Rene's Last Word

There's The Rub : The last word (Rene Jarque's letter)

Conrado de Quiros dequiros@info.com.ph
Inquirer News Service

(Rene Jarque wrote this letter last year. I have changed nothing in it except the paragraphing and a word here and there. It's not for West Pointers alone to heed.)

DEAR fellow West Pointers,

The Armed Forces of the Philippines once again is at a crossroad following the cases of [Major] General (Carlos) Garcia and Colonel (George) Rabusa. How this will play out will determine the seriousness, direction and tempo of eradicating corruption in the military and promoting professionalism in the ranks. We have known the rottenness of the system all along and how the culture in the AFP was not and is not conducive to professional growth and honest conduct. It was never reflective of the Academy's motto, "Duty, Honor, Country."

Some of us gave it a chance, found it unwieldy and incorrigible and left. Some stuck with the system and played it out only to be sucked into the vortex of corruption and unprofessional conduct. At one time when I was at the Department of National Defense, I told General (Narciso) Abaya, "Sir, I am sure that I can fulfill the Duty and Country part of the motto but certainly the Honor part is very difficult to do." I was trying my best to be as professional and as patriotic as I could be, but I could never be honest given the extent of the graft and corruption in the AFP. And that was, I believe, unacceptable to my sense of honor and integrity. Hence, I left.

I have been called many names, reviled and hated by many officers for my intransigent stand against corruption in the Armed Forces ever since I was a lieutenant. I was branded a rebel and an unprofessional officer. I was called a liar in public by a former Chief of Staff. Some of you may have also hated my guts for being so stubborn and for being part of the opposition. I was not and am not being stubborn for the sake of stubbornness. I am stubborn because I believe in the righteousness of the cause. It was and it is the right advocacy, and an honest one. The lives of thousands of soldiers and their families depend on this cause. The future of our country depends on whether this advocacy will win in the end. While many of us turned our eyes away and covered our ears, I believed that someone had to play the "bad guy" to make sure that the message was not lost.

I have a favorite story which we printed in the Army Journal when I was its editor:

A wise old philosopher went to the village to preach the good news. He proclaimed his news loudly but no one would listen. Time passed and he continued to preach even louder but still no one listened. One day, a child asked, "Mister, why are you preaching even louder, don't you see it's pointless? No one is listening." The philosopher replied, "My child, at first I thought I could change them and so preached loudly. But now I am preaching even more loudly so they don't change me."

Yes, we have all been part of the system and by our action or inaction, we have all been party to unprofessional conduct and corruption in the AFP. One way or another, we have taken advantage of the system. You all know your indiscretions as I know mine. There was no choice then, there was no other way if one wanted to survive and pursue a "progressive military career." But if a progressive military career means a regressive character and dishonor, well, many of us found that unacceptable and the only option was to leave the service.

I love being a soldier, being with the men and fighting for our country. But it cannot be at the sacrifice of honor. What is the meaning of fighting for your country when the chain of command consists of thieves and looters, insensitive to the welfare of the soldiers and their poor families? What is the meaning of dying for your country when you know that the government and the politicians are apathetic toward the people and the so-called rebels or terrorists we are killing and even torturing are just protecting their lives and their dignity, when they are just trying to survive? What good is fighting for the country when the rebels are right that this country is governed by a callous elite, an abusive military and a corrupt government?

To me, there never was, there never is, and there never will be honor in killing desperate men--men who have found no other way out of their poverty and suffering but to join the rebels because the leaders they have chosen to lead them and the soldiers who are supposed to fight for them, are not doing their duty. For after all, aren't the soldiers the protectors and defenders of the people?

I appeal to your sense of Duty, Honor, Country in saying that we must do something as a West Point Society, as an association of honorable men. The least we can do is make a public denouncement of the corruption in the Armed Forces and appeal for the reform that has long been needed in the AFP. We should tell General Narciso Abaya, West Point '71, that the right thing to do is the honorable thing. Covering up, spinning stories and whitewashing are not honorable. This entails a great risk especially in our friendships and camaraderie, but we must be comrades blinded by Duty, Honor, Country. Somehow, we have to take a stand and make a choice or live a lie within ourselves as long as we live.

Duty, Honor, Country, my fellow West Pointers.

(Signed) Rene Jarque, Class of 1986.

