Last of the 100 days, May 27. 1939

May 27, 1939

Last of the 100 days
By the Amateur Assemblyman

“WELL, my friends,” Speaker Jose Yulo is said to have told several Assemblymen last week, “all of you have had your palabas. You have given privilege speeches. You have directed investigations. You have passed important bills or amended them. You have had your share of newspaper headlines. Now give me a chance to show off. Let’s close it ahead of time.”

The he announced he would give his colleagues a big feed at the Manila Hotel at 8 p.m. on the last of the 100 Days, four hours before the witching hour of midnight, when the clock was stopped in other legislative windups.

It was a subtle and effective trick that would have done credit to a veteran, and proved that the debutante Speaker had come of political age. The Assemblymen, in high good humor, rattled off bill after bill in third and final reading, and cleared the table by 6:45 p.m. with the approval of the P8,180,000 public works appropriation. Assemblyman Eugenio Perez occupied the rostrum during the last lap. The Assembly passed a total of 87 bills in the 100 Days; five have already been signed by the President.

Our issue for May 27, 2006

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS
 
May 27, 2006 Issue
 
Main Features
 
Cover story: The Da Vinci Code Controversy, by Kit Tatad
 
1. They’re Falling Everywhere
 
President Arroyo has ordered the National Police to investigate the murders of leaders of militant groups that are being blamed on the military and her administration. More than 120 militant leaders have been slain since Mrs. Arroyo took office in 2001, the last ones a day after Mrs. Arroyo ordered the investigation. The military denies having anything to do with the spate of killings, even though a survivor of an attack in Misamis Occidental during the weekend identified one of her attackers as a military agent. It is doubtful that the investigation will produce a credible finding. Already the police are singing the same tune as the military and the Justice Department: a purge in the ranks of the communist movement. Nobody believes them, least of all the leftist organizations that should know, if it is true that they are communist fronts, whether a cleansing of the ranks is going on. Domestic and foreign human rights groups have been pressuring the Arroyo administration to stop the murders, but not until the killings have become almost a daily occurrence that Mrs. Arroyo moves to do something. Police Deputy Director General Avelino Razon, head of the investigation, says soldiers and paramilitary forces are suspects in the murders, but attributes at least 13 of the slayings to a communist purge. Nothing is clear, and perhaps nothing will become clear unless last weekend’s gunman is arrested and he rats on the others. Neither the Communist Party of the Philippines nor its armed wing, the New People’s Army, has not confirmed that those killed or those the government is prosecuting (see No. 2) are rebels or members of front organizations. In the past, however, the NPA denied that the party-list groups are communist fronts. Of these groups, Bayan Muna has lost the biggest number of members to the killers—91. Party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna, a former spokesman for the National Democratic Front, the communist movement’s political organization, denies there is a purge going on within the movement. If what Ocampo is saying is true, then the murders can only be the military’s work. But what does the military hope to achieve? Peace negotiations between the government and the communists, through the NDF, have been suspended because of mutual mistrust. The military’s warmongering, and now the killings, are not helping restore confidence to efforts to revive the negotiations. But then perhaps the military doesn’t want the negotiations to resume, much less a political solution to the communist insurgency. A settlement will end the counterinsurgency war; no war, no modernization of military armaments. No business, too. Could this be the reason for the killings?
 
            By Ricky S. Torre
 
2. Crushing the Left
 
How can the rebellion charges that the Justice Department is forcing on five leftist legislators prove that it’s the communist rebels themselves who are killing the leaders of militant groups opposed to President Arroyo? The charges, refiled after Party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño, Joel Virador, Liza Maza and Rafael Mariano walked free last week, allege that the Communist Party of the Philippines carried out purges in 1982, 1985-86, 1988 and 1989. The Justice Department, however, offers no evidence of any kind that links any of the five to those purges. Neither does the department offer any argument to show that any of the five is responsible for the recent slayings of militant group leaders. How does the department expect the five to be convicted of crimes committed by the communists from 1969 to the present, including of the charge that the five conspired with the opposition and some groups in the military to overthrow President Arroyo? And why is the government going after leftists who, instead of taking up arms, have chosen to bring their struggle for social justice to Congress?
 
            By Guiller de Guzman and Wendell Vigilia
 
3. Population: The Growth Slowdown That Never Was
 
The advice from the National Statistical Coordination Board was very clear: “These values should be interpreted with caution as these are projections based on certain assumptions of fertility and mortality and are projected annual average growths for the periods given.” And yet the administration went ahead and declared that the population growth rate had slowed down to 1.95 percent, with Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri saying this was close to the growth rate that would allow the economy to sustain the entire population, and President Arroyo congratulating the Population Commission for the “significant drop” in population growth and claiming it as an achievement of her administration. They would have gone on trumpeting the lie had the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development not pointed out that the figure was only a projection and not actual growth rate. How could anybody have known what the real growth rate was when the mid-decade national census that was to have been taken last year fell through because it was not funded in the national budget? And how could the growth rate have slowed down when the national government had no population-control program? There is a responsible-parenthood bill in the House of Representatives, but it is gathering dust because the administration and its congressional allies won’t allow it to move for fear of the ire of the Catholic Church.
 
