I agree with Conrado de Quiros that the most honorable thing that Migz could have done is to have conceded defeat before the Maguindanao votes were counted and his political capital would have risen. It would have been statesmanlike. He's only in his 30's. Why's he in a rush? He could have created an NGO to help push the implementation of his bio-ethanol law and make him a darling of the green community and the citizens too. He's a bright guy. He could have done other things to further enhance his image since he is already in the national consciousness and at the same time do some good for the country. In other words, there are other ways of serving the country. By 2010, had he chosen to concede, he would be an unbeatable candidate for senator. Look at Al Gore. He's a winner even though he "lost" the election.
Now that he "won", he has more troubles than he could imagine. The baggage of "winning" a disputed election weighs heavily on him. He won't have a good relationship with the present senators, especially the opposition, who won fair and square. He himself admitted the difficulty of working with the present senators especially so since his victory is tainted. He will be fending against an election protest with the Senate Electoral Tribunal. Plus the citizenry, especially those 11M who voted for Koko, and the punditocracy plus the bloggers will really give him a hard time. If I were in his shoes, I don't think I would be able to stand the heat but that's me. Politicians are a different breed. Their hides are as thick as that of a rhinoceros.
It will be all fun and games for Migz. But then again, this is the Philippines. Cheaters has a tendency of getting away with it.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Marine Ambush
What a horrible mess! The marines who died do not deserve the way they died unless of course you are an extreme Muslim fanatic who believe that Christians are infidels and deserve to die like an ordinary animal. This will only help fuel the animosity between Christians and Muslims, which is quite unfortunate considering the never-ending quest for peace in Western Mindanao. I have to qualify that the carnage happened in Southwestern Mindanao because people who are not familiar with the island always equate the violence happening in that part of the island as true in other parts of Mindanao. Contrast this with the report that the new Abu Sayyaf is "spiritual" http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=76182. I wonder if he feels spiritual after slaughtering the 14 marines, not to mention decapitation and cutting off of the arms and the private parts of some of the dead marines. But then again, who knows what goes on inside the heads of these barbarians.
What is sad is that majority of our brother Moros (I prefer to call them the traditional way) are peace loving people. We have our share of our compatriot Moros in our town and the reason why they moved to our town is that they wanted to get away from all the violence. I just don't understand why the people who are perpetrating the violence keep on doing it. Is it in their blood? I certainly don't think it is because a sane person would almost always try to avoid violence. Is it because they feel they are being discriminated against? If this is so, the way they are going about it is certainly inviting more recriminations from the Christian majority and only perpetuates the stereotype of a Moro barbarian. If it is an independent Bangsa Moro they want, this is certainly not the way to do it since it only shows that they cannot run their own independent nation if they want to pursue violence. The experiment called the ARMM is the poster child for a "How not to Run a Nation" campaign. They also keep saying that they want the whole island of Mindanao to become the Bangsa Moro Republic which to me is out of this world considering that not all the "lumad" tribes who are the original occupants of the island are Moros. It's no small wonder that we will never find peace in Mindanao. This cannot be even compared to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because the Palestinians deserve to have their rightful claim to the land since they were the original settlers until they were driven out because of a formula imposed by the British. When will this ever end? Your guess is as good as mine. As the infamous Rodney King said: "Can't we all just get along?"
What is sad is that majority of our brother Moros (I prefer to call them the traditional way) are peace loving people. We have our share of our compatriot Moros in our town and the reason why they moved to our town is that they wanted to get away from all the violence. I just don't understand why the people who are perpetrating the violence keep on doing it. Is it in their blood? I certainly don't think it is because a sane person would almost always try to avoid violence. Is it because they feel they are being discriminated against? If this is so, the way they are going about it is certainly inviting more recriminations from the Christian majority and only perpetuates the stereotype of a Moro barbarian. If it is an independent Bangsa Moro they want, this is certainly not the way to do it since it only shows that they cannot run their own independent nation if they want to pursue violence. The experiment called the ARMM is the poster child for a "How not to Run a Nation" campaign. They also keep saying that they want the whole island of Mindanao to become the Bangsa Moro Republic which to me is out of this world considering that not all the "lumad" tribes who are the original occupants of the island are Moros. It's no small wonder that we will never find peace in Mindanao. This cannot be even compared to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because the Palestinians deserve to have their rightful claim to the land since they were the original settlers until they were driven out because of a formula imposed by the British. When will this ever end? Your guess is as good as mine. As the infamous Rodney King said: "Can't we all just get along?"
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