A Radical's Nut

Affected number of families, by area, as monitored and compiled by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – National Capital Region (Bayan-NCR)

Manila Area, Caloocan Area:
Dam Site 452 families
Dagat Dagatan500 families
Hapiland 450 families
Bagong Silang 500 families
Parola 520 families
Basco 600 families
Dapo Ilang Ilang 2,325 families

Valenzuela Area:
Kahilom 250 families
Marulas 150 families
Banana 300 families
Malinta 150 families

Quezon City Area, Marikina Area:
Payatas 2,000 families
Tumana and Malanday 1,000 families
Bagong Silangan 1,000 families (29 dead 109 missing)
Tatalon 1,000 families

Malabon Area:
Frisco 1,000 families
Tonsuyan 500 families
Damayang Lagi 800 families
Panghulo 500 families
Brgy. Old Balara 1,500 families
Catmon 500 families (3 dead San Jose, Daanghari 300 families 20 missing)
San Roque NBBS 300 families
Brgy. Bagong Bayan 100 families
NBBN Tanza 400 famlies
Brgy. Pansol 300 families
Daang Tubo 50 families

Pasig Area:
Quirino 500 families
Maybunga, Floodway 1,500 families
Project 4 450 families
Sta. Lucia Eastbank 569 famlies
Brgy. E. Rodriguez 400 families
Westbank Floodway 700 famlies
Kalawaan 500 families

Muntinlupa Area, Taguig Area:
Sucat Creek and Lawa 1,785 famlies
Tipas 30,000 families
Buli 120 families
Bagong Bayan 3,000 families
Cupang 1600 families
West Bicutan 2,000 families
Alabang 200 families
Putatan 1,650 families
Poblacion 450 families
Tunasan Sukatville 120 families
Advan BWLU 250 families

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde described the P960,000-dinner of the Arroyo entourage at the posh Le Cirque restaurant in New York as “simple”, even “forgettable”.

But consider these figures:

In Metro Manila, the estimated cost of food as of June 2009 is P9,114 per month for an entire family.

Thus, with P960,000, around 105 families in Metro Manila could have enjoyed a fairly decent three square meals a day for one month.

Spent for one day, it could have fed 3,160 families.

Spent for one dinner (as Arroyo and company did at Le Cirque), it could have fed 9,480 families.

An ordinary family has five members, so just go figure how many mouths that “simple, forgettable” dinner could have satisfied.

According to the June 2009 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), there are about 7.2 million Filipino families nationwide that are “food-poor”. That’s around 36 million poor people.

The same survey also reported that 6.1 million families (or around 31 million Filipinos) are on the borderline of food poverty.

Does Remonde still remember John Paul Mahinay?

Mahinay was the 11-month old baby from a poor family in General Santos City who died of severe malnutrition and hunger-related disease on September 19, 2005.

And the Le Cirque dinner was simple and forgettable?

To say that the Le Cirque dinner was lavish is a gross understatement. For millions of Filipinos who go to bed hungry every night, it was revolting, scandalous, immoral.

Basahin ang artikulong ito para sa mga sirkunstansya ng kontrobersya.

Hindi naman daw sa pagbubuhat ng sariling bangko, pero ani Carlo J. Caparas, “napag-uusapan” lamang ngayon ang gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining (National Artist) dahil sa kanya. “I just want to point out the truth. The past winners are not well known. Di nila mapalutang ang award na ito,” ayon kay Caparas.

Kinalimutan niyang ang tinaguriang Hari ng kanyang daigdig ng sining – ang namayapang si Fernando Poe Jr. – ay isang National Artist. Pinag-usapan din ito noong 2006 pero kabaligtaran ng kontrobersya ngayon. Bilang protesta sa pandaraya ni Gng. Gloria Arroyo sa halalang 2004 laban kay FPJ, hindi personal na tinanggap ng pamilyang Poe ang parangal sa Malacañang. Ngayon, hindi makapaghintay si Caparas na tanggapin ang parangal mula sa kanyang padron sa Palasyo sa kabila ng mga batikos ng “dagdag-bawas”.

