“A man once said this, decisions are made by those who show up. So are we failing you or are you failing us? It’s a little of both.” – Pres. Jed Bartlet/Martin Sheen
That quote was from one of the scenes of the last episode of season one of “The West Wing”, an American TV drama written by Aaron Sorkin. The quote resonated with me because lately there’s been a lot of blaming and finger pointing going around. The most recent of which was about the Manila Hostage Crisis.
The quote made me think seriously. Why are we (Philippines) in the dumpster? Why is it that the rest of Asia, the world for that matter is slowly moving up and we’re still stuck in a rut? We’re almost at the same place we are 20 or so years ago save for some improvements. I mean sure we have new buildings, more roads, we have broadband, etc.. but as a core, I feel we’re still kind off in the same place where we are. We still see same faces and/or names running the government and we as a people still complain a lot but do little about it.
Our population is nearing the 100 million mark. Yet during the last elections there was only 50 plus million registered voters and out of those 50 million only around 37 million or 73% of those registered voters went out to vote. Less than half of the country’s population decided how the country would be run in the next 6 years. What’s worse, I have reason to believe that a majority of the portion of those who voted did not think about the candidates they voted for nor listened to the issues. A lot simply voted for personalities or were just convinced by other people to vote for whomever.
We are where we are because a lot of us don’t participate in building our nation. Sure we make our voices heard on Twitter or Facebook. We send out text messages and emails cursing the government and who ever we feel needs to be blamed for the ills of our nation. Yet when the time comes to actually make a difference we take it lightly or not take action at all.
The government is what it is because we allowed it to be such. For years we allowed corrupt and inept politicians to craft our laws and enforce them. When things go bad we simply accept it as “the way it is”. We want other people to fix our problems instead of being part of the solution.
If we want things to be better we need to participate. We need to be a part of the change that we want to see in our nation. Government can’t do it alone. They should do their jobs but we must do ours.
All of us can do something. We can start small. We can start small. Following simple rules and regulations, being aware of what’s happening around your community, participating in programs for your community, etc. We can grow from there. We need to start participating in debating the issues that affect us. Make our voices heard.
One of John F. Kennedy’s most famous lines is “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”. We need to start asking ourselves how can we be part of the solution? How can we start participating in helping build our nation?
If we’re don’t start participating more, then government isn’t the only that failed us, we failed ourselves.
The hostage taking last Monday, which saw 9 Chinese nationals lose their lives and others injured was indeed a sad and tragic event. As a result a lot of blame has been going around. From the police to the media as well as the President of the Philippines has not been spared blame. There are a lot of fingers being pointed in all directions. So who is to blame really?
Is it the police? They did manage the situation very poorly. From what I’ve seen on live TV, read in the paper and from various social media accounts the police really failed to do their jobs properly. It seems that they could have ended the situation much earlier with less casualties but failed to do so. When they did move to subdue the hostage taker they looked like they were all rookies fresh out of the police academy instead of highly trained law enforcement officers.
I will admit that our police force is sorely lacking in all aspects. They lack training, equipment but most of all education. A lot of our police officers are under educated. This is attributed to our poor education system. Most police officers here come from poor families. They’re a product of the public education system and as sad as it seems our education system is bad, thus the level of competence of our policemen is really not at par as with developed nations.All the right equipment in the world would be for nothing if the person using it can’t think well.
To the policemen’s credit, lacking equipment and education/training, they’re still brave enough to go out there and risk their lives to help people they don’t know. It takes a brave man to go and face off with a gunman even if he’s wearing a bulletproof vest; it’s even braver when you’re wearing none. Most of the policemen on the scene had only their uniforms to protect them.
To people who say that being a policeman you should be ready to die in the line of duty, let me see you say that once bullets are flying towards you. It’s not that easy. Your resolve will only be tested once you’re in that situation. It’s easier said than done. If you’re not dodging bullets for a living, I think it’s best you refrain from making comments like that.
Is it the media then? Well they did broadcast a lot of things that in most people’s opinion contributed to the agitation of the hostage taker. They also showed the assault on live TV which if I were to believe some articles I’ve read, the hostage taker was also watching it live on the bus. Therefore giving him knowledge as to the movements of the policemen as well as a cause for agitation.
The Philippines has one of the freest presses in Asia. The local media has been able to report on a lot of things without really being hampered.
However a free press does not mean that rules and guidelines should not apply. It doesn’t mean that the media should not think about their actions and the consequences that result because of their actions.
When people suggest that there should be a news blackout for certain situations, that does not mean that there should be no media or coverage present, it just means that the stories should not air live. Media can still cover and shoot video but it should be aired/published at the right time.
