Let’s keep pressure up!

We are not known as a people for our persistence in ensuring good government. No wonder our politicians laugh at us every time some civic spirited citizens protest wide spread corruption.

Our politicians know protests are like passing showers. Stay out of the rain and go out to play again after folks lose interest.

The attention span is short, anyway for these sort of things… a week or two at the most and the newspapers, followed by broadcast are off to another sensational topic. Spin doctors working for politicians are masters in concocting diversionary stories… a love interest for P-Noy perhaps?

What amazes me and gives me hope about this country is the unbelievable fact that this Napolitan pork scam is over two months old now and still in the headlines. Folks don’t just want to give up. Spontaneous rallies, angry e-mails and social media posts and it all seems people are just getting fired up.

What is firing up this anger? Could it change the nature of Philippine politics? Is this anger more widespread or basically from the educated class?

I noticed that at the forefront are a lot of retired business people with time and money on their hands. In an e-group I have been subscribed to, one of the most active and most angry is Domingo “Boy” Guevara Jr. of the DMG Group. They used to have a business empire that covers cars (VW), manufacturing (Radiowealth), finance, etc. If I was a senator or a congressman, I would avoid BoyG… he is one angry dude.

There are others like him… his Ateneo, La Salle batchmates all in their mid to late 60s by now. They have made names and fortunes for themselves and are looking to do one last noble thing for their country before Alzheimer sets in. They are a bit older than I am but we belong to the same lost generation… the one wasted by martial law.

Curiously, the most angry, sometimes even angrier than BoyG are those who are abroad. Guys like Rodel Rodis found themselves exiled in the US by martial law and they never lost the sense of being Filipino no matter what passport they are carrying.

And with ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel or TFC, they are now watching the Senate hearings live in the San Francisco Bay area. What they are hearing makes them mad as hell too.

The underlying fear of people is the strong possibility that after all the fire and brimstone raining down on Congress, it will be as if nothing happened. The senators and congressmen will be laughing all the way to the Porsche showroom with the same kind of loot from pork-like sources… meaning our taxes.

I have known BoyG for a long time… one of my sisters-in-law is married to a cousin of his. I never envisioned BoyG as the rallying type. But not only has BoyG not missed a rally in recent weeks, he is spending money on placards and other paraphernalia. Now… that’s real commitment. I have never known BoyG to spend money frivolously. He is Bicolano but he could have been Ilocano, if you know what I mean.

If this keeps up, there is hope in this country, after all. It means there will be a more pronounced citizen involvement in governance from now on. Transparency in government will be demanded and we will get it too, whether they like it or not… FOI or not.

Indeed, our legislators are taking notice. Don’t let the strongly worded statements of senators’ lawyers fool you. Those guys are scared because for the first time in their political lives, they are unable to extricate their dirty fingers from that barrel of pork.

In a brief conversation I had with Frank Drilon when I chanced upon him last Sunday afternoon at the Shang Mall, he admitted that it isn’t a normal time for the senators. They are tiptoeing around each other now.

It does seem like we are on to something good… if we keep our vigilance at the highest level and never let go… We may yet let the scoundrels in Congress and elsewhere in government know their happy days are over… at long last.

We cannot delegate citizen vigilance to media or to the “do gooders” among us. Like BoyG, we have to do this ourselves… get our hands dirty in throwing the rascals out. And guys like him now find no better use of their time and resources than fighting their last good fight for the country. As senior citizens, they have nothing more to lose and the country has everything to gain.

So three senators and the Napoles woman are among those accused before the Ombudsman for plunder. This is not yet indicative of anything good to come just yet. We still have to send a senator and a congressman to jail or our battle for good government has not even started. 

It will be a one big fight, and for fellow seniors, it is worthy of our remaining time on this earth.

Family togetherness

Pinoys are favorites as members of secretariats of international conferences. And they are also as mad as local Pinoys over how our government is run.

They are on the lookout for abuses of privileges among our traveling government officials. This is probably why I got this e-mail:

 Dear Boo… I’ve been reading your critical columns about the DOTC with keen interest, and I share your frustration over the slow pace of implementation of the government’s infrastructure plans, especially those under DOTC.

I’m sorry to add to your disappointment, but here’s something else that is galling. Early this month, the Philippines was asked to send a delegation to the 8th APEC Transportation Ministers’ Meeting in Tokyo (Sept. 4-6).

As it turns out the DOTC sent a delegation that was virtually an Abaya family outing, with six of the 10 members consisting of the secretary himself and members of his family. These included (1) Sec. Joseph Aguinaldo Abaya; (2) Michael Angelo A. Abaya (chief of staff but also a relative); (3) Mr. Plaridel Abaya (his father, the former congressman); (4) Mrs. Consuelo Abaya (his mother); (5) Paul Plaridel Abaya (his brother); and (6) Emilio Aguinaldo Pulido (most likely a cousin).

It’s hard to see what significant contribution most of these people, besides Abaya himself, could have made to that meeting.

None of this probably rises to the level of grand Napolitan corruption, but one would have thought Jun Abaya had more class. Moreover, shenanigans like these would be inexcusable even if the DOTC were performing miracles; but they are especially infuriating when that agency is sleeping on the job.

I texted Sec. Jun and this was his reply: “They were there but at no expense to gov’t. They paid their own airfare, paid their own hotel, even lived in a different hotel… paid their own meals and transpo. Not even an advance made in anyway by DOTC. Given the age of my parents they are just overly proud to see their simple son serve in gov’t… the little joys they get in life.”

To which my informant reacted: It may be true that no public money was spent, but that was never the point anyway. The point is that people who had little or nothing to contribute were part of an official DOTC delegation (see attached).

If they wanted to and could go at their own expense, they should have done so as private citizens, not on official status. It damages the country’s reputation with other nations when it nominates an obviously nepotistic list of “delegates”. 

Like I said, the small private benefit derived from having one’s travel papers facilitated and receiving extra courtesies does not rise to the level of Napolitan corruption. But it says a lot about our standards when we judge the propriety of actions based only on whether public funds were spent.

If Abaya thinks nothing is wrong, then very well, leave it at that. Says a lot about where he’s coming from.”

My, my, my… what did I say about vigilant and angry citizens out there? Government is no longer the family business. A new standard of morality in public service is now being enforced. Let’s now see who are still going to be there for the sheer joy of serving the public.

Let us keep the pressure up, people!

Gov’t according to Miriam

Here’s a nice one from Sen. Miriam:

What is the difference between Philippine government and the mafia?

The answer: One of them is organized.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco