a fantastic reminder for this time when we are allowed to imagine that the only way to go is to have America save us.
a fantastic reminder for this time when we are allowed to imagine that the only way to go is to have America save us.
via Andrea Macalino, November 19, “Raging After the Storm.”
<…> what puzzles me more is the privileged anger of individual government employees on social media. Rage against misinformation, yes. Post links which clarify contested issues officially, of course. But this rudeness, this audacity to imply that every single person who wishes for more efficient relief, who questions the actions of the government—its strategies, and the speed at which it implements its relief operations—to suggest that every single person who has done this on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and various personal blogs, is an incompetent, irresponsible citizen, whose complaints only rise out of the sheer desire to join the bandwagon, is unacceptable, ignorant, and ultimately, rude. (more…)
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…)
this was published in The Manila Times on October 17 2013. on October 30 2013, PNoy went on live television to defend the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) by saying that it’s all legal. this piece was entitled “Legal.”
The spin is clear, and for once the PNoy government and its allies are right. All of this is legal.
Right now, as I write this on Tuesday morning, Senator Franklin Drilon is on television. “What crime did we commit?” he asks with regards the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). The inquiry he says should be: “Was it <the fund> used properly?”
The premise of course is the notion that corruption is only about the improper use of public funds. To Drilon, there is nothing wrong or corrupt about the process that the DAP went through, because unlike the pork barrel scam, which involves an entity like a (fake) non-government organization, the fund for DAP went through the correct and legal process. He can account for every single cent, Senator Drilon says. (more…)
