Opinion writing 101

“Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough,” Karl Marx (1818-1883).

IT TOOK years of coaxing and goading from people I have come to respect and revere for me to even start considering to write opinion pieces. To put it bluntly, I find punditry hilas.

I find it even ironic that I have been pursuing a journalism career since I've always been more inclined to poetry and literature when I started out writing ― unlike my father.

Yes, before Emilio dragged me into this shit storm of a career, I was perfectly comfortable thinking up of quatrains and couplets for my Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnets. I was more interested in devising twists and turns in the plot of a short story.

I blame Emilio for all of these.

Anyway, I'm here now ― working for a daily newspaper with the widest circulation in northern Mindanao. But, it took me grueling years in the trenches (read: beat reporter) before I started writing opinion pieces.

Five years ago, I remember one of my mentors, Carolyn Arguillas, asked me to write an opinion column for Mindanews. I replied with an anticlimactic no. I said I was too young to be writing what my thoughts are on current events.

To even think about writing something that bares my soul on any given subject out in the open still gives me goosebumps.

I felt that my body of work wasn't enough to build my credibility as a pundit.

When I did, finally, decided to write my column, My Wit's End, I read a butt-load of opinion pieces first. I found that punditry, although subjective in nature, must be based on real events. This is only logical because how could you arrive at a sound hypothesis if it is based on imaginary events.

Opinion and fiction or creative writing are two distinct approaches to writing, I was taught. But unlike creative writing, in column writing, your characters are already there. You do not create the characters to fit your narrative. You do not base your accusations on events that didn't happen.

One thing I found to be true to most opinion pieces, the common denominator, if you will, is that this articles are and should be based on facts and documented events.

Opinion writing, to me, is the distillation of current events that affect society and so you offer your humble analyses of these events for your readers to come up with intelligent and informed decisions. You do not write opinion articles based on the figment of your imagination.

Column writing can also serve as a call to action. It serves as the embodiment of journalism's role in society as a check and balance. It is the practical application of the fourth estate’s “watchdog” role.

I think this is where the concept of “conflict of interest” comes in. You have to be detached to the subject you’re writing about to be able to give an honest opinion.

Now if you write a column to attack a public entity based on the imagined wrongs this entity did to further line your own pocket, then that. my friend is not punditry. It is just nothing short of a shakedown ― a con and the purveyor of this, a hack job. It is nothing but a receipt of a tigbas.

It is correct when you say that a wrongdoing can never be contained, much like air or smoke. But an imagined wrongdoing cannot get off the ground either.

I am not the least threatened by this supposed age of post-truth and fake news (read: imagined events).

You see, pundits who base their opinion on a fake news or imagined sources is not really a fake pundit. It only shows the author’s gullibility and stupidity.

This kind of people will eventually self-destruct but like the fool that the economist Karl Marx described at the start of this article, they will always jockey for the position of having the last say in the matter.

Until then, we will just have to contend with these maladjusted paid hacks and take their writings the way it should be ― as works of fiction, ergo for entertainment purposes and nothing more.

Unabashed bigotry

“Bigotry is boring when we add modifiers.” – Gregory House, MD [Hugh Laurie].

THIS is what I love about the current administration — its consistency on being inconsistent especially when it comes to the Bangsamoro people.

That is why I wasn’t particularly surprised when the “Muslim ID” brouhaha hit the fan, so to speak. However, I cannot blame Muslims about how they reacted. This administration’s Muslim ID is dissonant to hizzoner’s pronouncements in the past.

Didn’t this administration vow to correct the historical injustices done to the Moros? Didn’t this President lambast a US President because of a massacre some hundred years ago? Digression: With the Duterte administration, the President and administration are interchangeable because he micromanages.

Everything this administration does can and should be attributed all the way to the top of the bureaucracy because he is the boss. He made it clear in all of his long-winded speeches, albeit with a repetitive topic (read: obosen).

This administration is also systematic, too. Before the Muslim ID brouhaha, it clipped the executive powers of some seven governors and 132 mayors here in Mindanao. The reason, this administration said, is because they have been “engaging in acts inimical to national security or which negate the effectiveness of the peace and order campaign of the government; and providing material support to criminal elements.”

Even the most rabid supporters of this administration were included. Well, there being Muslims helped a lot in their inclusion in the list.

The multi-awarded mayor of Upi, Ramon Piang Sr. made it to the list. Cotabato Mayor Frances Cynthia Sayadi made it to the list, too. Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and the 28 mayors under him have also been listed by the National Police Commission.

