Category Archive for: gobyerno

komentaryo

Pinoy social and online media 2013 (Part 1)

For three years I put together year-enders on arts and culture and found that there is plenty to be thankful for. There is after all a great amount of productivity, the kind that is independent and persistent. There is also a lot of private money that fuels the arts and culture scene —which is of course to point out how government only comes in when it gets embroiled in questions of censorship and freedom of expression.

The latter is a cause we hold dear, even more so given the Internet and social media, and how we have so engaged with each other and the issues of the day in blogs, Facebook and Twitter. It seems important to do now a year ender that is about precisely this balance that we are forced to strike—or fail to strike—between absolute free speech that the Internet affords us, and the issue of responsibility. Too often in the past year our world was defined by what was happening online; sometimes we got carried away, it seemed like we were changing the world. But were we? (more…)

komentaryo

(not) back to business

The people on the plane—mostly men—were straining their necks to look out the windows as we descended toward the Tacloban airport. The site was grim: nothing but endless brown land, with nary a structure, and few trees.

Landing is no different. While the tarmac is clear, to one side is a sea wall now in shambles, in front of which stands an airport facility standing only on its posts. There is no welcome to be had here, and the people in charge are tired. Stepping outside the airport grounds means only dust and heat, and an endless view of leafless trees. (more…)

komentaryo

Credibility

There was something powerful about Congresswoman Lucy Torres-Gomez having herself interviewed on television about the distribution of relief goods in her Ormoc, almost two weeks since it was hit by Typhoon Yolanda on November 8.

Of course it has everything to do with her as pop culture icon, beautifully calm and quiet, rare to speak beyond limitations of privacy and decency, probinsyana through and through. Save for the tragic landslide of 1991, Torres-Gomez might also be the only name we equate with Leyte province.

But also it had much to do with what were very well-chosen words, including the disclaimer that said she wasn’t out to just be critical. “Wala akong pinapatamaan,” Torres-Gomez said, though of course with this government’s defensive stance against all criticism, it doesn’t matter that she wasn’t out to be critical. She was telling the truth, and this government can’t quite handle the truth. (more…)

komentaryo

nothing else matters

because in times like these i tend to think that none of what we do actually means change. that all of it is just a matter of getting from one day to another, getting through one day at a time. no vision. no plan. just immediate hunger and need. just the urgencies that tragedy shines a light on, tragedies that have always been there, but which were ignored. now there is no ignoring hunger and need and poverty, because in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, it has multiplied, twice thrice over. (more…)

komentaryo

Words

There are no words for what has happened.

Even as it is also all that we have, helpless in Manila as many of us are. It was words, too, that kept me watching, waiting, for government to prove that it was in control of the situation that was wrought by Typhoon Yolanda.

On November 7, PNoy had warned about Super Typhoon Yolanda’s strength. “Storm surges in Ormoc, Ginayangan Ragay Gulf in Albay and Lamon Bay in Atimonan will bring grave danger. And waves in these areas may reach up to five to six meters high,” the good president had said.

“Let this be a warning to local government units: Your constituents are facing grave danger. Let us do all we can while ‘Yolanda’ has yet to make landfall.”

To the public he said: “Coordinate with and follow authorities. Evacuate if your area is in danger. To those near the shore: do not head towards the open sea,” PNoy implored.

Filipinos were also told to stay informed about which communities will be affected by Yolanda, by checking the websites of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, and Project NOAH. (more…)