Isang Paghingi ng Tulong ng Isang Kritiko

Angry UPLB students march all the way to the Chancellor's Office in the last semestral enrollment to denounce a flawed implementation of SAIS, an online enrollment system. (PHOTO BY CHRIS QUINTANA borrowed from http://interaksyon.com/article/131136/uplb-students-protest-flawed-implementation-of-online-enrolment)

MR. PRESIDENT, anuman po ang naging batikos namin sa inyo, kaming mga mahihilig mamuna sa sistema at kultura ng gobyerno, aaminin namin na pagdating sa iilang mga bagay, tulad ng pagpapatakbo ng mga opisina ng gobyerno . . . parang dun yata kayo magaling. Sabi nila di raw ninyo tinatanggap ang anumang paliwanag tungkol sa inepesyidad. Nagngingitngit daw po kayo sa mahahabang pila ng tila primitibong sistema ng marami nating tanggapan, at galit na mukha raw ninyo ang pinapadala ninyo sa mga nagpapatakbo ng mga opisinang ito sa pagsabing bilisan nila ang paghahanap ng solusyon kung gusto pa nilang manatili sa kanilang mga puwesto. Aaminin ko, Mr. President, akong umiiling sa tila kawalan ng anumang malaking pagbabago sa kultura ng gobyerno sa ilalim ng iyong pamumuno, na may mga pagbabago rin naman tayong nasaksihan sa serbisyo ng gobyerno kahit konti, at di lang po ang biglang paglaho ng laglag-bala sa Nicknamed Aquino International Airport ang tinutukoy ko. Oo nga't may mga atungal pa rin ako at may di maawat na puna sa ilang polisiya ninyo tungkol sa government service at function, at asahan mong di ako titigil sa kaaatungal sa iba pang malalaking problema ng sistema. Subalit asahan niyo rin naman po na ibibigay ko rin naman ang palakpak sa ilang mga magagandang resultang manggaling sa inyong rehimen, at nawa'y kasama na rin dito ang sa pang-araw-araw na takbo ng buhay sa ilang mga opisina tulad ng mga kapitolyo, mga corrupt na assessors' offices, klasikong mabagal at masungit na SSS, atbp. Sa magagandang resulta na mangyayari, Mr. Presdient, may nakareserba rin naman po akong saludo para sa inyo, kung di man ito para sa buong pamamahala ninyo ay, at least, sa mga bagay na di ko maitatangging may magandang resultang nabuo. Maniwala po kayo na hindi ko pinupuna ang ilang Duterte policies dahil lamang Duterte policies ito, kundi dahil pangit ang mga ito; ito rin naman ang dahilan kung bakit hindi rin naman ako nag-aatubiling pumalakpak sa ilang Duterte policies na maganda, kahit pa man Duterte policies ito.
    Hindi ko na po pahahabain pa ang mahabang pasakalye ko, Ginoong Pangulo, at pupunta na po ako sa pakay ko. Ginoong Pangulo, kaya ko po nasabi/naisulat ang 338 words na iyan sa itaas . . . ay dahil mayroon po akong isyu na irereport sa inyo at hihingan ko ng solusyon mula sa inyo. Dahil, maniwala po kayo't sa hindi, problema po itong hindi lang di mahanapan ng solusyon ng ating matatalinong mga dalubhasang akademiko, palala pa po ito nang palala, taon-taon po. Kaya po di maiwasan ng marami ang i-apply rito ang isang folk axiom na nagsasabing "kung may problemang paulit-ulit na di mahanapan ng solusyon, tiyak may kumikita sa pananatili ng problema na iyan." Batid naman siguro natin na marami na rin ang naniniwala na ang dahilan kung bakit di masolusyunan ang, halimbawa, dapat simpleng problema lamang ng trapik . . . ay dahil (daw) malaki ang kinikita rito ng oil companies sa increase ng gasoline consumption na nagmumula sa mga gumagapang na sasakyan.
    Ngunit hindi po solusyon sa trapik ang minumungkahi ko sa inyo, Mr. President, kundi mas maliit pa pong isyu kaysa riyan. Siguradong-sigurado ako na bilang dating meyor ay yakang-yaka niyong mahanapan ng solusyon ito, dahil kahit ako po na isang ordinaryong mamamayan lamang ay tila may mga naiisip na solusyon na rin naman, kaya lamang po ay wala po tayo sa kapangyarihan at siguradong di nila pakikinggan.
    Ang tinutukoy ko po, paumanhin na lang po sa marami kong sinabi bago makarating dito, ay . . . ang malalang sistema sa mga public schools pagdating sa assessment at sa pagbabayad tuwing enrollment, kung saan ang pumipila po ng alas-4 ng umaga ay di pa nga minsan umaabot sa unahan pagdating ng alas-5 ng hapon. Hindi po ako nagbibiro, Mr. President, huwag po kayong tumawa, ser. Tanungin niyo po ang mga estudyante ng UP, ng PUP, ng Bulacan State University, o ng alinmang public university riyan. Ang logic po ng isang kritiko niyo tulad ko kung bakit sa inyo pa rin ako pumunta ay ito: Kung walang ni isang matalinong may-PhD na presidente ng pampublikong unibersidad ang tila nakakita ng solusyon sa palala nang palalang problemang ito sa ating mga public schools, aba, huwag po kayo magulat kung bakit tumatakbo po kami ngayon sa isang dating parating 75 lamang ang grado. Baka nasa inyo na po ang solusyon at hindi sa matatalinong mga gunggong na iyon. Sana nga po. Di po ako isang Mocha Uson, Mr. Presdient, ngunit di po ako mag-aatubiling pumalakpak sa inyo sa isyu na ito kung mahahanapan niyo ng agarang solusyon, as in overnight, Mr. President, dahil sa Friday na po kami naka-schedule na pumila, ser!