Haven’t these people showed enough support to the administration’s war on drugs? I’ve been reading these same names in the reports of our correspondents in their areas. I can distinctly remember Sayadi locking down Cotabato City when the Marawi crisis began and Mangudadatu’s all-out support to Masa Masid.

I can point out the inconsistencies and how bigoted this Muslim ID brouhaha is but I cannot narrate it funnier than what Armm Executive Secretary Laisa Masuhud Alamia posted on her Facebook wall over the weekend.

“And now some people in Luzon think I need a Muslim ID. I suppose they’re requiring this because we, Muslim Filipinos, don’t look Muslim enough as we are. I don’t look Muslim enough in person nor in these IDs, even when I’m wearing the hijab. So just to be sure, to be really 100% sure, they need me to present a Muslim ID to ensure that I’m really, truly a Muslim,” Alamia’s post reads in part.

I agree with her that the Muslim ID is “hilarious, if not tragically sad.”

Alamia started her post by saying “I need a bigger wallet.”

So here’s my equally “hilarious” suggestion to this administration. Since we have IDs for pretty much every single government service agency, I suggest these IDs be collated into one bar code for each citizen and then tattoo that bar code to the nape or forehead.

Better yet, RF tag the entire citizenry. That would really put the Philippines in the limelight. Sieg Heil!

Of dubious loyalties

NO you’re not mistaken. I know this day isn’t scheduled for my column but I requested for this space because I have to get this rant off my chest.

Just this week, we carried a story on how Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin Uy had to cut short a regular session of the city council because they no longer had a quorum.

Uy said councilors Lordan Suan, Leon Gan, and Yan Lam Lim were present at the start of their 42nd regular session on Monday but sneaked out in the middle of the plenary.

The three reportedly gave different reasons for cutting their attendance short. Suan said his stomach ached. Gan said a relative died so he excused himself from the session. Lim said he had to get out of the chamber because his blood pressure shot up.

Three different reasons but, to me, they still have a “common denominator” ? They’re all purples.

What got my goat was they were supposed to tackle timely issues during that session. As the disappointed councilor Bong Lao said, they were supposed to discuss the proposed flood and risk-reduction measures of the city.

I say timely because the government weather agency just declared that it’s now the rainy season. They even said to prepare for at least 14 storms until November. If  storm “Sendong” taught anything it is to prepare for worst.

Our city council has 18 members and 10 members would constitute a simple majority. At the start of the session, six of these “honorables” were absent.

Had these numbnuts stayed, the council still would have had a quorum and passed important resolutions.

Uy had no choice but to declare an end to the session because “since there were only nine left, anything that the city council approves can be legally questioned.”

These councilors should realize that their boss after the 2016 elections are the Kagay-anons and not that aging thing in Sta. Cecilia.

If Suan and Lim had a delicate constitution that day, they should have taken medicine for it. Hasn’t Suan heard of Diatabs, for chrissakes?! Newsflash, councilor, that’s what your JO is for! You could have just messaged that worker-relative of yours for medicine. Besides, don’t they realize the office of CDRRMC is directly below the plenary hall? That office is ready 24/7.

As for Gan, let’s just hope most of his relatives to the fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity are healthy because, god forbid, he couldn’t attend sessions anymore.

You ran for office, gardemet! Do your part and serve the people who voted you in office and don’t be such a baby.

Postponing democracy

“IF barangay elections were not held, the power of the people to elect their own leaders and not allow their leaders to just be appointed will be removed away from them. That is a terrible diminution of the power of our people granted to them under a democratic rule.” -former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., father of the Local Government Code

THIS administration will be wasting a lot of resources should its minions at Batasan Hill decide to postpone again the barangay and SK elections this October.

Elections Commissioner Luie Guia posted on his Facebook wall that existing laws need to be amendment before the elections could be declared postponed.

“Comelec is aware of what seems to be the declared preference of the political leadership to have the polls reset (or) canceled. It is best however that the decision on the matter be formalized via amendatory legislation the soonest.

“All that the poll body can do now is to slow down a bit in its preparation, but this can only hold temporarily. At a certain point and without the amendatory legislation coming out, it would already be constrained to go full blast,” Guia’s post reads in part.

Guia, however, predicates this statement by reminding citizens that “organizing elections is not a simple task. It is an enormous logistical operation that requires adequate preparation time and commitment of substantial resources.”

As a father to one of Comelec’s election workers in the city, I am appalled by the amount of money this administration will be wasting if it did decide to postpone the elections. As Guia jokingly told me over the weekend: “Comelec father ka nga pala.”

