Boo Chanco thinks the appointment of Romulo Neri as Chair of the Commission on Higher Education will address the disconnect between the graduates that schools produce and the jobs that are available. He also thinks that Neri will have the political will to close down diploma mills.

I am all for closing down diploma mills. I am wary though of retooling our education system just to accommodate what jobs there are.

The disconnect between the skills of the graduates and the jobs available is indeed a problem. To bridge the disconnect, CHED must have the means to compel schools to retool and churn out graduates that could fill up the jobs that are available.

Yes, the use of the words ‘retool’ and ‘churn’ are deliberate. Because that’s what Chanco and others are thinking – transform our schools into factories. (Yes, I’m old-school when it comes to education.)

Skills can be taught, but it will depend on the student’s aptitude. The National Collegiate Aptitude Examination is designed to guide a student in choosing what course to take in college. The rationale is that via NCAE, the student will take a course that he/she has the aptitude, therefore insuring that the student will somehow be successful. However, it is very possible that the course chosen is disconnected from whatever jobs there are – another graduate added in the jobless pool.

Call center companies complain that the supply cannot satisfy demand. You know what Chanco and others don’t know? Interview call center agents, past and present, and ask them what they feel. What Chanco and others don’t know is that the attrition rate in call center companies is high.

Also, not everyone can enter call center companies even if they are trained.

Remember Trade Secretary Peter Favila saying that there are jobs out there but Filipinos are just being choosy? In a way he is correct – we are choosy because we just cannot live on a pittance being paid to a welder. And that is I think the real problem is.

The gap between the salaries of a lathe machine operator and a call center agent is wide. So we train the operator to become a call center agent, even if he has no aptitude for it. The trained operator enters a call center company. Several months later, he is either terminated or resigned. Wash, rinse, repeat.

The problem is how to bridge the salary gap. This is what we should address.

RELATED POSTS:
More Problems in Education
For when dreams exceed one’s grasp

Pati ba naman sa lotto, may price increase?

From ABS-CBN News:

PCSO to jack up prices of lotto bets

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office will increase the minimum lotto bet to P20 effective August 15, ABS-CBN News reported Tuesday.

Arnel Casas, assistant manager of PCSO’s Central Operation Department, said the price adjustment will only affect the “jackpot-bearing” games including 6/42, 6/45, and 6/49.

Casas said the PCSO intends to double the jackpot prize of the three numbers games as well as double the charity contributions of the department.

He said the PCSO has been deliberating on the price increase since the games were first introduced on March 8, 1995.

The increase, meanwhile, raised speculations of a boom in the numbers racket “jueteng” once the price adjustment takes effect.

Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio said the numbers racket is the Filipinos’ cheaper alternative to lotto. He said people can place jueteng bets for as low as P1.

The government created lotto to combat the increasing popularity of jueteng. The numbers racket was partly blamed for President Joseph Estrada’s downfall in 2001 after he allegedly pocketed millions of pesos in jueteng payola.

Members of President Arroyo’s family were also linked to jueteng operations in the country but a Senate investigation into the issue proved fruitless after several witnesses recanted.

Casas downplayed the possible resurgence of jueteng after the lotto price adjustment.

“Meron naman kaming EZ 2. Iyon po ang pantapat sa jueteng. Hindi po nagbago ang presyo (We have the EZ 2 game. This game was created to compete with jueteng. The game’s minimum bet [remains P10]),” he explained.

Aside from EZ 2, Casas said the PCSO is currently studying the expansion of small-time lottery (STL) into other provinces. He said the STL game is still in the experimental stage.

Various sectors, including bishops groups, have openly protested the government’s introduction of the STL game. Reports said the STL game is being used by big-time gambling operators as front for their jueteng operations.

What’s next? Poll tax?

John Nery asked what is the best political insult?

I will not answer the question because (1) it is a question of history, and is never the subject of most history books; and (2) like everything else, the answer will always be relative, ie. how the insult affects the receiver of the attack.

Instead I submit that a good politician will never be affected by such. Number one, it should not concern one if the insult is false. Number two, an insult is always an ad hominem, and as such, is meaningless in the exchange of ideas.

How do you deal with an insult? This is supposed to be a dilemma: if you react furiously, people will tend to see you as guilty; if you don’t even react to it, people tend to see that silence as proof of guilt.

An insult is issued to provoke, to force someone to react.

