Kubot, Aswang chronicles 2/ could have been better/ 2014 Reality Entertainment, GMA films, Agosto de Dos/ Directed by Eric Matti

An interesting prologue sets the movie in motion, first offering glimpses of the prequel (Tiktik/GMA films 2012) where a clan of tiktik (human flesh eating, fetus craving super naturals) is slaughtered by the main protagonist Makoy (Dingdong Dantes) then cutting to the escape of Makoy from another band of tiktik out for revenge. Makoy flees for the city along with Nestor (Joey Marque)his future father in law, his planned bride, Sonia and their infant son Macky. Unfortunately,the tiktik catches up with the commuter bus then succeeds in murdering the bride and taking off with the infant.

From the winding, rocky trail the bus travels on to the culminating sequence of the attack by the hair expanding tiktik, the audience is propped for a thrilling horror-fantasy romp.

The bar must have been set so high with the prologue that after the title credits roll everything goes downhill. Attempting a reprise of the campy horror cult favorite “Army of Darkness”(MGM/1982) replete with the amputated arm fitted with weaponry, director Erik Matti, went overboard with the craziness resulting in a completely inane movie. I don’t know if that was what he was going for but a little psychotropic might have placed some logic and turned the movie into something funny, at the least.

Two years after his escape and the murder of his family, the story continues with Makoy now working as a mechanic living in the city with his sister (Lotlot De Leon), her daughter and Nestor. Invariably, Makoy crosses path with the tiktik when his sister finds that her employer, a young beautiful doctor (Isabelle Daza) is a kubot, another variant of flesh eaters. It happened while the doctor tried defending herself and family from a band of kubot that attacked them spurred by her attempt to cure a patient slowly becoming a tiktik. She turns into a Kubot in the skirmish to even the odds but the doctor’s mother and sister are killed nonetheless and she runs for her life with Makoy’s sister in tow. Their escape ends up with Makoy, bringing him into the fray but then he is unwilling to join the fight.

Left to fend for themselves, the doctor and Makoy’s sister turn to the police who are unbelieving until the precinct is attacked, almost decimated saved by the appearance of Makoy.

Meanwhile, the mayor (KC Montero) turns out to be the kubot leader bent on turning the whole population into flesh eaters through a feeding program. The plan is to hold a free concert with free food mostly hotdogs cured with something that will turn people into Kubot. Elders of the Kubot clan rally against the plan leaving the mayor with no option but to do away with them. Another elder, Veron (Elizabeth Oropesa) who avoided the dire circumstance by missing the consultation meeting, gets wind of the devious plan and mounts an action against the mayor. This elder is the hair expanding variant who has the child of Makoy.

Long story short, Veron, Makoy, and Nestor unify against the mayor and bring him down. Makoy is reunited with his child, shown to have grown to be a Kubot. There wasn’t much by way of a story.

Kubot obviously banked heavily on its stars along with the special effects and whatever gains the first installment left to attract audiences. Proof is the superfluous participation of Julie San Jose and Abra for the teenage crowd and the cameo of Alonzo Mulach, although admittedly that one worked. 

The movie, as obviously planned, pulled off effectively the use of special effects as executed by David Yu, rare in Philippine movies. I especially liked the hair expanding titik scenes and face morphs, reminiscent of the ‘Grimm’ series. The pre title credit sequence in particular came out well: the hair expanding villains, the overturning of the bus with the use of the hair by the tiktik, the blood sucking sequence with an emaciated body being discarded as a result and finally, an explosion. However the setback in that scene seems to be the lead actor who lacked the projection of anger and frustration. It could have been the director’s folly. If you saw the “Goonies” (Amblin/ 1985) movie in the making, it showed Richard Donner teaching the child lead (Ke Huy Quan) how to project terror until it was right. The scene involved a train ride on dilapidated rails spiraling down a cave. The child’s face and shriek of terror really put the scene on the money. On the other hand, editing could have been the problem. If it was clear the actor lacked the projection, they could have cut into another sequence leaving just the cry of frustration in the back drop. Another example of a memorable sequence of that type is that which showed Pierce Brosnan falling high from a balloon in the “The world is not enough” (Eon/1999), projecting fierceness and anger while descending to what should be a fatal circumstance. Now that was acting. Both were over the top silly movies but the actors playing straight kept to their characters even in wacky scenes.

The wired fight scenes staged by Larry Ang also added distinction except that the actors weren’t really in it particularl Isabelle Daza and joey Marquez who could have used a little more rehearsal for some realism.