(panoorin ang video na ito na nagpapakita ng mahaba nang pila sa
Bulacan State U sa alas-4 pa lang ng umaga ngayong linggong ito: https://www.facebook.com/TheBulsuMemes/videos/1860217320924857/)

    Handa ko po kayong ituring na hero sa problemang ito, Ginoong Pangulo, kung mababago niyo ang sistemang ito in three to six hours. Huwag niyo lang pong hingin na isama ko na rin si Marcos sa standing ovation na gagawin kong iyon. At kung iyon po ang hihingin niyong kapalit, pipila na lang po ako, kahit pa isang linggo. [S / -I]

Angelo Suarez Charged

AS a sort of follow-up to my posts regarding the government's traffic management efforts or shortcomings (read them here), we're giving way to this announcement posted on Facebook by a Facebook page titled MRTBulok Resbak (which translates to "RottenMRT Revenge") regarding the arrest of Angelo Suarez.
    We will be observing how the chain of events that culminated in this charge unfolds in the days to come and what that unfolding might/would signify in terms of being a manifestation of government's real management ideology (not to mention its overall political ideology beyond its lip service).
    We would also welcome any input from government in relation to its stance towards Angelo Suarez, whose initial case we mentioned in the closing paragraphs of our earlier blog titled "More Big Tent Bullshit Than Socialism, Really".

AND now to that Facebook post, which we are here reposting verbatim:

photo from https://www.facebook.com/mrtbulokresbak/posts/1418481751513573:0

#MRTBulok Resbak!

Sa gitna ng kabulukan ng MRT, nagbitiw sa posisyon si DoTr-MRT3 General Manager Roman Buenafe. Sa araw na inanunsiyo ang kaniyang pagbibitiw, ipinagmalaki ng DoTr ang kaniyang “achievement of 20 running trains.” ISa mismong araw ng pagmamalaking ito, nagkaproblema sa riles ng MRT, tatlong beses napilitang huminto ang operations, at naipon sa mga nagsarang estasyon ang mga agrabyadong pasahero. Na naman.

Malinaw na malinaw: Wala sa lugar ang pagmamalaki ng DoTr sa bulok na serbisyo ni Buenafe, dahil bulok pa rin ang MRT. At ang kabulukang ito, dulot ng pribatisasyon sa mga tren kung saan inuuna ang interes ng mga negosiyante bago ang kapakanan ng mga mamamayan. Ang MRT, kabilang ang LRT, itinuturing na negosyo, hindi serbisyo.

Inaresto noong Agosto si Angelo Suarez, isang miyembro ng Train Riders Network (TREN) dahil sa pagsisiwalat at pagpoprotesta sa kabulukang ito. Pinakasuhan at pinaaresto ng DoTr-MRT3 sa ilalim ni Buenafe, batay sa eye-witness account ng isang guwardiya na nagbandalismo raw siya ng “MRT bulok” sa isang bulok na tren. Matapos salubungin ang kaarawan sa presinto, nakalaya lamang siya dahil dismissed ang kasong nagpiit sa kaniya—kasong di dapat natuloy kung pinili na lamang makipagdiyalogo ni Buenafe sa mga tulad ni Suarez na nagpoprotesta sa kabulukan ng MRT dulot ng pribatisasyon.

Sa araw ng kaniyang paglaya, sa isang meeting kasama ang Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), nagbitiw ng salita si DoTr Sec. Arthur Tugade na bagaman kinokondena nila ang naganap na bandalismo, hindi sila interesadong ipagpatuloy ang kaso. Mas interesado silang buksan ang diyalogo sa pagitan ng gobyerno at ng mga nagmomobilisa laban sa pribatisadong MRT.

Kaya kagulat-gulat na matapos ang isang buwan, nakatanggap si Suarez ng subpoena. Noong September 28, nalaman niyang hinahabla siya ng gobyerno, matapos sabihang di interesado ang gobyerno sa habla. Kasinglinaw ng pagkabulok ng MRT ang kagustuhan ng pamunuan ng DoTr-MRT3 mang-harass ng mga militante sa kabila ng sinabi ni Sec. Tugade.

Para sa damages na naghahalagang P380 dulot ng bandalismong ginagawa lamang ng mga nagpoprotesta sa kawalan ng alternatibo para sila pakinggan ng mga awtoridad, nahaharap si Suarez sa posibilidad ng kulong hanggang 6 na buwan, dagdag sa multang aabot ng P3,000.

