Ordinary Filipinos Made To Pay For Electricity They Don’t Use

The news media is finally reporting what many Filipinos have long felt: they are literally “being cooked in their own lard, while power utilities like MERALCO and the state-owned National Power Corporation are all allowed by law to pass on to consumers all their expenses and even financial losses.

Without batting an eyelash, the officials of the two entities told the marathon hearing of the Joint Congressional Power Committee that it is absolutely legal for for them to make hard-pressed ordinary Filipinos pay for systems losses, pilfered electricity, and yes, even the electricity they use for their day to day operations, meaning their cost of doing business.

MERALCO, with its lawyer, the revered Atty. Christian Monsod, unblinkingly admits close to half a billion pesos in the firm’s own power bills are paid by Juan dela Cruz.

And yes, this is ALL LEGAL with the approval, to boot,of the Rnergy Regulatory Commission.

With our hands raised in surrender, MAY WE JUST ASK, IN ALL EXASPERATION, IS THIS MORAL?

GFN: Focus Is On Governance, Not The 2010 Elections, Yet

The Global Filipino Nation group issued a statement to news media apparently seeking to clarify reports that GFN was forming a political party for the 2010 elections. Here is the statement sent our by one of the GFN CONFERENCE organizers, Ms. Nelia Lim:

“In a constructive move aimed at moving the country forward, the Global Filipino Nation (GFN) has launched the “Good Governance Movement & Coalition”. The recently concluded international conference on “Building the Global Filipino Nation for Good Governance”, held at the University of Makati, overwhelmingly supported the pursuit of good governance as a strategy to get the nation on a sustained development path.

GFN is an international association of global Filipino organizations and leaders, their onshore families, and onshore Filipinos with a global mindset – all committed to pursue good governance in the Homeland. The movement is anchored on the economic empowerment of global Filipinos, the resolution of the most urgent social issues facing migrants and their families, and the political empowerment of the marginalized majority of global Filipinos and their families.

The international conference included all sectors of society, except those who do not respect the rule of law and use violence to effect change, and “traditional” parties and politicians who are generally viewed as elements that impede change. Included among the conference participants were leaders from major overseas Filipino organizations, OFW/migrant rights advocacy, farmers, labor, business, NGOs, academe, think tanks, media, culture and arts, grassroots organizers, banking and investments, consulting, youth, indigenous peoples, foundations and law.

GFN conference participants have a firm conviction that the majority of the people want change but are unable at the moment to translate that desire for change into concrete action programs to effect change. The movement launched by GFN will focus on good governance and its all-encompassing scope and reach.

There is the surging awareness and realization that change is, indeed, possible if the majority that desire change are bound by the unified goal of good governance. If that marked unity of purpose is translated into a common action plan, then demanding high standards of leadership of public officials will mark the beginning of potential changes in elective positions at the national and local levels.
GFN conference participants deliberated on the idea of directly forming a party. However, they felt that it is premature to form a party. There are other implications to reckon with. As GFN assembles a critical mass of members and supporters committed to good governance, there is need to maintain neutrality with respect to party affiliation.
GFN will build an alliance with non-traditional parties, aimed at rapidly growing the critical of supporters of good governance. Once the critical mass is gathered, stakeholders will decide the optimum strategy for political action.”

GFN Convenor Victor Barrios on the Agenda of the ‘Global Filipino Nation’

Anent to our earlier post on the report that the so-called Global Filipino Nation group’s move to form a political party that will field candidates in the 2010 elections, we chave received a copy of the statement delivered by Mr. Victor Barrios, one of the lead convenors of the 3-day GFN Convention at the University of Makati.

Here is Mr. Barrios’ statement:

WE SHALL PREVAIL[i]

Generation after generation, Filipinos have yearned for a country that takes its rightful place in the community of nations. We all seek a strong and prosperous nation, under just and peaceful governance, strengthened by an effective political system where accountability and the rule of law prevail, where Filipinos everywhere proactively participate in the mainstream activities of the Homeland and host countries, and whose citizens proudly assert: “Once a Filipino, always a Filipino”.

We have witnessed that people with divergent orientations and priorities could be solidly united on a common goal. In that singular expression of solidarity, we have demonstrated that collectively, we all seek good governance, anchored on grassroots economic empowerment and resolution of issues facing migrant workers and their families – with the raised consciousness of a nation ready to move as one.

An army of passionate citizens — you, I, all of us — fully support the Global Filipino Nation. Governance goal is the mortar that binds us together. That bond, which transcends appearances of factionalism in Filipino communities, finds expression in the cohesiveness of the action programs adopted in these hallowed halls.

There is resonance in the objective of converting small and medium enterprises into world class players. There is hope of healing the wounds of migrant families torn by the devastating influence of leaving loved ones. There is gathering momentum in the quest of the marginalized majority that the will of the people should dictate who manages the country’s affairs.

Global Filipinos have a firm resolve to use media and information technology to liberate their potential power bottled up by the current system. Those who have been empowered in the global Filipino community are determined to bring back to the Homeland innovation and technology collaboration in education, architecture, engineering and healthcare. Most importantly, we have focused on the national food crisis and a response initiative involving farmers and the urban poor.

