After reading Victor Villanueva‘s latest blog post, I am troubled.

Sure, I made fun of it in one of my comments (“kalevel na ng AMA ang UP – sa tuition fee”), but that is in jest (BTW, the Php1500 per unit is greater than AMA, in fairness). The recent increase in tuition fee at the Premier State University is sad and maddening at the same time.

He stated some numbers, which I liberally quote:

Months later at the beginning of a new academic year, only less than half of UPCAT (UP College Admission Test) passers showed up to enroll in the different UP units. In Los Banos and Mindanao, less than 17% of passers enrolled. In Diliman, the entire College of Social Work and Community Development has one freshman. In courses like BA Malikhaing Pagsulat, BA Araling Pilipino, and BA Filipino, none of the passers showed up to enroll. Thousands of the country’s best and brightest students as assessed by the UPCAT didn’t pursue their dreams of affordable college education in the country’s premiere state university for it has indeed become increasingly expensive, commercial and prohibitive.
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As of a few weeks before the beginning of classes, only 5% of incoming freshmen were able to avail of full scholarship. The rest, including those who are applying for lower tuition had to pay the full amount while they wait without assurance of refunds. Some families had to resort to selling their valuables and engage in loans to be able to send their children to UP.

Such is the state of education in this country – appalling.

Is there any way we can make the UP (at least) independent from political shenanigans? Sure, the Congress has the power of the purse, but can they at least not be parsimonious when it comes to state universities and colleges (SUCs)? Can politicians spare SUCs from their personal agendas?

With the persistent corruption problems and tax loopholes, the State is hardpressed on producing funds, hence the government policy to let UP generate its own income. I think UP’s Alumni Affairs should exert more effort in getting alumni to help out (calling UP alumni who made good money). The entire UP community should help out so that the university can generate steady income out of its own resources. I don’t think selling UP land is feasible in the long run. Why not lease these idle lands instead? How about forfeiting all assets of convicted plunderers in favor of UP? (Assuming that the Ombudsman can win all its plunder cases.)

Ultimately, it is the State’s primary duty to support the UP. The politicians who screw up the future of state scholars should be punished in whatever means possible. At the same time, we must help in ensuring that UP can educate our children and their children, first by paying our taxes, then by voting for the right leaders, and holding corrupt officials accountable for their sins.

Now that the show’s about to be over, it is time to take stock of the situation and talk about what can be done to prevent such a thing from happening again.

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The so-called poll watch arm and parallel count arm are finally exposed to be inutile organizations. With all due respect to their volunteers, Namfrel and PPCRV are in truth powerless organizations. It is I think unfair to the volunteers that they had reported problems but their organizations did nothing. As in they did nothing at all, except perhaps reporting these problems to the public. But what had that accomplished? Aside from tainting Migs Zubiri’s impending victory, nothing. The system remains the same, and will probably operate again come next election.

The problem is that the system doesn’t give credence to whatever these organizations found. Namfrel did not count the votes from Maguindanao because its volunteers had not witnessed how these votes were counted. So the fact that one of the citizen arms failed to witness the counting doesn’t count to Comelec and to the Supreme Court. In short, the Comelec simply ignored Namfrel and PPCRV’s findings.

The watchdogs have failed to stop the dogs from doing dog-dastardly acts. They are watchdogs without teeth.

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Then there’s the issue of command votes. This is inherently against democracy. It also has no Islamic basis. I leave that to Islamic scholars to debate, but using shura to order the people to vote this way and that way violates the very basic definition of how we choose our leaders. At best, command vote is almost synonymous to show elections. You know, why have elections when you can compel the people to vote this way?

(I overheard someone saying that the Maguindanao vote should be disregarded since these people abdicated their right to vote because of the so-called command vote. Hmm….)

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And there’s the Comelec. No foul word can ever describe the present Comelec. Do I even have to list Comelec’s sins? From the Cayetano screwjob that failed to withholding the list of partylist nominees, this Comelec has done it all (if you know other despicable acts by the Comelec, list them in the comments section below). It has done everything with glee. Its sins are blatant, foul, unforgivable.