Sa October 12, haharap siyang muli sa Office of the CIty Prosecutor ng Quezon City para maghain ng counter-affidavit. Sa gitna ng pagbabago sa liderato ng DoTr-MRT3, walang pagbabago sa kaniyang kaso. Batay sa pagtuloy ng DoTr-MRT3 sa habla, tila sarado pa rin sa diyalogo ang gobyerno; ang bukas lamang ay ang posibilidad na ikulong si Suarez at iba pang militanteng lumalaban sa pribatisasyon ng MRT at iba pang public utilities.

Sa bagong pamunuan ng DoTr-MRT3—sina Cesar Chavez at Deo Manalo—ito ang panawagan namin:

—Drop all charges against Angelo Suarez: Umiba sa landas ng nakaraang lideratong nakagawiang mang-harass ng mga militante. Pakawalan na ang kaso at tanggaping hahanap nang hahanap ng paraan para magprotesta ang mga mamamayan hangga’t nananatiling negosyo, hindi serbisyo, ang trato ng gobyerno sa public utilities gaya ng mga tren.

—Dinggin ang mga militante: Maraming taon nang paulit-ulit ang sigaw ng mga nagmomobilisa—balikan ang onerous contracts na pinasok at pinabayaan ng mga nakaraang rehimen, at usigin ang rehimeng Duterte na panindigan ang pangakong #ChangeIsComing pagdating sa kasalukuyang pribatisadong mass public transport.

—Rescind onerous contracts: Panahon na para bawiin ng gobyerno ang mga pribatisadong tren. Unang-una ang MRT sa mga dapat isauli sa taumbayan. Suportado ito ng mga mamamayan, at tamang suportahan ng DoTr-MRT3 ang panukalang ito bilang #PartnerOfChange. Makiisa sa tulak tungong pambansang industriyalisasyon! Magsisimula lamang ito sa nasyonalisasyon ng public utilities gaya ng mga riles.

Umaasa kaming hangad din ng bagong liderato ng DoTr-MRT3 ang pagbabago sa mga tren. Masisimulan ito sa pagbitiw sa kaso ni Suarez.

—————

Inaanyayahan ang lahat ng nakikiisa sa protesta na lumagda sa online petition na bitiwan ang kaso sa http://www.ipetitions.com/…/mrtbulok-resbak-mrtbulok-fight-…

at paki-share ito nang may sumusunod na mga hashtag: #MRTBulok #PPPBulok #DropAllCharges #SerbisyoHindiNegosyo [S / -I]

UNLESS WE PUT BACK THE L IN EDLSA, CHANGE WOULD STILL BE STUCK IN TRAFFIC AND WON'T BE COMING AT ALL

hiram mula sa http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/380824/balitanghali/rep-salceda-mas-nagdudulot-ng-traffic-sa-edsa-ang-pokemon-go-kaysa-provincial-buses

EMERGENCY powers. Ito ang hinihingi ng Malacañang sa Senado para malutas ang traffic at transportation crisis sa Metro Manila. "Change is coming" with those emergency powers, pangako ng paulit-ulit na campaign at government slogan ng Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte. Subalit, teka, kung ang departamento ehekutibo ang nanghihingi at hindi ang Senado ang humingi ng hearing tungkol sa usapin na ito ng emergency powers para sa Pangulo, ito ang tanong: Di ba ay may inihanda at isinumite ka na dapat na plano sa Senado bago ka pa man pumunta roon para pormal na manghingi ng emergency powers? Bakit kailangan ka pang tanungin kung ano ang mga plano mo ng mga taong hinihingan mo ng emergency powers?
    Huwag na natin isa-isahin ang mga planong inilahad din naman ng departamento ehekutibo sa Senate hearing tungkol dito, pareho yung wow, na naman at yung maganda o tumpak na plano; kayo na ang bahalang mag-research kung ano ang mga ito at kumumporme o kumamot sa ulo sa bawat isa sa mga ito. Ngayon, gusto ko lang balikan ang mga nakaraan para mailatag ko ang aking pananaw sa buong polisiya sa trapik at transportasyon ng gobyernong ire.


