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Malacanang today announced the appointment of former military chief Hermogenes Esperon as presidential adviser on the peace process. How the Muslim separatists, rebel soldiers and communists will be a sight to behold. Imagine one of the leaders of iron-fisted militarist measures and defender of death squads advising Arroyo on how to advance the cause of peace?

I actually find this good, insofar as exposing Esperon’s record and anti-democratic impulses. He will now have to contend fully with civilian means of threshing out issues as complex and deeply-rooted as the Moro and communist movements. It also shows that:

1. Arroyo is so beholden to corrupt and questionable military officials, so much so that she cannot wait a month or two after his retirement before Esperon is given such an important task that involves considerable appropriations and, more importantly, essential prerogatives. For Arroyo, the OPAPP is just one tool to carry on the stinking, corrupt and archaic patronage politics.

2. Arroyo does not care about Esperon’s immediate past and continuing hatred against communists, and his refusal to recognize the important differences between the armed guerillas and legal activists. Never mind if Oplan Bantay Laya resulted in a stop to peace talks. Never mind if Esperon remained in a state of denial.

3. Arroyo has to continue protecting Esperon from possible criminal and civil suits from his role in extrajudicial killings (904 so far) and in the massive fraud of the 2004 elections. As full member of the cabinet, executive privilege would most likely be used to carry on cover ups.

4. Ultimately, we now get a confirmation of Arroyo’s sense of the word “peace”. Its plain silence, absence and murder of dissenting voices, blind obedience and the like.

May Divine Providence guide our people and inspire us to act appropriately.

Jeepney fares will go up from P7.50 to P8.00 starting Wednesday, May 21. Bus fares will also be raised from P10.00 to P11.50.

For the new government-approved figures, read the Inquirer.net and GMANews.tv reports.

This was not what PISTON was demanding in their recent transport strike. PISTON is always the last to seek such increases due to the impact on the commuting public. Fare hikes are the usual response of groups such as FEJODAP and PCDO-ACTO to national economic hardship. PISTON was/is way above the fray of these government-friendly and strike-wary groups, and would rather take a look at their sectoral concern amid the national crisis. PISTON was demanding controls on oil prices vis-a-vis the purported malpractices of Shell, Caltex and Petron (!), and was seeking the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law which removed all manner of protection for the public.

The fare hike is just the latest in a string of suspicious “populist” actions taken by the Arroyo government. First, it started a war against Meralco. Then, the President herself proclaimed the P20 wage hike, beating the hell out of the NCR and Region IV wage boards.  Yesterday, Malacanang announced that it is supporting long-standing calls for a moratorium on tuition fee increases. Today, the government announced a fare hike.

What we are witnessing is a public-relations offensive by the Arroyo administration which may succeed if the opposition and the broad mass movement will allow it and not see the deviousness of it. The band-aid solutions to national disunity, restlessness and economic hardships may look good on paper, but even i we combine them, they hardly make a dent in improving the lot of the majority.

Take the war on Meralco: It truly looks more like pure harassment against the Lopezes than an honest attempt to reduce high power rates. For if the Arroyo administration truly wants low power rates, it could easily and quickly remove the VAT on power. Secondly, consumer groups such as POWER andNASECORE have long bewailed that the Energy Regulatory Commission — an office directly under the President - was just acting like a rubber-stamp of Meralco as long as we can remember.  No mention is made up to now on the role of President Arroyo in the enactment of the EPIRA, the license used by utility firms to gouge consumers with all sorts of fees and rate hikes. All we see is the demonization of Meralco. The major role played by the Arroyo government is being covered up.

Tuition fees have skyrocketed these past few years and decades, no thanks to the deregulation policy on fees and the insatiable greed for profit by so-called capitalist educators (school administrators). Meanwhile, the government has taken a hands-off approach to public education. The budget and number of state colleges and universities continue to be reduced in the name of cost-cutting. President Arroyo even had the gall to appoint Romulo Neri, whose credentials are inadequate for the job, to preside over CHED to purportedly streamline the educational system along neoliberal ends. A moratorium is really good at this time; student groups such as the NUSP and LFS have long asked for it. But this is just a form of immediate reprieve. The crisis is getting worse: higher fees, mass unemployment, board exam scams, dwindling public resources alloted for education, etc.

The KMU and other self-respecting labor groups have called the P20 wage hike as “an insult to the workingclass”. Very honest of these workers, and we should join them. For how can P20 be a form of reprieve amid rising prices of basic goods/services which the Arroyo administration refuses to rein in.

