Jackson did two music videos for the song: the first video was shot in location in a Rio de Janeiro community in Brazil to highlight the plight of the poor and the second video was shot in a prison to dramatize the rampant human rights abuses in the U.S. Despite his good intentions, Jackson was accused of exploiting the conditions of the poor for commercial gain.

Fast forward to 2010. Jackson’s long time choreographer arrived in the Philippines to train about 1,500 inmates from the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center on how to perform the dance drill of the controversial 1996 song which was seen by the public in the smash-hit “This is it” concert film. The widely anticipated performance of the Cebu prisoners was uploaded on youtube in time for the DVD release of the film.

It is aptly ironic that the same Jackson song which drew accusations of racism; the same song which have two videos that overexposes poverty and human rights violations, was the chosen song for the Jackson tribute performance of Cebu’s famous dancing prisoners.

Were the prisoners informed that the song was penned by Jackson to make visible the human rights abuses in society? Were they aware of the music video which was shot inside a prison? Did they realize that Jackson’s choreographer taught them the dance moves not in behalf of the Jackson estate but through the sponsorship of a commercial recording label? Was the choreographer conscious of the fact that many of the prisoners in the Philippines are guilty of poverty crimes and most likely his Cebu trainees are also victims of a biased and unfair judicial system?

Filipinos are amused over the global popularity of Cebu’s prisoners but this dancing spectacle deserves to be probed if it really benefits the prisoners.

Do prisoners have the right to refuse if they are chosen to be part of the dancing group? Do they receive compensation? If they stopped dancing, will prison reforms also stop? Jackson fans are impressed with the disciplined dance moves of the prisoners but we should ask if prisoners are punished if they commit mistakes during the practice sessions.

Cebu prisoners gained worldwide fame in 2007 when their rendition of Jackson’s Thriller dance went viral on youtube. Because of their internet exposure, the dancing prisoners quickly became a tourist attraction in Cebu. Like tourists in a safari cruise, foreigners visit the provincial detention center to witness amazing and sometimes hilarious dance moves of the “tamed” prisoners. Maybe tourists will tell their friends that dancing is a good therapy for wild animals, rapists, and murderers.

The dance routine was originally conceptualized by prison officers as a form of behavior conditioning. Then it became a money making event. Dancing prisoners are happy since they claim to enjoy more benefits than other non-dancing prisoners. The incentive to dance is not really to practice art but to receive better prison treatment. Dance to impress visitors to generate funds. Dance to eat more regularly and sleep comfortably. Dance to make the Philippines famous in the global arena. Prisoners are exploited since they have no choice but to obey the instructions of their officers: dance or else. What is doubly painful is that prisoners are enjoying the exploitation.

It is an odd lonely spectacle. Prisoners dancing in front of judicial authorities and the satisfied officials reward the subjects with token reforms and the usually forgotten promise of reviewing their pending cases. Prisoners have to use their bodies if they want to attract the attention of concerned officials. Prisoners have to work harder and please more people if they want some of their basic rights restored. Is prison reform the real desire of the prisoners? What about justice? Freedom?

No one will admit it but Cebu’s dancing prisoners represent many Filipinos who dream of making it big in the global village. What many Filipinos desire is the approving gaze of the colonial masters. Like the Cebu prisoners, they sing and dance and perform many spectacles in the internet to catch the attention of Hollywood, CNN, and other global media icons. They become heroes if they are praised by western critics. Oh yes, the subalterns could sing and dance, and mimic their western idols. This seems to be the new Filipino dream. Surprise the world by acting, singing and speaking in a non-Filipino manner. Prove that the colonial subjects are capable of reproducing what the masters are doing. Say hello to the world. Sing like a white diva and rock star. Serve the master well and maybe the loyal servant will inherit the master’s fabulous wealth in the future.

Cory used her People Power mandate to restore the wealth and influence of the pre-Marcos oligarchs. Despite being a revolutionary president for a brief period, the only revolutionary legacy left by Cory was the revival of the privileges of the cacique class to which she belongs.

Meanwhile, Gloria tapped the unfinished potential of People Power to assume the presidency. But unlike Cory, she didn’t establish a revolutionary government to clip the powers of her predecessor. She preferred instead to maximize the built-in authoritarian features of the political system to strengthen her rule.

Cory the People Power president was caricatured as Cory Calamity at the end of her term. On the other hand, Gloria the second people Power president would become the most unpopular leader in the country’s modern history. Will Noynoy, the new yellow king, suffer the same fate of Cory and Gloria?

In 1986 and 2001, there were visible collectives in the streets. People Power was understood as the concrete and determined set of actions of the people, of the “boss”, in public spaces. Today, the streets are quiet. Wangwangs could be heard because the visible collectives have been silenced.

