WHAT IS YOUR BARANGAY IQ

DID YOU KNOW ....

• That the present-day barangay where you live is virtually a "small republic" with a distinct territory, people, resources, government, police power, and the power to tax?
• That there are 41,882 such "small republics" from which our Republic draws its life force, legitimacy and political will?
• That the first of today's barangays was established in the City of Cagayan de Oro in 1972
  
• That the biggest barangay in Luzon is Barangay Commonwealth in Quezon City with a population close to 100,000 and the smallest is Barangay Concepcion in Bacolor, Pampanga, with a population of just 10 people?
• That the average barangay earns more in revenues than most Philippine corporations, and its officials receive allowances equal to that of a company executive?
• That instead of the self-reliant communities they were intended to be, the barangay has become the political tool of corrupt traditional politicians or trapos?

(Taken from a handout by the GISING BARANGAY MOVEMENT: Today the Barangay, Tomorrow the Nation)

KPK AND ANG KAPATIRAN: THE MOVEMENT AND THE POLITICAL PARTY

Hi, it's me, Vinchu, and after a long while, I am activating our blog.

With the website (did you all see its new look?), the blog may no longer be necessary as a tool to keep you abreast with the news on what's going on in Kapatiran, but I have decided to keep this blog as my personal log of what's going on in the party.

First, let me tell you that when I started this blog, it was meant to be a "website" for the KPK Movement, or the Movement for the Common Good. AFter coming out with the movement's hopes and aspirations for the country, the members realized that it was only by joining the government through politics that we could make these aspirations a reality. Hence the birth of the Ang Kapatiran Political party in 2004.

KPK, (Kapatiran Para Sa Pangkalahatang Kabuhayan) still exists, under the leadership of its president, Johnny Cardenas. As a matter of fact, KPK leaders Johnny Cardenas and Alex Lacson recently had a meeting with Ang Kapatiran officers Nandy Pacheco and Manolo Dayrit on how to educate the Filipinos in the barangay level on how to choose candidates for the Barangay elections. Barangay officials are supposed to be non-partisan and political parties are not supposed to take part in the Barangay elections, but educating the electorate is something everyone can do.

So first and foremost in the minds of officers and members of both KPK and Ang Kapatiran these days is the barangay - a very important and potent force in our political system. Ang Kapatiran and KPK are now in alliance with a little known group called the GISING BARANGAY MOVEMENT for this very purpose.

CANDLELIGHT PRAYER RALLY

Show your support for the candidates of the ANG KAPATIRAN PARTY. Light a candle in front of your homes (or blog) daily 6 - 7 pm, April 25 - 30, 2007

Come to the Candlelight Prayer Rally on May 1, 2007 from 5:00 - 7:00 pm at the Quezon Memorial Circle to pray for clean, honest and credible elections.

AGAIN, THE WASTED VOTE

THERE’S THE RUB
Again, the ‘wasted vote’

ByConradodeQuiros
Inquirer
Last updated 01:14am (Mla time) 04/18/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The last time I spoke with Ang Kapatiran [The Brotherhood] party candidates, they were saying that having gotten this far was already a victory in itself, independently of whether they actually barge into the Senate or not. It’s true. As I’ve written on several occasions, no good thing really goes to waste. Small things are stepping stones to great things. Their accumulation is what makes historic things happen.

But I’m still hoping for a miracle to happen: for the voters of this country to be stricken by light like Paul of Tarsus and convert to wisdom. The only resistance against them comes from a couple of arguments I myself have heard from friends over the past month or so. One, let’s face it, the political realities in this country are such that the voters will vote for the strong candidate -- and the Kapatiran candidates are far behind in the surveys. And, two, the votes for them are therefore likely to be wasted, might as well lend them to those who stand a better chance.

I’ve heard the exact same arguments raised before against candidates who were completely meritorious but who were not as popular as their benighted rivals. And I’ve written many columns to answer those objections. Two of them in particular, “The heroic vote,” and “The wasted vote,” I’m reproducing here in cut-and-paste form (some things can never be sufficiently belabored):

Yes, we do need to see political realities. But doing so does not mean we should resign ourselves to them, or worse perpetuate them. We have in fact two options when faced with a harsh reality, such as this country’s lack of political maturity. We can resign ourselves to it, or we can try to change it. We can perpetuate it or we can try to stop it. We can make it worse or we can make it better.

We can say, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it, I might as well do as everybody does.” Or we can say, “This is unacceptable, I must do something about it. Maybe my one voice is not loud enough, but it will be so if it finds an echo in the voices of others. Maybe my one vote is not dazzling enough, but it will be so if it lights the fires of others. But I do not raise my voice now, and I will perpetuate the silence. I do not light the fire now, and I will deepen the darkness. I do not try to make things better, and I will make things worse.”

Heroes do not become heroes by thinking, “I will do the heroic thing.” Heroes become heroes by saying, “I will do the right thing.” Which became heroic because doing the right thing is the hardest thing of all. You don’t always have to die for your principles, you can always live for them. The second is often more heroic than the first -- in this country more than others. We’ve always been willing to die for democracy, it’s time we started being willing to live for it.

I do not buy the notion of the “wasted vote.” The only wasted vote I can see is the one you give to a candidate you do not believe in simply because you think he or she has a chance to win. That is boundless waste, not least because it stands to waste the country. To this day, I do not regret not voting for Joseph Estrada in 1998. To this day, I do not see that I wasted my vote voting for somebody else. If there was any “wasted vote,” it was the one that went to Estrada. That is so not just because he never got to finish his term but because people voted for him simply because “he was going to win anyway” whatever they did. People who do not want to appear like fools by voting for a “weak candidate” are on a straight path to it.

Correspondingly, the wasted vote is the one you withhold from the candidate you deem deserving because “he is not going to win anyway.” That is a self-fulfilling prophecy, guaranteeing doom -- and not just for your candidate. The only thing worse than being disempowered is having the power and not knowing you do. Or worse, knowing you do and abdicating it. The vote is a great power, and it is something we hold in our hands. The victory of candidates is not written in the stars, it is written in our hearts. The victory of candidates is not foreordained, it is decided by us. We do not vote for candidates, they do not win. We vote for candidates, they win.

Even if the candidate you believe in is not a popular one, what of it? Voting is not just something you do for a candidate, it is something you do for yourself. Or to yourself. Elections are a test of character, but it is not just a test of character for the candidate, it is a test of character for the voter, too. It’s not just the candidate who’s on trial in elections, it is you, too. When you vote, you do not just decide the kind of life you want for the nation, you decide what kind of life you want for yourself. You can choose either the life of a lemming and throw yourself off a cliff because everybody is doing so or the life of a human being and act as reason and conviction tell you to.

At the end of the day, you do not just have to live with the candidate you have inflicted on the nation, you have to live with yourself and the wound you have inflicted on yourself. You can’t be true to yourself, you can’t be true to the nation. Stop complaining about this country going nowhere. There is no vote that is wasted on a candidate you believe is fit to run this country, whether he wins or not. You do not win when you vote a fool or a tyrant to office because he or she is the “strong candidate,” you lose -- even if he or she wins. Above all when he or she wins. And you do not lose when you vote for a candidate as your conscience bids, you win -- even if he or she loses. Above all if he or she loses: It is but the beginning of struggle.

The “wasted vote” is a stupid concept. You keep worrying about it, you’re wasting your time, your energy and your life.

MANILA TIMES ARTICLE SAYS KAPATIRAN CANDIDATES RANK HIGH

In an article printed in the Manila Times last April 12th, reporter Ma. Ester L. Espina reports that in a mock poll conducted among the clergy, the three Kapatiran candidates ranked high. Unfortunately, Martin was mistakenly referred to as Donato rather than Bautista. The article is as follows, where I have corrected Martin's name:

BACOLOD CITY: Eight senatorial candidates from the Genuine Opposition got the nod of priests from the Diocese of Bacolod compared to only three from the administration party during a mock election survey last April 9 conducted by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting.

Another surprise were the three independent senatorial bets of Ang Kapatiran: Martin Bautista, Adriano Sison and Jesus Paredes II who all got in the top spots with Bautista coming in third together with opposition candidate Alan Peter Cayetano while both Sison and Paredes tied in the fourth slot.

Sen. Mar Roxas said the mock polls is "reflective of a general discontent and a general desire for improvement."

Roxas, who was in Bacolod City to campaign for opposition candidate Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino 3rd and independent candidate Sen. Francis Pangilinan, said he is a true believer in surveys and that the results of the mock polls "if valid, are reflection of the people's views and a reflection on the candidates."

He, however, refuses to be baited whether he is for the opposition lineup over that of the administration saying he will just continue campaigning for his colleagues in the Liberal Party.

"I guess the surveys show that the priests and the people want a sincere and earnest hope for reform," he added.

Topping the survey was opposition candidate Francis Escudero, followed by administration candidate Joker Arroyo. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, whose wife, Jewel Lobaton, is from Bacolod, tied with Manny Villar in fifth place while Aquino was in sixth place.

Loren Legarda who has been topping national polls came only seventh in the survey, followed by Pangilinan. Te

A HEARTENING LETTER FROM A MEMBER OF AKSYON KABATAAN

Dear Dr. Martin Bautista,

Greetings! My name is Josh Gonzales and I was fortunate enough to be present during your talk at the Youth Forum held in St. Scholastica Manila last March 9, 2007. Needless to say, sir I was greatly moved by your fervor in trying to turn things around for our poor country. And being an Atenean from the AGS and AHS myself, I was so proud of the fact that all the Jesuit rhetoric about Magis and being a-man-for-others went to great work in the form of your campaign against the tyrannical rule of our corrupt politicians! Because of this, I personally chose to bring up the struggle of Ang Kapatiran during our NGO's online National Conference.

Sir, I am currently serving as one of the leaders of Aksyon Kabataan, formerly the youth arm of Senator Raul S. Roco's Aksyon Demokratiko. In the past I believe that we've had quite a following within the youth sector—at one point having 10,000 active members helping out in RSR's campaigns. However, it is only as of late that we are reviving our national network since the former Senator's passing.

To be honest with you, I've only been serving as an officer for a little less than a year and I was sort of nudged (haha) into this position by our founder because I was able to successfully organize activities for our new focus apart from the gray areas of politics: education. Nevertheless, we still maintain quite an active national network and we are capable of helping out in the widespread dissemination of information and in the coordination of activities between different regions. Still, we also continue to believe that we have to keep on influencing the electoral process, being a pool of young, idealistic people yearning for a better tomorrow and who can't easily be fooled by people like Prospero Pichay. (haha)

During our latest conference we discussed our official list of candidates that we will be endorsing. With a bit of help from my co-officer who was also present in St. Scholastica, we were able to convince the more senior national leaders of Aksyon Kabataan to include Ang Kapatiran in our slate. We chose to go with 6 candidates in all to give such candidates the maximum advantage, and the others were namely Sen. Manuel Villar, Mrs. Sonia Roco and Sen. Francis Pangilinan. As part of our list of candidates, we will do everything we can to endorse your group in our network and promote you and your platform in our respective areas of responsibility.

If you're interested to know more about our group and what we stand for, do visit http://www.aksyonkabataan.org/. You can also reach us through +63917-496-3282 or e-mail us at josh.v.gonzales@gmail.com and 022911@atenista.net .

Our leaders from all over the country have already agreed to help out if called upon. If there is anything more we can do for your campaign, do let us know and we'll do whatever we can to help.

Sincerely,

Joshua V. Gonzales
Director, Aksyon Kabataan - NCR

WE HAVE OUR OWN "300 SPARTANS"

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo

The Philippine Star 03/25/2007

The outstanding success of the film "300" is not at all surprising.
People are awed by true stories of outstanding feats of heroism
especially when set against hopelessly insurmountable odds.

In the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, Greek city states united to
fight against the massive Persian army led by Emperor Xerxes. King
Leonidas of Sparta and his 300 men together with 700 Thespians
defended the narrow strip of road which kept Xerxes and his men from
overrunning all of Greece.

The brave stand of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans provided the
Greeks precious time to amass a more formidable force that engaged
the Persians under more favorable conditions at the Battle of
Salamis. The valiant saga of King Leonidas and his 300 men has gone
down in history as one of the most moving sagas of exceptional
courage and sacrifice, where men willingly gave their lives for a
battle that could not be won.

In our political Thermopylae, our 300 Spartans would be the
Kapatiran 3 — Zosimo Jesus Paredes II, Martin D. Bautista and Adrian
O. Sison — the senatorial candidates of the Kapatiran Party. If you
do not know who they are, I suggest that you check them out and one
way is to log on to the Kapatiran Party website
(www.angkapatiran.org).

Paredes, Bautista and Sison are not only qualified to be senators,
they provide a refreshingly real alternative to the unpalatable
option of choosing between the less undesirable of two fakes: the
traditional politician or the showbiz illusionist. Paredes, Bautista
and Sison are seeking to achieve for our country real, functional
democracy and a government that is truly of, by and for the people.

Paredes, Bautista and Sison are entering a political battle where
the odds are heavily stocked against them. It is a political battle
that other Don Quixotes tried to win in the past but failed. Like
Leonidas and the 300, Paredes, Bautista and Sison have no illusions
of victory. They are making a difference by merely fighting the good
fight in order to set the stage for the final battle and ultimate
victory. Despite their running without illusions of winning, they
have faith that eventually the Filipino will attain his political
emancipation from the oligarchy.

Paredes, Bautista and Sison have no economic empires to protect.
Like you and me, they have watched our country slide under the self-
serving stewardship of oligarchs whose main objective is not to
promote development but to perpetuate the status quo.

Like you and me, Paredes, Bautista and Sison wonder when the time
will come when we will finally have the enlightened electorate that
would elect the best leaders who will put an end to all the
suffering and injustice. By fighting the good fight, they have
reinforced our faith that there is a Promised Land and they're
showing us the way to get there.

But Paredes, Bautista and Sison do not have to meet the fatal end of
Leonidas and his 300. Unlike Leonidas and his 300, Paredes, Bautista
and Sison can win. Yes, they can win because what will determine
victory in their struggle is how people like you and me will vote.

Their biggest adversary is not the opponents they are facing in the
May elections. It is the mindset of voters who have been conditioned
to choose the lesser evil instead of the very few who are true,
resolute and capable. It is a mindset that ties a people to the
shackles of a semi-feudal reality — a people helplessly unable to
assert its collective authority as the masters in a democracy.

It is a mindset that deplores graft and corruption and yet
subscribes to the patronage system that breeds and promotes graft
and corruption. It is a mindset that aspires to enjoy the benefits
of a democracy but kowtows to the ways of a monarchy where fealty is
given the moneyed, where he who has the gold is regarded as king.

It is a mindset that cannot connect the problem with the solution.
The mind accepts that the traditional politician is the problem that
has to be removed and yet will still vote for the traditional
politician because of the flawed reasoning that only the traditional
politician can win. True enough, the traditional politician keeps
winning and each time, the people keep losing.

Showbiz heroes provide imagined relief. But experience has already
shown how these showbiz personalities had turned public service into
a money making machine for their wanton lifestyles. Some people
thought showbiztocracy would be a way out of traditional politics
but only to find out that showbiztocracy is just a ticket to ride on
the gravy train of traditional politics.

Paredes, Bautista and Sison are waging the fight for us and it will
be up to us if they will win or lose. For them to win, those members
of Philippine society who recognize the problem must not only vote
for them but actively campaign for them.

But are we willing to fight for what we have been clamoring? Are we
willing to plant the seeds of a democratic awakening and nurture
these seeds to fruition? Are we a people who are capable of rising
above ourselves?

For too long we have cursed the desolation of our political desert —
how come we do not seem to have enough patriots. The reality is we
can only generate patriots when there are enough of us who are
willing to become patriots. * * *

You may e-mail William M. Esposo at: macesposo@yahoo.com

VOTER'S PRAYER

(Sent to the Ang Kapatiran Egroup by one of our members)

ADAPTED FROM THE PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI)

LORD, make me an instrument of your presence in the
Polls.

Where there is coercion and violence,
Let me sow seeds of love;
Where there is bribery and vote buying,
Let me sow seeds of integrity;
Where there is discord,
Let me sow seeds of unity;
Where there is electoral fraud,
Let me sow seeds of honesty;
Where there is duplicity and propaganda,
Let me sow seeds of truth;
Where there is indifference,
Let me sow seeds of care and concern;
And, where there is despair in the electoral process,
Let me sow seeds of hope.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
Think of my selfish motives when I vote.
Instill in me a deep sense of communal solidarity in
my critical choice of candidates that would rise above
the traditional politics of PAY-OFF, PERSONALITY and
PATRONAGE. Enlighten me to elect worthy men and women
that embody The true spirit of public service in their
moral consciousness.

For it is voting responsibly that we receive the
fruits of true democracy.
And it is in dying as a seed to our selfishness
That we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

BISHOPS ENDORSE ANG KAPATIRAN

BISHOPS ENDORSE NEW PARTY
Article on page A-28 of the Philippine Star
Monday, March 19, 2007
by: Edu Punay

After refusing to endorse senatorial candidates of the administration nor the opposition, Catholic bishops expressed support to the Senate bents of a new and unknown political party, Kapatiran, whose platform is consistent with doctrines of the Church.

Officers of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) have agreed during their recent quarterly meeting in Manila to endorse Kapatiran Party which is also known as the Alliance of the Common Good.

The party has only three senatorial bets, Jess Paredes, former Executive director of the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission; Martin Bautista, and Adrian Sison.

Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, vice president of CBCP, said Kapatiran earned their support primarily due to its political platform which is reflective of the social teachings of the Catholic Church.

"The bishops agreed during the meeting that we should support programs of governance that promote Gospel "values," Ledesma told reporters in an interview.

The CBCP earlier refused to heed a call of El Shaddai leader Bro. Mike Velarde for the bishops' endorsement of some senatorial candidates in the May 14 elections, maintaining its stand that the faithful should be given freedom to choose candidates.

CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said the bishops have already agreed even during their pastoral assembly in Manila last January not to collectively endorse candidates - an act he criticizes as "dictating on voters and as bad as buying their votes."

"It was brought up that Kapatiran, as a new political party, is espousing Catholic social teachings so it won't be remiss on the part of the diocese to back not so much only the political party but the platform it espouses which reflects the social teachings of the Church," Lagdameo said.

Kapatiran is considered as an alternative to administration's Team Unity and Genuine Opposition in the May 14 elections.

This endorsement of Kapatiran Party was confirmed by other senior prelates, including Lingapen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz and Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles.

PORTRAIT OF A PARTY AS A CANDIDATE

Portrait of a party as candidate
By: Dean O. Dela Paz
Business World

Of its roster of four, perhaps only former Agrava Commission lawyer Mario Ongkiko had any national exposure. But his doctor strongly advised him that to push through with his senatorial candidacy would be the death of him. So then there were three: a balikbayan doctor, a former administrator of the Visiting Forces Agreement and a lawyer cum radio commentator. None had name recall.

The only thing they had going for them was the party they had chosen to run under, Kapatiran, and the principles it espoused, was virtually the candidate.

At the turn of the last century in the United Kingdom, the Labor Party had started that way. It was not even an accredited political party. Strictly speaking, it was simply a lobby group that espoused sector-specific ideals.

Of what was to become its objectives, the movement identified social justice, the rewards for hard work and strong community building as among the highest.

Perhaps as immediate responses to the demeaning and alienating scourge of the industrial revolution, Labor’s birth was timely. Kapatiran today is better off. Its birth is a product of our slow but certain descent into meaningless politics, a societal diminution catalyzed by Gloria Arroyo’s ambitions and her systematic unraveling of democratic institutions. Kapatiran is not a knee-jerk spawn. Rather, it is the ideal all political parties pursue but never attain.

Among its founders are businessmen idealists. There is Ongkiko, its president. Among its officers there is Nandy Pacheco, once a senior officer of the Asian Development Bank and founder of the Gunless Society. There are also entrepreneurs Benny de Guzman, David Lim, Manolo Dayrit and former commercial banker Rene Peronilla.

Some of these names ring a distant bell. Most don’t. But then, that is what Kapatiran is. Talk about its principles, and that is where familiarity resonates more than the personalities behind the cause. Suddenly the names make sense as they are associated with principles we seem to have lost when politics entered the picture.

The British labor group had none like them whose integrity preceded stature and characterized the idealism of the advocacy they espoused. They had no memberships save for a list identifying affiliations with others who shared its ideals. Labor championed two candidates when it decided to first enter politics as a way of advocating, and at the end of 1900, those sat among the Tories in parliament, Called the Labor Representation Committee (LRC), it ran on its advocacies and has been doing so ever since.

Fifty years hence, Tony Blair could not have envisioned that the party he would run under would dominate one of the most influential constituencies in global politics. After all, within the span of a century the Labor Party would attain mass membership only after 20 years and majority leadership a quarter of a century after its first foray in Parliament.

Change takes time and a good seed. In the same manner, Kapatiran and its principles are planted among giant sequoias and redwoods in a quickly darkening forest – one where vermin lurk ready to feed on young sprouts to satisfy insatiable hunger.

Rather than a roster, what attract Kapatiran to the crowds in the senatorial sorties are the principles it presents as virtual candidates. First is a belief in God Almighty, whether that supreme entity is called by His many names as our Heavenly Father, Jehovah, Allah, Yahweh, Rama or Bathala. Kapatiran is the only political party that is God-centered, thus focusing among disparate religions and beliefs commonality long forgotten.

Next it believes in life, the dignity of the person, family, community and consequently the rights and responsibilities of each to the units they belong. Across these principles, platforms to protect, for example, the unborn child or the defenseless rape victim are embedded in detail. So do the protection of the family, the rights to assemble, seek redress and participate become political platforms following those principles.

Of the political parties around, including many of the party-list groups, Kapatiran is unabashedly and perhaps uniquely up front in declaring that it is pro-poor and would have preferential treatment for sectors identified as vulnerable. It also declares as part of its principles the pursuit of economic platforms upholding the dignity of work and the rights of workers, an objective similar to, if not directly cloned form those that the Labor Party had espoused more than a century ago in industrial Europe.

Lastly, Kapatiran espouses two other, rather specific principles often absent in others. It champions and advocates a rather aggressive concept of peace and nonviolence. As specific examples of these in governance, platforms can range from the protection of the environment to the abolition of private armies and bodyguards, disarmament, restrictions on activities that promote a culture of violence such as the glorification of martial arts, sex and violence in media and the strict control of guns for civilian use. Following those precepts is the denunciation of militarization, the use of class struggle or police powers as means of governance.

Representing these ideals are three people who carry the Kapatiran message across the archipelago. One, Zosimo Paredes, the former deputy director of the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities, was fired as Gloria Arroyo’s executive director of the Presidential Commission on the VFA. His sin? He interpreted the controversial agreement in favor of a defenseless rape victim.

Another , Martin Bautista, is a successful physician who readily abandoned his medical practice in the United States for a dream in the Philippines. The last is lawyer, educator and radio personality Adrian Sison who once ran against the Defensor dynasty in the third district of Quezon City.

Little is known of these gentlemen save that they follow the Kapatiran guidon and espouse its principles. In this milieu, for the principled and the quixotic, that is more than enough.

Interview with Dr. Martin Baustista

We encourage you all to take a look at an entry on DR MARTIN BAUTISTA in a blog named DISSECTS. This interview with Martin will give you a pretty good idea about what kind of man he is.

As a matter of fact, I took time out a couple of weeks ago to read Martin's entire blog entitled: ON MY WAY HOME which has a link on this blog, and which I encourage you all to read.

(On the left are Martin Bautista and his family)

DREAMING THE POSSIBLE by JB Baylon

Malaya Columnist JB D Baylon wrote the following in the March 5th publication of Malaya.

Last Monday, I had to drive from Legaspi Village, Makati to the studios of radio station DWWW 774 kHz at 23 E. Rodriguez Sr, Boulevard so that I could interview, live, Dr. Martin D. Bautista, one of the three candidates for senator of the Ang Kapatiran party.

I actually hinted at doing an interview by phone patch, telling Dr. Martin that if 6:30 was too early for him, we could do the interview at a later slot anytime during the 6:30-8 a.m. time slot. But he wouldn’t be budged from his willingness to do the interview live – and so I was up and about by 5 a.m. just to make sure I wouldn’t arrive at the studios later than my guest.

He arrived at 6:20 a.m., and by 6:30 a.m. we were chatting away over open microphones.

Dr. Martin is a graduate of the UP College of Medicine, class of 1989, and upon graduation he and his wife were two of about 80 of his class to seek training and the opportunity to start lucrative careers abroad, mainly in the United States. It wasn’t easy, he told me and the program listeners, especially since his arrival coincided with the height of the AIDS outbreak which saw American medical practitioners refusing to handle full-blown AIDS cases – cases which the Filipino doctors took on.

By dint of hard work and innate talent, things eventually turned slowly for the better for Martin and his wife, and eventually they were able to put up a clinic in Oklahoma that did well, what with over 100 patients a day, almost every day of the week.

Many would have been happy at having stumbled upon the "American dream", and would have begun to enjoy the fruits of their labors; but for Martin, something was nagging him – and that something was the realization that things were not going as well for his countrymen as they were for him.

Over the years he kept traveling back and forth between Manila and the United States, until, almost two years ago, he made a very counter-intuitive decision: he packed up his bags and with his wife and four daughters returned to the Philippines to settle in Bacolod City.

But that wasn’t all; soon, he was drawn to the idea that the changes needed in Philippine society required far more sacrifices from everyone – himself included – and before anyone knew it there he was, one of three candidates for the Senate of the Ang Kapatiran party, embarking on what many would think is a quixotic quest of ordinary Filipinos turned non-traditional politicians hoping to bring back decency and integrity and honesty and even the fear of God into Philippine politics!

Interestingly, many of the listeners of "Pananaw sa DWWW 774 kHz" were more than willing to offer to volunteer their services, telling Dr. Martin that since they had not completed their 12-man slate they were more than willing to add Dr. Martin and even the whole Ang Kapatiran slate to their final list of candidates for May. What did this imply?

Clearly, many people out there are seeking alternatives, and they are willing even to try total political neophytes like Martin Bautista in lieu of the many "trapos" that they are sick and tired of. And who could blame them?

If you wish to know more about Ang Kapatiran, check out their website: www.angkapatiran.org. Trust me, the more you learn about them the more you will be encouraged to add one, or two, or all three of the Ang Kapatiran candidates to your May 14 Senate list.

VOTERS' BIGGER RESPONSIBILITY DURING ELECTIONS

A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Last updated 01:49am (Mla time) 03/10/2007

Please allow me to prayerfully greet and salute Conrado de Quiros. To him I say: “Keep up your courage; you have affirmed the truth” (Acts 23:11, New English Bible) about the three senatorial candidates of the Kapatiran Party: Martin Bautista, Adrian Sison and Zosimo Paredes -- they deserve to win.

I fully agree with him that candidates for an elective public office have the obligation to be heard and to advertise themselves; they should not just sit back and trust in the intelligence of the Filipino voters. But the bigger burden of responsibility to make deserving candidates win lies with us, the public. (“Courage,” Inquirer, 2/21/07)

May I suggest that we Filipinos actively campaign for the election of Kapatiran’s candidates and vote for them only.

May I also suggest that De Quiros invite the Filipino people to be vigilant in guarding the votes of the Kapatiran senatorial candidates. Let us hope and pray that many Filipinos will positively respond to his invitation and come up with ways to ensure that the votes for these three Kapatiran candidates will be properly counted.

Let us start a bandwagon --let’s start a vote-only-for Bautista, Sison and Paredes campaign. God bless our nation.

ISIDORO A. PANLASIGUI JR., 6 Big Horseshoe Drive, 1112 Quezon City

More on Kapatiran in the Inquirer's Front Page

INQUIRER HEADLINES - NATION

Rich man, poor man share bottom rung in survey

March 10, 2007
Updated 04:07:29 (Mla time)
Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- The biggest spender among the senatorial candidates placed between 22nd and 24th in the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations.

That is how far the P33 million spent in the campaign’s first two weeks on television advertisements alone got Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay, who is running in the administration’s Team Unity and is considered one of the richest of the current crop of senatorial aspirants.

Not too far from Pichay in the rankings of the SWS survey released last Wednesday is Dr. Martin Bautista, one of only three bets of Ang Kapatiran, a political party put up by a group of Catholic and Christian professionals three years ago.

At 29th place, Bautista even bested Pichay’s fellow Team Unity bet Jamalul Kiram who ranked between 30 and 33 along with another obscure candidate named Vicente Villanueva.

‘Money isn’t everything’

Though he’s still too far away from the Magic 12, placing in the top 30 is already some kind of moral victory for Bautista.

“I think it goes to show that money isn’t everything in an election,” he said.

Based on the published figures (number of registered voters, voter turnout in 2004, target number of voters, the candidates’ stated expenses) and Pichay’s and Bautista’s percentages in the SWS’ Feb. 24 to 27 survey, the Inquirer calculated that Pichay has spent P8.33 and Bautista 0.02 centavos for each voter as of Feb. 27.

Bautista and his fellow Kapatiran candidates Zosimo Paredes and Adrian Sison are advancing the party’s vision of bringing God into the center of Philippine politics. By this they mean the opposite of how politics has long been viewed here, one that’s driven by ambition, power, influence and money.

Three weeks into the campaign, Bautista said he has spent about P18,000 out of his own pocket. The party gave P100,000, which he said came from individual contributions.

“It’s difficult to spend money that you worked very hard for,” said Bautista, who was a gastroenterologist for 17 years in the United States before returning to the Philippines last year.

P1.3-M kitty

The party has spent a total of P1.05 million from Dec. 19, 2006 to March 8, according to Kapatiran treasurer Rene H. Peronilla, a retired bank executive. He said it still had P300,000 in its bank account.

The P1,347,569.25 that Kapatiran raised during that three-month period is easily dwarfed by the campaign kitties of Team Unity and the Genuine Opposition.

Administration candidate Sen. Ralph Recto has said that candidates are each allowed to spend P120 million for the campaign. Pichay said the party is allowed to throw in an additional P80 million for each candidate.

In the first two weeks of the campaign, Pichay spent P33 million in TV ads. Next to him came reelectionist Sen. Manuel Villar who spent P30.29 million and Recto with P22.79 million, according to the Nielsen Media Research Phils.

Despite the overwhelming disparity in resources, Bautista said the Kapatiran candidates were banking on other means to introduce themselves to the public.

Party founder Nandy Pacheco earlier noted the importance of “word of mouth” in promoting Kapatiran’s advocacy.

The party’s campaign strategy has apparently been so effective that it has attracted an independent senatorial candidate, actor Richard Gomez.

Meeting with Goma

Gomez met late Wednesday with Bautista, Paredes and Sison, asking if he could join their sorties, according to a Kapatiran member who was privy to the meeting in a Quezon City restaurant.

“I think he might be accommodated once or twice but I’m not sure if he would fit the advocacy of Kapatiran,” the source said on condition of anonymity because he said he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

“While the party is against traditional politicians, it also doesn’t embrace actors in politics,” the source said.

During the meeting, Gomez is said to have admitted that he could not sustain his solo-flight campaign, noting that he once spent half a million pesos in just one day. The amount bought him five 30-second TV ads.

Asked if he was actually planning to sign up with the party, Gomez reportedly replied: “Problem is I took an oath with the Nationalist People’s Coalition.”

The source said Gomez appeared to be unhappy with the NPC which does not seem to be supporting his candidacy but that of opposition candidate Loren Legarda.

Unlike other candidates who have been focusing on media ads, Kapatiran bets favor a more personal approach, discussing their platform with people on the streets.

Bautista said they have also adopted a simple strategy to deal with people asking for money during sorties, a practice that the Kapatiran wants to eradicate.

At a campaign sortie in Divisoria on Thursday, the doctor was approached by a middle-aged woman who asked him for money to buy medicine for a relative.

Another woman in her 30s, with a child in tow, also asked for money, saying: “I need to go home to Samar so I can vote.”

Bautista politely declined, explaining in Filipino: “You know very well that I have nothing to give you. And if I did, you ought to think about how I will get that money back in the future.”

Both women turned away. Bautista knew he had just lost two votes, his price for turning his back on “trapo” politics.

An Inquirer Article

Kapatiran campaigns ‘slowly, surely and profoundly’
By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer
Last updated 03:46am (Mla time) 03/02/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- A trio of middle-aged men wearing campaign vests motored around town to quiet response from vendors and bystanders probably looking for familiar faces.

But not one could be seen in Dr. Martin Bautista and lawyers Zosimo Paredes and Adrian Sison, the senatorial candidates of Ang Kapatiran, a political party founded by a Christian lay group three years ago.

Instead, the public was given a good dose of Kapatiran’s platform of bringing back sense and God in Philippine politics.

Thus, after introducing themselves as “anti-trapo” candidates, the three were warmly embraced not unlike long-time politicians with prominent names and political clout. But none of them has had any significant experience in Philippine elections, more so in running a senatorial campaign.

Still, Bautista, Paredes and Sison aren’t exactly doing badly. In fact, their political sorties appeared more organized than the much-ballyhooed -- but seemingly troubled -- campaign of the Genuine Opposition.

“Our campaign is done slowly, surely and profoundly,” Paredes told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Thursday, as the group prepared for another foray to the provinces.

They have so far covered Metro Manila, Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon and Davao -- not bad for their party that boasts neither of political machinery nor hefty campaign funds.

Word of mouth

Many had gotten wind of Ang Kapatiran and its platform of God-centered politics from intermittent newspaper articles, sporadic advertisements and by word of mouth.

So far, many of the campaign sorties were arranged by parish-based organizations and cause-oriented groups.

Among these groups are the Basic Ecclesial Communities, parish units that can be as small as three Catholics. In many provinces, BECs are more ubiquitous, particularly in areas hardly reached by parish priests.

Another group is the Democratic Alliance of Mindanaoans for Good Government, which purportedly has a strength of around 50,000.

In the absence of massive political rallies, Paredes said Kapatiran candidates have been banking on small- or mid-sized gatherings.

Overcoming resistance

“The initial attitude of people we meet is usually that of resistance to the platform that we’re trying to promote,” he admitted. “But after they hear what we have to say, they realize that what they’ve been looking for is embodied by our party.”

Kapatiran founder and campaign manager Nandy Pacheco said his party was trying to build a “critical mass” that would embrace its ideals. “So far, we feel it’s already happening because people are beginning to talk about change.”

Paredes, who lost his government job for criticizing the midnight transfer without a court order of an American soldier convicted late last year of raping a Filipino woman, said the initial success of the Kapatiran gatherings had boosted the idea of “a silent majority wanting to change government and traditional politicians.”

Paredes is a longtime career official involved in peace initiatives before and during the Arroyo administration. Sison is a lawyer specializing in taxation and family law. Bautista worked for 17 years in the United States as a gastroenterologist before moving his family back to Manila last year.

Paredes’ relative prominence might have captured the attention of the Genuine Opposition. There had been reports that the group was considering drafting the Philippine Military Academy graduate to take the place of the estranged Sen. Francis Pangilinan.

No go to GO

Asked if we would accept an invitation to join GO, he said doing so would go against his principles and that of Kapatiran.

“We are fighting for a politics of virtue and a politics of duty that will put God above all else,” he said. “If I join them, it would appear that I’m embracing a politics of convenience. Nobody would believe me anymore. Everything that I’ve been fighting for will crumble.”

As the administration’s TEAM Unity and GO continue to engage in political mudslinging, Kapatiran “will walk in the middle and get noticed,” he said. “They will cancel each other out and the people will realize that there really is a genuine alternative.”