React if you must, but make it a dignified one.

PS: How do you deal with insults?

PPS: Miriam Santiago called the members of the House of Representatives as “talakitok”. Now that his son is a congressman, I wonder if the appellation still applies, or she would use a collective modifier. Now, I am waiting for Miriam die hards for their wonderful comments (sample some of them here).

First, it’s rule by law. Now, it is skirting the law.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Executive Department, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine National Police to produce Jonas Burgos at the Court of Appeals yesterday. As expected, no Burgos was produced. And most expectedly, the summoned people did not even bother dignifying the Court order with a written reply,

Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Calderon, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Maj. Gen. Delfin Bangit of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (Isafp), Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, 7th Infantry Division head Maj. Gen. Juanito Gomez, Lt. Col. Noel Clement of the Escort and Security Battalion, and 56th Infantry Battalion commanding officer Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano – all of them proved to the entire nation who is in command and who is in power. All of them snubbed the Court; the Emperor had sent his own lawyer, the others represented by an assistant solicitor-general. They snubbed the Court because they know they will get away with it.

And they did.

The main argument that the solicitor-general has employed is the standard AFP reply – they cannot produce Burgos because they don’t have him. Circumstantial evidences will point out that this is false. Cases in point:

1. The car that was used in the abduction was found in a military camp.
2. The AFP had conducted an investigation, but like the Mayuga Report, it will not release the findings, “for confidential reasons.”
3. General Tolentino has branded Burgos as a member of the New People’s Army.

Maybe they did had Burgos, but he was long dead.

Maybe the NPA has Burgos, in an attempt to undermine the AFP. But how come the AFP and the PNP have not said anything in this line? And why are they not investigating this? Why can’t they declare an all-out war against the NPA?

Also, giving Gloria Arroyo a dose of her own medicine, let us cite some numbers. I will quote Jhay Rocas here:

874 cases of human rights violations, 99, 011 individual victims, 14, 302 families in 288 communities, 282 victims of extra-judicial killings, 69 victims of massacres, 147 victims of forced disappearances…

Bangit complains that he and the AFP are maligned. Prove, Mr. General, that you have not done anything. Prove by apprehending and putting into justice the perpetrators of these crimes. But can you? Will you?

Rule by law: using the law to your means. Skirting the law: using loopholes to get away from law. Both are legacies of the Arroyo administration.

What I am afraid of is that the AFP indeed have Burgos in their custody, and they are defying every institution there is, and is undermining the Judiciary, the last institution that the Arroyo administration has not corrupted/destroyed/compromised. Yet.

In a blog post, The Purple Phoenix thinks that Jamby Madrigal is angling for the presidency at 2010. I had commented that I will vote for Madrigal if she will put up reward money (minimum of 3 million pesos) to anyone who can positively point where Burgos is, among other conditions I had posted in the said comment.

Impunity n.

1. Freedom from punishment of any kind.

2. A legal reward given for terrorist actions, when they are carried out by the State. (emphasis mine)

Not the best that I could think of.

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Senate President and Senators of the Republic, Mr. Speaker and members of the House of Representatives, Mr. Chief Justice and justices of the Supreme Court, members of the Cabinet, Your Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen, mga kababayan:

First let me congratulate all the winners of the previous elections. I would like to mention Senator DayaNa Zooberry – he held on despite the rumormongering by the opposition. The truth was out and has proven the opposition wrong. The people have spoken and I call on Senator Zooberry’s critics to accept the people’s will and give him a chance to prove himself.

The 2007 elections has proven that this administration has the support of the people. The people have shown support by electing two-thirds of administration candidates for the House. The people have chosen to have an administration-dominated Senate. Those who believe otherwise are sore losers, and I suggest they get psychiatric health.

It has been three years since the Filipino people have overwhelmingly elected me as President. I am proud to say that I have delivered on my promises, and today I want to report on what I have accomplished and what this administration will do for the next three years.

Again, we delivered as promised when it comes to the economy. We have raised taxes, and thus we had a remarkable tax collection figures. When the tax collection fell against target, we fired the tax chief to show government officials that we mean business. Also, we want to prove to the business people that every government official is accountable. This administration will also like to show that it protects those who are performing well.