Journalists that cover wars such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan are embedded in with armed forces units. They are allowed to cover but they do not broadcast during times wherein there are operations. They do not air tactical positions of the armed forces. They exercise restraint when doing their jobs in order to ensure safety of the soldiers. It should be the same for situations like the hostage taking that just happened.
The media industry has been so competitive as of late that out scooping the competition sometimes impairs the judgment of media practitioners. This needs to change.
Is the President of the Philippines and his cabinet members to blame? There’s the concept of command responsibility and for all intents and purposes the buck does stop with the President. Ultimately he should be accountable for everything that happens in this nation of ours. He is after all the chief executive. The cabinet members namely the Secretary for Local Government is also responsible because for this aspect he is the President’s alter ego. Ergo he is responsible as well as he is representing the President.
The President ultimately shares a big part of the responsibility for what happened last Monday. It happened during his watch. However, it is not entirely his fault. Even the best leaders make mistakes or are put into situations that are really unpredictable.
A certain congressman has suggested that the President’s lack of visibility meant that he wasn’t on top of things. Just because a President is not basking under limelight does not mean he’s not giving it attention.
Should the President be at the scene of a hostage taking? No. That’s not his job. He is not a hostage negotiator or a police commander. He has people specifically trained to do those things. Let those people do their jobs.
The stance of the current government to limit the involvement of politicians during the hostage crisis is in my book the right move. Politicians and personalities should not be involved in those matters.
So who’s really to blame for what happened last Monday? My answer is that all of us share a portion of the blame. Those people who keep pointing at others forget that that when they point, three fingers are pointing back at them.
We are all to blame because we have allowed our society to get to the state where it is right now. We allowed corrupt politicians to reign over our country hampering our development. Those corrupt politicians that are pointing fingers now failed to realize that by pocketing money that rightfully belongs to the people, they are depriving the country of resources that should be spent educating, training and buying equipment for public servants such as policemen.
We have grown accustomed to wanting to know so much that we’re finding it hard to draw the line where we should hold back. We want to know what’s happening all the time that we fail to realize that our wanting to know sometimes puts others in jeopardy.
I believe in our right to have a free press and the rights to know what’s happening around us but I also believe there is a right time for the information to be given to us.
We are all at fault because we as a society has become so selfish that there are a lot of people who are in despair that they need to resort to drastic measures just to make their desperation known. The hostage taker was not asking for anything other than just to have his job back. What does that tell you?
While there are people who are at fault during the actual event, we should ask ourselves why that event took place. Why was one man so desperate that he had to take hostages? He was by no means a terrorist. What he did was wrong but I think at the beginning his intentions were not really to create terror. He just wanted to be heard and he wanted people to notice. We need to look at the root of it all and see why things like this happen.
We’re all to blame for this. Until we as a people get our acts together, events like this will happen again.
Ramen is one of the best comfort foods that I can think of. Nothing beats a good bowl of ramen. It not only fills the stomach but it soothes the soul.
Until recently I’ve mostly gotten my ramen fix from Kombini, a Japanese convenience store near where I live.
Ramen Bar, a new ramen place opened at the Eastwood Mall in Libis, Quezon City. While it’s not near the place where I live, the trip to the restaurant I assure you is worth it.
I got a chance to sample Ramen Bar’s offerings during a food-tasting event last August 14. The owner of Ramen Bar invited around 50 people from the Philippine Mac Users Group, which I happen to belong to. We were all treated to a night of good food and company.
Each person was given 500 pesos worth of play money to spend on the restaurant. Looking through the menu I decided to go with the Shoyu Ramen (Php 280). This is a soy infused Tonkotsu Ramen topped with soft boiled eggs (Tamago), fish sticks (Naruto), spring onions (Negi) and sliced pork (Chasyu).
When the server arrived with my order, I eagerly tried the ramen. I must say while I am by no means an expert in ramen, having only sampled the ramen locally, I must say that the Shoyu Ramen is one of the best ramen I’ve had so far. The flavor of the broth was good. The Chasyu was melt in your mouth tender. While the noodles were ok, I would have preferred slightly thinner noodles but this is a minor detail that I’m willing to overlook.
I didn’t even get to spend all of my play money as the Shoyu Ramen was enough to appease my hungry stomach. Although I must say that I am not a heavy eater. My stomach does not hold as much as most people but this is not to say that the portions of Ramen Bar are not enough. In fact I would consider the portions of Ramen Bar on the generous side. Not American restaurant type generous but definitely generous.
The restaurant is nicely lit and decorated. It’s simple, understated much like the essence of ramen.
Being a new restaurant and in fact the first endeavor into the restaurant business by the owner, there were things that can be improved on. The service is still not as quick and efficient as those of more established restaurants but this is expected. I predict that this will improve over time.
