Election 11, Dr. Doy Romero on Binay, Roxas and Grace Poe

The Presidential and national + local elections in the Philippines are just 11 months away. I am reposting below a commentary, a good analysis, from a political scientist who does real political science analysis and shares his frank ideas in facebook and social media, Dr. Segundo "Doy" Romero. He was my former teacher in Pol. Science 14 (PH politics and government) in UP Diliman, sometime in 1983 or 84. 

Copy-pasting with zero alteration, from his raw and informal posting in his fb wall the  other day. The photos I got from the web and adding them here.

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1. On VP Jojo Binay:

BINAY FOR PRESIDENT! Part of the wisdom of the Filipino people is their ability to gravitate towards personalities that have that quality they need in a leader during specific periods in the nation's life. Charisma brings magic to the way a presidential candidate and the people find themselves invigorating each other. Even now, people remember fondly Ramon Magsaysay, Corazon Aquino, and the would-be presidents who never were -- Ninoy Aquino, Fernando Poe, and Jesse Robredo. When there is no charisma, when there is a nagging suspicion of pandaraya o pagnanakaw, It takes a lot of money to buy the people's favor when it is not there. That Manny Villar found out in 2010. I hope Jejomar Binay gets the chance to find out for himself in 2016, so that he will have a way of giving back to the people what his family has creatively appropriated for themselves, in the thought that like in war, elections are a matter of preparing a large enough war chest. Let us not dissuade Binay from running from President in 2016. Our people would know how to put him in his right place.

2. On Sec. Mar Roxas:

THE GREATEST DISSERVICE OF THE LIBERAL PARTY TO THE FILIPINO PEOPLE ... is in continuing to half-heartedly promote the candidacy of Mar Roxas in the 2016 presidential elections. Most people know Mar has no eye-contact with the Filipino people, and just like in basketball, he has stayed too long under the basket without the ball and needs to free the space for new players. The Liberal Party over the last five years has not really looked for an alternative to present to and excite the people, a grossly over-confident, even negligent course of action for a party in power.

3. On Sen. Grace Poe:

The Liberal Party should now put itself squarely behind Grace Poe as candidate for President. In signing the Senate Committee report that recommended Binay to be investigated by the Ombudsman for corruption, Poe has shown she is of sterner stuff than many imagined. She would be my candidate any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

But Grace Poe should be a candidate of more than the Liberal Party -- she should remain independent going into the elections, as the Liberal Party has unnecessarily alienated many voters and absorbed many poisonous creatures, even as President Aquino's administration over the last five years has had high approval from the people.

What the Liberal Party can constructively do is to help build the organizational and managerial scaffoldings of a Poe presidency, so that she hits the ground running in July 2016. She must have a strong cabinet, a coherent strategy and vision, workable relationships with Congress, the courts, and the Constitutional Commissions, a good public information system, shared command of local governance with LCEs, and must be able to spot and avoid hiccups like the Luneta hostage-taking crisis that rattled the Aquino Presidency early on.

Because she knows it is necessary, Grace Poe is a fast and willing learner. She must be given the systematic briefings and experiential involvement she needs to be presidential in mind and performance. The heart, I think, is already there, as oftentimes it is the main asset "inexperienced" politicians bring into politics. Heart and morality are the first things that politicians lose in trying to gain experience against low-life personalities that chose public service as their career.

4. On Mar Roxas-Grace Poe tandem:

If that is the best combination we offer the Filipino electorate in 2016, then the next Philippine President for 2016-2022 might either be Erap or Binay, with Poe as Vice-President. Let us remember that Erap was second only to PNoy in the 2010 Presidential elections and Binay won over Mar Roxas as Vice-President. Only Poe will clearly beat Erap or Binay for the Presidency. Fielding Mar Roxas as President will not only lose the Presidency to somebody else, but will also mean another minority President, as his candidacy will encourage so many others like Ping Lacson, Rodrigo Duterte, Miriam Santiago, apart from Erap and Binay, who would think they have a reasonable chance of beating Roxas for the Presidency. Roxas would also consolidate all the anti-PNoy forces and sentiments against him. On the other hand, a Poe candidacy will ride on the combined endorsement of Pnoy and Erap, apart from the silent endorsement of FPJ, the loud support of all the weighty movie stars in the Philippine firmament, and a natural gaan ng loob of the masses towards Grace Poe. By the way, an Erap-Poe result in 2016 might not be too bad if Erap again "resigns" in mid-term and allows another woman to serve out his remaining term, and run for and win her own term until 2028. An interesting version of Tadhana for us.

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See also:

Election 7: My Candidates for Senators, May 12, 2013 

Election 8: Growth, Debt and the 2013 Polls, May 30, 2013 

Election 9: India's Political Dynasties vs. Democracy, April 21, 2014 

Election 10: Comelec Critics and Commissioner Luie Guia, December 26, 2015

Criminals 7: Illegal Drugs and China Execution

The use, transport, marketing and trading of "illegal drugs" is a serious crime in many countries around the world. Violation, when caught, can lead to severe penalties, from long imprisonment up to execution.

(this picture from www.thegooddrugsguide.com) Such illegal drugs like codeine, heroine, demerol, etc. Well, I haven't tried any of them, never been a drug user or drug dependent. But from what I gather, those drugs can cause their users to be "out of their normal selves". Some would look and act like idiots, while some can cause physical harm on themselves or to other people.

High alcohol use can also have the same or even worse effect on the users. I've experienced heavy drinking during parties with friends in my younger days, and I've experienced near-death incidence before, like drunk-driving and nearly falling on a deep creek. Or being robbed by muggers while asleep somewhere else due to heavy intoxication.