I love this line from Dean Jorge Bocobo: “In the hands of such as its (Comelec) present stewards, Democracy becomes a Whore“. And indeed it has.

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In the same post and in other posts, DJB argues for an automated election system. While I am not against it, I believe it is an incomplete solution. In any system, the weakest point is always the people within it. Automated systems are made to minimize the impact of human “errors”, but there is never a fool-proof system. I understand the impetus for automation, since it is hard to correct human character defects. In the long run, though, we will keep on designing systems, but all of these will be defeated by human “defects”.

After all, the current system has safeguards and security features (supposedly), but all of them were defeated by the election “operators”. So I think an automated system can also be defeated by determined operators who are motivated by greed (a character defect).

It is a cycle, I know. That is the real problem, and a solution is not in sight. Character change, combined with an automated system will probably help us solve this problem.

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To recap:
1. The Namfrel and PPCRV are inutile organizations, watchdogs without teeth.
2. Command vote is inimical to democracy, a violation of the basic tenets of suffrage.
3. The Comelec is one organization that needs to be changed from top to bottom.
4. Automation, plus character change, will improve the elections in this country.

Someone went on TV and said the most infamous words of 2005:

I am sorry.

Guess who?
(I know I should have posted this at the other blog, but I cannot access it via phone. The culprit is the WP Mobile plugin.)

With both of them showing much bravado and machismo, I wonder who among the two will blink.

I am talking about two sets of personalities.

1. The Commission of Elections v. Lintang Bedol

The picture was jarring, to say it nicely. Seated on an empty table, the person was wearing a green-striped shirt, slouching like a Mafia boss, with a gun holstered at his right side for his audience to see. He had just lost important election documents and even proud to announce the loss, feigned that he received no summons while he had himself interviewed by reporters, snubbed his superiors, and dared them to have them arrested. “Sige (Go ahead). That means they have plans to file a case against me. I can post bail,” he said.

The commissioners of Comelec, having been snubbed by this man while cavorting with reporters, had enough, called his bluff and ordered his arrest. One commissioner was mad enought to issue strong words against him. “Let us see what he will do. I think he will start cringing like a cornered rat,” the commissioner said.

Poor Comelec. The arrest order is just bravado. Bedol can always do a Garci, and the question is not whether Bedol will do a Garci, but when. If the Comelec wanted Bedol arrested, you don’t call a press conference to announce that you’d have him arrested. If the Comelec is sincere in its efforts, it could have issued the order to the AFP and the PNP and present Bedol to the media upon capture. But no, they chose to telegraph their punches, and I assume Bedol will be on the run soon. The Comelec’s actions only prove one thing – it’s all for show. So, enjoy. Run, Bedol, run!

(In a text message flashed at DZMM TeleRadyo this morning: Pwede ba namin bugbugin si Bedol pag nahuli namin sya? My answer: go ahead, make my day.)

2. Aquilino Pimentel III v. Juan Miguel Zubiri

And since both the Comelec and Bedol had decided to screw up Maguindanao, we now have two scions of politicians who are willing to gang up on each other to attain the last slot in this year’s senatorial elections.

The first one has cried foul when the Comelec was hell-bent on canvassing the votes from Maguindanao; some people had alleged that the Maguindanao vote was tainted with fraud. (One of those who raised noise was killed.) He filed a case before the Supreme Courts, which some quarters saw as premature.

The other one has been noisy since Heaven knows what, proclaiming to the whole world that he will win. He was trailing the first one by more than a hundred thousand votes. The second one claimed that when the votes from several places were counted, he would overtake the first one. Now that only Maguindanao is left, he is now hell-bent on having the votes from that province canvassed, even if several consistent poll fraud allegations were aired and Bedol “lost” important election documents from that province.

Both of them show bravado, but Migs Zubiri is more consistent in his actions. By his illogical blustering, he shows that he is, as the blogger behind The Philippine Experience had said, a spoiled brat.

What Zubiri can’t see is that, even if he wins, it will be a tainted victory. His mandate will always be in question, just like how the mandate of the present occupant of the Fortress by the Pasig is in question still, three years after. He has unwittingly put himself in a deep hole of mud, and in the end, if ever he “wins”, he will find out that it is an empty one.

