Negative Peace, Positive Peace

Negative Peace, addressing conflict by way of use of arms, killing, threats simply further breeds a vicious cycle of unrepentant and unending war. Eventually, everything leads to the peace of the cemeteries. Everything is silent, because everyone is dead. Yet, the SOURCES of conflict remain to fester, endlessly haunting, wreaking havoc on everyone. That's what's happening in the case of Syria now. Ralph Summy, I think correctly surmises that the lynchpin that needs to be overcome by all parties concerned is MISTRUST/DISTRUST.  Unless, mistrust/distrust is overcome by the stakeholders, Positive Peace won't be possible. Positive Peace entails an inherent goodwill, honesty, courage, and reasonableness from parties involved in a conflict. For such, Positive peace therefore isn't any less taxing than negative peace. Imagine, to be required to have the goodwill not to kill one who may want to kill you even if you have the capacity to do so. Imagine, to humbly listen to the complaints of the other about your mistakes and the sins you committed on the other, and for the other party/ies to also have the same humility as they listen to you when it's your time to enunciate. Imagine, to fearlessly and  squarely face conflict and the people who are supposed to have caused, meant you harm while at the same time to have that calmness to unflinchingly engage with them in  dialogue. Imagine, not to let your irascible propensities take over, but instead to have your reason guide and enlighten you, as you and the other parties navigate your multilateral way through the maze of long-held prejudices, biases, animosities, all because you all would want to eventually find consensus which you know won't be a once-and-for-all magic antidote; i.e., you know that such consensus is but one of those which will need to be continually, persistently nurtured, not only temporarily, but permanently. And, all these, with the overarching awareness that you and the others may not actually be able to enter the fabled land of milk and honey yourselves; that you're but just one of the many still to come series of baton bearers who won't actually be the ones crossing the finish line. Positive Peace, anyone?

STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE VIA THE PDAF CAPER INFLICTS DAMAGE ON REAL, CONCRETE PERSONS

The Napoles-PDAF scandal is among the blatant manifestations of structural violence which plagues our society. Adding insult to injury is the alleged involvement of supposedly the people's representatives, yes, the senators and congressmen. But the worst thing of all is that the structural violence also translates to personal violence. Farmers who are supposed beneficiaries of the absconded largesse by bogus NGOs, aren't anonymous, faceless, abstract beings. They also are real, concrete, flesh-and-blood, hungry, and angry human beings. For every peso which the PDAF thieves indulged themselves in, are real persons whose children have missed real breakfasts, lunches, dinners; children who  haven't been able to attend school anymore because their farmer parents who needed real help were simply used as anonymous names to fill-up the PDAF scammers' infernal documents; of real people who may have committed suicide, or have gone insane due to all the stress, pains, sufferings, of all the frustrations after all their travails due to the El Ninos, Pablo, Sendong, Ondoy, Habagat, etc., which in turn were used by the soulless syndicates as rationale to corner all those PDAF monies.  For all these, and MORE, thus the government has ALL the DUTY to make sure that the PDAF schemers and all their collaborators, conduits, allies, protectors, purveyors, and what not, in the PDAF crime must be brought (even dragged) into this hallowed country's courts of justice, and meted out with all the liabilities and accountabilities which their horrendous actions mercilessly and unconscionably inflicted against us, THE PEOPLE, Pnoy's real BOSS. 

POSITIVE PEACE; SOCIAL JUSTICE

Discussed with my Philosophy of Peace students today Ralph Summy's and Johan Galtung's notion of POSITIVE PEACE, i.e., the situation where the basic needs (survival/subsistence, well-being, identity, and freedom) of every individual in society are adequately met. The other name of positive peace is SOCIAL JUSTICE. And of course, all these are a VISION, something which we always aspire for, but also something which realistically we won't be able to witness to come into FULL FRUITION in our lifetime. I believe that one archetype of a leader who wholeheartedly embraced the idea of the unreachable-but-worth-pursuing VISION was Moses. he concretely, flesh and blood struggled for his own people, but he himself wasn't allowed to enter the land flowing with milk and honey. He humbly accepted his role and thus didn't usurp the power which he clearly knew to have come from a power greater than him; and that such power was for the sake of a people whose welfare and well-being are greater than that of his own.

