The Tentacles of Evil

“Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change.”
- Andre Gide

So what has our nation become after more than 100 years since the Philippine declaration of independence? Andres Bonifacio, Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini and all our heroes for sure are turning in their graves as the nation is plunged deeper unto this pit of corruption and greed.

What has our nation become after almost a quarter century since the first EDSA people power? The spirit of EDSA, our dreams of social justice, is now drowned into the abyss of inequity and elite politics.

It seems that whatever good that is left is overpowered by the powerful stench of mafia-style governance. Our nation has been marinated for so long in this concentrated pulp of sleaze such that as time passes, the flavors of greed and corruption seeps deeper and deeper into its matter. Now, it seems that this concentrate has fully invaded the very core of our nation’s culture, spirit, and consciousness.

What is apparent is that the tentacles of evil have now reached all corners of our society. It is so entrenched that even those who are well-meaning are even blinded by the real issues.

Take for example those who would rather turn a blind eye on the substantive issues and say “Well, let the opposition prove the accusations against Arroyo in an impeachment case or a legal proceeding. Let the rule of law prevail.”

The assumption here of course is that Gloria Arroyo will submit to the “rule of law”. Could a government operating like a mafia submit to the rule of law? We have seen several times already how Gloria Arroyo manipulated our laws to suit her and her cronies. We have seen how Arroyo breached the spirit of our laws just to push her family’s agenda. Now what “rule of law” are we talking about here?

Further what this rule-of-law argument is saying is that removing Arroyo from Malacañang through another people power is a violation of our laws and constitution. The presidency, as all public offices, is a public trust. Now, is the exercise of the people of its sovereign power to withdraw this trust and oust a corrupt and fake president outside the scope of its political rights?!

Or take also the example of those who will simply tolerate Arroyo and defend her by saying “Well, all of them are the same anyway. Let any one who is clean cast the first stone.”

The problem with that premise is that it is okay for their beloved Arroyo to steal since all of these trapo (traditional politicians) are thieves anyway. I don’t know how in heaven’s name could one accept such kind of reasoning.

We should stand up now not for the benefit of the other thief, but for the sake of our nation’s future, for the sake of our children. We should stand up now not because we want to install another trapo, but to push for a social justice agenda that will benefit the poor and the marginalized, our nation as a whole.

This is I think one of the lowest period in Philippine history. A point where the nation is still divided in condemning corruption in its grandest scale. A point where we don’t even tremble in indignation as we are faced with one big blatant attempt to defraud the nation.

(Send your comments and reactions to: for text messages to 0919-348-6337 and for e-mails to ianseruelo@yahoo.com.)

Time to Move

“ The road may be rough, the weather may forget us But won't we all parade around and sing our songs, A magic kingdom, open-armed…”
- from “Bandwagon” by R.E.M.

A new movement against illegitimate debt was launched during the last weekend in Quezon City . It is aptly called People Against Illegitimate Debt (PAID!). This movement held its first assembly and also launched its People's Petition calling for the creation of an Independent Citizens' Debt Audit Commission.

This column thinks that this is a timely undertaking given the country’s worsening debt situation. No thanks to the sitting fake president! Further, last year was a year when a lot of anomalous big projects were exposed – projects that end up jacking up the country’s debts. Well, it’s not as if there was a year that I can remember when there was a shortage of corruption-tainted debt-creating “projects”.

What made 2007 stand out as the “Year of the Corrupt Trapo” is the boldness by which corruption was done. Just think about the ZTE-National Broadband Network (NBN) project, the World Bank textbook scam, the Cyber Education Project (CEP). And we can add to that the Austrian Medical Waste Loan. Not all of these projects were initiated in 2007 but it was that year when these anomalies came to light.

