success rate on rebellion charges?

Devanadera: I would not want to preempt uh, the uh, the uh efforts of the prosecution...

Ocampo: I'd like to stress why I raised the fact this is unprecedented and no proof of actual rebellion as defined in Revised Penal Code which requires actual taking up of arms. If this Congress fails to revoke martial law on these questionable bases, there is likelihood President will request extension; likelihood it will be imposed in other places, dire consequences unimaginable. Also looming suspicion by charging Ampatuans with rebellion, it's designed to weaken case -absence of proof of rebellion will lead to Ampatuans let loose; then where would we be?

10:39 PM

Sen. Roxas: administrative matter. More than 5 hours since s0-called report rendered by PNP. Many assurance report is forthcoming, when exactly will be given this report in hard copy?

Zubiri: With House Secretariat, tasked with reproduction, let's ask Speaker to ask Secretariat.

Enrile: Let's ask indulgence of Senate, copying is probably still going on...

Roxas: There must be 1, 10, 50 copies already? We want to establish clearly for the record, because that in effect is narration of evidence Executive has for declaration, so maybe some copies can be secured?

Speaker: Secretariat has informed me they've prepared 300 sets for all of us, hard copies available tomorrow morning. If copies already available, please ensure senators get copies first.

Sen. Pimentel: As a privileged motion, the situation on ground very critical, this is why Constitution hastens checks and balances in this case, but also we have to hear people justify or criticize, so we have to spend some time... I would like to make a motion that Exec. Sec. be made to report daily on the happenings in the area of martial law.

Enrile: To whom will reports be made?

Pimentel: To Congress. To us. Time is of the essence, this is a part of our checks and balance duty, and I think Secretary is willing to do it.

Enrile: Exec. Sec. will respond if he is willing, this will require daily transmission of events in the area.

Ermite: We will abide by request and come up with latest accomplishments tom.

Pimentel: Press in Maguindanao asking they be allowed to cover activities of armed forces there. Difficult, but it can be done, US embedded media in Iraq. I also wish to make that as a proposal, accredited members of the press may accompany military or police units operating in area of martial law.

Enrile: I think this is a matter that involves a command problem on the part of the military, I am not prepared to concede we should tell commander on the ground what to do.

Pimentel: We are not demanding that but asking him if possible.

Enrile: We will ask Exec. Sec. since he is alter ego of commander in chief if this is possible so we can act on it maybe tomorrow.

Pimentel: Resource speakers not placed under oath, even if we do not ask them to take specific oath, but remind them they're bound by oath of service.

Enrile: I think they are responsible public officials and know they will fulfill their duties as faithful public servants.

Pimentel: I am wearing black because I mourn massacre victims and I also mourn death of democracy in Maguindanao.

10:48 PM

Motions made, approved, by both chambers, to suspend session until 2 PM, December 10.

Together with Edgardo Angara and his former martial law nemesis, Juan Ponce Enrile (who, however, dangles a face-saving proposal for Congress to reduce the time frame of the proclamation to less than 60 days), Joker Arroyo among his senate peers, is foursquare behind the President's imposition of martial law. The leading lights of the ruling coalition in that chamber, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Lito Lapid, have yet to form an opinion. The rest oppose.

Tomorrow at 4PM, the Senate and the House of Representatives assemble in Joint Session to tackle the President's imposition of martial law on most of Maguindanao. While it would have seemed logical, given the Constitution's requirement for Congress to convene without need of call, within 24 hours, to deliberate on any proclamation of martial law or suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, Congress hasn't moved with alacrity now that both have come to pass.

This early on, House officials are saying the public should expect a raucous session ("chaotic" is one word being bandied about).The Supreme Court, in the meantime, has deferred issuing a restraining order but has expressed awareness of the need for prompt action by giving the government only five days to submit its comment on the consolidated cases questioning the imposition of martial law.

To help readers follow tomorrow's debates, reference to some documents are in order and some issues that might arise.

First, some background readings on martial law. There's Fr. Joaquin Bernas' July, 2009 series, What is martial law? (1) and What is martial law? (2) and here is a portion of the Records of the Constitutional Commission of 1986, in which Commissioners discussed what would constitute rebellion: should it require overt acts or could the chief executive act on a perceived danger or risk of a rebellion?

Record of the Constitional Commission, Vol. II, Pp. 411-413

Then there is the President's Proclamation 1959, which imposed martial law on Maguindanao except for MILF camps in the province. The document itself was marred by a typographical error, see Raissa Robles' blog for details.

Then there's the President's Report to Congress, in compliance with her constitutional obligation to submit a report to Congress within 48 hours of martial law or the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus being proclaimed (she did both).

PGMA Report on Proclamation No. 1959

Congress, acting as one body (tomorrow's session will be like reliving the Batasan Pambansa of the Marcos years, with many of the same characters) will be tasked with approving, rejecting, or modifying the President's martial law proclamation and her suspension of the writ. The Supreme Court for its part, tasked with evaluating the factual basis for the proclamation has already manifested, through its spokesman, that it contests one of the President's assertions (see SC contradicts Palace on judiciary in Maguindanao).

Winnie Monsod herself, tackles other assertions made in the report:

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II. The issues

A good summary can also be found in Business Mirror's Government's basis for martial law,

The first issue is whether the President was correct in imposing martial law. As a believer in the interplay of two court -that of the Court of Public Opinion and the Court of Law- I believe everyone, from the Executive to the Legislative to the Judicial Departments are taking the Court of Public Opinion into consideration as this is plays out both in Congress and in the Supreme Court. My view is that public opinion is divided, and that even those who approve of martial law in Maguindanao are careful to point out theirs is a conditional support: it shouldn't be extended, either in terms of the 60-Day timeframe imposed by the Constitution, or in terms of territory; and most definitely, should not be used to help keep the ruling coalition in power or to expedite amending the Constitution.

The debate on the question of whether the President was correct in imposing martial law in turn seems to be focusing on two things. First, whether the President's actions were in keeping with the situation on the ground: was martial law the only recourse or the correct action to undertake? And second, whether her decision complied with relevant laws: the Constitution as the basic law and the Revised Penal Code which defines rebellion. Lawyers are wrangling on whether rebellion actually took place, or even if it did, when it began.