The Arroyo administration is providing the public openings or launching pads from where we could hold it accountable for mismanaging the economy, the budget, the government. The seemingly populist measures it is taking should boomerang on Arroyo who should be held liable for bringing the country to where it is now:

A country ready to cheer small mercies and fake populism amid the crisis of confidence and a sense of hopelessness that have festered since 2001.

Those who wish to start a blog, or those would like to have their existing blog to have a new look, should consider taking a look at these free Wordpress themes. They range from nice to great looking.

Here are my suggestions from various web sources, presented in no particular order:

1. ConservaBlogs Liberty — simple, three-column theme. You may change the header quickly at the Dashboard. Use it for liberal and radical blogs. Hehehe. Due to its simple style, I chose and installed it yesterday. Thanks to darckedesigns for designing my header based on ~becominginvisible’s keyboard_2.
2. Revolution Continued — is a beautiful, one-column theme. It makes use of different shades of brown. Really cool design.
3. Keepsheep — cool two-column theme, using a combo of darkish orange, blue and white for a fun mix that’s a joy for the eyes to see.
4. Rebel Magazine — is for those who wish to give their blogs a magazine look.
5. Dor Dot Dot — really simple, three-column theme
6. Curved 3-Columns — simple buyt elegant theme
7. Geek With Power — is a handsome, easy-to-the-eyes theme with three columns
8. AdsPress — for those who wish to cash in on Google AdSense but still wish to have an impressive look
9. BranfordMagazine — cool, powerful magazine theme which I intend to use in a new blog soon!
10. Hemingway Reloaded — a truly minimalist theme
11. Cutline — a simple and reliable theme
12. Facebook Wordpress — for those who can’t get enough of Facebook and want their blog to look like it.
13. Rihanna — beautiful three-column theme
14. Digital Pop — colorful, playful three-column theme
15. Press Box — a modern. highly visual theme

Enjoy!

Tart and I agreed last night to take care of Tomas, Juli’s panganay, at her house. Juli is on vacation now, trying to catch what remains of summer somewhere up north. I hope she’s enjoying and not worrying about Tomas.

Tomas is fine, enjoying being fed and playing with her only toy — an empty plastic medicine bottle.

We will be taking care of this lion until Monday morning. As we go about this “chore”, we have Juli’s house to ourselves. Hehe.

Anyway, before the day ends, let me point you to an interesting discovery of UP Prof. Danny Arao: Its about some unusual paragraph. Guess why its so unusual.

Edel Garcellano blogged last May 15 about the passing and remembrances of writer, poet, professor and journalist Bayani Abadilla.

By the way, activists and friends will pay tribute to Abadilla tonight, 7 pm at Chapel 10, 3rd floor of Funeraria Paz.

In the two-part post, Garcellano also took on the diatribes directed against Luis Teodoro.

Titled “Siege”, the second part of Garcellano’s post dealt on the “tempest” purportedly brought about by Teodoro’s call for ethical standards upbraids the “critics” and tells us who/what they really are.

Read Garcellano’s blog post here.

In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation.

Thus said judges of the California supreme court in its decision today recognizing the right of gays and lesbians to marry, and to have equal rights as heterosexuals.

Homosexual Americans hailed the decision as a victory for the cause of equality. CBS News called it a monumental victory for gay rights. Read the Fox News report here.

Get the full copy of the decision here.

Pundits meanwhile expect gay marriages to become an election issue.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers chair Tonchi Tinio has a revelation:

While Winston Garcia has been gaining media mileage by criticizing the lack of transparency in the management of Meralco, he himself is guilty of the same. Worse, he’s deceiving the public by presenting himself as a disinterested party whose only concern is to lower Meralco’s power rates when, in fact, his family has a vested interest in VECO, whose owners could stand to gain if the Meralco franchise is broken up. His populist rhetoric is a mere cover-up for corporate raiding for the benefit of the Arroyo administration’ s allies and cronies.

VECO, or the Visayas Electric Company, is the second largest power utility in the country.

Elsewhere, the GSIS warned government employees group COURAGE against allowing itself to be used by Meralco. Like ACT, COURAGE is critical of the publicized plans of the GSIS and Garcia to use the GSIS stake in Meralco to punish the Lopezes. These two groups are correct in pointing out its position on the misuse of pension funds for devious ends.

ACT and COURAGE have long been active in the campaign for lower power rates. They are members of the People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates (POWER), the group that helped expose the Purchased Power Adjustment and that successfully sued for a refund some years back. It is insane to claim that they are allowing themselves to be used by Meralco.

President Arroyo found no reason to speak to workers last Labor Day. But today, she attended the employers’ congress and made this startling announcement:

Minimum wage earners in Metro Manila and Southern are going to get a P20 umento.