It is distressing to note that after these sham projects were exposed, it was met with rage from the public alright, but only took a few days or weeks for the anger to die down. What is ironic is that this anger always ends up building our mounting apathy. We seem to say “Well that is how it is. What’s new?” And every time this kind of event happens we retreat back to our shell and say “I said so. Those trapos (traditional politicians) will always be trapos.”

These actions undertaken by a broad network of social movements, civil society leaders, people's organizations, communities and personalities in organizing the PAID! movement and calling for a debt audit are clearly meaningful steps to the right direction.

Here are excerpts from the group’s manifesto:

"More than just the burden of payments, there is the fundamental injustice. While citizens are forced to pay, much of these debts were contracted without full public transparency and accountability, and without full compliance with democratic processes, and did not benefit the people.”

"Many loans were accompanied by unfair terms and harmful conditionalities. A significant number has been tainted with deception and fraud, or used for questionable purposes such as financing of ill-designed, unnecessary, and even inoperable programs, or repayment of earlier loans for onerous projects such as the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant."

It is high time that we start asking questions. Now, is the time that we demand transparency and accountability from the government.

How much is the country’s outstanding debt and exactly how much are we paying annually? Who contracted the loans and what were the loans for? What procedures were followed? Were these procedures in compliance with the principles of transparency, accountability, due diligence, democratic decision-making?

How were the loans used? Were the funds actually spent for the intended purposes? What were the terms and conditionalities accompanying these loans? What were the effects of the loan-financed projects and policies on communities and on people’s lives?

What were the environmental impacts of these loans and projects? What are the accountabilities of creditors? What are the effects of automatic and continuous payments of these debts today on the lives of the Filipinos?

Answers to these questions are what Independent Citizens' Debt Audit would like to be presented and revealed to the Filipino taxpayers and consumers. It is these questions that PAID! seeks to be answered as it calls for the creation of a Congressional mechanism to audit the country’s debt.

This audit, as PAID! envisions, should go beyond mere accounting as it should examine past and present government policies, transactions and contracts that have contributed to the accumulation of public debts. This action shall be a step for the review and rationalization of laws and regulations relevant to borrowings, public guarantees and debt payments.

One of the main organizers of this movement is the debt watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC). During the 13th Congress, FDC was successful in getting the joint resolution on debt audit passed unanimously by the House of Representatives. However, it was stalled in the Senate due to the inaction of some legislators.

Now, let us get this moving once again. Let us start talking about this issue as this involves the future of the country. Let us start knocking in unison so the halls of Congress will be filled with our calls. To paraphrase a landmark manifesto: We have nothing to loose but the chains of indebtedness.

(Send your comments and reactions to: for text messages to 0919-348-6337; for e-mails to ianseruelo@gmail.com.)

Gloria’s 7 Social Sins

“The cause of liberty becomes a mockery if the price to be paid
is the wholesale destruction of those who are to enjoy liberty.”
- by Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi would have been very happy to witness the presentation of a scroll containing his very own “Seven Social Sins” to Gloria Arroyo on her recent visit to India. While addressed to society as a whole, Gandhi’s “Seven Social Sins” is actually very appropriate reading for unscrupulous politicians like Arroyo.

We sure hope that Gandhi’s words of wisdom could penetrate the callous hearts of these trapos (traditional politicians). Of course that is granting that these rotten politicians still have the conscience left to see beyond their own interests.

Now, here are the seven social sins as proclaimed by the great Mahatma Gandhi: (1) Wealth Without Work, (2) Pleasure Without Conscience, (3) Knowledge Without Character, (4) Commerce Without Morality, (5) Science Without Humanity, (6) Religion Without Sacrifice, and (7) Politics Without Principle.

Here are some of my reflections on these social sins as exemplified by Gloria Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo and their cohorts.

Wealth Without Work. Gloria Arroyo and her husband have exhibited this numerous times already. Recent example would be the controversial NBN project. This power couple is trying to broker a P15 billion project, earn hefty kickbacks in the process by simply using the office the President. Sa-ching! Easy money!

