Gloria “Rumamona” Arroyo’s Right to Travel or was it a foiled Houdini Great Escape?

If there is anything that is so pronounced in the characters that hugs the headlines in the Philippines, it is none other than their vicious callousness to be at the center of attention even to the point of ridiculousness. As if the pity pics and the wheelchair bound Gloria "Rumamona" Arroyo arriving at NAIA in an ambulance does not give us an overdose of Zarzuela we see more characters joining the fray. How else will you explain the disgusting reference to cutting of the balls of Arroyo’s lawyer or a senator’s (Miriam Santiago) mental disorder of having an urge to slit her throat and wrist because they feel that the victimizer has now been victimized is just insane.

Why can’t these people think of something “enlightening” other than their balls and committing suicide to make a point? If they insist on this silly ball that some suspect is missing I suggest that we bring this a notch higher by asking the 8 justices who issued the TRO to Gloria that should she not come back, said ball should be fed to them as undercooked soup ingredient for their pink slip party. I am sure if that was part of the precondition to issue the TRO the 8 named justices below will probably think twice:

Chief Justice Renato Corona, Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Roberto Abad, Martin Villarama, and Jose Perez.

Of course we need to be entertained with La Senadora Miriam Santiago’s antique errr antics or this lame attempt to gain sympathy starting with pity pics culminating in the foiled great escape that gives us more ammo for mocking. Do people really care if Miriam Santiago slit her throat and wrist? Well, if the famous slogan of just do it will do I say yes do it and let us see if people will really care. Do the majority of the people really care about Arroyo’s right to travel when they cannot even figure out where to find the money for their next meal, what more for a plane fare and around the world at that?

Is Gloria “Rumamona” Arroyo really seeking medical treatment abroad as Randy David asked how serious is Arroyo’s medical condition in his column? If it was indeed about her very delicate condition as shown in her pity pics why should she opt to travel around the globe that included mostly countries where the Philippines has no extradition treaty? Love the drama that unfolds that makes reality TV shows look like a nursery playground squabble as seen in this SINATorial reaction:

Opposition Senator Joker Arroyo, for his part, said the issue of the ex-President’s medical condition and right to travel was “merely incidental when compared to the executive branch’s move to emasculate and damage the Supreme Court, as it insidiously asserts its supremacy over the Supreme Court.”

“The trend would transmogrify into an autocracy, with the President a virtual dictator, with a supplicant Congress and an inutile Supreme Court. That would make our Constitution a paper Constitution,” Senator Arroyo told the Inquirer, recalling that Malacañang earlier tried to impound a significant portion of the Supreme Court’s 2012 budget and those of other constitutional agencies.

“The public, fully trusting P-Noy (President Aquino), has its guard down. They do not see the undercurrents of the creeping authoritarian bent of the current administration. They are consumed by the high drama involving the image of a sick and forlorn GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) being barred from leaving,” the senator added.

“The stakes are high in what appears to be another one of the predictable confrontations between PNoy and GMA. Let us not be misled. The real aim is to upend the structural balance between the executive, legislative and judicial branches provided for in the Constitution to ensure executive dictation, legislative abdication and judicial submission.”

Wait a minute here, emasculating the SIPSIPreme Court? Well if it was emasculation that they are concerned with the SIPSIPreme Court has long been destroyed and has lost its credibility and legitimacy ever since Gloria “Rumamona” Arroyo acting like a thief in the night in her midnight appointment of Renato Corona as the Chief Justice past the deadline which is clearly illegal and unconstitutional. As if that is not bad enough the dishonorable injustices acted like a Mafiosi protecting its own validated the illegal appointment forcing the people to obey their ruling as it has effectively became part of the law of the land. Now, when will the madness stop and when will they stop ruling in favor of legalizing an obvious criminal act and the senator named Joker whines of emasculation? Now with this kind of logic we see from our distinguishable like the Joker and the Chizzy one Escudero claiming Leila De Lima is bringing the country into the brink of constitutional crisis is nothing but a Teopacio impotence cutting off his balls talk.

