Haven’t we had enough?

September 10, 2020

NEARLY 250,000 infected, 3,916 Filipinos dead from COVID-19 since we started keeping count. Unemployment reaching record highs throughout the quarantine. More people going hungry.

And what does this administration do? Make a frozen dead dictator’s’ birthday a province-level holiday, as if to somehow assure the Marcos faithful in Ilocos that they aren’t somehow perpetually delusional. Pour crushed dolomite white sand on Manila Bay, after mining and shipping it from Cebu without any notice to the relevant local government units.

Speaking of sand, spend over P300 million pesos procuring and shipping it while claiming there are no funds for assistance for those hardest-hit by the pandemic. Try to pass a “designated survivor” law because someone bingewatched too much Netflix. Try to regulate Netflix via the MTRCB, probably because our legislators are binge-watching it too much rather than doing their actual jobs.

Despite the fact that Netflix is already self-regulating, and that the MTRCB has no jurisdiction over online content. Pick a fight with Malaysia over Sabah, because some senile old man’s Twitter account hasn’t been locked yet. Red-tag sitting legislators in the middle of a budget hearing.

‘I am most likely missing something in this long list of everything this administration is doing, except deal with the pandemic and the economic problems it has wrought.’

Because some people have nothing better to do with their lives than be a public nuisance.

Impose ridiculous requirements throughout this pandemic such as using barriers for motorcycle riders (which they have thankfully stopped, because it was stupid to begin with) and face shields, devoid of any science. All the while turning a blind eye to the numerous quarantine violations committed by the very people in government tasked to enforce these requirements.

Legislate a “new national greeting” as if the monkeys in government deserve anything less than a middle finger salute. Continue to botch the COVID- 19 testing and contact tracing initiatives, resulting in hilariously unusable data, that will then be used to reimpose enhanced community quarantine, exactly like the whack-a-mole strategy I mentioned some articles back.

Put up gigantic billboards of government appointees, with barely visible “COVID-19 tips” somewhere in there, and then claim that the only mistake was that the face was “too big.” When in fact the actual mistake is that the ego was too big. Propose a national budget that pretends COVID-19 doesn’t really exist.

Pass a COVID-19 response law that likewise pretends that COVID- 19 doesn’t really exist. Grant a murderer a shortened prison sentence for “good behavior,” and when that gets questioned in court, grant the same murderer a pardon, because people “haven’t been fair” to a convicted killer and that “good behavior is presumed.”

Silently sweep the PhilHealth scandal under the rug while everyone is preoccupied with everything else I just mentioned, and appoint someone who has publicly admitted to being unqualified.

Stop publishing appointments made into government, probably because of that last appointment mentioned.

And because those darned citizens keep asking so many questions about the past performance of these appointees, as if those details were somehow more important than their ability to stroke Duterte’s… ego.

I am most likely missing something in this long list of everything this administration is doing, except deal with the pandemic and the economic problems it has wrought. Feel free to supply more examples here.

But the question stands: haven’t we had enough?

Too much to ask for

Jego Ragragio

September 2, 2020

‘One would think that a tragedy such as the Jolo bombing would shock Duterte and his comms people into some semblance of sanity, but I suppose that is simply too far beyond them.’

FOR the first time in months, President Duterte delivered a speech in front of an audience aside from the IATF, PCOO, and his ever-present manservant. That’s right folks — Duterte finally saw daylight.

The occasion of his speech was to address an audience in Jolo, Sulu, where nearly a week before, two suicide bombers took the lives of 14 people — seven soldiers, one police officer, and six civilians. Duterte was there to provide reassurance, to show that his administration was still firmly in control of the situation, that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

Or at least, in an ideal world, that’s what Duterte would have done.

But not before virtually attending an online concert held in his honor. Priorities, people. Come on.

The visit itself was nothing short of breathtakingly trapo. Scenes of Duterte kissing the ground in honor of those who died, conveniently supplied by his manservant, naturally made all the news and troll farms. Barely any mention that they had to do the scene twice, because the first time he forgot to remove his cap, making his first take devoid of respect and reverence. An offering of flowers and a prayer — as if either constituted justice for the dead.

Duterte’s speech wasn’t half-bad. It was over 60% bad, as less than half of his speech was dedicated to rallying our troops, and that 60% was dedicated to his usual rambling aimless nonsense.

