The Red Scare tactics of the Arroyo government is getting ridiculous. Filing sedition charges against 6 party-list representatives became a long-drawn drama with the congressmen/woman holed up in the halls of Congress with the Justice department threatening to arrest them if they left the premises. Then the court ruled in the congressmen’s favor. So they went scott-free except for one (Beltran) who was arrested previously by virtue of a warrant of arrest for sedition/rebellion against President Marcos. Congressman Beltran was not lucky enough to run to his office in the Congress complex immediately.

Now, the Arroyo government has filed murder and other charges against Joma Sison, the head of the communist group, National Democratic Front.

Joma is a rebel fighting the government. He is in exile in the Netherlands. It is impossible for the government to arrest JOMA. As Joma himself said in a TV interview tonight, Arroyo simply wants to lead the people’s attention away form her many crimes like the election fraud and other corruption charges against her.

In the May 2006 issue of Mr. & Ms. magazine, I wrote about the movie Good Night and Good Luck. Arroyo apparently is a fan of Senator McCarthy.

Below is my magazine article:

Murrow, McCarthy, Clooney, and Freedom “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.” - Edward Roscoe Murrow

Martial Law is long gone but we must never forget it. The McCarthy witch-hunt is a thing of the past, but as the movie Good Night and Good Luck (2005) showed, the world should constantly be reminded of it to prevent the same from happening again.

The timing of the movie is near-perfect. Americans have surrendered some of their freedoms in the name of President Bush’s War on Terror through the Patriot Act. In the Philippines, the proclamation of a State of Emergency (PP 1017) has shown to all and sundry that the freedoms the Filipinos regained in EDSA 1986 could easily be lost again.

Good Night and Good Luck is a beautifully crafted film that stuck to the basics of great filmmaking – a good, tight story, great mise-en-scène, marvelous performances by the actors and coherent direction. No frills, no state of the art computer graphics, no multi-million dollar superstars. But the genius of the director – George Clooney –lies in his use of TV film footage of Senator Joseph McCarthy in lieu of a live actor. And because the film is in Black and White (it was actually shot in color but converted to grey scale), the old McCarthy footage fell right in place.

Veteran actor David Strathairn played Edward Murrow with stoic intensity reminiscent of Gary Cooper. George Clooney’s nonchalant under-acting complemented Strathairn’s stark portrayal of the man who helped rid America of the junior senator from Wisconsin, who fanned the anti-communist hysteria and led the witch-hunt that destroyed the lives of many intelligent, freedom-loving Americans.

The film is not about the life of the popular and pioneering broadcast journalist Edward Murrow but rather on broadcast journalism itself. In the speech that bookends the film, Murrow emphasized that television, used strictly for entertainment rather than education, is nothing more than wires and lights in a box. The movie showed how free and responsible journalism can fight the enemies of Freedom just as Murrow and company fought the Terror known as McCarthyism or the Red Scare that gripped America in the early 1950s.

Although the film did not mention it, Senator McCarthy did not do it all alone. The road had been paved for him by Truman, Nixon, etc. He also had help from the country’s foremost anti-Communist, J. Edgar Hoover, who was America’s lifetime FBI director. Ironically, one of McCarthy’s allies was Jack Anderson, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and is now considered as one of the fathers of modern investigative journalism. McCarthy certainly was not alone. He was simply the eager spokesman / henchman.

Media’s functions Mass media perform four functions: to entertain, to inform, to influence and to earn money. Most films nowadays limit themselves to the first and the last. But the nominees in this year’s OSCARs seem to indicate that the Hollywood artists themselves prefer films that inform and influence.

Good Night and Good Luck is almost a documentary. It is based on true events and verifiable facts. It is a great film on Journalism, especially Broadcast Journalism as well as on the Bill of Rights, its supporters and opponents.

The magic of cinema can influence more people than say, a novel. In this case, it will do the world a great service if this film can influence people, especially in places where the people need to be reminded of the precious concept called Freedom, particularly freedom from fear. Writer/Actor/Director George Clooney expressed the hope that the film might give some kids “some understanding of what and how dangerous a democracy can be if fear is used as a weapon.”

Media’s Role in Democracies

In a representative democracy, the government is supposed to be “of the people, by the people and for the people.” The leaders are elected by the people. If the leaders do their job well, they get re-elected and if not, they lose. The only way for the people to know if the leaders are doing their job well or not is through the mass media.

Mass media’s role, therefore, is very crucial in representative democracies. Thus, the US Constitution’s First Amendment prohibits any laws “abridging the freedom of the press.” The Philippine Constitution of 1986 has a similar provision. Article III of the Constitution presents the Bill of Rights, namely:

<blockquote>Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

Section 3. (1) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety or order requires otherwise, as prescribed by law…

Section 4. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.</blockquote>

The framers of the Constitution made sure that the English construction is very simple so there would be no mis-interpretations. Yet it seems that the country’s government and/or police force do not understand these simple words.

