Some views on the Philippine Election 2016

If I claim to be incorruptible and if someone says that I have huge amount of money in a specific bank, I will stand by my claim. I will not simply dismiss the accusation and say that the account is non-existent, but I will show that it is indeed non-existent. I will not approximate its amount, because it is my money, so I know how much it is and where it comes from. I will not call a lawyer because I know my rights. It will not take me few days just to show how incorruptible I am. It will take only few minutes to clear my name on this issue. If I am unable to do this, believe me, I am not what I claim to be. I am not who I say I am.


As a Bicolano, I take offense at this generalizing remark from a man who barely has an idea who we are as a people (not a race). Yes, we are honorable. That's why we are known to pursue vigorously what we believe in against all odds and popular sentiments. We stand by our words, and not take them back whimsically. Now, Mayor you will see what honorable truly means with or against a Bicolano. Yan an oragon! (Actually, you sought the legal help of another Bicolano to face against a fellow Bicolano on Monday, May 2 because probably you seem to be not honorable enough to man up your words when you yourself is a lawyer.) 


Just asking. How do you envision his presidency? Based on his words: He will kill those involved in drugs and crimes in a bloody war. That means a lot of violence. He will return to manual system of governmental transactions. That means backlogs, inefficiencies and susceptibility to corruption. He will abolish Congress if threatened impeachment. That means he will concentrate executive and legislative powers into his hands. He will establish a revolutionary government. That means he has more powers and less accountability, if any. He will sever ties to countries that say something against him. That means Philippines is likely to be isolated in international arena. Indeed, this is change. Do you envision it differently? 



Mayor, I understand if you want to make it difficult for Sen. Trillanes. But the issue is not only between you and Sen. Trillanes. You aspire to be my president. I want my president to be transparent, decisive and inspiring. I still believe you are. So please, do not disappoint me on Monday, May 2. I want to know and I deserve to know what you had, and currently have in your BPI bank accounts. Please. I believe that history is on our side. But I don't want to be on the wrong side. On May 2, Monday, I want to see you speak the truth, not your lawyer, because my president is transparent, decisive and inspiring. Thank you, Mayor. Do not let me down! I am waiting for my president to come out clean on this issue!


What kind of change are we expecting from a man who uses old tactics to keep his unexplained wealth away from the public that he vows to serve? Still more days to reflect on a candidate who vows to stop corruption, but refuses to be transparent. How can we who hate corruption help him stop corruption if he himself is not leading a clean and good example. Let us remember that one of the things that makes us love him is when he declares: "hindi ko pakikialaman ang pera nyo." We cheered! Few more days... few more day... let us see whether he is the man we used to know, whether he is the man we want to lead our country.


A specific amount in a particular bank branch with certain dates!!! It must be a joke! And I laughed when I read Sen. Cayetano's statement which is very similar to the statements of the spokesperson and lawyers of Binay during the Senate's investigation of Binay's alleged ill-gotten wealth. 


"It is possible for a Filipino to be separated from the Philippines, but not the Philippines from a Filipino." As an OFW, I hear you Poe!


Finally, after two emails and a phone call to the embassy, I can now exercise suffrage (right to vote). I am still undecided; that's why I truly need this 3rd Presidential Debate to help me discern who deserves my sacred vote. So far, I am down to two candidates who, in the past debates, showed their grasp of what's going on by citing statistics and data on sectoral issues. To me, if a candidate does not know what's going on, s/he can't make a sound decision for the national interest. If s/he does not know what's going on, her/his decisions may be to satisfy one's ego or driven by impulsive whims or capricious humor. So far, it's between Poe and Roxas for my sacred vote. After this debate, I will break down my decision why I will vote for either Poe or Roxas.

Introductory Note on some LGBT Issues: An Informal Discussion

Last Friday, when I received a letter informing me to make this introductory input, I asked myself: 

why me? For some of you here, this issue is personal. Let me not take away anything from you by 

writing this.

My unassuming question - “why me?” stems from my unarticulated view on the issue. Well, allow 

me to articulate for the first time my view by sharing some of my stories. My apology if I limit my 

writing about “bakla.” 

When I was in elementary, I had a classmate who was “different” from us. The class called him 

“bakla.” While he was not accepted to join some of the boy’s games, because he was a bit slow and 

soft, he was not totally welcome to join girl’s games because he was a bit fast and and hard. He 

would end up on the sideline watching all of us playing and having fun. Speaking of fun, the class 

had a lot of it at his expense. When he reacted to taunting and teasing, the more he would receive 

those until he could not take them anymore and he would cry. For some reasons, his cry was a sound of triumph for the class. 