David's Column

At Large : Gift to a hometown

Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service

HOMETOWN boys who make good pay back their places of origin in various ways: donating money for scholarships or municipal showcases, bringing in investments that provide jobs for town mates, or enshrining the family name in a church pew or school building.

For businessman Jolly Ting, who made his bundle in what might be euphemistically called the entertainment business, giving back to his hometown of Calapan in the province of Oriental Mindoro, south of Manila, took the form of clean and potable water.

"Before we came in," recalls Calapan Waterworks Corp. general manager Alex Manto, "the water here was just undrinkable. You couldn't drink it, bathe with it or even wash clothes with it." He remembers wondering why an associate who accompanied him on his first visit to Calapan had brought with him an inordinate number of water bottles, until he tried to brush his teeth with the water gushing from the faucet. "I nearly threw up," says Manto. "It tasted salty and reeked of mud."

After years of neglect by the old water utility and the digging of private deep wells, salt water had begun to infiltrate Calapan's groundwater supply, resulting in brackish water flowing from faucets. So high was the salt content that the townsfolk could not even get soap to lather for their baths or laundry. Residents who could afford it bought their water from private water haulers who tapped groundwater aquifers. But whether bought or tapped from the faucets, the quality and safety of the water supply remained doubtful, placing residents' health at risk since even the provincial hospital relied on trucked-in water for its supply.

* * *

INDEED, it's an irony and an injustice that a basic service, such as clean water, should remain inaccessible and expensive for the poor. Studies have shown that the poorest Filipinos pay more for basic services like water than those who are relatively better off. This is because many impoverished communities don't have piped-in water, with families relying on private water haulers who charge more per liter of water without any guarantees on water safety.

Seeking a solution to the dire problem of Calapan's water supply, then Mindoro Gov. Rodolfo Valencia talked with Ting, chair of Jolliville Holdings Inc., to buy the waterworks franchise and rehabilitate the moribund water utility.

Fully aware of the need for a safe water system for his hometown, Ting acquired Calapan Waterworks from the previous owners in 1997. But if he thought his investment in improving the water system would earn him the gratitude of his town mates, Ting had another think coming. As Manto recalls: "We met with opposition from different parties, from city council members to NGOs." Among the more vociferous opposers were the water haulers who had been making quite a profit over the years, while some environmentalists raised alarms about the possible depletion of the groundwater supply with the drilling for new wells. In fact, the utility had to go to court twice to put an end to the continuous harassment of their workers and projects. Most protest actions subsided though after Calapan Waterworks secured a congressional franchise.

* * *

LAST year, with Oriental Mindoro Gov. Arnan Panaligan, who was Calapan mayor at the time Ting bought the waterworks, as guest of honor, Calapan Waterworks inaugurated its second well in Baranagay Tawiran, which with a previous well now supplies the needs of some 2,000 households in 23 barangays. Manto says they were also forced to dig for an entirely new network of pipes since the old ones were too unreliable to ensure the safety of the water supply.

Over the past six years, Calapan Waterworks has invested about P50 million in capital expenditure and infrastructure, mainly because, says Manto, "Mr. Ting insisted he wanted only the best quality." In fact, says the Waterworks GM, "we use Manila Water as our benchmark," ensuring that they use the same technology and materials as the Metro Manila concessionaire. Even more important, Calapan folk are now assured of a supply of safe and clean water, passing all the tests of the Department of Health and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD). "This means that we are of the same quality as bottled water!" declares Manto proudly.

Also significant is the fact that even as their water quality has improved tremendously, Calapeños are paying less for their water. Where before water peddlers sold water at P5 per gallon, or an equivalent of P2,000 per cubic meter, the new rate for piped-in water is just P13 per cubic meter!

* * *

ON A VISIT to Calapan over the weekend, we passed by the new wells that now transmit the city's water supply. We found spanking new concrete sheds surrounded by landscaped gardens, with Manto explaining, "We wanted everything to look clean and spotless because we're dealing with water, which is a health product. We need our customers to feel confident about the safety of the water we pipe into our homes."

Indeed, the new wells are a stark contrast to the ones operated by the previous franchise holder, judging from photos hung on Calapan Waterworks offices. The old wells were housed in rusty ramshackle huts, amid muddy surroundings that indeed would not bode well about the quality of the water those wells produced.

