Showing posts with label political organization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political organization. Show all posts

PostHeaderIcon Republicans cheer gains in two state elections

11/05/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


Just about a year when the Democrats and Pres. Barack Obama gained majority in the governance of America, two elections held yesterday proved that the winds of politics had change course again. In Virginia, Republican Robert McDonnell commandingly defeated Democratic senator Creigh Deeds with 59% and 41% votes respectively.

In New Jersey, Democratic governor Jon Corzine who was seeking a second term, bowed down to his rival Republican Christopher Christie by a 5% margin. New Jersey’s newly elected governor rode on issues of poor economy, joblessness, corruption, and high taxes.

Backed by the charismatic president Barack Obama who is popular in Virginia and New Jersey, the recent electoral defeats are signs of changing political tide. With growing dissatisfaction over promises versus delivery in the Obama administration, voters who supported the democrats have a change of heart.

Although majority of the voters think that Pres. Obama was not a factor in their election decision, the win of these two Republicans could be interpreted as a defeat of the White House which campaigned for the losing candidates. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama did not watch the electoral returns.

The poor economy, joblessness, overspending, questionable healthcare reform, and increasing government encroachment in people’s lives are main reasons why the Republicans won. It is a signal to the Obama administration that Democrats have to listen to the voice of the people rather than insulate themselves to adopt a socio-political agenda on their own. Washington has been accused of being deaf to the cares of the public that is suffering from the effects of recession and poor economy. (Photo Credit: www.lib.msu.edu) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon Early election fever catches on in Manila

8/31/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


A Presidential Election for Better Philippines?

In August 31, 2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) posts the above photo of possible candidates for the coming presidential election slated next year. Among those who participated in the "unity walk" are from (L to R) Jejomar Binay, JC delos Reyes, Francis Escudero, Joseph Estrada, Bayani Fernando, Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda, Jamby Madrigal, Francis Pangilinan, Nicanor Perlas, Mar Roxas, Eddie Villanueva and Manny Villar.

There is wild talk on who will align with whom to make a winning presidential team, but no platform is set out in the open. (Photo Credit: Orbeta, N. J.) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon Pacquiao unveils his People Champ’s Party

5/05/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


Filipinos displayed almost total unanimity in support for Manny Pacquiao during his boxing bout with Ricky Hatton. The entire nation was ecstatic to watch the astounding victory that carved Manny’s name among the greatest boxers of the world. As his countrymen prepared for a hero’s welcome in Manila, a brewing firestorm of controversy had started.

Drowning in admiration and accolades, Manny is reported to have formed the People Champ’s movement, a political party that will enable him to come back to politics after his defeat in the 2007 election. A petition to recognize the party which he heads as president has been filed with the Commission on Elections (Comelec)----probably in preparation for him to seek a local elective post in General Santos City or run for congressman in Sarangani Province in Mindanao.

Early reactions to Pacquiao’s political move are mixed. Surely, no one can prevent him from seeking an elective government post, but a huge number of his fans are concerned. There are those who are disappointed. With the corrupting influence of many politicians who use the boxing champion’s popularity for their political gain, his admirers believe he can better serve the country as an outstanding boxer.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel is probably right in saying, “Pacman is idolized by millions of Filipinos, especially our youth, because of his strength and endurance. Many would be disillusioned if he taints his real power—the unique capacity to unite the people—by entering politics.” ----PDI (05/06/09, Alave, KL) (Photo Credit: Bret) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon Kaya Natin Movement offers a seminar for Filipino patriots

1/15/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


The Kaya Natin! (KN) Movement which is committed to good governance and ethical leadership began in June 2008 with the help of the Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government (ASOG). Among its leaders are Ramon Magsaysay Awardees--- Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo, Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca, Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio, Ifugao Gov. Teddy Baguilat, Jr. and Nueva Ecija Mayor Sonia Lorenzo of San Isidro. KN and ASOG invite patriotic Filipinos to a seminar dubbed as:

Kaya Ng Pinoy!: The 1st Kaya Natin! Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship Training Seminar

This day-long leadership and social entrepreneurship training seminar is open to every Filipino who would like to volunteer towards helping the "yes we can" movement in pushing for its goals. It will be conducted by KN core group members namely, Harvey S. Keh, who is currently the ASOG Director for Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship, Atty. Arnel Casanova, ASOG faculty for Social Entrepreneurship and Mr. Monchito Mossesgeld, one of the main organizers of the Ayala Young Leaders Congress (AYLC).