The stock market is growing and the Philippine peso is in its highest since seven years ago, signs that our economy is improving. I would like to credit the 40,000 out of 80 million Filipinos who invest in the Philippine Stock Exchange; they are the true Filipino patriots. Credit should also be given to the new heroes, the overseas Filipino workers, whose remittances keep our peso afloat. I also commend the Central Bank for intervening in the foreign exchange market to prop up the national currency.

I commend the 13th Congress for passing one of the most important piece of legislation of the century – the Human Security Act. Some people are afraid of this law. I say this – only those who are enemies of the State should be afraid of this law. The law is crafted specifically to deter enemies of the State from committing acts of terror.

As for those who fears that this administration will use this law against the opposition – fear not. The Anti-Terrorism Council oversees the implementation of this law, and it is composed of sane individuals. Unless you are declared enemies of the State, you have nothing to fear.

However, this should not be an excuse for the opposition to destabilize the country. This administration will not hesitate in using the Human Security Act to protect the people from destabilization.

We will continue building bridges and roads through the efforts of the congressmen. Whatever your province, your town, your district needs – ask your congressman, and it will be done.

Mga kababayan: There is nothing that we cannot do if we stand united. Let’s stop opposing and instead work together. Let’s move on. Thank you.

I am calling for reader participation. Write one paragraph in the comments about what you think the So Sorry State of the Nation Address should contain. It can be humorous, it can be sarcastic, it can be straight to the point, as long as it is not porn nor full of expletives.

Also, if you have written an alternative State of the Nation Address, leave the link at the comments.

RELATED READING:

State of the Nation
State Of The Nation’s Distress
Measure SONA against this
What’s the real state of the nation?

To see how cannibals live, Manuel L. Quezon III is live-blogging the carnage.

Two months after the 2007 elections, with senators and congressmen ready to constitute the 14th Congress, we must now take stock of what had happened and what is next for us.

The Maguindanao vote was not a dagdag-bawas operation; it was more of an insurance operation with no clear goal in the beginning. The operators at Maguindanao took things slowly, trying to gauge the situation by the hour.

Poll watchdogs-without-teeth Namfrel and PPCRV couldn’t even categorically say if elections happened in that province. What we can safely say is that Namfrel volunteers failed to witness the counting; that the Namfrel copies of the election returns were withheld; the news organizations were barred from witnessing the provincial canvass. And then later it was announced that the province produced a 12-0 sweep for the administration’s Team Unity; other candidates got zero votes, Luis “Chavit” Singson (an Ilocano) topped the polls, voter turnout was 90% – all statistical blips.

As the results from other places began trickling in, things became apparent: (1) most local officials affiliated with the administration won (most of them ran unopposed anyway), with several surprising and not-so-surprising upsets (Panlilio, Custodio, Binay, Lim, Robredo, among others); (2) the House remains in the administration’s side; and (3) the Senate would go opposition, 8-2-2. Also, the last slot in the Senate race is still up for grabs, and that it is possible to snatch it from the opposition. Mike Defensor and Ralph Recto conceded, leaving Juan Miguel Zubiri in the running.

Enter Lintang Bedol.

Remember that (1) Namfrel failed to witness how the Maguindanao vote was counted; (2) Namfrel volunteers failed to get the Namfrel copy of the election returns; (3) later on these returns appeared, but Namfrel refused to count them; and (4) Chavit Singson topped the TU sweep. But Singson was nowhere near the 12th slot; the Maguindano CoC will be useless. So why not lose it?

Which Lintang Bedol did. Or, it was stolen, he said. Everything – election returns, certificates of canvass, anything that would show that Singson topped Maguindanao.

The Comelec went on a field trip, looked for documents at Maguindanao, found the wall copies of the tallies, considered them authentic, and formed a special board to count these. Despite countless objections from opposition lawyers, the special board was like a charging train, unstoppable. Napag-utusan lang po (we were doing as ordered), the special board said.

And voila. Still a 12-0 TU sweep, and Zuburi topped the sweep. Amazing. Poor Chavit, he must be number 26 at the end. Or 27.

As a sidenote, one brave teacher by the name of Musa Dimasidsing cried foul, alleged that it was not a sweep, that non-TU candidates got votes in Pagalungan; he was later shot dead. But he was a man of no consequence for Zubiri and the Comelec, so they did take him seriously; they were not even bothered by his death.