A crucial detail Duterte left out of his speech: the suicide bombers responsible for the recent Jolo bombings were the same bombers being tracked by the four AFP intelligence agents gunned down by the police last June. Maybe he thought it was too soon to bring back “his” police’s utter and complete failure?

Once we peel back at Duterte’s speech all the way to its core, especially the parts that weren’t prepared beforehand, Duterte’s message is simple: “I can’t do a damn thing about any of this, just keep fighting, we’ll have peace someday, maybe.”

So inspiring.

One would think that, given the scarcity of Duterte’s’ public appearances, they would try to maximize his presence in a way that is actually meaningful to the victims of the Jolo bombing, and to the public at large that is beset by death and decay from all sides — an ongoing pandemic with no end in sight, a crashing and burning economy, growing unemployment, government scandal after government scandal. And that is what he offers the people? “Sorry, wala akong magawa?”

I mean, I get it. The optics, the spontaneous speech that was largely drivel. It’s the lifeblood of the Duterte Death Squad troll. I truly understand that. But Duterte isn’t the President of the DDS. One would think that a tragedy such as the Jolo bombing would shock Duterte and his comms people into some semblance of sanity, but I suppose that is simply too far beyond them.

Meanwhile, if reports are accurate, Abu Sayyaf member and Jolo bombing suspect Mundi Sawadjaan and two of his associates have escaped Jolo and remain at large. Imagine that: three wanted bombing experts escaped an island where they just perpetrated a heinous bombing. It boggles the mind how Sawadjaan and his cohorts could evade capture when every soldier and law enforcement officer is on the hunt for them.

Then again, as Duterte himself said, wala siyang magawa diyan.

Apparently, asking the President to be Presidential at a time when he needs most to be that is too much to ask for.

Actions, consequences

Jego Ragragio

August 26, 2020

‘Over 3,000 dead among the close to 200,000 Filipinos infected with COVID-19, and Duterte’s lone pitch is to wait for a vaccine. Barely even a word on the Jolo blasts in his last public statement.’

IN June 2020, members of the PNP killed four members of the Army’s 9th Intelligence Service Unit in broad daylight. These intelligence officers were in the middle of tracking two suspected suicide bombers. Because of their deaths, the AFP lost track of the suicide bombers.

Last Monday, two explosions rocked Jolo, killing at least 14 people, half of whom were soldiers. The explosions were caused by two suicide bombers in a brazen terrorist attack — the same two suicide bombers being tracked by the Army intelligence officers killed by the police back in June.

Actions, consequences.

Persistent rumors have been circulating about the supposedly failing health of President-in-Perpetual-Isolation Duterte. After all, since the pandemic began, Duterte has barely been seen live and in public, limiting his exposure to barely-edited blithering aired at ungodly hours of the night, or the next morning. The reality lends itself to a situation ripe for speculation.

In response, Presidential manservant and occasional Sen. Bong Go posted a photo that, to people trained in photography and image manipulation, appeared clearly edited. So even after Go posted a video via Facebook Live showing Duterte standing and talking, the combination of the hilariously atrocious initial response and Duterte’s own slurred speech and drooping eyelids in Go’s video did nothing to quell the ongoing rumors.

Actions, consequences.

Speaking of a blithering Duterte, since Day Zero of this pandemic, Duterte has mouthed nothing but utter garbage. He offers no coherent plan, gives no actionable instructions, provides no concrete solutions — on pre-recorded messages to boot. Forget being about perpetually isolated; Duterte is perpetually useless and worthless, an abject waste of the tax money used to pay his salary.

So when Vice President Leni Robredo comes out on live video, laying out a coherent, actionable, concrete set of actions that government can take, she really isn’t doing anything beyond being a generally competent government official. But by comparison, she sounds like the best thing since sliced bread — so much so that Duterte actually had to delay his scheduled pre-recorded video to the following day, just so he could put in a throwaway line in there and try to pass it off as some sort of weak comeback.

Actions, consequences.