I made my own calculations and came up with P1,406,052. That amount only accounts for the paid man-hours of the election workers manning the satellite registrations in the city alone. It does not include the overtime pays (when they work on Saturdays and Sundays). It does not include the electricity that powers the computers, biometric equipment, the reams of paper and other logistical resources needed in every satellite registration. It does not include the physical hazards these election workers face in the hinterland barangays.

I arrived at that amount by multiplying the number of days (277 to be exact since City Comelec started its satellite registrations since July last year) to the daily average wage of a casual election worker (P423 from the P11,000 monthly salary of a casual worker). Then I multiplied that number to the number of election workers manning each satellite registration (12 election workers).

Guia said via private message that if Congress amends the election law within the next month or two, there won’t be much wastage.

So, timing is key. I just hope that we still have enough thinking legislators in both houses of Congress.

Meanwhile, we, the electorate, wait.

I have seen how the City Comelec has labored and the commitment it has in making sure those voters will be able to choose who will lead them in the most basic unit of political body in the Republic.

As the father of the Local Government Code puts it: “Getting the barangay officials elected by the people of the barangay concerned makes them beholden to their voters. Appointing them, on the other hand, makes them feel they owe a debt of gratitude to the appointing power that they have somehow to repay.”

Postponing the barangay and SK elections is a very dangerous precedent. The next thing you know, you’ll just realize in horror that you have willingly surrendered your liberties to a dictator who has scared you on the pretext that we have been a narco-state in the last “six or seven years.” Pfft.

EJKs and tourism

“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.” -Wanda Sykes, comedienne

LAST week, Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo zeroed in on the media for making it hard for her to sell the country to tourists by the latter’s “pesky” reportage of the extrajudicial killings. To be fair to her, she also mentioned Vice President Leni Robredo for mentioning the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs in a taped video message to the United Nations.

I say Teo zeroed in on media because Robredo only mentioned this administration’s bloodlust once in that taped message while we, the media, apparently won’t stop reporting on the killings.

In an interview, Teo asked media to “tone down statements and coverage on EJKs… It’s making my job of selling the Philippines more difficult.”

I commiserate with the good secretary. I can only imagine the difficulty of the position she’s in. How do you entice tourists to visit the country when Filipinos are getting killed left and right? So, let me extend an olive branch then.

Since the good secretary has identified the media as the culprit, methinks it’s only befitting that we in media should help her out. I launched a crowd sourcing of sorts on Facebook. I asked colleagues how they would sell the Philippines to tourists through an advertisement pitch or blurb.

Mine was, “Philippines: Where you can rest in peace.”

I even posted a caveat telling them that by posting on my crowd sourcing post, they give me expressed permission to quote their ad blurbs on my next column. So here are what my colleagues in media offer:

“We’ll love you to death.” –Nonoy Espina

“Live your (after) life to the fullest in the Philippines.” – Chino Gaston

“There’s more fans in the Philippines, where people can easily rest in peace.” – Chris Panganiban

“Enjoy Boracay! It’s (war) free.” – Froilan Gallardo

“Come to the Cordilleras and have a taste of heaven.” – Kimberlie Quitasol

Meanwhile, Erwin Mascariñas took it to another level and submitted a suggested copy for an entire brochure: “Up for an adventure? Experience real-life death-defying tours. Join our Tokhang urban slum adventure raids and get a chance to see and experience a turkey shot like no other. Book now and avail our special riding in tandem promo.”

Meanwhile, Rigoberto “Bobi” Tiglao just commented that “actually our infrastructure can’t accommodate any tourists anymore.”

The one to beat, however, was from my igso Elson Elizaga – “p***ng ina, bumalik kayo dito!” It encapsulates the kind of vocabulary the president uses and it has a macho ring to it, much like the president’s default posture.

I know the ad-blurb suggestions are sarcastic and borders on snarky. But what kind of answer does one get with a ridiculous request?

In that same interview in Thailand, by the way, the good secretary also mentioned that her department is finding it hard to sell the country because of the President Digong Dada’s proclivity to bash the major sources of tourists – the United States and the European Union.

Teo admitted in the interview that they get nervous “every time he (Duterte) opens his mouth.” She said every time that happens “they release a press statement on the developments in our agency, just to distract the public from what the President said.”

I actually feel sorry for Teo. I know how it’s like to have a lippy boss who is not afraid of running it to the chagrin of the subordinates.

So, what she’s actually requesting media is not only to “tone down” reportage of the killings but to “distract the public” from what is really happening across the country.