LOSERS Conrado de Quiroz Column of March 8

THERE’S THE RUB
‘Losers’
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer
Last updated 02:55am (Mla time) 03/08/2007

I finally met the candidates of the Kapatiran last Friday at the Quezon Elliptical. I had prepared myself for a fairly serious, or even somber, discussion, expecting a bunch of people who, like Kapatiran’s guiding light, Nandy Pacheco, are given to more sedate pleasures and riveted to lofty or grand preoccupations. A complete surprise they turned out to be, and from where I stood, or sat, not an unpleasant one.

They are as resolutely secular as the next fellow, and the night turned out to be, if not altogether raucous, a much-spirited one. They love this life well enough and like to live it as best they can, while helping others do the same -- which is the part where they soar to lofty and grand heights without trying. In the course of our banter, or merrymaking, I remembered a distinction Russell Baker once made between serious and solemn, classifying quite unexpectedly and with such profound insight Harper’s Magazine as serious and Playboy as solemn. I thought to myself: The candidates of Kapatiran are serious, the candidates of Team Unity and the Genuine Opposition are solemn.

Fueled by a good amount of beer, Martin Bautista -- a doctor in his mid-40s who attributes his physical fitness to the libation -- recalled that it taxed Nandy’s formidable powers of persuasion to convince him to run. What clinched the deal was Nandy finally saying, “’T---na, tapang lang ’yan" ["Christ, all it takes is heart”]. His companions reminded him that while Nandy was prone to saying things like those, he was not prone to saying “’t---na” or anything remotely resembling a four-letter word. Anyway, Bautista was a conversion waiting to happen.

He never had it so good than in the United States. He was one of the first batches of doctors who went there in the ’80s when a good portion of the American black communities was being ravaged by AIDS. And when American doctors were loath to expose themselves to infection by physically touching the afflicted in hospitals. Bautista acquitted himself well -- “You go through PGH [Philippine General Hospital], you can go through anything” -- and ended up living the kind of life most Filipinos could only (wet)dream about. Come to think of it, he said, he pretty much never had to buy beer, or liquor, in Oklahoma. The thing just poured in from grateful patients or people he had done a favor for, or made "pakikisama" to, at one time or another.

What Bautista could not forget, however, was the sight of the "sakada" [landless sugar workers] areas of Negros, which he got to be reminded of each time he went back to the Philippines. He made it a point to visit them, and each time he saw that the plight of the folk there had gotten worse. The birth of sugar had been their starvation, the death of sugar had been their death. The average life span there, Bautista said, was 32. Children died of hunger. You saw how they lived, he said, and the scavengers of Metro Manila's Payatas dumpsite suddenly looked like they lived in Forbes Park. For some reason, he said, he couldn’t get that image out of his mind. He never applied for a green card. He was always sure he’d come home.

I believe there’s another word for “some reason.” It is “conscience.”

Jess Paredes, who was "bitin" [had too little] with the one bottle of wine spread around, found stumping through the country to be educational, quite apart from being rejuvenating, not least because of the warm camaraderie. Jess is the quietest of the three, but one with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

The one experience that agitated him, he said, was an out-of-town sortie where a man asked him how serious he was about the things he promised to do. “We’ve heard all that before,” the guy said, “how are you any different? Why should we believe you? If you win, will you resign your post if we can show you to have broken one of your promises?”

Jess answered in some heat: “If I do not do what I said I’d do, or if I become just another 'trapo' [traditional politico], you have my permission to aim a gun at my head in the Senate and blow my brains out!”

I suggested to Jess that Kapatiran had the least problems in credibility. Actions speak louder than words, and the Kapatiran candidates have a track record to speak volumes for them. A couple of months ago, Jess himself just resigned as executive director of the presidential commission monitoring the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement, in protest over the release of Cpl. Daniel Smith from a Makati City jail. A trapo is one who forsakes principle for wealth and/or power. The opposite of trapo is one who forsakes wealth and/or power for principle. Guess what Jess is.

Adrian Sison had a fairly flourishing career as a lawyer and would have liked nothing better than to sit back and reap his just rewards to the end of his days. But he, too, became a victim of Nandy’s powers of persuasion. What made him hark to his new calling was an idea that had been said before again and again but which waylaid him this time with special force. That idea was: All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. It’s a matter of personal responsibility. You do not offer an alternative when you are in a position to do so, do not blame this country for settling for the old banes.

Later Nandy would enthuse and tell me that things seemed to be moving, and he personally felt a miracle was about to happen in this country. Who knows, he said, we may yet work a quiet revolution before these elections are over. Well, the way Kapatiran is rapidly pricking media’s and the public’s attention, who knows indeed. My mind harked back to a mission someone undertook a couple of millennia ago. The mission seemed far more impossible. That was the ridiculous quest of a carpenter’s son and his 12 fishermen alalays to change the world. The spectacle they offered sent the important men of the time scoffing and laughing their heads off.

But, lo and behold, those “losers” did change the world.

A COUPLE OF THINGS by Conrado de Quiros

HERE’S THE RUB
A couple of things
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer
Last updated 01:23am (Mla time) 03/07/2007

The first is the issue of actors. I’ve read and heard a lot of comments from readers and viewers expressing dismay at several actors running in the elections. That’s true particularly of Filipinos living abroad. They’re completely embarrassed, they say, at the joke that Philippine elections have become.

I am not unsympathetic to that sentiment. There’s little love lost between me and the showbiz folk that congregated around Joseph Estrada and turned this country into a real tearjerker. The only production I raved over then was the impeachment trial, which might as well have been directed by Lino Brocka. It was a melodrama, with its share of heroes and villains, tears and laughter, but which resonated with all the elements of a morality play, a tale of good vs. evil.

I’m not unsympathetic to that sentiment but I have to warn shrilly against an uncritical view of it. At the very least, as Roy Alvarez told me rather wittily during Yes Magazine’s 7th anniversary last week, some actors have been politicians at some point in their lives but all politicians have been actors at all times in their lives.

It’s true. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself, who ridiculed Fernando Poe Jr. for being just an actor when she ran against him in 2004, rose to prominence not for being an economist but for being the “Nora Aunor of Philippine politics,” a proposition sold by movie-type posters and calendars that depicted her in movie-like poses.

But forget even that. Just look at the characters in Team Unity and GO trying (badly) to act their way into the voters’ hearts. Look at the prosperous Pichay, who got even more prosperous defending Arroyo from the “Hello Garci” scandal and leading the charge to kill the impeachment initiatives, with his Elvis Presley hairdo trying hard to convince the voters that if they plant "pichay" [Chinese cabbage] in the Senate with all the chemical fertilizers he is proposing, they will reap heaven. What can I say? Better plant "camote" [sweet potato]. It’s cheaper. And allows you to blow a lot of bad wind in the direction of the Pichays of this world.

And look at Mike Defensor with his “Walking ’Tol” ads. Serves him right to get the people he’s paying. I mean, who remembers “Walking Tall?” Surely there are a lot newer and more intelligent movies out there to appeal to the youth?

But that brings me to a far more important point. It’s not just that between a politician trying to be an actor and an actor trying to be a politician the choice is a fuzzy one. It’s also that the growing (and justifiable) allergy to actors running for public office can -- and often does -- blind us to a greater danger out there, which is a category of candidates that pose a bigger threat to this country than actors. That is the "trapos" [traditional politicos].

I’ve said it before and I say it again: Beware of the actors offering charm, but beware even more of the trapos bearing gifts. The harm that actors can wreak upon this country is nothing compared to the harm that trapos can do. Actors can only produce a farce, trapos can produce a dictatorship.

To this day, I still hear people say that it’s all right that Gloria Arroyo cheated Fernando Poe because she rescued this country from “another actor.” The thought was explicitly articulated by several letter-writers during the height of the “Hello Garci” scandal, and though less directly put these days, it is still held by many, particularly from the rich and middle class. Well, look where we are now and ask yourself if we haven’t been rescued from the frying pan into the fire.

Actors can only produce a comedy, trapos can produce a tragedy. And have.

The second thing is the apparent boon and bane of “economics” and “politics” respectively. The administration tack is to depict itself as representing “economics” and the opposition as representing “politics.” The story line is that the economy is doing so well (a handiwork of the administration) but stands to be ruined by people obsessed with politics (the opposition).

At the very least what’s wrong with it is its assignation of roles. Who can be more obsessed with politics than one who is obsessed with power and means to have it by lying, cheating and stealing? Indeed, by suppressing, coercing and killing? That scale of “politicking” hasn’t been shown by anyone in the opposition, it has been shown by the head of the administration.

But more than that, you see what’s wrong with that facile depiction of economics as good and politics as bad in the way Arroyo walked out of a press conference when our reporter, Gil Cabacungan, asked her why the presumed bounteousness has not turned into food on the table of the poor. She has since insisted she will not answer “political” questions, only economic ones.

But, of course, Gil’s question was a political one. It was also an economic one. It was also a moral one. Hell, it was a completely commonsensical one. An explosion of growth that benefits only a small minority and pauperizes the rest of the community is not called vitality, it is called inequality. An explosion of growth in only one part of the body and does not affect the rest of it is not called health, it is called cancer.

Happily, there is a group of people out there who are helping to drive home the important point about politics being a good thing. They are the candidates of the Kapatiran party. Kapatiran [Brotherhood] expressly says in its fliers that it is a political group engaging in politics. It cajoles the public to be more concerned about politics, not less. Because what is politics really but the way we shape and wield power? What is politics really but who has the power and how they wield it? Politics is neither good nor bad. It is how we use it that makes it good or bad.

You vote for the decent candidates, that is good politics. You vote for the entertainers and the trapos, that’s just stupid.

From Despair To Hope

(I picked up the following from an email sent to the Kapatiran yahoogroup. I thought it was worthy of posting to this blog. The title is mine)

FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE
by: Grace Plazo

The candidacy for the Senate by the "Ang Kapatiran" bets - Dr. Martin Bautista

and lawyers,Adrian Sison & Jess Paredes- is a miracle for the country; personally,

it's 3 more candidates I can vote and campaign for. I am still discerning if I will

just vote for them and no body else, to maximize the weight of my votes, in their favor.

Their entry into the political arena have lifted me a bit from my despair over a lack of

choice at this critical period in our life as a nation,when the new set of officials we are

going to elect, will either spell doom; or revive hope for a better future, for our people.

I earlier mentioned that the boldness of the 3 "Ang Kapatiran" bets is a miracle.

Their courage can only come from the Supreme Ruler of the universe Who have endowed

them with a braveheart. Genuine service can only come from generous and self-sacrificing

hearts.God has initiated this miracle, our 3 candidates have responded. It is now up to us

people to let this miracles of grace come into fruition for the Philippines.

We need to go out of our way and exert our best efforts to help them get elected,

together with other candidates chosen after prayers and discernment.

Our God has never abandoned us.Our history as a people has shown how

God loves us. But God needs our feet and hands and voices. Let's all go out and campaign for

our canditates and guard our votes. Then later on we need to remain vigilant to see to

it that our new leaders will lead,as they have promised.

Not all hopes are gone. With the help of God, we can still be uplifted from our

hopelessness. I believe that there are still many positive things going on in our

land, especially in the countrysides. There are may selfless candidates and

leaders out there fighting for love of country and ideals of service. There are

many big and small miracles taking place. "Ang Kapatiran" is one of them.

Channel News Asia Taping

This afternoon, Adrian Sison, Jess Paredes, and Martin Bautista were interviewed by Christine Ong's Channel News Asia in my living room in our house along Katipunan. How it happened was all by chance but the thought of three future senators in my home gave me a thrill.

I'll keep you informed on when the interview will be aired (that's Channel 57 on Sky Cable)

Vinchu

Campaign Sortie Through Divisoria

This morning, I went to my very first campaign sortie. It was supposed to have been a motorcade through the crowded roads in Tondo, starting from del Pan Bridge and going through the Divisoria area. I took a car because Adrian Sison said that his 1984 model car would never reach Divisoria; we rode together.

But when we got there, our candidates: Jess Paredes, Adrian Sison, and Martin Bautista, decided to walk through the route, shaking hands and speaking directly to the people. They were followed by our youthful volunteers distributing the meager campaign paraphernalia that we had (and as we ran out of leaflets and those little calendars with the pictures of our three candidates, they started giving away posters), and by a jeepney with a loudspeaker atop, with someone shouting over and over: IBOTO SA SENADO, PAREDES, SISON BAUTISTA, KONTRA TRAPO, and then us: the rest of the motorcade, cars of the candidates and officers.

Several times, a jeepney would overtake us with loudspeakers blaring out catchy jingles of other candidates, drowning our loudspeakers. But soon, we'll have our own jingle, and we'll be able to blare back.

I do believe though that walking through the route was more effective than the motorcade. Our candidates were able to interact directly with the people in a very personal way. As this campaign progresses, we learn more and more what to do and how to do it.

Upgrading Our Website

The Kapatiran Website, at http://www.angkapatiran.org was down for a while as reached bandwidth limit. But not to worry, we're increasing speed and capacity within the next 24 hours. Anticipate the new and improved Ang Kapatiran Website soon!!! (Our thanks to all those taking care of the website, specially Boogie and Presy).

NEW LOOK

Yes, just as we espouse CHANGE (PAGBABAGO) in our government system, we have also made a few changes in how this blog looks, to make full use of the computer screen, so that the reader can take in more without having to scroll down too often.

We invite you to comment and give us your suggestions.

From ABS-CBN INTERACTIVE website

KAPATIRAN SENATE BETS DETERMINED TO WIN IN THE MAY POLLS

Senatorial bets of new political party, Ang Kapatiran (The Alliance for the Common Good), on Saturday appealed to the Filipino people to support their electoral campaign as they launched their very first proclamation rally, ABS-CBN News reported.

"The Filipino people will be the ones to help us in our campaign. We are asking for the people’s donations," said Adrian Sison, lawyer and Kapatiran senatorial candidate.

Aside from Sison, other Kapatiran senatorial candidates include lawyer Zosimo "Jess" Paredes and doctor Martin Bautista.

The group admitted that their machinery is not that strong but expressed confidence in their campaign. They asked for public support in strengthening their platform of government.

The senatorial candidates acknowledged the support of organizations that recognize their advocacy of clean politics.

Paredes said Ang Kapatiran will seek the approval of "bigger political groups to provide them with campaign support".

Bautista, meanwhile, went around distributing calendars as part of his campaign, "We maximize our resources by going to radio stations and printing institutions."

Previous reports have said lawyer Mario Ongkiko who filed his certificate of candidacy along with the three had announced his withdrawal from the senatorial race for medical reasons. He however vowed to continue to support the party's campaign.

Political analyst Earl Parreño, meanwhile, bluntly said that candidates who lack proper machinery will have difficulty in winning the electoral race.

"You may win in the precincts but your votes might not be tallied… You have to protect your votes and you should have machinery that would do that. Machineries are very important,’ Parrenyo said.

Despite the possibility of defeat, Kapatiran is still set to campaign, keeping in mind their mission of serving the country.

An Article By Katrina Legarda in ABS-CBN's website

KAT’S EYE	By KATRINA LEGARDA
	Korek ka dyan, Martin Bautista. At the very least, you will not die with regret written on your heart. You will not die wondering, “What if?” And you have shown your daughters that they too can be different and can make a difference.

I really really need to encourage those of you who want to vote for someone completely different to think about Dr. Martin Bautista. He attended the Ateneo de Manila for his elementary and high school years and then went on to the University of the Philippines for college and medical school. He graduated in 1989. Then he did what all the other kids seem to be doing today. He left the country. From 1990-1996, he completed his internship, residency in internal medicine, and fellowship in gastroenterology at the State University of New York in Brooklyn. From 1996-2006, he and his wife (who is a pulmonologist) practiced in rural Oklahoma where they established a state of the art medical clinic.

Well, the Bautistas returned to the Philippines. And Martin Bautista is now running for Senator under the Ang Kapatiran political party. A fool’s errand you might say, but hey, many of us went down that fool’s road too and haven’t regretted the experience. Martin Bautista has kept a blog at http://onmywayhome.blogstream.com, and from that blog I found his well-articulated suffering. A la Hamlet: to be or not to be? To do or not to do? To pass it up or to regret forever – win or lose? Martin Bautista wrote:

"Somewhere in this blog is a quote from Teddy Roosevelt about the special qualities needed for a person to slug it out in the political arena. I have a lot of admiration for all these politicos who seem to thrive in all the patronage, corruption, deceit, immoral compromises that characterizes our political environment. I have been unable to sleep well over the past 3 weeks just thinking about what I may just plunge into. I don't think I ever pondered anything as serious as this in my 18 year medical practice. Pondering is too easy, agonizing would be more appropriate. There have been many times when I would just tell myself that it was not yet the right time and my daughters were still too young and my golf handicap needed to go down a little bit more...I have even asked my wife on a number of occasions to command me to drop everything (which she of course never did because she thinks that I will only be miserable in thinking about the what ifs). This is one part of the journey that I need to do on my own because she will have to care for our kids in Bacolod, a very radical departure from our close, daily association in our 17 years of medical practice.

The odds are soooooooooo long and there have been times when I have felt bereft thinking about the political heavyweights arrayed in front of me. They have so much more money and resources, so many more connections, so much more experience in this kind of activity. What is a gastroenterologist doing here?

Probably because the stakes have never been higher and if we don't move and we don't do anything and we don't speak up, who will? Tomorrow will be a very important day."

That important day was the filing of Martin Bautista’s certificate of candidacy. I know how scary that is. He knows he probably doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning. But what the hell, right? In Martin Bautista’s words, "I think that it is better to aspire for a perfect world rather than remain content in patching up our imperfect house. . . as long as we ordinary Filipinos do not work together and change the system ourselves, we should not expect these "pros" [the trapo politicians] to disturb what to them is an exceedingly beneficial set-up. . . if we don't actively resist then we have no business to

complain and whine…"

Korek ka dyan, Martin Bautista. At the very least, you will not die with regret written on your heart. You will not die wondering, "What if?" And you have shown your daughters that they too can be different and can make a difference.