Despite the desperate but pathetic attempt of the liberaloids to replay the People Power sequence, there was no spectacular public uprising this year. Indeed, Noy apologists summoned the eternal appeal of People Power but they did so for electioneering purposes. They reduced People Power into miniature and safe political actions by advising the public to wear yellow ribbons and to vote for Noy.

After Edsa Tres, Gloria rejected the idea of People Power since she was afraid of its real subversive potential to refashion a new social order. Noy and his factotums are perhaps worse than Gloria since they diluted the radical content of People Power by transforming it into an election tactic.

The absence of visible People Power means the people, the “boss”, have weaker influence in the new government compared to traditional power groups like big business, the U.S., and Danding. The threat of People Power is essential to demand small but symbolic reforms from the new president. People Power convinced Cory to release political prisoners in 1986 and to enact a token land reform program in 1987. People Power forced Gloria to resume the peace talks with armed rebels in 2001. If there is People Power today, it has been copyrighted already by the yellow army generals surrounding Noy. Beware: these creatures are behind the billion-peso peace bonds racket and the Strong Republic mantra of the early Arroyo years.

If there was no People Power, how did Noy win? Arroyo was intensely hated by the public and Noy benefited by fanning the anti-Arroyo flames in the country. He also had to thank Kris for the masa appeal and kamag-anak Danding for the billions. Journalists have already exposed the substantial contribution of Wall Street to the campaign kitty of Barack Obama. When will local journalists report that Noy spent more than his rivals during the campaign period? When will the media identify the big business campaign donors of Noy?

Noy’s hairline is unimportant. What is crucial is to name him for what he really is: a conservative politician representing the interest of the landlord elite. Noynoy’s adoption of the PNoy persona popularized by erstwhile critical media networks is (to rephrase Pierre Bourdieu) a very smart and very modern repackaging of the oldest ideas of the oldest reactionaries. Noy’s class background, political thinking, and even the circumstances of his election victory mean that PNoy doesn’t symbolize change; it is a desire (even nostalgia) for the preservation of the old order.

I agree with Antonio Negri when he asserted that the 20th century is impossible reformism. Negri of course was referring to capitalism in the 20th century which can only exist as reformism. In a different context, we can cite the modern political history of the Philippines as a symptom of the impossibility of reformism. After 1946, the system functioned for two decades but it suffered a crisis which allowed Marcos to rule as dictator until 1986. Cory tried to rehabilitate the state machinery by restoring the pre-Marcos structures of power. The system functioned again for almost two decades but it also went into self-destruct mode which allowed Arroyo to rule for one decade. Noy now wants us to join him in the righteous path and most likely the path he is preparing would lead us back to where his mother had brought us.

Marcos and Gloria are both unloved by the people but their admirers insist that infrastructure projects were their best legacies. Did Gloria finish what Marcos started but failed to complete in 1986? Is Noy’s role then to fulfill the broken dreams and promises of Edsa?

What if the system is really designed to fail? Two decades of brutal social and political experimentation, then a brief reformist phase. That Marcos-Arroyo figures would always rise since they are necessary evil elements to prevent the system from disintegrating. That Cory-Noy heroic figures are bound to appear and reappear to restore factory settings in the system. Is this the best of all possible worlds? Is this the best the system can offer? Is reformism the only option to refresh the political project?

Hegel’s concept of “surpassing” is instructive. According to him (via Badiou), “the finite is what comes out of itself only in order to remain within itself. The finite is what surpasses itself within itself. Instead of an alteration of self there is only an iteration.”

Did we survive the nightmarish Marcos-like Arroyo years so that we will endure the Cory-like PNoy years? Oh dear. Is this change?

The proposal is to think of a politics that would interrupt the bad cycle. Politics that does not advocate mere repetition but an unrepeatable political event. The task is not just to unmask PNoy. The greater challenge is to finish the revolutionary project of the 20th century.

Related articles:

20th century Philippines
Gloria and Cory
1986 and 2001

Luzon is continually plagued by 1-3 hours of brownouts everyday. Even Mega Manila, the seat of government and major economic hub of the country, suffers from daily power blackouts. The whole of Mindanao was recently put under state of calamity because of the power supply crisis. How cruel, the powerless have literally no power in their homes.

I am writing this blog entry in South Cotabato where residents are forced to endure 10-12 hours of power disruptions. Just imagine the social and economic impact of the rotating brownouts. Small entrepreneurs cannot buy power generators, government offices cannot provide sustained services, consumers cannot watch TV or sleep comfortably, and even election candidates cannot hold campaign rallies in the evening because of the power woes.

