Luisita farmers to start impeaching Noynoy

SUNBURNT, WITH CALLOUSED HANDS AND GNARLED BARE FEET. Marching in their hundreds or thousands, with their families, and their supporters, under the scorching sun or pouring rain. Peasant masses streaming once more into Manila, with a sheaf of papers in their hands. This time, the papers will not just be a renewed cry for genuine land reform, but a resounding demand to impeach the sitting haciendero president for violating the constitution.

I have a dream, and this is one. One of many, actually, and a minor one at that. My dream is that the beleaguered farmers and workers of Hacienda Luisita, who are still being denied the land that should already be theirs, be among the first citizens to file an impeachment complaint vs Noynoy Aquino.

IRAIA thoughts
IRAIA thoughts

The Tarlac peasants, joined by many thousands of supporters, will then march — and I mean really march by foot — all the way to the Batasan to deliver and file their complaint in time for the SONA. I hope to join them, perhaps not all the way from Tarlac, but at least from Monumento or Balintawak, partly riding my bike and partly by foot.

Maybe my dream won’t become reality, or not immediately. But we can all dream, can’t we? I often dream doing great stuff while riding my bike, and a few of them have turned true. Maybe this one can, too. #

The nearly lost art of note-taking, post-Yolanda

The nearly lost art of note taking by hand
The nearly lost art of note taking by hand, post-Yolanda.

 

I’ve been trying to step successively into the shoes, first of Tacloban mayor Alfred Romualdez, and next of DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, without any prejudices whatsoever, and just try to understand what their problem was, really. I mean, there was a national emergency raging outside that room, everyone was waiting for their marching orders, and here were two presumably intelligent government officials trying to set the terms of reference in responding to the post-Yolanda emergency. It took them at least 45 minutes to try to agree on their TOR, and they finished not reaching any crucial agreement. What WAS their problem? Continue reading “The nearly lost art of note-taking, post-Yolanda”

For Noynoy: A very simple question on Napoles

IRAIA thoughts
IRAIA thoughts

I would have directed these questions to Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima, since it was the NBI under her office that is supposed to be investigating and building up a case against the perpetrators of the pork barrel scam, including the role of Janet Napoles.

But now that Napoles has surrendered to Noynoy Aquino, and since he is supposed to be on top of everything, I will have to throw my questions to him — and I enjoin everyone to raise their own questions and throw these to him. So here goes: Continue reading “For Noynoy: A very simple question on Napoles”