What they are in power for

Pa-importante, pa-importante, pa-importante. That’s the Filipino politician. Oh yes, I have encountered these mother-fucking “pa-importante” politicians in their tinted SUV’s and loud sirens bullying other motorists to give way. But everytime these assholes demand for my driver to give way, I tell my driver, “Tong, huwag kang huminto o pumarada. Wala akong paki-alam kung sino yang Animal na ‘yan. Pabayaan mo silang mag-hintay sa likod natin.”

And you know what, it works all the time. The problem is simple in the Philippines. But the majority makes it complicated. Here’s what I suggest to all of us:

Stop giving special treatments to movie celebrities, tv personalities, politicians and thieves who claim to be legitimately rich. If you behave like a tuta sniffing for crumbs on the floor then they will treat you as such. So the next time you hear that loud siren, get out of your car and confront them. If you want to shoot them, then shoot them. God I wish somebody would start teaching these deluded thieves by shooting them dead.

More on GMA’s hypocrisy:

There was one last delicious bit of irony in all of this. On December 17, Arroyo herself had greeted that day’s Gulf Air Flight 154 and its cargo of returning Filipino workers. Bands played, photos were taken and the crowd applauded as the president and various dignitaries handed out a few prizes for Christmas, including a jeepney, insurance policies, a paid vacation and ice cream.

Arroyo “demonstrated to airport authorities the proper way of greeting returning overseas foreign workers,” enthused the Manila Standard newspaper in a front page story, “when she broke the protocol at her own event, stepping outside a cordoned-off area to allow arriving passengers to pass.”

She abandoned the VIP security perimeter, the newspaper said, because she did not want to inconvenience the returning workers. “Why must the passengers suffer?” she was quoted saying at the time. “That is not right.”

With this:

In this case, according to Nakpil, who is fuming mad over the incident, the tower did not interpret Gulf Air’s fuel shortage as enough of an emergency to justify briefly delaying the presidential wedding party. Instead, Flight 154 landed 100 kilometers north of Manila at the former Clark Air Base, which also has an international airport (named, coincidentally, after Arroyo’s father, Diosdado Macapagal, who also was president of the country at one time.)

Nakpil and his crew in Manila were not even informed of the diversion by Manila authorities. They lost track of the flight for 27 minutes, Nakpil said. He worried it might have crashed before Gulf Air’s headquarters in Bahrain finally told him. “It was tantamount to endangering the lives of all the passengers and crew,” Nakpil told a Manila newspaper. “What if the plane lost fuel and crashed?”

“If a long-haul flight requests a landing due to low fuel,” Nakpil told Asia Sentinel, “then that should be given immediate priority. It is already considered an emergency.”

Considering that there are rules that should be followed, even at least for safety’s sake.

Nakpil explained that the airport is routinely closed for at least 30 minutes in the case of a “VIP movement.” This time, he said, there was no advance word given to the airlines of Arroyo’s wedding party plans. “There was no notice at all,” Nakpil complained.

Now here’s the thing:

Nakpil now has been told that Arroyo’s departure was considered a “quasi emergency” by the official Air Transportation Office. A letter of explanation is circulating from an ATO official, Nakpil said, stating that the pilot of Flight 154 failed to use the word “emergency” when he radioed the tower and therefore the situation was not deemed urgent.

Quasi is “Resembling or having a likeness to something”, which essentially means that it only LOOKS like something, but IS NOT actually the thing.

To put it bluntly, GMA has said this to OFWs: “Wala akong pakialam kung mamamatay kayong lahat, basta di ako mapeperwisyo sa mga gimikan ko at tuloy akong makikinabang sa remittances ninyo.

I love this “president”.

[...] The PCIJ noted sarcastically “What are they in power for?” while A. Lin Neumann writes in the Asia Sentinel: “That Arroyo was heading for a wedding that united two powerful political families, a wedding not unlike the union between her own clan and her husband’s powerful bloodline, seemed altogether fitting in a country that still seems to be run for the exclusive benefit of a handful of feudal landholding families who pass political power back and forth between them and divide the spoils of these islands through business deals, elections and cronyism.” [...]

Never heard of our Politicians, not even our PM taking the official Government plane for a personal engagement, but instead a commercial plane at their own expense. Can’t just imagine the brouhaha, if the Media find out PM so-and-so take off on official govt. plane to attend to a party member son’s wedding, a private business. That is just improper and it won’t look good for the party in general. Gee, I can understand for security reason, the Philippine President can not take a commercial flight, but putting the safety of the flying Public in jeopardy for maybe just a delayed flight for her and her party, is just too much for any outside observer to stomach. It is sickening..

Rye, I agree with you 100%. Pag may baril ka lalo na kung high power dapat talaga bumaba ka at turuan ng leksyon itong mga hinayupak. Ang nakakainis, pag panahon ng eleksyon “pa iyong-abang-abang lingkod” pa kunwari pero pag nahalal na astang hari na. In the place where I am, State senators, assembly members and other government officials (except governor) drive themselves and no bodyguards. They are not entitled to that perks. In fact, even Mayor Bloomberg who is in the Forbes List of World Superbillionaires rides the No. 6 subway from Gracie Mansion (official residence) to the City Hall everyday.

