It’s election season in the country once again. Let’s glance at certain areas of the benighted island of Palawan and the sordid cast of characters that want to run for office so they can lord it over the province.

For governor, the tree-hacking JC Alvarez with his billions of pesos, and the bumbling incumbent governor Baham Mitra are at it again. Three years ago, despite JCA’s millions, he lost miserably to Mitra, and his mayor allies, including Narra’s Clarito Demaala, went around their areas scolding their constituents for not voting for JCA. What arrogant bastards! Mitra may not be the cream of the crop---neither was his father, by the way, if one were to believe many Palawenos---but what worries me is that this early in the season JCA is showing the kind of abusive streak that only a megalomaniac despot who thinks he can buy everyone and everything can have. If this is how JCA behaves when he’s not in office, what more if and when he becomes governor!

By the way, though it was an unfortunate idea to lump Hagedornia—er, Puerto Princesa---and Aborlan into one congressional district, it was almost bound to happen. After all, the bigwigs over there are political allies, what with the Hagedorns in the Puerto and Jaime Ortega as the chief honcho in Aborlan---yes, the same political Ortegas to which the late Gerry Ortega belonged---see, I told you guys he wasn’t no frickin’ journalist---and with the logging baron JC Alvarez, and the faraway Quezon City-based Gina Lopez of ABS-CBN serving as Godfather and Godmother respectively---maybe the two of them should marry---why not join their respective areas as well as their respective forces?

At this juncture, let me freely admit I was wrong on one aspect. Two years ago, I was dead sure Hagedorn was gunning for governor of Palawan (see my March 7, 2011 post). Subsequent events since then have disproven my belief. But all things considered, the only reason Hagedorn didn’t run for governor was because someone bigger, badder and RICHER than Hagedorn---indeed, one of his biggest political backers---decided to go for the post himself.

To my eternal joy, this left Hagedorn struggling to run for, of all things, a national office as a senator of this miserable Republic, where he hasn’t got a snowball’s chance in hell. Looks like he’ll be cooling his heels in the Puerto for the next three years---if he lives that long.

But is that the end for Ed Hagedorn’s misbegotten political life? Of course not! For in the Hagedorn clan’s personal kingdom of Puerto Princesa City, soon to be known as Hagedornia, his wife Ellen is running for mayor against his brother-in-law, and his nephew Mark is running for vice mayor. His brother Douglas is going for congressman in that new third district of Palawan. All of them are under the banner of Danding Cojuangco’s Nationalist People’s Coalition. It seems birds of the same feather flock together.

In keeping with traditional Pinoy politics, Hagedorn’s wife Ellen, once elected mayor, will be keeping this seat warm for him until he can run for mayor again in 2016. For his sake, let’s hope the mayor’s seat isn’t the only thing his wife will be keeping warm for him in his old age.

Hagedorn will most likely be mayor of the Puerto until he’s so old and senile that they will have to dismantle the armrests from his mayor’s seat so they can change his diapers.

In any case, Puerto Princesa will be firmly in the grasping fingers of the Hagedorns for a long time to come. So much for any hope of redemption for Puerto Princesa City and its gullible inhabitants.

Now to the dysfunctional and backward town of Aborlan, which doesn’t seem to like any step toward progress. In a quaint way that would be nice, if only the town fathers would pay more attention to the town’s seemingly deliberate lack of basic facilities---something which its neighbor Narra doesn’t seem to suffer from, so distance from the main city of Puerto is no excuse for lack of progress.

Under the leadership of incumbent mayor Jimmy Ortega, the Ortega clan will duke it out against the rival Peneyra clan under Bobby Peneyra. I must confess I’m rather partial to the Peneyras since I used to know a woman Peneyra, who was unusually devoid of any airs and arrogance for a daughter of the then mayor of Aborlan. (Coincidentally, so was her father the mayor, whom I met once.) Besides, I’m so sick and tired of the Ortegas, and their cohorts the Hagedorns, Alvarezes and Gina Lopez figuratively carrying the corpse of the murdered Gerry Ortega, that I do hope there will be a change of administration in Aborlan, so that the town can carry on being quaint and old-fashioned.