Here's Atty. Edwin Lacierda summarizing this issue:

For example, Jesus Dureza's four-day Maguindanao diary contains two items that could either weaken the administration's assertion of rebellion or strengthen it, both from the same day, "D-DAY, Nov.26 (Thursday)":

6:00AM-Early morning, government forces took over and occupied the ARMM facilities and other buildings and premises in Maguindanao province. Armed elements loyal to the Ampatuans were taken by surprise and gave up their firearms without resistance... 11:40AM, Helis took off enroute Gen Santos City... But again something happened. About a few minutes airborne and while still climbing and gaining altitude, I first noticed some flapping sound outside. I thought, maybe some loose parts of the chopper. The noise kept coming, intermittent. I looked down and maybe I saw flashes but I was not sure. Suddenly the Huey banked sharply to the right and simultaneously, several short bursts from our two Huey gunners at the back. The bursts startled all of us. The evasive maneuver by the pilot also jarred us. All of us kept our heads low as the Huey steeply climbed. My staff Jerry and Col Mac who were seated beside the open Huey doors ducked. The soldier at the back shouted, "ground fire, sir". We still climbed. The flapping sound from outside could not be heard anymore. The gunners later told me ground fire sounded like flapping from the air. The evasive action and the machinegun bursts were SOP. At 2,000 feet altitude, we cruised. That's when I saw on the Huey floor an empty shell from the bursts of the M-60 machinegun on board. I picked up the empty shell, then pocketed it for good luck.

(See also Teodoro forewarned of 'massing' by Ampatuan followers: it will be interesting to see whether the public decides to focus on his, so far, unnoticed role in the whole thing, from the time he tried, and failed, to broker peace between the rival clans)

Fr. Joaquin Bernas in his Monday column What powers can the President use? believes in both forums (Congress, whether it decides on the basis of law, or administration opinion, or public opinion; and the Supreme Court deliberating on the basis of facts and law) that,

In the face of all this, the President has chosen the martial law option. I do not see either the Supreme Court or Congress revoking her decision now. Moreover, if she asks for it, Congress can extend martial law beyond 60 days.

He suggests that the Revised Penal Code isn't necessarily the sole basis for determining if rebellion took place in Maguindanao:

The Penal Code says: "The crime of rebellion ... is committed by rising publicly and taking arms against the Government for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to said Government or its laws, the territory of the Philippine Islands or any part thereof, of any body of land, naval or other armed forces, depriving the Chief Executive or the Legislature, wholly or partially, of any of their powers or prerogatives." If the Penal Code is to be followed, the government would have to show that what is happening now satisfies the definition of rebellion as a criminal act. A crucial fact to verify would be whether there has been and there is an ongoing "rising publicly and taking arms against the Government" to achieve at least one of the enumerated goals. But is rebellion as a criminal act defined in the Penal Code the same as rebellion for constitutional law purposes? My view is that it is not. My view is that the requirement of "rebellion" for purposes of constitutional law is satisfied if there exists an armed force whose activities have the effect of preventing the government from implementing its laws in any part of the Philippines.

On the other hand, Atty. Edwin Lacierda, in an open letter to fellow lawyers who graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University, believes that Fr. Bernas has modified his past opinions and that his present views don't bode well for securing justice for the massacre victims:

This opinion is dangerous! First, any public official with his security escorts who is not happy with a government sanction, barricades himself in his provincial building and prevents government work without claiming to have disowned allegiance to the Republic can now be charged with the crime of rebellion and not merely sedition. Second, it is elementary that in a criminal case, one has to prove all the elements of a crime. Otherwise, the case will be dismissed. In Bernas' opinion however, even if the Ampatuans do not remove their allegiance from the government, there is already a case for rebellion. But that will not wash in the courts. If there is no proof that Ampatuans have seceded from the Republic, there will be no case for rebellion and the charges will be dismissed. And last night, I understand that they have professed their loyalty to the Republic and to GMA. So, where is the rebellion insofar as the criminal prosecution is concerned? A Motion to Quash will be sufficient to dismiss the case.

Which brings us to the second issue: whether the President's proclamation of martial law will help propel what most people really want: justice for the victims in the Ampatuan Massacre.

The recent acquittal of Nur Misuari whose attack on the military and civilians in 2001 led more than 100 people dead, brings up anxiousness in some quarters that rebellion charges might lead to murder charges for the Ampatuan Massacre being subsumed and if the government case for rebellion ends up dismissed, it will result in the murder charges being dismissed as well. The Department of Justice claims this won't be the case. The Justice Secretary, however, while forcefully insisting she wouldn't merge the charges during the FOCAP press conference yesterday, afterwards publicly mulled over the implications of the massacre taking place as part of a rebellion: in that case, she opined, the murder charges would be subsumed into rebellion charges.

This will be tricky going for the government. Talking to foreign correspondents, Interior Secretary Puno was emphatic about negotiations still continuing to bring the Ampatuans back within the fold of the law and allegiance to the government; the resolution of a political problem, however, brings up troubling questions of whether this would be at the cost of prosecuting the Ampatuans for murder. Much depends on what the eventual government timeline for events is, hence my pointing out Dureza's diary and the failed Teodoro negotiations with the clans and tip-offs of what they were up to.

The clan patriarch, Andal Ampatuan, Sr. was whisked away from a private hospital to a military one, and remains in government custody, which has the added benefit of his being unable to reach the media. This is relevant not in terms of prosecuting murder, but in terms of his being incommunicado offering the government the comfort of knowing he can't spill the beans on certain aspects of the formerly close relationship between the Ampatuans and the President, the military, and the police; neither can the clan comment on what, exactly, is revealed (or suppressed) in terms of the raids on their various properties.

III. What's at stake

My own views are outlined in my columns, A necessary provocation, Caught in the act and Playing to the gallery, and this previous entry, Outflanking her enemies (June, 2009) . I consider the "analysis of the Ampatuan massacre" by Bertini "Toto" Causing as extreme and improbable in terms of it's neatly tying everything together. But still, Philippines faces tough questions over alliance with warlord as an Agence France-Press report points out.