MGA kababayan, may paborting salitang Bisaya na ginagamit ang Pangulo kapag nalalamyaan sa isang tao: bayot. Sa Tagalog, ibig sabihin nito ay bakla. Alam ko naman na ang ibig sabihin ng Pangulo ay malamya lamang, o walang tapang, o mahina, at hindi tunay na bakla, dahil alam naman niya siguro na maraming bakla ang may tapang at lakas ng loob, tulad nalang halimbawa ng tapang na marahil ay nakita niya kina Behn Cervantes at Lino Brocka noong panahon ng Martial Law. Gayunpaman, ayokong gamitin ang salitang ito kung ako naman ang malalamyaan sa isang polisya ng gobyernong ito dahil homophobic ang dating, tulad ng pagka-sexist ng pagsabing "para ka namang babae." Kaya ang gagamitin kong salita pag ako ang malalamyaan sa isang polisiya o kawalan ng isang pagkaklaro at pagkadiretso at pagka-malakas ay . . . malamya lamang. O di kaya walang kuwenta. O di kaya supot. Oops, di rin yata politically correct yon.
    Huwag na tayong magpaligoy-ligoy pa. Ito ang tanong ko:
    Kelan kaya tayo magkakaroon ng gobyernong may buong tapang na i-nationalize ang lahat ng sasakyang pampubliko sa metropolis o di kaya gawin ang ginawa sa Melbourne na di man nationalized ay nasa ilalim ng consortia kung kaya't di magulo, dahilan kung bakit nakaya niyang ipagbawal ang pribadong sasakyan sa ilang daan ng metropolis (maliban sa business cargo vans), at inobliga ang lahat na gumamit ng sasakyang pampubliko, maging janitor man o CEO ng mga korporasyon. Parang sa Japan din, kung saan pati ang mga CEO ay kumakain sa cafeteria ng mga sararimanu (salary men). Kelan kaya tayo makakakita ng ganitong uri ng tapang para sa pagkakapantay-pantay ng lahat sa daan? Kelan? Kailan?!
    Sa ngayon kasi, tila may pagsandal na naman sa rason na ang trapik ay di naman parating "matrapik", at ito ay pinapalala lang din ng isang kathang-isip nating mga komyuter. Hmm. Kaya pala't narito pa rin tayo at may patuloy na pakikinabang ang oil companies sa malalang trapik na nagpapalago sa kanilang mga negosyo, salamat sa pagsunog ng mga sasakyan ng gasolina kahit di umaandar ang mga ito.
    Naroon ang nakapagtatakang mga naunang utos ng LTFRB kung saan ipinagbawal ang pagdaan sa EdlSA ng isang uri ng public transport (UV Express) pabor sa isang public transport (buses), na di ko malaman kung ano ang naitulong sa trapik sa EdlSA gayung dumami lang naman ang nagcolorum na mga vans at naglipana na rin ang mga Uber at Grab. Ito ay habang nagkakakanta ang gobyerno na priyoridad daw nila ang public transport, gayung wala pa namang nagagalaw na paggalaw ng mga pribadong sasakyan at ang UV Express pa nga ang unang pinagdiskitahan, at pinaglakad pa ng malayo ang ilang mga mananakay nitong working class patungo sa kanilang mga MRT connecting stations. At sasabihin ng gobyerno na socialist daw siya at maka-working class? Sus, ginoo.
    (Mabuti naman at pagkaraan ng ilang linggo ay binawi rin ito ng mga taga-Dabaw na nagpatupad nito na tila may weird na konsepto tungkol sa trapik sa EdlSA, bagamat may mga kondisyon pa rin itong di ko pa rin maintindihan. O naiintindihan ko kung umaalis ako sa sosyalistang perspektibo na pinangalandakan ng gobyerno na siya rin daw perspektibo na pinanggagalingan nila. Pweh.)
    Meron ba talagang solusyong bago ang gobyerno natin ngayon maliban sa mga imprastaktura na naman na makikipaghabulan na naman sa dumaraming sasakyan na humahabol sa bilang ng mga indibidwal sa lumulobong populasyon ng lungsod?
    Ang problema ng trapik ay hindi ang trapik, kundi ang kathang-isip ng mga rehimen na ang tanging solusyon sa paglobo ng populasyon ng mga pribadong sasakyan ay nasa paggiba ng mga bahay para matayuan ng mga kalsada. Saan ito hihinto, pag naubos na ang mga bahay? Ang problema ng EDSA (at hindi ng EdlSA) ay sa patuloy nating pagsamba sa pagkasanto ng mga pribadong sasakyan nang walang pagtatanong man lang kung alin at sino ba talaga ang dapat na ituring na santos ng highway na ito. Matagal na nating tinanggap na santos ang mga pribadong sasakyan dito, nang walang pagpreno at pagmunimuni tungkol sa kung sino ba talaga ang los santos. The saints. Napapanahon na siguro na ibalik natin ang L sa EdlSA, silang mga tunay na los santos, ang public transport commuters na siyang dapat na sinasamba ng mga polisiyang pang-transportasyon.
    Sa ngayon, wala. Wala akong nakikitang solusyon na magpapahinto sa pagpabor ng gobyerno sa pribadong sasakyan. Ang future transporation utopia kung saan wala nang pribadong sasakyan ay di pa darating sa Pilipinas sa mga darating na siglo. Kailangan pa siguro natin ng liderato na sa isyung ito ay may totoong tapang, tapang na may dalang pagbabago sa buhay ng mga taong di pinagkaitan ng kaukulang pansin ni Lino Brocka. Tapang di lamang sa pagtanggap sa katotohanan na kailangan na natin ng nasyon ng mass transport at di nasyon ng mga pribadong sasakyan na wala na ngang maparkingan ay siya pa nating sinasamba, at lalo ng tapang na igiit ang solusyon na para sa nakararami, o para sa kanila na araw-araw ay gising sa reyalidad na hindi pinalala ng kathang-isip itong mga nangyayari.
    O di kaya, let's gather our heads on this, people! And I mean, let's gather the real bravery of working together on this in a participatory democracy, instead of relying on just the macho bravado of a Department of Transportation that keeps on giving us nothing but the drugged view of a promise of a bogus socialist transport policy that shall be coursed through diktats. Let's believe in us together, instead of just a Tugade. Together, not Tugade, and rally for real change sans the kowtowing to private interests via emergency powers. (Concerning PPP projects, here's a caveat to all optimistic about new government PPP arrangements expected to come from the emergency powers setup, marketed as the Duterte solution. . . . which, for our information, were actually also marketed before as the Noynoy Aquino, Macapagal-Arroyo, Estrada, Ramos, and Cory Aquino solutions: read about New Zealand's "promised electric trains derailed by misguided enthusiasm", for example).
    I say again: Let's take back our EdlSA, this time with the L that refers to the real santos, the los santos, Lino Brocka's santos, the public-transport-commuting masses. Yan ang epipanyo (o epifanyo, o epiphany) na pinapanangalin kong makita sana ng lahat bago pa man sumambulat ang mga lumang uri ng solusyon na dala ng emergency powers na ito. [S / -I]