Is climate change the real reason why several major plants conked out in the past few months? Is there a genuine power supply crisis or is there a sinister plot by clever people to create a believable crisis in order to justify shock therapies like higher power rates, bloated contracts with Independent Power Producer, and the revival of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant? So many vested interests are trying to use the energy crisis to make money or gain more power.

Some people suggested that the rotating brownout is the country’s daily Earth Hour pledge. Oo nga naman, araw-araw may Earth Hour sa bansa. Sobra pa nga ng isang oras eh. Others joked that it is a ploy by the administration to refresh the memories of the people about the 10-12 hours of brownouts during the term of “Calamity Cory” in order to weaken the candidacy of Noynoy.

Whether the power crisis is genuine or not, it is an indictment on the state of governance in the Philippines. It exposes the lack of vision of the current and previous administrations. Don’t blame mother nature and high fertility rates, matagal na nating alam na may pagbabago sa klima at mahilig gumawa ng baby ang mga Pinoy. Why didn’t the government anticipate the current power shortage?

The spectre of rotating brownout is not a technical problem; it is a political issue involving greedy oligarchs and power-hungry dynasts. Therefore, the crisis requires a political solution.

Usage of the term ‘rotating brownout’ always pertains to a technical matter but actually the term is very political. It is an apt metaphor for the type of politics in the country. The term can refer to the kind of leadership practiced by politicians, especially during elections.

If the goal of politics should be the empowerment of the people, then what we have in the Philippines is “rotating politics.” Politics comes alive only when politicians visit their constituents during the campaign period every three years or every ribbon cutting ceremony. But for the rest of the year, “politics” is invisible or dead.

Good governance should lead to a fair distribution of resources in the cities and provinces but “rotating politics” produces only lopsided economic development. Infrastructure projects and public funds are treated as gifts to be given by the president to loyal underlings in the provinces. And so local politicians patiently wait for their turn to receive precious government funds from the president when she visits a province or city. Sorry na lang kung di makabisita si presidente, sa susunod na skedyul na lang. This is rotating politics.

At the local level, politicians are like rotating brownouts. May iskedyul ang pagdating nila sa mga baryo during fiesta, graduation, Christmas party and ofcourse during election campaign period. But unlike rotating brownouts which bring darkness to communities, politicians always “bring home the bacon.” They distribute cash gifts, scholarships, movie tickets, water pumps, fertilizer (no condoms, magagalit ang Obispo). They bring entertainment and happiness during campaign sorties. The visit proves the so-called goodness of politicians (but the people need good governance!) and sympathy of leaders to the plight of the poor (not charity, but justice!).

The opposite of rotating brownouts is adequate energy supply and efficient energy infrastructure. The opposite of rotating politics is good governance. Political power should not be equated with the opportunity to mingle with and laugh at politicians during weddings, funerals and Christmas parties. It should refer to the ability of citizens to access state-sponsored services and other social welfare claims all-year round. More importantly, it means citizens and citizen groups are ready and allowed to make politicians accountable for their wrongdoings.

Today the scourge of rotating brownouts makes life more miserable in these unhappy isles. But misery can turn into rage and rage can lead to resistance and resistance provokes change. The spectre of rotating brownouts can make the people yearn for a revolution.

Darkness envelops the Philippines everyday because of the rotating brownouts. We are literally and symbolically living in darkness. During these dark times, the people must fight back. There must be pockets of revolt in every dark corner of the archipelago. Dark Knights must join the army of change. This is a struggle to bring forward the torch of new politics. Fight darkness. Spread the light.

Related articles:

Poverty and system losses
Nuclear option

What are the indicators used in measuring the progress of countries in achieving the UN MDGs? For goal 1, a country has to reduce by half the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day, halve the proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption, and halve the proportion of underweight children under 5 years old. For goal 2, the country’s net enrolment ratio, completion rate, and cohort survival rate in elementary education are measured. For goal 3, gender disparity should be eliminated in all levels of education before 2015. For goal 7, a country has to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, and achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. For goal 8, a country has to develop further an open, rule-based, and non-discriminatory trading and financial system. The debt problem should also be addressed comprehensively in order to make debts sustainable in the long term.

Can the Philippines achieve the MDGs by 2015? According to the latest progress report submitted by various government agencies, the Philippines is confident it can achieve goals 1 (halving poverty), 3, 4, 6, and 7. Improving nutrition and dietary energy requirement (goal 1) is rated as medium probability. It is least likely that the country can achieve goals 2 and 5.

The latest progress report is depressing. Even the positive indicators can slip back as negative outcomes in the next five years. For example, the Philippines claims it has already achieved goal 6 but just recently the Health Department has warned about the rising number of HIV/AIDS cases among young professionals. A doctor-lawmaker described the AIDS situation in the country as reaching epidemic proportion. Underreporting of HIV/AIDS cases also distorts the true picture and extent of the problem.