            By Guiller de Guzman and Nati Nuguid
 
4. Mission: Possible
 
Only 12 session days are left before the second regular session of Congress ends. When Congress returns in July, Speaker Jose de Venecia hopes it will be as the “interim parliament” and its job will be to amend the Constitution. The administration is working for that, after deciding in Saudi Arabia last week that the bogus people’s initiative is too risky to push, by starting a civil war in the Senate with the intention of dividing the chamber and winning the majority to the side of the proponents of a constituent assembly. The administration has a henchman inside who has started the division: Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago. Her blood used to hit boiling point at the mere suggestion of a constituent assembly, but after accompanying President Arroyo to Saudi Arabia last week, Santiago, angling for an appointment to the Supreme Court, turned around. She now talks about an opportunity to help write a new Constitution and the likelihood of there being no more Senate by July. She has no problem winning over Sen. Edgardo Angara and there’s no question at all involving Sen. Lito Lapid. But the rest? Sen. Richard Gordon has said that the senators will agree to amending the Constitution, but only if the intention is not to keep anybody—meaning Mrs. Arroyo—in power. In the House, the resolution for a constituent assembly already has the required 182 signatures to pass. But the minority has already more than the required 42 signatures to defeat the resolution, so the majority’s is considered dead. This doesn’t mean, however, that it’s over. Santiago’s work is just beginning. But she must hurry. If the administration fails to stop the opening of the third regular session in July, a new impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo goes up.
 
          By Guiller de Guzman and Wendell Vigilia
 
5. Call to the Unconcerned
 
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has proclaimed 2006 as “Social Concerns Year,” urging Filipinos to speak out more forcefully about the issues affecting their lives and to participate more actively in reforming their society and restoring moral values and decency to public life. The proclamation is short of a call to people power, but Malacañang should get the drift, especially with the bishops’ call for the publication of the report on the Inspectorate General Office’s investigation into the alleged use of the military in rigging of the 2004 presidential election and the filing of charges against government officials who channeled P728 million in agricultural funds into President Arroyo’s campaign that year. Mrs. Arroyo, however, has nothing to fear because not very many Filipinos understand what the bishops mean. Subtle calls to action like this do not work on majority of a people who are too busy keeping body and soul together they don’t have time to even notice what’s going on around them. If the bishops want the people to take direct action and set things aright in the government, they should say call them out and, perhaps, they will drop everything and respond. 
 
By Guiller de Guzman, Butch Serrano and Wendell Vigilia
 
6. Pigs
 
In a visit to La Union on May 9, Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Sutherland showed to everyone that he, too, could eat with spoon and fork. It didn’t look bad, at all. And nobody told him to his face that he ate like a pig. Sutherland was only showing that Canada was not really intolerant of other culture’s etiquette, contrary to perception created by the punishment of 7-year-old Filipino-Canadian Luc Cagadoc at an elementary school in Montreal for eating with spoon and fork. His mother, Maria Theresa Gallardo complained to Normand Bergeron, principal of Ecole Leland, about the treatment Luc received in school, but Bergeron told her that the boy deserved the punishment because he ate like a pig. Gallardo’s complaint has drawn international attention and Canada has found itself in the center of a controversy in which it is pictured as intolerant of other culture’s practices. The controversy has reached the diplomatic level, with Vice President Noli de Castro instructing the Foreign Affairs Department to press the complaint against Bergeron and the lunch monitor who punished Luc. But don’t expect Canada to hang the two. At most, what we can expect here is an apology. Let this controversy be a lesson to all prospective immigrants. Most of these Filipinos have no information about, much less experience of, other cultures.  If you want to emigrate to some Western country, learn the ways of that country first before you go. Be prepared for assimilation. Since you are leaving this godforsaken country, don’t expect the government here to intervene for you when you get into trouble there.
 
By Guiller de Guzman and Nati Nuguid

7. Expulsion from the Promised Land
 
Burbank, California—Although driven out by economic difficulties and political crises in their own country in the past 30 years, the more than 1 million Filipinos who have illegally migrated to the United States are hardly disturbed by an impending overhaul of US immigration laws initiated by Congress. Only a handful of Filipinos are joining street protests against the bill that would expel all illegal migrants, with the Mexicans leading the almost daily demonstrations because they are the most affected. The Filipinos trust that officials and legislators in the Philippines will intervene on their behalf. Many just don’t care, foolishly believing that they can keep dodging immigration agents. But the US Congress is serious this time. The overhaul has been prompted not just by economic problems among Americans, but by national security concerns. All illegals must go, but will be given a chance to apply for immigration from their own countries. That’s out of the question for the Filipinos here. What will they do in the Philippines, where there are no jobs? For quite many, the problem is not just economic uncertainty, but they have nowhere to go—they sold all of their properties to finance their trip to America. And now this?
 