Sa kanyang pagkalango sa parangal, naibulalas ni Caparas na marahil “people are making a big fuss about this… because it’s the first time for a National Artist to have such a long title”. Itinanghal ni Gng. Arroyo si Caparas bilang National Artist for Film and Visual Arts.

Mahabang titulo nga, katulad ng titulo ng kanyang mga pelikulang tungkol sa krimen: “The Untold Story – Vizconde Massacre – God Have Mercy on Us”; “The Marita Gonzaga Rape-Slay: In God We Trust”; “Kuratong Baleleng (Wilson Sorronda: Leader Kuratong Baleleng Solid Group)”; at iba pa.

Hindi kaya ang kanyang titulo bilang National Artist for Film and Visual Arts ay tungkol din sa krimen laban sa sining?

Nabulag sa kanyang kapalaluan si Caparas at pumalyang makita ang isyu kung bakit tinutuligsa ang pagkakapili sa kanya, gayundin kay Cecile Guidote Alvarez, bilang mga National Artists. Ani Caparas, hindi katulad ng ibang tinataguriang National Artists, nakapagbigay sya ng trabaho sa daan-daang Pilipino sa pamamagitan ng kanyang mga gawa sa telebisyon, pelikula, at komiks. Sikat din daw ang kanyang mga obra, katulad ng Maggie dela Riva Story na pinanood diumano ng 40% ng populasyon ng Metro Manila nang ipalabas ito noong 1994. Samantalang ang kanyang mga kritiko ay hindi man lamang kilala ng masa.

Kung ganito ang pamantayan upang maging National Artist, dapat bang maging pambansang alagad ng sining si John Loyd Cruz o si Sarah Geronimo bilang mga bida sa pelikulang “You Changed My Life”? Kung tumpak ang mga tala, ito diumano ang highest grossing Filipino film of all-time matapos tumabo sa takilya ng P230.44 milyon. Dapat din bang parangalan bilang pambansang alagad ng sining si Mother Lily Monteverde na hindi lamang daan-daan kundi libu-libo ang nabigyan ng trabaho lalo na noong panahon ng kanyang mga pelikulang “pito-pito” sa ilalim ng Regal Films at sa gitna ng rumaragasang krisis pampinansya sa Asya noong huling bahagi ng 1990s?

Sapat bang tinangkilik ng masa ang isang pelikula upang maging tunay na pambansang alagad ng sining ang lumikha nito? Hindi ba’t ang sining ay dapat nagmumula at nagsisilbi sa masa, katulad ng mga pelikula ni Lino Brocka o ng mga malikhaing sulatin nina Amado V. Hernandez at Bienvenido Lumbera?

Habang abala si Caparas sa pagtatanggol sa maanomalya niyang pagkakahirang bilang National Artist at pagdidirehe ng bagong pelikula ni Manny Pacquiao, isang “necrological service for the National Artist award” ang pinangunahan ngayong araw (Agosto 7) ng komunidad ng mga alagad ng sining at manggagawang pang-kultura na may malalim na pagpapahalaga sa sining at katarungan.

Maiba muna.

It’s June and it’s that time of the year when basketball afficionados are afflicted with the fever of the National Basketball Association (NBA) championship series. After it became clear that a Lakers-Celtics rematch will not materialize, many hoped for a Kobe-LeBron showdown. But that dream matchup between two of the world’s greatest basketball players today would have to wait as the Lakers will be facing Dwight Howard’s Orlando Magic in the 2008-2009 Finals.

Like most Filipino basketball fans, I’m a self-proclaimed basketball expert and would not run out of points on how a game or a series would unfold. Or explain what went wrong and right. But I don’t think I can make an objective forecast since I have always been a huge Lakers fan (except for that period in the 1990s when Magic Johnson had retired and almost everyone was a fan of Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls).

So I will not make an “expert’s prediction” of who will take home the Larry O’Brien trophy this year. Of course, it’s the Lakers. I haven’t read any Finals forecast yet but I assume that experts agree its the Lakers.

But as a fan, I will just explain why the Los Angeles Lakers will finish the job this year, after falling short in the 2007-2008 season against the Boston Celtics.

Obviously, the Lakers, which closed the regular season with the second best win-loss record (65-17) just a game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (66-16), are the overwhelming favorites. And without away taking due credit to the great performance this season of the Magic or the Cavaliers, I don’t think anyone in the Eastern Conference poses a real threat to the Lakers other than the Celtics.