So, if you’re craving for a nice bowl of ramen, I suggest you head on over to the Eastwood Mall and try out Ramen Bar. The worst thing I have to say about the place is just that it’s too far from where I live. Otherwise I would be eating there more often.
It’s sad to say that we’re once again giving the impression that in the Philippines no one loses an election. Everyone is cheated out of winning. The news was abuzz yesterday about the surfacing of one whistle blower saying that the 2010 elections were rigged and that the he was part of the group of people that was rigging the elections.
This tall tale sounds like pure bitterness hatched by people who lost in the elections. Let me express my opinions as to why I don’t think that this particular whistle blower is telling the truth as well as my opinion that at the very least the national elections were not rigged.
The automated election is a whole different monster than the elections of past. To cheat in the automated elections you actually have to do it very high up in the structure or at the very grass roots. Let me explain this. In order to cheat the elections you need to get someone high up from Smartmatic to give you access to the source code, the mechanics of the elections, the machines, etc.. That would mean bribing somebody way up. Even then there is also a check and balance from Comelec so you’d have to bribe those people as well. Granted that Comelec doesn’t have the most sterling of reputations it doesn’t change the fact that you should be bribing the high level officers. Even after doing so it’s one thing to have access to those information and it’s another to have the capability to do something about it.
You can posses the source code but given the complexity of programming, not everyone can do it. You need highly specialized people to alter and write a new set of program to cheat for you. There are not a lot of people that can do that. After that you need to be able to place that program back to the machines in order to cheat. The notion that was said by the whistle blower that they intercepted signals and sent their own is hogwash. First, it’s not that simple. Sure you can jam a signal but intercepting it and sending your own is quite difficult. The transmission is encrypted and by my understanding it’s 128 bit key and that’s not an easy thing to crack. It’s not impossible but I don’t the likes of the whistle blower can do it.
Edited
As my friend Carlo pointed out, if you want to hack the automated elections you’d probably have to do it through the server level and not the PCOS machines themselves. This would be a more plausible route. Less manpower and easier to keep a secret. Again for this to be possible you’d need to buy people at the higher levels and not the level the purported whistle blower said.
The other way to cheat the elections and a more plausible way of doing so is buy actually buying the votes. There was a news report that said people would take voters aside and pay them actually not to vote. Thus allowing only the supporters of a particular candidate to vote therefore assuring that the candidate won. Now this would be more possible and doable. Unfortunately this only lends itself well to local elections and not national. The sheer amount of votes you need to buy make it impossible to do it via this method for the national elections.
But my biggest argument as to why I think that the national elections were not rigged is the plain and simple fact that the results are consistent. The tally of the votes are consistent with the surveys and exit polls conducted by SWS, Pulse Asia, ABS-CBN, GMA, PPCRV and other organizations. The only difference would be the degree of margin of victory. In all the surveys the result pretty much said that Aquino would win, Erap would be second, Villar third and so on and so forth.
Now people are saying that there was a conspiracy among all of these organizations to put Aquino as President. C’mon people. You can cheat, buy, steal some of the time but you can’t do it all of the time and with everyone. A conspiracy among all these organizations means you need to buy ABS, GMA, SWS, Pulse Asia, PPCRV, etc. That’s not an easy task nor a cheap one.
But what pisses me off the most is that by implying the above statement it means that you’re questioning the integrity of the various people behind these organizations. Especially the journalists who work their asses off to give you the news. It means that Princeton educated and CNN trained Maria Resa was part of this conspiracy as well. She being the head of the news deptartment means that she must have knowledge that they’re reporting erronoeus data. Seriosuly? It means that the reporters, researchers and other people working in the media department were also bought off? Coz I have not heard a single accusation from them. At least nothing of this magnitude.
The main reason why all of this is coming out now is the plain and simple fact that our politicians can’t stand to lose. For all of Villar’s flaws I at least admired him for admitting defeat. Until he changes his stand on that I will respect him. To a certain extend Gibo also. As for the rest stop whinning, take it like a man, so to speak and move on.
Don’t get me started on congress wanting to investigate poll fraud. A lot of them lost in the elections and now they want to investigate why? That’s not fair you can’t have a participant of the election investigate a contest he just participated in. That’s biased. Have an independent body do so.
I sincerely believe that if any cheating was done during the past election it was probably done at the local level and not at the way that is being mentioned. I believe there was still coercion, vote buying and bullying in the provinces or the remote areas of the country but at the national level I believe that the results are fair and valid. Believe me some of the results I wish were not true.
Some question why Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada topped the elections. There’s a plain and simple explanation for this. People vote for who they know. Especially since most of our populations is undeducated or under educated, they don’t choose based on qualifications. They vote because they know this person and to a certain extend they feel that they can relate to them.