But alcohol is allowed but certain drugs are not. Both can cause harm to users and other people. Why the double standard?

Anyway, the 3 Filipinos convicted of drug smuggling in China have been executed today. It's a high emotion, high media exposure case here before the final execution. While the victims and their support groups have various reasons to say that they were not real drug smugglers, the government of China was only implementing what it has enacted into law. In a sense, China's government only promulgated the "rule of law" in their own country.

Could the Chinese government possibly have granted some "clemency" and reduced the penalty for the 3, as lobbied hard by the Philippine government through Vice President Jejomar Binay?

My friend from the DFA said the answer was a possible Yes. The problem was the heavy media exposure in the Philippines. There are back channels always in major cases. But China would not be happy to hear if people will say, "Pressure by Philippine media caused the Chinese government to reduce the penalty for the 3 convicted drug traffickers." In a sense, the louder the media noise here, the stronger the resolve of the Chinese government to proceed with the execution. Which is what exactly happened.

So one lesson here is that for cases that involve foreign governments, there are limits and dangers when local media becomes too noisy. Foreign governments have their own laws and have their own political culture.

Many laws are irrational and oppressive, whether in the Philippines or abroad. If we are strangers or aliens in foreign lands, it is always safe to obey those foreign laws, no matter how harsh they may be. If we think they are too harsh and too barbaric, then don't go to those countries. Go to other countries where the laws and political culture are something that one can live with.
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Part 2:

With expanding globalization, including the globalization of criminal activities, the public's perception and expectations of the role of certain government agencies like the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) evolve.

The same friend of mine from the DFA whom I indirectly mentioned in Illegal drugs and execution commented to my article. He wrote,

What is important is for govt to be allowed breathing space to do its duty, instead of the whole world being incited to breath down its neck. There are things that can only be done quietly. But the culture of distrust and inciting the public to hate the govt for its "inaction" would often make it impossible for positive results to be achieved. Pnoy sent a letter to his counterpart about the three. That is the highest action a country can take. We had the VP go to China. These are very concrete actions. And yet, some sectors accuse Pnoy and the govt of not doing enough.

I agree with my friend from the DFA. The planned execution then was a decision by a foreign government, China, not by media or individuals in China. Thus, the most appropriate action given the circumstances then of high public discourse on the saving the 3 convicted Filipino drug traffickers, was a government to government negotiation.

Personally though, I think the RP government should have never negotiated with its Chinese counterpart on those executions. What if another group of Filipinos will be caught and prosecuted on drug trafficking in Malaysia, another VP Binay trip to Kuala Lumpur? Another group of Pinoys on drugs trafficking case in Norway, another Binay trip to Oslo? Do we taxpayers pay and pay for those many foreign trips to save not-so-responsible fellow Filipinos?

People should be responsible for their actions. They should be accountable for whatever negative consequences of their actions, it has nothing to do with their own government. They know that drug trafficking is super-regulated and super-penalized in many countries, they should not even think of doing it, much less of actually doing it. When they are caught and prosecuted, they run to the DFA and the Philippine government, and when they are finally executed, it is the fault of the Philippine government for "not doing enough"? Where is personal responsibility there?

Another friend commented,

States do no want other states to execute their citizens. Citizens also expect their state to give them help - di ba may Public Attorneys Office tayo to defend the accused if they cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

I don't buy this, to relegate personal responsibility, that it's all government responsibility. Meaning some Filipinos can steal, kill and transport drugs in other countries, and when they are caught and penalized, DFA and Binay or P.Noy will be busy saving them?

What the RP government can do perhaps, is to advise ALL departing Filipinos, whether as tourists or workers or students abroad: "If you violate certain laws of the countries you are visiting, RP government may not save you. So, obey the laws there, the same way that you should obey the laws here."

The main job of the DFA is to promote international trade, economic, cultural and political diplomacy, between the Philippines and the country where it has an office. Also to provide some economic intelligence to Philippine-based exporters. Stuff like, are the European consumers buying more Thai and Vietnamese fruits than Philippine fruits? Why? DFA should reward the industrious and those who obey the laws. If we assign or expect them with the ugly job of protecting each and every Pinoy law violators in other countries, then they will have no more time to promote diplomacy and international trade.

There are some proposals to increase the budget of the DFA, like having more defense counsels. I will be in favor of that, but not through higher taxes, but by cutting the budget of other agencies, like the bloated Armed Forces and Defense department (AFP-DND).

But there should be a limit to what the DFA legal counsels can do. Like helping OFWs in distress (raped by their employers, unpaid, over-worked, falsely accused, etc.) For drug traffickers, especially proven and convicted, they should not be government priorities. If they commit the same crime in the Philippines, RP law says they should get harsh penalty anyway, no difference. They should get their own private legal counsels to defend them.

About overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), it is wrong to say that it is a "government policy". Employment, local or foreign, is always a private contract between the employer and the employee, it is never a government contract. Since government is outside of this contract, the function and regulations of the POEA should be shrank significantly. More POEA regulatons means more bureaucracies, additional fees, additional transaction procedures.
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See also:

Criminals 1: Killings in Thailand and Military Crackdown, April 16, 2009

Criminals 2: Pakistan, the Criminal state, August 17, 2010

Criminals 3: Kidnappers in Government, August 24, 2010

Criminals 4: Hostage-taking of HK Tourists in Luneta, August 31, 2010

Criminals 5: One Year of Maguindanao Massacre, November 23, 2010

Criminals 6: Bukas-kotse Gang in QC, January 19, 2011