The freedom to peaceably assemble is practically gone now through the implementation of the “no permit no rally” rule. The right to assemble and the right to express one’s grievances are basic in any democratic society.

The government, since PP1017, continues to warn media to follow government guidelines or else risk takeover. The office of one newspaper was raided and was about to be taken over if not for the resistance put up by its feisty publisher and the howls of protests from media people.

The acclaimed Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) was threatened with arrests because of its web log (blog). The Philippine government now wants to extend its claws even into Cyberspace.

The freedom from unlawful (warrant-less) searches and arrests is now gone. The arrests without warrant of Prof. Randy David, a respected media personality and activist Congresswoman Rissa Hontiveros-Baraquel – on nationwide TV – are unconstitutional.

Prof. David and his companions were arrested for marching in the streets on their way to a rally that would commemorate the 20th anniversary of the EDSA “revolution”. Rep. Hontiveros-Baraquel was arrested for the same offense but this time, for commemorating International Women’s Day.

Anybody can be arrested for rebellion because, as the government officials say, rebellion is a continuing crime and therefore needs no warrant. Five party-list representatives holed themselves up in the halls of Congress for fear of being arrested by the police.

Situations of Fear

In the 1950s, McCarthy instilled fear among Americans by claiming he had a list that contained the names of American communists.

In the Philippines in March 2006, presidential troubleshooter Michael Defensor announced that there is a list of all people who will be charged with rebellion or sedition or inciting to sedition. And just as it was in America of the 50s, everybody is suspect. Anybody can be “invited” by the police for investigation. Murrow argued that the line between investigation and persecution is a fine one and McCarthy crossed that line. Murrow and his fellow journalists decided to fight, whatever the consequences, the “situations of fear” that confronted America then.

In today’s Philippines, the media has repeatedly warned about the “chilling effect” of the government’s actions. Perhaps the film Good Night and Good Luck can inform and influence the Filipinos of all persuasions so they can pause and ponder at what they are doing to the country.

Plato envisioned the ideal Republic to be ruled by philosopher-kings. But in a political arena filled with demagogues, military and police generals, actors, basketball players and newscasters, the Philippine Republic would be hard put to find a philosopher - king/queen.

However, a Scandinavian proverb says: ”In each of us there is a king. Speak to him and he will come forth.” Murrow and his colleagues sought out the kings/queens in themselves and helped bring back the ideals of the American Republic as envisioned by Thomas Jefferson et al.

New Age writer Marilyn Ferguson in The Aquarian Conspiracy notes: “Politics of spirit, mind, body, society…The new political awareness has little to do with parties or ideologies. Its constituents don’t come in blocs. Power that is never surrendered by the individual cannot be brokered…Power to the People. One by one by one.”

EDSA 1986 taught us People Power. One plus one plus one can add up to millions.

“Language is the armory of the human mind, and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The debate over the country’s so-called national language is going strong among academics and different regional groups. In this debate, only or one or at most five Philippine languages will be represented. But the Philippines has 171 languages –168 of these are still living while three are already extinct. The list enumerates all languages spoken in the Philippines including English, Spanish and three Chinese languages (Mandarin, Min Nan and Yue). Arabic was not included.

According to one website in the World Wide Web, the country’s dialects number in the thousands, The dead languages are not mentioned, but two dialects of Chavacano are listed as extinct; namely: Ermitaño and Davaweño-Zamboangueño. The former used to be spoken in Ermita, Manila while the latter was spoken by some people in Zamboanga. Davaweño is distinct from Davawenyo, which is a living language spoken in Davao City and its environs. However, with the huge influx of Cebuanos, the native tongue of the hijos de Davao is now dying.

Linguists say there are about 50 languages native to Mindanao. These languages are subdivided into many dialects.

Insistence on so-called national languages can only result in the death of some other languages. And that is a sad occasion because as lexicographer Samuel Johnson remarked, “I am always sorry when a language is lost, for languages are the pedigree of nations.”

In Manila, as in most parts of Luzon and Visayas, one can get by with only just one language, usually the lingua franca of the particular place.

But because of the influx of people (settlers) from Luzon and Visayas to Mindanao, cities and towns there have become such a melting pot that it pays to know two or more languages. One is simply not enough.

Growing up in our home in Mindanao in the ’60’s was like living in a Tower of Babel. At least a dozen languages were spoken by the family and visitors. Natural polyglots like my mother had absolutely no difficulty adjusting and switching languages when conversing with two or more people from different places. But I was sure my father must have felt like a stranger in his own house. He spoke three languages. Maranao was his native tongue and English was his second language. He learned Tagalog when he went to Manila to study - from high school to law school. Unfortunately for him, these languages were hardly the favorites in our house.