Slated on February 7, 2008 (Saturday) from 9am to 4pm at the Ground Floor, CSP Building, Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, the seminar will have a maximum of 40 participants. Covering lunch and materials, registration fee is P50.00 for students and P100.00 for professionals.

Attendance can be arranged through email or phone with Cristyl Senajon at ateneoylse@gmail. com or at (02) 426-5657. Information about KN is available at http://www.kayanati n.com

At the end of the seminar, participants are expected to help set-up KN chapters within their families, friends, schools, work areas and communities. (01/14/09, Keh, H) (Photo Credits: Annalee x 2)=0=



Bawat Pilipino Sama-Sama Para sa Pagbabago!



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PostHeaderIcon We Knew At The Very Start That UP Ibalon Cannot Be A Political Organization

12/02/2008 | Posted by myty555 | Edit Post
by Mighty Baylon



When martial law was declared in 1972 all student organizations in UP was banned. After all, there is even a presidential decree which says that any group of three persons is an "illegal assembly". And if this three persons talk they will even be guilty of "rumor-mongering" which is punishable by imprisonment! I even remember an incident with Nestor Raneses in the waiting shed going to Yakal Residence Hall from Molave. We intended to eat dinner in Yakal cafeteria and we were waiting for the rains to subside. There was another two students who were waiting for a bus.

Out of the rain a police patrol car came and directed us to "disperse" since they said we constituted an "illegal assembly". We didn't even know the two others who were sharing the waiting shed with us and we were only intent on filling our hungry stomachs without getting wet. Good we were not talking when the police car appeared.

So, then, when lighting a cigarette and you no match available, it is not healthy to say "Pasindi po (Can I have a light?) if the smokers are already in a group of two.

Up to 1974, troopers of the Metrocom would sweep at dorms and drag out "subversives". The parking lots of the residence hall were ambush areas where residents can be simply dragged away in the night. Even students going out of the classrooms can be picked up by waiting burly men.

In 1974, chapters of the national-democratic (ND) mass organizations like the KM are being disbanded and converted into legal organizations since they were ineffective anyway under the 'white terror' unleashed by Marcos.

It was only in the school year 1974-75 when student organizations were again recognized by the OSA (Office of Student Affairs). But not all organizations were recognized since some are proscribed--the mass organizations of whatever persuation, the fraternities, and some particular organizations like the UP Muslim Students Association (which was founded by a firebrand named Nur Misuari) and a UP Chinese students society which is suspected of mainland China links.

To form an organization that has obvious political leanings in those days is simply purchasing a one-way ticket to Camp Crame. Student organization are targets of infiltration then by intelligence agents who pretended to be students. Even UP Ibalon experienced two attempts of this (and this partly explains the feelings of some applicants that it was too hard to get to be accepted as member of Ibalon in those days).

Worse than Crame is Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang (which produced more chills on the spine of activists). The name of Abadilla was then spoken with terror--electric wires to the genitals, an overdose of water and splints under the nails readily come to the minds of activists when that name is heard. Being beaten black and blue is considered a minor case of torture in those days (Ginulpi lang ako, pare).

But more than this danger we knew UP Ibalon can not be a political organization because if it is it cannot become the "home of Bicolanos" and we will lose our purpose in being.