Finally, there’s the progressive little town of Narra, which is nice and clean, and would be better still if they could only get rid of the perennial Demaala husband and wife tag team from the mayor’s office.

There seems little hope of that this 2013, what with Lucy Demaala once again poised to warm the mayor’s seat for her husband. The couple have been switching the mayor’s seat between themselves since time immemorial, and their main rival Omar Miguel, though backed by the President’s Liberal Party, may not command enough guns, goons and gold to wrest the Narra mayorship away from the conjugal dictatorship.

Clarito Demaala Jr. is DEFINITELY unfit for mayor of Narra, Palawan. He is the only mayor I have ever seen publicly browbeat, bully and scold his constituents because they did not vote for JC Alvarez as governor in the last elections. He did so in a large billboard (paid with his constituents’ money, no doubt) placed at the South Road-Panacan Pier intersection. This is definitely NOT the way a servant of the people should act. Clarito Demaala thinks he is the strongman of Narra, and thus his place in this world is where all strongmen like Hitler, Mussolini and Marcos should be---in the dustbin of history.

Take a good look at these pictures, citizens of Narra, Palawan. Would you vote for a man who, when he was mayor of Narra, talked to his constituents, the good people of Narra in this abusive, condescending and arrogant way?

He said " Ngayon, gusto mo bang magkaproblema?" E ano ngayon, ha? Porke ba naging mayor ka lang, ang yabang mo nang magsalita, lalu na sa mga kababayan mong naglagay sa iyo sa pwesto?

At porke lang ba na hindi sumunod sa iyo ang mga kababayan mo sa kagustuhan mong maiboto si JCA bilang gobernador, lalait-laitin mo na sila at susumbatan sa billboard mo? 

Sabi mo, tutal naman dahil sa hindi nyo ibinoto si JC Alvarez, e di kay Baham Mitra niyo hanapin lahat ng benepisyong ibibigay sana ni Alvarez. E kung hindi ka pala naman g___, kaya ka nga ibinoto sa pwesto, e. Ke sinong nakaupong gobernador, trabaho mo bilang mayor na magdala ka nang ganansiya sa mga kababayan mo sa Narra.

Alam mo, Mr. Mayor Clarito Demaala, ikaw ay bastos, arrogante, at walang utang na loob sa mga mamamayan ng Narra. Sana matalo ka at iyong asawa sa eleksiyon na ito. 

Hello out there to anyone who may be unfortunate enough to read this unconventional blog. My last post was March 2011, after which I fell asleep for two years after listening to a lengthy tribute by ABS-CBN on "Doc" Gerry Ortega, and why the Vatican should canonize him as the next Filipino saint after St. Pedro Watzizname.

I just woke up, and when I did, I was in the jungles immediately outside Hagedornia. That's right, Hagedornia. Puerto Princesa City, you ain't foolin' me. Your real name is Hagedornia, and your ignorant minions have been working incessantly to impose that name on the rest of Palawan. They would have succeeded, too, were it not for someone with an even bigger ego than Edward Hagedorn----Joe C. Alvarez, who wants to turn the rest of Palawan into his personal beach resort and private lumber mill.

I drew my trusty Batangas bolo and hacked my way out of the thick overhang left by JCA's loggers, and when I could finally see the rest of Palawan, I was frustrated because nothing much had changed. The Hagedorns were still warlording it over Puerto Princesa---excuse me, Hagedornia---and JCA was still throwing lots of money around trying to buy the rest of Palawan.

In my next post, let's take a skewed look at the May 2013 elections, and the names of the blackguards the rest of the Palaweno simpletons intend to vote into office to screw them everyday until the next May 2016 elections. 

HAGEDORNIA

Just a quick broadside at recent news events here in the Archipelago of Disappointment, and its third-largest island, Hagedornia--er, Palawan.

Why don't we just change the name of Palawan Island to Hagedornia and get it over with? It's full steam ahead for Edward Hagedorn and his dynasty of Hagedorns to take over the Palawan governorship in 2013, capture the entire control of Palawan, and start selling off entire islands and large portions of the province to the highest foreign bidder, for golf courses and whatnot.