Senator Koko Pimentel has some valid points that the SC justices may have missed or ignored in issuing a TRO without even touching on the constitutionality of the DoJ MC 41:

“I think it would have been prudent if the SC had first called for a factual investigation on the true medical conditions of the former President before issuing a TRO that would allow her to seek medical treatment abroad,” said Pimentel.

“This because in opposing the TRO petition, I believe that the DOJ cited a factual finding of Health Secretary Enrique Ona that the condition of Mrs. Arroyo is not life-threatening so there is no pressing need for her to travel for treatment,” he added.

Pimentel also noted the assertion made by the Philippine Medical Association that there are so many Filipino medical specialists and hospitals in the Philippines that can treat the bone disease being cited by the former President in wanting to travel abroad.

Hold Departure Order and the Immigration watch list has been with us since Martial Law and funny thing is instead of declaring it unconstitutional strengthened it by issuing MC 41 courtesy of Arroyo’s DoJ secretary Agra. Randy David says it best below:

Many Filipinos and foreigners have been prevented from leaving the country on the strength of this circular. No one questioned its constitutionality—until now. It is no small irony that the one who is questioning it is none other than the former president herself during whose term it was conceived and enforced. If this does not speak volumes about the privileged class’ attitude toward the law, we don’t know what does.

Apparently the haste in the SC decision was not intended to settle the constitutionality issue of MC 41 that was Arroyo’s undoing but a very obvious show of gratitude to their patroness. Since the SIPSIPreme Court did not tackle the constitutionality of MC 41 but just on the specific DoJ order on Arroyo they should have heard the oral arguments first and determined if indeed Gloria is ill needing further specialized medical attention that can only be done abroad. The way they have conducted themselves lately and in the recent past like a gang of Mafiosi capo in validating the CJ unconstitutional appointment will make it extremely difficult for them to fish out their credibility out of the toilet bowl of Arroyo’s dirty politics. In short as Cheryl L. Daytec puts it, the SIPSIPreme Court decision is nothing but a political decision that needs an equal political response.

They whine and have a tantrum as if this new Arroyo tele-novela really is all about justice and yet no one seems to notice why she made airline reservations before the decision came shows foreknowledge, as observed by Daphne Ceniza. Was she privy or have inside information on the decision and if it was proven that the decision was leaked in advance her being their patroness who then will cite those at the SC for contempt?

If that was not the case perhaps Leila Rispens-Noel is right in her suspicion which I quote:

For all we know the drama in Manila with pathetic looking GMA being refused by Immigration officers to board her plane is the kind of public sympathy they were trying to get and they succeeded! GMA 9 years of plunder and corruption forgotten; erased, erased na... sige sick Gloria mag abroad ka na. Suddenly si De Lima ang bad girl... hay naku na lang....

Neal Cruz makes a lot of sense when he says Leila De Lima was just using her common sense over this failed tear jerker tele-novela, to quote:

As I see it, Secretary De Lima is only using her common sense. Already, the justice secretary suspects that GMA may seek political asylum in some other country and not come back to face the very serious charges against her, why should she be allowed to leave the Philippines? Who would be blamed if De Lima allowed the former president to leave and GMA leaves for good? Coming in the wake of the escape of Ramona Bautista, a suspect in the murder of her own brother, letting GMA leave now would be the height of stupidity. As De Lima said in her decision, “we would be the laughingstock of the world.”

But lawyers will always be lawyers and will try to make black look white, and white look black by invoking legal technicalities. Put two lawyers together and they would never be able to agree on any issue. Sure the Constitution guarantees a person’s right to travel, but all rights have their limits, as when they collide with the rights of others. Freedom of the press is limited by the law on libel, freedom of speech is limited by the law on slander, the freedom of workers to strike is limited by other labor laws, the freedom to gather and seek redress for grievances is limited by many other laws.

Think about it, if these empty noise and braggadocio is really about justice and human rights, of all people why use Gloria Arroyo as their poster girl really escapes me but I think supporters of Arroyo legit or paid must answer this question from Neal Cruz:

Why should a person’s right to travel be more important than a whole nation’s right to justice?

