(A response to the email of one S. C. Austero)
Dear S.C. Austero and Others Who Are Not Out in the Streets,

I too, am angry. I am angry that there are people like you who have become so jaded, so cynical that you would rather "lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward," meaning wherever GMA and
her cohorts are taking it.

Let me make it clear. I don't claim to speak or fight for you or the entire Filipino people. I want GMA out for the sake of MY rights and MY freedoms. I will fight any government that steals MY vote, MY taxes,
that lies to ME and tramples on MY human rights and civil liberties. If you don't want to join me in this
fight, then don't. I'm sure there are many others who believe that government is there to serve the people,
not rob them blind.

In accepting GMA for all her failures, at least you're honest enough to admit that you have lowered your standards about what a leader should be. But please, don't drag us down with you. And don't blame Cory or
the politicians for your pitiable compromises. How can you tell me that just because Cory and the rest of our leaders screwed us big time, then we should tolerate someone like GMA who wants to screw us even more? And you justify this by saying you've "taken the moral high ground" by forgiving her? That's crazy. It's like aying that having an extra-marital affair or sniffing shabu is okay because anyway, everybody does it.
That's definitely as low as anyone's morals can go.

Oh, but you say GMA has bent over backwards so many times. The question is, in what direction? Sure, she has accommodated the demands of Jose de Venecia, her corrupt and abusive generals, her allies in Congress (whose pork barrel funds have been increased), the terrorist-obsessed Americans and big business BUT SHE HAS NEVER, NOT ONCE, ACCEDED TO THE DEMAND FOR US TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ISSUES AFFECTING HER
PRESIDENCY. Do you honestly think her pathetic "I am sorry" speech was a genuine apology? On the contrary,
she and her officials have stonewalled every investigation on her crimes, throwing all kinds of obstacles including the "great debate" that is Charter change just to divert public attention and obfuscate the issues.

The bottom line, you say, is that the oust GMA movement has no viable alternative. More to the point, that the alternatives are much worse than a GMA presidency. Well, I have good news for you. THERE ARE alternatives. The most progressive one is a transition council composed of untainted, credible leaders from various sectors and parties that will prepare for clean, honest and credible elections and initiate a number of social reforms.

I have even better news for you. YOU ARE THE ALTERNATIVE. Unless people like you and me act and involve ourselves in the process of replacing GMA with leaders having the competence and genuine moral authority to govern, then indeed we will be stuck with political opportunists and/or coup plotters. In the final analysis, we will only be as good as the leaders we catapult to power. I bet you there are a million more Filipinos who can do a better job than GMA.

But you're really not interested in all these, are you, since you yourself say you "don't give a f*&k who sits in Malacanang." All you want is that nothing disrupts your comfortable middle class existence. To hell with the rest of the country. To hell with good governance. To hell with civil liberties and human rights. All you want is to sip your chilled merlot in peace.

Fortunately, I'm not like you. I DO care who sits in Malacanang and every freaking public office. I care what the President does and does not do. I care to the point of getting angry whenever a President subverts the Constitution, betrays the public trust, engages in bribery and corruption, and does everything in her power to hide her crimes against ME and the rest of the Filipino people. More than getting angry, I FEEL I HAVE TO ACT FOR REAL CHANGE TO HAPPEN.

If you don't agree with me, fine. Forget about GMA's cheating, about Jose Pidal and other thieves and criminals in government, about how our leaders have robbed us of our dignity. Go ahead, follow GMA's advice to "move on." Better yet, stop bitching and get out of my sight. The country will be better off without you. Go abroad and
make some money. You can come back when the dust settles. Come back after we have kicked out the thieves, political opportunists, and abusive government officials. Come back when we have transformed your beloved Philippines into a peaceful, progressive and sovereign country.

From Someone Always Out in the Streets

Posted by: edwin stm | March 13, 2006

Here's another email that has been circulating around and I chose to post this because it shared most of my sentiments as THE SILENT MIDDLE CLASS of this country. And besides, they are all true:

Dear Tita Cory, Senators, Congressmen, Businessmen, Media people, Leftists, Military and all Bleeding Hearts Out There:

I am angry. And I know that there are many out there who are angrier than I am for the same reason. And that reason is simple. I am sick and tired of all you guys claiming to speak for many Filipinos and me. I feel like screaming every time you mouth words about fighting for my freedom and my rights, when you obviously are just thinking about yours. You tell me that the essence of democracy is providing every citizen the right to speak his or her mind and make his or her own informed judgments, but you yourselves do not respect my silence and the choices I and many others have made. In other words, your concept of democracy is limited to having your rights and your freedoms respected, at the expense of ours.