Goal 3 is listed as an achievement but women’s groups continue to assert that gender discrimination is still rampant. The Task Force on Education and Gender Equality proposes to broaden the targets for goal 3 to include the following: strengthening opportunities for post-primary education for girls, guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health and rights, investing in infrastructure to reduce women’s and girls’ time burdens, guaranteeing women’s and girls’ property and inheritance rights, eliminating gender inequality in employment, increasing women’s share of seats in national parliaments and local government bodies, and combating violence against girls and women.

Poverty reduction is an empty boast. Extreme poverty has worsened due to the continuing deterioration of the global economy. The domestic economy has failed to produce enough jobs and livelihood for the struggling poor. The country was also battered by powerful storms and volcanic eruptions in recent months. The inability of the government to mitigate the impact of natural disasters will reverse the initial gains in achieving the UN MDGs.

The stubborn refusal of church and national authorities to legislate and implement a comprehensive reproductive health policy makes it virtually impossible for the Philippines to achieve goals 2 and 5. Maternal health care is viewed by many church and conservative leaders as a euphemism for abortion. Based on Philippine experience, it can be surmised that a poor country with a fast population growth rate (and high corruption index) will not be able to achieve universal primary education.

The lameduck Arroyo government has lost the credibility (and time) to initiate measures that would fast track government programs related to the fulfillment of the UN MDGs. The next government should identify human development as its top priority. This means the national government should invest more resources in the delivery of basic social services and other essential needs of the people. Local Government Units can adopt the MDGs as indicators of their performance. The private sector, especially civil society organizations, can also contribute in formulating a national blueprint on how to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

Every president wants the Philippines to become a First World nation. The incumbent president believes the country can attain this status in 2020. The next president should concentrate on more basic goals, like achieving the UN MDGs. We cannot be a developed nation if hunger, poverty, illiteracy, and discrimination continue to spread in society.

Related articles:

Poverty indicators
Education for all
Women in legislation
Population explosion

It is easy to dismiss the ‘Renewable Marriage’ proposal as a publicity stunt; an outrageous idea in aid of elections. But this unique proposal, however ridiculous it seems, deserves a rational public discussion. It has been enunciated already; its novelty should be recognized. We can debate its philosophical register without committing to promote it in the legislature.

According to the proponents of ‘Renewable Marriage’, they want an escape option for women who are trapped in loveless relationships. They decry the expensive annulment cases which discourage incompatible couples from filing annulment petitions in the courts. The group’s intentions are laudable. It’s time to make annulment proceedings more accessible to the masa. It’s time to review marriage laws which are unfair to women in society.

Maybe the group came up with an insanely radical solution to protect women’s rights because it is up against an insanely stubborn institution: the all-powerful Catholic Church. Maybe the ‘Renewable Marriage’ idea is a response to the strong opposition of the Church to the legislation of divorce or any related measure that seeks to promote the interest of women. The first act of provocation was not the ‘Renewable Marriage’ bill but the feudal behavior and thinking of Church authorities.

The loudest argument against the ‘Renewable Marriage’ proposal is directed against the proponent’s statement comparing marriage license to a passport and driver’s license. A marriage license with an expiration date? A marriage license which can be renewed every ten years? Indeed, what a bold proposal! For many sectors, this unmentionable idea is anti-family, anti-Filipino, and anti-women.

Bold, yes it is. But it is a 21st century idea which reflects the norms of a postmodern (oh I hate this term) world that we inhabit. Aren’t we opposed to everything that claims to be infinite? Aren’t we the species that worship the finite in the planet? Aren’t we political subjects who desire and accept values, things, and ideas which are measurable?

The original sin is not ‘Renewable Marriage’ but marriage itself. Love is supposed to be infinite, timeless, eternal, free. Isn’t marriage the imposition of finite form over an infinite concept? Isn’t marriage a bourgeois institution which legally binds a woman to her husband – a modern and acceptable form of slavery? It is telling that critics of ‘Renewable Marriage’ invoke the welfare of kids and the complications to property relations if the bill is passed into law. It reveals that marriage has been reduced into two related affairs: parenting and husbanding (ironic term, indeed) of properties. A couple is recognized as truly married if they have children and if they have properties. It seems 21st century marriage has nothing to do anymore with free love, real love.

‘Renewable Marriage’, therefore, is not genuinely radical (definitely not revolutionary). It is an innovation. It seeks to amend the terms that govern the marriage institution.