By Ramiro C. Alvarez
 
Two editorials

“The bible of the Filipinos,” 1942

“The bible of the Filipinos”
By Frederic S. Marquardt
Taken from his book, Before Bataan and After (1942)

THE Philippines Free Press was a brilliant example of man’s ability to adapt himself to the circumstances in which he finds himself. I’m sure there was no publication quite like it in the world.

The Free Press was published weekly, in a magazine format much like that of the Saturday Evening Post. It was basically a news magazine, and it had been in existence for fifteen years before Time evolved the present news-magazine technique of handling the news.

But the Free Press offered much more than résumé of the week’s news. Its political cartoons were probably the most powerful single force in Philippine journalism. These always appeared on the first page and were accompanied by an explanatory text, in something like the fashion that Arthur Brisbane used for his full-page editorials in the Hearst newspapers.

There was another page of editorials which everyone in the government, from the chief executive down to the village presidents, used to read closely. There was an illustrated short story, written usually by a Filipino, and a column of verse, partly contributed by Filipinos and partly taken from the work of the better-known American and English poets.

There were feature articles covering nearly everything in the Philippines and a lot of things outside of the islands. There were plenty of pictures from home and abroad, and there was a column of Philippine news from Washington written by a resident correspondent. For a while the Free Press also had its own correspondents in Tokyo and Paris. There was column of jokes and a letter-to-the-editor page and a pen-pals column. At one time or another nearly every type of feature that has appeared in any newspaper or magazine cropped out in the Free Press.

I don’t want to give the impression that the Free Press was a catchall. It was edited with care that would amaze many editors in the United States. But its primary purpose was to interest the readers, and anything that was interesting was likely to pop up between its covers.

Our issue for May 20, 2006

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS
 
May 20, 2006 Issue
 
Main Features
 
1.Cover: Lakas-CMD Rep. Faysah Dumarpa of Lanao del Sur 

2. The Spy Who Got Caught and Caused Trouble
 
Former president Joseph Estrada, Sen. Panfilo Lacson and San Juan Mayor all say that the information they received from former Federal Bureau of Investigation analyst Leandro Aragoncillo are not classified. The contents of the files they received, they say, are widely known here. What they do not know, or perhaps play down, in the case of Lacson, a former National Police commander, is that anything, even just a newspaper clipping, that the FBI holds as classified is classified and unauthorized disclosure is a violation of national security laws. Worse in the case of Aragoncillo is that he stole the files from the vice president’s office in the White House and the discovery of his illegal acts led to the discovery that the United States is, in the words of House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, digging up dirt on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. While that certainly is true, the White House surely does not want its allies to know that it is snooping on them. Aragoncillo has pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to lessen his sentence. His contact, former Police Senior Superintended Michael Ray Aquino, is fighting the charges against him. Another associate of Lacson, Police Senior Superintendent Cesar Mancao, was arrested in Florida last month, but there are no reports yet about his link to Aragoncillo’s case. If the decision is left to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales, the government would squeeze this scandal to the last drop to put Lacson, the Estradas and former House speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, also named as having received classified information from Aragoncillo but who has not broken his silence on this case. But what Philippine laws have been violated here? The reports from the United States say Aragoncillo passed classified information to Filipino politicians who are trying to “overthrow” Mrs. Arroyo. Do the Americans mean “overthrow” the way Filipino politicians understand “overthrow”? To be sure, the White House and the United States Congress are aware that the opposition is trying to remove Mrs. Arroyo from office and factions in the military are trying to overthrow her. To be sure, too, the White House is aware of Mrs. Arroyo’s dictatorial tactics in trying to save her presidency. As in the 1980s, the opposition politicians today are patriots who trying to topple what they see as an illegitimate ruler who, like Ferdinand Marcos toward the end of his rule, may be losing support in Washington. For Gonzales, however, that’s rebellion, the case that he believes the government can bring against Lacson, Fuentebella and the Estradas. He is also talking of extradition for the four, although none of them has been indicted in the United States. But on what will the government rest a charge of rebellion against the four, receiving digests of the news in the Philippine Daily Inquirer from Aragoncillo
 
            By Ricky S. Torre
 
3. You’re Not Free Yet
 
The Justice Department never had a case against Party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza, Teodoro Casiño, Joel Virador and Rafael Mariano. They are accused of rebellion, but the Justice Department could not cite a specific act against any of the five that support the charges—only narrations of events that happened during the time of Ferdinand Marcos and allegations that the five are aiding communist rebels. The stupidity of it all is they are being linked even to the Plaza Miranda bombing in 1970, an event that happened when some of them are too young to be involved. Casiño, for example, was only 2 years old at the time. The Justice Department, however, insists that because rebellion is a continuing crime, the five are responsible for acts that have been committed against the government since the communist insurgency erupted in 1969. That thing about a continuing act may be legally correct, but, except for Ocampo, who was pardoned by President Corazon Aquino in 1986, which of the five has been committing rebellion since 1969? No wonder the court refused to accept the amended complaint to implead the five and former senator Gregorio Honasan with Party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran, whose case, too, may now be junked. Beltran also received presidential pardon in 1986, and Congress repealed the subversion law during the term of President Fidel Ramos. The five lawmakers walked to freedom on Monday. The Justice Department, however, is not accepting defeat. In yet another impolitic remark, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales told the five to “go back to the mountains” because the government would not stop until it could imprison them. 
 
