Survivor Pilipinas Initial Comments

Survivor Philippines on GMA piloted last night after around 30 minutes of delay (their website initially posted a start time of 9PM).


Things I initially like about the show:
1) The production apparently spent enough to give the show a feel of legitimacy with respect to the original franchise.

2) The casting crew managed to veer away from showbiz towards the "masa" (masses). I like the casting of the yaya, labandera, waiter, driver and farmer's daughter. It's good that there were only a handful of models among this season's cast.

3) No text voting! I would not be surprised if this changes later. GMA could introduce a Rupert-like contest for the favorite survivor to receive some sort of consolation price - possible when the clear fan favorite is booted off the island while the hated ones fight for the grand price.

Things I DO NOT initially like about the show:
1) The Philippine edition of the show is aired ala your typical daily soap opera. Crap. Crap. Crap. The local TV giants have degenerated enough to the point that they cant spend the needed directing and editing energy to make a superb once a week show. To cover their lack of editing talents, they decided to just throw in almost all clips taken from the show and air them over five days in a week. One of the reasons the original Survivor lasted so many seasons is that the show is action-packed and well edited. There would almost no boring moments each episode as the clips shown are handpicked. The local version hinted several dragging moments (the swimming portion alone took almost a third of the episode).

2) Paolo Bidiones the "boring". I pray Paolo buy DVD's (not from the sidewalk) of the original Survivor and study Jeff Probst more. I understand that Paolo has taken the time to learn Jeff's lines and translated them to Filipino but he failed in the tone. When you listen to Jeff, you feel the excitement (particularly in the challenges). Listening to Paolo drone about the action during the challenges and the show suffer. It's like listening to the late Blas Ople act as sports commentator for a PBA game. If Paolo fail to be more like Jeff during the tribal councils (fair and insightful) and be more like Kalbo Abunda during a typical showbiz talk show, I will stop watching.

3) Caused by reason #1 above, the show is slowwwwwww!

4) The first twist of the game - the punishment for the losers of the first reward challenge. The losers have to spend their first evening chained to each other. In the original survivor, for the interest of fairness, Jeff would declare that there would be twists/reward/punishment after a challenge but the contestants would learn about it after and that the twist is written in a scroll. This ensures that the production could not change the "twists" depending on the outcome of the contest. Who could be sure if Paolo lessened the punishment since the girls lost the challenge. Small detail but it typifies Pinoy's lack of respect for fairness and transparency.

Autonomy Like No Other

Autonomy na walang katulad. Today the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that a Comelec official assigned in South Cotabato (Region XII) is to be charged with tampering of election results from the 2007 senatorial elections. She was charged because:
1) Irregularities were found and they all point to her; and
2) She is not from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Every Juan, Pedro and Abdul who has spent time in the ARMM knows how dirty is the elections there. The unique nature of the autonomy of the ARMM dictates that people leave things there alone. Mayors and governors there (particularly the incumbent) get to squander 100% of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) without complaints from the authorities, their constituents and, surprisingly, not even whispers from anti-corruption watch dogs.

Send an auditor there (COA) and he will be met by a bag full of money. If he is dirty and takes the money then expect a spotless audit report. If he is clean and refuses the money, he is dead - plain and simple.

Back to election results, in the ARMM, the national political party in power can expect landslides and sweeps for their candidates. The voter turnout are highest in the country despite lack of infrastructure for people to leave their miserable abodes to vote. The ballots are all neat with uniform penmanship.

How come the losing political party do not do whatever they can to stop this? This is because they hope to get lucky in some other part of the country in get elected to power (or they grab it EDSA style). When they are in power, they are assured of the ARMM election magic. In simple terms, they respect ARMM autonomy!

Regarding the corruption practiced in the ARMM. Why should the government and the civil society care? The continued non-development of the ARMM attracts foreign funds by the barrel. The ARMM has received billions of pesos (and dollars) for development yet the people there can only see their mayors get richer and them poorer. Anti-corruption activists choose to fight for the Moros work only at the National Capital Region. That's autonomy for you. Autonomy Like No Other.

Jeepney Ride Province-Style

I had the misfortune to follow this jeepney last Sunday through tight streets - we run at most at 30 kph on 2nd or 3rd gear thereby burning more diesel than I would like to. The jeepney carried 34 passengers (6 outside the vehicle, 4 at the front seats, 2 at the extension and 22 at the main cabin). Naturally, the aged engine would blow thick black smoke every time it tried to accelerate.