Cinematography and set design by Shing Fung Cheung and Ericson Navarro respectively, captured notably that Gothic look.

With these things going for it, it seemed like a shame that the movie didn’t reach its potential. It was too campy for its own good. The scenes featuring Ramon Bautista and Bogart the explorer looked all too improvised dawdling when it could have propped the movie for the climax.

On the other hand Lot Lot De Leon, Isabelle Daza and KC Montero made unexpected revelations.

Ms. De Leon never broke character and carried on as if her life depended on it. In that scene of the precinct being attacked by tiktik where visibly almost everyone was enjoying, looking like they would break into laughing fits, she continued appearing harassed and terrorized.

Ms. Daza turned in a good enough performance outlining a wide range of emotions from being terrorized to wacky to a confident Kung Fu vampire. Clearly that whipping scene where she tries to cure a ‘turner’ wasn’t it but she gets it right in the following attack sequence. Of course, there’s the wacky scene where she and Dingdong Dantes get cornered and had her doing madcap that got audience laughing.  

KC for his part, might have hammed it up a little but surely got audiences hissing as the brutal Kubot overlord. He has enough of that menacing look and projected an obvious evilness never breaking character. That accent of his really helped the part get a little more nasty.

In all, it’s not Sam Raimi’s “Army of Darkness” but it’s a good enough movie on a lazy afternoon. I’d give it two and a half on a scale of five. 

DEMOCRAMATA

I am one to neither quibble about surveys nor argue about inclusive growth; too many moving parts. However, the apocalyptic dimension of the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey indicating 15 million children hungry and malnourished while 12.1 million families (43% of the entire Philippine population) considering themselves poor would surely jolt even the most jaded observer. Notwithstanding the devastation of “Yolanda”, I was sure somebody from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) would challenge the SWS data as soon as it was published. To my disappointment, no such protest to the validity of the survey happened and as it turned out the immediate response instead came from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to assist Senator Poe in her feeding program.

Yes it’s the right answer but it’s for the other question.

Without any challenge, are we to assume the SWS data correct? Questions upon question would have to be asked given this revelation. One such question would have to be the actual destination of the conditional cash transfer (Pantawid Pampamilyang Pilipino) the administration’s much cawed winning strategy against poverty. Since 2008 and after availing of almost a billion dollars in loans, 2.3 families in 800 municipalities of 80 provinces are enrolled in the program. PESOS FIFTY BILLION and change I think was appropriated for 2014. How come the number of families under the poverty line seems to be getting bigger? The current DSWD head was the same one in the past administration when it was rolled out sometime 2007, does she have answers?

Oh, she’s going to help in the feeding program, that’s right.

Then there’s the published improvements made since 1991 when official sources quoted 31% as the population under the poverty line. Were all the reports about poverty alleviation for the last 20 years merely hogwash? I have heard of rigid parameters and size of samples that probably explains the differing indication of the NSCB AND SWS surveys but the disparity is ridiculous.  Surely, the government could not have been wrong all these years.

Mang Pandoy, remains the ghost of poverty past, present, future, chronic, transient and near poverty and by all accounts he is here to stay to haunt.

How can sensible programs to alleviate poverty be formulated when basis continue to be wrong information? This is like a shade lighter when somebody thought of repealing the law of demand and supply to counter inflation.

It seems that even government surveys now also populate the universe of things that don’t work if things did work at all before on top of slow rehabilitation programs , trains over-shooting their ramps with doors typically opening while in motions; traffic jams that keep getting worse and civil security continuing to deteriorate into an oxymoron . One can very well call the current situation as organized incompetence. People handling the different portfolio, with the way things are going, look like the result of an acute shortage of qualified personnel. The President has his fingers on every dike of debacle his trusted people have sprung. Tsk.. tsk… blessed with only 10 fingers, I can only surmise how his fingers will look like after 2016.

Manuel L. Quezon, 2nd President of the Philippine Republic, rolls in his grave; I am sure, with the failure  of the succession of leadership to counter poverty in over 50 years of democracy, adhering, as it were, most unfortunately to his famous words, ‘a country governed like hell by Filipinos’.

Newsflash, the Philippines is expected to lead ASEAN in economic growth is the next five years. In truth we are nowhere near the aspiration of the general population for a better life, notwithstanding the credit upgrades and predictions of being the next Asian miracle. The only miracle we can discern is the daily output of 5,000 babies. Where does all that energy come from?