What it affirms is the temporal character of human relationships. It is an appropriate proposal in today’s material world, a ‘throwaway society’. We prefer objects and ideas that can be discarded after some time. We measure a person’s worth through his/her paycheck. We are capable of loving and supporting an idea only if it is a time-bound, limited affair. We do not want to surrender, sacrifice, and risk everything to an unknown, unfamiliar event. We are afraid to lose; we do not want to commit forever; we have lost the capacity to embrace the infinite. We deserve absurd proposals like ‘Renewable Marriage’.

When I first heard the ‘Renewable Marriage’ bill, I ignored it. I rejected it. I laughed at it. Then I realized its appropriateness, its grim familiarity with the dominant political behavior in our society. We practice risk-free politics; we reject political projects that demand long-term commitments.

Through the ‘Renewable Marriage’ proposal, we can discuss the philosophical and political link of love and marriage, life and family, revolution and state, politics and elections. They are categories of infinite and finite.

Love. Life. Revolution. Politics. Infinite. True love is possible if we grasp eternity. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Related articles:

Church and RH, Rizal Bill
Divine interventions
Women and legislation
Garbage bins

Unfriending people in facebook, friendster, and other social network sites is not a common internet habit among Filipino netizens. We cannot easily unfriend friends. We are respectful even to friends who betrayed us in the past. There are people who will assert that unfriending someone is against our culture. According to the president’s spokesperson, the friendship of the Arroyos and Ampatuans will not be affected by the gruesome massacre in Maguindanao.

Hashtag is known only to twitter users. There were many instances when the Philippines made it to twitter’s trending topics: Eat Bulaga, Cory, Pacquiao, Ondoy. Plurk is more popular in the country. Slackactivists always use hashtags.

In the Philippine context, intexticated does not refer to those who use their mobile phones while driving. Intexticated are people who text while walking, running, and even sleeping. Yes, there are people who text while sleeping in the middle of the night. Intexticated people are also seen inside churches, classrooms, MRT, LRT, jeepneys, and airplanes.

Netbooks are popular in the country because they are more affordable. This is an ideal gadget for students and teachers. Sexting is a big problem in U.S. schools. Hopefully, the sexting trend would not plague our local schools.

Funemployed are those who ‘enjoy’ unemployment because they can pursue their other interests in life. Are there funemployed Filipinos? Since majority of workers do not receive unemployment checks, Filipinos do not relish the prospect of being out of work. But Filipinos are known to find happiness even during hard times. We are a smiling people. But it doesn’t mean the jobless are funemployed.

Birthers question the authenticity of U.S. President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Choice Mom prefers to be single mothers. Deleb is a dead celebrity. The most famous deleb this year is Michael Jackson.

Political words

Here is my list of Philippine political words of the year: hayden kho, swine flu (ahini), con-ass, cory, ondoy, pacquaio, ampatuan, and backhoe.

hayden kho has various meanings. It may refer to a pervert and maniac, as described by the very moral Sen. Bong Revilla. It may also refer to a doctor who becomes a director and actor of sex videos. Beware of hayden kho boyfriends.

Swine flu or A(H1N1) – pronounced by many Filipinos as ahini – is a continuing global pandemic. It replaced SARS, bird flu, ebola reston, dengue, and chikungunya as the most famous virus threat in Asia and the rest of the world. Washing of hands was strictly enforced, holding hands in churches was disallowed, and hand sanitizers became a bestseller. Companies which produce thermal scanners, facemasks, alcohol, and the expensive flu vaccine benefited from the swine flu scare.

Con-Ass or Constituent Assembly became the top political issue from June to August. The proposal to amend the 1987 constitution was vigorously opposed by many groups and individuals. The charter change or chacha fantasy is still alive through the less controversial but equally lethal Constitutional Convention or concon mode.

The death of the original People Power icon and former President Cory Aquino reawakened the public admiration for this great leader. Cory’s legacy in restoring the country’s democratic institutions was reaffirmed. Senator Noynoy Aquino’s presidential bid was launched shortly after his mother’s death.

Ondoy will be remembered for triggering the worst flooding in Metro Manila in the past 40 years. Ondoy exposed the weak disaster preparedness program of the government. On the other hand, the Ondoy tragedy revived the Bayanihan spirit in the country. Tropical storms Pepeng, Ramil, Santi, and Tino – all of them entered the country during the ‘ber’ months – convinced everybody that climate change is a serious problem.

Pacquaio’s victory boosted the morale of Filipinos. Pacquaio succeeded again in uniting all Filipinos. But the sense of camaraderie in the country was only shortlived because election season began a week after Pacquiao’s stunning victory. And people are no longer talking about Cotto. They are more curious about Krista.

Ampatuan Massacre refers to the killing of 57 people in Maguindanao, the “cheating capital of the country.” The prime suspects are members of the very powerful Ampatuan Family. The Ampatuans have been called many names: mass murderers, criminals, warlords, rebels, friends of the President. The other famous political clan in Maguindanao is the Mangudadatu Family.