THE LONG ROAD TO LIBERATION

photo from http://www.philstar.com/metro/2016/07/31/1608339/ltfrb-bans-uv-express-vehicles-edsa

IN 2010, Noynoy Aquino's party intimated, that is to say by implication, the rise of a wangwang-less social liberal society. This social liberal society, so the message went, should constitute the President's bosses, not his subjects. However, as the years progressed, people saw more neoliberal and corporate liberal interests in the "liberal" of the Liberal Party than social liberal ones. Sure there were social liberal directions that remained, the CCT (qua CCT), for instance, as well as the expanded TESDA skills program (very social liberal, being in the service of both the working class and the employers' class at the same time). In the long run, though, what remained embedded in people's minds were these: hardly could someone see a social liberal direction in the elitist DAP arrangements with politicians, as against what they might see had it been a participatory DAP arrangement with the people (the former produced such crap as a convention center, while the latter might have produced such useful efforts as a market bazaar space for vendors, more mangrove projects, or solar power for villages). . . .

    But that's the past, and now we're in the present. So now let's talk about the election campaign of 2016, wherein Digong Duterte did not just imply, but explicitly described himself as, being a Socialist. He boasted of his projects in Davao City as manifestations of a Socialist mayor's sensibility in relation to choosing which provisions are priority to his community (sophisticated healthcare, women's centers, heavily-protected LGBT rights, etc.).

    So when Duterte won the Presidency and we saw such appointments as Lisa Maza's for the Anti-Poverty Commission, no one was shocked. Nor that another leftist was given the post of Agrarian Reform secretary to hasten decades-old go-aheads for land redistribution. Nor were the leftists among his supporters shocked to witness the appointment of a scion of a wealthy family who now mans the Department of Natural Resources, because her profile as a pro-people anti-mining activist seems to go beyond mere show for "corporate social responsibility" and is familiar to all as being so (moderate though it may be to the radicals).

    There are other sensible little diktats that display this Dutertean socialist sense, as when the President messaged NAIA people to avoid another case of laglag-bala victimizing ordinary passengers (or be ready for airport personnel cleansing). That diktat was a breath of fresh air from the era of Noynoy Aquino that kept on denying that such a racket existed at Aquino's cousin's turf, that kept providing everyone in the process the legalist argument that there are existing laws governing such cases and that all that needed to be done was merely to follow what the laws said.

    A breath of fresh air. Until yesterday, when this news came out.

NOW under the Duterte government, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), along with the traffic-planning and -enforcing Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), announced that all UV Express vans would henceforth be banned from Epifanio de los Santos' avenue because, as legalism goes, the UV Express franchise does not include the vehicles' entry into Epifanio de los Santos' avenue of traffic ill-repute.
    Now, I remember the time when, despite the Aquino government's neoliberal lack of empathy towards the common commuter, we would still be shocked by a Mar Roxas blurting out such classic lines as "heavy traffic is a sign of industrial progress", or something to that effect. Discussions during that time, especially among socialists, touched on the ultimate solution: the nationalization of the EdlSA bus route and the provision of a ceiling for the number of private transportation using the main avenue during the rush hours.

    One would have expected such an ultimate nationalization solution to come from a socialist Duterte. Surprise, surprise. Instead, the UV Express of the lower-middle and upper-lower classes are taken out, so that the cars and Ubers of the middle and upper-middle and upper classes can continue to hog the traffic of EdlSA. Meanwhile, we can only conjecture on why the buses---also the mode for the lower-middle and upper-lower and lower classes---are being permitted to remain on EdlSA (and remember that buses use the entire length of EdlSA). We can only think of two reasons: there's the legalist rationale (the buses' franchise do specify where they are allowed to roll), and then what the rumors say (that the buses are mostly franchises owned by retired generals and reigning politicians friendly to the Duterte government). Totoo kaya 'tong rumor na 'to? Sana naman hindi.