Soon the country MLQ loved so much may not even appear in the map at all. The country is going to be sliced with the Bangsamoro law, however you look at it. Meanwhile some politicians urge for a federal form, more slice and dice. So now the politicians want to institutionalize feudalism and oligarchy. Maybe dividing the country in bite sizes is the answer to all our national woes, who knows?  We might as well give up our territories to the Chinese who have invaded our zones having built structures off the Scarborough shoal. The Chinese made leaps and bounds in poverty eradication compared to the Philippines, in spite of the form of government and its draconian implementation typified by the incident in Tiananmen Square. They might do a better job than the leaders we have. Does democracy really work? The Chinese managed to slash their poverty rate from 80% to less than 20%. The achievement of China in poverty eradication in fact encouraged the UN or some agency to issue a threat of a very optimistic forecast for poverty alleviation world wide by 2015.

Whatever they’re smoking in Washington, I think they’ve had way too much.

You and I know that the only thing our people are good at is politics. Everybody is at it. Still a year and a half early, give or take a few months from the national election and we have politicians already in campaign mode using every available tool. A member of the blue ribbon committee has his ad on TV capitalizing on what he may perceive as a political coup in the bashing of the vice-president’s presidential ambition. I guess he thinks he’s next on bat; subtlety is not his strong suit.

Elections are the only time the citizenry called the electorate can have a voice in governance. After these events, the citizenry becomes hostage to bad governance and still we can’t seem to have learned anything.

Democramata. The nation is permanently on economic intensive care because of its citizens’ almost uncanny ability to choose the wrong leaders. After bloodletting to fill an ocean for democracy, the paradise promised by a land bountiful in resources has inched further away. The succession of leadership failed to curb equality and freedom by clinging to dynasty as its political culture while raising the audacity for corruption and incompetence.

For 2016 the picking is severely thin consisting of bashers, pretenders, coffin dodgers, big spenders, the neurotics, the convicts and the psychotics.

Somebody quoted PNoy as saying that the vice president should run in 2016 for the presidency then manage the country however he deemed fit in response to the diatribes against the administration. I remember former president Estrada saying the same thing with “Magpresidente muna kayo” Is PNoy becoming the ghost of President Estrada past? Since former President Estrada and former President Marcos share traits (both are bar topnotchers, Marcos for the exam to practice law; Estrada for the place where they keep Andy Player Special;  Both were accused of murder, Marcos for Nalundasan while Estrada for murdering the English language), is PNoy fast becoming the ghost of Marcos past?

But then aren’t they the same old, same mold? We have had several presidents from dynasties: DM, Marcos, Cory, Ramos, PNoy, Erap, GMA among them. 75% of people congress and the senate also come from dynasties.

It is alleged that more senators and congressmen are to be charged with pilfering the national treasury in the days to come. These people have been in power too long and think they can get away with just about anything. Democramata. Is democracy is killing our future? Imagine 15 million hungry children.

Thing is, in whatever size and form, organizations need good leadership. We have been most fortunate to know firsthand what good leadership is not. Now we can put the lessons to work.

1.      The noble truth about political bashers is that it is a one trick pony.

2.      The noble truth about dynasty is that their product is not always bad; just that the concept of family member succeeding each other in political position crowds out equality and freedom.

3.      The noble truth about leadership is that it does not come about because of a martyred father and a celebrated mother.

4.      The noble truth about crimes is that sooner than later it will catch up. That move of allegedly bribing senators to impeach a sitting Supreme Court justice for ill-gotten wealth (which senators are in turn now troubled with the same charges) was a sure formula for one of the senator-beneficiaries to squeal.

5.      The noble fourfold path to alleviating poverty includes taking the catholic church view on any matter with more than a grain of salt; somebody must oversee the NCSB work; people should stop watching too much blue ribbon committee hearing; for the legislative bodies to do legislation, the DOJ to prosecute and courts to judge; 

Miriam’s big C and the ongoing Philippine Apolitcalypse

Reading the news about Senator Miriam, I was amused to read the senator’s mother responding (I imagined in the same patented deadpan manner of the senator) with ‘We all have to go sometime’.

Yes, go we all must, sometime.

In politics It’s been a while since any drastic change had been seen in the landscape and even then it’s still the same old, same old: Marcos, Aquino, Macapagal, Angara, Estrada, Binay, Cayetano, Guingona and list goes on with no less than one hundred fifty (150) dynasties lording it over the archipelago for as long as forever.