Hometown boys who make good may choose to embark on ego- and image-boosting projects that may only make them popular but do little to serve their town mates. Calapan is lucky that one such "son" has chosen instead to channel his goodwill into an investment that took years before it began turning a (modest) profit, but which has produced immeasurable "returns" in terms of improved health and quality of life.

Looking Back With IT

Looking Back : History and IT advances

Ambeth Ocampo aocampo@ateneo.edu
Inquirer News Service

TEACHING my favorite nephew to count is a delightful experience. His numerical world is limited by his little fingers. Sometimes as an excuse to tickle him, we extend the counting from 10 to 20 by going from his fingers to his toes. To go beyond one's hands and feet, one needs to use the brain or, at least, pen and paper. With a calculator, one can even go further and faster than we ever can on pen and paper. All this reminds me of the raging issue in grade school: Were we to continue doing Math with our heads, or would we be allowed the use of calculators?

One school of thought rightfully asserted that the calculators would dull the mind. Just go to any department store and watch sales personnel use a calculator for things as simple as 2 + 2. On the other hand, other teachers were of the opinion that a calculator would enable students to do very big and complicated computations. If one did not know the general principles of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, a calculator would remain useless. The impasse was broken when it was ruled that we could take Math tests with calculators provided every student in the class had a calculator.

The same can be said of computers, except that my computer use is limited to word processing. A desktop computer or a laptop is merely a typewriter to me, and I am humbled when people a fourth my age show me other things the machine can do. When I was in college, one of my professors refused to accept my term paper because it was printed with a dot matrix printer; she insisted that the paper be typewritten. Things have come a long way since then, and watching both sides of the political spectrum commenting on the "Hello Garci" tapes, armed with the expert opinion of audio experts, made me realize that in some ways technology has made the task of the historian more complicated.

One example is the use of OPAC -- Online Public Access Catalogs -- in most libraries today. When I give out an assignment, students will rush to the OPAC to do some research, and when the result is negative, they give up. Most students have to be told that there is such a thing called the Card Catalog, or certain published finding guides, on the shelves that will direct you to the book or manuscript being sought. Worse, some students only do research on the Internet. They make a Google search and if the result is negative, they have to be forced to physically seek out the source in a library or archive. When I give students a "bring me" quiz, I would let them look for something that is not yet on OPAC. Worse, if I know where on the shelf the book is, I would hide it just to see how far they would go in their research. What happens to research when there is no electricity?

Just recently I was reading a book that cited a source that I had used in an archive in Spain. The author was an armchair researcher who wrote the archive, requesting a copy, and was told what he was looking for did not exist. When I visited this same archive a decade after I had first done research there, the staff were bragging about their state of the art, modern search engines and their OPAC. I requested a document and got a negative reply.

I repeated the process and got the same answer. So I consulted an archivist who shrugged his shoulders and said: "Well. If it's not in the OPAC then it doesn't exist." I insisted that the document did exist because I saw it a decade earlier. The archivist just stared at me blankly. Fortunately, I had my notebook and showed him the call numbers. To humor me, he went in the stacks and came back red-faced and apologetic. The document did exist in the file, or "legajo," that I specified. Why did this escape the OPAC? This is very distressing to a historian because, if I didn't see the document earlier and relied solely on OPAC, I would never have seen this important 19th-century document.

More distressing is the news that some libraries and archives have restricted files that can only be accessed by the director or those with the appropriate clearance. What happens to researchers? What about materials that are on diskettes, on programs that are now extinct as dinosaurs? For example, if we didn't print all the files that were on earlier editions of Word or on the now-Jurassic Wordstar, wouldn't all those have been lost to us? What about materials that are on vinyl records or even on those early tape recorders or dictaphones? If you go to the Library of Congress and ask to listen to the famous Watergate tapes that got US President Nixon impeached, you will be told that these have to be run on the antiquated machines that were used to record them, and at the moment there are less than six of these machines in the universe, which are working.

History used to be simpler. You have a photograph that was good as a historical document; but with the advance of Photoshop you can manipulate, enhance or even invent photographs. A tape with a recognizable voice used to be enough to go on, but now we can edit and splice that.

The Internet is filled with a lot of unreliable information. So the historian still has to be armed with a critical and inquisitive mind. This pre-requisite has not changed no matter how advanced and complicated technology has made of the discipline.

