I've read Jing Karaos' take on the so-called Jesuit guidelines for political action, written before Talk of the Town featured Manuel Buencamino and Men Sta. Ana's arch critique of the Easter Sunday document issued by the Philippine Jesuits' Commission on the Social Apostolate. I've also read Boyet Dy's response to the Buencamino/Sta. Ana critique, lately making the email rounds. I agree with both, but I must say I found each excruciatingly polite.
Buencamino and Sta. Ana have committed the old crime known in the free-spirited Sixties as libel by label; it will do all of us who take part in the public discourse good if we say so plainly—and call them to account for their intellectual dishonesty. (Leloy Claudio's critical response to the guidelines, which also came out in the April 13 edition of Talk of the Town, is a different matter. It is, in my view, a sincere effort to engage the issues.)
The thrust of the Buencamino and Sta. Ana critique can be summed up neatly enough in the label in its title: "Jesuitic placebo." Essentially, they criticize the guidelines as an exercise in casuistry, in merely clever double talk.
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I will not dignify De Quiros' name-calling and Jesuit-baiting (and I am no Jesuit!) with a direct response. Moreover, I am afraid if we engage in this kind of attacks, we will fall into GMA's divide and rule trap.
But allow me just to forward Boyet Dy's email yesterday which corrects some of the critics' misreadings of the SJSA Guidelines, while at the same time also pointing to the limitations/weaknesses of the document. Boyet is currently Training Manager at the AIM TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides. He was Ateneo Student Council President, AB Development Studies summa cum laude and Class Valedictorian 2006.
Let me also reiterate that the SJSA Commission does NOT say (contrary to misinterpretations) that GMA should stay in power till 2010. You just have to read the sections, "Uphold the Truth" and "Exact Accountability" in the Non-negotiable Principles, and our critiques of the views associated with "There is no problem with GMA" and "GMA is not the main problem".
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Manila, Philippines — Go back to Sunday’s “Talk Of The Town” and read Leloy Claudio’s and Manuel Buencamino / Men Sta. Ana’s excellent replies to the Philippine Jesuit Commission’s proposal on how to deal with today’s political crisis. Both seize on the fatal flaw of the proposal, which is its premise. That premise is that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should stay in power until 2010 because “while [the effort to oust Arroyo] is one of principled moral conviction, it ceases to be a principled political option if GMA [Arroyo] remains resolute that she would not resign voluntarily.”
Clearly, Claudio says, as implied by the Jesuits themselves, “GMA is unfit to lead the country and … the country would be a better place without her as
president.” If the Jesuits just want to be pragmatic or want to achieve only the achievable, then surely adding the weight of their voice to the chorus of
voices demanding that Arroyo go is more pragmatic because it makes that goal more achievable for everyone? And if ousting Arroyo is useless because it is not achievable, why on earth believe that any of their proposals can be useful, given that the prospect of Arroyo agreeing to them is next to impossible?
Buencamino and Sta. Ana work along similar lines. In their own words: “The proposal to have an Independent Counsel is a waste of time and a distraction from looking for a real solution toward ridding the country of a morally bankrupt leader who has corrupted every institution from the Executive to the legislature to the Supreme Court—and even the religious sector.”Be first to comment this article |
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Douglass North, Killing Us Softly with His Song |
Alba is professor of economics at the De La Salle University and the spokesperson of Action for Economic Reforms (www.aer.ph) and Fight the Philippine Mafia movement. This article was published in 2 parts in the
Opinion Section, Yellow Pad Column of BusinessWorld. Part 1 was published on March 10,2008 at pages S1/4 - S1/5 and Part 2 on March 17 at page S1/4.
Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song …
A version of the story goes: Lori Lieberman, the original singer (not Roberta Flack) was so moved by then-unknown Don McLean’s rendition of “Empty Chairs”
that she wrote the poem, “Killing me softly with his blues.” Her poem in turn inspired Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel to compose “Killing me softly with his
song” for her.
What does this anecdote have to do with 1993 Nobel laureate for economics, Douglass North? I don’t know if it’s just me, but reading his two latest papers, “A framework for interpreting recorded human history” (co-written with John Joseph Wallis and Barry R. Weingast [National Bureau of Economic Research working paper w12795]) and “Limited access orders in the developing world: A new approach to the problems of development” (co-written with John Joseph Wallis, Steven B. Webb, and Barry R. Weingast [World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4359]), I kept hearing the song’s refrain over and over. Be first to comment this article |
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April 10, Microsoft launched their new wave of technologies in the Philippines using their global theme, "Heroes happen here."
I can't help but think how inappropriate the theme is for our country.
After reading Fr. Intengan's ZTE Primer document, I find it hard to imagine how heroes can ever happen in this country. In the guise of shedding light on the controversial deal, Fr. Intengan suggests 3 things:
1) That Jun Lozada lied when he claimed he was abducted; this, of course, assumes that the government account of the incident is true
2) That Jun Lozada's and the other whistleblowers' testimonies are all hearsay and therefore have no value
3) That the Senate hearings should now be stopped and charges in court should be filed instead.
Under ordinary times, Intengan's primer might resonate among peace-loving and decent people. But when you have a president embroiled in serious charges of corruption and cheating, and who uses stonewalling, lying and deceit to respond to these charges, it takes an extraordinary leap of faith or supreme naivete to expect relief from a dysfunctional judicial system.Be first to comment this article |
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