Something has got to give after all that time and this PDAF scam seem to have started a crack at the political seams. You can almost hear Bob Dylan croon: Come senators, congressmen please heed the call, don’t stand in the doorway; don’t block up the hall; for he who gets hurt would be he who has stalled; there’s a battle outside and it’s raging (1964,Columbia records).

The first batch in the scandal had turned themselves in voluntary, setting the tone for the orderly evaluation and investigation into the scam. If not for anything else, we have to commend senators Revilla and Estrada for facing the charges before them. Never mind the lachrymose, silly, semi-Neanderthal stunt before the hallowed halls of the senate, both had all the chances to fly the coup but chose to man up and stand trial. Former president now Manila Mayor Estrada may have had a hand in what transpired, if not directly, surely by example with the bravado he himself displayed in his own hour of desperation.

This dictates a new brand of statesmanship unlike those displayed by senators Lacson and Honasan. And somebody even made a film based on the Lacson experience as if it had some redeeming value. So the question begging to be asked is will senator Honasan once again turn fugitive? He is on the list in an item I read and any day could be the subject of an arrest warrant. If he runs, do we just say ‘so what’s new?’

On the other hand, will the judiciary complement the gestures by speeding up the trial? How long will the senators suffer the indignities heaped on them if they are truly innocent? It seems like this early, judicial experts are already conditioning the public that the trial is going to take a long, long while.

But how complicated is this case? Isn’t it just a question of did they or didn’t they benefit from misappropriation of public funds. To me it looks as simple as the equation where their assets, including that of their immediate family and trusted associates approximating if not equal to their declared income.

Is it really possible that despite all the check and balance, including the Commission on Audit, Janet Lim-Napoles can merely insert harmonic stupidity in to the progression formula of how to dupe the government and with impunity, had simply walked to the bank in the last ten years or so?

These are interesting times; the citizenry has turned restless weighed down by the general poverty amidst supposed stellar economic performance of the country. (Do you really buy this GNP bullshit?)The biggest source of ‘non-inclusive growth’ immediately obvious is the slave wage dispensed to a population (burdened or gifted?) with a largely uneducated/unskilled labor surplus. Add to this injustice, contractualization along with the blind eye of the regulators thus one doesn’t have to look far why poverty has not moved an inch. I cannot for the life of me understand how the labor force (about 40M) where almost half work in construction have not benefitted from such a bonanza of the massive construction movement resulting to an RFO inventory of over 20,00 units (RFO is an industry on its own if you haven’t heard) in MM alone? In a recent development, some lawmakers are up in arms of how some of our country men working as domestic helpers in Singapore are displayed in a mall and auctioned in a throwback to the days of Caribbean slave traders. Is it any better here?  

Then there is the lack of infrastructure, killer taxes, and a multitude of obstacles and clearances that pour cold water on wanna be entreprenuers.

What about peace and order in the streets? Ask a policeman if you can find one.

From the south, the citizenry is also concerned with the rehabilitation the victims of ‘Yolanda’ where it is largely believed that relief goods have teemed in the billions of dollars but where no tangible action can be discerned. Is there?

Further out, the Chinese are threatening the boundaries of the country leaving people dependent on the sea to suffer and obliterating any chance for the country to be energy independent consequently its citizens out of poverty. The Pabaon scandal in the AFP seemed to have died but its result where we are unable to defend ourselves is much more manifest with the Chinese encounter because of the diversion of funds supposed for the armed force modernization. General Almonte (ret) came out with a piece of advice on how to handle the China crisis (sound like band). I think he said something like a citizen to citizen approach on face book? It read like a joke but if it’s all the hope we have, God help us.

What about the Maguindanao Massacre?

How things are resolved today will shape the future.

Yes even the search for our national artist from whom our culture develops. So why is Joey Smith not nominated?

We know where everything is located and what needs ot be done; the skeleton in the closet, the woods in the hands of illegal loggers, rice with the cartel, drugs everywhere, all the monies in the hands of the Forbes magazine lister, (oh and JLN) and political power in the 150 dynasties scattered around the archipelago. The dysfunction can well be fixed, well maybe not for this generation but surely for the next at least.

Imagine a future where education is free, housing really affordable, food and medicine easily accessible, an impartial and swift judicial system and every citizen enjoying peace.