Pleasure Without Conscience. An example of this was Gloria’s ambition to be the President of the country at all costs. As captured in her famous “Hello Garci” conversations, she would even agree to let Garci and men kidnap a poor teacher whose a witness to her election cheating in Mindanao. All in the name of pleasure to be the “elected” President of the Philippines!

Knowledge Without Character. Gloria sure has lots of knowledge given her economist (kuno) background. However this knowledge is useless if she continues to ignore the basic concepts of economic equity and social justice.

Commerce Without Morality. This is exemplified by the many business deals Arroyo and friends brokered with the Philippine government to corner handsome contracts. Also let us not forget Jose Pidal who stashed away millions in deposits in controversial deals with the Arroyo government.


Science Without Humanity. Well, what could be a better example than implementing a high technology project such as the national broadband project? This project will result in millions more of additional debt for the Filipinos (not to mention millions more of kickbacks for Gloria and husband!). Gloria said this would enable students even in the remotest municipalities to access the Internet and learn. Yeah right! Students who have barely anything to eat or do not even have a decent classroom are so excited to browse the worldwide web.

Religion Without Sacrifice. Like many other politicians, Gloria Arroyo has the propensity to project a religious image especially during election period. These trapos summon the support of the Cardinals, the pastors, the priests, the imams and what have you, as they present themselves as god-fearing individuals. Old tricks but the sad fact is, it works!
Politics Without Principle. Now, in this last one Gloria Arroyo would receive the highest honors. I don’t know if I still need to give an instance. Examples are all over the place! Go figure.

Why remove Raul’s posters?

“The great corrupter of public man (and woman) is the ego....
Looking at the mirror distracts one's attention from the problem.”
- Dean Acheson

I read a news article about the justification of the removal of the DOJ posters from the walls of the Hall of Justice. The DOJ poster bears the image of the great Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales.

They said that the face of great Raul in the posters were vandalized with mustache and beard and even horns! When the Hall of Justice’s maintenance office received the communication that Chief Justice Renato Puno is scheduled to visit, then they decided to remove all those “redesigned”posters. They claim that the posters are not presentable anymore.

This column condemns those unfounded action and demand that those posters be pasted back to the walls of the Hall of Justice! Remove all the other posters that they want but certainly not Raul’s posters! Removing those posters is tantamount to a mockery of justice. And they can afford to do that with the image of the Justice himself? They are violating a basic freedom guaranteed by the constitution! This is a big farce!

First, those posters were paid for by the Filipino taxpayers. It was the people’s money that was utilized in the printing of such magnificent narcissistic posters. We spent for the printing of the poster, why remove it? Posters are meant to be, well, posted.

Second, they should respect whatever markings are on the posters for that is a part of its overall aesthetic value. It is a work of art in progress. Don’t they understand that the ordinary Filipino paid for the printing of the posters and now are contributing their artistic talents to make the posters even more appealing, informative and mind tickling?

Lastly and more important – the beard, mustache and the horns are actually appropriate, very fitting! Look at the track record of Raul – his brave lawyering for the American soldier rapist stationed in Subic, his colorful anti-women remarks and attitude, his many anti-people actions and positions plus his unquestioning and undying support to a fake and corrupt administration.

Beards and mustache characterize villains. So what wrong with that? Horns, well, devils wear them – it will portray somebody as evil, or sinister, or dreadful, creepy or simply horrible! So what’s the big deal?

To all readers lets us start a signature campaign to bring all those posters back! No, I do not mean that they replace them with new ones. We want exactly those same posters that they removed. We want the PNP and the NBI in coordination with the FBI, the CIA and the Interpol to determine the location of the posters and bring them back immediately! If needed let us elevate this issue to Congress or maybe to the International Court of Justice. Can anybody draft a position paper?

(Send your comments and reactions to: for text messages to 0919-348-6337; for e-mails to ianseruelo@gmail.com)