The effects of Neri vs Senate

The resolution in the Neri vs Senate Committee Case is like seeing "the good, the bad and the ugly"...

• The "good" because finally, everybody can breath upon knowing how powerful the President of the Philippine Republic is. Siyempre next time, alam na kung sino ang puwedeng magsabi ng Noli Me Tang-ina... este Tangere. Siyempre, luminaw na rin ang bolang kristal at alam na kung ano ang mas mahalaga... ang kapakanan NG MGA PILIPINO o ang kapakanan ng ILANG PILIPINO -- that is, the salus populi or the salus presidente.



• The "bad" because the Neri vs Senate Committee show the bias of the Supreme court to the Supreme Law... the law of the salus presidente. Excuse us: wala pa pong personality na involved. We are just talking of the presidential seat here.



• At dahil nakita natin ano na ang hugis ng batas, nakita rin natin ano na ang hugis ng demokrasya sa Pilipinas -- meaning, democracy only caters to a selected few. So if there is a conflict between the salus presidente and the salus populi, the former prevails. Hence, the "ugly".
  
  We have seen also the "ugly" because we have seen that the real democracy ends when secrecy begins. So while we argue that the Executive Privilege is a constitutional fact, we tend to forget that transparency is also a constitutional fact. And when we argue that the Executive Privilege has a constitutional basis, we tend to forget that the ideas of "public office as a public trust" and "accountability" also has a constitutional bases.


The "good, the bad, and the ugly", however, shows how difficult the job of a Justice of Peace and Justice of Court is. It simply means weighing interests against interests, and be conscience-stricken for the outcome. So if Ed Ermita has been doing double-talks, and if there is now a stalemate between the two branches of the government, it now rests with the Justices. And whether or not the Justices can rest in peace with their decisions, kanila na lang yun. But too sad that in the democracy Pinoy style, the fate of a greater number is decided by the lesser few.

The whole is not the sum of the parts

The Inquirer reports: The European Union has commended the Philippines for its recent economic gains and the significant decline in the incidence of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, the EU ambassador told a news forum yesterday.

According to European Union Ambassador, Allistair MacDonald, the Philippines' 7.3-percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007 deserves to e praised because "this is the best macroeconomic performance in some 50 years and we wanted to acknowledge that, noting as well that this was accompanied by controlled inflation, a balanced budget and an improved balance of payments", MacDonald said.

Ayos din si MacDonald. Kaya lang, naisip niya kaya na posibleng tinawagan din ni Gloria Arroyo si Garci para mahilot ang economic figure?

Kung sabagay, wala nga palang pakialam ang EU sa internal affairs sa Pilipinas. And it doesn't care kung tunay o hindi ang figures so long as these are official figures. Pero for a fact lang: dumami ang mga mahihirap from 24.4% to 26.9%; self rated hunger also grew up and is expected to soar with the increase of prices of the local commodities without the corresponding increase in the daily wage; self rated poverty also increased because the alleged increase in the GDP did not trickle down to the pockets; that self rated poverty will further increase considering na lalong dumami ang babayarang utang ng mga Pilipino dahil sa corruption.

Next, though it may be true that the number of extra-judicial killings declined, hindi naman gumalaw ng solution rate at wala ni isa pa man ang nappatunayang guilty sa mga namatay. Sa disappearances naman, wala pa ring lumilitaw. And though the numbers of the killings slightly improve, lumala naman ang sitwasyon sa freedom of speech and expression; nawala na rin ang transparency ng gobyerno lalo na ngayon na paborable ang naging desisyon ng Supreme Court sa kaso ni Neri vs Senate with regards the extent of the executive privilege. And this is much worse than extra-judicial killings. Binuhay mo nga ang tao ginawa mo namang parang hayup ang buhay niya.

Kung sabagay, wala namang pakialam ang EU dito sa Pilipinas. Siguro nga mas gusto pa ng EU na laging mahirap ang Pilipinas para maging dependent ang bansa ni Gloria Arroyo sa EU lalo na sa aids at loans. Kung mangyari ng ganun, mahawakan na rin ng EU sa leeg ang Pilipinas... a case which is no different from what the Imperial United States is doing.

Pero sana di tulad sa US ang EU. At sana sa European system of measurements, naiisip pa rin nito na "the whole is not always the sum of its parts".

Marketing the Rice Importation Idea?

According to Felipe Medalla, UP Economics professor and former planning secretary: The collective wisdom of the market should decide importation… The more the government interferes in the market, the more the economy is vulnerable to shocks and crisis.

What Medalla is saying is to let the market decide everything and that the government should have lesser interference on importation. But will this give us an assurance that:

• The rice cartel will not be in-charged of the importation?


• That the people will be assured that rice prices will become lower?


• That the government will be able to control smuggling, specifically rice smuggling?


• That the farmers will not be on the negative side should there be importation of rice?

Dahil sa patuloy na denial-to-death ng gobyerno lalong nabubuhay ang rice cartel. With this, magkakaroon kaya ng assurance na hindi ang kartel ang magiging in-charged ng importation?

Siyempre dahil open na ang importation, puwedeng lalong umigting ang smuggling. At siyempre dahil mura ang bigas galing sa smuggling, puwedeng mag-usap ang mga smugglers at ang rice cartel. O di ba, happy together? To note, ni hindi nga nakokontrol ang smuggling so this is not impossible. According to whispering spirits, me mga kakutsaba pa nga ang mga smugglers diyan mismo sa gobyerno. Me mga nagsasabi pa nga na ang ilan sa mga smuggling lords ay nakatira pa sa palasyo.

Lastly, opening up the imports will, of course, hurt the local producers. When the Philippines signed up the WTO and the GATT, wala itong ginawang safety nets para sa mga local producers. Lalo na ngayon na ang concentration ng efforts ng gobyerno ay broadband deal at ang "anti-corruption of the corruption efforts". Ibig sabihin, bahala na ang mga local producers sa kanilang mga sarili.

Kung sabagay, even the government's puppy, si Papa Neri, nagsabi na oligarchy ang Pilipinas. Ibig sabihin, the efforts of the government is designed not to answer the needs and interests of the people (as in the case of the real democracy) but to serve the welfare of the selected few.