Nobody is painting anything. It’s this regime that is painting itself into a corner. Journalists are not out to “destroy” this country’s reputation. This regime is doing a banged up job all on its own.

I’d like to end by quoting the statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines: “It would be better if, instead of asking us to ‘tone down’ the killings, you ask the President to order an end to them. That way, we could truthfully report that the killing season is over and the Philippines is, well, ‘more fun.’”

Post no bill, please

CONSIDERING how many times this regime has been finding ways to mess up our civil liberties, it should change its logo to a fist with the middle finger sticking out.

As if the be-wigged stooge of President Digong Dada at the justice department hasn’t wrangled the Republic’s judicial system enough to serve the regime’s vendetta, here comes another stooge who wants to impose the historically “effective” ghetto-like branding – all, of course, in the name of waging the war on drugs.

About a fortnight ago, Interior Secretary Ismael Sueño opined to label houses that are supposedly “drug free” with a decal telling people the house is such.

Sueño suggests this will be better than the violent Oplan Tokhang. He is so convinced there is nothing inherently wrong with this that he vilified Amnesty International-Philippines when the latter called him out on his plan to brand houses. Sueño even resorted to a childish play on words against the Nobel Prize laureate saying: “They should be branded as human wrong group, not human rights group.”

Who will determine if the household is indeed drug-free? Who will evaluate and confirm this as a fact? How will they categorize and what are the rules of implementation of this branding campaign?

This came to him, Sueño said, after meeting with the regional peace and order councils recently.

He said this regime is shifting to a non-violent and positive way to combat illegal drugs. Is he admitting that Oplan Tokhang was wrong? The plastering of “drug free” stickers on houses, he said, will not be a police operation but by the civilian peace and order councils from the regional down to the barangay level.

Hasn’t Sueño been listening to his boss? Didn’t Digong Dada push for the postponement of the barangay elections because “most” barangay officials are allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade? Now, Sueño wants these people allegedly involved in illegal drug trafficking to decide which house in their barangay is drug-free? If he doesn’t see the problem of conflicts of interest in that arrangement, I personally don’t know what will.

How sure is Sueño that this new branding campaign will not be used by barangay chairpersons as a subtle campaign for their own pedestrian political careers? Let’s not forget we are going to elect a new set of barangay officials this coming October. I, for one, am not expecting for such decal. This is because I have been at odds with our barangay chairman in Consolacion – a Roa, I might add – since he practically abdicated his mandate to policing our village of drug users and hooligans. My regular (at 165 of them) readers will bear this out since I have been writing about his governance style or to be accurate his lack of it.

Plus, let me remind Mr. Sueño that we are in the Philippines – a third world impoverished country – where a house does not automatically mean one family. I live in a house being shared by two other families. Should our brilliant barangay chairman decide not to stick a decal on our house on my account – just to get back at me – won’t that be unfair for the other two families, who may or may not be involved in illegal drugs?

I am most certain that this will be used arbitrarily by barangay chairpersons who want to stay as chairpersons in their barangays after October.

“Plus, let me remind Mr. Sueño that we are in the Philippines…”

Which company will be printing the drug-free decals. Who stands to gain from this enterprise? In street vernacular: Pila man gyud, ser?

I mean, how different is this to Nazi Germany’s posting of a Star of David on the homes of Jews not too long ago. This may be a reverse of what Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim did before, spray-painting houses of suspected drug traffickers but its effect is still the same. It will discriminate the household members of a house with no drug-free sticker plastered on it.

So, no, Mr. Sueño, I will not participate in your version of a Star of David – respect my right to private property and post no bill, please.

Public conversation

THE public conversation on corruption is bound to happen whoever is in power. Even the almighty Apo Ferdie couldn’t get under wraps. It is nothing personal. It is a conversation where the taxpayers hold to account those who swore to be true and at their service.

Forbes Magazine recently cited Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Index where the country slid back some six places in ranking – from an index of 134 in 2010 to 168. We are now neighbors with Pakistan and India in terms of level of corruption.

“President Duterte’s dramatic rise to power in the Philippines made extensive use of anti-corruption rhetoric. Yet, the impact of death squads, attacks on media, and violent intimidation to the detriment of democracy and democratic institutions is yet to be seen in 2017,” Transparency International’s observation reads in part.

Deflection must be the most useful tact in any self-respecting politician’s arsenal. Even the ones who claim they have nothing to hide.