          By Guiller de Guzman and Wendell Vigilia
 
4.It’s Not Over Yet
 
Contrary to the Free Press’s view, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales says the Supreme Court’s striking down EO 464, the “calibrated preemptive respons” to street protests, and Proclamation No. 1017 weakens President Arroyo. The administration will appeal the rulings. Why should the rulings weaken Mrs. Arroyo? She never had the power to conceal executive wrongdoings from Congress, or the power to prevent street protests, or the power to intimidate and prosecute the political opposition. Her powers are clearly defined by the Constitution and the laws. Ah, but then, Gonzales says the ruling on 1017 deprives Mrs. Arroyo the power to take over private business. Why does she want that power?
 
            By Guiller de Guzman and Nati Nuguid
 
5. Don’t Be Too Sure
 
For the minority in the House of Representatives, the three adverse rulings by the Supreme Court against President Arroyo are proof that Mrs. Arroyo repeatedly violated the Constitution. Her actions are impeachable offenses, the minority says, so come July she can expect another impeachment fight and this time, minority lawmakers say, the impeachment bill will go to the Senate. Oh? The opposition should study the rulings carefully. Parts of the orders that have been stricken down are legal, and this is Malacañang’s defense against any charge of violation of the Constitution against Mrs. Arroyo. And even if the policies have been struck down in their entirety, the House minority still has a solid wall to bust before they can transmit the impeachment bill to the Senate: greed.
 
            By Guiller de Guzman and Wendell Vigilia
 
Two editorials

Political War and Martial Law? January 23, 1971

January 23, 1971

Political War and Martial Law?

FIRST, it was the Catholic Church that the Marcos Administration speaking through its propaganda organ, Government Report, accused of being “the single biggest obstacle to progress in the country,” just because the Catholic hierarchy would not cooperate with Malacañang in its plan to make the visiting Pope Paul VI a kid of PRO for the social welfare projects of the First Lady.

Then, it was the turn of the private press to be accused of standing between the government and the best interests of the people—by blackmailing poor President Marcos, or trying to, anyway, into going against those interests.

Then it was the turn of Meralco, or, to be precise, Eugenio Lopez, Sr., Eugenio Lopez, Jr., and, because of his relationship with them, Vice-Pres. Fernando Lopez, to be accused of “undermining the best interests of the nation.”

Who’s next?

In a speech before the first national convention of the Philippine Congress of Trade Unions, President Marcos accused “the powers who are in control of some of the media” of trying to blackmail him into betraying the public trust.

“You cannot perhaps know the pressures that the President is subjected to,” he said, “the coercion, the intimidation. Some time ago, I received a message which indicated the sickness of our society—to the effect that if I did not approve a certain favor I would be attacked in the newspapers. My immediate reaction was: go right ahead and attack me. That is your privilege but I am going to judge these questionable transactions on the basis of their merits, not on anything else. I have decided, I said, that in 1973 I’ll retire from politics. That is my wish, that is my hope, and nobody is going to intimidate me in any way.”

President Marcos pleaded for help from the “great mass of our people” while promising to do all he could to better their lives.

Then, last Wednesday night, after government forces shot to death four and seriously injured or caused serious injury to many during what started as a peaceful demonstration of students and jeepney drivers, President Marcos warned that he might be forced to use his powers to declare martial law and suspend the writ of habeas corpus if present disorders worsened while lashing out at “a particular pressure group” which he accused of inciting them to further passion.” The President said there were reports that the “pressure group” was financing the jeepney strikers as well as inciting them to violence.

On the other hand, he said, “I do not wish to believe this report,” and on the other, he said, “it is written and signed by responsible agents of our government.”

(Was it the same “responsible agents of our government” that told Malacañang that it was the American Central Intelligence Agency that was behind the recent troubles of the FREE PRESS and the President, in the first case, instigating the labor dispute—so a high Malacañang personage told the FREE PRESS editor—and, in the second case, planting Dovie Beams to smear the President and afterward oust him from the power as it did the corrupt Egyptian ruler Farouk?)

President Marcos went on:

“For and in behalf of the Filipino people, I appeal for sobriety. I beg on my bended knees that no man or group of men seek to inflame our people. Violence will not solve our problems. It will not solve our problems. It will not in any way help our country, it will not resolve any conflict.

He said that “this government under my leadership will never utilize the power, the latent, capable power that is in its hands to destroy any legitimate strike, nor to deprive the people of their liberties.”

“This should not be taken as a sign of weakness,” he said.

“There have been some talk about the President becoming soft and weak, supine and submitting and humiliating himself before the drivers.