A backhoe is used to excavate or dig materials in construction sites. But it can also be used for criminal purposes. A backhoe was used to break into a museum in Pennsylvania. A backhoe owned by the Ampatuan-controlled local government was also found near the mass graves in Maguindanao.

Martial Law was declared in Maguindanao. A joint session of Congress was immediately called. To justify the obviously unconstitutional declaration, Malacanang submitted a report to Congress describing the Ampatuan warlord clan as being backed-up by a “formidable group of armed followers.” The Palace resource speakers seem confused. They described the presence of armed civilian troops (read: CVO private armies) in Maguindanao as proof of looming rebellion and actual rebellion.

Elections are always exciting since they generate memorable slogans. Election monitoring groups have Boto Mo Ipatrol Mo, Ako Mismo, Bilog Na Hugis Itlog. Mar has Padyak Padyak and Ramdam Ko Kayo. Villar has Sipag at Tiyaga and Akala Mo. Gibo has Galing at Talino. Noynoy has Hindi Ka Nag-Iisa. Erap has Tatakbo Ka Ba at Babalik si Erap. Chiz has Ang Bagong Pagbabago and Tayo Ang Bagong Sigla. Chairman BF and Gordon are ‘transformers.’

Related articles:

2007 words of the year
In other words
Click
Swine flu and body heat
Swine flu and politics

Today we condemn the continuation of the joint military exercises between Philippine and United States troops in the Bicol region. The resumption of the so-called Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) exercises clearly indicates that President Barack Obama has not fundamentally revised the foreign policy of his predecessor. The U.S. continues to use its military power to enhance its geopolitical interests in the world. It ignores the sovereignty of smaller and weaker nations by arrogantly deploying its war machines in these territories. It props up tyrants and corrupt leaders who are willing to accommodate its imperialist machinations.

The Balikatan is a shameful form of military intervention of the U.S. in the Philippines. More than 6,000 U.S. troops and 2,500 Filipino soldiers will participate in the joint war games which will be conducted in the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon, and Masbate. Nuclear-powered U.S. warships with F-16 fighter jets are expected to dock in the waters of Bicol region. The Balikatan once again highlights the semi-colonial status of the Philippines. It points to the highly unequal and grossly unjust relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines.

The U.S. and Philippine authorities insult the people when they continue to insist that the exercises will only involve humanitarian missions in the impoverished provinces of Bicol. The media frenzy surrounding the medical missions and civic projects of the US military personnel are part of a devious ploy to obscure the fact that U.S. soldiers are directly involved in combat operations in the Philippines.

If conducting humanitarian missions is the true objective of the U.S. military, why did they send an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in the Bicol region? A Predator-type drone (read: spy plane) crash landed in the towns of Esperanza and Pio V. Corpuz in Masbate last January. If the U.S. military only wanted to build roads, schools and water systems in Albay, why did a U.S. naval officer visited several hospitals in the province last January and asked health care personnel if they had orthopedic facilities?

The presence of U.S. troops in the Bicol region is not helping the local population. In fact, the arrival of the foreign troops has exacerbated the social and economic ills in the region. Early this month, a Philippine Senator exposed that two batches of 8 to 10 women were being given nightly to U.S. soldiers who were stationed in Legazpi City. A fish ban was enforced by the government for six months in the coastal villages where U.S. troops are expected to visit. This will destroy the livelihood of thousands of fisherfolks in the towns of Malinao, Malilipot, Bacacay and Manito in the province of Albay.

To protect their very important armed guests from rebel attacks, the 901st Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines has conducted “clearing operations” in several remote villages in Bicol. These have displaced hundreds of peasant villagers. In Ligao City an infant girl was killed and 6 other children were injured after the military fired indiscriminate gunshots in Barangay Balanac. How many more innocent civilians will be killed and harmed in order to secure the safety of visiting U.S. soldiers?

It has been established through fact-finding investigations that U.S. troops have participated in actual combat operations in previous Balikatan war games in Mindanao. This year’s Balikatan in the Bicol region would involve U.S. soldiers in the Philippine military’s anti-insurgency campaign. Bicol is a known communist hotbed in the country. U.S. troops are expected to join Filipino soldiers in terrorizing local inhabitants who are accused of sympathizing with communist rebels. This will worsen the human rights situation in the region.

The Balikatan is most enthusiastically supported by the puppet Arroyo government because it is a source of corruption. The Philippines receives $30 million annually in military grants through the Visiting Forces Agreement. The funds are used by Arroyo to bribe military generals in exchange for their support for her unpopular government. Arroyo also uses the Balikatan to seek the approval of the U.S. for her desire to remain in power until and maybe even beyond 2010.