As I see it, there is really no need for President Digong Dada to order the Anti-Money Laundering Council to “release” his bank account records because as the highest elected public official in the land every asset he and his family has, earned or inherited, should all reflect in all of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth. Yes, from when he was a non-crusading public prosecutor up to his winning the presidency of the Republic last year.

For the dense and ignorant, the submission of a SALN, as stipulated in Republic Act 6713, is a prerequisite of all public officials and employees – sans those in an honorary capacity, laborers, casuals, and temporary workers –upon assumption to office and on or before April 30 of every year in government service. Public officials are also required to file a SALN within 30 days after separation from government service.

“The SALN lists the properties – real estate, vehicles, jewelry, shares of stock, etc. – that an official has acquired or owns, when, at what cost, and their current market values. The SALN also enrolls the official’s liabilities such as loans, including those from government institutions (read: GSIS) and insurance payments. The SALN should list as well the names of the official’s wife and children below 18, and the names of the official’s relatives in government service up to the fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity,” our codigo cum notebook when I was with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reads.

So when Sen. Antonio Trillanes brought up Duterte’s supposedly suspicious fat bank accounts I was surprised that the latter’s initial response was childish name-calling and insults. The next day, as if sobered up, ordered the AMLC to “release all his bank records.” A little digression for the online trolls and fanatics, I agree that Trillanes looks creepy. Well, they both look sinister as fudge to me. But looks and gut feel has got nothing to do with the Trillanes-Duterte to-and-fro (which basically is turning out to be a b-version of a Star Wars saga).

If Duterte has nothing to hide he need simply point Trillanes to all of his SALNs. This, of course, has a lot of conjectures attached to that statement. That is assuming Duterte faithfully and honestly filed SALNs in all the years of his career as a public servant. There’s the assumption, too, that he really advocates for transparency and accountability in public service – and so on and so forth.

Trillanes’ accusations should also not come as a surprise for Duterte considering the former comptroller of the Navy’s acquisition division already filed a plunder case last year. A second attack, as it were, was bound to happen. Like a rat that got wind of a rotting cheese, it will pursue it no matter what. Trillanes will not back down. He has already drawn first blood.

Whichever sides of the fence you are sitting, Trillanes’ accusations is primarily a call for transparency. If he has shady practices in the Senate then these should also be investigated on – as pointed out by the Fifth Estate (Duterte’s barrage of spin doctors). Too bad, Trillanes beat Duterte to hurling accusations first.

This also brings to fore the need for a public conversation on the alleged corruption under the Duterte administration which was bound to happen as with the past presidents of the Republic.

So, no VG, this is not about whether I’m opposed to this administration or not. This is not about the person. This is about us – yes, including you – pulling our heads out of our asses and start asking the really ugly questions that need to be asked.

We cannot just sweep the conversation under the rug, so to speak.

Abolish pork, rechannel the people’s money to basic social services

The Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) today joins thousands of other Filipinos in calling for the abolition of the presidential and congressional pork barrel funds and the rechanneling of the people’s money to basic social services.

We reject this system of funding driven by patronage politics: a system riddled with secrecy, discretionary abuse, lack of oversight and transparency. We reject this plunder of the people’s money. Clearly, the pork barrel funds do not go to addressing the people’s basic human rights and needs, such as affordable and nutritious food, stable and sustainable employment, housing and transportation services, and accessible medical and social services.

Recent events unmasked the corruption, depravity and crookedness of the pork barrel system. Janet Napoles’ P10 billion scam pales in comparison to the funds siphoned off through the P25 billion individual Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for senators and congressmen and the P1.3 trillion to 1.5 trillion Presidential lump sum discretionary fund that makes up more than half of the country’s national budget for the year.

Many scandals and controversies underscoring the extent of the problem have erupted over the past years in different Presidential administrations. Like his predecessors, President B.S. Aquino III has done nothing to resolutely abolish this system and work for substantial reforms. Instead, his administration has recently attempted to retain the pork barrel funds: using new terms and jargon to mask the same old system of patronage-driven public funding.

We are tired of such linguistic tricks and double talk. Let us call a spade a spade: pork barrel has long become a loot bag for corruption by bureaucrats. It has to go.

We call on fellow concerned artists and cultural workers to unite in calling for the abolition of the pork barrel system. We demand that the administration rechannel the people’s money to where it rightfully belongs: to jobs, land, education, social services and justice for the Filipino people.


The Concerned Artists of the Philippines is an organization of writers, artists and cultural workers committed to the principles of freedom, justice and democracy.It was founded in 1983 to unite Filipino artists against the dictatorial regime of then President Ferdinand Marcos who imposed repressive laws that curtailed freedom of expression.