Let me tell you a story. I’ve been going to PGH for the past 4 years. I know this orderly who helps me whenever I’m there. I asked him who he was voting for and why. He mentioned Erap, Jinggoy and Bong. I asked how come? He said despite what people say the three of those have actually made a difference to the poor patients in PGH. During Erap’s time a CT Scan machine broke. This machine was being used by charity patients. Within a short time frame a new one was sent by Erap. Bong and Jinggoy also have letters of guarantee on standby in PGH to guarantee assistance for patients who can’t afford to pay. To those people it actually makes a difference.
Do I want the three of them in office? No. I didn’t vote for them. why? Because I believe their approach to the problems of society is wrong. However that’s my opinion and some people think otherwise. I just need to respect that.
People vote for who they know. That’s the same reason Noynoy is posied to win. It was his name, the legacy that his parents left that pushed him towards victory. It was unfortunate for other candidates that circumstances happened that propeled Aquino on his way to victory. I believe it was just really his destiny to win. That’s what the other candidates are finding hard to grasp. I understand their point of view. Some have prepared a long time for the elections and here comes a man who didn’t want it in the first place and he ends up as the possible victor. It’s hard to accept. But…. they have to.
To Aquino and his team’s credit they were able to sustain the momentum by not screwing up the campaign too much. Well except with the Mar faux paux who is all but certain to lose the VP race. I asked people about why they chose to vote for Binay and not Mar, the consensous was they didn’t want to see Korina in power. Sad but true. Mar is a good guy in my opinion. He would make a good VP. Alas it was not meant to be.
So to sum this up. Do I think that the allegations of that whistle blower is true? No! Was there cheating? Maybe but in isolated cases at the local level. For the most part was the elections clean? Yes I think so. The results are consistent with the surveys and exit polls.
To those who say that SWS, Pulse Asia, PPCRV, ABS, GMA were all conspiring to rig the elections, shame on you. You’re maligning the intergrity of people who work tirelessly to give you information that you want. You must remember after all is said and done these people go back to normal lives. SWS and Pulse Asia will do survey work for companies and other entities, if they risk their reputation they risk their livelihood and their standing not only here but internationally. What to these people have to gain by rigging the elections?
For those who know me, you understand that it’s not that easy for me to make the trek to the voting precinct or any where for that matter. However it is my civic duty as a Filipino citizen to cast my ballot and make my voice heard as to who I want to lead our country.
This election is very important. It’s the first time that our nation will have automated elections. It’s an untested system being administered by a government institution who’s credibility is extremely low. That has a lot of people worried. More than that, we’ve been under GMA for the past 9 years. While her allies say we’ve made progress a lot of us Filipinos feel like we’ve been going backwards.
So I made the trek to my polling precinct. I was lucky that I went around 4 in the afternoon. The lines were non-existent and only the heat made it difficult to vote.
The actual filling up of the ballot took all of 5 mins, while the whole experience was around 20 mins. All in all it was a good experience for me. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the country but a lot of reports of failed counting machines, vote buying and election violence reminds us that while we live in a democracy it’s still severely lacking.
I cast my vote not only for myself. I cast my vote for the millions of Filipinos who have no access to adequate health care and education. Those two are the most important issues for me. I voted for candidates who in my opinion will make progress towards a Philippines wherein you don’t have to go bankrupt because you’re sick or because you sent your children to school.
Tomorrow will be a big day for our country. We’ll get to choose our leaders for the next 6 years. It’s an even bigger day because of the situation that we’re in. As a country we’ve dug ourselves in such a deep hole that I truly fear if we don’t choose the right leaders this time around, we’ll get to a point wherein we won’t be able to dig ourselves out of the situation we’re in.
During the campaign season, experience is a word I’ve heard a lot. Candidates have listed a whole slew of degrees and whatnots on their resume. This is touted as a measure of his/her experience to lead the country.
But what about experiences that can not be measured by degress or positions? Does that not count as well?
Some people have been so focused on just the academic or work experiences of candidates that they’ve failed to see their life experiences. What they’ve gone through provides a unique insight that’s individual to them. Sometimes this can be more powerful than any academic or professional experience.
I should know. If you look at my resume, while it’s ok it’s modest compared to some of my peers. Yet, I’ve gone through experiences in my life which others have not and this has provided me a unique insight or perspective on life. This in turn has allowed me to be wiser than other people my age and older. The challenges I faced over the years have taught me a lot of things that I can never learn from school or work.
So when we look at the choices we make we shouldn’t just focus on academic or professional measurements of the candidates but also their life experiences. What they’ve gone through, what they’ve done after going through those experiences and how they’ve matured because of it.
Life is a great teacher, however sometimes the lessons you learn just can’t be placed in your resume because there’s no way to quantify them.