With Joel Reyes facing a murder charge, and Baham Mitra, Abueg and the rest of the political heavyweights in Palawan being accused of illegal mining and logging, and facing a smear campaign launched by ABS-CBN, it's all systems go for Edward Hagedorn and his gigantic ego and ambition to finally become the governor of Palawan, something he's been salivating at for years. Twice he's tried for governor of Palawan, and twice he's been beaten, once by Salvador Socrates, and once by Joel Reyes.

But Hagedorn hates to lose--to anyone. Something bad always happens to opponents who manage to beat him. Look where his opponents are now. Badong Socrates sleeps with the fishes off Cagayancillo Island. Joel Reyes will probably go to jail sometime in the near future. Whether Hagedorn had a hand in these incidents or not, only his army of goons know for sure.

Hagedorn has just obliterated any political rival he may have for the forthcoming 2013 gubernatorial elections. For this he can thank Gina Lopez and her idiotic endorsement of issues she patronizingly thinks is good for the common tao, and ABS-CBN's blatant violation of journalistic objectivity regarding the Ortega murder case. He can also thank the foreign environmental groups for their sanctimonious support for anything they think is good for the ignorant Filipino people. Lastly, he should thank the Filipino people themselves for being so stupid, they believe and support anything white foreigners tell them.

LONG LIVE THE NEWLY RENAMED PROVINCE OF HAGEDORNIA!!!

What a way to get back to my beloved Palawan jungle and this blog! Once again, my native Filipino people have proven to all and sundry that they will stop at nothing, not even the tragedy of a suicide---or a murder---to get what they want. Principles mean nothing to murderers, thugs masquerading as governors of Palawan or mayors of Puerto Princesa, or rich do-gooders who own media outlets like ABS-CBN and subvert the principles of fairness of journalism, just because environmentalism happens to be in fashion.

With this in mind, let's open fire on all these assholes.

GERRY ORTEGA: CRY FOR JUSTICE OR POLITICAL AMBITION?

As a Palaweno, I don't care about Joel Reyes and their stupid Palawan politics. But why is Edward Hagedorn so involved in this case? And why does the media lap up everything that Hagedorn says? Because Hagedorn is an environmentalist, or likes to think he is?

If I put Hagedorn in my jungle outpost deep in the mountains of southern Palawan, he wouldn't last three days without his coterie of bodyguards and assassins spoonfeeding him and wiping his ass.
Hagedorn could care less about the environment. He's in it for the political capital. Or is Hagedorn the media favorite because of the free trips to Palawan the Puerto Princesa City government gives to journalists who publicize Hagedorn's name?

Come on newsmen, dig a little deeper. Who benefits politically if Joel Reyes goes to jail for murder? Edward Hagedorn has been trying to become Palawan governor for years. But because the rest of Palawan hates Puerto Princesans and their Mayor Hagedorn, he's always lost to Salvador Socrates and his disciple Joel Reyes. That is until Socrates died--and Joel Reyes nearly did too--in two subsequent plane crashes caused by mechanical problems suspiciously originating from the Puerto Princesa Airport.

Sure, by all means, let's investigate the Ortega killing. But the news media shouldn't fall for Hagedorn's trickery, just because environmentalism is the buzzword of the day. Think about it. Why would the chief gunman surrender to Hagedorn and the very people likely to wreak revenge on him? Unless they already had a deal beforehand? And so what if this gunman used to be Reyes's personal bodyguard? Henchmen change sides ALL THE TIME. This gunman has already proven he can be induced to do anything for the right price, including what Hagedorn tells him to. The events leading to the arrest of the suspects in the Ortega killing stinks to high heavens of a setup and a scripted scenario.

So is it possible that Hagedorn had Ortega killed to gain political capital? Or maybe Hagedorn's own business interests? It's possible. Just as it's also possible Joel Reyes had Ortega killed, just like Hagedorn said.

I do know for a personal fact that Hagedorn employs thugs and assassins to do his murderous work. Joel Reyes may well be doing the same thing, just like Duterte, Dy, Ampatuan, Joson, Dimaporo and the rest of the so-called provincial warlords. But because he has everything to gain from Reyes's imprisonment, Hagedorn has no right to be saying what he's saying. But that's not the point. He's a lowlife politician, and lowlife politicians are expected to say such things.

