Just for Satur Ocampo

I, along with blogger friend and colleague Rep. Mong Palatino, attended the benefit dinner organized for Makabayan Senatorial candidate, incumbent Rep. Satur Ocampo. Dubbed “Jazz for Satur,” the event was held at the A.Venue in Makati City.

Upon arrival at the venue, there were already several familiar faces who were queued, waiting to be registered and ushered in their assigned tables. We were assigned at table number 36.

The event was hosted by Rep. Teddy Casiño and Janice Cambri. A video presentation was immediately shown after a few spiels. It featured some of Ka Satur’s closest friends and colleagues at the House of Representatives: wife Bobby Malay, Wigberto Tañada, FQS veteran Bonifacio Ilagan, Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio, among others.

The video showed the young Satur as a writer, and later on as a veteran of street parliament. He fought the Marcos Dictatorship and continues to advance the struggle of the people.

Guests were serenaded by Jazz group Skarlet & Friends, featuring Myra Ruaro, former vocalist of Pu3ska. They performed classic jazz songs and played some of Pete Lacaba's Filipino adaptations of foreign jazz classics.



The guests had a glimpse of the 15-second TV ad of Ka Satur and Rep. Liza Maza. It was so swift that after three video rolls, you would clamor for it to be shown again.

Makabayan Co-Chair Maita Gomez took the center stage and invited some of Ka Satur’s supporters to come onstage and state the reason for supporting Ka Satur’s senatorial bid. Dr. Margarita Holmes was among those called and confessed that “there are only two reasons why she will vote this coming elections.” One, because of Ka Satur, and secondly, he finds Ka Satur as a “sex” icon; stating that sex doesn’t exist in a vacuum and that there are things that make a person sexy like integrity, good physique, intelligence.”

Then, it was Ka Satur’s time to speak.

Everyone was raring to listen to what he has to say. Ka Satur looked a bit tired that night. He must’ve come from another sortie. He thanked everyone for coming to the event, and emphasized the need to step up the campaign as they are pitted against trapos, same old politicians who have ruled in strategic government posts for the past decade or more.

He stated that he, along with several other colleagues, continues to be a victim of political persecution. His strong words against the Arroyo administration and its minions for its systematic attack on the nationalist people's movement reminded everyone that we, indeed, have yet to witness the first automated elections with cheating machinery set to make GMA and her bets stay in power.



Let us continue our campaign for our two Makabayan senatorial candidates.

Onward to the Senate!

Support and Vote Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza for Senator.

Visit Satur Ocampo's site. Click here.
Photos by Karl Ramirez of Kodao Philippines

CyberCrime Act of 2009: What a vicious way to start the year

The first day of the session for 2010 started with a draconian bill passing third and final reading at the House of Representatives (HOR).

The House leadership fulfilled its promise early this January that it shall fast track the Cybercrime bill.

That was Monday, January 18, 2009. A lot may not be aware but a draconian bill was being brewed at that time. After a few privilege speeches, the bill was deliberated at the HOR. The sole NO vote came from Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino, as house journal shows. One hundred seventy five lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, 166 were present. (As of this writing, other Congressmen and Party-list Representatives might have already submitted their “no” vote).
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Over the weekend, former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Esperanza Cabral filed a libel case against blogger "Ella", who posted her personal thoughts and observations about DWSD's non-distribution of goods stocked at the agency's warehouses.

That blog post earned the ire of a number of people: from netizens and bloggers, to many other concerned groups and individuals. The news came as a brazen insult to the well-being of the victims. Many thought how shameless of this government, through its social service department, to hoard such goods when many NGOs, groups and individuals at that time, have been raising heaven and earth to get enough goods as it could gather for the countless victims.

What message does the filing of libel case against a fellow blogger send to us?

It is alarming that even at this time when the Cybercrime Act of 2009 has not yet been signed into law, we can already sense a crystal clear picture of how this bill, once signed into law, can be used against us.

From the way the bill has been railroaded, you can already draw conclusion that this will be used against those critical of the government – that to record, upload, and write about the truth has no place in the government that will use every possible means to hide the truth. GMA has so many things to be afraid of: from the Hello Garci scandal to the many other unwritten, transgressions of GMA.

It is already election time. Note that this will be the first automated election in the history of the country. Automation connotes the use of technology. At this time of tweeting, blogging and microblogging, the people were empowered to bring news that a few media outfits have the power to do so.

The CyberCrime bill will indisputably pin down on people’s freedom to use the internet to bring fresh news to the people especially this year when many are keeping an eye on the automation.

We can still stall passage of this bill at the Senate. Let us spread the news that this anti-people, anti-blogger bill should be stopped.

Related links: The Danger with the CyberCrime Act of 2009