Back in May 2016, we decided that we wanted a relatively unknown mayor to be our president, based largely on hype: “He’s decisive!” (Duterte actually vacillated about running and only formally ran when his placeholder lackey was about to be disqualified for being a nuisance candidate — Diño is no longer a candidate, but is still a nuisance.) “No nonsense!” (I suppose we all suddenly became collectively deaf and dumb when Duterte started making death threats and rape jokes?) “He’ll bring about real change!” (Yeah, for the absolute worst. Hello, every last recycled corrupt Duterte appointee, how are your bank accounts, still healthy and untraceable?)

Now, in the middle of a pandemic, we have an indecisive, nonsensical President who cannot change his idiotic habits if our lives depended on it — and it does. Over 3,000 dead among the close to 200,000 Filipinos infected with COVID-19, and Duterte’s lone pitch is to wait for a vaccine. Barely even a word on the Jolo blasts in his last public statement. In the meantime, while Filipinos are literally dying, he prioritizes his authoritarian fetishes with the enactment of the clearly unconstitutional “Anti-Terror” Act, shutting down media outlets while favoring his own oligarch friends.
Actions, consequences.

I hope that the next time we take meaningful action we aim for a consequence that actually benefits us rather than puts us in harm’s way.

The malevolent mantle

Jego Ragragio

August 20, 2020

‘…on August 17, 2020, under the pen of Associate Justice Caguioa, the Supreme Court decision drew a definitive line with the fundamental rights of Filipinos, and in sum told the executive that they cannot cross that line in enforcing the law.’

SOMETIMES, a Supreme Court decision is just that: a Supreme Court decision. It decides on legal controversies and interprets the laws of the Philippines. Once the controversy is decided, the decision forms part of the laws of the land.

Sometimes, a Supreme Court decision is just a Supreme Court decision. But on August 17, 2020, the decision promulgated by the Supreme Court in the case of People of the Philippines vs. Jerry Guerrero Sapla was more than that.

The facts are straightforward. On January 10, 2014, the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) in Tabuk City, Kalinga received an anonymous phone call, claiming that a man would be transporting marijuana from Kalinga to Isabela. The RPSB would later receive an anonymous text containing a description of the person, who turned out to be accused-appellant Sapla, as well as the plate number of the public jeep Sapla was riding. The RPSB set up a checkpoint, and not long thereafter flagged down the jeepney. Armed with the anonymous tip, the RPSB identified Sapla based on the description, and inspected the sack Sapla had with him on the jeep, with Sapla’s consent. Inside, they found four bricks of what would later be confirmed as marijuana. During trial, Sapla merely denied the accusation, claiming the sack did not belong to him. The Regional Trial Court found Sapla guilty, and the Court of Appeals upheld his conviction.

Tasked with deciding Sapla’s appeal, the Supreme Court, speaking through Associate Justice Caguioa, summarized the key issue as: “Stripped to its core, the essential issue in the instant case is whether or not there was a valid search and seizure by the police officers. The answer to this critical question determines whether there is enough evidence to sustain accused-appellant Sapla’s conviction under Section 5 of R.A. 9165.”

The Supreme Court reversed Sapla’s conviction. Barring any other case being pursued against him, Sapla is now a free man.

The decision makes a detailed discussion on the history, development, and at times divergence of the case law on warrantless searches and seizures. And from this lengthy discussion the Court reached the conclusion: a targeted search of a single person based solely on an anonymous tip and nothing else is an invalid search, and anything obtained from it cannot be accepted as evidence. In this case, it included the marijuana seized from Sapla. Without the contraband as evidence, the court has no choice but to acquit Sapla.

This decision easily mirrors the misgivings of civil society against Duterte’s war on drugs.

Yes, we are all in agreement: illegal drugs are bad, substance abuse is bad, and we do need to pursue suspected pushers and dealers to the fullest extent of the law. But we have to go by the book. We can’t take shortcuts. That is how we lose cases. That is how these accused pushers and dealers go free. And then what? We shortcut even more by killing the suspects? What if we’re wrong and they’re not the ones we should be pursuing?

Sometimes a Supreme Court decision is just a Supreme Court decision. But on August 17, 2020, under the pen of Associate Justice Caguioa, the Supreme Court decision drew a definitive line with the fundamental rights of Filipinos, and in sum told the executive that they cannot cross that line in enforcing the law.

“A battle waged against illegal drugs that tramples on the rights of the people is not a war on drugs; it is a war against the people.