We might never know if PNoy set out the groundswell for change happening but we are sure he somehow lit the spark. In turn it is now every Pinoy’s duty to see to the institution of change: urge the courts to rule decisively and swiftly on the PDAF scam and other cases; hasten the rehabilitation of Yolanda victims; pass to law the anti-dynasty bill; strict implementation of wage laws with probably another twenty on the list.

There’s a better future ahead, the signs are getting clearer by the day. What we need is for everyone to invest in that vision.

The Blacklists

Like a  Ludlum novel, the plot of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam thickens with the surfacing of different lists of people implicated in the misuse of appropriations. Former Senator, former police chief and former Metrocom operative, now ‘Yolanda’ rehabilitation czar, Panfilo Lacson purportedly has possession of such a list.  Secretary of Justice Leila De Lima allegedly procured one during a meeting with Ms. Janet Napoles just before her well-publicized (a security gaffe I suppose) surgery. And there’s the list of one Sandra Cam, president of an association of whistle blowers.

I don’t think anybody would be surprised if these lists contained almost everybody in government. The surprise probably would come to the political overlords after seeing their vassals doing more business on their own.

One can see the depths of corruption in governance where the population of whistle blowers increased by so many folds so much as to warrant an association. Thing is, aren’t whistle blowers supposed to be ‘below ground’ to protect them from harm. Isn’t an association much like painting a bull's eye on their foreheads? By the way, whatever happened to that guy who blew the whistle on the wholesale eradication of the Kuratong Baleleng claiming it as a rub out?

I could see the dilemma of the justice secretary (no pun intended), the evidence may probably be insufficient at this point so they’re looking at photographs, really? So why reveal the existence of such as a list? As for former Senator Lacson and Ms. Cam, I can only surmise on their intentions.

Should the list really be kilometric and evidences sufficient, what would the government do? Will there be sanctions, suspensions and frozen assets? Will governance be paralyzed or would it improve? Would the Veteran’s hospital be transformed into a penitentiary? As it is, the first batch of those accused have not even been touched. They are flying on holidays or what not, vilified but nonetheless free as birds. There is something wrong with accused and witnesses being able to just skip town. When will those accused ever get their day in court to clear their names? Would Ben Hur Luy reach the age of collecting on his SSS before anything on the PDAF scam really happen? Does the association of whistle blowers include SSS benefits?

When the scam first exploded,  the topic was in chock full coverage in various news reports and talks in the local hang outs, then came the televised blue ribbon with their supposedly slam dunk testimonies, after which the whole affair has now slid to the inside pages with nothing really happening. What new law has been formulated to mitigate misuse of appropriations?

And now we have the lists.

Would the PDAF scam go the way of the Maguindanao Massacre, which proceedings have been on the grind that witnesses and the whistle blowers as I read somewhere, have started to disappear before their testimonies are recounted in court.

However slow the wheels of justice roll, I think the maturity of Philippine electorate will manifest at the 2016 election. The PDAF scam has shown the way of the dynasties, how 2^nd generations continue their predecessor’s indiscretion. 

I hope we learned something.

Massive infrastructure program to alleviate poverty

Following reports indicating poverty on a standstill despite the Philippines gaining much economic ground, I suspected that the current administration would just leave the result of the survey to the ‘Trickle down’ syndrome as past administrations were wont to do. Happily I was wrong, at least on paper. The plan to inject a massive infrastructure program to hasten poverty alleviation reinforces my belief that the heart of the President is in the right place.

To be sure, the strategy is nothing new but the amount, a trillion Pesos, stands impressive. And bolstered by the President’s doggedness like a pit bull on crack, displayed during the impeachment, I am sure the program will develop traction in no time.

Of course, there would be political under tones attached to it but no matter, the plan sounds good.

Ensuring the program success, however- that it reaches the intended beneficiaries- require a nuanced approach. Left to work on the regular protocol, the program would likely be just another money making machine for the superfluously rich. We know the superfluously rich are the ones who engage the government agency. Based on specifications and financial estimates, the capitalists work out the numbers and should margins look insufficient (counting the tong system in place), we all know where the corners would be cut.

Among the things that prevent real impact on poverty alleviation, in the different incarnations of this strategy, is the exploitation of labor. We know this as a fact. ‘Slave wages’ is the bad language of what is politely referred to as the ‘trickle-down effect’ and it persists in the construction industry where laborers are paid way below prescribed legal rates. For all the dizzying pace of real property development in the country (which somewhere I read, sprouted an RFO industry with an inventory of over 20,000), is it not puzzling that poverty has not inched downward.  With construction employing maybe a third of the labor force, half of us living under the poverty line, why wouldn’t living conditions get better for people in Smokey mountain or Parola where labor is normally sourced?