“I do not look at it this way,” he said. “I look at it as a consultation with the people from whom my power comes. I consult with them because it is necessary that they know what the consequences are of their actions.

“I have not grown weak,” he said. “Rather, I have grown cautious and prudent because if violence continues, if there should be massive sabotage, if theirs should be terrorism, if there is assassination, I will have no other alternative but to utilize the extraordinary powers granted me by our Constitution.

“These powers are the power to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus under which any man can be arrested and detained for any length of time; and the power to declare any part or the whole of the Philippines under martial law.

“These powers I do not wish to utilize, and it is for this reason that I appeal to our people tonight.

“I do not do so for myself,” he said. “I do not say, ‘do not criticize me.’ I welcome criticism. But such things like ‘let us kill Marcos,’ or ‘let us fight in the hills,’ ‘mount a revolution’ is not going to help anyone, not even the press. . . .

“Yesterday there was a gathering of publishers called by a pressure group and they demanded that there be a pooled editorial to call Marcos all kinds of names.

“Now how will that help our people? How will it help solve our conflict? The pooled editorial is supposed to incite and inflame the people to further passion.

“I do not say anything except to appeal to them. Let the fight be between us, but do not involve our people. If the pressure groups have been hurt because I say that I will no longer compromise with them and I will stand for the welfare of our people, if in the past there had been compromises, now I will no longer allow it.

“I will not tolerate it. It is about time that we did this, and it is about time the President took the lead. I am taking the lead now.

“However much you may try to humiliate me, I will not knuckle down. I will stand by the people. But I appeal to you, please don’t bring down the house in flames. Please do not use violence to attain your end.”

The next day, Vice-Pres. Fernando Lopez resigned from the cabinet of President Marcos in which he held the post of Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources. (Under him the department earned the designation by the FREE PRESS of “Government Department of the Year 1970.”) The Vice-President said that he had tendered his resignation as early as December last year and that he had gone to President Marcos to reiterate his offer of resignation.

The President accepted the Vice-President’s resignation from his cabinet.

Here is President Marcos’s letter accepting the Lopez resignation:

“It is with deep regret that I received your offer to resign from your position as Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources. It is with even deeper regret that, in view of developments over the recent past, I must now accept your resignation.

“I assure you there is nothing personal in my acceptance of your resignation. You and I have been in the best relations. But your position in the cabinet has now become untenable in view of your relationship with the financial and political interests that I have identified as constituting a pressure group intent upon the destruction of my development program.

“I have given you more responsibility and invested your office with more prestige than any Vice-President notwithstanding the fact that the media controlled by the Lopez interests were vicious and malicious in their attacks against my person—with the obvious aim of discrediting the government in the eyes of the people, and thus undermining the best interests of the nation.

“While you were a member of my cabinet, the Lopez interests, specifically Mr. Eugenio Lopez, Sr., and Mr. Eugenio Lopez, Jr., were engaged in fomenting unrest and inciting the already militant and impassioned groups who advocate anarchy and assassination. The media controlled by the Lopez interests are still engaged in this, have in fact intensified their campaign against me, notwithstanding the fact that you once assured me of continued amity and cooperation.

“I have begged for unity in the political leadership, knowing that this is demanded by the times and expected by our people. However, the Lopezes have seen fit to make an issue of my refusal to approve their project for the establishment of a lubricating oil factory, a petrochemical complex, the purchase of the Caltex, and the use of the Laguna de Bay development project for reclamation of areas to be utilized for an industrial complex. There are many and varied favors, concessions and privileges which I am expected to extend to this group, but which I have not.

“As I have previously said, the pressure group I have identified is intent upon maligning my Administration and, by means of propaganda and various maneuvers, has sought to undermine public confidence in the government under my stewardship. These designs of this pressure group, according to very reliable information, took a particularly insidious form in the incitement and support it provided to the elements which participated in the violent demonstrations yesterday.

“It is now obvious that this pressure group is not unwilling to employ the most despicable means, including crime and anarchy, to achieve its ends. From our long association, you know, of course, that I have been tolerant of this and other pressure groups in the past—indeed, so tolerant as to give many people the impression that I have succumbed to their devices and manipulations.

“I assure you that I have not succumbed to them. I had merely endeavored to remain as calm, at the same time watchful, as the great responsibilities of my office required.

“You assure me that you cannot continue in your position as Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources while the shadow of doubt and suspicion hangs over you in view of your relationship to one of the pressure groups I have spoken of. I am glad that you realize the difficult and untenable position you are in. While I would have wanted you to continue as a member of my cabinet, I feel on the other hand that the events that will follow and the decisions that I will have to make from here on, possibly affecting the interests and personal fortunes of the pressure groups I have mentioned, could cause personal embarrassment for both of us, and the only way to avoid such embarrassment would be to accept your resignation.

“Finally, I wish to thank you for the assistance you have given my Administration.”