(Please click on this site to view the original: ABS-CBN INTERACTIVE)

From Dong Puno's Column in today's Philippine Star

Kapatiran’s commitment
MY VIEWPOINT By Ricardo V. Puno Jr.
The Philippine Star 03/03/2007

Aside from the Genuine Opposition and the administration’s Team Unity, one political party that’s been conducting a somewhat surprising campaign is Ang Kapatiran. Its campaign manager, gun control advocate Nandy Pacheco, has managed to get his thus far tiny group to make appearances in Metro Manila, two cities in the Visayas and three big cities in Mindanao.

The party has only three candidates for the Senate: former Visiting Forces Agreement executive director Zosimo Paredes, lawyer Adrian Sison and gastroenterologist and balikbayan doctor Martin Bautista.

The party has no other candidates for national or local office but Nandy says all it’s aiming for at this early stage of its existence is to build a "critical mass" of voting citizens that will adhere to its ideals.

In a previous column, we explained in general what these ideals are. Basically, they have to do with morality, personal as well as official, respect for life in all its aspects and genuine good governance. There is no question these ideals have to be stated in this age of skepticism and widespread disgust with politicians and their antics.

Mr. Paredes was recently in the news because there was some speculation he would be invited by the Genuine Opposition to fill the slot vacated by ousted independent candidate Kiko Pangilinan. Paredes has announced he wouldn’t join the GO if invited because doing so would be contrary to his principles and those of his party.

"Idealistic" political parties like Kapatiran should be encouraged in this avowedly multi-political party environment of ours. Parties such as this should also be taken seriously and included in the substantial debate on issues that we all hope will still be embarked on by all our candidates for office.

Dr. Martin Bautista's Letter to Fellow Pinoy Doctors

(I found this post in www.medskul.com, a website of the Western Visayas State University's College of Medicine Alumni Association. This letter was originally posted in www.pinoy.md, a website for Filipino doctors all over the world)


To my fellow PinoyMD's,

I am Martin D Bautista and I am running for the Philippine Senate. I graduated from the UP College of Medicine in 1989. I completed my Internship, Residency in Internal Medicine, Fellowship in Gastroenterology at the State University of New York, in Brooklyn from 1990-1996. I certified in the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1994. From 1996 to 2006, my wife (who is a pulmonologist) and I practiced in rural Oklahoma. We have 4 daughters.

The odds are indeed long and the poltical situation in our country appears to be irredeemably corrupted.

For too long however, well-meaning citizens who lead comfortable, secure and private lives have been scared off by the immorality, filth and danger of a system that has always zealously protected the interests of our traditional polticians, meaning those dynasties that treat politics as a family livelihood project and see politics as a way to make a comfortable living. This would be fine if we lived in say, the US, where corruption likewise exists but where there is general access to toilets and potable water (28% of Filipinos do not); there is access to anti-hypertensives and diabetes meds (Pagdanganan 2006 survey: 80% cannot afford meds); access to food (yes many many Filipinos still go hungry involuntarily).....you are well aware of the terrible realities but when confronted with the idea that people continue to die every single day because of this poisoned political situation you will be moved to do something.

For too long, we have defaulted on our poltical responsibilities to family dynasties. We have allowed them to speak for us and we have allowed them to shape public policies that have resulted in the conditions we now face today. Small wonder then if you realize that the family agenda takes precedence over the common good, but this is part of human nature. I do not claim to be more moral than anybody nor do I claim to be without sin, all that I am claiming is that I am prepared to offer whatever talents I may have in order to promote the common good.

Leadership is mostly about problem solving. An ordinary citizen in the Philippines does not have access to pertinent information and data that are necessary to arrive at enlightened decisions. This is one reason why I am running for the Senate.

Leadership is about inspiring other people to unite towards common goals. Not having come from a prominent and wealthy family, I had to leave our country in order to become financially independent. During the course of 17 years in the US, I learned many lessons, took care of my family and I prepared for my return. I am convinced that the best education will not be found in Harvard but rather in having to live alone in a foreign land and being left to sink or swim on your own wits. I want our countrymen to appreciate and to gain inspiration from the countless sacrfices that millions of law-abiding, diligent, honest, hard working and patriotic Filipinos all over the world do every single day to keep our country afloat (2007 budget: PhP 1.1 trillion 2006 Remittances through banks PhP 650 billion).

I know that each one of us strives to help our country and we all continually look for other ways with which to help out. I just feel that politics, notwithstanding all the lethal corruption, remains the most effective path to promote the common good.

If you look at the choices for the May elections, you will not see any difference between those who present themselves as "administration" or "opposition". Same names, same historical self-serving agendas. Where have all these names and experiences brought us? We were the second best in Asia 50 years ago, now we are the second to the last.

I joined Ang Kapatiran because I agree with its priorities: moral principles over political expediency; preferential option to the poor and vulnerable; common good over the demands of special interests; culture of life and peace over death and violence. Permanent reform will require a profound moral change in our national character.

I invite all of you to join me. I am personally willing to bet everything material that I possess that if we ordinary citizens were to become aware that the power to change our country lies in each of us, then we can all work together in redeeming our Philippines. All the political dynasties with their innumerable guns, armies of goons, unlimited gold, Comelec will not stop an idea whose time has come.

Martin D Bautista

CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS

We've finally finished setting up our campaign headquarters. One of our officers has allowed the use of his office space for free during the campaign and post campaign period. Our telephone lines are up, and we have been lent computers, printers, fax machines, copiers, a refrigerator, a tv set (to monitor election activities), a radio set, and most everything needed. Maui, one of our secretaries who was stationed in Nandy Pacheco's house, is now holding office there. And we have a Campaign Director in the person of Boy dela Cruz.

Now all we need are volunteers. You're all welcome to help. Come and visit at: Unit 1415, Medical Plaza Building, San Miguel Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Or call our landline at: 634-7701 for volunteer work.

What The Bishops Say About Ang Kapatiran

Excerpts from the talk of Most Rev Leonardo Z. Legaspi, OP, DD
"THE ROLE OF BISHOPS AS LEADERS IN ADDRESSING CRISIS IN GOVERNANCE"
Pius XII Catholic Center, UN Avenue, Manila
25 January 2007

THE TENSION BETWEEN THE STATE AND THE PEOPLE

The tension between the state and our People arises when there is widespread and prolonged perception by our citizens that the State no longer represents their interests, their dreams, their values.

When this situation reaches crisis proportions, historically bthere is a tendency for leaders of our civil society to run to the church for resolving it. This tempts us to engage in political action. But today, we hear more clearly than ever the words of the Pope who stated in his first encyclical: "The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible.., a just society must be the achievement of politics, not the Church." (Des Caritas Est., No 28)

Note carefully the position take by Pope Benedict XVI: "...a just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church." But the Pope acknowledges the dilemma this brings to bishops when he state: "Yet at the same time, the Church cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the first for justice."

But now, in the Philippines, with the emergence of a fledgling political party that deliverately adopts PCP-II principles for its platform, we finally have a group of lay who can enter the world of politics, reform it from within and work for the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

I refer to Nandy Pacheco's talk on Ang Kapatiran. Some 16 years ago when we discussed our political situation in the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP-II), we expressed strongly the view that "given the general perception that politics has become an obstacle to integral development, the urgent necessity is for the lay faithful to participate more actively, with singular competence and integrity, in political affairs. It is through the laity that the Church is directly involved." (Acts of PCP-II, no. 348)

Now we have a group of Catholic men and women "with singular competence and integrity" that has taken the challenge of PCP-II. A study of their Declaration of Principles faithfully echoes the PCP-II's position on Life and Dignity of the Human Person; our preferential option for the poor and vulnerable; dignity of work and the rights of workers, etc. A feature of Ang Kapatiran which can be its main distinguishing mark is its emphasis on the party and its platform rather than on personalities and their sponsors. A mature party is the bedrock of democracy for it reflects the interests and values of the majority of our people instead of defending vested interests and promoting the cult of personality

FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Yesterday morning, I got a text message from one of our chapter heads who plans to run as Councilor for Cavite City. He spoke of his limited resources which he intended to use for his own campaign. But after attending the Kapatiran General Assembly and proclamation in Club Filipino, he has gone into discernment of whether he should still run and spend these resources on himself or on our senatorial candidates because he was thinking of the COMMON GOOD.

Excerpts from his texts:

"Baka hindi na ako kumandidato para matutukan ko ang campaign ng ating mga senators.

When I met and talked with them, talagang dapat sila ang ikampanya at ipanalo. They deserve to be given a fair chance."

How we wish all candidates are like him. Let's pray for and with Victor Cruz in his discernment process. After all, each person can contribute to the common good in his or her own milieu, whether it be in the national government, local government, non-government organization, or civil society. As long as we do what we can!

PROCLAMATION DAY!!!!

They have been proclaimed at last: Zosimo Jesus Paredes, Adrian Sison, and Dr. Martin Bautista, as Ang Kapatiran's Senatorial Candidates for the Philippines' 2007 elections.


As I witnessed the number of people in Club Filipino and heard the response of the crowd to our candidates, and saw the press coverage that we had, and overheard all those positive comments from all sides, I could not help but feel proud to be part of all this - for being an agent of change in our society, for feeling that now, truly, I am making a difference, even if only in the background.

And I also couldn't help but remember the very successful noise barrage that happened in 1978 because of a groundswell of support of the people from all walks of life, a people who could no longer stomach the repressive government at that time and the injustice that was going on.

It happened again when people campaigned and voted for Cory overwhelmingly in 1986, and it will happen again now. The Filipinos will cast their vote for the alternative force in government, and throw their lot behind ANG KAPATIRAN, THE POLITICAL PARTY.

Vinchu

Manila Times Opinion Column January 12, 2007

Friday, January 12, 2007

AMBIENT VOICES By Ma. Isabel Ongpin Ang Kapatiran versus the political stranglehold

Every election period brings on an avalanche of candidates, many of whom are self-promoters whose main assets are familiar names, abundant funding and elitist political connections. There are no political conventions to speak of where grassroots elements can promote their own candidates or where the different kind of candidate can mount a campaign and have some chance of winning. Whatever passes for these so-called conventions are the equivalent of smoky backroom meetings closed to the public and open only to a favored few. The result is the usual bad choices we are too familiar with. So, come every election voters are confronted with candidates they have no great confidence in or, worse, have the highest suspicions of. Yet there is no other choice on the ballot between the traditional politician type of Tweedle­dum and Twee­dle­­dee (read “trapo” in current political argot). It is time to look for better candidates in other pastures that should be greener and more promising. While the individual is the catalyst in this search, he or should make up a group that with one voice and one mind goes in search not only of candidates but of methods to bring on new and more acceptable candidates, candidates that meet the needs of the hour and present an alternative to the bankruptcy of values that “trapos” represent. One group is already in the active search mode for candidates that they call servant-leaders for the required commitment to serve the common good without serving themselves as is usual with politicians who attain office. The Alliance for the Common Good or Ang Kapatiran, for short, is an accredited political party. It gained its accreditation on May 8, 2004, and is ready to participate in the coming elections. All it needs are individuals who commit to Kapatiran’s Declaration of Principles published sometime before Christmas in two newspapers. It would be sensible and productive for civic, religious and academic and nongo­vernmental organizations to read the Declaration of Principles which emphasizes values like belief in God, upholding family, community, human rights and work for the common good. Ang Kapatiran also believes in best political practices which are democratic, arrived at through the rule of the majority, but are not abusive. For example, it might be the rule of the majority in both houses of Congress to institute the pork barrel system, but Ang Kapatiran and perhaps the majority of the electorate disagree. The pork barrel institution has been the lure that has inflicted on the electorate political dynasties, warlord politics and unrestrained financial excesses with taxpayers’ money that benefit only a few. Ang Kapatiran offers instead a preferential option for the poor of which the majority of Philippine society are. It wants a fair, honest and justified preferential option that would bring equitability, a crying need of this time and a long time in this country. Ang Kapatiran promotes the community through a political party that will work for it through the principles that it enunciates. The principles are the main event, the servant leader is the means to do the work. Note that the individual here submits to the party and must adhere to party principles. In this political universe, this is totally unconventional and too radical and unattainable for most candidates and their self-serving supporters. It is clear that Ang Kapatiran wants a new paradigm. Now it is up to the public, principally the discerning electorate, to answer the challenge that Ang Kapatiran brings. As suggested earlier, any well-meaning risk takers should look for candidates to present to Ang Kapatiran. Commitment to principles, adherence to party discipline, servant leadership are the vital qualifications. All political posts, from local to national offices, are available. Yes, Ang Kapatiran has quixotic demands indeed but the political stranglehold that oppresses us can be threatened only by idealistic values and principles and the offer to practice them in real terms by presenting candidates who will try.

Conrado de Quiros Column in the Inquirer, Feb 21, 2007

THERE’S THE RUB
Courage
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer
Last updated 00:47am (Mla time) 02/21/2007

AT about the same time that Team Unity opened its campaign in Cebu City last weekend, to much fanfare and confetti, several relative unknowns were going quietly about their business, apprising anyone interested enough to listen about their senatorial bids. Such a one was Martin Bautista, who shook hands with fellow shoppers at the Greenhills "tiangge" [flea market] and told them that he was running for the Senate. He is one of three doing so under the banner of Kapatiran, the anti-"trapo" [traditional politics] party, and if by some miracle he does make it, he says, he plans to abolish the pork barrel, uplift the lot of the poor and bring back decency to government.

The knee-jerk reaction to something like this is to be polite and say aloud, “Ah, yes, that is a very good idea,” but to think privately, “What a bunch of losers.” On the face of it, and compared to the lineups of Team Unity, GO and the various "mestizo" [mixed-affiliation] coalitions, Bautista and company seem no better or worse than the nuisance candidates the Comelec routinely weeds out of the garden before they can threaten to sprout. Candidates who either have batty agendas or have no chance of winning. Though as I’ve written before, in this topsy-turvy Alice-in-Wonderland country the batty agendas of the “nuisance” candidates are often worlds saner than the presumably rational ones of the “serious” candidates. I mean, who is more believable, an unemployed man who says he will spread love, peace and music to this land or a Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo minion who says he will bring justice, truth and freedom?

But to see people like Bautista as “losers” is precisely the kind of knee-jerk reaction that has wrecked the knees of this country and reduced it to a cripple groping blindly in the dark. Look at Bautista and company’s credentials and see if the wannabes in the administration and opposition tickets, individually or collectively, can hold up a candle to them. Bautista is a doctor who has worked in New York and Oklahoma for the last 17 years, who never applied for a green card, and who left a job most Filipino doctors can only dream about (they don’t even mind turning into nurses). “Life is short,” he says. “Better spend it doing something good for your country.”

His two other confreres in Kapatiran have equally sterling credentials. Adrian Sison is one of the country’s top lawyers. And Zozimo Paredes was the executive director of the presidential commission monitoring the implementation of the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement who resigned his post in disgust over the Malacañang-sanctioned springing of Daniel Smith from the Makati City jail. How many of our candidates today have shown that kind of malasakit, or compassion, for the country?

I grant that the burden does not completely lie with the voters. People who present themselves to the voters have the obligation to do so in as pleasing a way as possible, short of resorting to singing and dancing, notably to tunes that reduce this exceptionally musically gifted country to the status of a retardate. They have the obligation as well to shout their heads off and be heard, to try and raise the money to advertise themselves, short of stealing or selling their souls to the devil or Fortress Trapo, whichever is worse, and not just sit back and trust in the intelligence of the Filipino voter. It’s good to trust in God, if you are a believer, but as we all know, God helps those who help themselves. That is true as well of the god of elections, who is the Filipino voter. (Of course, Arroyo has been known to mistake Garci for the voter as the god of elections, but that is another story.)

But the even bigger burden of responsibility lies with us, the public. To this day, I find truly reprehensible that concept of “winnability.” At the very least, it brings out the worst in us, driving us to vote for a candidate just because others are doing so, in the same way that lemmings throw themselves off a cliff just because others are doing so. At the very most, it robs us of a power we hold in our hands. That power is the vote. What makes a candidate “winnable” is not something he possesses, it is something we do. We vote for a candidate, he wins. We do not vote for him, he loses. It’s as simple as that. At least barring God or Garci.

Over the last couple of decades, I’ve supported candidates who I’ve thought were good for the country. Few of them won. Certainly neither of the presidential candidates I supported did: Jovito Salonga in 1992 and Raul Roco in 1998 and 2004. I’ve never regretted it. I’ve never felt I lost because of it. On the contrary, I’ve always thought it was the people who voted for the “winnable” candidate that lost, and lost big. Look at where the country is now.

In this country, the greatest courage is not shown in the face of the direst danger, it is shown in the face of the slightest ridicule. I’ve seen people risk their lives to fight tyranny but balk at endorsing “marginal” candidates, or candidates who are principled but “unwinnable,” for fear of becoming an object of scorn or laughter. Or for fear of being called naïve or simpleminded. What, it’s sophisticated to vote for an entertainer turned ersatz politician because he or she is popular? It’s brilliant to deliver this country into the hands of wheeler-dealers and/or downright crooks because they smell of money? Scorn away and laugh away, but I personally feel that when I endorse people like Martin Bautista, I win. And the country wins with me.

I wish I could say that he who laughs last laughs loudest. But I don’t know that the “unwinnable” candidates will win now, or ever. One thing I do know with absolute certainty and which applies to those who will vote for the “winnable” trapo and entertainer this May:

He who laughs first weeps longest.

KAPATIRAN BET DROPS OUT OF SENATE RACE

(Philippine Daily Inquirer, Feb 20, 2007)
by: Christian V. Esguerra

One of the four candidates of the "alternative" party running under the banner of god-centered politics has withdrawn from the senatorial race due to poor health.