I also spotted 4 members of the Joint Taskforce Gensan (JTF), a combine police and military unit tasked to keeping General Santos City safe, riding on two scooters. They drove at the fast lane of the highway without helmets. The passed at least one check point and as expected they were allowed to pass without a fuss. The government just missed P6,000.00 pesos right then and there from fines for not wearing helmets. The worst thing about this is that they are telling other motorists that helmets are optional.

Torno

In Mindanao (and most provinces of the Philippines) life is slower. A big factor for this is the torno system implemented by jeepneys, vans, tricycles and other public utility vehicles. The practice calls for jeepneys to wait at designated areas and not move until they are full - overloaded is the more accurate term.

Unlike their Metro Manila counterparts, provincial jeepneys seat three passengers beside the driver and anywhere from twenty to twenty-four at the main passenger cabin. The extension (a small plank of wood placed at the back entrance) seat one to two more passenger(s). The driver' aide (conductor/barker) rides outside the jeep (at the back and at times at the engine hood). Depending on the cargo and the destination, the jeepneys also carry sabit passengers (hanging from the side and rear of the the vehicle) and topload passengers (sitting on the reinforced roof of the vehicle).

Imagine that you have a meeting an hour from now and the travel time is forty-five minutes - no problem, right? You arrive at the torno site, board the jeepney and you count eight people already waiting there. You wait an average of three minutes per additional passenger to arrive and before the jeepney is ready to depart, you are already three minutes late from your appointment (and the jeepney has travelled zero kilometers yet).

The practice, in theory, can help in the country's energy problems. Each full vehicle takes the maximum number of passengers per liter of diesel - great! Not quite. The non-airconditioned jeepneys have their engines turned on and idling (traveling a phenomenal zero kilometer per hour) while waiting for about an hour for passengers. Its not as if they must turn on the engine to power the airconditioners for the comfort of their waiting passengers but for the illusion that the vehicle will move soon (crap). The passengers waiting there (beside live chickens and vegetables) must inhale all the exhaust from the engine. They not only waste fuel but increase the overall medical costs for the Filipinos thru respiratory diseases.

[image from http://mvphilippines.hypermart.net/jeepney.htm]

Colurum Capital

General Santos City could very well be the colurum capital of the Philippines. The city, with a population of 529,542 as of 8/1/2007, is rapidly urbanizing but is still served by around 5,000 tricycles more than half of which are colurum - private vehicle used for hire. Add to the number of illegal vehicles for hire are the notorious habal-habals now numbering in the thousands.

The taxi industry is almost dead due to these illegal operation of the said vehicles. They are, in essence, stealing the livelihoods of legal drivers and operators of public transport vehicles.

The habal-habals (picture on the left) poses the greatest danger to society due to its very nature. The Mindanao Medical Center receives at least one habal-habal accident victim everyday. They are overloaded, over-speeding and uses no protective helmets. Only one third of habal-habal drivers have helmets and more half of them just hangs the darn things on their arms. It if as if they can react fast enough to wear their helmets just before their faces hit the concrete after an accident. The Land Transportation Office lists non-wearing of helmet (includes passengers) as an offense (violation code 54F) with corresponding P1,000.00 fine. GMA TV reported that the updated fine in now P1,500.00. The government loses around three million a day by not apprehending the two thousand or so non-helmet wearing "organ-donors" in General Santos City alone.

The Land Transport Act of the country (RA 4136) prohibits private vehicles from operating as for hire vehicles due to regulation principles (to ensure that the vehicle is fit for hire, the drivers are licensed professionally, and the vehicle has passenger insurance). Using private passenger automobiles, private trucks, private motorcycles, and motor wheel attachments for hire (Violation of Sec. 7 (a), (b) and (c), in relation to Sec. 56 (j) is punishable according to the DOJ with fines of P200.00 on the first offense, P300.00 + 6 months jail time on the 2nd offense and 1 year jail + revocation of license every time after that. Owners who allow their vehicles to be operated as such (Sec. 56(k)) are also liable and can be fined P500.00 + 3 months suspension of vehicle registration. If the traffic/law enforcement authorities are to apprehend the 5000+ illegal tricycles and habal-habals in Gensan, the government will earn around four million pesos in fines.

