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The Sunday Times

SUNDAY

MAY 2, 2010

Edit orials

Candidate denies meeting an alien

MID the growing propaganda war that challenges the men- tal health of a major candidate, another “presidentiable” de fended himself from accusations that he had claimed hav- ing met an alien from outer space. “I deny having met or talked to an extraterrestrial creature,” in- dependent candidate Efren T. ”ET” Espasyo said angrily in a hastily called press conference. Rumors had circulated that Espasyo, whose popularity ratings rose to three percent, had confessed to having communicated with an unidentified flying creature for advice on problems plaguing the country.

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“This is a canard invented by my opponents who have noticed

my rising public acceptance,” Espasyo told the media. “They are doing to me what they are trying on Sen. Noynoy Aquino and other leading candidates.” A powerful political party recently circulated a story written

by a childhood friend of Espasyo, which said that the candi- date had claimed that an alien had visited him during a cam- paign break. The alien was friendly and knowledgeable about the Philippines, Espasyo’s friend, a certain Godo Delikado, wrote in his account. Espasyo explained that as an only child, he invented a “friend” to talk to during bouts with loneliness. He had told Delikado about his “playmate” that started in his imagination as a visitor from another world. He expressed surprise Godo, after many years, would lie about his fantasy and tell the op- position about it. “It’s obvious my opponents are using Godo to question my men- tal health and to destroy my credibility,” Espasyo said. ”This is cheap, dirty politics and a slur on my honor and my family,” Espasyo added. “I would not know a spaceship if I see one, or tell if a stranger is an extraterrestrial or not,” he insisted. When pressed by a reporter if he had any unusual experience or meeting with a supernatural being, Espasyo allowed he had one such strange episode a year before. And what would that be? the reporter asked. “One time, I had a talk with a group of dwarfs,” Espasyo said.

An apology is in order

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HE partisan obsession with mental health has become more than a personal attack on a candidate’s state of mind. It has become a political statement on mental illness that afflicts thousands of Filipinos. It stigmatizes children and young adults suffering from psychiatric illnesses, a constituency that deserves respect, support and attention. Any political group—or any private citizen—has the right to ask about the sanity of a candidate for national office. Even if the Con- stitution is silent on physical and mental health, we expect the next president to be eminently fit for vigorous leadership.

Stigmatizing an ailment

Sen. Noynoy Aquino has challenged questions about his past al-

leged mental difficulties—autism, depression, melancholia, self- doubts—with stout denials. Shouldn’t we take him at his word? The frenzy to demonize the man, perceived as making capital of his parents’ name, sidetracks the discussion of more important is- sues in the waning days of the campaign. Meanwhile, the parents, teachers, guardians and caregivers of children with mental impairment (principally autism) are worried that the majority of Filipinos would begin to consider such disor- ders as untreatable or that persons with autism are a threat to soci- ety. This is not the case.

Name-calling

Autism or its relations—attention deficit, Down Syndrome or cer- ebral palsy—has become a form of name-calling in the 2010 po- litical campaign. Sadly, it has become a dirty word. Intellectual impairment deserves higher respect from national

leaders. Public servants are expected to be among the first to de- mand respect and support for the mentally challenged. Mental health is a public issue that deserves space in policy – and deci- sion-making councils.

US President Barack Obama, usually a man of circumspection, apologized publicly last March for an unfortunate statement about people with intellectual disabilities.

Low bowling score

On the popular “The Tonight Show” with host Jay Leno, the US

president described his poor bowling skills as similar to the skills of the participants in the Special Olympics. Obama said he had started practicing his bowling at the White House alley and had scored 129 points out of a possible 300. “It’s like—it was like the Special Olympics or something,” Obama said.

And a low blow

The Special Olympics is a worldwide nonprofit group that serves

about 200 million with intellectual disabilities. They compete in athletic events like the real Olympics. Obama’s reference to the Special Olympics was a bad joke. Im- mediately after the show, he called up the Special Olympics chair- man to apologize.

An apology from the Nacionalista Party or from its supporters responsible for spurious leaks addressed to Filipinos with autism and related intellectual impairment is imperative. It will correct an error, help clear up public understanding about psychiatric disor- ders and restore some sanity to the campaign.