Mario Ongkiko, 75, a prominent lawyer, has dropped his bid under the Ang Kapatiran party because of diabetes and hypertension.

"I am withdrawing on the advice of my doctor," he told the Inquirer yesterday, "I didn't want to run the risk. It would be unfair if I won't be able to serve the voters in case I won."

He is expected to formally withdraw his candidacy before the Commission on Elections today. He said it was likely that the party would no longer field another candidate to replace him.

Ongkiko's decision leaves the party with only three senatorial candidates - Dr. Martin Bautista, and lawyers Adrian sison and Zosimo Paredes

Paredes, 58, is the former executive director of the Presidential Commission on the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement. He criticized the transfer of convicted rapist Daniel Smith, a US soldier, to the custody of the US Embassy. The comment cost Paredes his job.

Sison is a 50 yer old lawyer who specializes in family law and taxation cases.

BIG LOSS

Nandy Pacheco, the anti-gun advocate who founded the party in 2004, described as "a big loss" Ongkiko's withdrawal from the ticket. "He's the most well-known among the group," he said, "But you can't argue against health. We have to accept reality." Ongkiko, a veteran lawyer, was expected to help carry the Kapatiran cause, which seeks to "bring back the teachings of God into the center of politics."

It has clear grounding on Church teachings that engagement in the political sphere should be the primary role of the laity, not the clergy.

ABOLISH PORK BARREL

Besides advocating a gunless society, the party said it was committed to abolishing the pork barrel, a source of kickbacks among members of congress.

Pork barrel comes from the national budget and funds the pet projects of legislators.

Kapatiran also presented itself as "the only political party that will discipline its members for wrongdoing."

Despite his decision, Ongkiko said he would stay on as president of Kapatiran. "I will do everything in my capacity to achieve the vision of the party," he said. "We will still encourage right-thinkig people to make a change, particularly in the arean of politics."

Judging by its machinery and relatively unknown candidates, Kapatiran's chances of winning against the administration's Team Unity and the Genuine Opposition of deposed President Joseph Estrada are slim.

NOT BY MONEY ALONE

But candidates like Bautista, a longtime doctor based in the United States, were convinced that voters would soon "understand that it is within our power to change this country."

Kapatiran candidates are not buying the idea that elections are won primarily because of money.

Administrtion reelectionist Sen Ralph Recto on Sunday said that a senatorial candidte was allowed to spend at least P120 million in a campaign. His fellow senatorial aspirant, Surigao Sur Rep Prospero Pichay, siad a party could add as much as P80 million to the individual campaign kitty.

Bautista said Kapatiran candidates promised to spend "not more than what a senator can earn in a year" for their individual campaigns. He said the party's limit was around P400,000.00. Bautista said he was spending primarily out of his own pocket.

He left for the United States a year after graduating from the University of the Philippines in 1989.

Bautista returned to the country for good last year, leaving a lucratie medical practice in New York and Oklahoma. His wife also had a highsly successful career as a pulmonologist in the United States.

ARTICLE IN THE FRONT PAGE OF PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER FEB 18, 2007

SENATE BETS RUN ON GOD CENTERED POLITICS

First posted 03:05:04 (Mla time) February 18, 2007
Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- The tall man, grinning, offered handshakes to shoppers. A total stranger, he was welcomed anyway at the Greenhills “tiangge” in San Juan yesterday.

“I am Dr. Martin Bautista. I am running for senator under Ang Kapatiran (The Brotherhood) party. I am not a traditional politician,” he told curious strangers huddled around him.

“Bautista who? Ang Kapatiran what?” was the quietly polite reaction of the shoppers. One went further and asked: “Do you have any chance of winning?”

Bautista, 44, knows only too well it’s a tall order to go against a bunch of senatorial hopefuls parading celebrity wives, prominent names and bottomless campaign kitties.

But the gastro-enterologist would not have abandoned a lucrative medical practice in the United States if he was not convinced of victory, or at least a shot at it.

Bautista left for the US a year after he graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1989. Throughout the 17 years that he spent as a physician in New York and Oklahoma, he said he never applied for a green card.

Last year, he came home for good, bringing with him his wife, a UP-trained pulmonologist, and four young daughters.

Life is short

“Life is short, so better spend it by doing something good for your country,” he said in an interview at the Ang Kapatiran headquarters at Greenmeadows in Pasig.

Ang Kapatiran (Alliance for the Common Good) is a political party put up three years ago by Nandy Pacheco, the well-known advocate for a gunless society. The party promotes God-centered politics and calls for the abolition of the “pork barrel” and gambling, among other advocacies.

Aside from Bautista, the party is fielding three other candidates for senator—Mario Ongkiko, Zosimo Paredes and Adrian Sison, who are all lawyers.

Except for Ongkiko, who is acknowledged to be one of the country’s top lawyers, the others are unknowns in politics.

“All the pundits are saying that we won’t win, but that’s a defective concept,” said the 50-year-old Sison who specializes in family law and taxation cases.

Abundance of idealism

“We’re praying that the people will finally wake up and realize that there are genuine alternatives to traditional politics and politicians,” he said.

There’s an abundance of idealism among the four candidates, including Ongkiko who has been practicing law for the past 50 years. At 75, he doesn’t really need the prestige and clout that come with being a senator to cement his place in the sun.

“I can earn enough to last me my lifetime. But I’m not thinking of myself. I’m doing this for my children and my grandchildren,” he said.

So it is also with the 58-year-old Paredes who is best remembered for publicly criticizing the transfer of an American soldier, the convicted rapist Daniel Smith, to the custody of the US Embassy.

It cost Paredes his job as executive director of the presidential commission monitoring the implementation of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Paredes clarified that he would not use the issue to land a Senate seat. He said he had no intention of even mentioning the name of the Filipino woman who accused the US Marine officer of raping her.

“I won’t mention anything about it unless I’m asked. I didn’t even know that many Filipinos appreciated what I had done,” he said.

Educating voters

Pacheco said the decision to field senatorial candidates in May was meant in part to educate Filipino voters who have become inured to traditional politics.

“The people are truly fed up with what they see,” he said.

“If [the Kapitiran candidates] win, it will be a clear sign that Filipino voters are becoming mature,” he said.

But what can three lawyers and a doctor do in the Senate?

They all vow to vigorously pursue the Kapatiran vision “to bring back the teachings of God into the center of politics.” This is the response of Pacheco and his peers to the Second Vatican Council’s idea of an “empowered laity.”

“The laity must lead in the renewing of politics,” says one of the group’s leaders.

Pro-life party

The party is clearly “pro-life,” is for “progressive disarmament” in the national and international level, and regards as a priority projects for the homeless, elderly, prisoners, disabled, veterans and the youth.

Kapatiran is also unique in vowing to discipline members for any wrongdoing.

Ongkiko said theirs was the only genuine political party, noting that both the administration’s Team Unity and the Genuine Opposition were carrying candidates who used to belong to the other side.

“There’s no opposition or administration, it’s just a fantasy. They don’t have a platform. All they want is to win,” he said.

Paredes said the administration and opposition candidates would eventually “cancel each other out,” paving the way for Kapatiran candidates to be noticed.

“It’s like seeing a streak of white in a backdrop of black,” he said.

The Kapatiran candidates are banking on the honest support of well-meaning Filipinos to make up for their lack of political machinery.

“We ask the people to run our campaign, to champion the cause of change,” Ongkiko said.

No gimmicks

The party has launched a project called “Alay Panglinis Pulitika” to invite campaign donations. It has also quietly enlisted the support of a number of parish-based organizations, including the wide-ranging Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs).

Not being entitled to poll watchers, it will rely on groups like the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting to ensure honest elections in May and indirectly safeguard their votes.

The campaign strategy is quite different from the traditional political gimmicks—the sunny smiles, colorful dress, catchy jingles and celebrity endorsers—that this early are threatening to dull the taste of Filipino voters just three days into the official campaign period.

Ongkiko, Paredes, Sison and Bautista will basically rely on the best of intentions and work to effectively communicate them to voters.

“We will talk sanely to the people,” Paredes said.

The Holy Spirit

For Bautista, the presence of God will help in the communication job, much like what the Holy Spirit did for St. Paul and the Apostles when they spread the good news nearly 2,000 years ago.

Yesterday, Bautista was on a one-man campaign at the densely populated Greenhills area. Offering nothing but flyers, a sincere greeting and a clear legislative program, he was not shunned as just another nuisance candidate.

It’s a good start for someone who doesn’t ride on the popularity of a former president, does not sing or dance, and is not the husband of a movie star, and is a movie star himself.

Copyright INQUIRER.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

GERRY GAMEZ - BAYANING PILIPINO SA TAON NG BAGONG MILENYO

Gerry Gamez will run as congressman in the fourth district of Manila under the Ang Kapatiran banner. He has been a member of Ang Kapatiran since 2004, always at our meetings, a quiet and unassuming man, humble in his ways and faithful to the party's principles. So that not man people know that in 2000, Gerry won the ABS-CBN Bayaning Pilipino Award for NCR Region.

A civic leader and youth leader, here's a list of Gerry's present activities: He is Chairman of Ang Kapatiran Political Party's Youth and Sectoral Committee, a member of the Rotary Club of Caloocan, presently president of the Kiwanis Club of Sampaloc, President of the Kulturang Pamana, Founder of the Brigada Bayanihan para sa Kapatiran, Secretary of the Pambansang Samahan ng Mga Bayaning Pilipino, member of the Board of Trustees of the Jesus PeaceMaker Christian Church, Member, Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya.

The following article, published in Philippine Star's STARWEEK 6 years ago, will give a you a better glimpse of the kind of man he is.

THE DAILY HEROISM OF GERRY GAMEZ
by: Ann Montemar Oriondo
(published in STARWEEK, the Sunday Magazine of the
Philippine Star, March 18, 2001)

At the relatively young age of 35, Gerry Gamez has been blessed with not only a second, but a sixth lease on life

True, he is now without his left arm, but Gerry, a Born Again Christian, reveals, “Ang pasasalamat ko sa Diyos, hanggang ngayon.” This gratitude, he adds, has moved him to offer his remaining days to “God, my country, and neighbors. I feel I have a mission in life.”

Gerry’s brand of heroism is the daily kind – that of applying the best of one’s abilities to everyday opportunities in helping others. Going by Gerry’s logic, then, anybody can be a hero any day. “Heroism for me is about the heare and now,” Gerry elaborates. “It is about an ordinary man doing extraordinary things.”

Thus, his roles as a family man or a member of socio-civic groups (the Rotary Club of Caloocan Silangan, for one, of which he is president) or head of his own marketing firm (First Concepts Products, Inc.) are the means by which he can help in his own way.

Gerry must be on the right track, for he was recently chosen by the ABS-CBN Bayaning Pilipino Awards as a Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Regional Finalist (Individual Category) for the National Capital Region. And even before that, Gerry had also received similar awards.

“People think that you need to be rich to help others,” he explains, “but to me, donating the excess (of one’s means) is not heroism. Ito ay yung isususbo mo na pera, ibibiay mo pa.” Asked to specify what he means, Gerry recounts the time when he and his wife, Mary Ann cancelled a trip to Hongkong, handing their intended fare to a friend who needed to undergo surgery.

Gerry’s first brush with death came when he was seven years old. While crossing the Pola River to reach school, a strong current swept over him. He was saved by his uncle, but remained unconscious for eight hours.

The second brush came the following year when, on the same river, his boat overturned. Fortunately, Gerry swam to safety. The next year, while he was riding a horse the horse's knee buckled, causing Gerry to fall off a ravine. But Gerry held on to the reins and when the horse got up and ran, it pulled - and saved - Gerry.

Then when Gerry was 13, a coconut branch Gerry stepped on gave way. Fortunately, the soil underneath had been tilled, cushioning his fall.

At 14 came possibly the most harrowing trial of all. During harvest time, Gerry's left hand got caught in a rice thresher and eventually had to be amputated below the elbow.

Gerry admits that as an adolescent in the throes of manhood at that time, he did worry if a woman would love him with his left arm missing. He plunged into self pity for about a month. His resilience, however, won out in the end, the same resilience tht helped him finish high school selling newspapers in the morning and studying at night. That his classmates at Sampaloc's Central INstitute of Technology were much older than him helped Gerry, he says, "mature faster". Gerry finished second in their night class. He then took up Management and Accounting at PSBA.

When he was 18, Ninoy Aquino was killed and, Gerry, says, "Nagising ang aking damdming makabayn. meron pala akong maibabahagi bilang kabataan." He became a street parliamentarian and was among those who stayed at Edsa in 1986 from the first day to the last. This same fervor moved him recently to join the many street protests against former Pres Joseph Estrada, believing, "Kailingangang magbigay ng pag-asa."

Gerry laments, "Ang mga pinuno ngayon, dumaan sa orientasyon ni President Marcos - there's corruption from the top to the barangay level. Even private companies are following suit." He rallied vigorously against Pres Estrada because, Gerry says, "He had been blessed to lead 70 million, so he (should have been) a good example, Pero hindi ko masasabing puwede siyang maging huwaran ng aking anak at apo, sa ano mang butas mo silipin. Hindi siya modelo, at yun ng aking kalungkutan."

It was also in college, in his second year, that he found his life's other great calling - being a salesman. Working in a firm he had read about in a newspaper ad, he sold US made high tech vacuum cleaners for ten years. Gerry was instrumental in the firm's growth, eventually bringing in and training 100 people until his group contributed more than 50 percent of the company's total sales. He was cited and awarded regularly for his sales a performance. With his earnings, Gerry was able to assist his siblings financially.

In 1977, Gerry established his marketing firm, First Concepts Products. Starting with P50 thousand capital, the firm grew and now imports purifiers, non-expirable fire extinguishers and cookware besides vacuum cleaners.

Now besides attending to his firm, Gerry as Rotary Club of Caloocan president, is busy with socio-civic groups like medical missions and feeding programs. The Rotary appealed to him because of its mission of "Service Above Self."

He is also the treasurer of Kulturang Pamana, which propagates Filipino cultural values and heritage. Its quarterly magazine, Pamanang Kultura, published since 1994, won Gawad Ocar Florendo Most Outstanding Magazine award in 1995. He is also the President of KAISA (Kabataang Kaisa ng Sambayanan sa Pagbabago), a support group for the youth which also provides them with leadership training and the Samahan ng Mga Bayanang Pilipino sa Taon ng Bagong Milenyo.

"Para sa akin,"Gerry concludes "ang pagigigng bayani ay ito: lahat ng ginagawa mo, lahat ng pag-aari mo, pera, panahon, kagamitan -ang bayani ang umaani. Ibigay mo sa bayn nang walang kondison, walang kapalit."

ADRIAN ORDONEZ SISON

ADRIAN ORDONEZ SISON

Address: 48 B Gonzales Street, Unit-4 Loyola Heights, Quezon City, 1108 Philippines
Tel. No.: (63)917-8973231
Email: attysison2020@yahoo.com
Website: www.adrian.i.ph www.angkapatiran.org

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT:

(DATE) (SCHOOL) (COURSE)

Admitted May 1986 Philippine Bar – Supreme Court

College October 1983 U.P. College of Law Bachelor of Laws

March 1977 Ateneo de Manila University Bachelor of Arts Interdisciplinary Studies

High School March 1973 Ateneo de Manila University

Elementary March 1969 Ateneo de Manila University

SEMINARS ATTENDED:

Bureau of Internal Revenue-Tax Updates

National Telecommunications Commission Policy Hearings

Seminars on teaching conducted by San Beda High School and Assumption College Philippines

PERSONAL DATA:

Son of Luis “Sito” Sison and Asuncion “Sony” Ordonez Sison
of Marriage Encounter Foundation and Christian Family Movement

Spouse – Margarita Sison with two children

Sex: Male Height: 5’10”

Civil Status: Married Weight: 190 pounds

Religion: Catholic

Special Skills:

Computer and Internet Literate, Website address www.adrian.i.ph

Estate Planning and Income Taxation Cases Handled

Family law cases of Adoption, Annulment, Business Law, Labor Law

Teaching Journalism, English Literature and students wanting to take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

English Radio Broadcaster on air in DWBR 104.3 Fm from 1997 up to the present at least four hours a week, and Radio Veritas every Saturday afternoon for 30 minutes from January 22, 2005 until 2006

Book Author, Writer and Columnist of monthly Enterprise on E-Business

Columnist on Computerworld Philippines

Member, Rotary Club of Quezon City Club Secretary

Speaker on Family Life, Communications, Work Attitudes, Relationships, Organizing Business, Forgiveness, Legal Matters in the World of Business

Member, Ang Kapatiran Party

Work Experience:

Teacher of English Literature and Journalism in San Beda High School in 1978 and assigned as class moderator of 4^th year high school class

Currently teaching Business Law at Assumption College, Negotiable Instruments, Partnership Law, Corporation Law, Law on Sales

Taught Broadcasting and Telecommunications policy in Ateneo de Manila Electronic and Communications Dept. for one semester in 2002

For almost three years up to the present time – teaches students who are college graduates and / or college age persons who want to review in preparation of taking the International English Language Test (IELTS) conducted by IDP Australia up to the present by Schedule of the requesting students

Legal Assistant to Constitutional Commission of 1986 – assigned to Commissioner Edmundo Garcia, Suggested the creation of the Human Rights Commission, Worked for the abolition of the death penalty and the research on crafting of the Nuclear weapons provision in the 1987 Constitution

Confidential Attorney Court of Appeals 1986 – 1987

Drafted decisions for Justice Jaime Lantin and managed his office

Chief of Staff Representatives Teresa Aquino-Oreta 1987 – 1988; Managed her office, Legal adviser, Drafted legislation and campaigned for votes for drafted legislation

Adviser on Legislation to other members of Philippine Congress 1988

Legal Assistant McManus Law Office Melbourne, Australia 1989

Associate, Mario Ongkiko Law Office Makati, Philippines 1990 – 1992

Estate planning, Taxation, Immigration and Litigation

Legal Department Manager Associated Broadcasting Company 1991 – 199

Managed the office, Drafted the various production contracts which are still been used today, Serve in the KBP Board and drafted several policies, and the amendment of the radio and television code

Assistant Vice President ICC Telecommunications Pasig, City 1993 – 1995

Secured the international gateway and the first landline licenses of ICC ( now Bayantel ), participated in various discussions with the industry and the NTC on policy and circulars, wrote at least three articles published in telecom Asia, worked on secured tax credit certificate from the Department of Finance for the company

Senior Associate Misa Law Office 1995 – 2001

Estate planning, income tax assessment dispute, telecommunications broadcasting legislation, corporate matters and litigation

Adrian Consulting Law Office 2001 – Present

My law office advises clients on business, taxation, estate planning, family law telecommunications policy, litigation and corporate matters and legislation

Currently on leave teaching Broadcasting and Telecommunications Policy at the Ateneo Electronics and Communications Department

CHARACTER REFERENCES:

Name Position Address / Tel. No.