History

Sense and Sensibility : Some notes on Manila

Bambi Harper
Inquirer News Service

THE EARLY Spanish colonizers and missionaries referred to the entire island of Luzon as Manila, according to Father Colin, who attributed that early baptism to the Chinese. The name referred in the language of the natives to the hammers or mortars that they used to de-husk the rice, the staple food in the entire archipelago. This instrument was carved from a great wooden trunk. In Isla de Manila, they dug into the very center of the wood creating a trough, well carved even on the outside almost like a chalice in shape. The trunk could measure up to five palms in height. The hammer was like a cylindrical walking cane also of wood but solid and heavy, a "vara" (1 vara = 0.84 meter) and a half in length.

With this, they de-husked the rice, grinding with the wooden hammer in that cavity in such a way that the grain came out cleared of its husk. It was then cleaned in closed sieves called "bilao" on which the rice was tossed and separated from the chaff.

In Isla de los Pintados, they opened two or more holes lengthwise on the trunk rather than vertically so that two or more persons could grind the rice together. Since it was the custom of the Luzones to keep these mortars under their houses or in front on the street may have been the reason strangers called the islands Luzon.

In the elbow of this island facing the southeast, a tumultuous river (would you believe the Pasig?) rushed to the sea and the earth opened into a beautiful bay (Manila's untreated waste wasn't disgorged into it nor did ships dump chemicals and plastic garbage overboard) measuring 30 leagues in its contours. The river descends from a lagoon that is quite large and is six leagues distant from the river bar. On the eastern part of this, the natives had their principal settlement, with up to 4,000 houses along both banks of the river and on the shores of the sea in its bend and where the land ended. At the back of the settlements were many swamps.

In general, it was said that even if the boundaries of its walls and the number of resident Spaniards were not so big, Manila could be considered one of the most important cities of the Indies as a colony and daughter of Mother Spain because of the numerous population composed of various nationalities "extra muros" (outside the walls). It had a silk market (alcaiceria) in San Fernando, Binondo, of 6,000 to 8,000 Chinese merchants with different officials and its own mayor. There was another municipality in Tondo with 14 or 15 settlements of Tagalogs as well as other nationalities with their own governor and justice ministers and captains of infantry who lived in the suburbs outside Manila.

Interlaced with these native villages and along the riverbanks up to the mouth of the lagoon were many pasturelands, vegetable gardens, farms and ranches of Spaniards with more than 2,000 Chinese laborers. A great number of boats traversed the river continually, and the neighborhoods, convents, fields and gardens made it such a pleasure to behold that those who had seen it said it had no equal in the Indies.

Visible from Manila at a distance of three leagues by sea and five or six by land on the southern part was the secluded port of Cavite, a land's end that jutted out to the sea. The natives called it Cauit, which means a hook or anchor, while the Spaniards called it Cavite. It was quite sheltered from the strong southeastern gales that formed the most dangerous storms of the bay. The port was shallow and the galleons could not enter well into it and needed many strong cables. Because of this, they risked being wrecked in port like the two galleons that were ready to leave for Mexico in 1589, which were lost on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

The population of Cavite consisted mainly of soldiers since the presidio with its bulwarks and redoubts was there as well as the arsenal, shipyard and the wharf that served the galleons. The important residents were ship pilots, foremen, crew heads and other galleon officials. There was a parish church and four convents; after Manila, Cavite had the largest Spanish contingent.

Ships could cast anchor anywhere on the bay that was clean, abundant with good fish and lined with thick tree groves.

Fronting Manila, some eight leagues distant toward the middle of the bay was Mariveles, considered a small but elevated isle that served as a lookout. There was a sentinel there who, upon sighting foreign ships, would go out to meet them and send alarm flares to Manila.

Leaving the bay and navigating to the left 14 leagues from Cavite was the cove of Balayan, once known as de Bombon because of the lagoon of the same name at its back. Leaving Balayan and turning toward the east where you entered the cove of Batangas was Punta de Azufre, so called because of the sulfur in its surroundings. In front of the isle of Azufre was another islet called Caza because of the abundance of game; it was uninhabited. Between this isle and the land's end was another port called Malacaban whose name used to conjure sad memories for the Spaniards because in those parts Governor Perez Dasmariñas and his officials were killed by the Chinese crew members on the expedition to recover the fort at Ternate.