“The Bill of Rights should never be sacrificed on the altar of convenience. Otherwise, the malevolent mantle of the rule of men dislodges the rule of law.”

Loyalties

Jego Ragragio

August 13, 2020

‘The question is: when push comes to shove, to whom will the loyalties of these people belong?’

OVER the weekend someone sent me a link to a Facebook post supposedly written by lawyer Wilfredo Garrido. In it, Garrido laments the fact that nearly a third of Duterte’s cabinet is comprised of retired military and police men, all woefully ill-equipped to perform the tasks associated with their present jobs. Garrido goes on to attribute the recent failures of the Duterte regime — the botched war on drugs, the IATF and its abject bungling of our COVID-19 response, and now the emerging PhilHealth scandal, among others — to the fact that the persons in charge are “recycled military men.”

“No wonder PhilHealth is near bankruptcy, IATF is a bunch of headless chickens, the country has gone to the dogs.

“Old soldiers never die, they just rust away in the Duterte junkyard” goes the post.

But here I must respectfully ask: is Garrido looking at this from the proper angle?
Sure, these military/police retirees plain suck at their jobs. Res ipsa loquitur. COVID-19 cases are now far beyond the capacity our health care workers and medical facilities can handle. According to the actuarial math, PhilHealth won’t live to see past 2021. Tokhang operations appear to have shifted from alleged “drug personalities” to alleged NPA members. The DILG appears hell-bent on not helping the local governments at all, being content with merely telling LGUs what they ought to be doing (Article X Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution left the chat.) Lord knows what’s happening with the DSWD, the DENR, the DICT, and so on.

But is all of this why Duterte appointed them to begin with?

This is the part where I knowingly jump down the rabbit hole and say: I think Duterte, being a Marcos fanboy extraordinaire, is simply taking a page out of the dictator’s playbook, and putting ex-military and ex-police in all of these agencies under the assumption that they are personally loyal to him above the country.

Garrido himself laid out all of the executive agencies where military people have been appointed: DILG, DND, DSWD, DENR, DICT, DHSUD, OPPAP, TESDA, Bureau of Corrections, Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Customs, Clark Airport, MMDA, NIA, PhilHealth. There are likely more than these. But from these alone, it covers a huge swath of what makes up Filipino life.

With mayors having been shown the example of the killing of Ozamiz Mayor Parojinog back in 2017, no mayor would question the word of the DILG secretary. Indeed, the moment SILG Año stated that no mass gathering would be allowed on SONA day, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte capitulated and went back to quietly doing nothing faster than we can spell her name — despite the clear Constitutional autonomy of Quezon City from national government.

Many of these agencies legally and legitimately collect personal information of many Filipinos. Sure, disclosing personal information to other agencies without prior consent is against the law. But realistically, what chance does an ordinary Filipino have against the full weight of government machinery and resources?

Between the Bureau of Immigration, the Bureau of Customs, and the various airport authorities, this represents control over a large chunk of people and goods going in and out of the Philippines.

Between the MMDA, the PNP and the AFP, this represents control over the movement of people within the Philippines in general, and Metro Manila particularly.

If Duterte went completely off the rails and declared himself President-For-Life tomorrow, for whatever flimsy reason only he could imagine, and if all of these ex-police and ex-military maintain loyalty to Duterte rather than the country, then they could very easily secure Duterte’s reign using all of these key agencies.

In fact, it doesn’t even need to be so extreme. The setup could come creeping, in the form of “constitutional” laws that grossly overextend executive power (such as the Anti-Terror Law), government actions that directly threaten free speech and free press (the ABS-CBN shutdown, the various charges against Rappler and Maria Ressa, the killings and raids involving leftist media personalities and organizations), and continuing military-style lockdowns to supposedly control the COVID-19 outbreak, even as said lockdown has demonstrably failed to exert any such control, just to have the excuse to immediately disrupt any gathering, including peaceful protests.

So never mind that these appointees are incompetent for the positions they accepted. That is a given. In fact incompetence is almost a Duterte trademark at this point.

The question is: when push comes to shove, to whom will the loyalties of these people belong?

In 254 characters. Or less.

Jego Ragragio

August 5, 2020

‘On Duterte’s speech on going back to MECQ: Why should any of us be surprised that Duterte considers any form of criticism as a call to revolt against him? Any show of intelligence and competence is threatening to an incompetent clown show.’