Eugenio Lopez, Jr., president of the Philippine Petroleum Corporation, a subsidiary of the Meralco Securities Corporation, said, in so many words, that President Marcos was lying when he said that he, Lopez, Jr., and his father had been exerting pressure on him, the President, particularly in the case of the lubricating oil refinery in Sucat, Muntinglupa, Rizal.

As reported by the Manila Chronicle:

“The PPC president said that the PPC had been duly granted authority to construct and operate a lubricating oil refinery by the Board of Investment on September 8, 1969, in a letter signed by then BOI Chairman Cesar Virata.

“The MSC applied to the BOI for authority to construct and operate a lubricating oil refinery on May 2, 1969, in response to a publication on April 9, 1969, of the second Investment Priorities Plan.

“The Central Bank of the Philippines, after ascertaining the economic viability of the project, approved PPC’s request to proceed with the acquisition of necessary foreign loans to finance the project.

“One of two unsuccessful applicants who applied for the authority to construct and operate a lubricating oil refinery questioned the BOI award to PPC.

“The National Economic Council conducted hearings on PPC’s application, after which it confirmed and approved PPC’s application on its merits.

“Lopez, Jr., said that on August 18, 1970, the Laguna Lake Development Authority in a letter signed by its general manager, advised the PPC that the area whereon PPC wished to construct the refinery ‘will be reclaimed by the Authority, and the Authority’s Board has approved a resolution for this purpose.’ The letter, he said, further stated that the PPC ‘may locate, install and operate your lubricating oil refinery on the land which will be reclaimed by the Authority.’

“Based on this letter, PPC purchased in October last year the necessary land on the lake front wherein the reclamation would be undertaken, he said.

“The memorandum-agreement to that effect, he also said, was signed between the LLDA and the PPC on Sept. 1, 1970. The two parties agreed that up to 24 hectares of land at Barrio Sucat, Muntinglupa, would be reclaimed for the PPC plant’s site.

“He said that prior to undertaking reclamation of the proposed site of the refinery, the Laguna Lake Development Authority coursed an implementation letter to the President of the Philippines. The letter was routed through the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Presidential Economic Staff and the Malacañang Legal Staff.

“All of these offices favorably endorsed approval of the order, Lopez, Jr., said.

“In other words, he said, it was only the approval of President Marcos for the Laguna Lake Development Authority to proceed with the reclamation of the proposed site of the oil lubricating refinery that was being awaited.

“Considerable expense has been made in various works preparatory to the construction of the refinery, it was learned.

“According to Lopez, Jr., the lubricating oil refinery when in full operation will not only earn dollars but will also allow the Philippines to net foreign exchange savings of up to $13 million annually or up to $35,000 a day.

“The Export-Import Bank of Washington, D.C., on December 30 last year approved financing for the PPC refinery in the amount of $15.5 million, Lopez, Jr., said.

“Also on January 5, 1970, the International Finance Corporation, an affiliate of the World Bank, approved financing for the construction of the PPC refinery in the same amount of $6.2 million and on the basis of the merit of the project agreed to purchase equity in the refinery in the amount of $1.8 million thereby providing financing totaling $8 million, Lopez, Jr., added.”

Reaction

Leaders of the striking jeepney drivers said that “there was no truth to President Marcos’s charge that the demonstration which turned violent later in the day was financially supported by Vice-Pres. Fernando Lopez and his brother.”

One of the leaders said:

“I boil when people ask me about this report. There is no truth to that charge.”

Another leader of the striking jeepney drivers said:

“The Lopez brothers have not helped the striking drivers and the same is true with the members of the so-called  vested interest group.”

One of the leaders of the student activists, Chito Sta. Romana of the Movement for a Democratic Philippines, said that his group did not know of anyone belonging to “the so-called pressure group responsible for Wednesday’s rally.”

Raul Manglapus, president of the Christian Social Movement, said the Filipino people “are waiting for the President to muster for himself the courage to take firm steps to restore popular confidence in his leadership. . . Our country is fast moving into a state of anarchy, disintegration and despair. Most of this condition comes from a deep and rampant popular distrust in the word and in the action of the President.”

Nacionalista Rep. Antonio M. Diaz from Zambales said the greatest single factor plaguing the nation today is “loss of confidence in the leadership in all branches of government,” and, he went on, “unless faith in our leadership is restored, the anger of our people cannot be assuaged.”

Liberal Rep. Ramon V. Mitra from Palawan said:

“By using violence against unarmed citizens ventilating the ills and problems of present-day society, the Marcos Administration is stifling the voice of the people crying for much-needed reforms.”

The national president of the Malayang Pagkakaisa ng Kabataang Pilipino (MPKP), Ruben D. Torres, denounced the “renewed threat of President Marcos to impose martial law and suspend the writ of habeas corpus.”

Nacionalista Speaker Jose B. Laurel, Jr., said:

“The Constitution is specific. It allows the President to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or to place the country or any part thereof under martial law only in cases of ‘invasion, insurrection, or rebellion, or imminent danger thereof, when the public safety requires it.’ I do not think any of these circumstances exist at the moment.”