Last local elections (May 2007), all the candidates, including the now re-elected mayor, showed tolerance to these illegal vehicles. I wonder if a class-suit or impeachment against the mayor would stick for failure to provide a safe environment or gross negligence (non-enforcement of laws). Hmmm.

A motorcycle driver or passenger without a helmet is grossly IGNORANT. The same with a helmet but does not wear it is utterly STUPID!!!

Jihad al-faasiqeen

My son was sent home from class early today because of very non-productive forwarded text messages spread by people with less than stellar IQ's regarding possible attacks by the MILF.

The August 18, 2008 attacks by MILF elements in Lanao del Norte and Sarangani involved actions NOT in consonance with Islamic military jurisprudence. They took hostages, killed unarmed civilians and disarmed military personnel, burned down houses and pillaged houses and stores according to reports by the Philippine military and survivors.

Islam allows fighting ONLY for self-defense or to aid other Muslims. One might argue that the MILF are justified in taking action under self-defense or to aid fellow Moros BUT they must, as Muslims, follow the Ten Rules for Muslim Armies as practiced by the Prophet Muhammad and summarized by Abu Bakr as follows:

"Stop, O people, that I may give you ten rules for your guidance in the battlefield. Do not commit treachery or deviate from the right path. You must not mutilate dead bodies. Neither kill a child, nor a woman, nor an aged man. Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, especially those which are fruitful. Slay not any of the enemy's flock, save for your food. You are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them alone."

Even if the opponent fights unfairly, Muslims must be their betters.

About the title of this post - Jihad does not translate to holy war. Jihad literally means "to struggle" or to "strive". The greater of the said struggle are called Jihad-an-nafs or Jihad against one’s self and Jihad ash-shaitaan or Jihad against Satan - they are the struggles to do good. The lesser struggles are Jihad al-kuffar or Jihad against disbeliever, Jihad al-munafiqeen or Jihad against hypocrites and Jihad al-faasiqeen or Jihad against corrupt Muslims.

I call attention on Jihad al-faasiqeen as corrupt Muslims (particularly in the ARMM) not only make other Muslims suffer but they keep non-Muslims from seeing the values of Islam. They keep the Muslim nation from growing. I hope that the MILF help in this struggle towards a corruption free Mindanao.

Contempory Moro Struggle - Misdirected Energy

The PDI reports 26 killed in MILF attacks today in Lanao del Norte and Sarangani provinces. This is exercise simply serve to increase the suffering of the Bangsomoro. Direct effects to fellow moros include displacement from their homes when MILF troops pass by their area while withdrawing form government troops and disruption of development the moro people (however small). Indirectly, Muslims and Islam (particularly since the MILF carries the word "Islamic" in its name) suffer image-wise in the eyes of others.

Who gains from these attacks? Local ARMM officials must be smiling from ear to ear right about now. International funds pour into the ARMM in billions every year. The people see only a small fraction (very very small) of those funds converted into development. Non-government organizations supposedly working in the ARMM are not exempt from corruption. President Evil suggested yesterday that the Mindanao peace efforts be spearheaded by NGOs. That would be good if and only if there are decent NGOs operating in the ARMM (Manila-based supposed Muslim NGOs do not count).

How can the MILF spend their energy best? Please make sure development funds in the ARMM do not go to corruption. Send a cadre of young MILF men and women to school to study good governance and Islamic values. Im sure Muslim countries will give them scholarships. When they come back, the Moro people would have true qualified leaders to manage the ARMM. Islamic governance produces positive results. Iran suffered greatly from its war with Iraq and the embargo by the US but they used Islamic principles and managed to develop to where they are now. When the ARMM surpasses its neighboring regions in development there would be no need to resort to arms to recover moro ancestral domains (which, by the way, our grandparents sold to early christian settlers).

When Muslims in the ARMM have good quality of life and can practice Islam properly, the number of Muslims in the country would increase (not by birth but by conversion). We just need to build the foundation.

Federalism and all that Bull

Professional street activists staged lightning rallies today to oppose the recent initiatives to open the Philippine Constitution to amendments towards a federal type of government. Their beef is that the charter change is mere disguise to extend President Arroyo's hold to power. They maybe right BUT what is annoying is that they choose to ignore an important outcome of the charter change circus - federal form of government that will enable the Moro people to rid themselves of their current rotten local officials. The activists are satisfied of simply shouting "No to Cha Cha" without offering solutions. Typical.

