My fellow e-Mandirigma,
I believe it is time for all of us to express our indignation over scandal after scandal involving the Arroyo administration, culminating with the indecent haste with which Erap was granted executive clemency.
Some of you might still recall that on December 13, 2000 – at the height of our eMandirigma campaigns during the Erap impeachment, eLagda successfully staged an International Day of Protest with synchronized protest actions in 21 key cities in the Philippines and throughout the world. It only took us 2 weeks to prepare for it and we showed the world that we had the capacity as a people to stand up for what is right. The event caught international attention and was even featured on CNN.com.
We'd like to do a similar synchronized international protest on November 9, 2007.
I know the timing's tight, but there are a few things working for us. First, we've done it before and some of you already know each other enough to quickly organize a small activity. Second, media – particularly TFC (The Filipino Channel), has wider reach now. We can feed them information on the planned protest action in different locations and there's a good chance that the events will be well covered. And third, there's you-tube so you can upload your particular protest action in your locality for every Filipino to see.
We'll keep it simple. All you need to do is gather at least 10 people to go the Philippine embassy or consular office and submit a manifesto. (The Manifesto appears at the end of this post). Wear black shirts. You can print slogans on the shirt, or if possible, on placards. Some suggested slogans:
Patalsikin na! Now na!
Hindi ako gago!
Hindi na kami magpapagago!
GMA – Erap ka rin!
Tama na! Sobra na!
Nakatanggap ka ba? (rhetorically addressed to Congressmen and governors)
How do we operationalize this?
If you're part of an organized group and would like to lead the protest action, just email me directly at enteng@healourland.ph so I can direct people in your locality to coordinate with you. Otherwise, you may want to subscribe to any of the location-based elagda egroups so you can work with others in your location. The complete list and instructions on how to enroll are appended at the end of this message.
May I also request those who led the various cell groups in the 2000 International Day of Protest to please email me if you're interested in again leading your group for a similar action.
BTW, our brothers in the Middle East are already organizing in the key cities, while Fr. Robert Reyes will lead activities in HongKong.
We will call this event the INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST KONTRA SA PANGGAGAGO.
For those of you, especially those outside of the country, who have not been closely following the recent events, please refer to a previous posting: "MQ Test". Click this to read the complete post: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elagda/message/146
Let me just add that after more than 11 days of trying to explain away the payoffs of P500K to Congressmen and Governors attending a meeting at Malacanang through several conflicting stories, the LPP (League of Provinces of the Phils.) owned up to giving out the money. And this happened on the exact same day when LPP came out with full-page ads in all major dailies declaring that there was no such exchange of money at the Palace. Grabe! Ginagago na talaga tayo.
And when the LPP ploy backfired, guess what happened next? GMA pardons Erap. For reconciliation daw. But I think it's more for obfuscation and to shift the public debate away from the scandals hounding her. No, it will not start the healing they proffer; instead, it will open up old wounds that will once again divide the nation.
If you were incensed by the racist slur of Desperate Housewives, you should be even more incensed by a Desperate President who is all too willing to mock our justice system and divide the nation just to stay in power.
To put the famous words of Abraham Lincoln in our local language:
Kaya mong gaguhin ang ilang tao sa lahat ng panahon,
Kaya mong gaguhin ang lahat ng tao paminsan-minsan,
Pero hindi mo kayang gaguhin ang lahat ng tao sa lahat ng panahon.
Tama na! Sobra na! Hindi na tayo magpapagago!
God bless,
Enteng
The elagda cell groups:
In December 2000, I created one egroups for each possible location for the purpose of mobilizing for the international day of protest. Many of these cell groups are marginally active, but all of them can still be reactivated for the present campaign.
The name indicates the location. For example, for Batangas, I created elagda-batangas@egroups.com.
To subscribe, you have to send a blank e-mail to the group's subscribe address. In the case of Batangas, you have to send a blank e-mail to elagda-batangas-subscribe@egroups.com. To make it easy for you, I've included the "subscribe" suffix in the email addresses below so you can simply click on it, then click send.
To post a message, you need to send it to the egroups address (without the "subscribe" keyword). Again, using the example above, you send it to "elagda-batangas@egroups.com".