The P20 increase is a far cry from the demands of labor groups, principally, the Kilusang Mayo Uno which is asking for P125. How P20 would provide meaningful economic relief amid rising prices remains a mystery that the Arroyo administration should explain soon.

Should workers dance in the streets and provide Arroyo “another chance” given this wage hike? Should workers kneel down and thank the administration for this “favor”? Anyway, I leave it to the workers to speak for themselves, in a forceful and powerful manner. It is their lives that are at stake here and I have confidence that they would be able to articulate themselves clearly.

I am just amazed by the employers’ complete and total lack of a sense of “national solidarity” and “social justice” amid the crisis. The way they speak out against wage hikes, it is as if they don’t eat three square meals anymore or that all their businesses are shutting down. When in reality, they are very much more well-off than the average worker. It is as if they are telling workers to be contented that they have jobs and that asking for decent wages is plain abuso.

The small and medium-scale businesses meanwhile are allowing themselves to be used by big businessmen. It is the big businessmen who are violently against wage hikes, and they speak about “gloom and doom” about the possible ill effects. What they cannot deny is that closures of small and medium-scale factories in the past few years were not because of high wages or wage hikes; we did not have considerable wage hikes lately. The plummeting business confidence and the weak entrepreneural drive are due to other factors: high lending rates by big business banks, unfair competition by big business and big foreign companies, laws and public officials that favor big businesses, etc.

Thus, I am thankful for groups such as CREBA:

Providing P125 wage hike is possible, according to the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations. The group is proposing a cap on the high lending rates to save industries and enable them to provide higher pay for their employees. It says that:

the business sector will find no objection to a minimum wage increase of as much as P200 to P300 per day, if the same is preconditioned on a legislated lending rate cap. This is because businesses will not be drawing the wage increase from their own pockets, but from the savings on borrowing costs that the pegged lending rates will generate.

According to CREBA, “the combined impact of wage hikes and stabilized or reduced prices will in turn raise purchasing power and effective consumer demand, thus providing the necessary incentive for businesses to expand and create more employment opportunities for the labor force. Government itself will benefit in terms of reduced domestic debt servicing, not to mention increased opportunities for revenue generation due to business expansion and increased employment levels”.

Get the CREBA position paper here.

Soon after the the new military chief of staff Alexander Yano assumed his post and announced a bounty system to reward soldiers fighting the counter-insurgency war, a farmer-leader was shot dead in Davao City. Also check the News Patrol report here from ABS-CBNNews.com.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said of the murder of Celso Pojas:

It seems that this is the opening salvo of the new Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Alexander Yano’s new reign of terror

Pojas is KMP’s regional spokesperson in Southern Mindanao and leader of the Farmers Association of Davao City. His causes and those of KMP and FADC have put him in the news. Read his statements here, here, and here. In the most recent commemoration of the Mendiola massacre, Pojas told the Inquirer that:

Our fellow farmers who were brutally slain during the Mendiola massacre died calling for a genuine land program. Until now, justice has been denied. [Under] the Arroyo regime, the plight of [the] farmers [remains] the same

He did not know that he will join the roster of farmer-martryrs in less a few months time.

Like many farmers, Pojas was very unimpressed by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program:

The CARP as been designed as the ultimate answer to the problems of landlessness and poverty of the wide mass of Filipino farming families. But 20 years since it has been implemented, the plight of the farmers has worsened. Land distribution and amortization rates are costly, that farmers who availed of CARP are now buried to their necks with credit to the government, the Land Bank and local usurers due to the high prices of fertilizers and seeds

Pojas’ murder brings to 904 the number of activists, critics, lawyers and other “enemies” liquidated under the Arroyo administration since 2001. Just a few days ago, Karapatan placed the figure at 903.

The authorities must identify, hunt down, find and prosecute Pojas’ murderer/s. Otherwise, the number of the dead will continue to rise and the so-called death squads would appear to have been egged on to “finish off” more activists who the military has for the longest time has mislabeled as “enemies of the state”.

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will soon resume hearings on the controversial National Broadband Network contract with Chinese firm ZTE, after a new witness has come forward to shed light on President Arroyo’s role in the scandal.

The witness told ABS-CBN that he fears for his life; former Rep. and now Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico has provided him security.

This development was perhaps what whistleblower Jun Lozada was hinting when we sat down with him last week at La Salle Greenhills. He hinted no immediate end to the NBN-ZTE issue.

Meanwhile, President Arroyo has been successful to pretend having no role in yet another issue: the scandalously high power rates that beset our people. I wish the mass movements and the political opposition would redraw the prevailing anti-Meralco discourse dominated by the President’s allies into something that correctly makes skyrocketing power costs an anti-administration issue.  Arroyo’s EPIRA and her VAT on power and fuel should take centerstage soon.