When we analyzed UP Paglaom, our conclusion was that it was a social organization. Anyone is automatically a member when he or she fills up its application form and pays its membership dues. Aside from the party, it has no other major activity. And we did not want that kind of organization.

"Why not make UP Ibalon a political organization?", Tibo David, a political, rhetorically asked.

The conclusion was that only activists and politicals will then be drawn into the organization and it is the surefire recipe for us to become isolated and the danger of other Bicol organizations sprouting will then be max. It should be understood that an outside threat from another organization hangs over our head then [See my article, "The Formation And Legacy Of UP Ibalon: A Testimony", 11/14/08]. We knew we will then blow all chances that we will be accepted by the Bicolanos in UP as their organization if we ever become a political organization. So we knew that even converting UP Ibalon after foundation is suicidal to the organization.

It is obvious that the politicals of twenty years after 1974 have no understanding whatsoever of the realities that exist when UP Ibalon was founded. There is simply no historical basis where a political organization of Bicolanos can exist in 1974. Now, isn't the term "political organization of Bicolanos" an oxymoron? One thing I know is we were not morons when we founded UP Ibalon. But I suspect that believing in UP Ibalon "history" that came from outside sources when the founders and seniors members of UP Ibalon are still alive is probably moronic.
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PostHeaderIcon The False Version Of UP Ibalon History And Orientation

12/02/2008 | Posted by myty555 | Edit Post
by Mighty Baylon



In the four academic years that I have been on-and-off a resident member of UP Ibalon (this covers the school years that started in the years 1974 to 1977 but his stretches up to March 1978), a total of about 110 members entered the organization. This includes the 19 doctors of medicine that I already wrote about ["The MDs of UP Ibalon Of Earlier Years", 11/15/08]. With my own eyes I have seen Ibalon grow big and flourish.

When I left UP Diliman it had nearly 90 members and its membership roll was still young, unlike when we first started out. Among the 90 are scions of the more prominent families in Bicol as do sons and daughters of teachers. We thought we had the best and the brightest of the Bicolanos in UP. Almost all graduated on time, the Bicolano holders of major scholarships are in the organization and so do those passed the entrance exam of the PSHS.

We even had a putative alumni association which I tried to half-seriously jump start in February 1978 in a meeting in the old Golf Course clubhouse near Philcoa. We already then have 20 alumni members but a significant number of them were in medical school. So, of course, a gesture half in jest does not mean it can be sustained.

But one thing I remember until the time I left UP Diliman, there was no discussion ever about UP Ibalon as a "political organization". This was not even discussed among the charter members in any length when the constitution was being drafted. The only discussion at length where this topic was tackled was in the Steering Committee [See my article, "The Formation And Legacy Of UP Ibalon: A Testimony", 11/14/08] where it was roundly and unanimously rejected.

Years after that stormy August night [See my article, "The Calm Before The Storm: A UP Ibalon Saga", 12/01/74], I needled the eminences grise of the original UG group of UP Ibalon. I asked them, "They said UP Ibalon was a political organization right from the very start". "Of course not", came the sharp reply in crisp English. "Saan naman nila nakuha iyon (Where did they got that?)". And to think that the person was formerly a top staff of the supreme eminence grise.

I am confident that not one of the 110 members of UP Ibalon whom I came to know in my years in UP Diliman will affirm that UP Ibalon "ay poon-sa-poon, sarong political organization". I have talked to over half of them over the years and all have no recollection that that term was ever used or discussed in referring to UP Ibalon. All the recollections about the nature of the organization was that it was a socio-cultural organization and a varsitarian.

I now dare those who said in 1995 that UP Ibalon is a "pol-org" to identify who told them that and what version of UP Ibalon history were they peddling then. I also dare them to produce even one among those 110 members I mentioned who will back their version of history.

Members should also know that years after that 1995 incident, and even before, they were peddling that false version of UP Ibalon history.

It is unfair to all members that a small cabal will try to "revise" UP Ibalon history when the founders and the senior members are still around. It is as if they are in a hurry to bury us all into oblivion.