With labor exploitation widespread, it wouldn’t have been much different had big businesses along with government itself actually conspiring to keep labor wages down and people forever chained to destitution. Where are the good guys then?

Instituting measures for compliance, meaning the right wages along with benefits including but not limited to Social Security (SSS), Home Mutual Development Fund (HDMF) and Phil health, to be sure, would be a gargantuan task but the result I am sure would encompass taxation, savings, housing, education and medical care for a bigger population.  And as far as compliance is concerned, I am not talking about mere clearances from the Department of Labor and Employment, SSS, HDMF but constant monitoring on ground zero.

By the way, the news report of the government plan for a massive infrastructure program carried with it the threat from the DPWH that projects would have tighter monitoring and supervision. Given what’s happening on projects rolled out, I can only wish us luck.

While on the subject of tighter monitoring and supervision, it would be for the greater good if projects followed timetables for completion where sanctions are enforced. There should be a requirement to post completion schedules.

The other thing is, normally, project completions are always shy of entirely covered excavations. It is not the exception to find gaping holes right in the middle of the streets. Now how do these contractors get away with something like those instances? Here in Bacoor city, a length of the Aguinaldo highway leading to the bend going to Cavite City is lined with excavations which stench have become unbearable, being part of the sewerage system. Besides that the excavations pose dangers for both pedestrians and motorist.

In another part, the coastal road seems forever in some stage of construction since its opening. A commuter is snagged by the slow transaction in the toll gates then gets caught in the obstruction of construction in the coastal road followed by the humongous clog in Aguinaldo. With travel time from Manila to Bacoor up to three hours, sometime more, can we expect productivity to improve?

Anyway, I hope the projects at last cascade benefits to those left behind, humongous traffic or not.

Prevalence of Poverty in the Philippines

While Mona Lisas and Mad hatters, sons of bankers, sons of lawyers 

turn around to say good morning to the night 

for unless they see the sky but they can't and that is why 

they know not if its dark outside or light

Mona Lisas and Madhatters, Elton John-Bernie Taupin, Honky Chateau, MCA Records, 1972

Mona Lisas and Mad hatters set to poetry the indifference of the rich and powerful towards the poor from an entirely separate time when the pace of life was slower, the world bigger and the population was only half  of what it is today. 41 years hence, radical changes took place where population exponentially increased, technology hastened pace of life while compressing  the world into a village and Sir Elton, contributed to the new era by departing from the stereo type macho rock star image by marrying another man. We thought, the world would never survive that, whew!

Still the indifference remained with the disparity between rich and poor becoming more acute where 1% of the richest owning 40% of the world wealth and a majority surviving on U$2.50/day. Some advance the idea that poverty ebbed somewhat , down 30% of world population from over 50% back in 1981. The World Bank even made an audacious announcement to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015, part of the millennium development goals.

Because the world will forever be burdened with scarce resources made more scarce by a burgeoning population compounded by greed and indifference, it will never rid itself of poverty. 

Here in the Philippines, scarce resources such as land and capital are controlled by less than one percent of the population (100M as of 2012). The  disproportionate distribution resulted in  26% of the population living below the poverty line and probably, the same percentage, sitting on its fringes. The abject poor consists of the 7% unemployed in the labor force plus another 19% underemployed  and their dependents. 

Poverty is a wholly economic perspective characterized by a set of parameters that deprive individuals of decent living conditions including adequate nourishment, shelter, clothes and education. Government views poverty with alarm knowing the direct proportion of hunger and rebellion. The devil and polluticians see a mass of corruptible souls to be exploited while the pious value poverty as a ticket to the pearly gate or its equivalent. The ordinary working stiff tries hard not to get sucked into it and those living it, may not be able spell the word. 

While so much  government initiatives (i.e the comprehensive agrarian reform program , the conditional cash transfer and country side development through the priority development assistance program among others) have been uploaded to alleviate poverty , one wonders why all these moves failed to make a dent on pervasive poverty. On top of the initiatives, the Philippines made so much  economic headway- the 6.6% GDP expansion, a comfortable foreign reserve and investment upgrades leading to commentaries of the country as the rising star in southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the economy always seem to be rising but never reaching the top with the impending landing into first world category always falling short of the runway of  reality.

