As classmates who have posted here considered it prudent to post disclaimers, I will too. First, I am not nor do I claim to know all the ins and outs of each “socially-relevant” issue I am going to comment on below, and I may not have very original opinions; I will simply put out what I think about them and willingly listen to your comments or counterpoints.
1. The Drilon Abduction
Let’s get this straight; Ces Drilon and her companions, in going to Mindanao in the first place despite its long-standing history of secessionism and civil war, are fully aware of the possibilities that behold them. The danger of abduction, injury and death are very apparent in such situations. Yet the mere fact that they have pushed through it illustrates their dedication to their work as journalists.
In my work as a student journalist, I have seen my colleagues practicing their job as professional as possible, going through the extra mile to make their reportage as analytical and relevant to their readers as possible. It is already known to a journalist that in pursuit of truth and relativity, putting your life on the line is a given.
What with all the 56 (and counting) journalists murdered in this administration of the midget (including Ateneo de Davao student journalist Benjaline Hernandez in 2002)? What else would have driven them to continue but the pursuit of truth at the expense of their safety and lives? It would be quite naïve for us to belittle such a sacrifice. Of course, with what I have related, I may be biased.
On her abductors, however, I am quite tempted to agree with what Puno claimed that they are mercenaries “not yet fully immersed” into the craft of terrorism. They are likely belonging to the new generation of Mindanao natives who, by virtue of the hapless and backward handling of politics in the outskirts and remote provinces, are disillusioned with reform and recruited through the deceptive hand of terrorist networks promising change through armed and violent struggle.
2. On the Rice and Power Crisis
Remember the heyday of the scandalous ZTE-NBN Deal? It was precisely at the crucial moment when evidences are beginning to pile up that these problems arose (or, as other partisans would say, “Magnified”) by the administration. It is narrow-minded to immediately conclude that this was a deliberate plot to sideline the issue and contain the massive damage to the credibility of the midget and her cabinet, but the timing couldn’t have been more inopportune suspicious.
Given this, the rice shortage situation is definitely paradoxical. We, by nature an agricultural country and once one of the rice bowls of Asia, are finding it difficult to serve the vital grains on our tables. I would view it perhaps as the emergence of the ghosts of our failures in practicing genuine agrarian reform. It has been said before and I would say it again: a prosperous farmer is the foundation of a prosperous society. That, and combined with cartels and hoarders, would constitute it.
As to the power crisis… if we would swallow hook, line and sinker what Judy Ann Santos is saying in the advertisement, then it would appear that the government alone is the one actually behind the manipulations on prices. But such would be one-sided and invalid. One should take to account a passing fact in ES 10: our global supply of fossil fuels (which runs the majority of power plants in the country) is due to run out in 75 years. With the increasing need for consumption, the oil cartels, following the law of supply and demand, would naturally increase prices. Intermediaries and Meralco will, so as to recover their losses, would resort to underhanded measures of gaining revenues the general (and, unfortunately, mostly ignorant) public are not aware of.
3. The hammering on ABS-CBN
This is likely a battle between partisans, one of which both parties cannot have a bold claim to innocence. The allegations of extrajudicial killings, as well as rampant mudslinging among the coalition of the midget with her critics (belonging to the clique of the ousted plunderer) have so characterized this regime that to put a sincere faith into its undertakings is similar to what Simoun described as “offering fresh meat to vultures.”
ABS-CBN, on the other hand, has been from the outset of the “Hello Garci” issue quite observant and watchfully monitoring, even magnifying, the crookedness of what is already a rotting corpse of a government. I would view it from the point that the Lopez network is not being rightfully punished by an authority whose majesty was challenged and disgraced. Instead, it is a fight between two kids arguing how a grasshopper flies.
4. Pros and Cons on the “Possibility” of Leftist Policy
This one I got interested to speak on when RR brought it up during the first day of class. Though I am definitely in no way a staunch advocate of what the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front are pushing for as a means of applying Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Communism in the country (that is, armed struggle), I quite understand the validity of why the revolutionary movement still persists in fighting and is still steadily recruiting (albeit not as popular during the martial rule of Marcos) members and cadres. They have solutions that they are persisting on, and are confident (if not arrogant) that they will reach. In addition to this, they have taken the cudgel of the poor, the working class and the oppressed minorities of society, which comprise a great deal of the country’s population more than the social elite. Rights, beliefs and spirits yearning to be free cannot be suppressed for so long, even with a revitalized government hiding under the pretense of “free democracy.”
However, in what we have discussed so far in class and came upon, I oppose what form of government Communism usually adopts: the totalitarian form. Maoist China and the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, being the best examples, shows too well what happens when “the philosopher is king.” Thinking, being confined to the leaders of the movement when they were in power, has imposed suppression among the majority as well. In this way, Communism takes up the means of the ideology it denounces the most: that of Fascism, which defeats the purpose of what they have fought for all along.
I have written a piece discussing more precisely my views on this in my personal blog (Click here) though I am quite sure not many will quite understand it, being written in Filipino.
That would be all I have to say, and thank you for allowing me to do so.