I am utterly flabbergasted that you still do not get it: we already responded to your calls, and our response has been very clear - We chose not to heed your calls to go to EDSA or to Fort Bonifacio not because we do not love our country or our freedoms or our rights, but precisely because we love our country even more. Because quite frankly, we are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward. You may counter with your ideological propaganda and give me all the dire warnings about the evils of Martial Law, authoritarian rule, suppression of freedom, etc., but quite frankly all we see is your pathetic efforts to defend your right to continue fulminating, filibustering, and sabotaging this country until you wrestle power for yourselves. You tell me that you are simply protecting my freedoms and my rights, but who told you to do that? I assure you that when I feel that my rights and my freedoms are at a peril, I will stand up and fight for them myself. I have done that in the past, and I will do it again when I SEE THE NEED FOR IT, not when you tell me to do it.

You tell us that GMA is not the right person to lead this country because she has done immoral acts. As someone who sees immorality being committed wantonly in many ways every day and by everyone (yes, including the ones you do), I may have become jaded. I may have lowered my standards about what a leader should be. Guess what, Tita Cory, you lowered it yourself. When I accepted your incompetence and fought for you during the many attempts against your government, I already lowered the standards to ridiculous levels. Guess what, Senators and Congressmen, you lowered it yourselves when you ran for office and won and now make fools of yourselves in the august halls of congress. But the simple truth that you try to confuse is this: You have not been able to offer me any viable alternative! On the other hand, GMA has bent over backwards many times to accommodate you while continuing to work hard despite all the obstacles and the brickbats you have thrown her way. From where I sit, she is the one who has been working really hard to move this country forward while all of you have been so busy with one and only one thing: to make sure she does not succeed. So forgive me if I do not want to join you in your moral pissing contest. Forgive me if I have chosen to see things from another perspective. You say she is the problem. I say, we are - all of us is the problem; more to the point, I think you are a bigger problem than she is. Taking her out may solve part of the problem, but that leaves us with a bigger problem: you. That is right, YOU!

While I felt outraged that she called a Comelec official during the elections and that she may have rigged the elections, I have since then taken the higher moral ground and forgiven her. Yes my dear bishops, I have done what you have told me to do since I was a child, which you say is the Christian and moral thing to do: forgive. Especially since she has asked for forgiveness and has tried to make amends for it. Erap certainly has not apologized and continues to be defiant, continuing to insult us everyday with his protestations - and he is part of your cause now! Cory has not apologized for her incompetence but we have forgiven her just the same because like GMA, she has worked hard after all. I know you do not think that GMA's apology was not enough, or that she was insincere, or that that apology should not be the end of it, but please spare me the hypocrisy of telling me that you do so for the sake of protecting the moral fiber of society. The real reason is because you smell blood and wants to go for the kill.

Well, I have news for you. I do not like her too. I did not even vote for her. I voted for Raul Roco. But as much as I do not like her, I do not like you even more. I may not trust her, but you know what, I do not trust you even more. You know why I do not trust you? Because all you do is whine and sabotage this country. You belittle every little progress we make; conveniently forgetting that it is not just GMA who has been working so hard to achieve them. Every single day, we keep the faith burning in our hearts that this country will finally pull itself out of the mess and we work so hard to do that. Every little progress is the result of our collective effort, we who toil hard everyday in our jobs. Yet, you persist in one and only thing: making GMA look bad in the eyes of the world and making sure that this country continues to suffer to prove your sorry point. In the process, you continue to destroy what we painstakingly try to build. So please do not be surprised that I do not share your cause. Do not be surprised that we have become contemptuous of your antics. You have moved heaven and earth to destroy her credibility, you have convened all kinds of forums and hearings and all you have done is test our patience to the core. For all your efforts, you have only succeeded in dragging us further down. I say enough.

Don't get me wrong. I am not asking that we take immorality lying down, or that we let the President get away with anything illegal. But you have tried to prove your accusations all these time and you have not succeeded, so it is time to let things be. Besides, you are doing something immoral as well if not utterly unforgivable. The Magdalo soldiers are consorting with the communists - the same people who have been trying to kill democracy for years. Cory has been consorting with Erap and the Marcoses.