UPDATE:

The Comelec’s threat to arrest Bedol is a show. Imagine, a day after calling Bedol’s bluff, PNP has yet to receive the arrest warrant. And then there’s the Palace offer of protection to Bedol. What a show!

What’s with this day? First, Chris Benoit, now Jonathan Tiongco.

From ABS-CBN News:

A Quezon City Police District spot report said Jonathan Mallora Tiongco, 36, of Ideal Subdivision in Fairview, was severely injured after he accidentally rammed his Toyota Avanza (ZHE 496) into a dump truck right across the Commission on Audit building on Commonwealth Avenue at 3:50 a.m.

Concerned citizens brought Tiongco to Far Eastern University Hospital where he died at 5 p.m. His remains are now interred at St. Peter Funeral Homes along Quezon Avenue.

His claim to fame? Read this from Inside PCIJ.

Oh well. Karma took its own sweet time.

In one of the latest proofs why the House of Representatives is superior to the Philippine Senate, a congressman whose son is a Cabinet member claims that some members of the House contingent in the Commission on Appointments are asking for money or projects in exchange for confirmation of presidential appointment.

This is a nice game of “Who is it”? First let us name the members of the House contingent to the CA:

* Prospero Pichay Jr. of Surigao del Sur
* Jesus Jurdin Romualdo of Camiguin
* Eduardo Veloso of Leyte
* Marcelino Libanan of Eastern Samar (now immigration commissioner)
* Prospero Amatong of Compostela Valley
* Manuel Ortega of La Union
* Rafael Nantes of Quezon
* Antonino Roman of Bataan
* Aurelio Umali of Nueva Ecija
* Victor Sumulong of Antipolo City
* Harlin Habayon of Northern Samar
* Rolex Suplico of Iloilo.

The congressman who blew the whistle, Herminio Teves of Negros Oriental gave the following clues:

* Some congressmen who demanded money from Cabinet members and generals ran in the May 14 elections but lost
* Others were third-term House members like him who were not qualified to seek re-election but who fielded their wives in their districts to be their successors (Unfortunately, their wives lost, he said.)
* This Inquirer report has more clues:

Earlier in a TV interview over ANC, Teves was asked if one of the members of the so-called Big Five had run for the Senate. He replied in the affirmative.

Asked if the congressman had lost, he said: “Use your imagination.”

Two members of the House named a fellow congressman involved in the supposed extortion activities in the CA.

According to the two lawmakers—a man from the opposition and a woman from the administration—their colleague ran a highly expensive campaign but lost in the midterm elections.

Oh boy this is fun. View the lists here and here for confirmation.

* Romualdo is a third-termer; Pedro Romualdo is replacing him.
* Veloso is a third-termer; I’m not sure if any of his relatives run, but no Veloso is in the list of winners for Leyte.
* Libanan is a third-termer; his wife lost in the elections.
* Amatong is a third-termer; Rommel Amatong is replacing him.
* Ortega is a third-termer; Victor Ortega is replacing him.
* Nantes is a third-termer; I’m not sure if any of his relatives run, but no Nantes is in the list of winners for Quezon.
* Roman is a third-termer; I’m not sure if Herminia Batista-Roman is his wife.
* Umali ran as governor; I’m not sure if Czarina Umali is his wife or daughter.
* Sumulong either lost or is a third-termer; Robbie Puno is replacing him.
* Suplico is a third-termer; his wife lost the congressional race to Raul Gonzalez Jr.
* Pichay ran for the Senate and lost.

Pichay issues a denial. Suplico calls on Teves to name names. There are two congressmen who ran for senator under Team Unity: Pichay and Migs Zubiri.

Sirit?

You know, if you extend a hand of reconciliation and the other party refuses, you do not slap the other party. It only shows how dishonest you are with the insincerity of your reconciliation effort.

Immediately after Mike Arroyo got out of the hospital (after a successful operation), he vowed to have his libel suits withdrawn, which he did, after the damage has been done. In retaliation for all the libel suits, some of those he sued filed a class suit against him. Even if the libel suits were withdrawn, these journalists chose to push ahead with the class suit. And why should they? As I have said, the damage has been done. Read this post by Ellen Tordesillas.