I'd like to share a summary of opinions I got from contacts in the ARMM, and they basically amount to this: the region has been under martial law for forty years, and the clash between the government and the Ampatuans has more to do with power blocs colliding and less with ordinary Moros who are trying to keep from getting trampled in the tussle. That securing justice will be thwarted if government's solution to slaying the monster it created, is to then anoint a successor to the Ampatuans as paramount warlord clan.

Gail Ilgan, in Disarm the dangerous, pointed out her misgivings about demands for immediate action and by the military, to boot (pardon the pun):

I believe TV, radio, and newspaper personalities who are weighing in on this matter should disclose their personal assumptions on institutions they trust and not trust that warrant their goading the military to do police functions. They should come out and say that they do not believe the PNP to be up to the task and that is why they insist for the soldiers to take a more proactive role beyond the Army's show of force in Sharif Aguak that is intended "to provide ready support to the police in the eventuality of the outbreak of violence." Of course, we all understand that TV, radio and newspaper personalities are cautious about coming out to say that police credibility at this moment is below sea level and that arresting the Ampatuans is a job they expect the military to do. And I do not believe it's because of their ignorance about the distinction between police and military functions. Or is it? They're pussyfooting on their assumptions that Maguindanao's Finest is incredible because such would logically lead to publicly advocating for the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao. Martial law anywhere in these islands is a specter no self-respecting media practitioner in the human rights age would openly suggest to bring back. But reading between the lines, martial law in Maguindanao is what these TV, radio, and newspaper personalities feed to the public as the appropriate course of action in order to "arrest them all" and make the rest of us feel at peace. We want peace, no arguments about that. Personally, I agree that the best way to do it is for all of us to recognize the Highlander rule: There can only be One. There should only be one armed force in these islands. Every other armed force has to disarm or be disarmed for peace to a reality.

In Martial law in Maguindanao: The genie is out, ANC's Glenda Gloria ponders the implications of the military stepping in:

It is easy to romanticize martial law, especially when it covers a limited area, as something the government must do to finish off a clan and bring to justice those responsible for the worst crime ever committed against non-combatants in recent history. It is also easy to forget what--or who--really gets empowered by martial law. It is certainly not the judiciary, or a Cabinet department, or the barangay executives. As an Army colonel put it in an interview: "It was already 'martial law' in Maguindanao before government signed the declaration. We've been in control of the province since after the massacre." Of course, the generals will say that's a lie. Over the last few days, joint police-military units have uncovered armories disguised as warehouses, sleek firearms, and thousands of ammunitions--all government-issued--that could rival the military's. Authorities have been churning out classified information about the documented strength of the Ampatuans' private armies--personnel, firepower, their hideouts. Are they telling us they didn't know? In recent years, the bulk of police and military resources--logistics, intelligence, combat--have been geared toward key conflict areas in Muslim provinces, Maguindanao among them. Because intelligence is intense toward the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (whose base includes Maguindanao), it therefore becomes unthinkable for private warehouses and huge armories (even if underground) to be left undetected by security forces, unless they're playing blind. And any Army or police officer worth his salt will not deny that since 2001, no battalion, brigade or division commander or police director in the area got assigned without the blessings from the patriarch, suspended Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. One proof of this is the case of an Army colonel, who had managed to prolong his stay in the area despite charges he had been pocketing Cafgu funds, among other questionable acts. It took an AFP-wide "cleansing" of the Cafgu battalions 2 years ago for him to be finally relieved from his juicy position of arming, training, and "disciplining" the Ampatuans' Cafgus. Yet, the AFP dropped any charges against him even after a thorough probe. Imagine him watching TV news nowadays from the comforts of his military desk. Imagine all cops and soldiers previously assigned to the province listening now to their superiors who, after each operation, express shock at the "mind-boggling" firepower of the Ampatuans. Watching all these raids is akin to seeing a scorned but pampered wife finally--after many years of playing deaf and blind--confronting the other woman in her palatial home and confiscating all her jewelry. It's a sickening feeling, made worse by the fact that now deployed in Maguindanao are young officers--idealistic, passionate, patriotic to the core--who in due time will find out all about this. And who, because of martial law, will be made to believe that civilian governance has been an utter failure. And who, because of martial law, will be made to believe that indeed the military can rule--efficiently and effectively. This isn't some misplaced, unfounded fear. Just look at how the Gringo Honasans, the Danny Lims, the Sonny Trillaneses, and the Ariel Querubins began their journey as young men.

Two other pieces also make for informative reading. Here's another one by Gail Ilagan, Tectonic movement, in which she zeroed in not just on the Ampatuans, but the dynamics between organized power blocs in the area (it is significant, based on this article, that the President's martial law report points to MNLF or ex-MNLF alliances established by the Ampatuans, while government itself in its martial law proclamation tread carefully around the MILF and its camps):

Me - well, I refer to the Ampatuans as the ambulance. You happen to be on the road when their long line of black, expensive cars is out, you had better take the wayside and let them pass. Not only are their drivers trained to get ahead of every other car, one lives in fear of getting too near something that invites mortar fire. As their cars are viewed, so too are their mansions. I suspect that if houses in Juna and Nova Tierra were movable, the residences next door to the Ampatuan fortresses would have relocated. Failing that, the neighbors must have raised their life insurance premiums to protect the next generation. But that is all about the Ampatuans in Davao. The Ampatuans in Maguindanao are a different story. In Maguindanao, the order of things is for them to be at the upper end of wealth distribution and that is where they have been for some time now. Such was the order of things when Maguindanao became part of the ARMM. Today, the Ampatuans hold political power not only in Maguindanao, but also in the ARMM. It hasn't always been that way. At least four former high-ranked commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) I talked to last year understand that the 1996 Final Peace Agreement carried a gentleman's agreement for the ARMM governorship to always be in MNLF hands. This would allow for the political will to push for the realization of the terms of the 1996 FPA. For a while, they said, that gentleman's agreement was honored. Then, as former MNLF combatants settled and took leadership in mainstreaming their resident communities in synergy with government efforts for social uplift, development work kept them busy and gratified that they slowly laid down their arms at their own volition. After more than a decade of investing in peaceable efforts, the MNLF brought itself into a position where it would be hardpressed to take up arms again. And today, the governorship of the ARMM is not in the hands of the MNLF. This state of affairs does not make the former MNLF combatants very happy. They feel that without the ARMM leadership in tune to the spirit of the 1996 FPA, the peace agenda would not be served or pursued. It seems that the national government does not share the MNLF's concern with the 1996 FPA and its erstwhile intentions. It is however concerned with its peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Today's ARMM governorship is a reminder to the MILF that the national leadership has a power base in the contested territory. With the MNLF alienated from the corridors of government power and the MILF reminded that theirs is not the only Muslim might in the ARMM, some semblance of order indeed is in place, one that serves the interest of the current administration. There is little by way of commitment to the peace process that the PGMA administration has demonstrated so far, save for lip service. It does seem interested in a semblance of order, for things to stay the way they are. For, with the wealth distribution glaringly disparate, with violence always a threat in the horizon, with the unending post-conflict rehabilitation needs just crying out to be met, Maguindanao and the ARMM keep development funds coming in.