SUNDAY May 2, 2010

The Manila Times

DANTE F. M. ANG 2ND, Executive Editor (ON LEAVE)

FRED DE LA ROSA, Chairman Editorial Board

RENE Q. BAS, Editor in Chief

ROMY P. MARIÑAS, News Editor NINI P.YARTE, National Editor

ARNOLD S. TENORIO, Business Editor ROMANO C. JORGE, Lifestyle Editor CONRAD M. CARIÑO, Sports Editor

BRIAN M. AFUANG, Art Director RENE H. DILAN, Photo Editor

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DANTE F. M. ANG 2ND,

President and CEO (ON LEAVE)

Telephone All Departments. 524-5665 to 67 Telefax 528-1729; Subscription: 524-5664 Local 222 URL http://www.manilatimes.net • e-mail newsboy1@manilatimes.net Letters to the editor

THE MANILA TIMES is published daily at 371 A. Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila 1018

VOLUME 111 NUMBER 200

39 percent-plus understatement of political season

the years the employees are free to vote for their candidates of choice. A few days before every election, employees often ask for guidance on who to vote for. The stock answer has been “exercise your discernment.” This 2010 election, however, is a different matter. As early as Feb- ruary, word was sent from the company headquarters down to every terminal, halfway restau- rants, repair shops and opera- tional offices that all employees were to seek guidance on the presidential choice: Vote for your country and vote Noynoy. The unprecedented act of politi- cal participation, quietly done and very low-key, will deliver some solid 10,000 votes to Noynoy Aquino. I said low-key because everything was done below the political radar, qui- etly but full of intensity. You cant even find a single yellow ribbon plas- tered on her buses. It is a kind of sup- port that does not register and does not attract attention and is being done voluntarily. But this does not in any way diminish the fire and se- riousness of the undertaking. She tells me there is a entire community of business people doing the same thing—out of the political and media loop and driven by pure, unalloyed con- cern for the future of the coun-

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»analysis

BY ANUSAK KONGLANG

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

BANGKOK: Thailand’s prolonged stand off between its government and Red Shirt protesters could deteriorate into an “undeclared civil war,” a top think-tank has warned as tensions increase in the capital. The International Crisis Group

(ICG) said Thailand must consider mediation help from other countries to defuse its political crisis and avoid a slide into further violence. “The Thai political system has

broken down and seems incapa- ble of pulling the country back from the brink of widespread conflict,” the ICG report, which was released late Friday, said. “The stand-off in the streets of Bangkok between the government and Red Shirt protesters is worsening and could deteriorate into an undeclared civil war,” it added. Thailand is reeling from the

worst political violence in almost two decades in its capital, where 27 people have died and almost 1,000 have been injured in a series of

GOOD friend runs a large bus company and through

economic equation of this has not been factored into the mainstream campaign economics.

In areas where the Aquino-

MARLEN V. RONQUILLO

try. Love of country is the main motivation. They don’t know Noynoy and they don’t expect anything in return for this sup- port. It is some sort of a tempo- rary religion, she says in a dead- pan way, and it will pass after Noynoy assumes the presidency. This cauldron of political inten-

sity, people forsaking their indiffer- ence to politics to help elect Aquino 3rd as president in a big way, makes the 39 percent voting preference for Noynoy grossly understated. The big surprise of this election season maybe the failure of the mainstream polling firms to truly capture the overwhelming and almost zealot- like devotion to Aquino’s presiden- tial campaign from nonpoliticians and nonpolitical types who can truly deliver votes. The value-added of such acts of

volunteerism is immense. Aquino does not need to spend funds for these. In turn, his opponents have to spend heavily to counter this cost-free support for Aquino. The

bashers reign as warlords and po- litical heavyweights, voters are like the business people cited above— low-key about their choices, seem- ingly uninterested in politics at all. But inside their homes, they are virtual coin or stamp collec- tors. Instead of coins or stamps, they are collecting Noynoy elec- tion materials, from yellow rib- bons to the hard-to-get yellow watches. These people are the life and blood of a teeming under- ground political activity for Noynoy. It has more fire because it can’t be done in the open for fear of reprisal from the reigning warlords, like the early Catholics practicing their faith in the cata- combs over fear of persecution. The 39 percent support for

