Time to look for other ‘weapons’

There have been comments made that because the much ballyhooed rally last Independence day did not fulfill the promised million-crowd, expect the Supreme Court to hand down a decision that DAP is constitutional.

To the Supreme Court justices SHAME — if that is the basis on which they will make its decision. They will be digging their own graves in time and be remembered as callous and immoral individuals in history. Of what use then are generous pensions?

To the crowds that failed to come, it may be rally fatigue, it just does not work anymore. There is no shame to that. It is time to recognize that massing a crowd is not the way to bring about good government. The battle of crowds  is too fleeting and does not really confront political and economic problems. I suspect it isn’t just rally-fatigue. It is also bad governance arrogance. They are no longer afraid of big demonstrations. They have seen it and been through it too often day and they know that tomorrow is another. They can return to business as usual without worry.

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Besides there was already a million march crowd (a real one not just a hype) put together mainly by the INK to support former Justice Serafin Cuevas who was the principal lawyer of Chief Justice Corona. But it was to no avail.

Another rally followed organized by netizens with help from some Makati businessmen against the pork barrel for senators. It was also hyped as a million march crowd but fell short of the numbers. Police estimates said this was an even smaller crowd than the INK rally. There were skeptics who saw through the machination. They rightly said it might have been against the senators but it favored Aquino. The pork barrel was the perfect excuse to get rid of the Senate but they would exempt Aquino, who as executive is the disburser of the pork barrel.

If we must clean up government because of the nefarious pork barrel it means getting rid of the legislative and the executive branches of government. At first the judiciary was exempted from citizens’ anger or contempt of thinking Filipinos. After all, what is the Supreme Court but the court of last resort.

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Of late that faith in the Supreme Court is now being undermined. DAP which is accurately referred to as the President’s pork barrel -Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). It is now in doubt whether the justices are men of steel who could fight the blandishments of money and a trouble-free life from the executive dispenser of goods.

People are suspicious that postponement of the decision on the DAP for the second time is ominous. The talk is that the executive may be able to twist some arms to get a 7-7 tie at least.  With the word  out that  it will decide on July 1 a small protest is planned but it will be done right in the backyard of Chief Justice Sereno. The announcement was made in social media “Kita Kita Tayo sa Bakuran ni Sereno.

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All these means it is time to look for more innovative ways to punish bad government and make sure that offending officials are properly tried in court and put to jail as we would ordinary convicts.

Thinking of ways by which sovereign citizens can fight back against abusive government short of a bloody revolution, we looked to the template for crowdsourcing for a new constitution in Iceland. It was a partial success. The people were able to dent the power of the upper classes and the legislature through crowdsourcing, drafting a constitution and then holding a referendum.

The Filipino version has begun with www.bayanko.org.ph which has been daily visited by those who believe that we need to change the system. Our weapon will be our numbers. At the time of the writing of this column there have been 6,232 hits and 5,962 visits. Only a 25-member Council drafted the crowdsourced constitution in Iceland.

According to the organizers the hits and visits will soon be measured. Membership cards will be issued. The members will then choose a panel of experts who will draft a proposed new Constitution for referendum. So those who have not yet visited bayanko.org.ph are invited to do so as soon as possible.

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Recently I was invited to a presentation by a company called Golden Saint Resources at the Manila  Peninsula. The presentation was made by Cyril D’Silva, executive chairman and Gabriel Yap, special adviser.

The guests, mostly women, assembled by my friend, Baby Nebrida were enthralled with the thought that they could buy shares that would give them a right to raw diamonds in Sierra Leone rather than from a jewelry store on Bond Street.

Most were not sure where Sierra Leone was so Yap had to put up a map to show where the African country was. A little far I would say but you don’t have to go to Africa to buy the shares.

Golden Saint Resources Ltd (LON:GSR) is listed on the Alternate Investment Market(AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. The company holds three Exploration Licences in Sierra Leone: Tongo which is prospective for diamonds; Baja which is prospective for gold and diamonds; and Moa which also is prospective for gold and diamonds.

You can google for it in the Internet and of course seek expert financial advice. But diamonds are always in demand according to Cyril. And not all diamonds are bought from a jewelry store. As Yap said, raw or rough, diamonds are well for investment. The news is that rough diamond prices in the secondary market are set to increase again by 3 to 4 percent in its recently ended third sale sight of the year.