And here's Francisco Lara's article on how the whole thing came to pass:

Collusion and Collision in Muslim Mindanao

Additional in-depth readings are Muslim rulers and rebels by Thomas McKenna and John Sidel's Capital, coercion, and crime: bossism in the Philippines.

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.

Philippine Commentary in Why SWS Presidential Survey Does Not Add Up To 100% But 300% looks at the survey methodology, and proposes,

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.

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6853 2009-10-09T07:10:05Z 2010-01-10T18:59:41Z

Please read this appeal in the Marocharim Experiment: Northern Luzon needs your help: 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...

Manuel L. Quezon III Please read this appeal in the Marocharim Experiment: Northern Luzon needs your help:

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.

]]>

An overview of the situation as its developing can be gleaned from this map:
View GMANews.TV Storm Watch: Pepeng in a larger map. For the database version of this map, see Typhoon Pepeng Disaster Response Database. To add a report to the database, Use this Online Form.

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.

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6852 2009-10-01T03:35:53Z 2010-01-10T19:01:07Z

I've moved my updates to a new entry. I won't be updating How to help : please help focus attention and help update List of Places to Donate instead. For an overview of the situation, see OndoyManila which is supported...

Manuel L. Quezon III I've moved my updates to a new entry. I won't be updating How to help : please help focus attention and help update List of Places to Donate instead.

For an overview of the situation, see OndoyManila which is supported by Google and with volunteers from around the world updating it.

For relief/response see also Sahana FOSS Disaster Management System, set up by volunteers, supported by IBM, and adopted by the National Disaster Coordinating Council.They have a Sanaha Forum, please visit; and here's the Volunteer Sheet for the Sahana Project.

There is an unofficial List of Missing Persons put up by the Ateneo de Manila.GMA News Also has a Missing Person Database.

For concerned individuals overseas, here's how to donate if you're abroad.

Follow me on Twitter for more regular updates.

]]> 10/01/09

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.

9 AM Aurora Province Fund Drive and Relief Operation: an initiative of concerned Aurorans.

1 AM The Philippine National Red Cross Blood Center is running out of blood packs. Contact Raina Reyes at 09177911390 for blood donations.

Updated list based on Tweets of places that need more relief goods.

9/30/09

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:

12 AM Volunteer Sheet for the Sahana Project and visit the Sahana Forum.

9/29/09

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 :

1. Gawad Kalinga Philippine Peso Current Account 3101 0977 56 BPI EDSA Greenhills

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.)

1. 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/donatenowform.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.

12:49 PM List of impassable roads as of today. Here's an Unofficial Database of People Still Missing.

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.

Early this morning news came that the government, through the National Disaster Coordinating Council, has formally asked the internationally community for help, particularly in light of more storms to come. This will allow foreign governments to send assistance, something they couldn't do without a formal request from the government. You can keep track of news by bookmarking The Philippines Needs Your Help.

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.

1 AM Here's a handy map of Metro Manila drop off points for donations. For people with Amazon accounts, here's an effort to receive at least $500 in pledges by 8:49 AM EST September 30.

9/28/09

11:49 PM As floodwaters drain from the metropolis, news is Bulacan towns are getting flooded from the runoff. Laguna Province remains hard-hit by flooding. Meanwhile, Cebu is gearing up to help out in a big way. Citizens in the Visayas and Mindanao are also engaging in fundraising and gathering relief goods to send to Metro Manila.

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

1 PM: Aggregated info can be found at http://www.typhoonondoy.org and http://www.ondoyrelief.org

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)

HOTLINES:

Cubao - 913-7122; 913-6254; 913-3306; 0908-657-9998

Makati - 710-8804; Rosanna 0917-830-5053 HOURS OF OPERATION: 8:00AM - 9:00PM

Daily ANNOUNCEMENTS:

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.

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6851 2009-09-26T13:29:10Z 2010-01-10T19:02:53Z

Manuel L. Quezon III Note:  Follow me on Twitter for more regular updates.

9/29/09

12:49 PM List of impassable roads as of today. Here's an Unofficial Database of People Still Missing.

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.

Early this morning news came that the government, through the National Disaster Coordinating Council, has formally asked the internationally community for help, particularly in light of more storms to come. This will allow foreign governments to send assistance, something they couldn't do without a formal request from the government. You can keep track of news by bookmarking The Philippines Needs Your Help.

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.

1 AM Here's a handy map of Metro Manila drop off points for donations. For people with Amazon accounts, here's an effort to receive at least $500 in pledges by 8:49 AM EST September 30.

9/28/09

11:49 PM As floodwaters drain from the metropolis, news is Bulacan towns are getting flooded from the runoff. Laguna Province remains hard-hit by flooding. Meanwhile, Cebu is gearing up to help out in a big way. Citizens in the Visayas and Mindanao are also engaging in fundraising and gathering relief goods to send to Metro Manila.

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

1 PM: Aggregated info can be found at http://www.typhoonondoy.org and http://www.ondoyrelief.org

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)

HOTLINES:

Cubao - 913-7122; 913-6254; 913-3306; 0908-657-9998

Makati - 710-8804; Rosanna 0917-830-5053 HOURS OF OPERATION: 8:00AM - 9:00PM

Daily ANNOUNCEMENTS:

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.

Operation Rainbow (Zac Faelnar Camara) at Ayala Alabang Village needs Canned Goods, Ready-To-Eat Food, Bottled Water, Ready-To-Drink Milk/ Juice, Clothing, Blankets, contact (+632-4687991)

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.

CEBU:

• details on how you can donate are on noelle's blog or the living for a cause blog.

BACOLOD:

• 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.

for anyone in the UNITED STATES:

• visit the abs-cbn foundation website for details.

• you can also call 1-800-5272820

In Kind donations

LOCAL:

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.

See entries in Teacher Ria, in dvdtymo, Philippine Technology Blog, etc.

Some photos/videos shared by people online:

( Park 9 Alley, where the Barangay Hall of Loyola Heights is located)

(above: underpass along Ayala Avenue, Makati City)

( Burgos Circle at Fort Bonifacio)

(above: Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City)

(above: Gen. de Jesus St. between Xavier and Jo-Liza, Little Baguio, San Juan City)

(Wilson Street, Greenhills, San Juan City)

(Taft Avenue, Manila)

(Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City)

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6850 2009-09-19T16:27:28Z 2010-01-10T19:04:41Z

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...

Manuel L. Quezon III

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).

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6849 2009-09-12T07:56:31Z 2010-01-10T19:05:54Z

The present Constitution imposes only three requirements to be elected President of the Philippines: One must be 40 years of age on the day of election; One must be a natural-born Filipino citizen; One must be able to read and...

Manuel L. Quezon III The present Constitution imposes only three requirements to be elected President of the Philippines:

1. One must be 40 years of age on the day of election;

2. One must be a natural-born Filipino citizen;

3. One must be able to read and write.

Presidential Bio Data

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).

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6848 2009-08-14T04:22:18Z 2010-01-10T19:07:31Z

Manuel L. Quezon III Introduction

 

(last updated 8/17 12AM)

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. I am greatly indebted to these entries: GMA's $20,000 Dinner at Le Cirque in New York?!? August 8, 2009 and Do the Math... August 10, 2009 in Market Manila; Pièce de Résistance August 10, 2009 and Cerge Remonde's Circus Tale August 11, 2009 in {caffeine_sparks} among others.

July 29

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. (It will later be announced that on July 29, the President signed Executive Order No. 825, creating a local anti-hunger task force. News of this will only be released on August 11.) 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). Concerning the inclusion of members of the House, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Roberto Romulo had this to say:

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!!!

The Speaker himself claimed,

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.

The Philippine Star observed,

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.

8 PM Scheduled Dinner Meeting with FILUSA (Venue: Willard Ballroom, Willard Hotel). 10 PM Actual start with the dinner was held with around 400 members of FILUSA:

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.

Here is the President's speech. 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).

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo meets US President Barack Obama from RTVM Malacanang on Vimeo. 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. 8:20 PM According to RTVM, the President landed at the Newark Signature Terminal:

She was met by Ambassador Hilario Davide, Jr. 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.)

August 1

The President's Executive Secretary announces the San Francisco and Guam legs of the trip will be canceled:

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:

CNBC Closing Bell from RTVM Malacanang on Vimeo

August 2

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 AM Manuel 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. That's all.

9:29 PM ABS-CBN reports, Palace: Congressman paid for $20,000 dinner in NY: Remonde was asked to respond to the theoretical bill, which was presented by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.

August 9

12:01 AM Shoot First, Eat Later reproduces but accurately labels the theoretical order list. 12:56 AM PDI reports Arroyo dined for P1M in New York--report Critics: 'Lavish' meal in bad taste and Cerge Remonde's statement (by SMS) on who was at the dinner, upon who's invitation, what was consumed, and the date of the dinner, which he said was on August 2: 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. 1:14 PM ABS-CBN reports, Report on Arroyo's NY dinner exaggerated - Palace: 1. No taxpayer money was spent. 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. 5:32 PM Publication of a story in which Remonde tells the Manila Bulletin,

"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. 9:13 PM In Solon says P1M just right for dinner, Rep. Danilo Suarez gets chattier about the July 31 Le Cirque 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.

August 10

The legal implications of dinners for public officials is raised by Market Manila. 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 PM Torn & 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.

6:26 PM PDI publishes Mikey thanks Leyte solon for NY dinner: 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. 9:20 PM in Bishop slams GMA's P1M dinner in New York, Rep. Danilo Suarez states that: 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 . 3. Another story quotes Suarez as saying,

"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. The Straits Times of Singapore publishes a story on the Le Cirque brouhaha. So does Gulfnews. The Office of the Press Secretary announces the President created (Executive Order No. 825) a local anti-hunger task force on July 29. 1:23 AM PDI Publishes Palace won't say sorry 'We won't glamorize this issue any more' in which:

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.

6:27 PM PDI publishes Nograles on NY dinner: 'Stop making a mountain out of a molehill' in which:

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.

August 12

The story attracts international attention: The Age (Australia); The Peninsula in Qatar (republishing a Philippine Star report); Reuters news service; the Saudi Gazette; The China Post; The Brunei Times; Episcopal Life Online; and then, The Washington Post's Reliable Source blog which serves up a scoop of its own:

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.)

Not to be outdone, the New York Post weighs in again:

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.

As an interesting aside, in a subsequent comment in a thread in Market Manila (August 13), one commenter says the detail about lobster establishes verisimilitude:

Joey in Dubai says: 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.

Anyway, the above makes sense when linked to:

12:54 PM Party-list Rep. Walden Bello submits a letter of complaint to the Ombudsman concerning the President's dining habits:

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.

5:13 PM PDI reports Arroyo lawyer lashes back at media:

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.

6:18 PM Palace: probe of P1M dinner waste of time.

7:52 PM Before 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.

8:09 PM Report: Arroyo entourage also had $15,000 meal in D.C.

9:09 PM Heartburn over two big meals. Also, in Newsbreak.

August 13

Papers pick up that Palace announces the creation of a regional anti-hunger task force:

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.

