Even with the results in and most of the winners proclaimed, the controversies surrounding the May 14 elections are far from over.
The recently concluded polls again demonstrated a pattern of massive, deeply-rooted and systematic fraud and violence rivaling previous elections. The onslaught of fraud and violence could have been worse had it not been for the efforts of a vigilant citizenry, the media and various watchdog groups.
Watchdog groups have gathered vital documentary and testimonial evidence of vote shaving, vote padding, vote buying, disenfranchisement and fabricated election documents, all of which constitute the serious offense now known as electoral sabotage.
What is alarming to many is that in the worst examples of fraud, violence and disenfranchisement, the intended beneficiaries were candidates belonging to the Administration. What is arguably the single most glaring example of systematic and wholesale cheating is the result of the elections in Maguinadao where a highly improbably Administration sweep was recorded amidst serious allegations of disenfranchisement and fabrication of election documents.
It is inevitable that the tainted results of the May 2007 elections have revived questions the issue of fraud in the 2004 elections. The personalities implicated in the alleged fraud of 2004 are the same as the ones being implicated in the alleged cheating in the 2007 elections. These issues will continue to hound President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo until there is just resolution to the controversy.
As a people, we cannot simply move on and close to this chapter in our nation’s history, not when the issues of alleged fraud then and now remain unresolved. There can be no moving on if there is no accountability. There can be no serious electoral reforms when cheats are not brought to justice.
The Comelec, including its top officials, especially those who have already been implicated in the controversial Garcillano scandal, must be made accountable for the cases of fraud that have tainted the outcome of the 2007 elections. Impartial and thoroughgoing investigations must be made with the end goal of charging the sponsors and operators of election cheating. Arresting Comelec official Lintang Bedol is one thing. Making the entire Comelec leadership liable for its inaction over Bedol and his conspirators over the past three years is another thing.
The electorate deserves nothing less than the accountability of its election officials.
JULY 4, 2008
VIDEO CLIP- VPTG SPEECH AT CENPEG'S CONFEST
MESSAGE BOARD
> New Video Presentation. Pictures taken during the launching.
>The "Fight for the Filipino" Book Launching was a huge success. Thanks to all your support!
> The book will be available in National Book Store. you may place your order thru their website. www.nationalbookstore.com
>The Academic Publishing Co. also accepts order and they deliver. Call 9125966. Look for Ms. Lani.
FIGHT FOR THE FILIPINO!
an autobigraphy of Tito Guingona
>The "Fight for the Filipino" Book Launching was a huge success. Thanks to all your support!
> The book will be available in National Book Store. you may place your order thru their website. www.nationalbookstore.com
>The Academic Publishing Co. also accepts order and they deliver. Call 9125966. Look for Ms. Lani.
FIGHT FOR THE FILIPINO!
an autobigraphy of Tito Guingona
VIDEO PRESENTATION
Book Review on "Fight for the Filipino"
Patriot and Activist
By
Carmen Guerrero Nakpil
Only a man “with soul so dead”, wrote the English poet, does not love his native land. All of us claim to love our country. But few love it and its people with the passionate activism and militancy of Teofisto Guingona, Jr. His autobiography, “Fight for the Filipino” is a treatise on patriotism.
In different form and roles, Tito Guingona has been a constant presence in our national life. At different times, he has been a member of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, Chairman of the Commission on Audit, member of the Philippine Senate, Executive Secretary and Secretary of both of Foreign Affairs and of Justice, Vice President of the Republic and Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. But those are only his formal titles. And, outside of our knowledge of civics and government positions, they tell us very little about Tito Guingona’s total commitment or emotional dynamism. For instance, it is only the last chapter of his 346-page biography that we learn of his latest entitlement to a charge of rebellion earned one afternoon, at the Manila Peninsula Hotel, where he was tear-gassed, arrested, handcuffed and detained.
His saga of fighting for the Filipino begins when he was a 12-year old boy who tagged along on the historic trek taken by President Quezon, his family and some members of his family, including Tito’s father, Commissioner for Mindanao and Sulu, Guingona from Northern Lanao to Bukidnon on the way to Australia in 1942.
It runs through, in vivid detail, through his years as a young student and a neophyte lawyer’s advocacy against the Parity Agreement and the U.S. Military Bases; through his stint in the making of the 1973 Constitution with concomitant arrest and detention during Martial Law; his colorful experiences with Mindanao and Manila partisan politics; his travails and policy differences in the cabinet; his frequent denunciations of anti-Filipino policies and projects; and lastly, his denunciation of a sitting President which caused a regime change.