MALACANANG'S 14 PROOFS THAT NAPOLES ISN'T GETTING THE SPECIAL TREATMENT:

MALACANANG'S 14 PROOFS THAT NAPOLES ISN'T GETTING THE SPECIAL TREATMENT:
1. Her surrender was arranged by none less than Presidential Spokesperson Sec. Edwin Lacierda himself;
2. Napoles surrendered to Pnoy himself;
3. Napoles surrendered in the hallowed halls of Malacanang itself;
4. Napoles was initially considered a possible state witness by DILG Secretary himself, Mar Roxas;
5. Napoles wasn't handcuffed when she was brought into Camp Crame;
6. Napoles was brought by Pnoy himself to Camp Crame;
7. Napoles was brought to an office and not a detention cell in Camp Crame;
8. Reports say that as early as Wednesday last week (27 August, two days before Napoles surrendered) Camp Sto. Domingo prison house (where Erap, Misuari, Honasan were once detained) was suddenly cleaned and prepared for a "special person" to be brought in there;
9. Napoles' handcuffs were covered when she was shown being brought out of her van into Makati City Jail;
10. Napoles was put into a special detention room and not into Makati City Jail's common jail cells;
11. Napoles, unlike other felons or caught fugitives with diabetes, was allowed all so-called "privileges" of a diabetic prisoner;
12. Napoles was eventually transferred out of Makati City Jail to Camp Sto. Domingo, Laguna, also upon the proddings of her defense team;
13. Napoles was referred to by Sec. Mar Roxas as "Ma'am Janet";
14. Can one be wrong in suspecting that behind all of this a frenzied tug-of-war was actually happening as to where Napoles will be held? That is, everybody knows who the lord of Makati is who aspires for the presidency in 2016. If Napoles will be in Makati City Jail, the real lord of Makati-cum-2016-presidential-hopeful (some say front-runner), will naturally and effortlessly gain pogi points, limelight, gravitas. And, that is, everyone also knows who is the other  2016 presidential hopeful who was in actual  limelight re Napoles' surrender, a cabinet member who's now actually gotten ubiquitous even before the Napoles caper. And if Napoles is kept in the lord of Makati's bailiwick, the now-ubiquitous-cabinet-member will end up holding an empty bag. Ergo, the transfer to Camp Sto. Domingo, LAGUNA. supposedly away from the clutches of the lord of Makati. BUT, lest they forget: in LAGUNA, the governor is an endeared nephew to a close ally of the lord of Makati, AND the said ally himself was once a convicted inhabitant of Camp Sto. Domingo.
And so, as the song goes "Sino'ng dakila, sino ang tunay na baliw?". :) :) :)
But of course, we the vigilant citizens, aren't in any way amused by this zarzuela unfolding before our very eyes.

DEAR GOVERNMENT: PLEASE LEARN FROM ZACCHEUS.

DEAR GOVERNMENT: PLEASE LEARN FROM ZACCHEUS.
Dean Tony La Vina of ADMU guested at ABS-CBN this morning to discuss the so-called "presidential pork" (whether it's a misnomer, etc., isn't what caught my attention). Their conversation subsequently veered towards PDAF, and the attendant tax-payers' ire over its abuse. And one idea he posited I think cuts into the heart of the PDAF's matter, I think more significantly than other considerations: That we MUSN'T FORGET that the BIGGEST TAXPAYERS of this country are our POVERTY-STRICKEN MASSES. Thus in effect, though we, withheld-tax-payers, have all the right to be so angry with our hard-earned taxes being absconded by PDAFiles, we should also realize that the MOST ABUSED by the PDAFiles actually are THE POVERTY-STRICKEN MASSES. Thus, if indeed our government would want to make amends, redeem itself out of this PDAF mire, it MUST IMMEDIATELY, "ORA MISMO!" (not in 2015 as Sec. Butch Abad says) CHANNEL the PDAF budget to SOCIAL SERVICES which will CONCRETELY BENEFIT out BIGGEST TAXPAYERS who were the REAL VICTIMS OF THE PDAF COSA NOSTRA. The present government shouldn't waste time to do what Zaccheus did upon realizing that as a corrupt tax collector he also unlawfully stole from his people: RETURN TO THE PEOPLE EVERYTHING HE STOLE FROM THEM, and EVEN GAVE THEM DOUBLE IN RETURN. Dear Government: Please learn From Zaccheus.