Here's the list of cell groups with corresponding locations:
elagda-ilocos-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-baguio-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-olongapo-subscribe@egroups.com (for olongapo and subic)
elagda-pangasinan-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-nuevaecija-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-bataan-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-pampanga-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-tarlac-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-bulacan-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-cavite-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-laguna-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-batangas-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-quezon-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-naga-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-legazpi-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-cebu-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-iloilo-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-iligan-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-cdo-subscribe@egroups.com (for Cagayan de Oro)
elagda-davao-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-gensan-subscribe@egroups.com (for General Santos)
elagda-makati-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-ortigas-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-qc-subscribe@egroups.com (for Quezon City)
elagda-manila-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-arizona-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-sf-subscribe@egroups.com (San Francisco)
elagda-la-subscribe@egroups.com (Los Angeles)
elagda-sd-subscribe@egroups.com (San Diego)
elagda-wa-subscribe@egroups.com (Washington)
elagda-chi-subscribe@egroups.com (Chicago)
elagda-tx-subscribe@egroups.com (Texas)
elagda-ny-subscribe@egroups.com (New York)
elagda-saipan-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-guam-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-riyadh-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-jeddah-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-uae-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-alkhobar-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-italy-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-france-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-spain-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-uk-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-germany-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-australia-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-nz-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-netherlands-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-canada-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-tokyo-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-hk-subscribe@egroups.com (Hongkong)
elagda-sg-subscribe@egroups.com (Singapore)
elagda-china-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-taiwan-subscribe@egroups.com
elagda-malaysia-subscribe@egroups.com
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elagda-korea-subscribe@egroups.com
Manifesto for the International Day of Protest Kontra sa Panggagago
An Urgent Appeal to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
We, Filipinos residing in ________________________________, are scandalized by the indecent haste with which President Arroyo granted executive clemency to former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada.
It came at a time that we were celebrating the fact that our judicial system could actually work, that we were able to exact accountability from the highest official of the land and convict him of the crime of plunder. The untimely pardon, which came barely 5 weeks after conviction, set aside the decision made by our courts and sends the wrong message to our people, “It’s all right to plunder. All you have to do is make a deal with the ruling power.”
We do not see this leading to national healing as the Palace would like us to believe. Instead, it has opened up old wounds that can only lead to further divisiveness amongst our people.
Neither do we see this as a sincere effort at reconciliation. We believe that this is part of a ploy to deflect attention from the ongoing ZTE scandal and palace payoffs. It merely reflects the culture of transactional politics that has led our country to moral bankruptcy.
We are alarmed at the revelations made during the Senate hearings that seem to indicate the involvement of the First Gentleman in the ZTE deal as well as apparently confirm GMA’s intimate knowledge of the bribery attempt by Benjamin Abalos on Romulo Neri. This administration does not seem inclined to bring erring officials to justice or prevent an anomalous transaction from being consummated. On the contrary, GMA allegedly instructed Neri to fast-track the approval of the National Broadband Network project with ZTE.
We are even more alarmed at ostensibly crude attempts to cover up allegations of bribery inside the very walls of Malacanang with even more bribery.
First, a weak impeachment complaint is filed, one that is doomed to fail and intended only to immunize GMA from further impeachment for another year. In this connection, the Deputy Secretary General of KAMPI – the President’s own party, allegedly offers a P2.0M bribe to Cong. Crispin Beltran to endorse the complaint.
Then, Congressmen and Governors are invited to a meeting at Malacanang, presumably to conduct a loyalty check and support the trashing of the impeachment complaint. Attendees are openly given bags with bundles of cash – as much as P500K each, as “gifts”. And when the “gift-giving” is exposed, the League of Provinces of the Philippines belatedly owns up to giving the cash, a ploy eerily similar to Iggy Arroyo owning up to the Jose Pidal account of the First Gentleman.
To make matters even worse, the Palace actually believes we will buy their excuses and cover up stories. Hindi naman siguro ganyan kagago ang mamamayang Pilipino.
We decry the blatant and brazen impunity with which GMA, her Cabinet officials, her allies in Congress and local government have lied to the people. In her desperate attempt to cling to power, she has lost all moral scruples.
We declare our loss of confidence in her leadership, and we appeal to her that if there is any sense of decency and patriotism left in her heart, that she should make the supreme sacrifice by resigning now. We believe that this is the only way that healing can truly begin and pave the way for moral reformation for our nation.
We submit this appeal with urgency, before vested interests in our society exploit the situation and lead us to unchartered and bloody modes of regime change.
Tama na! Sobra na! Hindi na kami magpapagago!
6 comments:
Excerpts from a Presidential Speech of Resignation
Good evening my countrymen:
This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this Nation. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest.
In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the Nation.
In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.
But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served, and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged.
I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interests of the Nation must always come before any personal considerations.
.
I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interest of the country first.
The nation needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.
To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great national issues of economic prosperity and political stability..
Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. The Vice President will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.
By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in this country.
I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision. I would say only that if some of my judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interest of the Nation.
To those who have stood with me during these past difficult months, to my family, my friends, to many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, I will be eternally grateful for your support.
And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us, in the final analysis, have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ.
To have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with our people. In leaving it, I do so with this prayer: May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead.
World’s 10 Worst Dictators (Parade Magazine’s Annual List:2006)
A “dictator” is a head of state who exercises arbitrary authority over the lives of his citizens and who cannot be removed from power through legal means. The worst commit terrible human-rights abuses. This present list draws in part on reports by global human-rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International.
