Category Archives: politics

Landslide for Aquino makes cheating difficult in the Philippines; Now the question–has the country elected the best feel-good candidate, but least effective oligarch?

With at least 3 deaths and one local candidate abducted, you might say it has been  a fairly tame election so far—-for the Philippines.

Despite more than 300 voting machines not working, whole areas being declared “failed,” and long lines making voting a 3-hour wait, officials are considering the first automated voting in the Philippines a success.

It will be  if the projection of Noynoy Aquino as the landslide winner holds up.

In the Philippines, you must have an insurmountable lead to offset the potential of any last minute cheating.

With less than 40 percent of vote counted, Aquino has a 16 percent lead over second place candidate  Joseph Estrada.

If it does hold, Aquino will have his work cut out for him. He will have his mandate from the people, but will he have the cooperation of the other oligarchs within the elite class.

He hasn’t had that thus far in his political career, which means this display of latter day people power could turn into a futile act.

Has the Philippines just elected the best figurehead but least effective oligarch?

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100511-269297/Aquino-set-for-landslide-win-in-presidential-race

No chads, but no CF cards either: A problem brewing for May10 election in the Philippines

You may be surprised if you talk to Filipinos about the May10 election.  They’ll sound like Noynoy Aquino is behind.

That’s even though the son of political icons Cory and Benigno Aquino is  at least 20 points up in the most recent polls this week compared to his main  opponents, Manny Villar and Joseph Estrada.

What’s up?

No pre-election lead is insurmountable in the corrupt political environment of the Philippines.

Besides, no poll really counts except the final one. And despite official proclamations by the Philippine government  that all is fine and dandy for democracy come Monday, glitches this week in the new electronic, automated system that relies on CF (compact flash) cards makes me nervous.

The only thing electric that wor ks without fail in the Philippines is your rice cooker.

Every other device is far from fool proof.

At least, they don’t have a chad problem.

At this late date, 60,000 CF cards need replacing  in the automated vote system, and about 44,000 cards are set for arrival from Taiwan and China as late as  Saturday. And then they have to go out to the machines that need replacements.

Do I smell SNAFU in the making.  (By the way, the “F” doesn’t stand for Filipino).

This last minute “mini-crisis”  does give everyone a handy excuse if the outcome isn’t just right for you name it: winners/losers/termed out incumbants.

And that’s why even with a 20 point lead going into the weekend, no one can be super confident of anything come May 10.

The talk now is of the second coming of People Power if some surprise comes up at the last minute. 

That’s the state of democracy in the Philippines.

It’s Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month–Time for a protest! Anti-Asian violence rally, SF City Hall, 6pm today, May 4

It’s May. It’s Asian Islander Heritage Month. Do you care?

You should. In fact, there’s a protest today that is ready made for the month.

It’s at San Francisco City Hall on Tuesday, May 4 (today)  @ 6pm to Stop Violence Against the Asian American community.

No one is saying the recent rash of incidents on Muni are hate crimes yet, but they do  come close enough for concern, especially if you are an Asian American living in the Bay View and Visitation Valley.

But take the race out of some of these cases in San Francisco and what do you get?  A woman in her 50s, a man in his 80s.

That doesn’t sound like race is as big a factor to me. I don’t think the perps would pick a fight with Bruce Lee III.  Jet Li Jr.  or Michelle Yeoh.

The Muni perps are cowards who prey on the weak. We’re not talking race war. We’re talking about the need for security on the streets and public transportation for all people.

So it’s not a race war, or a hate crime. So what?

Let’s call it a “tragic coincidence.” It’s still violence against Asians on Muni and throughout Northern California, that needs to be addressed aggressively by public officials.  And it’s a reminder  that no matter how many Asian faces are on the SF Board of Supes, we still haven’t outgrown  AAPI Month.

Frankly, most of the time, I’m ready to give up on the month. 

For example, before today, did any one greet you with a happy AAPI Month hug? Karate chop? Any Hallmark cards? If you follow me at www.twitter.com/emilamok, I did tweet an AAPI Month  greeting. 

Still, if it weren’t for the upcoming Asian Street fair,  most AAPI celebrations would be some lame, boring, governmental affair at the Federal building or City Hall. AAPI Month is the law, after all. All federal agencies and government bodies have to celebrate it, or else. It’s a little like a shotgun wedding.

But because it’s the law, it literally would take an act of Congress to rid ourselves of it.

So when I think we no longer need an AAPI Month, I think of Huan Chen, the 83 year old Muni rider beaten and killed in the Bay View in January. It makes me think of the now legendary case of Vincent Chin, the Chinese American mistaken for Japanese and beaten to death in Detroit in 1982.

And then I’m reminded how AAPI Month isn’t just for us. It’s for all of us, especially  the non-Asians who have no clue of the past.

AAPI Month is not a separatist movement.  It was born out of protest over being excluded, and has always been a passionate call for inclusion. It’s about letting people know our issues  and that we belong in our country—America. 

Let people know at the SF City Hall protest today that  the outrage continues.

White House AAPI Initiative: Trying to give more meaning to Asian Pacific American Heritage month in May

The White House is using APA month in May to launch its Asian American Pacific Island Initiative, which hopes to continue what the Clinton administration had started and what the Bush administration ignored.

Kiran Ahuja, the White House initiative’s executive director,acknowledged that the Clinton administration did a lot of work in the tail end of its tenue by identifiying issue areas like education and health as Asian American community concerns. But the Bush administration, she said scaled back the scope and focused on entrepeneurship in its day before finally letting the  White Hous initiative die.

Now Ahuja said she plans to build on the work of the Clinton administration, essentially making up for lost time and lost momentum.

“We’re ready to hit the ground running,” Ahuja told a telephone news conference. The broader focus will include data collection on education, health care and jobs to help identify where Asian Americans are underserved. “We know across the board there are barriers to the community being engaged.”

Ahuja was not specific but said the May roll out will begin an effort that will include  high level agency heads in the government meeting with community leaders.

Again, a good first step as a show of concern for our community. But it does also show how the community has been ignored in some vital areas during the Bush years.