The TRO that some numb nuts wants us to obey is really nothing but the SC justices way of paying their debt of gratitude and special accommodation to their patroness as shown by Marites Danguilan Vitug's FB post:

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, extended the office hours of its cashier to 6pm to receive the P2M cash bond of GMA. This seems very unusual. When Gemma Mendoza, our writer, was arrested (in relation to a libel case filed by Chavit Singson) at about 3pm on a weekday, we rushed to the Pasig court to post bail, on her behalf. The cashier's office closed even before 5pm! Then we had to look for a night court--and arrived in Quezon City hall of justice about 7pm. Guess what? The night court closed at 6pm! Well, Gemma ain't GMA.

Seriously Madam butterfly errr Gloria, do you really expect us to believe you are that sick when you are even wearing high heels in that wheelchair bound pity pic of yours? Here's an unsolicited advise to the allies of Arroyo deluding themselves about impeachment, if the pity sick in the head errr neck Arroyo who was very unpopular could not be impeached during her stolen term, how do you think you will succeed now?

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Of food and jobs and constant hunger

The latest self-rated hunger statistics released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) reveal a disquieting fact: one out of every five Filipinos currently suffers from moderate to severe hunger. Disturbingly, this has been the annual average for the past 3-4 years. As Mahar Mangahas recently put it, this figure (19%) constitutes a kind of hunger “plateau.” Why can we not seem to drop below this number?

The SWS uses a simple, effective method: surveying hunger household by household, asking if and, if so, how often, a surveyed family was hungry and had nothing to eat. Though this method (useful to the degree that we consider anything “self-rated” to be genuinely empirical) may reveal the current state of the problem, it also suggests that the causes of persistent hunger are far more complex than the figures themselves reveal.

Fortunately, other food insecurity statistics provide richer detail. A 2008 survey from the Food and Research Institute at the Department of Science and Technology suggests that nearly 73% of those surveyed felt insecure about household food supplies. Over half reported not having enough food for their children, let alone being able to afford nutritionally adequate food. To cope, 68% borrowed money (mostly from relatives), 63% purchased their food on “utang” (debt), 53% borrowed food, and 48% reduced food portions overall, while 46% reduced adult portions in favor of their children. In a world where many readers are more familiar with calorie-counting diets, weight-reduction spas and gym memberships, these food insecurity statistics are deeply sobering.

Dr. Dennis Mapa contends that the wild fluctuations of moderate hunger statistics are mainly caused by food price inflation and underemployment: “A one-time increase in food prices can lead to increases in hunger incidence that will last for five quarters, while a one-time increase in underemployment will lead to increases in hunger incidence for two quarters.” This is actually not as counter intuitive as it might sound: unemployed people ultimately have a “cushion” (savings, family, friends) that allows them to remain unemployed for a period; in fact, the more telling marker for the desperation that haunts genuine hunger appears to be underemployment itself. An overqualified person, when hungry and desperate, will take whatever job s/he can get just to hold his/her family together. Thus, Mapa stresses the need for better and more secure jobs through an improved investment climate based on stable, government policies and decreased corruption and red tape.

Though underemployment is the more intractable problem, food inflation has a greater effect on hunger in the medium-term. Dr. Arsenio Balisacan attributes food shocks to decreased rice harvests, international financial instability and frequent typhoons. DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman has attributed the “bounce” in Luzon’s hunger figures to this year’s typhoons, where displaced and impoverished families are susceptible to moderate hunger because of the destruction of much of Luzon’s rice crop -- and to increased fuel prices, which are affected by the international financial market.

Of course, it should be noted that enormous differences in hunger incidence exist from province to province. According to SWS, Luzon (outside NCR) has the highest hunger levels (28%), while the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping System of the National Nutrition Council (NNC) indicates that 13 of the 17 least vulnerable provinces are also in Luzon. This demonstrates how heterogeneous Luzon can be. In comparison, hunger figures have gone down significantly in the Visayas and Mindanao, although it is still too soon to tell if this is because of the recent influx of conditional cash transfer (CCT) funding in these regions.