IN my now-defunct (but soon to be revived, maybe) personal blog, I used to write what I’d call a “One-Liners Blog Post.” In it I’d have quick one/two-liner statements on prevailing issues, all limited to 140 characters — the old character limit to Twitter.

Now, I thought I’d bring it back, only this time I’d limit each statement to 256 characters — which is the current Twitter character limit, plus some allowance for quotation marks, a space, and the requisite 23 characters so that you, my dear reader, can just link back to this after quoting me. You’re welcome.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts on various issues, in 254 characters or less. Enjoy!

On returning to MECQ: So after 5 months, Metro Manila has returned to MECQ. Only this time, we have the benefit of hindsight to say that this Duterte administration has had absolutely no plan in place to stem the spread of COVID-19. Ain’t it great?

On Duterte’s speech on going back to MECQ: Why should any of us be surprised that Duterte considers any form of criticism as a call to revolt against him? Any show of intelligence and competence is threatening to an incompetent clown show.

On spokesperson Roque’s statement on the call of frontline medical practitioners: Why is it the doctors’ fault that Duterte was the “last to know” of their conditions? Isn’t it the IATF’s job to monitor what happens on the ground and report back?

Speaking of the IATF: Has anyone else noticed that there isn’t a single doctor among the IATF bigwigs? And no, Incompetent Duque doesn’t count. Mostly military and police guys. Maybe this is why all of their solutions are militaristic — and ineffective?

On Sen. Villar’s apparent lack of breeding and empathy: She has insulted nurses, the academe, researchers, and middle class workers. Why not go the extra mile and insult the one group of people who have been saving lives throughout this pandemic?

On DFA Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin’s Twitter activity: If it looks like a crazed old geezer, walks like a crazed old geezer, talks like a crazed old geezer, and acts like a crazed old geezer, then trust me, it isn’t some tactical genius in disguise.

On the DDS trolls’ call for doctors to resign: Doctors are “tired,” “overwhelmed,” and “need a time-out,” and your response to them is to call for them to resign? Yet when Duterte is exactly those things, you plead with people not to criticize him?

On the changes the doctors are asking for: They’re not unreasonable. Get rid of all of these obviously ineffective people in the IATF and put in people who actually know what they’re doing. It’s laughable that people even need to say it out loud.

A last thought: Things will get better. It’ll get worse, though, before it gets better. But what everyone needs to keep in mind is that the Philippines will get better despite Duterte and his ilk, not because of them. We’re stronger than this Duterte regime makes us think we are.

Writing this gave me a headache

Jego Ragragio

July 29, 2020

‘So, just to quickly recap: Our Chief Executive has no plan. Our sycophant-ridden Congress will make a plan. Maybe it will be a good plan, but don’t get your hopes up. Our implementing agencies will plod along, playing whack-a-mole with
COVID-19 using quarantines, shame campaigns, and local gossips.’

BY the time you read this, it will have been two days since Clown-in-Chief Duterte’s late night non-comedy show moved to a special once-a-year primetime slot. You might have even watched it — I hope you didn’t, for your own spiritual and mental well-being.

If you didn’t watch it, you didn’t miss anything substantial.

The long and short of the SONA was, yes, COVID-19 is a problem, yes, thank you to the frontline-oh look, Senator Drilon! Telcoms! Bong Go, Duterte’s safe sky, with whom he is at peace! Oligarchs! Pass Duterte’s laws, rubber stamp Congress, even the ones you already passed and that he vetoed! More gaslighting! More oligarchs!

Oligarchs. Duterte loves using this word, but it doesn’t mean what he thinks it means. But that’s another column for another time.

There is no recovery plan for the COVID-19 pandemic. He is leaving that for Congress to decide, in passing an encompassing “Recover as One Act.” Given the brain trust of Congress, as recently displayed during the SONA with their amazing ability to clap on demand, I have absolutely no confidence in the resulting law.

It doesn’t help that Duterte claims he will pursue COVID-19 measures with the “same fervor” as his “war on drugs.” After all, his war on drugs is a complete and unmitigated failure that has resulted in thousands of deaths, with no real effect on the illegal drug trade. Personally, I’m not keen on seeing that level of “success” duplicated for the pandemic response.