Of course, the Magic eliminated the Celtics in seven games – but mainly because Kevin Garnett did not play. With KG around, the conlusion of that series would have been foregone.

While this year’s defensive player of the year Howard mans its center slot, the Magic as a team does not play intense defense. They will beat you by outshooting you with their crew of efficient long-range bombers Hedo Torkuglu, Rashard Lewis, Rafer Alston and Mickael Pietrus. And they have a tendency to start slow and then tries to push on the gas pedal later mainly through three-point shooting.  That’s what they did to Cleveland, Boston and the Philadelphia 76ers.

But to have a real chance of defeating the Lakers, you do not try to outshoot them because you can’t. Its first five and bench are a bunch of scorers, from any angle and in a wide range. What you must do is try to choke its triangle offense by assigning a set of good defensive players on Kobe Bryant. The Houston Rockets – with Ron Artest and Shane Battier alternately taking on Kobe – did that and even without T-Mac and later Yao Ming had a legitimate shot at eliminating the Lakers. Unfortunately for the Magic, like the Denver Nuggets, they do not have the system and the players to do that, not even Pietrus.

If LeBron had the same support crew like Kobe enjoys in Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Derek Fisher and others, the Cavaliers would have been in the Finals. King James averaged an amazing 38.5 points per game against the Magic but the rest of the team simply did not deliver. Kobe can score 30, 40 points a night if he wants to but Gasol and Odom – both elite NBA players – can churn 20 points (and 10 plus rebounds) a game if they need to. This will be a major headache for coach Stan Van Gundy.

Lastly, the experience factor. As a franchise, this will be the 30th trip for the Lakers to the NBA Finals. It will be the second straight season that they will play in a championship series – with the same 8 or 9 players in its roster. Kobe and coach Phil Jackson (with Shaquille O’Neal) have won three straight championships for the Lakers from 2000 to 2002. On the contrary, this is only the second trip for the relatively young Orlando franchise (it was established only in 1989) to the Finals – the first in the 1994-1995 season when Shaq was still with them. They lost to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets.

In summary, the Lakers are simply too talented, too deep, too disciplined, and too seasoned for the Magic. A simple comparison of their team stats during the playoffs affirms this – the Lakers score more points (103 points per game vs Orlando’s 98) and do it more efficiently (47% field goal percentage vs 46%), rebound more (42 per game vs 38), move the ball better (20 assists per game vs 19) and defend better (8 steals, 7 blocks per game vs 7 steals, 4 blocks). And finally, they have the home court advantage.

If the Magic were lucky, they would be eliminated in six games.

But then again, I’m just a Lakers fan.

Mrs. Gloria Arroyo turned 62 last Palm Sunday, April 5.

It was meaningful, Mrs. Arroyo said, because it coincided with the start of the commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Her birthday wish, she said, would be “unity and volunteerism to see the country through the global recession”.

To be sure, Mrs. Arroyo would need a miracle far greater than the resurrection of Jesus Christ to inspire unity and volunteerism among Filipinos.

Her corruption and wanton abuse of power, together with that of her political allies and family, have made the Arroyo administration one of the most despised regimes the country ever had, rivaling that of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

If there is anything that the Filipino people will unite and volunteer for, that would be to ensure that Mrs. Arroyo and her cabal do not stay longer than 2010.

Her chief publicity officer, Mr. Cerge Remonde, said that Mrs. Arroyo has no personal gift for herself. On the contrary, it was Mrs. Arroyo who has a birthday package for the Filipino people: “her heart, her soul and her sacrifices”.

Well, I am sure many people would want to pluck out Mrs. Arroyo’s heart anytime – if she has one.

As for her soul, I am sure the Devil has already reserved the right to take it.

As for her sacrifices, what in hell’s name is Mr. Remonde talking about?

Mrs. Arroyo attempted, rather vainly, to underscore selflessness in her supposed birthday wish for the country.

She has lost so much credibility and moral authority that to talk about unity, volunteerism and sacrifice will surely make Jesus Christ rise, and rage.

Lent or not.