(Data from P. Francisco Colin, "Labor Evangelica," 1660, edited by P. Pablo Pastells, 1904)

Post Gloria-Garci

There's life after Gloria and 'Hello Garci' tapes

Amando Doronila
Inquirer News Service

DESPITE their ideological predilections, academics at the University of the Philippines, during moments of grave political crises, have seldom failed to assert their intellectual responsibility to intervene in setting the national agenda and rescuing it from the muddle of corrosive political conflict.

One such recent intervention was the launching on Aug. 8 at the UP Third World Study Center of a "Blueprint for a viable Philippines." The blueprint was drafted by a group of academics led by former UP president Francisco Nemenzo after 20 roundtable discussions with nonpartisan civil society groups.

The blueprint seeks to serve as "a comprehensive and coherent strategy to address the crisis, arrest public cynicism, and reverse the rapid decline of the State as an instrument for achieving the collective goals of the national community."

It follows the intervention several months earlier of the 11 UP School of Economics academics who issued a paper warning that the country was headed toward financial collapse unless the administration undertook tough reforms to attack the fiscal deficit crisis. The paper scored the Arroyo administration for not exercising enough political will to implement reforms to avert the deficit.

What is remarkable about the "blueprint" of the Nemenzo group is that it represents a fresh attempt to refocus national discourse from the sterile and sordid debate over the tapes that have provoked demands for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and over proposals calling for constitutional revision as way to end the current political crisis.

Above partisan fray

It stayed above the partisan fray over the tapes which have dominated the political debate during the past few weeks following their disclosure last month. It avoided reference to the scandals rocking the Arroyo administration.

By doing so, the blueprint refocused national attention to the more fundamental issues that it considered were at the root of the decline of the Philippine State and the current crisis.

The fact that the blueprint was drafted by a group associated with the nationalist-left tendency at the UP -- among them Nemenzo, Randy David and Renato Constantino Jr., none of whom is a great fan of Ms Arroyo -- puts it above suspicion the initiative was intended to divert attention from the scandals buffeting the Arroyo administration and threatening its survival.

Nemenzo et. al did the unexpected and unpredictable. Given their ideological perspective and their history of political activism, they would have been expected to get into the center of the "great debate" on constitutional revision and to put their intellectual weight behind any of the sides in the conflict that has deeply divided the nation.

Their academic detachment from the issues fueling the scandals allows them to redirect the agenda toward a vista that offers some hope to the nation, away from the demoralizing state of politics and the debate that is feeding on a frenzy of misinformation and unverified accusations.

The blueprint only makes indirect reference to the scandals. "Unbridled corruption and cynicism are rampant both in the public and private sectors," the document says.

Diminishing credibility

"The credibility of our electoral process is fast diminishing because of massive vote buying and electoral fraud," it says. "Our confidence is declining in the ability of the present political leadership to lead the country out of the rut."

From this perspective, the blueprint comes as a much-needed relief from the poisonous atmosphere generated by the intensely partisan debate over the tapes and other perceived faults and shortcomings of the Arroyo administration.

It offers fresh perspectives through which solutions for the crisis may come. It seems to send the message that while it is true that the nation has now sunk into a deep crisis, and that the survival of the Arroyo regime remains in doubts, there is life after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the tapes, no matter what is the outcome of the impeachment proceedings against the President.

The blueprint describes the current situation, offering an alternative analysis of national problems, and outlines a set to approaches to these problems.

"The best way to present the blueprint's distinctive features is to contrasts analysis and recommendations with those offered the present government and/or conventional frameworks," says the paper.

Highlights

The paper highlights the elements of a "nation in crisis," tracing them to more structural causes. These include:

The economy "is not growing fast enough to meet the needs of a rapid multiplying population," an issue that is being avoided by the Arroyo administration in the face of the Catholic Church's opposition to population control programs.

The economy is "extremely vulnerable to external conditions because of its excessive dependence on earnings from overseas workers and on foreign loans and investments."

Political stability "remains elusive because of mass poverty and the exclusion of a large number of our people from meaningful participation in the nation's life."

"The future of our young people is bleak because of the deterioration in the quality of public and private education."

The government is increasingly unable to make ends meet, as indicated by chronic budget deficits. It is also increasingly unable to service the public debt without having to take out new loans.