Comelec was about to canvass the Maguindanao vote, Pimentel cried foul, went to the Supreme Court, and botched the job. Comelec was done canvassing the Maguindanao vote and was ready to proclaim Zubiri. Pimentel went to the Supreme Court again, and despite the glaring problems, the Court chose not to disenfranchise the operators. Zubiri was proclaimed.

It was a miracle, and Zubiri was thankful to God and Mama Mary. The Filipino people must be praying at the wrong God.

—

As in 2004, Maguindanao delivered. This time, the method was more brazen, more obvious, done in broad daylight – no need for phone calls. The operators knew the rule book by heart, and knew how to circumvent each rule. Heck, they did not have to do it clandestinely – no one cares anyway.

The opposition knew they would be cheated, but they don’t know how. The operators knew that what they did in 2004 was a one-time thing; the enemy was prepared and knew what to expect. The operators also knew that they got away with it; why not push the envelop further, and do it right in their noses? They did, and they got away with it.

So what is next? Push the envelop further. How? It depends. Maybe we should return to this topic by January, 2010, when we know who are the presidentiables. There’s a law mandating an automated elections. Hmm…. selling the software perhaps? Or an Easter egg? Or a backdoor?

To know why, read the entry and the comments at this blog post.

This should be a good test of the Human Security Act.

Zubiri’s folly is very much possible.

From ABS-CBN News:

Record-high palm oil prices due to voracious global demand for the oil used for food and now increasingly as a biofuel have left many ordinary Indonesians without their usual culinary fare.

Palm oil-derived cooking oil is a staple in the Indonesian pantry. It is used to fry many of the spicy dishes that are part of the local cuisine.

But the high price of oil has forced millions of poor Indonesians to eat their food boiled instead of fried.

“I only have fried tempe when I have money, but mostly I don’t,” said Nurhayati, a mother of five, referring to a traditional dish made from fermented soya beans.

“So my family just eats rice … and soy sauce,” she added as she scrubbed pots in a house where she works as a maid earning 300,000 rupiah ($33) a month.

In a country where about half the 220 million population live on less than $2 a day, the rising price of cooking oil is a national talking point sensitive enough to make politicians break into a sweat.

Long queues of people waiting to buy cooking oil — empty plastic containers in hand — could recently be seen in markets, a scene reminiscent of the financial crisis in the late 1990s that brought down the rule of strongman former President Suharto.

Two years ahead of the next election, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come under pressure for his record on tackling the impact of rising commodity prices on local staples after promising to slash poverty.

“It’s a warning for the government,” said Ganjar Pranowo, an opposition parliamentarian.

PRICES SURGE BY A THIRD
Palm oil prices have been driven up by rising demand for biofuel in Europe and strong demand from food sectors in countries such as fast-growing India.

As one of the world’s largest palm oil producers, Indonesia stands to gain from the price hike, but the rise has also pushed up local cooking oil prices by about a third, making such oil unaffordable for millions of ordinary Indonesians.

As well as hurting the poor, rising cooking oil prices are worrying economic policy planners due to the impact on inflation.

Raw food prices including cooking oil rose by just over 10 percent in June from a year ago, the sharpest increase in a basket of goods and services making up the consumer price index.

Malaysian crude palm oil futures have surged about 80 percent since the start of 2006, pushing up Indonesia prices.

Saman, a 55-year-old fried snack vendor in central Jakarta, says his profits have almost halved to 25,000 rupiah a day since cooking oil prices surged.

“I use at least 8 kg (17.6 lb) of cooking oil a day. I have been thinking of quitting since the profit is so low, but I have done this for 30 years. I have no other choice,” said Saman, whose son has dropped out of school due to lack of money for school fees.

The government had urged producers to supply crude palm oil to local refiners at lower prices so that non-branded cooking oil — widely consumed by low-to-middle income brackets — can be sold more cheaply.

But to little avail.

“Even if we tried to push down the prices, markets tend to cling to a price level set by international markets,” said Derom Bangun, executive chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association.

WORLD’S TOP PALM OIL PRODUCER
Indonesia is expected to produce 17.4 million tonnes of palm oil this year, overtaking Malaysia as the world’s top producer.

In mid-June, the government cranked up the export tax for crude palm oil to 6.5 percent from 1.5 percent in a bid to ensure supply to local markets. The tax appears to have had some impact, but cooking oil prices are still higher than in the past.

Analysts suggest the government should let prices follow global palm oil prices, but focus more on helping low-income bracket families with subsidised cooking oil.