The power issue should not be allowed to be turned into something like Arroyo’s salbabida.

One of the major causes of the rift between President Arroyo and the Left in 2001 was the signing into law of the Electric Power Reform Act on June 8, 2001. A true-blue pro-imperialist, Arroyo chose EPIRA as the first law she signed into law as President.

In her speech at the signing of EPIRA, Arroyo said:

Our reputation as having one of the most expensive electricity rates in Asia will hopefully change with the law’s mandate of rate reduction of around 30 centavos per kilowatt-hour for residential subscribers. The law also provides for a reduction in industrial power rates.

Kung bababa ang presyo ng koryente, daat susunod ang pagbaba ng presyo ng mga bilihin, o kaya man lang maiiwan ang malubhang pagtaas pa ng mga presyo. Magiging competitive tayo sa ibang bansa.

In the aftermath of the EPIRA’s signing, the public was given b.s. upon b.s. of propaganda about the law’s purported benefits, as we can glean from this FAQ from the Department of Energy. It says that the EPIRA is good because it will provide the public:

Consumer Empowerment. This can be achieved by giving consumers the power to choose their source of electricity from among a host of generators and suppliers of electricity.

Higher Efficiency. Consumers will be assured of adequate and reliable power supply at lower rates.

Open Access. There will be open access to transmission and distribution network/ facilities so that the benefits of competition in the generation/supply sector could really trickle down to the consumers.

Industry Accountability. There will be higher levels of environmental, health and safety standards. Non-complying companies will be subject to appropriate fines and penalties. There will be higher levels of environmental, health and safety standards. Non-complying companies will be subject to appropriate fines and penalties.

Competition in Generation and Supply. There will be competition between and among generating companies where prices will be market-driven and competitive. There will be long-term contracts and a spot market where the trading of electricity between buyers and sellers will be undertaken. There will be competition between and among generating companies where prices will be market-driven and competitive. There will be long-term contracts and a spot market where the trading of electricity between buyers and sellers will be undertaken.

Electricity Tariff Unbundling. This includes the itemization and the segregation of various components of electricity tariffs to make the rates more transparent. With rates unbundled, customers will be able to know how much they would be paying for generation, transmission, distribution and other benefits or charges.

It also said that “these reforms are aimed at making sure our country will have reliable and competitively priced electricity. The strategy is to put an end to monopolies that breed inefficiency, encourage the entry of many more industry players, and generate competition that will benefit consumers in terms of better rates and services”.

Arroyo must also be held liable for 1) raising the VAT rate; and 2) for imposing VAT on petroleum products and electric power bills in Feb. 2006. At that time, she told the public:

Two percent is a very small increase

It is thus so disgusting to hear President Arroyo portray herself as the “savior” of consumers at this time when the painful effects of EPIRA and the imposition of VAT on petroleum and power rates should be catching up with her administration. More than the need for amendments, Congress should review the law and cross-check its effects vis-a-vis the promises the Arroyo administration. Indeed, we can’t buy the theatrics of GSIS top-honcho Winston Garcia about a “takeover” or “management change” of Meralco for even if the likes of Garcia would replace the Lopezes in Meralco, there is no assurance of “lower power rates” or at the very least, “more efficient” and “less corrupt” management of the country’s biggest utility firm. At the core of the issue are the policies of privatization and denationalization vis-a-vis strategic industries such as electric power and petroleum.

Who would be naive enough to believe that Arroyo, a puppet of imperialist globalization, would actually allow a takeover of Meralco?

After a long period of giving this administration endless “second chances” which Arroyo all too often f–ked up just to keep the reins of power, the public should reject the theatrics. We must demand that Congress do its job, scrap EPIRA and lift the VAT on fuel and power. In doing so, we will undo what Arroyo has done which is to permit high power rates. And while we are at it, we must remember and never forget the lies and deceit of Mrs. Arroyo that brought us to where we are now.

Additional readings:

Consumer group POWER’s statement on VAT and power rates

Understanding high power rates under the Arroyo regime

Harebrained, malicious and downright fascist responses to today’s transport strike are to be expected from the usual suspects — from the government that pretends there is no problem and from those who subscribe to the politics of hopelessness and surrender.

To help elucidate the cause of PISTON, Engr. Ramon Ramirez, a pre-martial law board topnotcher, who has chosen to serve the people through mass movements, came out with the following email:

Math of the transport strike tomorrow

When the government allowed jeepney drivers to collect P7.50 as the minimum fare a few years ago, diesel was at P26 per liter…

Now diesel costs P42 and the minimum fare is still P7.50. The drivers take a cut in their earnings every time the cost of diesel increases.