COA: 35 lawmakers transferred P1.7-B ‘pork’ to NGOs

 COA: 35 lawmakers transferred P1.7-B ‘pork’ to NGOs

By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) | Updated August 26, 2013 - 12:00am

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MANILA, Philippines - Thirty-five lawmakers, including three senators, specifically asked for the transfer of their pork barrel funds amounting to P1.7 billion to non-government organizations (NGOs).
The Commission on Audit (COA) report on Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) – official name of the pork barrel – for 2007 to 2009 listed three senators and 32 members of the House of Representatives whose funds were released to implementing agencies, but who requested that the money be transferred to NGOs.
The three senators are Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Juan Ponce Enrile.
Estrada gave P204.6 million to Pangkabuhayan Foundation, P90.4 million to Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation, Inc. (SDPFFI) and P172.2 million to Masaganang Ani para sa Magsasaka Foundation, Inc. (MAMPI), for a total of P467.2 million.
Revilla allocated P130.2 million to SDPFFI, P118.3 million to MAMPI and P106.5 million to Agri and Economic Program for Farmers Foundation, for a total of P355 million.
SDPFFI is one of the bogus foundations linked to fugitive businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.

Benhur Luy, a relative of Napoles who blew the whistle on the pork barrel scam, used to run SDPFFI.
Enrile, on the other hand, gave P96.8 million to Countrywide Agri and Rural Economic Development Foundation and P77.6 million to MAMPI, or a total of P174.4 million.
The three senators’ funds were released to National Agribusiness Corp., Technology Resource Center, National Livelihood Development Corp., and Zamboanga del Norte Rubber Estate Corp., which transferred them to NGOs upon the request of the three, the COA report said.
President Aquino is planning to abolish these state corporations for their involvement in the pork barrel scam.
Estrada, Revilla and Enrile accounted for nearly P1 billion of the P1.7–billion transfer to NGOs that the COA said were covered by specific requests from the lawmaker–funders.
There are hundreds of millions more in PDAF of the three senators that went to NGOs, but the COA did not say whether the recipient–agencies did the transfer on their own.
Estrada had said they were not supposed to check or know whether the NGO–recipients of their funds were bogus or not.
Revilla has denied endorsing any NGO as recipient of his funds, but the COA said it has proof to counter his claim.
Enrile said he did not know Napoles or any of the NGOs that received his funds.
The COA said Enrile “confirmed to have authorized his chief of staff to sign on his behalf.”
It said the unnamed chief of staff “confirmed signatures in the MOA but denied signatures in the certificate of acceptance and list of beneficiaries for projects” implemented by one foundation.
The 32 former and incumbent House members whose funds were transferred to various NGOs upon their request, according to the COA, are Rene Velarde of party–list group Buhay, P7.8 million; Nerissa Soon Ruiz of Cebu, P22 million; Marina Clarete of Mismis Occidental, P45.6 million;
Vicente Belmonte Jr. of Iligan City, P8.2 million; Rolando Uy of Cagayan de Oro City, P17.5 million; Danilo Lagbas of Misamis Oriental, P13.4 million; Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo, P17.5 million; Roberto Cajes of Bohol, P32.5 million; Maria Isabelle Climaco of Zamboanga City, P23.4 million;
Thomas Dumpit Jr. of La Union, P44.1 million; Isidro Ungab of Davao City, P38.3 million; the late Ignacio Arroyo of Negros Occidental, P20.3 million; Joseph Santiago of Catanduanes, P19.4 million; Manuel Agyao of Kalinga, P11.5 million; Edgar Valdez of party–list group APEC, P35.9 million; Rizalina Seachon–Lanete of Masbate, P31.7 million;
Conrado Estrella III of Pangasinan, P36.7 million; Adam Relson Jala of Bohol, P13.3 million; Prospero Nograles of Davao City, P60.1 million; Edgar Espinosa of Masbate, P24.1 million; Marcelino Teodoro of Marikina, P14.3 million; Del de Guzman of Marikina, P9.4 million; Jaime Lopez of Manila, P5.5 million; Mariano Piamonte Jr. of party–list group A–TEACHER, P15 million;
Elias Bulut Jr. of Apayao, P12.3 million; Ruffy Biazon of Muntinlupa, P8 million; Vincent Crisologo of Quezon City, P33 million; Arturo Robes of San Francisco del Monte, Bulacan, P25.4 million; Maria Teresa Bonoan–David of Manila, P35 million; Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque, P17.5 million; Luis Asistio of Caloocan, P25 million; and Oscar Malapitan of Caloocan, P25.3 million.
The COA said the transfer of funds by recipient–state agencies and lawmakers to NGOs was illegal.
It said such transfer must be covered by an appropriation law or an ordinance as required by the Government Procurement Law.