The Balikatan does not serve the interests of the American and Filipino people in general. It is endorsed by power-obsessed politicians and human rights violators in the Philippines who represent the exploitative ruling class, and by an imperialist power which intends to strengthen its hegemony in this part of the world.

Today we demand the U.S. government to end its military presence and intervention in the Philippines. We demand that tax dollars should not be spent on military aid for the Philippines. We demand the cancellation of the commitment made by the U.S. government to give $400 million to the Philippine military over a ten-year period. This large amount of money should be used to improve the social welfare of ordinary citizens. It should not be allotted to aid repressive governments like the Arroyo regime.

Today we demand the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement. This onerous treaty legitimizes the presence of U.S. troops in the Philippines. This violates the national sovereignty of the Philippines. The VFA provides legal protection for U.S. soldiers who commit crimes while on duty in the Philippines. The VFA gives the U.S. military the right to occupy any part of the Philippines over an indefinite period of time. For example, the U.S. military has ‘permanently occupied’ Camp Navarro in Zamboanga for the past six years.

Today we salute the Filipino people who have steadfastly challenged and resisted U.S. imperialism in the Philippines. We laud the efforts of various groups which continue to oppose the presence of U.S. troops in Bicol and other parts of the country.

Today we affirm our dedication to advance the national democratic aspirations of the Filipino people.

Stop Balikatan! Pull-out U.S. troops now!
No to U.S. military intervention in the Philippines!
Stop giving military aid to the Philippines!
Down with Imperialism!

Related articles:

U.S. intervention in the Philippines
Generation Peace

Typhoons Ketsana and Parma were the most ferocious in terms of impact on the economy and number of casualties. Ketsana submerged 80 percent of Metro Manila and nearby provinces. Parma stayed in the country for almost a week, unleashing a record rainfall in north Luzon. Ketsana and Parma affected more than 3 million individuals in the country.

The last quarter of 2009 will be remembered by many Filipinos as the period of great typhoon disasters, with Ketsana and Parma being the most memorable.

In my previous column, I emphasized the crucial role of good governance in mitigating the negative impact of climate change. I also praised the renewed sense of volunteerism among young Filipinos who devoted their time and energy in various relief and assistance centers. What are the other lessons to be culled from the storm disasters?

Ketsana and Parma showed the potential and limitation of using new media tools during natural calamities. Ketsana’s impact was more visible because bloggers wrote about their ordeal. Pictures and videos of flooded villages were quickly uploaded on the Internet. Twitterers and Facebookers regularly updated their pages about Ketsana.

Maximizing the Internet to spread information and send distress calls during Ketsana’s onslaught was made possible because there was a stable power supply in Metro Manila and the IT infrastructure in the country’s capital is relatively well-developed.

On the other hand, the power supply was cut off for many days when Parma struck the rural north. Cell phone signals were not immediately restored. There were few eyewitness stories about the storm. There were fewer blog articles, citizen videos, pictures and Twitter posts about the impact of Parma. It was the old reliable mainstream media that provided most of the information about Parma’s deadly consequences.

Public response to Ketsana once again affirmed the special status of Metro Manila in the country. Ketsana almost forced the national bureaucracy to a halt because many government offices suspended their operations. Politicians postponed their activities and glamorous social events were scrapped.

Maybe this was understandable since the storm caused massive damage in the country’s capital, but the same extraordinary attention should be shown as well when disasters hit the far-flung provinces.

There have been stronger typhoons and natural disasters in the past, but the government did not close its offices, politicians reported for work, and social events were not postponed. When Super Typhoon Reming struck the Bicol Region in 2006, Congress continued its deliberations on the proposed constitutional amendments.

Does a storm have to hit Manila first before we express alarm about the fragile state of our environment? Does a storm have to displace Manila residents first before we begin to worry about the condition of flood and storm victims?

The twin typhoon disasters also revealed the weak and ineffective quality of flood-control infrastructure in the country. In particular, Parma forced policymakers to review the dam operations throughout the country.

The heavy rainfall during Parma’s onslaught forced dam authorities in the north part of the country to release water without adequately informing residents in low-lying communities. This caused severe damage in many provinces, trapping thousands of residents in their homes and destroying millions worth of agricultural crops.

Local officials and civil society groups are blaming the dam authorities for the massive flooding, which almost wiped an entire province off the map. There is now a clamor to shut down mega-dams whose main purpose is power generation and not flood control or irrigation. To ensure public safety, Congress created a special committee to check the standard operating procedures of dams when releasing excess amounts of water during typhoons.

Ketsana and Parma also exposed the failure of health authorities to provide adequate information about the spread of various diseases linked to rising floodwaters. Two weeks ago, a Leptospirosis outbreak was declared in several provinces. Hospitals are admitting close to 400 Leptospirosis patients everyday. About 167 deaths have been confirmed already.