Indifference theory

An assessment of the problem may lead to a conclusion that we've been pushing the wrong item as far as comparative advantage goes, therefore limiting investments. For a long time, labor has been the Philippines' comparative advantage made more pronounce by overseas remittance. Labor is the everyday man eking a living- technically capable, English proficient but considered the new nigger of the world and in his home, over taxed, under represented, underpaid and living in treacherous conditions.Labor could easily transform into a broad industry of entrepreneurs if nursed into that transition but, it is neglected. 

Look at the justice system. Magistrates reconfigured the process to serve solely the rich and powerful. A poor man cannot just enter the courts to press his rights. 

What is a temporary restraining order (TRO)? It is not a reevaluation of a case but a petition requiring security equal to 10% of the financial attachments. TRO is the exclusive domain of the rich. With all the TROs released, the justices now enjoy their renovated  Baguio hideaway of a seven star spa category.

Meanwhile, questions linger on controversial rulings. What led to the decision to open the gates of the party list system to every carpetbagger? Why the flip-flop on PAL?   How come the Vizconde massacre came out differently compared to the Abadilla five when both cases hung on the testimony of a single witness? Of the ombudsman, how can she let loose these people who jeopardized national security to enrich themselves. Are their lifestyles not enough evidence? Have we gone senile?

Lady justice maybe blind but she feels. Numbness on display by the justice practitioners is not making people comfortable on the whole much less about investment.

Insult to injury, there is under representation with the legislators who instead of protecting, defining and expanding rights are so absorbed with farm to pocket projects, ghost NGOs and realigning MOOE for additional perks. Legislators unleashed the cyber crime prevention act to stifle freedom of expression, burdened the public with EPIRA to answer for the skimming of profits and outright stupidity of stranded cost, decided to saddle us additionally with VAT while now campaigning under the platform of poverty alleviation.   

And of taxes, you know how much the government is ripping off your hard earned pay, almost half, 35% on income tax plus 12% for VAT, that is if you're a regular working man. If you're lucky to be above the formal economy, a taipan, a captain of industry, a professional, a sitting politician, or below the formal economy, a drug dealer, a gun runner, a pimp, then you pay only 12%.

What do you get in return for paying taxes, a justice system to protect your rights? An armed force to secure your well-being? Peace and order? 

Based on news, our police force is seemingly filled with psychopaths while the environment, of rampant crimes. It has gotten so bad that children have turned criminals and what do you know, the legislative body is looking at a bill that lowers the age for criminal liability. That is entirely lame. 

Meanwhile captains of industries get away with 5-5-5 contractualization and other unenforced laws for the labor group.

Equality as an economic ingredient

What is needed is an environment of equality where rights and privileges of every citizen would be protected;

where big and small landowners would not be deprived of the use of their assets, squatting would be crime, the CARP would issue justified valuation;

where misuse of funds by politicians would be prosecuted, no matter title or social standing;

where there would be just one set of laws to apply to everybody;

where dynasties would not be tolerated;

where civil servants fulfill their oaths of allegiance to the constitution;

where the court rules according to law;

where special interest are sacrificed for the common good, the party list system abolished;

where legislators actually know their craft;

where elections are not won by wealth;

According to the CIA fact book, our population ranks 12th in a universe of 239 countries with a density of about 300+/sq km (Macau has 19,000 people for every sq km). Government feels it is the biggest problem of the country and prescribed the RH as the strategy to combat the bloating numbers of the poor. I think their take on population growth is on the dark side.But the problem is not so much the increase but magnification of prejudice in our society. Prejudice and fear managed to shred our nation into ethnicity, religion, dialect, politics and creed. The RH is saying the poor cannot multiply because government cannot protect its rights. 

To fix the many social ill, the nation has to learn equality.Exacting equality will never eradicate poverty merely injustice. Injustice comes from indifference; indifference comes from wealth and power; wealth and power comes from undue advantage, a primary source of which is too much government intrusion but no governance.

Equality will never create heaven on earth but probably will create viable opportunities to neutralize the prevalent poverty.

Senatorial campaign 2013

The general campaign pitch of the senatorial candidates for the May polls is decidedly poverty alleviation. Sound bytes, images and subliminal messages are directed towards 26.5% (CIA Fact book) of the Filipino nation living under the poverty line and probably, another equal percentage on its fringes.  On print and broadcast, TV most prominently (one reason why political leadership would always be ruled by money), the electorate is bombarded with platforms of job generation, free education, free health care, stable prices and a host of promises dovetailed at what the Filipino poor wants to hear.