Public infrastructure is deteriorating. The national environment is being degraded.

Contrasting view

Coming after the President's State of the Nation Address on July 25, the blueprint offers a contrasting view of the state of the nation. It reduces the SONA to a hackneyed reprint of old programs, except for the call to fast-track constitutional revision. It contradicts the President's vision of a "strong Republic."

The blueprint says that the establishment of a "strong Developmental State" is needed for its realization and implementation.

Contrasting it with the Arroyo mantra of a "strong Republic," the blueprint says that a Strong Developmental State "is strong not in the sense of being authoritarian or arbitrary, but in the sense of being willful in the enforcement of its laws and resolution in the pursuit of its programs."

The principal objective of such a state "is to toughen our institutions and restore public confidence in them, free them from captivity by vested interests, and enshrine the rule of law in our society. Such a state, says the blueprint, aims to establish the conditions for sustained and equitable economic growth, so that private enterprise may flourish hand in hand with, rather at the expense of, realization of the vital social objectives."

The blueprint "prioritizes the fulfillment of the people's minimum basic needs, the termination of patronage as a mode of governance, the curbing of corruption at all levels."

The constitutional revision call stands high on the list of the blueprint's critique of the "conventional approaches." It says constitutional revision is being undertaken in a time of cynicism.

The alternative approaches of the blueprint will be examined in forthcoming essays.

Pinoys Are Honest

Not character but leadership

Inquirer News Service

IT'S common for leaders to blame their failures on the people. Thus Hitler, just before he fired the pistol that blew out his evil brains, whined that the German people were not worthy of his leadership. Pol Pot tried to kill as many Cambodians as possible in order to change them. Shortly after her election last year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued an executive order for a program to change the character "flaws" of the Filipino people.

Yet, in the entire history of mankind, there is no instance in which an entire people had to change their collective character so that their fate would change. England became great because of leaders like Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill. America achieved independence through the statesmanship of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Malaysia and Singapore have become economically successful because of Mahathir Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew; and China is now a superpower because of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiao Peng. The 1.2 billion Chinese people did not have to change their character to achieve economic progress.

Japan, which is not a Christian nation, has a kinder and gentler social system that takes much better care of retirees and elders than ours. It has much greater harmony and peace than our country.

Jose Enrique Yulo, in his letter, titled "Character flaws, change from within," (Inquirer, 7/25/05) expressed a very poor opinion of the Filipino character. This is typical of our colonial elite. Yet, Jose Rizal, in his essay, "The [alleged] Indolence of the Filipino People," pointed out that Filipinos are industrious and honest. He noted that our ancestors, in trading with the Chinese, invariably paid for the wares by leaving their payment on the shores for the Chinese traders to pick up. A recent test (conducted by GMA Network television), wherein "lost" wallets containing P200 were dropped in various parts of Metro Manila, showed that 85 percent of the wallets were returned intact. Another survey showed that most jeepney passengers, coming from ordinary families, paid the correct fare even though they had the opportunity to just get off without paying.

Filipino workers and employees abroad are appreciated for their industry and honesty, and that is the reason our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are in demand among employers abroad. If Ms Arroyo said that by going abroad, some eight million Filipinos were "voting with their feet," it is not because they have failed our country; it is because our leaders have failed them.

Leaders make promises; they are elected to office; they get to use billions of pesos in taxes from the people; they get the power to direct an immense bureaucracy. If they fail, why blame the people? A great leader, John F. Kennedy said, "To whom much is given, much is required." We give much to our leaders, in terms of honor, money and obedience. What do we get in return? Shall we also get insult in addition to injury?

MANUEL F. ALMARIO (via e-mail)

Garci's Pal

Posted by Avigail Olarte 
PCIJ

COMMISSION on Elections official Ray Sumalipao has confirmed that the conversation between him and ex-Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano on the wiretapped tapes is true.

Sumalipao was the Lanao del Sur provincial election supervisor in May 2004 and is now the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao assistant regional director.

In an interview with Marawi City reporters, Sumalipao said he spoke with Garcillano on May 30, 2004 about the ongoing canvassing in Lumba-Bayabao in Lanao del Sur.

Before Sumalipao, former presidential staff officer Michaelangelo Zuce had  confirmed the authenticity of the recorded conversation between him and his uncle, Garcillano. 