1) Omar al-Bashir, Sudan. Age 62. In power since 1989. Last year’s rank: 1
2) Kim Jong-il, North Korea. Age 63. In power since 1994. Last year’s rank: 2
3) Than Shwe, Burma (Myanmar). Age 72. In power since 1992. Last year’s rank: 3
4) Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe. Age 81. In power since 1980. Last year’s rank: 9
5) Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan. Age 67. In power since 1990. Last year’s rank: 15
6) Hu Jintao, China. Age 63. In power since 2002. Last year’s rank: 4
7) King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia. Age 82. In power since 1995. Last year’s rank: 5
8) Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan. Age 65. In power since 1990. Last year’s rank: 8
9) Seyed Ali Khamane’i, Iran. Age 66. In power since 1989. Last year’s rank: 18
10) Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea. Age 63. In power since 1979. Last year’s rank: 10
Let’s not lose sight of those heads of state who terrorize and abuse the rights of their own people.
General Jovito Palparan:4th Filipino Nominee For the Nobel Peace Prize 2008
Rationale:
Broadly speaking, there are three ways to get the Nobel Peace Prize
1. Be a famous humanitarian. This is the obvious approach. It is also the hardest. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Albert Schweitzer, who built hospitals in Africa; to Norman Borlaug, who developed high-yield strains of wheat; to Muhammed Yunus, who devised a new method of giving loans to low-income entrepreneurs
2. Start an international organization. Or, if you can swing it, be an international organization. Over the years, the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, the UN's International Labor Organization, and the Red Cross. Gore himself will share his prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
3. Kill a lot of people, then stop. In 1973, the Nobel Peace Prize was shared by Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho. Kissinger's CV included the "secret" bombing of Cambodia and the "Christmas" bombing of North Vietnam; just a month before his prize was announced, he was complicit in the coup that installed a brutal dictatorship in Chile. So why did he win? Because he and Tho had reached a truce to end the Vietnam War.
It is in the context, that former General Jovito Palparan Jr. is respectfully proposed as another nominee for the Nobel Peace prize for 2008 from the Philippines(in addition to President Gloria Arroyo, former President Joseph Estrada and Secretary Ronaldo Puno).
Here is a brief profile of the 4th Nobel Peace Prize nominee from the Philippines:
Achievements:
The International Peasant Solidarity Mission found that there are "clear indications of military involvement" in the cases of human rights violations in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. The group's report noted that the military seems to have become more brazen (in committing the human rights violations) under the command of MGen. Jovito Palparan, Jr.
In his brief stint as 8th Infantry Division commander, Gen. Palparan was credited for reducing the insurgency problem in Samar by 80 percent. Palparan however said he could have terminated insurgency in the province had he been given a two-month extension to implement his "clearing operation".
President Arroyo promoted Palparan twice: from colonel to brigadier general (2003); and from brigadier general to major general after serving as commander of the Philippine contingent in Iraq (2004). His promotion to major general came within months of his previous promotion.
In her 2006 State of the Nation Address, President Arroyo acknowledged Palparan for his offensives against rebel terrorists. In the same breath she also said that she condemns political killings.
EDUCATION
Masters in National Security Administration, National Defense College of the Philippines (1999)
Masters in Management, Philippine Christian University
Joint Services and Staff Course, Canberra, Australia
Command and General Staff Course, Fort Bonifacio, Metro Manila (with honors)
Infantry Officers Advanced Course, US Infantry School, Columbus, Georgia, USA
Field Officers Tactics III, Land Warfare Center, Canungra, Australia (excellent rating)
AWARDS
Distinguished Service Stars
Gold Cross Medal
Gawad sa Kaunlaran Medal
Bronze Cross Medals
Wounded Personnel
Military Merit Medals
Campaign Medals
Enteng don't be such an asshole. Since you admitted that you know Jun Lozada for quite a while, So you should know before hand that he is also corrupt when he was working for forestry or are you just going to look the other way. Which means you were also a part of the conspiracy in behalf of Jun Lozada. If you have nothing better to do but bring down the government then I'd say you're a communist and maybe part of the NPA. I watched your interviewon the Hot Seat, and guess what, I never believe half of the contents you said. You know once you're on tv, you'll definetly make good of yourself and defend the snitching J.LO. what a pitty.
Enteng don't be such an asshole. Since you admitted that you know Jun Lozada for quite a while, So you should know before hand that he is also corrupt when he was working for forestry or are you just going to look the other way. Which means you were also a part of the conspiracy in behalf of Jun Lozada. If you have nothing better to do but bring down the government then I'd say you're a communist and maybe part of the NPA. I watched your interviewon the Hot Seat, and guess what, I never believe half of the contents you said. You know once you're on tv, you'll definetly make good of yourself and defend the snitching J.LO. what a pitty.
I would rather see GMA declare the MARTIAL LAW.
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