QUOTE FOR THE DAY

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.

by Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862, died a year after Jose Rizal was born. He advocated for the idea of simple living and environmentalism.)

MAN OF GOD: AMONG ED WILL RUN

Among Ed Panlilio will run for president according to Patrick Pantaleon, one of the prime movers among La Salle alumni.

They have just come from a sortie in Mindanao where they met with potential supporters for the political campaign.

More information will be given about this early announcement of Among Ed among the participants to the Philippines for Righteous Governance meeting on the 21st of May 2009 in Makati City.

Leaders of non-government orgazations are invited to attend.

For further information, please call Patrick at 7285416.


Painting 'Creation of Adam' by Michelangelo

SHOULD HE RUN OR NOT?

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco

Why are some people wary of Estrada running for office? Are they afraid of his winning the game? Why can't some people just allow anyone to run; after all everyone is entitled to serving this country.

Actually, the COMELEC has stringent requirements for anyone running for a position especially for the higher positions. Question: what makes the COMELEC the arbiter for judging who can run and not, is it not the people?

As soon as Estrada was freed from prison, he regained all his fundamental rights as a citizen. So if Jalosjos and Mario Hulog ng Langit can run, so can all the other ex-prisoners do. This is a free country, and everyone is entitled to becoming a public servant.

What a lousy and boring life of sacrifice, if construed in its true meaning.

Three Key Requirements for a New Concept of Winnability

Excerpts from Nicanor Perlas' Views on "Winning An Election the Non-Traditional Way"


"In an earlier article, we detailed the contradictions and the dangers of assessing the potential of candidates for positive politics using traditional political concepts of winnability. (See “The Trap of Traditional Notions of Winnability”.)

One of the tasks of new innovative politics is to reframe old notions of winnability and put it in its proper place, and not to have old winnability concepts dictate the future of new politics.

So, if we are NOT going to rely on money, organization, reputation, and endorsement as BEGINNING criteria for winnability, what shall we rely on?

And how will we ensure that candidates running under the banner of new positive politics will ultimately win electoral contests and be able to govern effectively?


First we have to determine whether the potential candidate for positive politics has the necessary qualifications, track record, integrity, vision, and strategic agenda to run for public office.

Second, if there are other qualified new politics candidates for the same office, then let us design a process to determine which one would be the best to carry out the vision and strategy for positive change. Let qualified candidates debate each other in non-partisan assemblies and determine which one is the best.

And, third, create massive support for the qualified candidate(s) where none existed before...."


Van Gogh "Starry Night" Painting

PEOPLE'S JURY

Dear Bro. Patrick:

How about setting up a special "People Empowerment Meeting" and seek joint sponsorship by all alliances for good government for the enactment by the initiative process the "People's Jury Initiative" and make it effective by the end of this year. By arming the people with Grand Jury and Trial Jury, they will have the clout and strength to send to prison any arrogant grafter and corrupt TRAPOS who may be elected to office.

Guaranteed imprisonment by the INDEPENDENT decision of the common people in justice through the jury is, I strongly believe, the only rule of law that can force any public official, regardless of whether he is a president or not, to respect the people's sovereign power. Once corrupt powerful public officials start seeing their own kind go to jail by the jury decisions of the people, I think, they will finally come to their senses to behave they way they should. What is Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution for if we do not implement the exercise of the people's supreme power in it? Just for constitutional decoration only? Let us not, the common people, remain the underdog in justice. Let us not remain beggars of justice. Government authority emanates from us - not from TRAPOS. That is what the constitution said. Let us obliterate our defeatist mentality.

Regards.

Marlowe Camello

Emailed 16 May 2009

Painting, "Bastille" Clive Uptton

The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion. -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Petroglyph Art Print by Whitefeather

MEETING

PRG calls a meeting on May 21, 6pm, in Makati city. Please contact Patrick through cellphone numbers 09158761537 or 09204712452. Potluck please.



Reflets bleus, Artprint by Pierre Doutreleau

Challenge to Discipline and Punish

How quickly the British punish the erring ministers with regard to their parliamentary expenses. Note:

“The Daily Telegraph said Malik had claimed 66,827 pounds (102,000 dollars, 75,000 euros) on his London home over three years, while paying less than 100 pounds a week on a house in his constituency he designated his main residence.(British junior justice minister Shahid Malik is stepping down pending the outcome of an investigation into his parliamentary expenses, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said Friday.)

On Thursday, a former minister and lawmaker from Brown's ruling Labour party, Elliot Morley, was suspended after claiming thousands of pounds for a non-existent mortgage.

Also Thursday an opposition MP, Andrew MacKay, who is married to a fellow Tory MP, resigned as an aide to Conservative chief David Cameron after it was revealed that he had claimed for mortgage repayments on both the couple's homes." (culled from AFP 15 May 2009)

If only similarly erring officials could be readily disciplined or punished then there would not be many applicants for jobs abroad in our country.

THE TIME IS NOW .........FOR LIVE-OUT MIGRANT DOMESTIC HELPERS

Too many Filipina domestic helpers have come home, some crippled, a few raped, others flown in in boxes, and a great number in a daze or have lost their minds. Why so? It is because they have been cooped up in the homes of their strange employers, mostly from the Middle East whose views of women probably border more on objectifying them. Hence, Senate Bill No. -2493 was filed by Senator Jinggoy Ejercito-Estrada on July 29, 2008, defining the need for them to have separate homes from their employers and to render what is universally approved as 8 labor hours daily with excess to be given payment as well. The bill was proposed by the Diwata Society of Women in Philosophy and Education, whose members include Drs. Celeste Ordas-Botor, Aniceta Manuel-Ortinero, Mercedes Adorio, Perlie Polestico and Wilhelmina.

PLEASE WRITE TO ALL THE SENATORS AND CONGRESS REPRESENTATIVES TO URGENTLY EXPEDITE THE PASSAGE OF THIS BILL,AND SO UPHOLD THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF OUR DOMESTIC HELPERS GRAVELY DESPERATE AT HELPING THEIR FAMILIES EKE OUT A LIVING, IF NOT OF SURVIVING IN THIS WORLD.


Senate Bill No. -2493: Living Quarters for Migrant Domestic Workers
An Act Defining the Working Hours and Providing for the Establishment
of Living Quarters for Migrant Domestic Workers in All Major Cities
and Localities of Their Countries of Destination.

Painting Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus by Peter Paul Rubens

"let us continue to expand this internet horizon from the
mainland and those who are in foreign countries that we register our intent to
be one voice in Jesus name. Let it be known that we are indeed a true and
dedicated Christian country because the time is near and we cannot
afford to be left behind. We are a gifted people of the Light and we
can be one in love and harmony to show the world of our quality as God's
children...."

-Bart Bartolome, 12 May 2009