    Pero the basic question for now is this: what comfort does this memorandum provide to the UV Express-using working class? Well, this niche of the working class would now have to ply the heavier rush hour traffic of other avenues, and then be dropped off corners or UVE stations 200 meters or more away from their connecting MRT stations. Thank you, LTFRB, for the Aquinoesque inconvenience.

    Isn't it funny? Aquino would start his administration with a lie using elements of public transport as overall metaphor: that his social liberalism would be displayed through a non-elitist wangwang-less and counterflow-less traffic. Duterte just started his public transport administration with a truth: that his lopsided socialism would be demonstrated through a traffic legalism one can't make heads or tails of---if it is, on the one hand, indeed socialist and pro-working class commuter, or, on the other hand, pro-bus owners and car-owners or what. Have the buses and some colonels' taxi lines become the newly-reborn wangwangs?

    On this uncategorizable memorandum, at least, I suspend my labeling pen till the next shocking (mostly to the socialists) public transport diktat. [S / -I]

ANOTHER RANT AGAINST LEGALISM IS NOT A VOICE FOR LAWLESSNESS; IT'S LEGALISM THAT UNWITTINGLY IS

photo from http://www.elitereaders.com/naia-source-disclosed-how-scammers-pick-their-targets-at-the-airport/

PRESIDENT Duterte's order to stop all "tanim-bala" arrests comes from the presumption that all past instances of finding single bullets in passengers' luggage came from an extortion scam practiced by airport personnel (with likely consent from their officials). Will the order stop the scam? No. The extortionists at the NAIA will move on to harder methods: planted drugs, for one.

Duterte's order, which some legalist media elements and anti-Duterte citizens would point out as ignoring a law (never mind that they didn't holler a bit about Aquino's having ignored a thousand laws, the anti-DAP ruling chief among them), is---I believe---just a temporary fix and a probe. I believe that Duterte knows that the ultimate solution to the complex set of NAIA's problems is to replace the very elements that man this airport's security department and its systems, or replace the system that doesn't allow this police to be policed. Sure, erring personnel (and their defenders sympathetic to the previous government) can cite once again certain laws that may legalistically protect their positions. But we should remember that toying around with legalism is playing with fire, with the possibility that some people's frustration with laws that seem to only protect the erring will birth the death of Law itself.

Simply because the intelligent powerful have been more concerned with the letter of the law (the intent of which concern had been to protect certain interests) more than with the spirit that birthed good laws (the intent of which had been to protect the people) does not mean that that is the only way to treat laws and keep ourselves from getting into utter trouble. In fact, we ought to be careful with what we're sowing by that very legalist culture. For when people get frustrated with laws, because our legalist thinking have been turning a blind eye to the legalist effects of these laws' usage (waiting for Supreme Court rulings to reprove those legalisms), God knows if it might be too late to realize that it had been our very legalism that farmed that crop that cropped a lawless monster. [S / -I]

Salamat, semiotics

photo from http://www.elitereaders.com/naia-source-disclosed-how-scammers-pick-their-targets-at-the-airport/

PAANO mo masusukat kung gaano katanga o ka-switik ang isang rehimen? Simple lamang.
     Halimbawa, sa ngayon, sa pamamagitan ng science and art of semiotics, malalaman nating ang napakaraming stretch-wrapped na luggage sa isang airport ay simbolo ng isang pagkatakot at kawalan-ng-tiwala ng mga mamamayan sa kanilang airport personnel at executives. At kung matatandaan natin na anumang posisyon sa gobyerno ay position of bestowed trust, nangangahulugan lamang na ang kawalang-trust ng mga pasaherong ito na may stretch-wrapped luggage ay kawalang-trust sa mga nasa kanilang mga posisyon.
     Ngayon, pinansin o pinapansin ba ng gobyerno ang simbolong ito? Well, oo naman. Paano?
     Ito nga lang ang difference. Imbis na ituring na symbol of distrust ang stretch-wrapped luggage, itinuring itong signifier ng need at mabilisang ikinonnect sa neoliberal motto na nagsasabing “where there’s a need, there’s a good business opportunity.” Kaya imbis na magkumahog ang gobyerno na mawala ang symbol of distrust na ito, dahil itinuring niyang signifier of need lamang, nagkumahog siyang i-facilitate ang need na ito.
     Ano ang resultant, mga kababayan? Ang resultant ay ang nakita natin, na may gobyernong nag-facilitate hindi lamang sa pagdami ng simbolong ito (sa pamamagitan ng paglagay ng entrepreneurial stretch-wrapping services sa airport mismo), finacilitate din niya ang threat ng mga extortionists na nagsasabing ang di-pagbigay ng extorted money ay tutungo sa arraignment ng isang kakasuhang biktima.
     Semiotics, may tanong uli ako sa iyo. Paano mo nasusukat ang lalim ng pagkatanga o di kaya pagka-switik ng isang rehimen? [S / -I]

My Own "Putang Ama" and "Fuck All" Working-Class Moment On a Train

photo borrowed from http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2016/115954-mar-roxas-wharton-degree