The fuel cost has jumped by 62%! and inflation is at a 3-year high, you sometimes wonder how the drivers make both ends meet. If they were owners of IPPs (power generators) they would have added the increases in the cost of diesel to the generation charge via the so-called GRAM (or Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism), and it would all be legal

But drivers are not as special as the IPPs and they cannot do that without their licenses and franchises revoked. So tomorrow they are staging a transport strike as a means of redressing their grievances.

But the strange thing — from the point of view of a hard-nosed businessm — is that they are not demanding an increase in the minimum fare!. Why? As PISTON spokesman George explained it in the presscon last Saturday, they do not want to add to the burden of the people by charging higher new minimum fare.

Instead they want to have diesel at reduced prices by asking Arroyo to remove the taxes and tariffs on diesel and related products. That would reduce in a big way the cost of diesel, and drivers can recover some amount of their previous incomes..

Graphically:

Min.fare (a few years ago): P7.50
Cost of diesel (a few years ago): P26

Min. fare (today): P7.50
Cost of diesel (today): P42

Increase in minimum fare: 0

Increase in cost of diesel: P16 (62%)

Cost of living: Has made a quantum leap

Cost reduction if petroleum taxes and tariffs are removed: 10%

Will Arroyo understand the simple math? Or will she wait for drivers to be driven to use more forceful ways to redress their grievances before she understands the very simple math?

Mon

I hope MonRam posts this in his own blog pronto.

Everyone benefits if PISTON succeeds in its campaign. Compelling the government to actually do something on oil prices will benefit everyone including PISTON critics. PISTON is not asking for a fare increase (not at the moment, I understand, and although they fully deserve it) and instead looking at the issue more as citizens than as drivers so please give them some respect.

Anyway, I repeat my snappy salute to the nation’s activist drivers under the banner of PISTON. Despite the non-participation of such groups like FEJODAP, 1-UTAK, PASANG MASDA and PCDO-ACTO, the drivers of PISTON are carrying on their fight, nay, our fight.

As to the aforementioned transport groups, I can only say that never have we seen them launch a transport strike in recent memory. Sometimes they threaten to hold a strike or two, but they always, as in always, back out at the last minute. I do hope the mass members of these transport groups see through the problem and support/join PISTON in today’s strike.

Starting just about now, members of PISTON will wage a nationwide transport strike to demand an reprieve from intolerable oil price increases. Read this news item for PISTON’s statement.

The Catholic bishop of Bacolod has expressed support to the striking drivers, saying in a statement:

Let us call for immediate government intervention to cushion the impact of oil price increases on basic commodities, seek the scrapping of the 12-percent reformed value-added tax and the Oil Deregulation Law, the reclaiming of control of Petron and nationalization the oil industry.

Drivers in Iloilo and General Santos cities have assured PISTON of their participation.

Unfortunately, the knee-jerk response of the government is to criminalize the striking drivers.

This strike is not for a fare hike — although the drivers fully deserve to be granted one — but about our national demand for economic relief. The drivers deserve our full support.

Today is one of the world’s greatest holidays, Mother’s Day, go and do yourself a favor by paying tribute to your Mama, Mom, Mommy, Nanay, Inay.

Gibbs Gadiz quotes here a fantastic essay about mothers. Is there anything similar that has been written by a Filipino and in our vernacular?

I leave it to everyone to think of creative ways of expressing love and adoration for our mothers today and in everyday of the year.

To my Mama, to my surrogate/secondary Mama’s (Chichi, Te Oma, Carol, Nanay Mameng, Minnie, Tekya, Bobbie and others), to my friends who have become mothers too and to all mothers of the world, I salute all of you!

Visuals courtesy of Walrus Productions and Chicago Arts Lifestyle.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita got a surprise from students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Instead of a “warm welcome”, some graduating students staged a protest as he started his keynote speech. Ermita was dumbfounded, as you can see from this video:

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

GMANews.tv described it as a “rude welcome”. Inquirer.net meanwhile just reported what happened: Students called Ermita a “berdugo”.
Ditto for an ABS-CBNNews.com report. SunStar also reported about the incident.

At a time when lies dominate government discourse, it is truly good to see the young people step up and tell the truth.

The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CENPEG), launched last April 7, a book titled The Corruptionary, which the think-tank describes as “a glossary of corruption-related words”.

Its a must-read, according to those who have managed to get a copy and said some reviews.

In a review published on ABS-CBNNews.com, Ramil Digal Gulle says that “The Corruptionary will make you laugh till it hurts”.