The point is that the media should'nt be parroting what Hagedorn is saying. It's bad enough the lackadaisical law enforcement authorities are doing the same thing. But the reason the lawmen are doing it is because the media are doing it, and they hate contradicting the media. So media people, please! Get off your asses and start probing like you're supposed to. Stop spoonfeeding off Hagedorn for your info. This is a murder case pure and simple. Unless the Philippine media really are as corrupt--and sometimes worse than--the Philippine government.

ABS-CBN AND GINA LOPEZ: SPITTING ON THE JOURNALISM CODE OF ETHICS

Today, on Channel 27 ANC cable channel, which is owned by ABS-CBN, I just saw the interview by Tony Velasco of Atty. Harry Roque and the widow of Gerry Ortega.

I sympathize with any widow, of course, having had my own tragedies, but I do not believe that porke biyuda ka lang, hindi ka na pwedeng magkamali. We Filipinos are stupid for believing that tradition, and in fact I still feel that Teresita Reyes (widow of former Defense Sec. Angelo Reyes) should still be called by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada to the Senate to account for those AFP funds, assuming Estrada still has the guts to do so after Angie's suicide and the condemnation it brought Estrada for harassing Angie. Because it's hypocritical of Senator Estrada to call in the wife of Gen. Jacinto Ligot, and then refuse to call in the widow Reyes, when it was Estrada who accused both Angelo Reyes and Jacinto Ligot of the same crime. But that's another story.

In the interview over ANC Channel 27, Ortega's widow accused practically every major government official except Mayor Edward Hagedorn of supporting mining in Palawan and---by association---having participated in her husband's murder. Her emotional outburst included former governor Joel Reyes, present governor Baham Mitra, former vice governor Dave Ponce de Leon, congressman Alfred Abueg, and maybe more of them if she had more time.

Hoy, newsmen, aren't you even curious as to what these people have in common? All of them are or have been bitter enemies of Edward Hagedorn of Puerto Princesa in his insatiable drive to grab the governorship of Palawan for himself and his family.

Now imagine if the widow Ortega's wishes were granted and all these men went to jail for her husband's murder. Hagedorn must be peeing in his adult diapers at the delightful thought of having no opposition to speak of when he runs for governor of Palawan in 2013.

I'll be merciful toward the widow Ortega and not talk about the rather suspicious motives of her not including Hagedorn, or even J.C. Alvarez--only the biggest illegal logger in Palawan---in her accusations. Let's talk instead about how ANC under ABS-CBN treated the interview, and what journalism principles were violated.

One, the host Tony Velazquez let Mrs. Ortega make all these accusations against all these Palawan officials, including the crimes of illegal mining, malversation and murder. It violated not only the journalistic ethic against unproven accusations, it also was tantamount to committing the crime of libel. So why did ABS-CBN allow this to happen.?

Two, the other side, notably Joel Reyes et al., were not around to respond, and I did not hear any efforts to solicit their side. This violated the journalistic ethic of objectivity and fair play. Again, why was it allowed to happen?

Well, apparently it happened because ABS-CBN bigwig Gina Lopez got her information on the Palawan situation from her fellow environmentalist Edward Hagedorn, and she is so committed to environmentalism that she has decided without benefit of trial that Joel Reyes et al is guilty as charged, and either she ordered ABS-CBN to conduct a smear campaign against Joel Reyes, or ABS-CBN executives did it on their own, to kiss the powerful Gina Lopez's ass. Either way, screw the journalistic code of ethics.

I'm Still Here, Pilipinas.

I'll be back. It's been more than a year since my last post, too soon for many of my fellow native Filipino citizens' I'm sure. But like a turd that won't flush--and just like the other turds like me in this region, especially some so-called comment experts---I'm still around, and I'm gonna be around whether my native country and its happy-go-lucky citizens like it or not. I'm staying here, and I ain't shutting up, and I have some important things to attend to, but I am not going away. This is my country too, and I was born in it, and I want it back, because it belongs to me and the rest of us miserable Filipino citizens who pay taxes so the government can give it all away in plastic shopping bags to governors and legislators. So much shit has happened in the one year I've been gone that by the time I'm finished puking my comments on it, another year will have gone by, and this blog will once again be outdated by another year. But in Shakespearean fashion, I will not budge for no man's pleasure, aye, and I'm staying, and I'm saying, and just like the dysfunctional Philippine society's worst nightmare, I ain't leaving. Just try and make me.