Alioden Dalaig, Comelec law department director, had also told Newsbreak that he was the one on the tape discussing with Garcillano about President Arroyo's Statement of Election Contributions and Expenditures.

This was the conversation between Sumalipao and Garcillano: 

Conversation between Gary (V. Garcillano) and Ray (believed to be Ray Sumalipao) on 30 13:30  hotel May '04

Ray: Hello?
Garcillano: Hello, Ray.
Ray: Sir.
Garcillano: O kumusta na kayo dyan?
Ray: Ah, ok lang, dito sa NBC ng ano, ng lugar ng (garbled)
Garcillano: Lumba-Bayabao?
Ray: Oo, sir.
Garcillano: Anong kwan dyan sa Lumba-Bayabao?
Ray: Nagka-canvassing. In-order to continue the canvassing pero wala namang proclamation. Yun ang order sa en banc, sir, di ba?
Garcillano: Meron ba?
Ray: Meron na, sir.
Garcillano: Ha?
Ray: Meron, sir. To continue with the canvassing but suspend the proclamation.

Sumalipao said the conversation "had nothing to do with defrauding somebody during the elections."

Read Sun Star's article on Sumalipao's interview here .  See also PCIJ's post, "The Lanao del Sur vote."

OFW's View

An OFW's message for Arroyo

INQ7.net

I WAS planning to write a very long feedback just to voice out my frustrations and disappointment with what is going on in our country but I decided not to waste your time on that. I'll just make it straight and short:

Dear Ms Arroyo, when you say that you are fighting for the average Filipino, have you ever considered what are the repercussions for the average Filipino of your being hardheaded and greedy for power? Since your apology was aired on the TV, have the prices of basic necessities (food, clothing, etc.), which the average Filipino needs, ever gone down?

The exchange rate of peso against the dollar has not improved. Actually, as an overseas Filipino worker, I should be happy with what you are doing because the money I send to my family will have more value in pesos. But what value? That hard-earned money is not enough to buy the basic things my family needs.

I just wish that you would stop being a pathetic loser trying to stay in your office when most of the Filipinos do not want you there. Please step down! That is at least one step that will surely help the economy of our country.

How do you expect our country to improve when you cannot function properly, as your time is not enough to stabilize the situation? The longer you fight for your office the longer will it take for Philippines to get back on its feet. How do you expect foreign investors to come in and provide employment to our people when they are not sure what kind of government we will have in the next five years?

If you are really fighting for the average Filipino, be man enough to accept your defeat and leave your office!

JOJO ALVIEDO, Lorong 40 Geylang, Singapore (via e-mail)

Hello, Garci Ring Tone Download

Here are Mp3 and wav files of the Hello Garci ring tone:

Indymedia server:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (124.1 KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (72.1 KB)

Server Mirror 1:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

Server Mirror 2:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

Server Mirror 3:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

To save, right-click on the file and click save as.

Many thanks to QC Indymedia and Yuga of PinoyBlog and Ploghost for hosting the files.

Links to the entire tape are at the PCIJ blog.

How do I put it in my phone?

1. Download your choice by clicking any or all of the files.

2. Transfer the downloaded file/s from the computer to your phone using either an infrared connection or a USB-to-phone cable.

3. For those whose phones have GPRS/WAP access, point your phone's browser to www.txtpower.org and download it directly to your phone.

4. Once transferred to your phone, the sound file may be used as ringtone for calls or text messages.

Other options

1. Ask for file-transfer from friends who may already have the ringtone. Both your phones should have either infrared or bluetooth connections.

2. Join any of the future anti-GMA rallies and look for the TXTPower banner. Next big date is June 24.

3. Watch out for the TXTPower "Hello Garci" Ringtone Download Team when they go around offices, stores and tiangges, communities and schools!

Download Garci Ring Tone From TxtPower

June 17, 2005
Here are Mp3 and wav files of the Hello Garci ring tone:

Server Mirror 1:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

Server Mirror 2:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

Server Mirror 3:
"Hello Garci" ringtone, MP3 format (360KB)
"Hello Garci" ringtone, WAV format (197KB)

To save, right-click on the file and click save as.

Many thanks to Yuga of PinoyBlog and Ploghost for hosting the files.

Links to the entire tape are at the PCIJ blog.

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