Beyond whatever law Congress passes, I likewise have no confidence in the agencies that will be implementing it. Look at the Department of Health, consistently inconsistent with its treatment of COVID-19 numbers. Look at the Philippine National Police, seriously considering tokhang-style door-to-door “May umuubo ba dito?” operations and literal chismoso/chismosa recruitment. Look at the Department of the Interior and Local Government, with one of its officers (coughDiñocough) suggesting a “shame campaign” for people who test positive for COVID-19 but opted to self-quarantine at home in accordance with DOH guidelines.

In fact, just look at the Rizal Memorial Stadium this past weekend, where thousands of Filipinos stranded in Metro Manila trooped over to find a way home.

If there was ever a scene that truly depicted, in a “Pinoy na Pinoy” manner, the state of our nation, it was the Rizal Memorial Stadium over the weekend. Where people were jampacked, risking health amid the pandemic and strong rains, just to get home — because there is nothing left for them here. Where government completely lost control over the volumes of people, and where virtually nothing was done to fast-track the processes, to ease up the crowds.

Where the government response to the immediate problematic situation was to send a flute band to entertain the crowd.

A. Flute. Band. In the middle of a pandemic where the virus is known to travel in the air as part of vapor.

There are so many words for this, but none of them are fit to see print in a newspaper.

As of this writing, throngs of people are still at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, trying to get home, albeit in far lesser numbers. Even so, government is looking to bring these people home by Thursday, 30 July 2020.

The cynic in me thinks that the only reason they targeted Thursday was because Friday is supposed to be a holiday.

So, just to quickly recap: Our Chief Executive has no plan. Our sycophant-ridden Congress will make a plan. Maybe it will be a good plan, but don’t get your hopes up. Our implementing agencies will plod along, playing whack-a-mole with COVID-19 using quarantines, shame campaigns, and local gossips. All while botching what actually needs to be done, such as mass testing, aggressive contact tracing, and medical facility augmentation.

This is the state of our nation, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. May the Almighty have mercy on us all.

Modern problems require modern solutions

Jego Ragragio

July 22, 2020

‘Repeal the Radio Control Law. Replace it with something better, something that will allow ABS-CBN to operate while also giving The People a modern framework for utilizing and managing our broadcast frequencies.’

AMID rising COVID-19 infections (the UP vs. Roque series is now tied 1-1), a renewed sort of push for charter change, and President Duterte suggesting that people dip disposable masks in diesel to disinfect them — a suggestion the DDS faithful will surely take to heart — the top-of-mind topic remains the ABS-CBN closure. And why not? The authors of the franchise denial live-streamed their very animated discussion about how they were going to screw everyone over and push for administrative fines in the trillions of pesos, not to mention a government to take over ABS-CBN’s Mother Ignacia compound based on flimsy anecdotal evidence of problematic land titles.

If anyone ever needed a lesson in why our justice system requires impartial judges, this is the perfect illustration of what happens when “judges” are very much partial.

Now, I wanted to shift the focus a bit on the part where people are proposing a people’s initiative to grant ABS-CBN a franchise. It is certainly a novel idea, but I must sadly register my dissent from it.

To be clear: I want ABS-CBN back up. But I don’t want people to expend time and effort and resources to push for something that may potentially be shot down via technicalities. I will suggest another way that a people’s initiative could work, but let’s deal with the franchise portion first.

The Constitution provides that legislative power shall be vested in the Congress of the Philippines, except to the extent reserved to the people by the provision on initiative and referendum. Particularly, we The People reserved for Ourselves the ability to directly propose and enact laws or approve or reject any act or law or part thereof by the Congress or local legislative body. From this alone, it looks like a legislative franchise is fair game.

Is it?

A legislative franchise is a private law, and according to Section 24 Article VI of the Constitution, this is expressly vested in the House of Representatives — not even the entire Congress, which includes the Senate — along with appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, and bills of local application.

So let’s go back. We The People vested legislative power in Congress, “except” for what we reserved for ourselves. Reading all of that together, this means that whatever we actually and specifically lodged in Congress, we did not reserve for ourselves.
This includes private bills, such as congressional franchises.

Now, admittedly there is no exact jurisprudence on this. I may yet be proven wrong. But is a legal challenge on that level really something we want to risk, after all of the effort required for a people’s initiative?