Nacionalista Sen. Jose Diokno proposed that President Marcos and all other elected national officials resign and another election be held in June to determine whether the people still have confidence in them.

Liberal Rep. Jose B. Lingad from Pampanga said that President Marcos should prove his patriotism by resigning from office or at least taking a leave of absence, the people having lost confidence in him.

“If Marcos went through with his threat to lift the writ of habeas corpus or declare martial law,” Lingad went on, “Congress might as well close shop.”

Must the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus be suspended, enabling the President to send to prison or otherwise detain anyone indefinitely? Must 38 million Filipinos be placed—by declaring martial law—under a military dictatorship headed by Ferdinand Marcos?

The demonstrations held so far in the Philippines against the government and the violence that has marked some of them are nothing compared with the violent expressions of protest in the United States. President Nixon  has yet to speak of the possibility of suspending the writ of habeas corpus or imposing martial law on the America people. If he were to do so, is there any doubt he would be impeached and ousted from office? Why does President Marcos keep talking of the possibility of suspending the writ or imposing martial law on us? The solution for the problem of social unrest in the Philippines is not suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or the imposition of a military dictatorship on the Filipino people but reform. Regain the confidence of the people. Stop corruption and the waste of the nation’s resources in senseless extravagance. Set a moral example. Be a true President of the Filipino people. Is that too difficult to do?

Must the writ be suspended?

Must there be martial law?

The Hon. W. Cameron Forbes, editorial for May 15, 1909

Saturday, May 15, 1909

The Hon. W. Cameron Forbes

Let us have the truth about the Mr. Forbes. Let us give him credit for working when he might retire into a life of privacy and ease. Let us pay tribute to his generosity if there be merit in a generosity which feels little or no loss in the giving. Let us applaud his close attention to his official duties and his indefatigable labors in the common weal. Let us admire his readiness to assist any deserving cause. Let us acknowledge some degree of business ability.

At the same time let us not shut our eyes to Mr. Forbes’ shortcomings. Let us admit that he has neither social charm nor a winning personality. Let us confess that his manner is unfortunate, that as a public speaker he does not impress or inspire his audience, that he seems to lack energy and aggressive force of character, that rumor commonly credits the staff of men with whom he has surrounded himself as contributing in very large degree to such success as he may have attained, and that he is never regarded as a strong man or one could successfully guide the administration here through a long term of trying years.

As to the “accomplishment of the man” we fail to see much so far. Some promise, yes, but little performance. As to “the trust and affection of all elements of the people” we simply say—buncombe!

We do not wish to be understood as feeling unkindly towards W. Cameron Forbes the man or Forbes the official. But we do wish to be understood as protesting against this intolerable atmosphere of cant and gush and benevolent misrepresentation when it comes to our men in office. Here the lack of an opposition has bred an atmosphere of complacent self-deception, of extravagant appreciation, of stereotyped and indiscriminate praise and panegyric.

Business, editorial for May 14, 1910

Saturday, May 14, 1910

“Business”

IN CONNECTION with a prize subscription contest advertised recently in the FREE PRESS and the apparent indifference on the part of the young people toward the money prizes offered, a young Filipino from Negros who is a friend of the paper, explained the apathy on the ground that the Filipino youth would not respond where cash prizes were offered as it looked too mercenary, too much like “business.”

We are inclined to believe there is something in what our young Filipino friend says, and we think that among certain classes of the Filipino people there exists a feeling of disdain for anything which has in it a suggestion of money-getting. This view is borne out by the sneering reference occasionally made in the Filipino press to the word “business.”

As we view it, this attitude is wrong and one which is working great harm and must continue to work great harm to the Filipino people. One may feel very superior in affecting to despise business and the accumulation of the dollar or peso, but it is the foolish superiority of a Don Quixote. To follow out this attitude to its logical conclusion  it must mean that the Filipino is proud of over 90 per cent of the retail trade of these islands being controlled by Chinese who constitute a good deal less than ten per cent of the population. For our part, we think it is cause for shame.

Business means wealth, wealth means power, power means independence.

In our opinion the friend of the Filipino can do him no better and more sincere service than urge upon him the imperative necessity of trying to develop the business instinct. This is a commercial age and with the leading nations setting the pace all the nations must fall into line or be hopelessly left behind in the struggle.