9:37 AM See GMANews.TV story on the above.

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.)

11:04 AM Follow-up stories to the Washington, D.C. steak dinner story. ABS-CBN citing an anonymous source, says Arroyo feasted on steak, lobster: source:

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.

11:33 AM Ombudsman exec: No standard on 'lavish lifestyle.' in response to letter submitted by Rep. Walden Bello.

3:15 PM In Not just free meals, solon says of US trip, Rep. Bienvenido Abante confirms that:

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.

4:36 PM Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera ventures the opinion that the President's dinner was not an impeachable offense.

6:04 PM Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez says,

"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."

8:44 PM Palace: President entitled to best amenities:

"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.

Blogger At Midfield points to an August 11 Leyte Samar Daily Express story from August 11, in which a staffer of Rep. Martin Romualdez says it was the congressman's brother, Daniel Romualdez, who paid for the Le Cirque dinner (see August 11 portion of this timeline). A curious side note is the story that the Palace wants to buy a new presidential jet, when the existing presidential Fokker F-28 has just recently been refurbished by the Philippine Air Force.

August 14

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....

12 AM Now Rep. Danilo Suarez says he paid for the President's dinner in Washington:

"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.

1. Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni saysm in the same report, a "fact-checking investigation" will be undertaken.

2. 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...

(see an OFW in Dubai's scuttlebutt on inflight dining).

4:07 AM Rep. Danilo Suarez fleshes out his alibi:

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.

10:42 AM Rep. Suarez elaborates his alibi further (and hints there will be others to back him up):

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.

11:01 AM Arroyo spent P2.7B for foreign trips--solon 11:49 AM The Speaker of the House makes an appeal:

"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."

(Two interesting entries on the concept of delicadeza can be found in Vaes9 and opinyong pinoy; see also Randy David's column,The death of 'delicadeza' )

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. He said the budget allows for flexibility.

But on June 24, the same Presidential Spokesman had said,

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.

August 15

12 AM 'GMA used P800-million emergency fund for foreign trips' has Rep. Danilo Suarez paving the way for handling news of another New York City dinner:

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.

6:15 AM In Suarez: DC dinner a wedding gift to Arroyos the Washington steak house alibi is amended as follows:

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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

A more intriguing quote comes out in The Manila Bulletin:

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.

August 16

2 AM A facsimile of the article is uploaded online:

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.

8 PM A categorical statement: No consulate funds used in Le Cirque dinner--DFA:

"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.

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6847 2009-08-07T19:19:05Z 2010-01-07T11:34:00Z

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...

Manuel L. Quezon III 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. From Belmont Club, And last, on the funeral:

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.

And also, from the same blog (Belmont Club) in Maria Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009)

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.

And from Ricky Carandang:

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.

From Hansley Juliano in Spaces of Resistance:

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.

From Rosselle Tugade also in Spaces of Resistance:

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.

From A Leftist’s Reflection on the Death of Former President Corazon C. Aquino:

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.

By Jessica Zafra:

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.

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6846 2009-08-04T22:23:21Z 2010-01-07T11:34:00Z

(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';...

Manuel L. Quezon III (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. -Ninoy Aquino, “I Have Fallen In Love” 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.]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6845 2009-07-03T05:13:36Z 2010-01-07T11:34:00Z

The buzz started last night with a Manila Bulletin article on the President checking into the Asian Hospital in Alabang for some cosmetic procedures. Take a look at a screencap of the article as it appeared from last night to...

Manuel L. Quezon III The buzz started last night with a Manila Bulletin article on the President checking into the Asian Hospital in Alabang for some cosmetic procedures. Take a look at a screencap of the article as it appeared from last night to about 1 pm today; and see Jessica Zafra's opinion that it's a hoax. However, the story hasn't been taken down, though slightly modified, and can still be seen on the Manila Bulletin website: see GMA medical checkup OK. In the Inquirer, officialdom expressed shock, shock, at the news of breast implants, etc. for the President:

"What? Silicon implants? That's the first time I heard about that," Secretary Gabriel Claudio said in a phone interview.

"No way; I just heard that from you. I thought you were joking."

Claudio said that he had "absolutely no information" about Ms Arroyo's breast implant replacement, adding he was not even aware that she had an implant in the first place.

In his column today, Jarius Bondoc elaborates further:

The President has been suffering dysfunctional bleeding, likely due to polyps or myoma in the uterus. She had first walked into the hospital one dawn in 2008 for D&C (dilation and curettage) and left at dusk. News then was that she had an executive check. She’s had three follow-ups this year, the last in June. Menopause is inducing abnormal tissue growth and hormonal imbalance, a source said.

Wednesday dawn Arroyo checked in again — for less serious causes. She needed mammoplastic repair of leaking breast implants done in the ’80s. Occasion too to have doctors take out an inguinal cyst (in the groin), and laser off extra hair growth in that area and the armpits. Though a bit groggy, Arroyo was set to check out yesterday afternoon.

Too much information? The Marocharim Experiment seems to think so.

Article VII, Section 12 of the Constitution directs that

In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. The members of the Cabinet in charge of national security and foreign relations and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, shall not be denied access to the President during such illness.

Previous to this, there was much speculation on the condition of the President's liver, and the causes of her fluctuating weight; one UP student even claimed photographic evidence that President had cosmetic surgery on her nose.

The presidency is the sort of job that can wreck the health of even the most phenomenally-endowed with stamina; and it is entirely due to the manner in which politics was affected by the deteriorating health of President Marcos, that we have the constitutional provision on public information on the chief executive's health.

The real question then is what constitutes "serious," in terms of a president's health.

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6844 2009-06-20T06:39:41Z 2010-01-07T11:33:59Z

In his column, The Ateneo and public opinion polling , Mahar Mangahas kept referring to "the spiral of silence phenomenon," without every actually explaining what it is: In planning for the first Ateneo-SWS poll, of May 1986, the issue was...