“The government could buy cooking oil at market prices and sell to poor groups at lower prices,” said Rina Oktaviani, an economist at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture in West Java.

“If cooking oil is considered a strategic commodity then the government must be responsible to make up for shortages in supplies,” she said.

(This is a long post.)

Interspersed in this blog are posts relating to values. In the previous post, I stated that Zubiri’s “election” is a sign that our values have degraded. I have decided to expound on this further, explore what we as a people collectively believe and value, how we had decided, and try to see where we are in the continuum of history.

My brother is in first year college at a public technical university, and in one of his subjects, the topic of values cropped up. I got a photocopy of the book that his instructor uses, and here is what is written; I have added the Wikipedia definitions:

Values are abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile. These values are the basis of our judgement, of what we consider good, desirable, and correct, as well as what is considered bad, undesirable, and wrong. xxx Values are linked with actual events and are often emotionally charged. They are standards by which persons, individually or in groups, define their goals, select alternatives, and judge others as good or bad.

A norm is a rule that is socially enforced. To ensure that the norms are followed and expectations obeyed, sanctions are used. Sanctions are a system of reward or punishment.

Basically, values are one of the things we consult when we make decisions and judgments; it guides how we decide on issues and questions. We have collective values, common values that we as a people agree to and share. Now, with the past election, for the past six years, what does that say about these collective values? What does that tell about us Filipinos?

There are several events since 2001 that had severely tested our collective values:

EDSA 2

When it became obvious that the Senate would go in favor of Joseph Estrada, the people went to the EDSA Shrine to protest. They called for Estrada to resign. Some of them wanted all elected national officials to resign and for then Chief Justice Hilario Davide to assume office as president. Several Cabinet officers resigned; the last straw came when top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines led by then Chief of Staff General Angelo Reyes withdrew support to Estrada. Despite the fact that Estrada had not resigned and was not disabled, Vice President Gloria Arroyo took her oath as President.

We acted with indignation when the majority in the Senate voted to exclude the so-called envelop. We were indignant because we thought another corrupt official would get away with it. The act just violated our sense of righteousness; the act violated our values. Yet, in hindsight, haven’t we violated our own values when someone was considered resigned despite the fact that he hasn’t? Haven’t we violated our Constitution – one document that is an expression of our collective beliefs and values – when it lists down all prerequisites needed in order to declare the presidency vacant? And we declared Estrada resigned (through the power we as a people vested on the Supreme Court) just because of someone else’s diary and a vague letter?

Haven’t we thrown the chain of command – one of the values of the military – into the garbage bin when the generals mutinied and called it withdrawal of support?

The succeeding days, months, years have shown us that some group of people had been plotting all along, and took advantage of the situation. We as a people had been had.

EDSA 3

In what one could say was crazy, an anti-EDSA 2 happened four months later. It started when Estrada was arrested for plunder and other charges, covered live by radio and TV news organizations, and carried by all newspapers. That famous mugshot had led to his then-massive support base to troop to EDSA Shrine. Agitated by several politicians, on May 1, they stormed the Fortress by the Pasig, and we almost had a different future. The people were violently dispersed.

As things were happening, EDSA 2 people were cringing – what were they doing? The Roman Catholic Church was cringing – they were desecrating the Shrine! And we all dismissed these men and women as charlatans, paid hacks, jologs, unthinking poor malnourished uncouth people.

In hindsight, these unthinking poor malnourished uncouth paid hacks knew better than us.

The May 1, 2001 Siege of the Fortress was instructive. It was an indictment of our concept of what democracy is (or was, democracy exists in name only nowadays). We began asking the hard questions – what went wrong, what error did we commit; poverty stared us in the face, and we cringed and backed away. We rejoiced when Estrada was booted out, not taking heed of the wounds that we had caused, the wounds that have never healed, the wounds that will – probably – never heal.

The 2004 elections

We approached May 2004 with alacrity and hopelessness. In one corner, we had the recipient of the bounty of EDSA 2, considered to be an “economic technocrat”, very unpopular, someone who in December 2003 vowed not to participate in the 2004 elections only to take her word back several months later. On the other is a charismatic actor, untested, considered an intellectual lightweight, popular, and worst, considered proxy for the detained Estrada. While there were other contestants in the race, we as a people saw the elections as a choice between evils. We were forced to eat our own values and choose the lesser evil.