Our issue for May 13, 2006

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS
 
May 13, 2006 Issue
   
Main Features
 
1.Cover: For Better Lives
 
Workers marched in anger around the world on Monday, demanding better working conditions and higher wages to keep up with the rising cost of living that is threatening to rise even higher as world oil prices soar, pulled up by tensions over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In the Philippines, workers march across the country demanding not only for a P125 raise in the minimum wage, but also for the resignation of the leader they did not elect. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo barricades her palace with barbed wire and giant cargo containers and spends the weekend threatening to reimpose a martial-law-type proclamation should the Filipinos insist on removing her from office, and on Monday tries to court state workers with a promise of a pay raise next year but offers nothing to workers in the industries that will help them cope with increasing prices of basic goods. Instead she offers to cancel penalties and surcharges on social security loans that they have not yet repaid. She also offers tax exemptions to the lowest-paid workers, even though the pay of these workers is not enough to keep body and soul together even without income tax. She offers them scholarships and government health insurance, even though what they need is food on the table every day. Scholarship is not open to all children and government health insurance is good only for one year—if funded. Mrs. Arroyo’s offers are not bad, but having been born rich and privileged, she has not experienced hunger and homelessness. She appeals to workers to ask for a “reasonable” wage increase because employers cannot afford P125. But the P125 the workers are asking for is based on the prices of goods five years ago—before she came to make life harder for the Filipinos. What is reasonable given the threats of higher prices, rent, commuter fares, college tuition? Would pulling her out of office make things better for them?
 
By Guiller de Guzman, Nati Nuguid, Wendell Vigilia and Butch Serrano           
 
2. Stopping Gloria’s Train
 
Former president Corazon Aquino, the political opposition and the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference have launched a new movement to counter the Arroyo administration’s attempt to force a shift to parliamentary government. Civic and Catholic lay organizations will help the movement educate the people on the proposal to amend the Constitution and, it is hoped, make those whom the government has duped into signing up for the change take back their signatures. How signatures can be taken back is unclear, but as it may already be too late to take back the signatures the battleground will surely be the plebiscite that seems to be inevitably coming.The opposition has brought suit in local courts against the Commission on Elections to block the verification of signatures gathered by the government and some courts have ordered the Comelec to stop the validation. But can local courts restrain a constitutional body like the Comelec from doing what it believes is its job? Or is it only the Supreme Court that can stop the Comelec from verifying the signatures. Add all blahs.
 
          By Ricky S. Torre and Wendell Vigilia

3. Indestructible
 
Malacañang says all the opposition forces combined cannot bring down President Arroyo. Given the apathy that has pulled down the Filipino spirit, the Palace may be right. But Palace officials should not be too confident.
 
            By Guiller de Guzman and Butch Serrano
 
4. Makati, Let’s Go to the Movies
 
President Arroyo thinks so low of the people of Makati. The elites are only a fraction of the city’s population. The poor and poorly educated are still the more numerous and they can be won to the administration’s side by putting a movie actor in the city’s mayoralty—Lito Lapid, who has been sleeping in the Senate since his election to that chamber of Congress in 2004. Mayor Jejomar Binay is guffawing at Mrs. Arroyo’s strategy. Lapid has confirmed that Mrs. Arroyo is pushing him to challenge Binay in next year’s election and he is willing to take her up on this one. In fact, he says, he is buying a house in Makati to establish residence there in preparation for his run against Binay.
 
            By Guiller de Guzman and Butch Serrano
 
5. Hardly Justice
 
The Presidential Commission on Good Government talks about a settlement with the Marcoses as if a deal were unstoppable. It seems that the ill-gotten wealth watchdog has forgotten that the Supreme Court has ruled that the government cannot make a deal with the Marcoses. A settlement will naturallty allow the Marcoses part of their loot and include the dropping of all charges against them. Return some, keep some, and you’re free to go. That’s hardly justice.
 
          By Guiller de Guzman and Nati Nuguid
 

In like a lion, out like a lamb, May 13, 1939

May 13, 1939
In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

ON APRIL 26, 1937, a tall, energetic incredibly handsome Hoosier named Paul V. McNutt landed in Manila as second U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippines.

Not much was known about him in the Philippines, except that he had the reputation of being the “Hitler of Indiana,” where he had recently completed a four-year term as governor and was not eligible for reelection.

But typhoon signals were definitely flying so far as relations between the High Commissioner and the President of the Commonwealth were concerned. President Roosevelt had appointed Mr. McNutt while President Quezon was on a train en route to Washington. This was an obvious slight of Mr. Quezon, who had become accustomed to having American presidents consult him before naming a governor general. In Washington Mr. Quezon had called on Mr. McNutt, but it was evident that there would later be a showdown in Manila as to who was Number 1 in the Philippines.

Whooping it up, editorial for May 13, 1939

May 13, 1939

Whooping it Up—Con Bombo Y Platillos

IT LOOKS like the real thing this time. After many false starts, President Quezon’s reelection bandwagon is on its way. From Basco to Bongao, men in public life are rushing to get aboard. Not only politicians, but businessmen and doctors and lawyers and bankers have endorsed the move to amend the Constitution to permit the reelection of President Quezon.

To be sure, there are several obstacles which must be overcome. A constitutional convention must be held, and the amendment must be ratified by the electorate. Finally, it must be approved by the President of the United States.

But the obstacles aren’t worrying the people on the bandwagon. When there’s a will, there’s usually a way. And those who are whooping it up for the reelection of President Quezon have plenty of determination.

At all events, they’re whooping things up on the bandwagon, and a lot more passengers want to get on. Constitutions aren’t amended every day in the year, and it looks like excitement ahead.