And now, to show that Mike Arroyo is one insincere guy, his lawyer is now turning the tables against those who filed the class suit, using the much-vaunted rule by law: he wants the Makati RTC to have 8 journalists arrested for not attending court hearings. Why should they, when he plans to use them as hostile witnesses?

You know why no one wants to trust you, Mr. Arroyo? Because you are one insincere man.

Last Friday, I was off somewhere in Makati when I found out that the coup charges against Gregorio Honasan were dropped by the Department of Justice. The order was signed by no less than the poster boy of the Arroyo Administration, Raul Gonzalez. I saw the 90-plus-page order – the last page, at least, and there’s the signature. (That day was ironic, though that’s one of the unbloggable days of my life.)

This comes two months after the DoJ indicted Honasan for the same crime after he was granted bail. And Raul Gonzalez even tried blaming the Supreme Court for the Makati RTC’s decision to allow Honasan to post bail!

Anyway, I saw him on TV Friday night, and again he claims that he will be independent once he assumes his seat in the Philippine Senate. I highly doubt it. The circumstances behind his release, the DoJ’s abrupt about-face, the denial by the Fortress and Honasan that there is a deal – these things don’t add up.

Anyway, as I have said last month, for all intents and purposes, Gringo is TU.

Miriam Santiago must be thinking that since the election campaign period is over, it’s time for people like her to hog the limelight. In her case, she did twice within the span of a week.

Last week, she called senators who refrained from pork barrel as “gago”. She always get away in saying stupidsilly things, like that famous “I lied ha ha ha” idiocy eons ago (I think that quote got her re-elected).

Now, she claims that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV will have to serve his term in jail until he is acquitted. She cited the Constitution’s equal protection clause and the case of the pardoned, convicted child rapist Romeo Jalosjos. The news item cites her as a constitutional expert, which for me is argumentum ad verecundiam.

It is argumentum ad verecundiam because the assertion that Trillanes will have to serve in jail is not valid just because a so-called Constitutional expert says so. Besides, the case of Jalosjos and Trillanes are different. Here is the Supreme Court decision, People v. Jalosjos, on Jalosjos’ appeal to be allowed to serve in Congress, which Santiago cited. In the Jalosjos case, he ran as congressman after he was convicted and his case was on appeal. In Trillanes’ case, he is charged but not yet convicted.

Now, while this case is worthy of a lengthy blog post, let’s concentrate on Santiago instead. She did not have to dip her fingers on the issue. She was not asked to issue an opinion; she released a press statement. She has the right to express her opinion, true, but I can’t help but ask – why? And the fact that her opinion is debatable makes things more fuzzy.

Maybe she is gunning for 2010?

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Argue on the issue of Trillanes. Here are some statutes to guide you in the discussion:

* In her concurring opinion on People v. Jalosjos, Justice Gonzaga-Reyes quoted Article III, Section 13 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, to wit:

All persons, except those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong, shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, or be released on recognizance as may be provided by law. The right to bail shall not be impaired even when the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended. Excessive bail shall not be required.

* She also quoted Article VI, Section 11 of the same document:

A Senator of Member of the House of Representatives shall, in all offenses punishable by not more than six years imprisonment, be privileged from arrest while the Congress is in session. No Member shall be questioned nor be held liable in any other place for any speech or debate in the Congress or in any committee thereof.

* The main opinion in the Jalosjos case cites Article III, Section 1:

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.

Which brings us to the next.

* Jalosjos’ motion cites Aguinaldo v. Santos (212 SCRA 768, at 773 [1992]):

The Court should never remove a public officer for acts done prior to his present term of office. To do otherwise would be to deprive the people of their right to elect their officers. When a people have elected a man to office, it must be assumed that they did this with the knowledge of his life and character, and that they disregarded or forgave his fault or misconduct, if he had been guilty of any. It is not for the Court, by reason of such fault or misconduct, to practically overrule the will of the people.

Note that the said case pertains to an administrative one.