Arroyo is lucky because if I was the pilot of that Gulf Air 154 I will insist on landing even without “clearance” because it’s emergency and ram Arroyo’s Learjet if it’s along my path.

Dapat alisin nating and ating “Alipin Mentality” na minana natin and start thinking and treating everybody as equal even if one is a president, senator, tongressman, balut vendor, taho vendor or a superstar. We should stop calling them sir, sir, or ma’am m’am or mayor, governor or attorney, or engineer, or general. Adressing them as plain mister or miss (whatever) is an accepted international protocol. No need to emphasize his calling, profession or position. (I think it’s only in Pinas where you address attorney Lagkit “Attorney Lagkit”. In my city he will be addressed as “Mr. Lagkit” even in formal correspondence.)

ambot saimo,
actually calling someone sir or madame when you know him or her by name is some kind of an insult or sarcasasm in our case. We do use the word as generic, only when we don’t know the fellow’s name. I even call our chief CEO (making in the tens of millions) her first name, call her any other and she’ll give you that dirty look. and you may bump her, and she won’t mind being ingnored, just don’t call her “maam”.

continuing…

as my way of looking back from where I came from, I donated a Barangay Civic Quadrangle for the the barangay folks to congregate during civic affairs which also doubles as basketball court and for drying palay. (i am not rich and i think i mentioned this already before in this blog.) When I came back after one year (which happened to be a fiesta) the barrio fiesta officers prepared the usual “presidential table” for “importanteng people” where they are served with food, alaks, etc. The town mayor and other municipal officals were present during the “vesperas dance”. When I arrived at the dance, the mayor (the first time we meet) requested that I join them in the presidential table but I respectfully declined the invitation by saying that my friends need me in the “ordinary tables” and that I still do not deserve to sit there, quoting a biblical passage that “a bright light should be held higher to provide greater light to greater number of people” and I’m not that light yet or something to that effect. This is the mayor who handed me the Certificate of Appreciation by the Municipality for my “donation kuno”.

After 2 days our next-door bigger barangay held their own fiesta. The mayor was there (as usual) and when i arrived he was seated at the presidential table. When he saw me he went down and joined me at the ordinary table never to return back to that “presidential table” again. When an aide came and told that his colleagues are waitng for him, he said that he is not coming back and he’s comfortable in the ordinary table. Ang balita ko di na raw uso ngayon ang presidential table in my hometown. (unfortunately, the mayor lost in his re-election bid allegedly because mas kakaunti ang “bigay”.)
LESSON: being humble is contagious. the more you humble yourself, the more the people exults you.

By the way, Happy New Year To All!

naykika,

i also often use the extremely polite forms such as “madame” and “sir” as insults. i find that extreme politeness can is a valuable tool of sarcasm.

too bad madame president has the hide of a rhinoceros — no, a battle tank.

Kayo naman para kayong bago ng bago, hindi lang naman sa pinas nangyayari yan, e sa Saudi Arabia nga despite na ang lalapad ng highway na pwedeng mag kasya ang napakaraming sasakyan at halos walang traffic, sinasarado yun pag daraan ang hari nila, ganun din sa ibat ibang parte ng Middle east, Latin America at Asia. Kung ang sukatan nyo ay USA or Canadian way, eh bagsak talaga tayo dun, kasi ang layo ng pag uugali natin sa kanila eh at hindi kailanman natin mararating ang kanilang uri ng pakikisalamuha sa tao. Di kaya yan e parte ng tinatawag nating colonial mentality? Pilit naitng ginagaya ang sa iba? Kaya wag ng mangarap.

Yun namang pakikisalamuha ni Presidente sa Airport sa mga OFW, eh matagal na nating alam lahat yan na pakitang tao lang yan, dapat pa bang pag aksayahan ng panahon yun? E tingnan mo yung mga OFW kahit naantala sila sa biyahe e tuwang tuwa pa nga na nakamayan sila ng presidente, e bakit? E ganyan talaga ang ugali ng pinoy e. Nasa ugat nay an, at din a mababago pa.

Pustahan tayo, lahat ng nag blog dito pag nakaharap si Arroyo at nakamayan tuwang tuwa yun, baka nga may picture taking pa eh, hehehehehe…Hindi naman sa gusto ko yung nangyari pero mulat na ang mga mata ko sa ugali ng pinoy e, ganyan talaga ang pinoy.

Ang dapat pag usapan, eh papano kaya yun magagawan ng paraan na naaayon sa ugali ng pinoy? Mga suhestyon:

1. lahat ng sasakyan ng gov’t official dapat made in the Philippines, tulad ng FX, at pampasaherong jeep. Kung presidente mag eroplano para umatend na party e di mag commercial plane siya. Solve diba walang protocol na susundin.
2. All function outside the legal mandate should be considered private at bawal ang escort
3. ipagbawal ang pagbebenta ng mg serena, maliban sa mga pulis at hospital or for use in fire alarm system sa mga building. Lahat ng makita maliban dito ay dapat na kumpiskahin. bigyan ng legal na approval na ito ay maipatupad ng bawat mamayan, hindi ng kapulisan, halimbawa nakita mo sa kalye sa ibabaw ng sasakyan, dapat karapatan ng bawat mamayan na iyun e batuhin hanggang sa masira. Pag may damage sa sasakyan kasalanan yun ng may ari, nilagyan niya ng sirena eh