Fr. Dave Clay Priest Frdaveclay@yahoo.com

Atty. Nandy Pacheco Lawyer Journalist angkapatiranparty@yahoo.com

Atty. Cangco RDO Iloilo City 0917-9582222 Iloilo City Regional
Former RD039 District Office

Updated As of January 10, 2007

Abogado naipaglaban ko na kayo, napahinto ang mandatory phone metering para sa mga telepono. Nais niyang bawasan ang rate ng buwis na pinapatao sa bayan, magpatayo ng water catchment para sa water shortage ngayon.

http://www.adrian.i.ph
attyadrian@gmail.com

Lawyer, broadcaster , author on domestic violence, adviser to Congressmen, Senators on legislation, wants the income tax rates to be lowered to seventeen (17) percent from todays high of 32 percent, fund the building of water catchments, for homes and establishments, recycle water. Believes Ang Kapatiran party will elevate our politics on good governance and transparency.

attysison2020@yahoo.com

MARTIN DONATO BAUTISTA, MD

MARTIN DONATO BAUTISTA, MD
September 22, 1962
Filipino Citizen

EDUCATION

Ateneo de Manila Grade School 1968 to 1976
Ateneo de Manila High School 1976 to 1980
University of the Philippines BS Zoology 1980 to 1984
University of the Philippines College of Medicine 1984 to 1989
State University of New York, Brooklyn Internship 1990-1991
SUNY, Brooklyn Residency in Internal Medicine 1991-1993
SUNY, Brooklyn Fellowship in General Internal Medicine 1993-1994
SUNY, Brooklyn Fellowship in Gastroenterology 1994-1996


PROFESSIONAL

Staff Physician, Regional HealthCare Centers, Guymon, OK 1996-1998
Established the Specialty Clinics of St. Anne in Guymon, OK 1998


PERSONAL

Married to Sylvia Tan Bautista, MD a pulmonologist.
Children: Kathryn (13), Victoria (12), Andrea Patricia (6), Anna Letitia (3)


REFERENCES

Name Occupation / Address
Teodoro K. Limcaoco, Managing Director, Ayala Corporation
Brother Bernie Oca FSC
Fr. Ramon L. Bautista SJ Master of Novices, Sacred Heart Novitiate
Jose Brix Pujalte MD National Orthopedic Hospital
Dennis P. Serrano MD Urologist, Philippine General Hospital


Dr. Martin D. Bautista is a 44 year old gastroenterologist who is a total political neophyte. Right after completing medical school at the University of the Philippines in 1989, he and his wife Sylvia went to the US for residency and fellowship training in Brooklyn, NY. They lived in a remote, tiny, peaceful rural town in Oklahoma for 10 years raising their 4 daughters and establishing a successful medical practice before they decided that it was time to go home and determine how best they could give back to their country. A year ago, Dr. Bautista began an online journal which documents his dreams and plans for his beloved Philippines: http://onmywayhome.blogstream.com

ZOSIMO JESUS M PAREDES II

Atty Zosimo Jesus Mendoza Paredes II is a professional military officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines turned lawyer turned politician, turned civil servant.

He served in the military for 17 years, became a member of the Philippine bar in 1982, served as legislator or Member of Parliament (Batasang Pambansa) and contemporaneously as Deputy Director-General or Undersecretary of the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities in 1984- 1986, practiced law in 1986-1999, and served in various capacities at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process from 1999-2003.

A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (class of 1971), he served in various positions in the Philippine Constabulary (precursor of the PNP), AFP from 1971 to 1984. He finished law at the College of Law of Batuio Colleges Foundation in 1981.

In 1983 - 1984, as a Departent of National Defense-AFP scholar, he took up graduate courses in economics (M.A. Econ) at the School of Economics, University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

He was automatically resigned by operation of law from the AFP in May 1984 when he ran and subsequently won a legislative seat, representing the provinceof Ifugao, at the First Regular Batasang Pambansa (National Legislature).

As a Member of Parliament, he served as Vice Chairman of the Committee on Cultural Communities and the Sub-Committee on Domestic Trade. He was also a member of the following committees on: National Defense, Security and Peace and Order, Tourism, Youth and Sports, and Trade and Industry.

He taught "Law and Government" at the Center for Research and communications (now University of Asia and the Pacific) and was twice a fellow of the Asia Foundation, and an awardee of a Hubert H Humphrey Fellowship (Public Administration) of the East-West Program under the Fulbright Scholarship jointly administered by Tuft's University and Harvard University.

He rendered consultancy services to the Department of National Defense and the Department of Interior and Local Government and was detailed as Vice Chairman of the Southern Philippines Development Authority Deactivation Task force, and Special Action Officer to the Chairman of the Bilateral Executive-Legislative Advisory Committee on Sabah Issues.

On December 1, 2003, the late Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Honorable Blas F. Ople, appointment Attorney Jess Paredes as legal officer at the DFA, and subsequently designated as Deputy Executive Director of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACOM).

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed Atty. Paredes as Executive Director of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement, and, concurrently, as Presidential Assistant (with rank Undersecretary), Office of the President on March 6, 2004.

Atty. Zosimo Jesus "Jess" M. Paredes II was born and raised in Manila, educated in Manila and Baguio city, and maintains residences both in Manila and Baguio City. He is married to Maria Olivia Errea Dela Merced of Manila and father of 4 boys and 3 girls. His parents were the late General and former Governor of Ifugao, Zosimo Joven Paredes and pharmacist Anacleta Arreola Mendoza, of Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur, and Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur, respectively.

KAPATIRAN PARTY PRESIDENT MARIO ONGKIKO

ATTY. MARIO ONGKIKO y ELBO
(Senatorial Candidate Under Ang Kapatiran Political Party)

PERSONAL DATA

Born: Ermita, Manila, October 29, 1931
Native of Sta. Cruz, Laguna

Residence: #54 Katipunan Road, White Plains, Quezon City

Family:

Spouse: Sonia Palma Gil of Davao City

Children: Eight (8) - All alumni of the University of the Philippines

EDUCATION

Elementary: Sta. Cruz, Laguna Elementary School

Secondary: Laguna High School

College: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
Major in Banking and Finance (1951) (U.E.)

Bachelor of Science in Law (1956) (U.P.)

Passed the Bar Examination of 1957 87.5%)

PROFESSION

Litigaion Lawyer since 1957 to the Present

Founding Partner, Ongkiko Kalaw Manhit and Acorda Law Offices (1974 - present)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Member, Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) (1997 - present)

Member, Philippine Bar Association (1988 to Present)

Member, Philippine Constitutional Association (1989 to Present)

Professional Lecturer, University of the Philippines, Diliman
(Remedial Law) (1983-2002; 2004-present)

Member, Law Alumni Association, University of the Philippines, (since 1956)

Member, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, (1973 to present)

Member, International Law Association (1982 - Present)

MEDIA AFFILIATION

Member, Kapisanan ng Mga Broadcasters sa Pilipinas
(2001 - present)

Host, "Kasangga Mo Sa Batas" (9:00a.m. - 10:30 a.m. every Saturday)
Radio Veritas (846 khz AM) (2001 to present)

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS AND OTHER WORKS RELATED TO PROFESSION

Private Prosecutor - Evelio Javier Case, RTC-Antique (1981- 1988)

Deputy General Counsel, Fact Fincing Board (Agrava Commission) (1983-1984)

Bar Examiner, Criminal Law, 1985

Legal Consultant, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (Jan 1989 - Dec 1990)

Special Counsel, Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for the PCGG cases (Jan 1991 - 1999)
(assigned to Coco Levy cases)

Panel Speaker (on Litigation) World Law Conference (October 24 - 29, 1993)

Private Prosecutor, People of the Philippines vs Beltran, et.al - Regional Trial Court,
Manila, (Libel case filed by Pres Corazon Aquino)

Defence Attorney in the followng high-profile Cases (People vs Antonio Sanchez, People vs Bryan Dy, People vs Hubert Webb)

Private Lawyer - Coconut Farmers Federation known as "Liga ng Magniniyog" (present)

Lecturer, MCLE, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (2004)

Chief Counsel (Feliciano) FAct Finding Commission (August - October 2003)

VARIOUS RELIGIOUS AND CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS

Member, Philippine Jaycees (1964-1971), Senator, Philippine Jaycees (1989 - Date), President, Christ the King Parish Pastoral Council (1978 - 1985), President, White Plains Homeowners Association (1985 - 1987), Director (1990), President (1991); Caritas Foundation, Inc. - Sta. Cruz Laguna (Manila Chapter); Member, Adoracion Nocturna Christ the King Parish (1986); President, Golden Jubilarians of Laguna High School (Class of 1948); President and Member, Valley Gold and Country Club, Inc., Lay Minister, Christ the King Parish, QC (on leave)

The far-reaching causes and effects of poverty

The far-reaching causes and effects of poverty
By Napoleon T. Cabello
(Manila Bulletin, Business Option column, Feb. 13, 2007)

“…Life is a struggle. You feel isolated and excluded from mainstream society; you feel as though you have no control over your own life; no security; you lack choices and opportunities; you feel stressed; you often feel anxious or depressed; you feel as though you have no voice and no power.” (‘OzSpirit; The Face of Poverty’ article on how does it feel to be poor).

What is poverty? The Dictionary of Economics defines it as an “inability to secure minimum requirements for life, health, and efficiency on account of insufficient income or property. These requirements include minimum human needs in respect of food, clothing, education and health.”

Contrary to our common perception, poverty is not only deprivation of basic income and consumption capability. One is poor if he also lacks human capital in forms of education, skills, ability to work or if he has no access to basic health care. One is poor when he lives in a polluted environment or if he has no access to water, housing, and basic infrastructures. In rural areas, you are also considered poor if you have no access to natural capital – land which is one of the three important factors of production. In short, one is poor when he is easily vulnerable in his own surroundings, unable to uplift his pitiful condition by himself and also powerless in reshaping his own future to improve his lot.

Last year’s 4TH quarter survey by the Social Weather Station sums it all up: 3.3 million families or 19% of 86.8 million Filipinos – claimed they have experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the last three months with 52% of families reporting themselves as “poor” in general. Further, 40% said they are poor in terms of food and 27% put themselves on the borderline.

After having quickly revisited the complex dimensions of poverty, let’s address its far-reaching causes and effects. The nagging question we always ask ourselves is why are we still so poor? Why are we lagging far behind our Asian neighbors when they had no more natural resources than our country and their people no more talented than us? In the 50’s, we were second to Japan and in the 60’s and the 70’s, we were ahead of Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan. With this as the backdrop, let’s look at some of the major bi-directional factors that force 40-50% of our population to become endlessly poor and deprived:

1) No pro-poor economic growth/low agricultural productivity – To dramatically reduce poverty, our economic gains should be pro-poor, sustainable and must far exceed our inflation and population growth, Asian Development Bank (ADB) reiterates. Fine, the over-all economy expanded 5.4% in 2006 but if we look closer, our agricultural output, which represents a fifth of GDP, grew only 3.88% way below our inflation of 6.2%. Of course the last three strong typhoons last year had something to do with this but remember our poor farmers are still using outdated farming methods and with no access to credit, they are always at the mercy of unscrupulous traders. No wonder, this sector contributed 61.6% to poverty incidence in 2000 according to ADB. Despite its low growth performance however, agriculture still directly employs 12.2 million representing more than a third of total labor force. But if we include dependents and indirect and seasonal workers involved in rice production alone, we could easily see additional seven million poor Filipinos that are also being greatly affected by low productivity.

2) Unequal distribution of wealth – ADB’s statistics are very disturbing in this area. In 2003, the share of income belonging to the richest 10% of the population was still more than 20 times the share of income of the poorest 10%. This is quite consistent with Forbes Magazine’s recent publication of Philippines’ 40 richest people with the top 3 having a combined wealth equivalent to almost 40% of our national budget! You can also see in the papers these days the resurgence of a vibrant stock market, the appreciation of the peso, decreasing fiscal deficit and increased earnings by a number of big companies. Unfortunately, all these improved macroeconomic fundamentals do not mean anything to many of us.

3) Weak governance – We can easily identify the sad indicators of weak governance – absence of strong political party system, unproductive Congress, rampant corruption, patronage/oligarchic/elitist types of politics, chronic budget deficits, high public debt, poor investment climate, inability to deliver necessary social services to the populace, political dynasties, cumbersome bureaucracy, peace and order concerns, etc. Some studies show that tax leakage alone has been estimated to be around P240 billion annually not to mention the adverse effects of smuggling, inefficient use of the P22 billion pork barrel, and overpriced infrastructure projects. Our government borrowing keeps on increasing requiring debt servicing for principal and interest amounting to P622 billion this year. All these fiscal wastes could have been used to augment the meager budgets for agriculture, education, health and other social services.

4) Unemployment/underemployment – As of October 2006, we have 2.6 million without jobs representing 7.3% of our total labor force of 35.8 million. This is not the whole picture though. If we include those who stopped looking for work, the real unemployment rate should have been 11.7% or 4.4 million! On the other hand, the underemployment rate (representing those who work less than 40 hours a week) reached 23.5% or 8.4 million. We have 1.2 million new labor entrants per year but we only have 900,000 jobs available. Reason? Our economic growth is not high enough to fully absorb the employment imbalance of 300,000. Why? We have many companies closing due to globalization, no business expansion due to poor investment climate, low exports due to inability to compete in the global market, workers lacking appropriate skills, aspiring small entrepreneurs needing marketing/financing support, etc.

5) Poor Public Educational System – We seem to be short of almost every critical item in public schools – limited classrooms, desks, textbooks, and number of teachers resulting in poor quality of our public education. And this is not to mention malnourished school children that have contributed to the worsening dropout rates in public schools. Empirical studies show that children from poorer families are on the average almost three times more likely to be out of school vs. those from rich families, according to ADB. Of the 16.4% families whose household heads were unemployed in 2000 for instance, 15.7% were poor. Thus, we have in our midst a “vicious-circle” phenomenon: the poor cannot find work because he has no skill; he has no skill because he has no education; he has no education because he is poor!

(The author is a member of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) with e-mail address: admin@finex.org.ph; website: www.finex.org.ph).

GOD BE WITH YOU NANDY

Published in the opinion column REVEILLE By Ramon J. Farolan
Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 12, 2007

MANILA, Philippines -- My first meeting with Nandy Pacheco, he of The Gunless Society, was at a dinner with friends in one of the Valle Verde villages. It was shortly after Edsa I and, at that time, the idea of a gunless society was the farthest thing from my mind. Too many people were moving around with guns, or with bodyguards whose waistlines were bulging with all kinds of hardware. My impression of Nandy was that of a well-intentioned individual completely out of touch with reality.

I lost track of Nandy and our paths never crossed again for some time. But somehow the phrase “gun-less society” stuck in my mind. Each time a shooting occurred in the community which resulted in a fatality, I would be jolted by the thought that without the guns, there would be fewer killings and less mayhem in our lives.

Last September, just before leaving for the United States, I got a call from Nandy. My feeling was that he was busy setting up the platform for an organization that would provide citizens with an alternative to the political merry-go-round that passes for Philippine-style democracy. I was grateful for the opportunity to exchange ideas with him and to provide some inputs for a few of his advocacies. He invited me to join the general assembly meeting of his organization Ang Kapatiran, scheduled for November. With much regret I told him that I would be away for a few weeks and would be unable to attend the meeting.

Some of the items which we discussed concerned the use of active military and police officers as aides and security personnel for politicians and government officials. We were in full agreement that there was too much abuse of this privilege, and valuable manpower was being diverted from more important functions. We also agreed that a fixed term of three years for the AFP chief of staff, regardless of the statutory age of retirement, was good for the military organization. (This was before Congress approved the bill on the tenure of the AFP chief. Unfortunately, the measure up to now has not been signed into law by the President.)

There were also a number of issues on which we disagreed. But somehow I felt that with Nandy, there was always room for clarification, understanding and possible resolution of differences.

Last December, Nandy called again and I suggested that, perhaps, it would be best for the holiday season to pass before we sat down for more serious talk. Somehow, my instincts told me that Nandy had other things in mind aside from a discussion of principles and programs for good governance.

Sure enough, our first breakfast meeting proved my instincts right. Among other things, Nandy was lining up individuals for a Kapatiran senatorial slate. He proposed a campaign similar to that put up by non-politicians of Quezon City, who banded together to wrest control of City Hall in the ’60s. If my memory serves me right, men like former UP president Vidal Tan and retired Navy Capt. Charlie Albert were part of the group known as the Quezon City Council for Good Government. Running as underdogs, they beat the local politicians without having to resort to any of the hanky-panky that seems to be accepted these days as part of our political exercises.

Unfortunately, after winning, the group slowly broke up, to the disappointment of Quezon City residents. Nandy accounts for the failure of this group to a lack of shared principles and party platform that would have kept their organization intact through the ups and down of city administration. Perhaps, this was his way of explaining why he first set up Ang Kapatiran, a party with clear and specific policy objectives which focuses more on moral principles rather than political expediency.