My grandmother used Maguindanaon when talking to my mother and to relatives from Buayan and Maguindanao. Both my mother and grandmother spoke Manobo, Tagakaulo and B’la-an to the helpmates and visitors from the nearby provinces. My mother spoke Davawenyo to her barkada, Cebuano to the servants, Ilocano to her visiting cousins (from her hometown in Malita, Davao del Sur) and Tausug to her elder children and other relatives living in the city.

My elder brothers and sisters, who grew up in Sulu, talked to each other in Tausug. To their classmates and friends, they spoke either Davawenyo, Chavacano or Cebuano.

To my father’s chagrin, it appeared that practically nobody spoke his languages at home. Maranao was used only when relatives from Lanao came over. Tagalog and English were spoken only during parties. As judge of the Court of First Instance, Macapanton Abbas, Sr. must have vented his ire on the lawyers. Stories of his strict use of the English language — proper grammar, diction, idiom and all — were circulated in the city, especially among law students. Lawyers appearing in his sala usually came prepared — with dictionary and grammar books.

On one occasion, a lawyer asked the witness: “Mr. Witness, what do you do on this particular day?”

My father interrupted and said “Did.”

The lawyer re-phrased his question: “Mr. Witness, what did you did on this particular day?”

“Do!”, my father interjected.

The lawyer got so rattled he ended up asking: “Mr. Witness, how do you do?”!

For some reasons, we all became so fussy about grammar and the correct pronunciation of English words.

I remember how we kids debated among ourselves on the proper pronunciation of either and neither. Was it ither or aither? Nither or Naither? Once, I was so embarrassed because I mispronounced the name Stuyvesant as in Peter Stuyvesant, the cigarette. My third brother made such a big fuss of it.

According to linguists, a Maranao speaker can understand about 52% of Maguindanaon They are related languages belonging to the Southern Philippine, Danao sub-families under the Western Malayo-Polynesian family of languages. This means that, theoretically speaking, when my grandmother and mother conversed in Maguindanaon, my father could understand about half of what they were saying. But for other languages like Davawenyo and Manobo, he could only guess what they meant.

Perhaps in order to control the situation a little, he declared that in his house, the lingua franca would be English and/or Tagalog. His sense of fairness precluded him from including Maranao, his native tongue. English and Tagalog were neutral languages. All the children would have to speak to him only in these languages.

Because of this dictum, my other sisters and one brother, who grew up in Davao, never learned Davawenyo, Manobo, Tagakaulo, etc. They concentrated on English, Tagalog and a bit of Cebuano.

As for me, I was overwhelmed by this confusion of tongues. I welcomed my father’s decree and learned only those two languages. But I hated it when my mother or elder brothers and sisters conversed in what seemed to me like secret codes.

So years later, I made sure that I would learn a language that my family would not understand. I studied Spanish and French. They might understand Spanish because of their Chavacano, but French will always remain a mystery to them.

“A man who is ignorant of foreign languages is ignorant of his own,” said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I am not ignorant of foreign languages but what is my own?

A couple of days ago, a Moro high ranking government official (undersecretary level) was interviewed via phone patch in a primetime news program. His accent was simply horrible.

This reminded me of the time when I was in high school. Our speech teacher told my classmate that he had a horrible accent. He reasoned, “Ma’am, I am from Mindanao.” (He was a Christian). Our teacher said, “Ah, but Mr. Abbas is also from Mindanao…”

Poor classmate, he was using his coming from Mindanao as an excuse for his horrible accent. Unfortunately for him, I was in his class.

Filipino Christians think that all Moros speak English with a horrible accent. So when they meet Moros like me or my relatives they are either pleasantly surprised or become utterly defensive.

The Philippine elite try to picture the Moro as uneducated or badly educated. The government usually appoints Moros (and Christians, too) who are not very qualified. In fact, the more horrible the accent, the better chance of a Moro getting plum government posts.

Being a petroleum engineer, friends and relatives time and again ask me about oil and gas reserves in the Philippines. Last week, I had been asked again. Below are copies of an article and a letter to the Editor about the oil and gas scenario in the Philippines. In both instances, I tried to tell people that we do not have giant gas fields and that our Energy department and PNOC officials are simply iincompetent.

But then, in a society that rewards incompetents, what can one expect?

click the images to enlarge.

We will never find substantial oil & gas reserves unless we will have a government (bureaucracy) run by COMPETENT people.

In a parliamentary form of government, everything will depend on the bureacracy. A bureaucracy run by incompetents and mediocres would be catastrophic in a parliamentary form of government. For those who are in favor of Cha-Cha (Charter Change), think again.

Run by Lawyers

Just think, how could the Dept. of Energy or National Power Corporation know what they are doing when they are run by lawyers and not by people with Energy academic and professional background?

Read my post Knowledge Society – Philippine Energy sector