Achieving Happiness

Dennis Maga, the spokesperson of the Free Ka Bel Movement risks being arrested and possibly charged with rebellion when he returns home from New Zealand on June 2.
Dennis went to New Zealand on the invite of the National Distribution Union (NDU), an ally of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and the Free Ka Bel Movement. Last Monday, he got into a steel cage on the front lawn of the NZ House of Parliament while Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conducted a press conference with NZ officials. The protest was covered by the international media.
Now, there’s the threat that Dennis might be arrested the moment he sets foot at the NAIA. Pres. Arroyo was no doubt embarrassed and humiliated with what Dennis, the NDU and other FKBM supporters did outside the House of Parliament. She was forced to defend herself and her government’s failure to put an end to the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines; she was also forced to justify the unjustifiable, which includes Ka Bel’s arrest and continuing detention.
Kung hindi ba naman sobrang PIKON ng pamahalang ito, pinaghahandaan pa nitong arestuhin ang isang Pilipino na nagprotesta laban sa kanya. What Dennis did was within his rights. His protest and expressions of dissent and condemnation were all within the law, and in fact sanctioned by it. Problema na lang talaga ay ang bumibilis na pagtalikod ng gobyernong ito sa mga saligang prinsipyo ng demokrasya.
It’s been 15 months since Ka Bel was arrested and up to now there’s no clear sign that he will be released any time soon. The Macapagal-Arroyo government has clearly effed up on this one — they arrested an activist lawmaker on clearly made up charges, and there’s no way they can continue with the charade that Ka Bel is guilty.
Ngayon naman, the spokesperson of the group that’s leading the campaign for his release also stands to be arrested and perhaps charged with rebellion! If it weren’t so infuriating I’d laugh because of the irony of it.
—-
It’s also infuriating that Kabataan Party’s chances of securing a seat in the 14th Congress grows slimmer daily. Again, the Filipino youth are being robbed of the chance to have genuine sectoral representation. No one doubts that the elections are rigged, that the cheating continues as I type this.
In an alternative universe where engaging in the legal political struggle does not get you killed; where progressive political parties take part in the electoral battle and are not cheated, Kabataan Party-List would easily win one seat and even more. Sobrang sipag at sobrang husay ng makinarya nila. And highly creative to boot. They deserve to win; they should be declared winners. I know I sound like one of those Team Unity losers (Like Miguel Zubiri or Mike Defensor, for instance) who say it’s all because of the fraud, but Kabataan Party’s win is legitimate; the same way all their votes are legitimate but are not being counted.
Kainis.
(There are these t-shirts in SM North that have prints of catch phrases and exclamations on them, like ‘Kainis,’ ‘Kaloka,’ "Magaling Lumusot" and "Kikay" on them. I wish they’d print shirts with ‘Utang na loob!’ and ‘Galit ako.’)
–

It’s the rainy season now, and am as happy as a frog in a lily pad!
I love the rain, always have; I like waking up to perpetual morning weather, the crisp, clean air and the cool breeze that’s prelude to the falling of millions of raindrops committing self-sacrificial suicide. I don’t feel sleepy when it rains — I feel hyper and alive and in my head I’m turning cartwheels.

What I hate, though, are the floods. Last night I was forced to wade through at least four inches of floodwater with God-knows-what as flotsam and jetsam. I don’t mind the least getting drenched if it’s my fault (tamad magdala ng payong); but the flood water is horrible. One word: leptospirosis.

–

Let’s get it over and done with!
The May 14, 2007 elections, as expected, was massive messy mass fraught with fraud. Gad. I hope to God that the Genuine Opposition candidates who won will immediately buckle down to work and fight for the repeal of the Human Security Act. The moment the HSA takes effect, I’m willing to bet that there’ll be a rash of arrests. Macapagal-Arroyo is no longer in charge of the country — it’s the likes of Hermogenes Esperon who are calling the shot.
Esperon is not the sort who includes ‘human rights’ and ‘civilian authority’ in his vocabulary. It probably takes all his will power to keep him from choking on his tongue whenever he uses these words. Macapagal-Arroyo is just a titular head, pathetically defending herself from her inability (willing or unwilling) to put an end to the political killings and other excesses of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The AFP has her in a half-nelson: do what we tell you, approve of what we do or we abandon you.

So she does what she’s told, and she claps her hand everytime there’s another activist killed.

Ang tigas ng mukha na magsinungaling sa international community! Gad, how do these people sleep at night? They must take Prozac by the canister or something. Split personalities - all that’s good and decent remaining in their characters are bludgeoned to death and all that remains and all that’s conscious and working are the bad and evil bits.

—

On hindsight though, I think that the election cheating etc etc etc would have been much, much worse if it hadn’t been for the vigilance of the media, the cause-oriented groups and all concerned sectors. Everyone was WIDE wide awake this time, and suffice it to say, it wasn’t as easy for Arroyo’s operators to implement their cheat plan without anyone within five meters of the major polling precincts ringing the alarm bell.

I’ve read just now that Mike Defensor has conceded defeat. That makes me respect him a little bit. Now he has the right to claim that he’s Walking Tall.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 12:18 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.