I thanked Nandy for keeping me in mind but, at my age and with all my health problems, I felt that running in a nationwide race would be unfair to all concerned. I suggested younger people who shared the same aspirations and yearnings for our country. As usual, Nandy had all the answers. He said, “the youth are too busy making a living and raising families. We, the senior citizens of this country, must take up the burden of setting things right for future generations. After all, we have been responsible for all that has happened to our country and our job now is to try to correct the errors and abuses of the past.”

If we are thinking of alternatives, Nandy Pacheco’s Ang Kapatiran provides us with a vehicle for meaningful change.

INCORRIGIBLE IDEALISTS

(From the column MY VIEWPOINT by: Ricardo V. Puno, Jr. Philippine Star, Feb 13, 2007)

At a time when "pragmatic politics" seems to hold sway, and when principles, it is said, appear to have been sacrificed on the altar of "winnability," it’s still quite refreshing to note veritable voices in the wilderness which call for "responsible and accountable" political parties.

As I write this, it’s the last day for filing certificates of candidacy for those running for the Senate of this Republic. Apart from those who are running as "independents," most of who do not seem averse to being guest candidates of either the administration or opposition party, there are at least four candidates who are really going it alone.

Nandy Pacheco called to let me know that the party he co-founded and of which he was the first president, Ang Kapatiran, is fielding four candidates.

The Kapatiran slate is composed of prominent legal eagle Mario Ongkiko, party president; Zosimo Paredes, former military man and executive director of the office administering the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement; Dr. Martin Bautista, a young (44 years of age) balikbayan medical specialist in gastroenterology who returned to the country after establishing a successful rural practice in Oklahoma, USA; and another lawyer, broadcaster and Ateneo teacher, Adrian Sison.

Nandy tells me the party, which by the way was accredited by the Commission on Elections back in May 2004, will field only four candidates. I don’t know whether Kapatiran will be open to guest candidates. That, I suppose, will depend on whether candidates belonging to other political parties will be willing to subscribe to the party’s principles and platform. But since in a political season, candidates will be willing to say anything and promise even more, the party should adopt processes which hopefully will weed out the impostors, the sanctimonious and the merely glib.

When one hears Kapatiran describe itself, one is reminded of what one now deceased political leader called his fighting faith. Although we can’t quarrel with that formulation, one has to remember that the phrase was uttered by Ferdinand Marcos. Still, the words are powerful and, in many ways, true.

In papers distributed recently, the party started out by quoting the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ diagnosis of our political milieu. Said the CBCP in a "pastoral exhortation" issued in 1997: "Philippine politics — the way it is practiced — has been most hurtful to us as a people. It is possibly the biggest bane in our life as a nation and the most pernicious obstacle to our achieving full development…If we are what we are today — a nation with a great number of poor and powerless people — one reason is the way we have allowed politics to be debased and prostituted to the low level it is in now."

The party maintains that since 1997, "there has been no improvement; on the contrary, the situation has turned from bad to worse." Thus, the party says, "Ang Kapatiran focuses more on moral principles than political expediency, more on the needs of the poor and the vulnerable than the interests of the rich and the powerful, more on the pursuit of the common good than the demands of special interests, more on the culture of life and peace than the culture of death and violence."

Fundamentally, then, Ang Kapatiran is sworn to "bring to an end the politics of pork barrel, celebrity politics, deception, deceit, hypocrisy, dishonesty, patronage, pay-off, unprincipled compromises, expansion of political family dynasties, and the politics of guns, goons and gold."

While we don’t have enough space here to detail its full platform, it is interesting to comb through it and highlight what I anticipate will be quite controversial when the party ventures forth into the hustings.

In the "moral dimension" of its platform, for instance, Kapatiran says it will, among other things, dismantle the social structures that glorify sex and pornography, abolish all forms of gambling, abolish the death penalty, actively promote responsible parenthood and natural family planning, and reorient mass media towards fostering values that contribute to a national commitment which is "maka-Diyos, maka-bayan, maka-tao, at maka-kalikasan."

I’m sure you will remember Nandy for his gunless society crusade. If you think the Kapatiran platform side-steps this issue, you don’t know Nandy. Indeed, the party’s "peace and order" approach, declares as contrary to public policy, public morals and public interest the glorification of the gun, and makes it a criminal offense for anyone but police officers or soldiers, and licensed security guards in uniform and on duty to carry firearms in public places.

Kapatiran wants to outlaw tinted windows on vehicles, ban firearms "exhibits" on public malls, tightly regulate the importation and production of firearms, and mandate the melting down of all confiscated firearms into "useful instrument."

In its economic agenda, the more noteworthy aspects of the party’s agenda are the limiting of all future debts to levels within the country’s capacity to pay based on export earnings and overseas remittances (in other words, no deficit spending), streamlining of the government bureaucracy, prioritizing agricultural development, pursuing agrarian reform, promoting industrialization and participating in globalization.

In reforming the political culture, Kapatiran goes into such specifics as standing for the appointment of an armed forces Chief of Staff to a fixed term of three years regardless of the statutory age of retirement, disauthorizing active military and police personnel from being appointed as aides and security officers (to anyone, not merely politicians), and passing a law outlawing political dynasties.

Kapatiran also wants to prohibit elected and appointive public officials from writing regular columns, acting in movies and television shows, acting as commentators or anchorpersons on radio and television, and appearing on commercials, advertisements and billboards.

The party also bats for an additional requirement that candidates for President, Vice-President and Senators and Congressmen must be college or university graduates.

As I said, we don’t have the space to list all the aspects of the Kapatiran platform. But even if the debate is limited only to points raised here, one can see the party’s candidates will be kept busy explaining its positions. The hope, of course, is that the party be taken seriously, and that its platform be discussed thoroughly.

Winning, I’m sure, is neither the most important nor the only thing for Kapatiran, whatever American football coach Vince Lombardi might urge. What would really help our flawed political situation, I think, is that the party’s ideas elbow out the bogus issues and focus national attention on the points it raises, controversial as I know they are.

A LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF DIGOS

The following letter was sent by email to Ang Kapatiran by Bishop Guillermo Afable of Digos soon after our one page ad came out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. To be described as a "breath of fresh air" is the kind of affirmation that give us encouragement and hope.


The President
Ang Kapatiran Party

I would like to let you know that I am extremely delighted in what
you are trying to do and get moving in this country. You are like
a "breath of fresh air" in the otherwise polluted political
environment of our country. Carry on and surge on with your vision
and mission.

I shall endeavour in my own little way to inform our lay faithful
about the party and encourage them to get involved and support it.
May I know if there already is a local chapter formed in any of the
Davao provinces and cities? I should like to get in touch with them
as soon as possible.

With my greetings and prayers for a peaceful and fruitful new year
to you all and your loved ones, I remain

Sincerely Yours,


Guillermo V. Afable, D.D.
Bishop of Digos

EVANGELIZING PHILIPPINE POLITICS

The CENTERPIECE feature of BIZNEWS ASIA for its January 2007 issue.

New Politics, New Methods, New Fervor

By Ruby Ann Kagaoan - Calo


The late Jaime Cardinal Sin declared, “Politics is not dirty. It’s good. It is ordained for the common good of the people. It is the people who practice politics who make it dirty.”

It was the Cardinal’s voice that called on the Filipinos to go to EDSA in February 1986 to protect the military and government men who were defecting from the dictator. The late Church leader made his mark in Philippine politics.

What is politics, after all? It is good governance and authentic public service – this is its truest definition. It is not a dirty thing to be avoided. It is what we need to put order in our society. “The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his first encyclical.

The Pope further stated, “A just society must be the achievement of politics, not the Church.” The Pope has called on the laity to take up the cause of a just society by participating in politics. He wrote, “The direct duty to work for the just ordering of society… is proper to the lay faithful.” This is the gospel of politics.

Responding to the call of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, which urged the Catholic lay faithful “to participate actively and lead in the renewing of politics in accordance with the values of the Good News of Jesus,” a band of ordinary Catholic lay faithful led by Nandy Pacheco and on fire to put their faith into action started a new political movement.

The primary aim of the movement is the common good. The two major components of the movement are political education and political action.

The vision of the movement is a new Philippines as a nation of character, enjoying a politics of virtue, good citizenship, duty, transparency, and accountability, and where every Filipino is living life to the fullest.

Soon, Filipinos of other faiths, like the Evangelicals, joined the movement, and in August 2002, this interfaith, nonpartisan, nonviolent, and communitarian political movement was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as Kapatiran sa Pangkalahatang Kabutihan (KPK).

It is on a mission to evangelize politics and awaken the laity and the rest of the citizenry to their duty to be vanguards of politics and good governance.


New Politics


KPK drew up a list of aspirations, but no political party took up its aspirations. As a consequence, some KPK leaders led by Pacheco formed a new political party adapting the movement’s principles and aspirations as the party’s founding principles and political platform. The party will field candidates that fully believe in and live by its aspirations.

On May 8, 2004, two days before the last national elections, the Commission on Elections accredited KPK’s political party, Ang Kapatiran, as a national political party.

The party’s platform is open-ended and the party welcomes specific proposals that are consistent with its principles and that enhance the common good.

Ang Kapatiran’s new politics is focused more on moral principles than on political expediency, more on the needs of the poor and the vulnerable than on the interests of the rich and powerful, more on the pursuit of the common good than on the demands of special interests, and more on the culture of life and peace than on the culture of death and violence.

The party is anchored on universal moral principles like belief in God Almighty, the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person, preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, the dignity of work and the rights of workers, solidarity, commitment to the common good on all levels: in local communities, in our nation, in the community of nations; rights and responsibilities, care for God’s creation, people empowerment, and peace and active nonviolence.

“There is no way to escape politics,” declares Nandy Pacheco, founder and former president of both the political movement KPK and the political party Ang Kapatiran. “Politics is like air. Without air we will die; unfortunately, we ourselves pollute the air. That’s why people develop respiratory ailments,” he says. Since 1989, Nandy has been fighting for a gun-less society. “Let buy guns be bygones,” was a catchphrase he coined that used to be on a prominent billboard on EDSA.

In 1995, when Pope John Paul II was going to visit the Philippines, a 21-gun salute was planned as a welcome for His Holiness, but Nandy, who was a member of the welcome and arrival committee, opposed that plan and the Vatican’s representative seconded it.

Nandy was a former international civil servant who served in high positions in the United Nations Information Center and the Asian Development Bank. When he opted to take an early retirement in 1990, he was the highest-ranking Filipino in ADB.

Like cleaning polluted air, the task of cleaning up Philippine politics is gargantuan. But Ang Kapatiran is undaunted.

“We are evangelizing Philippine politics,” says Nandy, who now serves as the Secretary-General of the party. He boldly declares, “We are the David’s, the trapos (traditional politicians) are the Goliaths.”

The Ang Kapatiran party may be small like a David, but it charges with a sure aim with its clear and specific platform. It is not intimidated by the political Goliaths with their machineries of guns, goons, and gold.

Indeed, Ang Kapatiran is moving forward fearlessly like a David charging a Goliath. “We will surely topple down the Goliaths if we work together,” Nandy said confidently during the November 4, 2006 General Assembly when the new set of Ang Kapatiran officers and national committee chairpersons were presented and ratified.

“There can be no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday, no resurrection without the cross. Right now, we are at the cross, but we will surely reach the resurrection,” Nandy declares passionately.

One of the original incorporators of the movement and the party, Mario Ongkiko, a prominent law practitioner, is back after taking leave and is now the new President of the party. This is a welcomed development. Mario Ongkiko’s presence puts turbo power into the party as it prepares for the 2007 national elections.

The other incumbent officers of Ang Kapatiran are Manolo Dayrit as Chairman; David Lim as Vice-Chairman; Benny de Guzman as Vice President and Treasurer; Nonet Abellana as Vice President for Western Visayas; Feliciano Perater, Jr. as Vice President for Mindanao; Amador Astudillo and Rafael Enriquez as Deputy Secretary-Generals.

Seventy-three years old and still going strong, Nandy is passionate about the cause of Ang Kapatiran and KPK. “It is for our children, and their children, and their children’s children,” Nandy appeals.

Ang Kapatiran is now on an active search for principled Filipinos who will commit their futures to serving the Philippines and bringing it out of the bottom ranks. It is possible to skyrocket the Philippines and make it catch up with the Asian tigers, but the prerequisite is good governance and a peaceful and just society. “Ang Kapatiran is the antidote,” proposes Nandy.


New Methods


What makes Ang Kapatiran unique?

First of all, Ang Kapatiran upholds a platform-based politics, in contrast to the personality-based, celebrity-driven politics that our countrymen have been subjected to election after election.

Ang Kapatiran’s new method of campaigning includes a built-in education component that will promote basic political education, platform-based politics, and the politics of virtue and of duty, good citizenship, transparency and public accountability.

Ang Kapatiran will accord the highest priority to projects and programs for the underprivileged, the homeless, the indigenous peoples, the elderly, the prisoners, the disabled, the veterans, and the youth. It will support nongovernmental organizations and communities whose projects and programs directly benefit the poor.

Ang Kapatiran is the only political party that will promote progressive disarmament nationally and internationally through the United Nations.

Ang Kapatiran promotes a “respect life” attitude in society and a consistent ethic of life. Thus, anyone running as a political candidate under Ang Kapatiran should not only be against abortion but also against anything that promotes violence in any form, even toy guns and violent movies.

Ang Kapatiran will dismantle the social structures that glorify vices and immorality and the culture of death and violence and replace them with the structures of virtue, peace, responsibility, and achievement.

Ang Kapatiran is for strict gun control in public places except for law enforcers who are in uniform and on duty. It supports the abolition of the death penalty. It is the only political party that is committed to abolish “pork barrel” and gambling, which discourages honest work and promotes poverty, fraud, and deceit.

Ang Kapatiran is for the immediate liquidation of cash advances of public servants. Un-liquidated cash advances in the Philippine government already run in the billions. It is against the unwholesome practice of setting up billboards in public places naming the public officials responsible for the project. It will disallow elected and appointed public officials from writing regular columns, acting in movies, anchoring on radio, and appearing on television, commercials, and billboards.

As a preventive measure against corruption, Ang Kapatiran will do away with laws, rules, and regulations that give government personnel, like the BIR, the discretion to allow or disallow certain tax deductions and exemptions.

Ang Kapatiran will limit future government borrowings within the growth levels of our exports, OFW remittances or GDP. It will create micro-finance facilities harnessing OFW remittances and will encourage the development of new export products.

Ang Kapatiran is committed to protect God’s creation, the most important of which are people. To protect people, Ang Kapatiran will promote a safe, clean, and wholesome environment – and that is environment in the broadest sense, which includes not only physical but also the social aspect.


New Fervor


A new fervor is rising for a new way of doing politics in the Philippines. KPK and Ang Kapatiran will go to the parishes and the dioceses to educate the laity about their responsibility to ensure the just ordering of society and to inject moral sense in the political process. It is now creating chapters all over the country and even abroad, wherever there are Filipinos. As long as there are at least 10 members meeting regularly in a locality, that will comprise a chapter.

Ang Kapatiran calls on all Filipinos, regardless of religious affiliation, to support its campaign for a new politics and help bring the good news that a new Philippines is possible. Don’t give up on the Philippines just yet. It is time to stop complaining and for those with moral courage to step forward and run for public office.

Consider the platform of Ang Kapatiran, and if you support it, join the party, help evangelize Philippine politics, and if you know anyone who wants to run under the banner of Ang Kapatiran, encourage him/her to contact the party. Website: www.angkapatiran.org Telefax: (02) 635-27-96 Email: angkapatiranparty@yahoo.com Mobile: 0917-8826700.

AN INVITATION TO JOIN ANG KAPATIRAN

Yesterday, December 22, 2006, Ang Kapatiran Party came out with a one page ad in the Philippine Daily Inquirer inviting people who wish to be servant leaders of our country and who subscribe to our Founding Principles and platform to join the Ang Kapatiran Party.

For those who wished to join, one of the contact numbers given was my cell phone number, and I have to say that I was overwhelmed with the number of texts I received yesterday, almost all of them positive, and with so many, specially from the provinces, wanting to join the party.

Truly, the Filipinos are hungry for a change, and the change of values and character that our platform represents made many people sit up and take notice.

We do hope that from our many responses, we do find some true servant leaders, selfless in their desire to work for the common good!!!!

Vinchu

ANG KAPATIRAN ELECTS NEW OFFICERS

by: Nandy Pacheco

Mario E. Ongkiko, a prominent trial lawyer, was elected president of Ang Kapatiran, a national political party, at a general meeting of the party on Nov. 4, 2006.

Mr. Ongkiko succeeded Nandy Pacheco who opted to take the position of Secretary General of the party. The Commission on Election accredited Ang Kapatiran as a national political party on May 8, 2004.

Other elected officers were: Manuel K. Dayrit, chairman; David Lim, Vice Chairman, Benny de Guzman, Vice President and Treasurer, Arsenio Abellana, Vice President for Western Visayas, Feliciano Perater Jr., Vice President for Mindanao, Amador Astudillo and Rafael Enriquez, Deputy Secretary Generals.

Elected chairmen of national committees were: Vinchu Lapid, Membership; Pete Concepcion and Met Palaypay, Education; Benny de Guzman, Finance; Nandy Pacheco, Public Information; Adrian Sison and Ruben Miranda, Research and Documentation; Joe San Pedro, Legal Affairs; Rafael Enriquez, Grievance and Arbitration; Peter Bautista, Social Action; Norman Cabrera, Electoral Concerns; and Gerry Gamez, Youth and Sectoral Organizations.

Ang Kapatiran promotes a platform-based politics with clear and specific objectives – all aimed at enhancing the common good. It also promotes the politics of virtue and of duty, good citizenship, transparency and public accountability and provides basic political education.

THE PARTY OF THE FUTURE

This column of Jose C. Sision appeared in the Philippine Star, Oct.6, 2006.