But I must allow the readers of “Fight for the Filipino”, to discover for themselves the intriguing bits of Philippine history that Tito Guingona describes in the fast-paced, candid, conversational prose of his memoirs. For instance, the incident that happened, only four days after Gloria Arroyo’s take over of Malacañang in 2001, when the new Secretary of Justice, Hernando Perez, whispered in his ear in Tagalog, “She phoned me at midnight to order me to sign the IMPSA contract.” (an anomalous Argentinean contract which President Joseph Estrada had refused to sign because of its sovereign guarantee clause)
There are many other anecdotes and vignettes in this autobiography which makes it, more than intimate personal history, a history of the Philippines and a record of the events and personages of the last 80 years. It is also a manual for the younger generations on how to honor, love and defend this country and its people. There are few better teachers of patriotism than Teofisto (Tito) Guingona, Jr.
Story-telling – the Guingona Way
by
Eggie Apostol
Teofisto Guingona, Jr., one-time Vice-President of the Philippines has many stories to tell. And he tells them in great detail in his book “Fight for the Filipinos”
The stories are so highly detailed that one suspects Tito Guingona keeps a diary. Does he? I have not been able to ask him.
If he doesn’t, then we can only say he has a fantastic memory. And it is just as well for the telling of his life is like a recollection of our nation’s history.
Focus is, of course, on Mindanao – where his own father like him served as senator and later Commissioner for Mindanao and Sulu.
For those who lived all their lives in Luzon (or in the Visayas for that matter) the goings-on in Mindanao are like happenings in a foreign country. Because the country is mostly Christian but Mindanao has a sizeable number of Muslims (nine thousand about 50 years ago) mostly due to its proximity to Borneo and Indonesia.
One cannot help but envy the Guingona family for growing-up in the most beautiful part of the country – the Lake Lanao area.
This was so beautiful that when President Quezon saw it he asked that a branch of the Manila Hotel be built there. Which was done.
Although his family was anchored in Mindanao, Guingona studied in the Ateneo de Manila so that later in life he hobnobbed with Raul Manglapus, Diosdado Macapagal, Joe Calderon and Caesar Espiritu, Carlos Garcia and Jun Puyat. When problems came up about the Mindanao area he was always the Mindanao expert for solutions.
Guingona relates during Marcos’ martial rule:”one evening over a secretive dinner, where Fathers Horacio de la Costa and Jaime Bulatao were present, one of our conservative members of the group said: “The real response to martial rule is rebellion, but I’d like to know from our religious Fathers here – whether rebellion is morally justified?” The question was a riser; it was not said in a jest, and one of the priests curtly replied “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to justify it.” That broke the ice and resulted in laughter.
Guingona’s life had its share of ironies. Before EDSA I he joined Cory in boycotting products linked to Malacañan, “I challenge the crowd not to pay their Meralco bill. Seven days later after our victory with Cory she appointed me president of Meralco. So I called for another big meeting and told the people ”Times have changed – pay your Meralco bills!”
Guingona liked to encourage better relations with Chinese in the Philippines. He submitted some suggestions: 1) Enhance herbal medicine in the Philippines, with Chinese help 2) Plant cassava or cash crops between spaces of coconut trees. 3) generates jobs by adopting the policy of giving value added to native products 4) Encourage technology connected to giving added value to coconut, fruits and fish; 5) encourage tourism by building necessary infrastructures 6) implement joint economic ventures.
Readers will be reminded that Guingona was a political activist from the start. When he was made Chairman of the Commission on Audit he was also a peace negotiator. When President Ramos made him executive secretary he grappled with the ADC and Jai Alai and the Flor Contemplacion case. He actively joined the fight for justice in the Vizconde massacre, the Jalosjos case, the Fr. Shay Cullen problem, the Maysilo Estate case, the Alfredo Tiongco case, U.S. property claim in Fort Bonifacio, the Textbook scam, the Visiting Forces Agreement, the WTO and GATT.
As Vice-President and Secretary of Foreign Affairs he was involved in 9/11 and the VFA, the IMPSA controversy, concern for the OFW’s and attending to foreign travel commitments. He differed with Malacañang in in pursuing OFW and Steel mill programs. He said No to Bush’s war in Iraq.
At book’s end, Guingona is very much in a negative mode: He sees in the Gloria Arroyo regime much that he finds dishonest. He had been asked by President Arroyo to become the new Ambassador to China which he accepted.
But the “Hello Garci” tapes was unraveled and proved that President Arroyo had tampered with the elections. Guingona did not want to continue with his new assignment and resigned.
“We must reform” is his current and latest plan.
INVITATION
BOOK
Pls. call us for resevation.
BOOKS
THE GALLANT FILIPINO
A nation is poorer by so much everytime one of its heroes passes into oblivion. For as Tito Guingona, Jr. writes "the true treasures of the Filipino are not gold or silver" They are the men and women whose heroic lives would bring back to us in a book. And so Tito Guingona has written The Gallant Filipino...