Noynoy in the latest Pulse Asia Survey and the 38 percent level of support as polled by the SWS both failed to get the depth and inten- sity of the underground political activity and sense in the areas ruled by the anti-Noynoy warlords. The crude and desperate efforts

to savage Noynoy, both from the political operatives to the jukebox crowd in the media, all the more heighten the already overwhelm- ing support from the Noynoy loy- alists. For every round of Noynoy-

bashing, loyalists work to add more converts to their Noynoy cause. The Ampatuan caper backfired. The bogus report on Noynoy’s men- tal depression pushed scores of the undecided to take a hard look at the character and vileness of the anti- Noynoy forces. The more mud is thrown Noynoy’s way, the more peo- ple see him as worthier than the rest. Can we use a cliché? The die is cast and Noynoy Aquino should start writing his inaugural speech. The grandness of this kind of support is this: it does not have great expectations. Noynoy just have to rein in corruption and con- tinue what he has been doing all along—live simply. The presidency should not get into his head. He should not take the titles that go with the presidency too seriously. Presidents who take themselves too seriously often suffer from epistemic closure—there is no other view but his or her view. But should he decide to marry

his woman, the public will urge him to go for a lavish ceremony. Never mind, as the newspapers reported, his unorthodox choices for ring bearer and coin bearer. Once in a while, on matters that neither hurt the people nor drain the treasury, the president can be egregious and over-the- top with full public approval.

mvrong@yahoo.com

Thailand could slide to ‘undeclared civil war’

bloody confrontations in April. The demonstrations are the

latest chapter in years of turmoil pitting the ruling elite against the mainly poor and rural Reds, who say the government illegitimately came to power in 2008. Many of the Reds come from

Thailand’s rural poor and urban working classes and support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and now lives overseas to avoid a jail term for corruption. Protest leaders slammed management at a Bangkok hospital Saturday, saying its chaotic evacuation of patients after it was stormed by Red Shirts was a ploy to make the protesters look bad. The Reds have faced heavy criticism after about 100 supporters raided Chulalongkorn hospital Thursday evening under the mistaken belief it sheltered security forces preparing a crackdown, following deadly street violence. The 1,400-bed hospital

evacuated most of its patients because of the incident, and Red leaders have apologised profusely.

“The hospital did not hear our

apology. They dramatized the evacuation of patients, turning it into a tragedy to paint Red Shirt people as bad,” Jatuporn Prompan, one of the group’s core leaders, said in news conference. “We have been made to look like

terrorists and very soon the crackdown will begin,” he added. The Reds, who have occupied

sections of Bangkok for over a month in their bid to force snap elections, claim the hospital was used in an April 22 grenade attack on a pro-government rally that killed one and wounded dozens. The government said the

grenades were fired from inside the Reds’ camp—an accusation the movement has denied. Thailand’s Medical Council

criticized the storming of the hospital and asked protesters to respect medical personnel, while police were deployed at the hospital to ensure neither security forces nor Reds use the grounds. Reds briefly removed barri- cades that obstruct the hospi- tal’s emergency entrance Friday, but replaced them because of

FROM THE UNESCO DIRECTOR GENERAL

On World Press Freedom Day remember to value

WORLD Press Freedom Day, to- morrow May 3, whose theme is “Freedom of Information,” offers us an occasion to remember the importance of our right to know. Freedom of Information is the principle that organizations and governments have a duty to share or provide ready access to infor- mation they hold, to anyone who wants it, based on the public’s right to be informed.

The right to know is central for upholding other basic rights, for furthering transparency, justice and development. Hand-in-hand with the complementary notion of freedom of expression, it un- derpins democracy. We may not consciously ex- ercise our right to know. But each time we pick up a news- paper, turn on the TV or radio news, or go on the Internet, the

quality of what we see or hear depends on these media having access to accurate and up to date information. Obstacles in the way of our right to know take many forms, from a lack of resources and in- adequate infrastructure to delib- erate obstruction. Far too many journalists exer- cise their profession in an envi- ronment where restrictions on in-

formation are the norm, where dealing with pressure, harass- ment intimidation or even physi- cal assault are all in a day’s work. Last year Unesco condemned the killing of 77 journalists. For the most part these were not war casualties but local reporters cov- ering local stories.

I invite all those commemo- rating World Press Freedom Day around the globe to ob-

fears they would be vulnerable to a military crackdown. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep

Thaugsuban, who oversees national security, said he had ordered police to keep entrances to the hospital open.

“If they cannot do it I will punish them because they are not able to function in their duty to guarantee patient safety,” Suthep said. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva

vowed to prosecute those who were involved in the hospital incident. New York-based Human Rights

Watch issued a Saturday statement calling for all sides to “negotiate a political solution before the situation escalates.” “Thailand is spiraling further

into political violence as protesters, counter-protesters, and security forces respond tit for tat against attacks and provoca- tions,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Some 70 bomb and grenade

attacks have been carried out by unknown parties in Bangkok since the Reds began street protests im mid-March, accord- ing to the rights group.

opinion

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