Media, free expression under threat in wake of coup — SEAPA

i hope it’s temporary. katulad nung temporary takeover ng malacanang sa daily tribune… lol.

But whatever happens, the event that unfolded recently in Thailand proved that:

In Thailand, the “balls” of Thai’s military Generals are intact. In Pinas, majority of them are al “capones” or “yagball-less” or “takusa-sa-babae na pandak pa”;

In Thailand, Thaksin was duly elected and is accused only of “impropriety” (for using his influence to further a family business) but the generals cannot stomach it anymore (hindi masikmura). In Pinas, Gloria is not duly elected, accused of massive corruption and yet the Pinoy Generals are “naglalaway pa”;

In Thailand, they plant rice and other agricultural products and export them abroad even to the U.S. In Pinas, we make babies, educate them and export them abroad even to Africa;

In Thailand, the government borrow money to benefit the poor. In Pinas, it’s for the rich;

In Thailand, the rich supports the poor. In Pinas, the rich takes advantage of the poor;

In Thailand, few speaks English but tourists are abound. In Pinas, English is second language but tourists avoid.

In Thailand, prostitution is almost legal but prostitutes are few. In Pinas, it’s illegal but there are plenty;

Thailand change their country’s name from SiaM because it’s “MaiS” read backwards. We retained “Pilipinas” even if it reads “SanipiliP” or Philip’s son”-a mark of our being a colonial country.

Happy weekend!!!

Military asserts rules for Thai media following coup, silences dissenting voices, arrests demonstrators

– Brilliant strategy this means they really want to reform the government without any interruption. Sad thing we can’t do that here in the Philippines tsk, tsk,tsk.

jr_lad:

it would be interesting to speculate on Pinoy’s reaction to a coup, however, before that, many (me, included) would like to know their (local coup d’etat operators) program of action and governance.

this alone would be sufficient enough to spell its success or doom. any coup that runs counter to the interests of the majority, is bound to fail. it may achieve the objective of taking power in the short term, but will it be able to make positive difference in people’s lives in the long term?

or will it be just busy fending off counter coups?

personally, i want the changing of guards (political leaders) done in the traditional way. but since traditions are no longer given any importance, much less respect by our leaders, i may willingly support other vehicle of change.

if only they would be able to clarify their stand on issues: land reform, foreign debt, and the rebellion in the countrysides. there are many others, of course, but the first 3 would be enough to know whether we will be welcoming an exit of a political farce and monster and an entry of a budding source of solution OR an entry of a bigger monster.

re: thailand. their King by tradition, has always been the source national unity, regardless of any leader’s misgovernance. if i may add, political institutions does NOT grind to a halt when there is a coup since citizens are assured that the king is still around– a power behind any power. thus, any counter coup without the King’s blessing is doomed from the start.

good for the Thai people, they have somebody to draw inspiration from and symbolizes unity;
woe unto a nation whose leaders are constant source of division and disunity among the people.

Jr, Freewheel, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. A military coup in the Philippines is probably what we really need. The coups of ’86 and ’91 are not real coups. Those were simply removing a president from power and passing the baton to another. The military never did hold power.

They can’t do that in 1986 because it was the people that turned the tide against Marcos when the soldiers were waiting to be annihilated by the superior loyalist forces.

In 2001, they had the chance to establish themselves as the leaders since it was their withdrawal of support that felled Erap. But again, they know that their hold on power, should they decide to, will surely be shortlived as the main suppliers of the warm bodies at EDSA were their nemesis leftist groups.

Now, if what the gov’t has been saying is true regarding the collaboration of communists and the military reformists (Magdalo, et al), then there is justification for the soldiers to participate in a junta after a successful coup as the junta will represent all shades of the political spectrum from extreme left to extreme right. An instant signing of two peace agreements with the communists and the Muslims may not be an unexpected bonus.

More than ever, a revolutionary gov’t today is the perfect catalyst that will accelerate gov’t reforms and set the stage for early democratic elections.

First, there is the need to remove a Comelec that has directly participated in cheating operations.

Secondly, there is a need to cleanse the Supreme Court of people who have violated the constitution by declaring a vacancy when there was none; and those whose appointments were for purposes of protecting the appointer’s interest. In order to start clean, all Justices must be removed.

Third, those who have participated in the massive looting of the treasury before and after the 2004 polls need to be put away in detention and prosecuted. Also those who were co-conspirators in the other sins of Gloria, as well as those who did the coverups, and even those who failed or those who deliberately avoided to prosecute them should likewise be detained and face the consequences of their actions and inactions.

Fourth, since selfish interests have no place in the junta, and that no particular interests of a single sector will be promoted by the group, the setting is perfect for a constitutional convention where only the economy will be of central concern.

Since all these can be achieved in less than a year, the junta leaders will not be allowed to run for elected positions which may take place within the same year.

The military and police will be the referees at the stage of rebuilding the government as they follow a more rigid position than those of politicians who are mostly lawyers who often can only agree to disagree. The military will see to it that the tempo, the spirit, the goals and the rules are strictly followed by the junta leaders in order to achieve their goals orderly and quickly.

Sad to say, this to me may be the only way out of this mess because one barbaric entity has been forcing its weight upon the rest of society after it had bastardized and weakened, if not destroyed, the necessary system of checks and balance.

For decent people to continue respecting its leaders, their neighbors, and themselves, the wrongs should not be made to appear right, the lies should not substitute for the truth, and the perpetrators not rewarded but punished.

Does anyone here think that the 2007 elections and that in 2010 will be enough to bring us back to normalcy in the years following? Nah.

oops. “foreign”, not “foreight”.