We made a drastic turnaround that year. Whereas the defining value of 2001 was righteousness and anti-corruption was our mantra, 2004 was something vague. We were confronted with the possibility of an Estrada restoration with all its sins and extravagances. The alternative was something that we could only accept begrudgingly because we thought she could deliver on her promises, that she could turn the economy around and make sure we would not go hungry; yet she was not as clean as we thought she was. We chose the lesser evil. We failed to realize then that maybe there were other choices; we failed to realize that maybe we were manipulated to think that amongst evil, we have to choose the lesser one. We sacrificed our values for the sake of our stomachs.

The year 2004 was a watershed year for Philippine history. In that year, all of our collective mistakes confronted us front and center; our collective values were put into severe tests. Our mistakes, our changing collective values put us to where we are now. Our failed decisions had led to several defining moments, and to my view, showed that our values had changed and failed.

The Hello, Garci and I am sorry

In the runup to the 2004 elections, when we were forced to choose the lesser evil, we were conditioned to believe that the current occupant of the Fortress won the race. The surveys all pointed to her victory. Immediately after the polls closed, an exit survey showed she won; later on, the survey was found out to be wrong in several aspects. When the National Board of Canvassers began canvassing the provincial certificates of canvass, all objections, all complaints of irregularites were noted. She was proclaimed when we were all sleeping soundly.

A year later, a tape surfaced.

Faced with the possibility that we were robbed of our votes, with our values again challenged, we heard a woman talking to a man, asking if she would still lead by a million. Faced with the ugly alternative of possible chaos and economic downturn, we chose to decide through our collective stomachs.

While a few dared to choose the alternative, with several Cabinet members resigning, with several groups made the usual protests, she said “I’m sorry”, and most of us said “you were forgiven.” Meanwhile, the few who chose the alternative continued to call for her resignation; stung by May 2001, she employed all means possible to prevent another EDSA moment. The Church played along by not allowing any protest to happen at EDSA Shrine.

We all saw calibrated preemptive response in action; we chose to look away. For me, our collective values were succintly defined by a certain email. This quote defines our current values: “We are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward.”

The 2005 and 2006 impeachment attempts

Stung by the mistakes of EDSA 2, we chose to make our leaders accountable within the limits set by the Constitution. The years 2005 and 2006 saw the infirmities and lack of foresight of the Charter. We saw how reason was trumped by loyalty, loyalty that was premised with quid pro quo. And since our collective values were set, we chose not to act. We were assuming we could still fix things up; afterall, the 2007 elections was just months away. Which led us to what we had experienced these past few months.

The 2007 elections, Bedol, and Zubiri

People saw the elections differently. Some of us treated it as an indirect referendum about her. Others saw it as an opportunity to have her impeached finally. For most of us, it was just another exercise in futility; they refused to participate. But we have a confused view of things. The result was like a mutated mongrel; it highlights the confused state we are in.

If you believed the elections is a referendum, then how will you measure if the people accepts or rejects the proposition? What is the proposition in the first place?

If you wanted an impeachment Congress, then how come you elected an opposition Senate and an administration House? It is either you are really confused, or you lack the faculty of taking the long view.

The elections had shown clearly what we value:

* Locally, we vote for who we think will deliver what we want. This parochial view led to an administration-dominated House where an impeachment starts.
* We don’t care about cheating anymore. We know we exist, and we believe it can no longer be stopped. We took cheating in stride.
* We believe that it doesn’t matter if someone won via cheating, as long as he performs well and delivers.

And now, as our politicians screw up the mandates given to them, here is where we stand: we do not like Gloria Arroyo, but we cannot agree on what to do about it. Some of us would rather have her and have their stomachs full, despite the fact that some have empty stomachs. We were given all choices, we chose none of them – impeachment, people power, electing an opposition-led Congress (both houses). We wanted more of the same, we wanted comfort, we wanted progress. But at what cost? Changing our values: allowing crooks to win as long as they feed us; allowing liars to move on, as long as they feed us; allowing corrupt officials to run our coffers dry, as long as they feed us. But what if they can no longer feed us?

Values are formed and learned from experience. They are subjective, and they can change. Some of them stuck because through time they remain true. But we throw what is good for what is expedient, we will stumble. And if we fail to restore what is good, we will stumble again and again.