REPLY TO MR. ANONYMOUS

Mr. Anonymous writes back in regard to my letter to columnist John Mangun:

“I agree wholeheartedly with your take on the "Filipino psyche". But I think I do not agree with your blanket statement that businessmen are exploiters of the masses. I think the law of supply and demand of labor dictates why the wages are at the levels where they're at. One must realize that there are not enough jobs out there right now and therefore, many people queue up for these jobs. Unfortunately, in addition to what you mentioned regarding the extreme self interest nature of the Filipino is the related observation that they want to get rich quick. Businessmen, by their very nature, are in business to make a profit. If the labor component is abundant, it is quite understandable that the labor component will be less expensive per unit. What I think should really happen is a sacrifice on the part of the population re minimum wage in order to increase the number of jobs available as what happened to Vietnam and China. Only when abundant jobs become available and the labor markets are tight then can labor price move up. AT this time,m when labor unemployment is probably at around 10% at he minimum, no amount of minimum wage increase will do anything. It will just feed inflation and in the end, we're just playing a shell game.I do undertstand that there's a humanity component to the argument but guess what, it's because we are too humane and not willing to do what is right that brought us to this situation in the first place. Lagi tayong naawa sa mga tao. I know it's harsh to say this buyt that's what it really takes to get us out of the hole we're in.”

Thank you for your comment, Mr. Anonymous. However, if you read carefully my article in question, you will find that I never made any "blanket statement that businessmen are exploiters of the masses." I wrote no such thing. I did, however, criticize a particular business sector---the Makati business leaders—for rejecting a wage hike out of sheer spite. I find their particular business views not only hate-filled, but also hypocritical and extremely selfish. For example, they were one of the loudest ones in calling for a 12% VAT on the general public, mainly because they could pass this on to consumers. But when the government called, in the same spirit as the 12% VAT, for a new business tax on private companies---something they could not pass on to the buying public---they cried foul and whimpered about how this was going to ruin the business climate, frighten away foreign investment, blah blah blah and all the other self-serving arguments they could think of.

I am not anti-business, per se. I am a businessman myself, Mr. Anonymous, so I do understand that businessmen need to make a profit. But what I'm pointing out is that business and the need to profit is not the end-all and be-all of the universe. Only two things motivate mankind, Mr. Anonymous. One is the need to benefit, and for businessmen this is expressed mainly by the need to profit. The other is the fear of death. In this aspect, it is nature's law, the law of the jungle, that is manifest, and as long as man is an animal, this factor will always remain unchanged, no matter how much civilization seeks to suppress it.

Let's simplify this further and apply it to the present subject. On the one hand, as you said, businessmen need to make a profit. On the other hand, people need to eat, or they will die if they don't. Now, when businessmen don't profit, they simply close their businesses after recovering what they can, and look for opportunities elsewhere. But when people have no money to buy food, do you think they will simply stop eating? Of course not! If they have to, starving people will take what they need without paying for it, and will even kill any businessman who gets in their way.

In fact, this is what keeps employers paying their employees salaries, because if they didn't, rioting and anarchy would be the next result. Quite true is the observation that if businessmen could get away with it, they wouldn’t pay their employees anything at all for their labors. Don't believe this can happen? Read about the slave labor economy in the American South in the 19th century. This is why responsible governments step in with their regulatory powers and require the business sector to pay minimum wages, so that it doesn't become a matter of supply and demand for laborers, and that there is a balance between the need to profit and the need to prevent social disorder and anarchy.

It has happened in the past that businessmen were so greedy in profit-making that they let the population suffer, and provoked a violent and bloody revolution as a result. This will happen no matter how much businessmen pay law enforcers and the government to maintain order. I already mentioned what happened in France in 1790, when the French royalty and their business elite exploited the masses into starvation, and when Queen Marie Antoinette was informed about it, famously and insensitively said: "Let them eat cake!" The French Revolution was the result, and along with the King and Queen of France, many elite businessmen went to the guillotine in front of cheering mobs of ordinary French citizens. Was that what you wanted to happen here in the Philippines?