The Aquino administration’s anti-poverty strategy prioritizes helping the poorest of the poor. To achieve this, the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cabinet Cluster has crafted several medium- and long-term strategies that take many of these unpredictabilities into account. The CCT’s long-term goal is to improve education and family health so the inter-generational cycle of poverty can be broken. The National Anti-Poverty Commission is now focusing on the country’s 609 poorest municipalities. The Department of Labor and Employment continues to seek options for both the unemployed and the underemployed, despite global events like Arab Spring, Saudification, travel bans for our workers and natural disasters in receiving countries – all of which have contributed to job losses for our nationals abroad. The Department of Health’s Botika ng Barangay and Doctors-to-the-Barrio programs are keyed to improving the general state of health among the poorest and most marginalized. Meanwhile, NNC is now the lead agency of the Integrated Action for Hunger Alleviation and Improved Nutrition (HAIN), which integrates feeding and rice distribution for disaster victims and internally displaced persons. It also generates livelihood opportunities and infrastructure support to calamity-stricken areas, where the timely deployment of resources can help avoid destructive coping mechanisms (selling agricultural work animals or withdrawing children from school so they can work) that are ultimately poverty traps in the long-term.

Battling food price volatility and underemployment will require extended efforts in health, education, population growth, infrastructure and the creation of better jobs, especially for victims of disasters and calamities -- all of which require stronger economic growth. Because of this, the Economic Cluster continues to work on growth and strengthening our investment climate. This will allow us to counter shock factors that are beyond national control, such as petroleum prices, international finance and consumer demand, climate change and other natural disasters.

Another source of concern: in Mindanao, hunger alleviation programs have witnessed significant developments, but these short-term victories could be in trouble due to the latest round of hostilities in the region. According to Sec. Soliman, internally displaced persons who are currently registered continue to receive CCT funding, and the NNC is now seeing to their nutritional needs. But it is clear that medium- and long-term hunger alleviation goals will suffer greatly should these hostilities spread. Although justice should be strictly meted out to the perpetrators of violence in Basilan and elsewhere, a nation verging on solutions to the hunger of so many for the first time in decades can ill afford another all-out war.

Lila Ramos Shahani is Assistant Secretary of the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

*******************************************************

LILA Shahani - I grew up in the Philippines, Romania, Australia, Austria, Kenya and India. I did my undergrad at Brown and went to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts for my MA. Places of work: CCP, UP, Oxford University Press, UNICEF and UNDP. I'm currently an editor for the UN in NY and also a doctoral candidate at Oxford. This article by Sylvia Mayuga might explain a little about some of the more impalpable stuff: please click here. Meanwhile, this is the short, online version of a recent book on Amartya Sen and human development that I co-edited; the authors were primarily Oxford scholars.

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Anak ng Tupa Arroyo’s Silence of the Lamb Pinoy Version

You know things are not going well with the Arroyo’s when they resort to pitiful image of her aimed at gullible people in their desperation to earn their sympathy. Arroyo no doubt is an astute politician who has mastered and brought lying into an art form.  How else can you explain her unconstitutional run for a second term clearly prohibited by the constitution? As if that is not bad enough is looking at being charged with electoral sabotage? Take note that instead of just fraud they want to charge her with sabotage a major major ala Venus Raj description of the likelihood of her spending her old age in jail.

In their desperate attempt to scam people into believing that she is subjected to political persecution, the unflattering image is a huge sacrifice to a very vain woman.  It seems that the pity pic was intended for the justices in trying to get their sympathy but some genius gave the media access to the pity pic that boomeranged on her in a mocking way. What the image convey is not what they anticipated but only shows she  really has a flair for the dramatics, I wonder if she got that from her look alike Nora Aunor?

The drama never ends.....