LABAN - VOICE OF RESISTANCE
On Sept. 21, 1972 Ferdinand E. Marcos imposed martial rule in the Philippines. It marked the beginning of a black chapter in the nation's story. On Aug. 21, 1983 they killed Benigno S. Aquino. His death inflamed the nation, and it marked the beginning of the end for Mr. Marcos. From then on the people demanded back their rights. they rallied. they marched. They defied the guns and tanks and bullets of the dictator - in the end, they defended the soldiers who rose in revolution. In that crucial hour, the nation triumphed...
FACE THE CHALLENGE
To the small Filipino businessman - whose continuing strife to survive deserves sustained support. May he eventually succeed - if not under the present economic system - then in another more responsive to the nation's needs!
A nation is poorer by so much everytime one of its heroes passes into oblivion. For as Tito Guingona, Jr. writes "the true treasures of the Filipino are not gold or silver" They are the men and women whose heroic lives would bring back to us in a book. And so Tito Guingona has written The Gallant Filipino...
LABAN - VOICE OF RESISTANCE
On Sept. 21, 1972 Ferdinand E. Marcos imposed martial rule in the Philippines. It marked the beginning of a black chapter in the nation's story. On Aug. 21, 1983 they killed Benigno S. Aquino. His death inflamed the nation, and it marked the beginning of the end for Mr. Marcos. From then on the people demanded back their rights. they rallied. they marched. They defied the guns and tanks and bullets of the dictator - in the end, they defended the soldiers who rose in revolution. In that crucial hour, the nation triumphed...
FACE THE CHALLENGE
To the small Filipino businessman - whose continuing strife to survive deserves sustained support. May he eventually succeed - if not under the present economic system - then in another more responsive to the nation's needs!
MY GUESTBOOK
Vice President
Tito Profile
Teofisto T. Guingona, Jr. reached a new high in his stellar career when both Houses of Congress confirmed his nomination as Vice President of the Philippines by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Born in San Juan, Rizal on July 4, 1928 to Teofisto Guingona, Sr., a former assemblyman, senator, judge and commissioner from Guimaras, Iloilo and Josefa Tayko of Siaton, Negros Oriental, he grew up in Mindanao where he completed his elementary schooling with honors in Ateneo de Cagayan.
He pursued his studies at the Ateneo de Manila University as a working student, teaching history and political science while taking up courses in law and economics. He took up special studies in Public Administration, Economics, Sociology and Audit. After graduation, Tito went into business and became a Governor of the Development Bank of the Philippines and President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
Tito was a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention and when Martial Law was declared in 1972, he staunchly resisted the abuses of the regime, serving as a human rights lawyer and defender of the oppressed. He founded SANDATA and became the honorary chairman of BANDILA, two mass-based organizations dedicated to social and economic reforms. Because of his opposition to martial rule he was jailed twice, first in 1972 and then in 1978.
When the dictator was ousted, the new President appointed Tito as Chairman of the Commission on Audit where he gained renown as a no-nonsense graft buster. He did not stay long in the Commission on Audit, however, for he was drafted to run for a Senate seat. In the Senate, Tito was Senate President Pro-tempore and Majority Leader. He also chaired the Blue Ribbon Committee.
Tito’s concern for the welfare of his kababayans in Mindanao is apparent when he served as director and chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority and the Mindanao Labor Management Advisory Council respectively.
Born in San Juan, Rizal on July 4, 1928 to Teofisto Guingona, Sr., a former assemblyman, senator, judge and commissioner from Guimaras, Iloilo and Josefa Tayko of Siaton, Negros Oriental, he grew up in Mindanao where he completed his elementary schooling with honors in Ateneo de Cagayan.
He pursued his studies at the Ateneo de Manila University as a working student, teaching history and political science while taking up courses in law and economics. He took up special studies in Public Administration, Economics, Sociology and Audit. After graduation, Tito went into business and became a Governor of the Development Bank of the Philippines and President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
Tito was a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention and when Martial Law was declared in 1972, he staunchly resisted the abuses of the regime, serving as a human rights lawyer and defender of the oppressed. He founded SANDATA and became the honorary chairman of BANDILA, two mass-based organizations dedicated to social and economic reforms. Because of his opposition to martial rule he was jailed twice, first in 1972 and then in 1978.
When the dictator was ousted, the new President appointed Tito as Chairman of the Commission on Audit where he gained renown as a no-nonsense graft buster. He did not stay long in the Commission on Audit, however, for he was drafted to run for a Senate seat. In the Senate, Tito was Senate President Pro-tempore and Majority Leader. He also chaired the Blue Ribbon Committee.
Tito’s concern for the welfare of his kababayans in Mindanao is apparent when he served as director and chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority and the Mindanao Labor Management Advisory Council respectively.
the senator at work
i survived martial law
Anti GMA Rally
Water Canonized by the Police
About the Peninsula Seige/ An Interview with Karen Davila
Friday, April 18, 2008
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