So please wake up and take a reality check. In the absence of true and genuine moral leadership, many of us have decided to cast our lot with the President, even if we do not like her. A flawed leader is better than scheming power hungry fools who cannot even stand up for their convictions in the face of an impending arrest.

Your coup attempts and the denials that you have consequently made only underscore what we think is true: you are spineless and unreliable people who only want power but not the consequences and the sacrifices that go with the quest. Your one and only defense is to cry suppression when your trick does not work. You are nothing but BULLIES who taunt and provoke, but cry oppression when taken to task for your cruelty. You call for the rule of law and respect for authority, but so brazenly display your defiance and disrespect for the same things you claim to be fighting for.

I would have respected you if you took the consequences of your actions like real heroes: Calmly and responsibly instead of kicking and screaming and making all kinds of lame excuses. You say you are willing to die for us, that you do all these things for the country and the Filipino, but you are not even willing to go to jail for us. Come on, you really think we believe that you did not want to bring down the government when THAT IS THE ONE AND ONLY ONE THING THAT YOU HAVE BEEN DESPERATELY TRYING TO DO in the last many months?

We love this country and we want peace and progress. Many among us do not give a f*&k who sits at Malacanang because we will work hard and do our share to make things work. We the people will and can make it work, if only you get out of the way and let us do it. If you only do your jobs, the ones you are supposed to be doing, things would be a lot simpler and easier for all of us.

The events during the so called Phil. Marine "Stand-off" only proved one thing. You are more dangerous and a serious threat to this country than GMA is. We have seen what you are capable of doing - you are ready to burn this country and reduce everything  to ashes just to prove your point. If there is something that we need protection from, IT IS PROTECTION FROM YOU.

S. C. Austero

Landslide buries homes, school in 1 Village

Red Cross: At least 200 dead, 1,500 missing in Philippines

In November 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm.

Last week February 17, 2006 the whole village of Guinsahogon, St. Bernard, Leyte.

This was sent to me thru email hope this would serve as a wakeup call for some people who try to forget or erase their roots. Very nice ending. Just keep an open mind and don't be so sensitive. I understand that this was written in Tagalog in order to put more impact on the message:

ISTORYA NG ISANG PUTA

Tingin ng mga bobong kapitbahay ko puta daw ako.
Nagpapagamit, binabayaran. Sabi nila ako daw ang
pinakamaganda at pinakasikat sa aming lugar noon. Ang
bango-bango ko daw, sariwa at makinis. Di ko nga alam
kung sumpa ito, dahil dito naletse ang kinabukasan ko.

Halika at makinig ka muna sa kwento ko.
Alam mo, maraming lumapit sa akin, nagkagusto, naakit.
Sikat ka sa lahat, virgin eh! Tinanggap ko naman
silang tao, bakit kaya nila ako ginago? Masakit
alalahanin, iniisip ko na lang na kase di sila taga
rito, siguro talagang ganoon. Tatlong malilibog na
foreigners ang namyesta sa katawan ko, na-rape daw
ako?

Sa tatlong beses akong nagahasa, ang pinakahuli ang di
ko makakalimutan. Parang maski di ko ginusto ang mga
nangyari, hinahanap-hanap ko siya. Tinulungan nya kasi
akong makalimutan yung mga sadistang Hapon at
Kastilaloy. Kase, ibang-iba ang hagod niya. Umiikot
ang mundo ko sa tuwing ginagamit niya ako. Ibang klase
siya mag-sorry, lalo pa at kinupkop niya ako at ang
mga naging anak ko.

Parating ang dami naming regalo - may chocolates,
yosi, at ano ka... may datung pa! Nakakabaliw siya, alam
kong ginagamit nya lang ako pero pagamit naman ako
nang pagamit. Sa kanya namin natutunan mag-Ingles, di
lang magsulat ha! Magbasa pa! Hanggang ngayon, sa
tuwing mabigat ang problema ko, siya ang tinatakbuhan
ko. 'Yun nga lang, lahat ng bagay may kapalit. Nung
kinasama ko siya, guminhawa buhay namin. Sosyal na
sosyal kami.