In a federal setup, the "Bangsamoro" and other resulting states/regions will need to remit to the federal government a share of their income (similar to the 75-25 sharing proposed by the BJE agreement). This is in contrast to the current setup that let the government collect taxes and distribute to local governments funds for their use - the IRA setup. Current local officials in the ARMM spend the IRA as their personal funds. They choose not to develop their municipalities nor collect local taxes and generate income because, come what may, the IRA will arrive as mandated by law. The result is that Muslim communities have the poorest living conditions in the country.

If the local governments of ARMM are expected to generate funds (taxes and income) and remit a portion of it to the federal government and use the rest for development (to improve people's lives and generate more funds) - NONE of the current local officials would run for office. Why would anyone spend money to be elected just so they have to work after taking their oaths of offices? Blasphemy!!! No IRA's and the need to generate funds would mean that they would need to cut back on the mansion constructions and the 10-SUV convoys (gasoline costs are too much if you have to work to pay for it). In this setup (thru federalism or amendment of the Local Government Code) would eventually result in decent local officials (as enjoyed by some non-ARMM localities) and/or reduced corruption. Non-ARMM officials limit their corruption to small percentages of their total local budget. Current ARMM officials are 110% corrupt - no exceptions as the remotely decent ones have either get out or had grenades exploding at their front porches.

The current Philippine Constitution has faults and need to be changed. Instead of plain "No to Cha-Cha", please find a way to amend the constitution while keeping our Malacañang zombie-buster off a term extension.

ARMM IRAnians

A private joke among ARMM residents - their mayors and governors are IRAnians. That's because their only reason for running for office (spending at least 50 million pesos in the process) is for the Internal Revenue Allotment or IRA. These bast*rds (open link on new tabs for examples) view and spend the IRA municipal/city/province as if its their personal funds. The IRA go to the construction of mansions, luxury vehicles, and maintenance of bodyguards and huge payroll of relatives. Sad to admit but I have relatives who are IRAnians.

One of my relative was abducted after the election of 2004 by a Lanao del Sur mayor who lost in the election. The mayor was demanding that the Landbank of the Philippines branch in Marawi City release to him his municipalities IRA for 2005 as he must pay the local shylock soon. He apparently pawned their next year's IRA to finance his losing candidacy. What an @ss!!! He eventually released my relative upon demands of some of my more prominent relatives.

Most of the ARMM municipal officials do not live in their municipalities. They have huge houses in the their choice urban centers (CDO for Lanao officials and Cotabato City/Gensan/Davao for Maguindanao officials) and in Metro Manila. Some of these residences even have a small office that bear the "Office of the Mayor" sign at the door.

2008 ARMM Elections - Easiest cheat to date

I was in Lanao del Sur during the 2001 ARMM elections and I witnessed how the mayors, COMELEC officials, and the deputized election officers cheated on that election. Aside from the vote-buying, cheating came in the form of filled up voting forms. Voters, when allowed by the mayor to vote, received ballots with the ARMM governor and vice-governor already filled up (Faroul Hussein in 2001). Voters had no choice but to submit the ballot as is or invalidate the entry - it's either a vote for Hussein or no vote for governor at all.

Can you imagine how ARMM would have progress with Datu Toto Paglas as governor? ARMM need someone like him who will is not there for the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA). Anyways, water under the bridge.

In the last ARMM election (August 11, 2008) my father went around Lanao del Sur to observe the elections. This election was the country's first "automated" elections and the COMELEC (with NAMFREL and PPCRV) calling it as relatively clean and fast. Ebs ng Toro!!! In Lanao del Sur (Ganasi, Madalum, Bacolod Grande, Marawi City, etc.) the COMELEC used Optical Mark Reader (OMR), where paper ballots were counted using machines. The OMR only made the cheaters' work easier as they did not have to fill up the ballots (worrying about uniform handwriting) as they only shaded the box nest Ampatuan's name in new ballot forms. Those whom the mayors allowed to vote were not allowed to bring erasers to the voting booth. The result is that the man who uses at least ten luxury vehicles to ferry him from Maguindanao to the Gensan Airport get 1,017,179 votes in the 2008 elections.

ARMM residents "sell" their votes because its the only time that they receive any benefit from ARMM officials. I say "sell" because ARMM politicians do not have to BUY the votes at all since they spend upwards of Php 50 million to bid for the favors of incumbent mayors and election officials for the election magic.