All of our efforts bring out a sense of collective communal action – all reinforcing the overarching goal of good governance in the Homeland. With the Global Filipino Institute for Policy Research, we would be equipped to move our action programs from the logframe stage to the stage of reality. We now, in unison with our brothers and sisters in the Homeland and abroad, launch the Good Governance Movement and Coalition.

Together, we have labored in searching, sometimes with a sense of debilitating loss of hope, in getting the country on the path of sustained development. Together, we have faced hurdle after hurdle. But now the sea of humanity is with us. The wind is at our back. At last, we can loudly proclaim: “We shall not fail. We shall prevail”!

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[i] Closing statement delivered by Victor S. Barrios, GFN Convenor, at the closing plenary session of the May 8-11, 2008 International Conference on “Building the Global Filipino Nation for Good Governance”, held at the University of Makati.

Sulu Sultan Forges Alliance With The MNLF

While the government of the day was not looking there are indications that that the Sultanate of Sulu, though Sultan Muhammad Fuad Abdulla Kiram I, identified in the sultanate’s official website (www.royalsulu.com) as the 35th suler of the ‘Hashemite’ realm, with his geaneology traced to Sultan Jamalul Kiram, has forged a military alliance with the Moro National Liberation front.

A report posted on Kiram I’s website quotes the sultan (one of 8 claimants to the title, as earlier reported) as saying “We are proud to say you are our abiding sons and together, we face the challenges of the modern world, with the same degree of courage, bravery and valor of the same Tausug warriors of yesteryears, ready, willing and able to defend and protect our Sultanate and your Sultan against all enemies.”

The occasion was at a meeting with MNLF founder and former autonomous region of Muslim Mindanao governor Nur Misuari which reportedly coincided with a celebration of the 40th founding annivarsary of the MNLF. Also prominently featured in the Sulu sultanate’s recently launched website are pictures of the sultan holding consultations with uniformed MNLF commanders.

Particularly significant, and telling, is a statement of support from the MNLF for the sultanate’s assertion that Malaysian is an overstaying “tenant” in Sabah (North Borneo).

MNLF statement asserts full recognition of the sultanate’s ‘dominion’ as historically including that of North Borneo, citing the territorial baselines of the sultanate since 1658 and that Sabah is now “under continuing illegal occupation by Malaysia.”  The MNLF statement concludes with the declaration: “It is our stated policy that the illegal Malaysian occupation of Sabah must end and that Sabah must be return to the good people of Sulu,”  stopping short of saying if the MNLF’s armed fighters would, in the future, be involved in any overt action to actually try to retake Sabah.

This MNLF statement comes on the heels of the pull-out of Malaysian contingent from the International Monitoring Team (IMT) which has so far helped keep the peace in the South, given the continued impasse in the peace process between the Philippine government and the MNLF’S rival Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

What bears watching is just how the Sulu sultanate’s increasingly loud, and righteous, assertion of its claim to Sabah will impact on the tenuous peace in the Philippines’ southern back door, and how long Manila can afford tol keep quiet about the issue, with the amendments in the country’s contentious baseline law awaiting definitive action by our over-posturing politicians.

It may be important to cite this historical footnote: on September 11, 1962, then president Dioadado Macapagal, with then vice president Emmanuel Pelaez by his side, along with Salvador Marino as executive secretary, officially accepted the Sultanate of Sulu declaration fully ceding to the Republic of the Philippines the entirety of Sabah as being part and parcel of Philippine national provenance.

It then is absolutely proper for the people of Sulu to expect the Philippine State to vigorously assert the Sabah claim.

Quo vadis Malacanang, Senate, and the House of Representatives?

Politics and the So-Called Global Filipino Nation

We had initially intended to write a laudatory piece on the just concluded first-ever gathering of what had been billed as  the founding convention of The Global Filipino Nation which organizers said would bring together Filipinos “with a global mind set with the view to harnessing the best practices in information communication technology. human respurces and allied disciplines to effect posiive governance in the homeland.”

Truly laudable. But wait. The post conference news reports now say the establishment of a political party that would do battle in the 2010 elections is now the goal of GFN.

Did we miss something or were we misled?

We will not mention names, but having been in touch with several of the convernors of the conference, we had been given the clear impression GFN was steering away from any political action outside of the main motherhood statement so as to ensure that indeed the broadest spectrum of adherents and supporters, particularly overseas Filipino professionals and their families would come under the GFN umbrella of positive action for the homeland’s progress.

Conspicuously, and deliberately, the organizers did not extend even a courtesy invitation for any top government official to ‘grace’ the three-day meeting held at the University of Makati (yes, with the apparent nod of United Opposition leader and Makati mayor Jejomar Binay).

While we are not a fan of the government of the day, we had thought basic civility would have merited at least a message from the Executive Department, right?

Our main beef really is that we had really hoped the GFN would stay non partisan and allow real positive initiatives to take root. Alas.

Politika rin lang pala.

ANG PINOY NGA NAMAN.

(THE ORGANIZERS EVEN TOLD US FILIPINOS ‘WITH A ‘GLOBAL MIND SET’ DO NOT NOT LIKE TO BE CALLED PINOYS.)