It is also the duty of UP Ibalon to teach all the members the right version of history.
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PostHeaderIcon One Stormy Night In August 1995:A UP Ibalon Saga

12/01/2008 | Posted by myty555 | Edit Post
by Mighty Baylon


One very stormy night (there was a typhoon signal) in late August 1995, I was a little annoyed by an insistent phone call. I was busy packing my things for my 12 o'clock midnight SuperFerry trip back home to Mindanao and Cainta was a long way from the North Harbor. I worried that I would find it difficult to get a taxi ride with flash floods being broadcast. That was the reason I wanted to leave early.

The caller was a dear friend. To my surprise he was asking me to postpone my trip and attend a "special meeting" of the resident members. I wondered with irritation what very important topic needs to be discussed in the dead of a stormy night that warrants my presence in the resident organization. And to think I don't normally show myself for their meetings or drop by in their tambayan.

"Please. The organization needs you". That began to change my mind. As the founder I normally cannot turn down appeals by my organization.

There was no time to call SuperFerry. Usually their phones are swamped by calls when a ship is about to depart. I thought, "Okey, I will just take the 'No-show' charge".

I didn't know it then that I was about to embark on a journey of intrigue and struggle.

By the time I showed myself up in the old Drugstore in Balara my pants were soaked up to the knees even though I was using an umbrella and a jacket. I asked my friend, "What's up?". No, he won't give me any details. I began to suspect that it was not a normal meeting. All I heard was "Board of Directors Plus".

We took a taxi till we came to a small apartment in Balara. There were about 20 people present and I knew the Ibalon BOD consists of only 12 officers. Scanning them I knew I was among the members of the UG group in Ibalon.

The place was jampacked and the meeting began as soon as I arrived. Somebody, not a board member, began, "Aram man kan gabos na an Ibalon, poon sa poon, ay sarong political organization" (Everybody knows that Ibalon, right from the very start, is a political organization). I can scarcely believe my ears. Here it is, the very concept we rejected when we founded the organization. We knew even then that Ibalon cannot be a political or even a semi-political organization if it wants to be a home of the Bicolanos in UP Diliman.

"Dahil political organization man kita dapat magbale kita sa SAMASA" (Since we are a political organization we must join SAMASA). But he was referring to a particular faction of the SAMASA. And most of the BOD members don't want to join either SAMASA factions so that Ibalon won't be involved in the messy split of the national-democratic movement going on in the campus.

It now dawned on me why they invited me to this meeting. As the organization's founder, they were expecting my crucial "imprimatur" to a scheme. They wanted to override all opposition with that (false) mantra of "pol-org".

I was the first one asked for a reaction. "Where did you get the idea that Ibalon is a political organization?", I asked them. "We rejected that at the very start and we defined Ibalon to be a varsitarian".

I continued, "If anyone tried to establish a pol-org in 1974, when 'white terror' reigned in the campus and recognition of some organizations has just began, they would certainly ended up in Camp Crame. In fact, ND mass organizations like KM were being converted then into legal organizations". I added, "Until 1974, residents of dormitories are still being dragged out by military men in the middle of the night and some students are arrested after stepping out of classrooms".

Looking at their surprised but ashen faces I realized that my comment was the least they expected me to make. I was not out to defeat a scheme I was not privy to; I was only trying to stand for the truth and for the correct version of Ibalon history.

The meeting ended right there and only some lame talk remained. My optimistic side was thinking, "I hope that will be the end of it" but my pessimistic side was also saying, "This is just the beginning. Their political minders won't take it sitting down".

I reported the incident to the UP Ibalon Alumni Association Board of Directors, which I headed.

When I took a different ship a few days later, I cannot erase from my mind that queer episode. With chill in my spine I cannot shake the feeling I am being sucked in an intrigue that I feel will impact UP Ibalon and my life.
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