RODRIGO Duterte's bluff seems to have been that, a bluff, being wrong, as bluffs are. No, Mar Roxas' Wharton BS diploma looks to be for real.
     Not that that finding matters to me, for I really don't give a fuck about what a dude studied in college.
     I only care about what a dude knows now, especially what he doesn't seem to know. I do believe Mar Roxas knows a lot of stuff Wharton or fuck, but I also believe there are other things non-neoliberal he should know. If only he did, it'd be in his own and everybody's best interest.
     And that's my advice to my fellow man on the street. Vote for the person who knows what needs to be done and how to go around doing it, for that only means that that person really knows what's going on (as reported or unreported). Conversely, don't vote for the man who hasn't demonstrated knowledge of what's really going on and would therefore not know shit on how to go about resolving it. Don't look at his diploma; diplomas are dogshit when they're all about things that aren't here or can't be here on our streets.
     (Sorry for the socialist working class language and fuck, I'm in this sardine can called the MRT 3 mess and shitbin. Is this your fucking progress, you shitheads in fucking limos?) . . .
     So, again. I don't really care whether Mar Roxas has a Wharton BS economics degree or none. I only care about the fact that his economic sense is trickle-down neoliberal and his political sense corporatocratic. I care a lot about that. [S / -I]

photo borrowed from http://politics.com.ph/mar-thinks-traffic-jams-aint-a-bad-thing-heres-why/

Another Funny Thing Filipino Women Need to Know About Their Clever SSS

FILIPINO women living or working in Makati need not know anything more about either how rude that medical-benefit-claim-form lady assessor/clerk at the Social Security System Makati Office is or particularly how she impatiently treats everyone who approaches her desk like the teacher’s most-dreaded stupid pupil come again to ask another stupid question, bless her cursed soul. Should you have the misfortune of needing to claim a medical benefit, your day is sure to get ruined seeing her and her ways, to be saved only by the niceness of the SSS doctor over at desk 2. Oh, no need to tell this, really, because, after all, 99% of us already have ample understanding of how deep the shortage is in government service of people with people skills.

     In fact, just a few days ago, I was at the National Statistics Office at East Avenue in Quezon City to witness a security guard, not a regular staff but a security guard, directing the citizens falling in line in the hall with instructions coursed through a megaphone that went like, “Ano ba naman kayo? Ang nandito sa pila na ‘to ay yung buntis na, hindi yung magpapabuntis pa lang. Yung wala pang form, dun muna ninyo gawin sa kabilang pila, ha. Magpabuntis muna kayo roon!” Witty with a drunkard’s metaphors and humor, eh? But decidedly inappropriate humor in a government service institution, my sir, wouldn’t you agree?
     A rarity, perhaps, then, would be an NSO records supervisor named Beth Galicad who called a peer on the phone to say, “meron tayong client dito na si Mr. …” Wow. While the unworthy security guard looked upon his fellow citizens falling in line outside as the unintelligent mass burden of our republic (not as the very taxpayers paying his salary), Ms. Galicad regarded me, an ordinary citizen with a lost record, as a “client.” How cool is that?

NOPE. This is not to enumerate further shortcomings and personnel shortchanges in government service institutions, for—like I said—I’m sure everyone has his own long list and book of anecdotes that regularly tell us to feel sorry about our wages’ tax deductions every fifteen days, never mind feeling sorry for our country continually being governed by the political elite un-eager to rid us of our feudal culture composed of lordly landlords on this side and ordinary citizens in beggary being lorded over by the landlords’ servants (civil servants, mostly) on that side.
     Instead, this essay is really just seeking to follow up on my wife’s wish for ample information on something that perhaps my blog site could accommodate, which I did promptly offer, information specifically addressed to other Filipino women who might benefit from the knowledge about that medical benefit called “disability”; not so we can sour-grape on her disqualification with her claim, but so we can spread the very knowledge, believe me or not, the knowledge—by the way—the SSS says certainly cannot be on their website as “not everything is there” and “we really don’t put everything there.” [Well, yes, of course, the appropriate answer might perhaps be “we will inform our website managers to put that detail online,” but, c’mon, appropriateness, people—as we probably all know by now—, is not a priority in government service. Well, perhaps not until we get rid of an elite-leaning culture that might then veer away from looking at service institutions as just some people’s milking cows, moving on towards looking at them as truly service institutions. After all, whatever happened to the Marxist influence on the social security concept? Aha! The answer to that question might be obvious to some of us who see everything happening in government as an illness needing a cure, or a corrupt file needing a fix, though often accepted as a sorry state by most who’ve given up on the possibility of seeing any fix. No appropriate line to be expected by the ears, then, no worthy assessor on that many a clerk’s desk, no appropriate answers to very specific questions, except for a rarity that one may be lucky to meet in his lifetime under any Philippine government’s color-coded sun.]