In fact, this was also what provoked the communist revolutions in both Vietnam and China, the two countries you wanted us to emulate, as per labor wages. After the Chinese communist victory in 1949, hundreds of thousands of Chinese businessmen, along with millions of other "reactionary" citizens like intellectuals and even ordinary city folk, were taken to the fields and shot. In Vietnam, even before the North Vietnamese victory over the US in 1975, they and the Vietcong were already massacring affluent Vietnamese citizens wherever they could, like Hue City in 1968. In Russia after Lenin's 1918 victory, the same thing happened. In Cuba in 1960, the same thing. Even the famous killing fields in Cambodia were done mainly to kill Cambodia's business elite, in the name of communism. Again, was that what you wanted to happen here?

You mentioned China and Vietnam, in their "sacrifice on the part of the population re: minimum wage in order to increase the number of jobs available". You must not be a great believer in democracy for the Filipinos, Mr. Anonymous. These two countries sacrificed their minimum wages, all right, but it wasn't their people who ordered the sacrifice, it was their governments.
Their people never had any say on whether they should sacrifice their minimum wages; in fact their people don't have any say on anything. You must remember that these are communist, totalitarian countries in which the people have no rights of any kind. There's no human rights, no free press, no free religion, no freedom of any kind. The government speaks, the people follow, tapos, and if they want to cut their labor wages, or even eliminate them entirely, then they will do it, and they are ready to kill millions of their own people if their orders aren't followed. Was that also what you wanted for the Philippines? Because that's the only way we can compete with their low labor prices, which is why they attract all the foreign investment.

As for the favorable business climates in both these countries, I am not impressed by that. If there are favorable business climates in both China and Vietnam, it is only because it is in the selfish interests of their governments to promote such things. Ever notice that the majority of businesses in China are state industries? All this business talk about the economic miracle of both these countries combining capitalist policies with communist administration is bullshit, because if the business sector were to threaten the stability of the communist regimes of both these countries, then you can rest assured that these communist regimes will start cracking down hard, and even executing businessmen, as they have done in the past.

You may object to that P125 minimum wage, Mr.Anonymous, but that is the figure that has been determined by various social agencies, both local and international, to be the minimum requirement for a poor Filipino family to be able to afford three meals a day, decent housing and decent education. The lesser that Filipino businessmen pay their workers, and the further away from that P125 figure we are, the greater the risk in provoking a violent revolution, one that our own local NPA communists may exploit in overthrowing our democratic government.

Plus, there are ways of granting that P125 minimum wage that need not be inflationary. Congress recently came up with a version that spared the business sector from paying the brunt of that minimum wage. Their plan called for sensible income tax credits to make up a sizeable portion of that amount. In that area the business sector can do a lot in using their clout to convince the government to shoulder more of the burden in providing this minimum wage. So why is the business sector still opposing a legislated minimum wage and insisting on regional wage boards? I'll tell you why, and let's cut the crap about regional wage boards being the best determiners of local living conditions to set wages with. The business sector wants the regional wage boards because these are the ones that businessmen can bribe.

To reiterate, I never wrote any blanket statement that businessmen are exploiters of the masses. I was merely pointing out the common habits of many businessmen---and this you cannot deny---such as paying their employees barely enough just to keep them coming back to work. I know this because I've experienced this myself. But, to tell the truth, when I read letters like yours, it almost makes me wish I had written a blanket condemnation of businessmen. Because it's merciless and insensitive advocacies like yours that give most Filipino businessmen a bad name.

And as for the humane component, or lack of it, I'd go a little easy on it if I were you. We may need a little self-discipline and a lot less "Lagi tayong naawa sa mga tao", but we must never lose sight of the fact that we are human beings first, loyal Filipinos second, and astute businessmen a distant third. And no, I don't accept that the sole fact that lack of humanity is only what it takes to get us out of the hole we're in, because the United States was in our predicament 70 years ago, and they managed to dig themselves out of that hole, yet retain their human compassion. We should remember that if wala kang awa sa ibang tao, then, wala rin silang awa sa iyo. And that could be a problem later on, because you'll never know but that one day you might need a bit of human kindness. It's in short supply, as it is.