The image above should have gotten her some sympathetic response but when you have earned the reputation of being a congenital liar it will be very difficult to convince people that you are in a dire medical situation requiring medical treatment abroad. Mindanao Examiner in response to Gloria Arroyo’s pathetic picture says I am sorry, I thought people are really feeling sorry, but then follows it up with “Hello? Hello Garci?” now that is definitely mocking a mockery, lol. Arroyo’s spin doctors should change their tactics here as it is failing miserably. Then Jun Alviso posted an improved picture below of a Hannibal Lecter version of Gloria Arroyo which I believe is what is to come in an about to be written tele-novela series inspired by the SILENCE of the LAMB in a Pinoy version to be titled Anak ng TUPA.

Silence of the LAMB = Anak ng TUPA

Political persecution is definitely one of the principal reasons in applying for political asylum. The big question though is whether she is on top of her game or will she fall flat in her contraption supported face.

This is definitely turning into a sitcom when the Aquino administration offers to bring in foreign medical specialist to see her at government's expense, and Horn her spokesperson insist that the issue is her "freedom" of travel. Now what is it really? Arroyo's dire mental illness errr medical condition or her desire to travel all around the world as if she is on a shopping spree for a medical 2nd opinion?  For someone who is very uncomfortable with an electric chair like contraption don’t you think it is odd that she wants to sit on a plane for an extended period of time? Horn's response only exposes their purpose of seeking political asylum in a country that has no extradition treaty with the Philippines.

So what makes the Arroyo’s think they can lie their way to their great escape? Is it because people really don’t care, or is it because when people fail or did not even attempt to throw her out like Qaddafi she thinks she can get away with anything. I believe the reason behind the cheap ploy is based on how they see the gullibility of the people and high incidence of fraud and fraudulent thinking as seen in this report regarding the number of pranks received by 117 operators. 117 is the 911 emergency counterpart of the Philippines and out of 8,000 calls a day 98% are pranks with just about over a 100 legitimate emergency calls. Now  I understand why people lie to a point of being a joke, they help bring about a society that has no regard for their fellow human beings in emergency situation.

The irony of irony here is that Gloria Arroyo never had no problem violating the constitution when she run and most likely cheated for a second term, now she complains about her constitutional right being violated. She did not just violate the constitution herself but in an apparent move to protect herself in the future violated the constitution again in her midnight appointment of the crown man errr Puno as the SC chief justice. A move that totally trashed the constitution when even the justices ruled to in favor of Puno's appointment. Now look who's complaining about their constitutional rights to travel, you set the precedent so expect others to do the same.

Arroyo penchant for last minute presidential power tripping may turn out to be her own undoing as pointed out by Raissa Robles‌ her How Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got caught in her own mousetrap – halo vest and all, to quote:

Well, one such midnight order has turned out to be a sort of legal mousetrap that has caught Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel and over 30 others.

This is Department Circular No. 41 signed by Arroyo’s own  Justice Secretary Alberto Agra on May 25, 2010 – at a time when the entire Arroyo camp should have been packing their bags in preparation for moving out of government by June 30.

DC 41 is Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s legal basis for banning Arroyo et al from flying out of the country.

This seemingly innocuous circular was issued by Agra to “consolidate” regulations pertaining to the use of  “hold departure orders”, “watch list orders” and “allow departure orders”.

But it did more than that. It noted that existing Supreme Court Circulars “clearly state that ‘Hold Departure Order shall be issued only in criminal cases within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Courts.’ ”

Because of this, DC 41 said, these Supreme Court circulars left a gap because they were “silent with respect to cases falling within the jurisdiction of courts below the RTC as well as those pending determination by government prosecution offices.”

It is the last clause, which I posted in red, which De Lima is using to bar the Arroyo couple from traveling – because they have five complaints filed against them “pending determination by government prosecution offices.”

A dilemma it is for the Supreme Court justices majority of whom owes their position and was appointed by Arroyo who will now have to decide whether they will allow their patroness to escape errr travel out of the country by declaring the Department Circular 41 unconstitutional. Are the SC justices willing to lose credibility, (not that they are concerned with that but in a nation that needs to retain its sanity if not already insane) they still will have to consider the depths by which they are willing to bring down an institution that used to be the most credible among the corrupt establishments.

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