Hansley A. Juliano
II-AB PoS
1. The Drilon Abduction
Let’s get this straight; Ces Drilon and her companions, in going to Mindanao in the first place despite its long-standing history of secessionism and civil war, are fully aware of the possibilities that behold them. The danger of abduction, injury and death are very apparent in such situations. Yet the mere fact that they have pushed through it illustrates their dedication to their work as journalists.
In my work as a student journalist, I have seen my colleagues practicing their job as professional as possible, going through the extra mile to make their reportage as analytical and relevant to their readers as possible. It is already known to a journalist that in pursuit of truth and relativity, putting your life on the line is a given.
What with all the 56 (and counting) journalists murdered in this administration of the midget (including Ateneo de Davao student journalist Benjaline Hernandez in 2002)? What else would have driven them to continue but the pursuit of truth at the expense of their safety and lives? It would be quite naïve for us to belittle such a sacrifice. Of course, with what I have related, I may be biased.
On her abductors, however, I am quite tempted to agree with what Puno claimed that they are mercenaries “not yet fully immersed” into the craft of terrorism. They are likely belonging to the new generation of Mindanao natives who, by virtue of the hapless and backward handling of politics in the outskirts and remote provinces, are disillusioned with reform and recruited through the deceptive hand of terrorist networks promising change through armed and violent struggle.
2. On the Rice and Power Crisis
Remember the heyday of the scandalous ZTE-NBN Deal? It was precisely at the crucial moment when evidences are beginning to pile up that these problems arose (or, as other partisans would say, “Magnified”) by the administration. It is narrow-minded to immediately conclude that this was a deliberate plot to sideline the issue and contain the massive damage to the credibility of the midget and her cabinet, but the timing couldn’t have been more inopportune suspicious.
Given this, the rice shortage situation is definitely paradoxical. We, by nature an agricultural country and once one of the rice bowls of Asia, are finding it difficult to serve the vital grains on our tables. I would view it perhaps as the emergence of the ghosts of our failures in practicing genuine agrarian reform. It has been said before and I would say it again: a prosperous farmer is the foundation of a prosperous society. That, and combined with cartels and hoarders, would constitute it.
As to the power crisis… if we would swallow hook, line and sinker what Judy Ann Santos is saying in the advertisement, then it would appear that the government alone is the one actually behind the manipulations on prices. But such would be one-sided and invalid. One should take to account a passing fact in ES 10: our global supply of fossil fuels (which runs the majority of power plants in the country) is due to run out in 75 years. With the increasing need for consumption, the oil cartels, following the law of supply and demand, would naturally increase prices. Intermediaries and Meralco will, so as to recover their losses, would resort to underhanded measures of gaining revenues the general (and, unfortunately, mostly ignorant) public are not aware of.
3. The hammering on ABS-CBN
This is likely a battle between partisans, one of which both parties cannot have a bold claim to innocence. The allegations of extrajudicial killings, as well as rampant mudslinging among the coalition of the midget with her critics (belonging to the clique of the ousted plunderer) have so characterized this regime that to put a sincere faith into its undertakings is similar to what Simoun described as “offering fresh meat to vultures.”
ABS-CBN, on the other hand, has been from the outset of the “Hello Garci” issue quite observant and watchfully monitoring, even magnifying, the crookedness of what is already a rotting corpse of a government. I would view it from the point that the Lopez network is not being rightfully punished by an authority whose majesty was challenged and disgraced. Instead, it is a fight between two kids arguing how a grasshopper flies.
4. Pros and Cons on the “Possibility” of Leftist Policy
This one I got interested to speak on when RR brought it up during the first day of class. Though I am definitely in no way a staunch advocate of what the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front are pushing for as a means of applying Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Communism in the country (that is, armed struggle), I quite understand the validity of why the revolutionary movement still persists in fighting and is still steadily recruiting (albeit not as popular during the martial rule of Marcos) members and cadres. They have solutions that they are persisting on, and are confident (if not arrogant) that they will reach. In addition to this, they have taken the cudgel of the poor, the working class and the oppressed minorities of society, which comprise a great deal of the country’s population more than the social elite. Rights, beliefs and spirits yearning to be free cannot be suppressed for so long, even with a revitalized government hiding under the pretense of “free democracy.”
However, in what we have discussed so far in class and came upon, I oppose what form of government Communism usually adopts: the totalitarian form. Maoist China and the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, being the best examples, shows too well what happens when “the philosopher is king.” Thinking, being confined to the leaders of the movement when they were in power, has imposed suppression among the majority as well. In this way, Communism takes up the means of the ideology it denounces the most: that of Fascism, which defeats the purpose of what they have fought for all along.
I have written a piece discussing more precisely my views on this in my personal blog (Click here) though I am quite sure not many will quite understand it, being written in Filipino.
That would be all I have to say, and thank you for allowing me to do so.
Hansley A. Juliano
II-AB PoS
1 comment:
Comrade-I totally agree with your argument. Although the Idea of Socialism might be inticing and seemingly like heaven on earth, the reality is that we are persons and in time when persons are exposed to a high degree of power, the tend to deviate from the true goals. That is why there are a lot of variations to communism. Those who are given the responsibility to regualate the communist society tends to craft a diffrent variation of the idea in order to tailor their personal agenda. Although this is a speculative reaction, this been proven to me personally. The taste of power sweet and bitter at the same time.
-Vintoy-
[Vince Suelto]
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