Doctors believe that casualties from Leptospirosis could have been minimized if preventive measures had been implemented and if flood victims had been advised to seek medical consultation the moment they detected symptoms of the rare bacterial infection. Health authorities only began to mount an aggressive information drive about the disease when the media reported about it.

Suddenly, climate change has become a key election issue. Candidates are starting to package themselves as green leaders. Ketsana and Parma are expected to remain in the public consciousness.

The underwhelming performance of government rescue and relief teams will be an important presidential election issue next year. Voters will remember the unforgettable horror images of rampaging floodwaters, mudslides and landslides. They will remember the pictures of trapped homeowners, destroyed crops, and dead bodies covered with mud. This does not bode well for administration candidates.

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In 1983 the funeral march for murdered opposition leader Ninoy Aquino was attended by more than 1 million people. His death was blamed on former Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

It was Aquino’s death that helped to unite the various opposition forces against the Marcos dictatorship. His widow, Cory Aquino, became the country’s president in 1986 through a peaceful People Power uprising.

In December 2004 the country mourned the death of Fernando Poe Jr., the most popular showbiz local actor and defeated presidential candidate. Poe, along with his legions of supporters, accused incumbent President Gloria Arroyo of committing electoral fraud.

Poe’s fans attended the funeral march while chanting anti-government slogans. During the funeral march, the government barricaded the presidential palace with container vans because it feared the angry crowd of mourners would attempt to oust the president.

In May last year, labor leader and party-list lawmaker Crispin Beltran died while trying to fix the roof of his house. Beltran was a consistent critic of the Arroyo government who had been detained for more than a year on trumped-up rebellion charges.

Beltran’s funeral march attracted more than 100,000 mourners, mostly from the organized left. The funeral march became the biggest anti-government protest of the year. It proved that the opposition and the left could still manage to gather this huge number of people in the streets.

Two weeks ago, former President Cory Aquino succumbed to cancer. Aquino is the country’s original democracy icon and People Power symbol. The death of the former beloved president prompted hundreds of thousands of Filipinos to express their love, devotion, and respect not just for Aquino but also for the democratic legacy she left behind.

More than 300,000 people attended Aquino’s funeral march on Aug. 5. Many of them were young people who were not familiar with People Power politics. Aquino’s death inspired the youth to review the history and relevance of People Power in restoring the country’s democratic institutions. People Power is now again part of the political vocabulary in the Philippines.

The most inspired sector today is the so-called “middle forces” in society. They have been motivated by the spontaneous display of affection by ordinary Filipinos for Cory Aquino. Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos have been wearing yellow ribbons in honor of the late president. Civil society groups believe the middle forces are ready to launch a new People Power movement.

Groups supportive of a People Power movement have vowed to fight the tyrannical policies and plans of the Arroyo government, which include the controversial Charter Change proposal. Can People Power defeat Arroyo’s plan to stay in power beyond 2010? The answer to this question is a resounding yes.

But the country needs a new People Power. It should not be a mechanical adoption of the People Power formula used in 1986. There is no more Cory Aquino or an activist church hierarchy to lead the people. A new People Power movement should be broad and inclusive. The middle forces should not insist that their tactics and platforms will be acceptable to everybody.

We have seen how the funeral marches of Poe, Beltran, and Aquino became national political events that gathered the biggest number of people in the streets. Imagine an activity that would assemble the core constituencies of these famous political icons. It would definitely be a specter that would haunt the Arroyo government.

Poe commands the loyalty of the poor. Beltran is a respectable icon of the left. Aquino is a former president who is adored by many Filipinos, especially the middle class. The success of the new People Power depends on the coordination of these major political forces.

No more celebrity death is needed to galvanize people into action. What is needed today is the unity of groups that are serious in launching a new People Power revolution.

This new People Power will be used to block the efforts of the administration’s allies, who want to extend the term of President Arroyo. Arroyo is no ordinary enemy. She has proven many times that she is a skillful politician. So far, she has thwarted all initiatives by the political opposition to remove her from power.

She has mobilized the full power and resources of her office to defeat and demonize her enemies. She uses the iron hand of the state to prevent various groups from launching another People Power.

Funeral power is not enough to unseat a president. It can rattle the administration but the latter can still survive as exemplified by the tenacious Arroyo government. But funeral power can metamorphose into a genuine People Power movement. It can inspire people into action; it can sustain a movement for good governance; it can reawaken the flames of democracy.

Through the Cory Aquino funeral march, we have witnessed the latest demonstration of funeral power in the Philippines. Can this movement gather enough momentum to become a stronger political movement that would challenge the supremacy of President Gloria Arroyo?

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