Maybe it's just me suffering from an overdose of an endless stream of campaign advertisement but I now alternately view the messages as reeking with  so much condescension towards what I fear these candidates see as the poor, downtrodden electorate. Notice how the word give or its subliminal context is plastered all over the campaign : give jobs, give education, give health care, give stable prices, so on and so forth to the mendicant electorate who thrive under the Conditional Cash Transfer. You can actually feel the bias of these privileged few when they look down on you from the idiot box.

I feel they all missed the point.

Senators are not suppose to give anything. They are not suppose to give to ghost non-government organizations their hundreds of millions of Pesos of priority development fund (PDAF) or to themselves, in particular, fat bonuses from realigned maintenance and other operating expense (MOOE) funds. Senators have nothing to give, in contrast they take from the electorate burdened as it is with taxes of 47% of their income (35% Income tax + 12% Value Added Tax). Senators take from the electorate their  salaries , MOOE, bonuses and PDAF. 

For all their perks, senators are suppose to ensure through legislation that equality, freedom and liberty are accorded to each and every citizen irregardless of social position, ethnicity, religion or creed as demanded by the constitution to arrive at a just and humane society. So, where are those conversations?

We've all heard how the 15th congress unleashed the cyber crime prevention act effectively restricting freedom of speech, an awful law not given enough debate. There is also Republic Act 10389 an act allowing recognizance for indigents accused of crimes. Some may find this cute but  think about it and it might occur that this is biased for the poor. Why only the poor, why not everyone? Take another cute law RA 10361 or the domestic workers' act presumed to protect the household help. Why the need for a special law? Senators of the 15th congress seem think there is a marginalized component of society. There should not be and if there is it's their doing. Laws are for every citizen equally applied. To paraphrase Alfredo Lim, laws are for everyone or no one at all. I hope I got that right.

For spreading equality, the 15th congress of the senate missed so much. As starter, there's the continued dominance of dynasties which suppresses an equal opportunity, political arena. Ideas have staled in the long run of dynasties because the political and legislative leadership are the 'same old, same old." Not surprisingly, most senatorial candidates agree there's nothing wrong with dynasties since they all hail from the same place. 

Even the president seems not immune. Palace spokes person Edwin Lacierda was once quoted as encouraging the electorate to evaluate between good and bad dynasties which was almost funny except it hurts when I laugh. It's like saying someone's an SOB but then its alright because that someone is our SOB. Then there's the VP who actually argued for dynasties, defending its existence with credentials and clamor. When asked about Nancy's credentials, the VP responds with 'She's my daughter'. Again, it only hurts when I laugh.

Here's a news flash, the President and Vice President along with all the officials, swore to uphold the constitution of which the anti-dynasty is a provision. Do they see themselves above everybody else with a license to trample on the constitution?

How about justice, does everyone have equal access? The courts are ruled by money, there is no denying that fact. There are people languishing in jail with far more time than that decreed for their crime because of their lack of lawyers, conclusively money. I have seen people accused of shoplifting having done over 6 months with still no arraignment. Now that's justice delayed, justice denied in clear context. Was RA 10389 the answer? Of course not!  The thing is that there should be a legal limited holding time by which accused should be charged and arraigned. 

The courts, as these stand today, are not  public areas where everyone has access. It is restricted for those with money. How else can one explain the same testimonial circumstance but differing outcome of the Vizconde Massacre and the Abadilla 5? The Philippine Airline flip-flop? And Jonas Burgos? Where is justice when lawmakers become fugitives then given merely a slap on the wrist when finally apprehended?

On May 9, we go to the polls to choose candidates to assume the current vacancies of the senate. Thirty-three candidates vie for twelve seats, six of which are incumbents. The word 'senate' comes from the Latin senex (old men) to mean the council of old men. Roman emperors enlisted retired magistrates to lend advise on political management policies. Obviously they thought the older, the wiser. Unfortunately its not always the case while the young also have nothing to offer. The senate needs 12 men to fill its vacancy who will offer a vigorous debate for equality and freedom which we do not get from the likes of Ramon Revilla, Lito Lapid and Jinggoy Estrada while mocked by the plagiarism of Tito Sotto and Pia Cayetano. None of those I heard discussed core issues of equality and freedom just the same song and dance routine. 

Will Somebody please take the lead in the 16th.