A Law Each Day

Friday, October 6, 2006

Party of the Future

I am glad to have changed my mind about skipping that breakfast meeting scheduled last Saturday, September 30, 2006. With the effects of “Milenyo”s destructive fury still hovering, a breakfast meeting was definitely the least of my priorities for that day. But somehow, my conscience bothered me if I would snub the affair especially knowing fully well that one of my favorite prelates, Bishop Ted Bacani was the guest speaker, not to mention the persistent but amiable invitation of Nandy Pacheco whose infectious idealism and indomitable spirit in pursuing his dreams is simply impressive and admirable.

The moment I stepped into the modest room at the historic Club Filipino, I somehow sensed that another history is in the making. It was supposed to be a “political party meeting” except that it had no distinguishable earmarks of the typical gathering of present day typical politicians. I saw a Senator (Ramon Magsaysay, Jr.) but he is definitely of a rare and different breed fitting well into the gathering. Seated inside were only about less than a hundred hardy Filipinos, men and women of all ages mostly belonging to the middle class, seldom seen and never heard of making loud noises or complaining and heckling about what’s happening to our country now. It had the ingredient of youthful idealism as typified by Alex Lacson who exuded a lot of optimism about the country’s future and an abiding faith in the Filipino. Apparently those who assembled that morning had arrived at their “defining moments”, finding a common cause, sharing a common vision and embarking on a common mission. Instead of merely complaining repeatedly, they decided to act. Under the current political milieu, they could even be considered as “dreamers” but it seemed that they don’t mind that tag at all.

The meeting had nothing to do with any plot to change the present occupant of Malacanang or to change the form of government but to change the kind of political parties that have dominated the political scene since the birth of our democracy. It was the meeting of “Ang Kapatiran”, a full pledged national political party accredited by the Comelec only last May 8, 2004.

Ang Kapatiran, as a political party, seeks to meet what its President Nandy Pacheco said are the two essential conditions for the success of any form of government: the presence of (1) responsible and accountable political parties and (2) an enlightened, mature and responsible voters. It is perhaps the only party openly declaring that it is founded on the social teaching of the Church and firmly standing on a platform with clear and specific policy objectives—all aimed at enhancing the common good.

In his speech, Bishop Bacani lamented that despite two people power revolutions, Philippine politics still has miserably failed to give us the kind of good government so necessary in eradicating poverty that continues to stalk our land. In his view, there are three main causes of such failure. First, is the misconception of the principle of Church-State separation that was originally intended merely to protect the Church from official government influence and patronage but is now being used to prevent public officials and politicians from using their moral convictions and applying their religious beliefs to purely political concerns. Because of this misconception God is often excluded from the discussions and resolutions of so many political issues when the very opening of our Charter’s preamble precisely implores the aid of the Almighty God. Second, is the after effect of EDSA people power I where the clergy was constrained to project a stronger voice in politics because of rampant human rights violations during the martial law regime. Such stance resulted in too much reliance on the clergy by the laity who should really be the one at the forefront of the Church participation in political affairs. This is very evident in the people’s reaction to the recent CBCP circular about its stand on impeachment where the laity was given the option to make the move but they still awaited the bishop’s marching orders as in Edsa I. Third, is the Filipinos’ cultural heritage of “tribalism” that spawns the destructive and pernicious rivalry among the people. Such heritage is manifested by “closed families” rather than “close families” thereby resulting in the Filipinos’ lack of the sense of the common good and sense of servant leadership.

Ang Kapatiran’s platform has apparently been designed to address these causes of the failure hounding Philippine politics. With the common good as its ideology, it “urges the lay faithful to participate actively and lead in the renewing of politics in accordance with the values of the Good News of Jesus” It has a built-in education component that promotes the politics of virtue and of duty, transparency and public accountability, and good citizenship through basic political education.

Everyone in the meeting appeared to be in an upbeat mood despite the seemingly insurmountable odds, prompting Mr. Pacheco to pragmatically remind them that, remaining faithful to their cause rather than being successful should be foremost in their minds so that “when we die before realizing our dreams we shall die happy rather than sad because of the thought that we remain true to our mission up to the very end”. As a parting shot Bishop Bacani also gave some words of encouragement by telling the assembly that “ang pinunla ng Panginoon ay hindi nga ‘mabongga’ nguni’t ito ay mabunga”.

“Ang kapatiran’s” participation in the coming elections certainly paves the way to a brighter future for Filipinos and revives the hope for Philippine politics based on principles.

A HEALTHY POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE

Below is Bishop Bacani's column in today's (August 8, 2006) issue of the MANILA STANDARD. Truly, this is an affirmation of the work we are doing.

A HEALTHY POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE
by: Teodoro Bacani, Jr.

IF YOU are among those who despair of the kind of politics practiced in our country and think that we are doomed to experience no other kind of politics, then think again. With almost quixotic idealism, Nandy Pacheco, known by many as “Mr. Gunless Society” for his advocacy against carrying guns in public, has now come up with a political party. A few years ago he had founded a movement called “Ang Kapatiran” (The Brotherhood). What is less known is that, he has also, together with others of the same mind, launched a political party distinct from the movement, which was accredited as a national political party by the Commission on Elections on May 8, 2004. The party aims to concretize the principles of the movement and to get people who will promote those principles in political contests. Pacheco is convinced that it is not enough to engage in nonpartisan advocacy. He believes it is time to present “a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

An active and committed Catholic, Pacheco and his party acknowledge that they are setting up their party as a response to the challenge of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, which declared the urgent necessity “for the lay faithful to participate more actively… [in] political affairs. It is through the laity that the Church is directly involved.” The same Council also urged the lay faithful “to participate actively and lead in the renewing of politics in accordance with the values of the Good News of Jesus.”

Ang Kapatiran unabashedly acknowledges that it is founded on “the Social Teaching of the Church, which we used as the party’s founding principles.”

A peculiar feature of the party is that all its candidates are committed to the entire platform of the party without any mental reservation. The implication of this is clear: The party wants to promote “platform politics” instead of “personality politics,” and will not admit any guest candidates who do not share fully the platform of the party. This alone is a radical and healthy departure from the present practice of welcoming even candidates of an opposing party as guest candidates.

Refreshingly, Ang Kapatiran seeks to promote a consistent ethic of life to dismantle the social structures that glorify the culture of guns, violence, and death, vices and pornography. Consistent with its advocacy of a consistent ethic of life, Ang Kapatiran is for the abolition of “sports whose main purpose is to inflict physical harm or violence on the opponent” (boxing, for example). It is also against “torture to obtain confession from an accused or suspect; and violence in schools and other institutions.” It also advocates “progressive disarmament locally and internationally.”

I am happy to see the formation of this new political party. I hope that it will catch fire in the imagination and hearts of our people. I do hope people would join it in great numbers and promote it among fellow Filipinos.

Filipino Catholics and all Christians need not be allergic to party politics if it is of the right kind. Nandy Pacheco and his companions in Ang Kapatiran are presenting us with a healthy alternative to the toxic kind of politics that we have been practicing and suffering from all these years.

If you are interested to know more about Ang Kapatiran, you may contact the party through these numbers: 0917-882-6700; 0928-260-2847; and 0917-898-1350.

* * *

I have been talking about a party that advocates a consistent ethic of life. Those who respect human life should all together condemn the murderous attack perpetrated by Israel against Lebanon. There is no excuse for this clearly disproportionate response to the kidnapping by the Hezbollah of some Israeli soldiers. Mind you, it was not the Lebanese government, which Israel accuses of failing to deal with the Hezbollah effectively, which perpetrated the kidnapping. And yet it is Beirut and innocent civilians who have been bearing the brunt of Israeli attacks. We cannot condone the missile attacks by Hezbollah either. But clearly, the bigger responsibility lies with Israel, which cannot justifiably claim that the official Lebanese government initiated the attack.

Israel will certainly win this uneven war. But it will have lost the battle for peace, which it claims to be its ultimate objective. Israel has certainly lost friends in the Middle East. By now, it should realize that it is losing friends in other parts of the world. Even tales of the cruelty by some Lebanese employers to their Filipino employees cannot make us unsympathetic to the Lebanese nation, which is being pulverized by Israeli bombs and artillery. It should not be surprising if anti-Semitism rears its ugly head again.

Let us pray that Israel and the Hezbollah come to an immediate cessation of hostilities.

The Search For Servant Leaders

Where can we look for servant leaders for our country? That new breed of politicians who are willing to run, not for their own vested interests but for the common good?

Our president, Nandy Pacheco, wrote the more than 100 bishops in the country to ask them if they knew of any among the laity in their diocese.

As a result, we have had very positive responses from several bishops - invitations to come and present our party and platform, not only to the Laity in their diocese, but to the Parish Priests as well.

Bishop Gabriel Reyes of Antipolo was one of the first to respond. He invited Ang Kapatiran to make a presentation of our party to the Council of the Laity of Antipolo (CLAN). So last July 15, Nandy, accompanied by Johnny Cardenas, Ting Enriquez, Al Picar and I (Vinchu Lapid) went to Antipolo to address an audience composed of all the lay leaders of the whole diocese. Bishop Gabby was also present.

Nandy's presentation entitled: The Future Will Be Different If We Make Our Present Different, was actually a teaching on the need for the Catholic Laity to be involved in Politics.

It is unfortunate that many people feel that entering politics is not a good thing because politics is dirty and corrupts people. But not so, Nandy says. As a matter of fact, politics is about good governnce and authentic public service. In the widest sense, politics is the dynamic organization of society for the common good. As such it calls for the responsible active participation of citizens.

Nandy cited references from papal encyclicals, the PCP II documents, and our own CBCP pastoral letters. Notable among these references are the words of Pope Benedict XVI in his first encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est which says:

“The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics. . .Politics is more than a mechanism for defining the rules of public life: its origin and its goal are found in justice, which by its very nature has to do with ethics. . .A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church."

Even Cardinal Sin had endorsed political participation among the Catholic laity. He had said,

“Politics is not dirty. It’s good. It’s ordained for the common good of the people. It is the people who practice politics who make it dirty.”

This first presentation on political evangelization was well received, judging from the questions and reactions during the open forum.

I shall write more about this next time and post the complete text of Nandy's speech in this blog.

Ten Things Pinoys Abroad Can Do to Help Our Country

Alex Lacson, Secretary General of the Ang Kapatiran political party, has come up with a sequel to his Twelve Little Things A Filipino Can Do For His Country, this time, addressed to overseas Filipinos and giving them an idea of how to be true heroes for our beloved Philippines. Read on.

1. Spend your vacation, your dollars and other foreign currencies, in our Philippines.
It is understandable for our OFW’s, balikbayans and Pinoy expats to vacation in other countries. The world is truly beautiful and majestic. But please spend some of your vacation time and some of your dollars in our Philippines. Every dollar that you bring into our country will help build our Philippines. It will help our tourism industry. It will mean more sales and more jobs for our local industries. It will mean an increase in our country’s international dollar reserves. It will help stabilize the peso. And ultimately, it will help stabilize our economy.

2. Encourage and teach your relatives back home to be good citizens & good Filipinos.
Whether or not you are sending money to your relatives in the Philippines, you are one of their heroes. They look up to you as a role model. They listen to every word you say. Please teach them to become good Filipinos, to become good citizens. They can start with my book, 12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country. Please ask them to help me spread the message of the book. In particular, please ask them to “Buy local. Buy Pilipino.” A recent article in TIME Magazine said that the most crucial factor for economic progress is not foreign investments, but economic nationalism – i.e., when people learn to support their own country’s products.

3. All OFW’s, Balikbayans and Pinoy Expats should do more during elections in RP.
In the next and all future elections, OFW’s, Balikbayans and Pinoy expats should do more by helping your relatives back home in choosing the right leaders – the national ones especially – for our country. Your relatives at home will listen to you. This means that as OFWs and expats, you need to surf the Internet and read the news so you’ll know which candidates should be elected to offices. There are organizations and websites which can help you decide.

If it is true that there are at least 8 million OFW’s all over the world now, and if it is also true that every Filipino has at least 4 relatives, then the 8 million OFW’s have at least 32 million relatives back home in the Philippines. This means that the OFW’s and their families alone can determine the political leadership in the Philippines, our government, and eventually our nation as a whole.

4. Buy Pilipino, wherever you are in the world.
If you look at the Japanese and the (South) Koreans, wherever they are in the world, they buy and patrionize their own products. They are like that too in the Philippines. That’s why there are so many Korean stores sprouting all over the country now. The Chinese, Thais and Malaysians are almost like them too, but in a less passionate manner.

We Filipinos have a preference for imported products – the so-called “colonial mentality” - believing that Spanish and American products, ideas and ways were better and superior and that ours were inferior. But that’s history. Our Philippines is different now. There are many good Filipino companies with equally good Filipino products or brands. Look at Bayo, Kamiseta, Bench, Penshoppe, Jollibee, among others. In fact, some of the best branded products you see in New York, London and Italy are made in our Philippines.

Please be an ambassador of the Filipino, by wearing Pilipino. Show to your foreign spouses and officemates and to the world, the elegance of our culture and beauty of our people. All these things begin with each one of us.

5. Adopt a poor child as a scholar back home.
According to government sources, around 40% of our people are poor. But according to our bishops from CBCP, the figure is much higher than that, possibly at 53%. Since we have a population of almost 86 million now, imagine how many of that is 53%. Most of the poor are children, a great many of whom are out there in the streets, because their parents cannot afford to send them to school.

My proposal is this – let’s adopt scholars among our poor street children.

World Vision is an international foundation which offers scholarship for poor children. It has been operating in the Philippines for years. It looks for 2 groups of persons – the first are those poor children who really want to study hard, and the second are those who have extra funds and are willing to sponsor 1 scholar for only P450 per month. Yes, for only P450 a month, you can sponsor 1 scholar under World Vision. World Vision can give you the name, age, address and personal profile of your scholar so you can even mentor, visit, talk, or write to your scholar.

If there are 5 million Filipinos and OFW’s today who are all wiling to sponsor 1 child each under World Vision, that would mean 5 million poor children can be adopted as scholars. These scholars will have a better future and will someday become our partners in building our nation.

This could be one of the fastest paths to progress and social transformation in our country. And this is a very Christian way. Even Jesus Christ, who was born very poor in a manger, had to be adopted by Joseph.

6. Support a charitable organization.
There are many good charitable organizations that truly help build our Philippines to become a better place for all of us. Gawad Kalinga, Pondo ng Pinoy, Caritas Manila and World Vision, among others. These groups are beyond the dirt and mirth of politics.

Like most of us, you too are busy. Often, you will have not the time to help others. Charitable organizations are there to allow us to help others while we are busy. Every little help that you send will help one poor Filipino, often one poor child, in our country.

7. Teach your children about the Philippines, and to love it and its people.
Teach your children and your foreign spouses, wherever you are in the world, about our Philippines – the home of the Filipino people, and the birthplace of our race.

Let your children and your foreign spouses hear it from you – that you appreciate and love our Philippines. Because if they hear and see it from you, their beloved, they too will appreciate and love our Philippines. Or they will find a way, sooner or later, to appreciate and love it, because of you. I see that all the time, everywhere, in practically all the fathers and mothers in this world. Their sons and daughters often carry and continue their parents’ loves, causes and advocacies.

If you make your children see and hear that you love our Philippines, believe me, someday your children will grow up with love and admiration for the Philippines in their hearts and minds.

8. Speak positively about our Philippines and our people.
Sure, there are things that will disappoint and dishearten you in the Philippines, especially if you look at our government and the politicians who run it and those businessmen whose companies earn so much but who pay very little to their employees.

But there are also many good things in our Philippines. We are a race capable of greatness and excellence, and you see this in the likes of Lea Salonga, Dr Josette Biyo, Diosdado Banatao, Efren Reyes, Ninoy Aquino, Jose Rizal, among many others. We are essentially a breed of honest people, and you see this in the likes of Nestor Sulpico, the Filipino driver in New York who, on 17 July 2004, drove 43 miles from New York to Connecticut, USA to return the US$80,000 worth of rare black pearls to his passenger who forgot it at the rear back seat of his taxi. We are a people of truly good hospitality even to strangers. We are a very caring and forgiving people. There is so much humanity and Christianity in us as a people. I really believe that, someday, we can be one of the most beautiful peoples on earth.

Let us focus on our beauty and strengths, and build from there. You and all the Pinoy expats and OFW’s should be, and could be, the best ambassadors for our home country and people. Rafael Salas, the founder of the United Nations’ Population Fund, said that every Filipino is an ambassador of our country.

9. If you are remitting funds to your relatives in the Philippines, teach them to save 15% or 20% of the funds.
If you are remitting funds to your relatives in the Philippines, please teach them to save at least 15% or 20% of the funds. Please teach your relatives the importance of savings. These savings seem small at the start, but even only after 2 years of savings, they will see the growth of their savings and how fast these are growing.

Also teach them to take their savings away from reach and put them in high-yielding investments like mutual funds or treasury bonds. There are many good financial advisers in this area. Teach your relatives to consult one on a regular basis. The book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is good start. The book Pera Mo, Palaguin Mo by Filipino author Francisco Colayco is also very good.

These savings, if handled and invested wisely, could mean the financial independence of your relatives from you in the future, or even from themselves.

Teach your relatives to live simply and not to spend so much on unnecessary consumer items. There is so much beauty in simplicity. There is so much elegance in modesty.

10. Invest in the Philippines.
Finally, if you have extra funds and are looking for ways to invest them, please invest in our Philippines. There are good investment advisers who can help. The Philippines is a growing market – an emerging market, in the language of international banks and financial institutions. If you have investment ideas that can cater to the basic needs and desires of these 86 million Filipinos, you will make it big in our Philippines.

But more than that, every cent or dime that you invest in the Philippines will help our people and our country. And when you do it, you become our partner in building our nation. You become a good Filipino. You become a hero of our country.