Manuel L. Quezon III In his column, The Ateneo and public opinion polling , Mahar Mangahas kept referring to "the spiral of silence phenomenon," without every actually explaining what it is:

In planning for the first Ateneo-SWS poll, of May 1986, the issue was raised on whether to risk asking whom the respondents voted for in the snap election – suppose most said they had voted for Marcos? I appreciate the Ateneo for agreeing to ask it; the result was that 64 percent said they had voted for Cory Aquino. (The risk was actually small; we didn’t know about the “spiral of silence” phenomenon yet.)

In early 1987, we had to decide whether to do an Ateneo-SWS poll just before the May election, to maximize its potential to predict the outcome, or much earlier, to enhance its value to campaigners. We took the second option. The March 1987 poll found only half of Cory’s senatorial candidates in the winning column; her campaign manager Paul Aquino told his staff that they could not afford to sleep any more. Eventually, with the help of “Cory magic,” 22 of her 24 candidates won. (But critics claimed that the survey failed, because the election outcome was different.)

After the joint project expired, Ateneo and SWS shared the briefing revenues 50-50 as pre-arranged, and then did polls separately. With funding from various foundations, Ateneo did at least six national polls over 1988-1992. In 1992, its post-election poll found some 40 percent saying they had voted for Fidel Ramos, even though he had won with only some 25 percent of the official count – but it was again the “spiral of silence” at work.

Here's a handy-dandy definition,

The spiral of silence is a political science and mass communication theory propounded by the German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. The theory asserts that a person is less likely to voice an opinion on a topic if one feels that one is in the minority for fear of reprisal or isolation from the majority.

In a speech he made on May 18, 2000 (the keynote address during the Annual Conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research, 17 - 21 May 2000, Portland, Oregon, USA), he tackled how not knowing "the spiral of silence" made some survey results curious:

Some of you, perhaps, may recall that Ferdinand Marcos was virtual dictator in the Philippines from September 1972 to February 1986. Opinion polling was very uncommon then. For instance, in 1983 a book of survey indicators, The 1982 Philippine Social Weather Report, by myself and others, was suppressed from publication. In November 1985, when Marcos unexpectedly announced over American TV (the David Brinkley show) that he would hold a so-called 'snap' presidential election, he waved on-camera a national opinion poll, done the previous July and publicly reported in August, by the Bishops-Businessmens' Conference (BBC 1998), an independent civic group, as his basis for expecting to win. He was alluding to a survey item that asked, "How many in this locality would vote for Ferdinand Marcos if he runs for President again?", to which 53% answered Many or Very Many, and 37% answered Few or Very Few.

No amount of clarification could persuade Marcos loyalists, and even some anti-Marcos elements (to my frustration as the BBC survey director), that the score of 53-37 was NOT a prediction of the vote for Marcos versus whoever. Perhaps Fate decreed that this portion of the poll be misinterpreted so much. More significant survey findings, such as the opposition to legislation by presidential decree, and opposition to detention of persons by presidential fiat, both by 2-to-1, were ignored by the Marcos-controlled media.

Three weeks before the snap election on February 7th, a professional poll commissioned by the TV networks showed a score of 45% for Marcos, 26% for Corazon Aquino, and 29% undecided. In the final week, a poll by Asia Research Organization (Henares 1991), affiliated to Gallup International, found 42% for Aquino and 41% for Marcos, and assigned the 17% undecided to Aquino on account of the fear-factor; but this was not revealed by ARO for 5 years, and the sponsor is still unknown today. In the quick-count of the vote by the National Movement for Free Elections, the winner was Aquino, by 53% to 47%, while in the slow-count by the National Legislature the winner was Marcos, by 54% to 46%. The issue was politically settled by the People Power Revolution and the Marcoses' flight to Hawaii on February 25. The following May, a joint survey by Social Weather Stations and Ateneo de Manila University asked respondents -- after some discussion of the merits of 'letting well enough alone' -- for whom they had voted in the snap election, obtaining 64% for Aquino, 27% for Marcos, and 9% refusals (Ateneo and SWS, 1986). At that time none of us knew of The Spiral of Silence yet.

Does it exist, now, and is it reflected in the "undecided" in survey results today? And if so, who do the "undecideds" fear? My view is, they reflect tacit but not explicit support for the administration -the fear, in this case, being fear of the majority that opposes the administration and castigates its public defenders.

]]> tag:blogs.inquirer.net,2009:/current//19.6843 2009-06-16T06:51:25Z 2010-01-07T11:33:59Z

This passage (by Ryszard Kapuscinski, first put forward in my entry of February 22, 2008), considering not only recent goings-on in Iran, but goings-on here at home, comes to mind: It is authority that provokes revolution. Certainly, it does...

Manuel L. Quezon III

This passage (by Ryszard Kapuscinski, first put forward in my entry of February 22, 2008), considering not only recent goings-on in Iran, but goings-on here at home, comes to mind:

It is authority that provokes revolution. Certainly, it does not do so consciously. Yet its style of life and way of ruling finally become a provocation. This occurs when a feeling of impunity takes root among the elite: We are allowed anything, we can do anything. This is a delusion, but it rests on a certain rational foundation. For a while, it does indeed look as if they can do whatever they want. Scandal after scandal and illegality after illegality go unpunished. The people remain silent, patient, wary. They are afraid and do not yet feel their own strength. At the same time, they keep a detailed account of the wrongs, which at one particular moment are to be added up. The choice of that moment is the greatest riddle known to history. Why did it happen on that day, and not on another? Why did this event, and not some other, bring it about? After all, the government was indulging in even worse excesses only yesterday, and there was no reaction at all. “What have I done?” asks the ruler, at a loss. “What has possessed them all of a sudden?” This is what he has done: He has abused the patience of the people. But where is the limit of that patience? How can it be defined? If the answer can be determined at all, it will be different in each case. The only certain thing is that rulers who know that such a limit exists and know how to respect it can count on holding power for a long time. But there are few such rulers.

I think it's fair to say the President has learned how to push the envelope without bringing the whole house of cards tumbling down. It helps that quite a few of her in house tacticians earned their spurs during the Marcos years, in the Marcos administration. They knew well enough that no situation unfolds exactly the same as a previous one; but that in bold strokes, an old battle plan might be useful if suitable tweaked and revised.