To be clear: private bills must emanate from the House. But the Constitution itself does not mandate legislative franchises for broadcast companies. This requirement is mandated by Act No. 3864, also known as the Radio Control Law.

Think about it. The only reason broadcast companies like ABS-CBN need a legislative franchise to utilize radio frequencies is because the 89-year old law mandates it. That’s right: a 1931 law, made back when we weren’t even a country yet and crafted so only “ahem” wealthy foreigners could put up radio broadcast stations, keep our broadcast media corporations beholden to the political dynasty club that is the House of Representatives.

Now, I did say I was going to suggest something, so here’s the pitch: instead of a people’s initiative for a franchise grant, why not a people’s initiative to repeal the Radio Control Law, and replace it with a law better-suited to address our modern frequency spectrum management problems? After all, modern problems require modern solutions.

In fact, we don’t even need to reinvent the wheel. House Bill 299 exists, a bill that aims precisely to repeal the Radio Control Law and create a more modern framework for frequency spectrum management. Look it up. It has everything we need, and then some.

If we think we can get HB 299 passed into law faster than the House, if we are hell-bent on a people’s initiative, then I think we should go for it.

Repeal the Radio Control Law. Replace it with something better, something that will allow ABS-CBN to operate while also giving The People a modern framework for utilizing and managing our broadcast frequencies.

That is a people’s initiative I can get behind.

Dismantling

Jego Ragragio

July 15, 2020

‘Duterte is dismantling democracy. And he has to be stopped.’

THE topic of the day is the recent denial of the ABS-CBN franchise application by the Den of — whoops I mean the House of Representatives committee on legislative franchises last Friday. With a vote of 70-11, with two abstentions, the House committee put an end to the circus that the committee hearings had become, with one clown after another parading their comedy skills or lack thereof.

To everyone paying attention to those hearings who isn’t a Duterte Death Squad troll, the question remains: “Why?”

For each accusation made, the media giant had an answer. Not only that: the relevant government agency with jurisdiction over the subject matter of the accusation had an answer as well. And their collective answers were clear as a summer’s night sky: ABS-CBN had committed no violations of law.

Which I suppose accounts for the laughfest that is the report of the House Committee technical working group. I personally love how they tried to sound scholarly by citing some Supreme Court decisions at the beginning of their report — Supreme Court decisions that had absolutely nothing to do with any of the irrationale behind denying ABS-CBN its franchise. But hey, because The People overwhelmingly supported ABS-CBN’s franchise application, I suppose they were forced to make their illogic, well, “logical” to The People.

It’s now a question of whether or not The People will buy it. From the looks of their continued attempts to justify their denial of the franchise, it seems the goods have yet to be sold.

Let’s be honest here. We don’t have to think too deeply on this. The House of Representatives, led by a dense cueball, a rodent, and a host of amateur clowns, denied ABS-CBN their franchise because their Clown-in-Chief said so.

Just this past Tuesday, President Duterte was all pride, saying “Ganun nila nilaro ang bayan ko. Kaya ako mamatay, mahulog ang eroplano, I am very happy. Alam mo bakit, without declaring martial law I dismantled the oligarchy that controlled the economy and the Filipino people.”

In case you’re wondering, yes, Duterte just directly compared himself to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Moreover, it’s not as if Duterte isn’t assembling his own set of cronies and mail-order oligarchs that will control the economy and the Filipino people on his behalf.

But then, I suppose he has to look like he “dismantled” something, so he can have some accomplishment to report in his upcoming State of the Nation Address. Otherwise, what else would he report? That we’re currently one of the top countries in the world in terms of COVID-19 infection rates? That our economic outlook is at its worst in decades? That our economy likely won’t recover any time soon? All because Duterte and his dog and pony show had no plans whatsoever to address and manage the pandemic and its effects? All because Duterte and his goons chose to focus their attention and efforts into passing a fundamentally flawed anti-terror law and into denying ABS-CBN its franchise?

Going back, can you imagine the level of malice, the height of sociopath behavior needed to place the lives and livelihood of thousands in jeopardy, in the middle of a pandemic — all for the sake of optics? Not just of Duterte, but of every single glad-handing yes-person who voted in favor of what Duterte wants?

This isn’t even the first time. Marawi sends its regards.