PORK BY OTHER NAMES, OR MAYBE HOW PORK WAS USED THROUGHOUT OUR REPUBLIC'S HISTORY...

UPDATED LIST OF POSSIBLE NAMES I COOKED UP OF THE "NEWLY MINTED" PORK BARREL (FOLLOWING. SEN. MIRIAM'S LEAD). OR MAYBE, WE CAN SAY THAT THIS MAY BE A HUMOROUS ATTEMPT TO CONVEY HOW  THE PORK BARREL WAS USED THROUGHOUT OUR REPUBLIC'S HISTORY.
1. Pork Allocations Specially Transacted & Reserved for Allies and Malacanang Insiders (PASTRAMI);
2. Malacanang Economic Nationally-Unaccountable Development Objectives(MENUDO);
3. Ilegally-Gained Acquisitions Developed Overnight (IGADO);
4. Budgetary Outlays Preferably Illicitly-Served (BOPIS);
5. Acquired Development Of Buddies Only(ADOBO);
6. Secret Assets Legislators Acquired with Malacanang Insiders (SALAMI);
7. Senate Allocations Used for Selfishness & Aggrandizement of Greedy End-users (SAUSAGE);
8. Allocations Freely Received In The Acquisition of Dubious Assets (AFRITADA);
9. Economic Manipulation & Plundering Assets Named as Authentic Development Assistance (EMPANADA);
10. Kamag-anak Incorporated’s Legislative Annual Wealth Endowment Negotiations (KILAWEN);
11. Senate Insider’s Network of Illicit Agents Neutering Governance (SINIGANG);
12. Special Template for Economic Advantage of Kaibigans (STEAK);
13. Malacanang Officials Receiving Cash Outlays Nocturnally (MORCON);
14. Legislative Outlays for Non-Government and Government Agencies' Illegal Subsidies and Aids (LONGGANISA);
15. Executive Monetary Budget Towards Illicit Diversions and Organizations (EMBUTIDO);
16. Totally Outsourced Cash In Non-existing Organizations (TOCINO);
17. Budgetary Initiatives Leading to Banks of Ignominious Legislators (BILBIL);
18. Sinful, Illegal, Nefarious, Untraceable, Greedy Budgetary Allocations (SINUGBA);
19. Cash Harbored Illegally & Checks Hoarded Artfully by Rogues Officially Negotiating (CHICHARON);
20. Pork Allocated To Allies, Teammates Inside Malacanang (PATATIM);
TAWA-TAWA NA MUNA TAYO! Dagdag din kayo! Happy Sunday! Para kay Inang Bayang Magiliw!