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In the run-up to the presidential nominations, the
Social Weather Stations (SWS) released the other day the results of
a political survey on public officials and institutions. The idea of
this noncommissioned survey (not paid for by anyone) is to come up
with the so-called public satisfaction ratings on these subjects.
Presidentiable Senate President
Manny Villar was tops with a plus 53 rating. Vice President Noli de
Castro, who will probably be the standard bearer of the ruling
party, was second with a plus 47 rating, a slight improvement from
his record last December.
If we venture an analysis, the
reason for the result could be that most of those surveyed were
impressed by Villar’s exposure in the recent national broadband
hearings in the Senate. As for the vice president, perhaps those
surveyed were impressed by his focus on housing projects and his
seeming independence from the Palace.
What is confusing is the score of
Chief Justice Reynato Puno who has generally a good reputation
because of his scholarship, his principled stand on executive
privilege and his partisanship on the side of civil liberties and
freedom of speech. I do not believe that he deserves only a plus 2
rating, especially if the 1,200 people surveyed had a fair
understanding of the questions and even a minimal knowledge of
what’s going on in the country.
What is even more baffling is the
rating of Speaker Prospero Nograles. For heaven’s sake, how can
those surveyed say that Nograles is performing poorly when the
sessions are not even over? Perhaps, we can judge the performance of
the speaker when he finishes his first year. But at the moment,
judgments can only be superficial and unreliable.
Malaysia to withdraw
There is something significant in
the decision by the Malaysian government to end its monitoring
mission in Mindanao this year.
The Palace’s chief peace
adviser Jesus Dureza said he had just finished a trip to Kuala
Lumpur and officials there had given “no indication of any
announcement of total withdrawal.”
“I feel that we as neighbors
should be working very closely for peace,” Dureza said. “I am
confident that Malaysia will be with us all the way.” Malaysian
Foreign Minister Rais Yatim on Monday said his government would pull
its monitoring team from Mindanao in September.
I prefer a situation where the
Philippine government will be talking with the Muslim rebels without
the help from any Asean country or a member of the Organization of
Islamic Conference. We are capable of negotiating a peace pact with
the rebels.
Although Malaysia is a friendly
country, there are certain forces in that country that may have
different plans. If we intend to tap Malaysia for the talks in the
future, we should use it as venue—just like Norway or The
Netherlands in the case of the GRP-NDF talks.
Settle baselines law
I have always advocated using the
Legislative-Executive Council (Ledac) as a forum to reconcile
opposing ideas in public policy. Senate President Villar should be
lauded for coming to his political senses by attending the Ledac
meeting on Tuesday after months of useless boycott.
Example of a contentious bill is
the baselines law which Speaker Nograles tossed back to Ledac for
discussions. He is correct that it would be a waste of time for the
House to pass the bill without consulting the Senate and the Palace.
Besides, as the media have reported, the baselines law promises to
be a contentious issue.
The issue really is: Should we
include the Spratlys in the proposed map of the Philippines? The
position of the Palace, supported by experts from the DFA, is that
inclusion of the of the Spratlys won’t be realistic because some
of those islands are already occupied by China, Vietnam, Taiwan and
other minor claimants.
BRIEF NOTES. The President is
being persuaded not to give in totally to the stand of the Catholic
Church on population control policy. Congressman Edcel Lagman says
the President will not veto the P 2-billion population management
fund which will be used to provide birth control options. It looks
like France would like to repair its damaged relations with China
after it allowed some of its citizens to protest against China’s
hosting of the Olympics three weeks ago. The campaign to use Tibet
as an issue against China’s hosting of the Olympics has died down.
On the request by the Dalai Lama to hold a dialogue with China, the
leaders of China replied that such dialogue can happen anytime but
it should be based on the framework that Tibet is part of China and
that Tibet should not be linked to the Olympic Games.
jules42na@yahoo.com
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