At least for this term of the Philippine Congress.
On it's last day the House of Represented was expected to pass the Freedom of Information Bill - a landmark piece of legislation that would have lifted the shroud of secrecy over government transactions and data.
Alas, nothing happened because unfortunately, or fortunately, the house was seven members short of a quorum - the minimum number needed to pass a bill.
Because of that the FOI bill died and congress closed its session.
If you read above I did say fortunately only because rumors have it that Malacañang was against it because it would expose them, especially soon-to-be-congresswoman Arroyo.
Not surprisingly Malacañang denies the allegations and said that they also supported this bill.
The question is, knowing that an very important bill was about to be put to a vote how come members of the House of Representatives were not there?
I guess they were "told" not to attend. Hmmm . . . I wonder by whom?
And if there was a house rule allowing for the bringing in of truant representatives in why didn't Speaker Nograles act upon it.
I have no problem with what representative Romualdo did. Even if it was a landmark bill, if the house rules require a quorum then there should be a quorum.
Just because it is an important bill doesn't mean it can be passed without the mandatory required minimum number of representatives present.
As Romualdo said, "We want all transactions in the government to be very transparent . . . it should be based on a law that was properly, legitimately, legally enacted."
Like it or not, that is how it should be.
If you want to put blame put it on the proponents of the bill who did not make sure that they had the proper numbers to deal with the bill.
Blame speaker Nograles for not doing enough to make sure there was a quorum present.
In a statement he issued through his media officer after the adjournment, Nograles said: “I did my best. But I guess my best wasn’t good enough. I did not expect this to happen, especially because many of the authors were not present. The authors and coauthors would have been enough to sustain the quorum and we were not remiss in requesting their presence.”
Yes Mr. Speaker, your best wasn't good enough because it seems you really did not do your best for this bill.
As Malou Mangahas of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism said: “What we buried today is not the FOI act. It can still live because it can be refiled; it is a part of the democracy that we cherish. What we buried today is Speaker Nograles and the 14th Congress because they reneged on their duty.”
Yes they did . . .
Yes they did . . .
The current oil spill disaster that's happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico has greatly affected not only the environment in the immediate area and the surrounding geography but it has also affected the economy as well.
And it's not like the effect is only for the here and now . . . NO . . . the effect, unfortunately is still unfathomable years and even decades from now.
From an environmental point of view the effect is unquestionably devastating. Images of birds such as pelicans coated in thick, black goo struggling and flailing in the surf in futility is a somber and saddening reminder of the impact this oil spill has done to the environment.
And it's not yet over - not by a long shot.
Because BP has failed to cap the spewing underwater geyser of oil it is highly likely the oil may travel further into the interior where it will surely wipe away sanctuaries and breeding grounds of many animal species.
And that includes man as well.
What the economic effects will be is still hard to tell. An industry that will take a big hit is without question the fishing industry. Already hundreds of fishing families are starting to feel the effects of the spill.
They are angry and rightly so.
So too is the tourism industry, especially in the states that are in the path of the oil slick. This has been further fueled by the decision of officials to protect only the fragile ecology of the marshlands and not the beaches.
Officials have explained that it was easier to keep the oil slick out of the marshlands that it is to keep it away from the beaches.
It was a decision that King Solomon would not envy but it is the right thing to do.
Tourism can recover within a short time frame. The ecology of the marshlands would take years or decades, if at all. This loss would be far greater than the loss of tourism dollars.
And its affect will be far more devastating in the long run than the loss of tourism dollars will ever have.
BP is getting hell for their seeming ineptness in shutting down the leak. Their secretiveness and lack of openess to what they are doing doesn't help.
The U.S. government has to step up and keep pushing BP to not only stop the spill but to also clean it up. They have to also hold BP accountable for this disaster.
To his credit BP CEO Tony Hayward has promised that the company would clean up every drop of oil and "restore the shoreline to its original state."
That is all well and good but the thing is no one can bring back the dead animals and fishes. Nor can you truly bring back nature to the way it was - delude ourselves all we want it's not going to happen.