THE simple information my wife really just wanted added to the SSS website was this: … well, okay, maybe I ought to offer a backgrounder first.
     You see, my wife just had a TAH-BSO, or Total Abdominal Hysterectomy with Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy. And, in case you don’t know yet, a TAH-BSO qualifies an SSS member to a disability benefit. Many a woman member has, in fact, received an SSS disability pension even from a simple hysterectomy.
     The inclusion of these operations as disabilities in the SSS’ new disability benefits program is culled from the World Health Organization’s expanded definition of disability, viz., as any “restriction or lack (resulting from impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.” According to the SSS, impairment has been further defined by the WHO as any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function. Take note of that!
     The aim of the new disability benefits program, says the SSS, is purportedly “to ensure that the right cash benefit for disability is paid to truly deserving members.” And who would be those truly deserving? Supposedly, it adopts the International Statistical Classifications of Diseases and Related Health problems Codes (ICD-10) [check out that list here: http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2010/en].
     The SSS further says that the member with 20% medical impairment is already qualified for functional assessment. Some of the permanent partial disabilities include loss of one thumb, or one index finger, or one middle finger, or one ring finger, or one little finger, or one big toe, among a number more in the list. Meanwhile, apart from complete loss of sight of both eyes and such similarly permanent total disabilities, some cases may actually be classified as belonging to this latter category by the determination and approval of the SSS. Well, those determinations may remain privy to no one other than those who make them, as the SSS does not—cannot—prefer not to?—put everything on its website.

           

AND so now we go back to the TAH-BSO, or the simple hysterectomy, for that matter, both of which, by the way, cannot be categorized with losing a pinky, for all intents and purposes.

     What, according to the SSS, would disqualify one from claiming medical benefits after undergoing one of these above operations?
     Well, guess what. Age, that’s what! The SSS has determined, by some law I have yet to see, that only members 44 years old and below can avail of the benefit by one of those –tomies. [We did not ask if one can claim a disability benefit from losing a pinky at age 46]. The SSS law I have yet to see supposedly has this rationale or interpretation of the WHO expanded definition: we at the SSS believe, or that law you have yet to read believes, that the WHO’s definition is implying the fact that women who have undergone one of those above –tomies cannot anymore bear children. By that inability, the inability to bear children, we have accepted the inclusion of these –tomies as resulting in a disability. The age limitation was arrived at allegedly after talking to a majority of OB-Gyns regarding the average birthing age of women. [I didn’t ask if the SSS ever asked surgeons about the average age of typists who cannot afford to lose their pinky—can they still lose it at age 46 and claim benefits?] Never mind, too, that the SSS might accept the fact that there have been a number of women in their 50s who have had their menopause delayed and had babies at that age period, but the law is the law, the SSS says, talking like a lawyer instead of a medical-benefits provider, except for the fact that it couldn’t give us the Republic Act number of that law we have yet to see.
     Never mind, likewise, the fact that many doctors who advise a hysterectomy procedure with additional ovarian removal ask for the patient’s approval first, and once the approval is gained often advise the patient in turn to keep one of the ovaries if “possible”. True, some doctors, especially oncologists looking at a patient with a family history of oncologic cases, may advise a drastic TAH-BSO as an option for a mere case of adenomyosis, as for instance if the patient does not have the financial capacity to get a later oophorectomy should that be needed in the future.
     The reason for this is really simple, which simplicity may have escaped the SSS and some legislators. (But not so simple if you’d be seeking an opinion on ovary function from the SSS doctor based in SSS Meycauyan, which opinion would really be hard to come by, the doctor being hard to catch—the SSS Meycauayan assessor agrees that one simply has to get a continuing leave of absence from one’s work to gamble on catching the doctor at his/her SSS Meycauayan room. Simpler, it would have been, if the first clerk already had knowledge of the fact that you can actually “file anywhere”; complex it is for members to fall in line with others seeking a conference with the branch manager just to get that simple information.)
     The simple reason why many doctors try not to remove both ovaries, as much as “possible,” is because the ovary is not just for producing eggs. In fact, the loss of both ovaries renders a woman at high risk of getting any one of the cardiovascular diseases as well as bone diseases. And while the ovaries are not the sole sources of estrogen, they are the prime sources of it, and you might have an idea of what may happen to a woman when her supply of estrogen is drastically diminished, albeit loss of ovaries does not have a uniform effect on all women. If you were a doctor not constrained by (subjective? interpretative?) SSS rulings, you would definitely know that the loss of both ovaries is already a great “restriction or lack (resulting from impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.” Likewise, that it is already “loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function.” Go ahead and google it. Better yet, get more information about ovary function from your OB-Gyn, beyond just asking about the average age of women birthing. Conversely, don’t try to get more information on it from an SSS doctor constrained by a simple-headed law that I have yet to see.

     Oh, by the way, we ought to thank that oft-referenced law for supposedly enabling the WHO’s expanded definition of disability for SSS’ use, although I’d have to laugh that that same law virtually put limitations (almost as a sort of counter-measure) on the WHO expansion. Isn’t it funny? An expansion tries to expand, and its enabler tries to limit it. Isn’t it funny? Or should I say, aren’t we a clever people?
     After all, I found out at waiting areas that it’s not just me who’s been wondering why the SSS has placed all its friendly faces in Payment and some of its rude ones at Claims. So much for that Marxist influence on the social security concept. [X]