Many people are now looking to 2022. Yes, that may be our best chance to correct our course. Assuming 2022 elections even take place. At this point I put nothing past this administration. But make no mistake, 2022 should have started back in 2016. It isn’t too late, but now we have a lot of lost time to make up for.

Duterte is dismantling something. But he isn’t dismantling some imaginary oligarchy.
Duterte is dismantling democracy. And he has to be stopped.

The real terrorist

Jego Ragragio

July 8, 2020

‘For all I know, maybe some group out there has some hit list of all the people they want to file cases against under the terror law, and I’m on that list just because I’m so cruel
to their favorite circus animal that just so happens to also the be President of the Philippines.’

SO it has come to pass. President Rodrigo Duterte signed the anti-terror bill into law last Friday. His signing of the law was officially announced past 5 p.m., and only because reporters asked Presidential spokesperson and dolphin whisperer Harry Roque to confirm the news. It’s the Presidential equivalent of an employee firing off an important “Oh, by the way” email after everyone else had gone home for the weekend. In any other normal setting, that employee would have a memo waiting for him when he got back to the office the following week.

The best equivalent we have to the said memo is four petitions for certiorari filed before the Supreme Court first thing last Monday morning, with possibly more on the way. Invariably, the petitions boil down to this: the new law is vague and overbroad, and too susceptible to the whims and caprices of its implementers to withstand judicial scrutiny.

Godspeed to all who filed the petitions and who will argue them before the Supreme Court.
A good example of how whimsical and capricious R.A. 11479 (or “Terror Law” for short. Not a typo.) is:

Let’s say I hypothetically write that Duterte is Xi Jinping’s China pet, in that he sits around and does nothing but grow buds on his terra cotta mug, and occasionally gets it colored chestnut brown because he exists solely for Xi Jinping’s amusement and at Xi Jinping’s pleasure.

Ordinarily, my comment would be considered a fair comment on Duterte’s duties as President and his perceived inaction on matters pertaining to intrusions of the armed forces of the People’s Republic of China into Philippine sovereign patrimony, such as the West Philippine Sea. It is valid and legal.

However, any person who worships the toilet seat Duterte sits on could easily construe my statement as being a form of dissent creating a serious risk to public safety, in that it seriously destabilizes the fundamental political structures of society by making a mockery of the executive branch of government.

In case you’re wondering, I’m using the words of Section 4 of the terror law to hypothetically find “probable cause” to proscribe myself as a “terrorist.” I put “probable cause” in quotation marks because in reality, there is no evidentiary threshold for it in the law. Someone could sneeze, and that would be enough for “probable cause.”

The only thing that keeps this matter all hypothetical? The fact that the Anti-Terrorist Council has yet to be formed, and that no one has brought it up. Or maybe it has been brought up, and the only thing they’re waiting for is the 15 days after publication? Who knows?

For all I know, maybe some group out there has some hit list of all the people they want to file cases against under the terror law, and I’m on that list just because I’m so cruel to their favorite circus animal that just so happens to also be the President of the Philippines.

Or maybe it’s just because I happen to annoy them one way or the other, and the terror law is the low-hanging fruit against people like me who are vocal against this administration.

Which, of course, proves our point precisely. But I don’t expect people of that particular brand of brain trust to understand that.

Perhaps the biggest irony in the passage of the terror law is that, for all intents and purposes, Duterte and his ilk fit the terror law definition of “terrorist” perfectly.

Engages in acts intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to any person, or endangers a person’s life? Check. See: Duterte’s numerous public speeches where he explicitly threatens to kill people for reasons, not to mention the Duterte Death Squad and alleged state-sponsored extra-judicial killings.

Engages in acts intended to cause extensive damage or destruction to a government or public facility, public place, or private property? Check. Marawi says hi. Not to mention Duterte’s exhortations for private businesses to pay NPA revolutionary taxes, because of “reality.”

Engages in acts intended to cause extensive interference with, damage or destruction to critical infrastructure? Check. See: Unchecked Chinese intrusion into the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.

All for the purpose of creating an atmosphere of fear and to seriously destabilize the fundamental political, economic, and social structures of the country?

Well, the only other possible explanation is that Duterte is simply absolutely, breathtakingly, astoundingly incompetent, and that the appointed inmates are running the penitentiary.

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