Ewan ko nga ba, akala ko napapamahal na ako sa kanya.
Akala ko tuloy-tuloy na kaligayahan namin, yun pala
unti-unti niya akong pinapatay. P*** ng I**! Sa dami
ng lason na sinaksak niya sa katawan ko, muntik na
akong malaspag. Ang daming nagsabi na ang tanga tanga
ko. Patalsikin ko na daw. Sa tulong ng mga anak ko,
napalayas ko ang animal pero ang hirap magsimula.

Masyado na kaming nasanay sa sarap ng buhay na
naranasan namin sa kanya. Lubog na lubog pa kami sa
utang, kulang ata pati kaluluwa namin para ibayad sa
mga inutang namin.

Sinikap naming lahat maging maganda ang buhay namin.
Ayun, mga nasa Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi ang mga anak
ko. Yung iba nag-US, Europe. Yung iba ayaw umalis sa
akin. Halos lahat, wala naman silbi, masaya daw sa
piling ko, maski amoy usok ako.

Sa dami ng mga anak ko na nagsisikap na tulungan ang
kalagayan namin, siya din ang dami ng mga anak ko na
namamantala sa kabuhayan at kayaman na itinatabi ko
para sa punyetang kinabukasan naming lahat. Dumating
ang panahon na di na kami halos makaahon sa hirap ng
buhay. Napakahirap dahil nasanay na kami sa ginhawa at
sarap.

Ang di ko inaakala ay mismong mga anak ko, ang
tuluyang sisira sa akin. Napakasakit tanggapin na
malinlang. Akala ko ay makakakita ako ng magiging
kasama sa buhay sa mga ahas na ipinakilala ng mga anak
ko. Hindi pala. Ang tanga ko talaga. Binugaw ako ng
sarili kong mga anak kapalit ng kwarta at
pansamantalang ginhawa na nais nilang matamasa.

Wala na akong nagawa dahil sa sobrang pagmamahal ko sa
aking mga anak. Wala akong ibang yaman kundi ganda ko.
Pinagamit ko na lang ng pinagamit ang sarili ko, basta
maginhawa lang ang mga anak ko.

Usap-usapan ako ng mga kapitbahay ko. May
nanghihinayang, namumuhi at naaawa. Puta na kase ang
isang magandang tulad ko.

Alam mo, gusto ko na sanang tumigil sa pagpuputa kaso
ang laki talaga ng letseng utang ko eh. Palaki pa ng
palaki. Kulang na kulang. Paano na lang ang mga anak
ko naiwan sa aking punyetang puder? Baka di na ako
balikan o bisitahin ng mga nag-abroad kong mga anak.
Hindi na importante kung laspagin man ang ganda ko,
madama ko lang ang pagmamahal ng mga anak ko. Malaman
nila na gagawin ko ang lahat para sa kanila.

Sa tuwing titingin ako sa salamin, alam ko maganda pa
rin ako. Meron pa din ang bilib sa akin. Napapag
usapan pa din. Sa tuwing nakikita ko ang mukha ko sa
salamin, nakikita ko ang mga anak ko. Tutulo na lang
ang mga luha ko ng di ko namamalayan. Ang gagaling nga
ng mga anak ko, namamayagpag kahit saan sila pumunta.
Mahusay sa kahit anong gawin. Tama man o mali. Proud
ako sa kanila. Kaso sila, kabaligtaran ang
nararamdaman para sa akin.

Sa dami ng mga anak ko, iilan lang ang may malasakit
sa akin. May malasakit man, nahihilaw. Ni di nga ako
kinikilalang ina. Halos lahat sila galit sa isa't isa.
Walang gusto magtulungan, naghihilahan pa. Ang dami ko
ng pasakit na tiniis pero walang sasakit pa nung
sarili kong mga anak ang nagbugaw sa akin. Kinapital
ang laspag na ganda ko. Masyado silang nasanay sa
sarap ng buhay. Minsan sa pagtingin ko sa salamin, ni
hindi ko na nga kilala ang sarili ko.

Dadating na naman ang pasko, sana maalala naman ako ng
mga anak ko. Ilang buwan pa, magbabagong taon na.
Natatakot ako sa taong darating. Ngayon pa lang usap
usapan na ang susunod na pagbubugaw ng ilan sa mga
anak ko. Sana may magtanggol naman sa akin, ipaglaban
naman nila ako. Gusto kong isigaw: "INA NINYO AKO!

MAHALIN NYO NAMAN AKO!"

Salamat ha, pinakinggan mo ako.
Ay sorry, di ko pala nasabi pangalan ko.
PILIPINAS nga pala pangalan ko!