Everything may be back to how it looked before but it would be empty.
And that, unfortunately, is what is being heard right now.
Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish aid vessel and killed 9 activists. As you may recall the aid flotilla wanted to dock in Gaza and unload their 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid.
Unfortunately, Israel has a blockade going and warned the aid flotilla that they will be stopped.
The flotilla proceeded and as Israel promised, they were indeed stopped.
But perhaps Israel should have thought about their actions more.
Instead of getting support, the resulting international condemnation seems to further alienate and isolate Israel from the international community and further added legitimacy to Hamas and its claims of representing the plight of the Palestinian peoples.
Instead of diverting the world's attention to the unilateral imposition of the blockade of the Gaza strip, the bloody encounter actually focused the world's attention on it - something Israel more than likely did not want to happen.
European diplomats have demanded for a quick end to the blockade but not surprisingly Israel's long time ally, the United States have not really been that vocal, only calling for more aid to enter Gaza and not an outright demand for the lifting of the blockade.
Israel is sticking to its guns on both the blockade and the events that occurred but that may not be enough.
Israel's purpose for the blockade was to hasten the demise of Hamas who took over Gaza from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel should learn from the experience of the United States. They have had a unilateral embargo and blockade against Cuba for the purpose of removing President Fidel Castro but that did not work as expected.
The thing about blockades is that it helps give the people a common enemy - in this case Israel. To the minds of the Palestinian people it's not Hamas who's to blame for the embargo, it's Israel.
More so after Israel bombed them back to the stone age, destroying vital infrastructure - hospitals, power plants, water treatment plants and schools.
Basically the people living in Gaza are living without power, water, and necessary health support.
It is a humanitarian crisis of the highest level and is at par with war induced crises in Africa.
People are dying in Gaza and the world's not doing anything. It is genocide and should be treated as such because Israel's actions show their own callous disregard for the Palestinian people.
I dare say that if it weren't for international scrutiny they would have done more than what has happened already.
At least there is that saving grace.
In the aftermath of this bloody encounter more than just political pressure should be put to bear. There should also be action.
A people is being held hostage and while I do not condone the actions of Hamas, the actions of Israel are not any different.
They would argue otherwise, saying that Hamas has attacked and killed Israeli civilians but the thing is, Israel has retaliated against civilians as well.
An eye for an eye does not justify the result.
At the end of the day it is up to the collective power of the world to make Israel toe the line.
yes Israel was a victim before but now the tables have turned.
They are not the victim anymore but are now the oppressors.
And like any oppressors they should be stopped and held accountable.
Maybe.
With the advent of the hurricane season in the United States, researchers are unsure how it will affect or be affected by the current oil spill from the explosion of BP PLC's Deepwater Horizon rig.
Scientists and experts are unsure what will happen if a storm should hit the area right now.
Some are hoping that it would help disperse the oil much like what happened during the Ixtoc 1 spill.
At that time while oil from that spill coated miles of beaches in Texas and Mexico, the tropical storms and unseasonable cold fronts that year helped reverse offshore currents earlier than normal and drive oil away from the coast and at the same time helped disperse some of the oil.
Worst case scenario is to have storm surges bring the oil deeper inland, affecting inland freshwater canals, flora and fauna.
Even now syrupy oil has crept into Louisiana's marshes, coating plants, killing some birds and threatening wetlands. What will happen if the oil gets driven farther inland is anybody's guess - but the guesses are not positive.
Right now BP's attempts to cap the gushing oil has failed and they are trying to find other ways to deal with the leak.
What has irked Washington and the people living in the coast is BP's silence as to what really happened and what they have been doing thus far.
Many are wondering when Washington will finally put their foot down and start to act and not just let BP make a fool out of them.
The extent of the damage done and that will happen in the future is no joke.
And when hurricane season finally begins it will be between the "now" damage of the storms and the "longer term" damage of the oil spill.
Either way no one wins.
At least for this term of the Philippine Congress.
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