In bold strokes: keep many possibilities up in the air; pursue them simultaneously; switch your emphasis from one to the other, depending on circumstances and as opportunities arise; recognize the essentials, as far as public opinion is concerned; never force your foes to feel their backs are against the wall until you possess overwhelming force; meanwhile, pick them off one by one; recognize that the ultimate trump cards in the president's hands are the armed forces and police, and that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, if divided, is as much a bulwark of support as it might be a focus for rallying one's opponents; and always maintain the appearance of legality.

So we are seeing a dizzying number of possibilities raised, knocked down, revived, shelved, or what have you; the essentials, however, have been identified -primarily, an election in 2010- while everyone is still kept guessing, so that the resources of the enemy are dissipated while that of the administration is more cohesive; the military and police have been kept fat and well-groomed, the hierarchy remains divided, and everything is geared for resolution in the Supreme Court.

I know many people, both among her admirers and her critics, strongly believe the President's bottom line is simple: she does not want to be disgraced by going to jail, and she wants to complete her term. I do believe that her stay in office has also convinced her that God put her in power to kick the country into shape. Therefore to be convinced of failure when it comes to the former, will only inspire her to pursue staying in power, as her self-preservation, to her mind, becomes a case of national survival, too.

So all options must remain on the table for the duration, if only to keep everyone guessing. It helps distract her leading opponents, but also, helps keep her supporters tractable.

For example, Lito Banayo thinks that Gilbert Teodoro's headed for a trap: he will have to resign from the cabinet on November 30 to pursue his candidacy for the presidency; at which point, Hermogenes Esperon will become Secretary of National Defense. Meanwhile, the President has showered Class 1978 of the Philippine Military Academy with promotions and raised them to the command of strategic forces: "In the Army," Banayo points out, which "is 75% of all the armed forces," her loyalists command "six out of 10 infantry divisions." All dissent within the AFP has been suppressed; the Marines are kept busy in Mindanao. The case against General Francisco V. Gudani is instructive, too.

(photo from Jose Antonio Figueroa collection)

Now let me reproduce a passage from Ferdinand Marcos' diary, from September 1, 1972. Senator Daniel Inouye, on a visit to supposedly survey typhoon damage, confided to Marcos that he was in town to "see the general situation." Marcos then goes on to recount,

He asked me what is going to happen. He explained that he has been told there are four options: 1. Extension of my term 2. A parliamentary form of government 3. I run for reelection 3. Martial law.

I immediately countered that I do not need martial law to win an election and that in the present situation anybody I opposed would come out; that I would not agree to allowing the First Lady to run since it would be unfair to her. "We are too old in this game to need martial law to get votes," I said and he smiled with understanding.

"However," I explained, "do not misunderstand me. If the communists sow terror in Manila. If they bomb and burn, kill and kidnap, if they use the Vietcong tactics; then I will not hesitate to proclaim martial law."

"What I would prefer would be an extension. But I would accept it only if the political opposition agrees to it. If they do not I will not agree to it."

"I would then try to be a Prime Minister."

"But I would first wipe out the communists before the next President or Prime Minister takes over so he has a chance. I need several years to build up my replacement. None of those aspiring now are fit to lead the country. Aquino and Diokno are demagogues and are communist-inclined. They would immediately set up a communist regime. Roxas is a weakling. He would not risk his life to protect our freedoms. Puyat is an oligarch. He has too many interests to protect."

"What we need is somebody who is trusted by the Armed Forces, is a liberal thinker, will fight communism and will risk not only his life but everything in this fight."

Consider the tactics in play in this passage.

1. Reassure everyone of your adherence to democracy;

2. Downgrade your enemies;

3. Point to a credible threat;

4. And point to yourself, by virtue of this process of elimination, as the one who should be left standing, by force of arms if need be.

Now consider this video, of the President speaking at the PaLaKa unification shindig.

Here is the transcript of what the President said:

Let us also make the alliance between the local government units and the Armed Forces of the Philippines a major campaign plank, especially in the local elections.   

I ask Administration candidates to take this up as a key governance thrust, and openly support those who pledge to push peace and development, and oppose collaborators of those who seek to use violence to overthrow government and to impose their obsolete ideology on the people. (applause)

In 2010, let us have none of our LGUs flirting with the enemies of the state. (applause) And let us show those who continue to do so as undermining their communities and their Republic. I am confident that with you working with me now under one political name and banner, we can further strengthen our partnership in pursuit of the people’s welfare.

In 2010, let us have none of our LGUs flirting with the enemies of the state. (applause) And let us show those who continue to do so as undermining their communities and their Republic. I am confident that with you working with me now under one political name and banner, we can further strengthen our partnership in pursuit of the people’s welfare.

Our government has always found it easier and more productive to bring down projects and services to provinces and localities where governors are not at odds with congressmen, or mayors are not at odds with their governors or their congressmen. And I am glad that our merged party will have a mechanism for reconciliation or, if necessary, the adjudication of disputes at the local level.

Cynics and detractors love to paint grim scenarios about a cancellation of the 2010 elections. Let this merger of LAKAS and KAMPI be tangible proof of the Administration’s readiness, nay determination, to help ensure that the elections do push through. (applause)

The emergence of LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD as one party is our finest weapon and perhaps our best guarantee for success in the 2010 elections. (applause) I look upon LAKAS-KAMPI, moving as one, fighting as one, as the instrument and vehicle for electing the best, most qualified and the worthiest leaders of our country. (applause)

Let us strive for victory which not only our party but the entire nation and our democracy can claim as their own.  

I've been trying to find an Executive Order the President reportedly recently signed, instituting the above as an official policy of her administration.

But straight from the horse's mouth is the emerging tactic of pursuing a showdown with the Left, to galvanize support within the military, and set the stage for a showdown which opens up many tactical opportunities: a means to crack down on local government leaders being just one of these opportunities, under the guise of a renewed offensive against the Left, along the lines long ago drawn up by Norberto Gonzales and friends.

This is not an encouraging one, for those inclined to hope 2010 comes along and resolves the past few years' divisions by taking the President out of the equation.

She sees an opening and intends to maximize it. Of course there will be elections. It will be accompanied by a showdown. The showdown... well, it expands the options available to the ruling party.

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