So why me when I don’t have this kind of experience?

More often, LGBTs are portrayed as victims of many things, such as discrimination and hate crimes. The circumstances surrounding victimization are understood as overwhelming social force of 

morality and normalcy. They are not understood as inhibition of agency of the victim. I would like to deviate from the perspective of having them as victims. I would not ask you to put your feet in their 

shoes, rather I would like you to focus on many of “us,” and on “that elementary class” not different 

from us. May I ask then, do we see LGBTs through a privileged lens and position? Do we feel that 

we are entitled to see them this way? Where do we derive this entitlement?

When I was in all-boys high school, there was an unwritten rule of assignment of sports. Smart boys played chess; tall 

boys played basketball; agile boys played football; and not-so boys played volleyball. You could probably guess what sports I played........ basketball for some 

reasons. There was this overpowering pre-existing categories with which we simply needed to conform. In high school, that was the reality we 

confronted. And now, we know better. Reality is much more than those simple categories. It’s 

complex that we can hardly simplify its complexities. It’s diverse that we can barely mask its 

diversities. Everyday, differences abound, uncertainties arise, and contradictions and antagonisms 

emerge all around us. It is not only an issue of language, of religion, of gender, of representation. 

More than these, it is an issue of privilege, of entitlement. C. Wright Mills (1959) writes, “An issue is a public matter: some value cherished by publics is felt threatened.” 

Let’s take, for example, marriage. For believers, marriage is highly valued and cherished. They have 

internalized and immortalized its spirit in their practice of marriage between a man and woman. Any other arrangement is an issue for them. But will they become less of a believer if this “sacred” 

arrangement is bestowed outside of the valued arrangement, that is to same-sex couple? If believers agree that marriage is good to build a family, why not open it to all? This can be a good subject for this discussion. Twelve years ago, Ateneo high school accepted its first female students. It was difficult for many alumni to accept that their cherished all-boys institution would be no more. The question then was, did Ateneo high school become less of an Ateneo when it opened its doors to girls? Because Ateneo believed that it offers a good education, 

why not open it to all? The issue here may be described to have one side trying to cling to the

 glorified past, while the other on the painful present onto a glorious future. Now, after 12 years, we 

hardly look back at that debate.

For fun, one of my organizations had an all-male beauty pageant when I was in college. We acted as beautiful contestants, mimicking popular 

actresses and singers. As we know, Ms. Gay contests have been perennial feature of fiestas. In her 

description of Ms. Gay Naga City contest as provider of high taste and entertainment, Fenella Cannell (1999, 223) describes, in part, a “reputation of bakla as ‘artistic’ and ‘artificial.’” I would delve on 

the latter reputation of bakla. There is a recognition that what we see in bakla, either on or out of 

stage, is “fake” and therefore not real. The imitation and mimicry in exaggerated forms are 

ephemeral expressions of their “identity.” For many of us, the “presentation of self,” as Goffman 

would point out, by bakla is intended for an audience. Thus the presentation is thought to end 

somehow and eventually return to the real self. But who is the real self of a bakla? During Cannell’s 

fieldwork, many contestants then copied Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Madonna, to name a few. All of these names were women. Now, there is a shift in the object of copying. I’ve observed that 

many bakla would imitate Vice Ganda, a bakla too. There is now a emergent sense of authenticity of “identity, ” not anymore a copycat of real women, but bakla “identity.”

In hierarchical society such as ours, where do we situate this bakla identity in the structures of power relations with pre-existing identities?

In the end, why me? Well like most of you, I also seek greater understanding of this issue. Let us then start the discussion.

Political Analysis Course Outline: First Semester 2015-2016

Department of Social Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Ateneo de Naga University

PSCM363: Introduction to Political Analysis         Consultation hours: MWF (3:30-5:30PM)

First semester, SY 2015-2016          Menandro S. Abanes 

Course description and outline

Society does not explain itself, nor does it examine and interpret its events. Those tasks are taken up by 
students of society like you and me. They are no easy tasks. But in our efforts to achieve the tasks, we are 
aided by various research methods developed by researchers who have studied society. 

This course focuses on methods and practices of social research. It aims to prepare and motivate 
students to complete their requirement of a thesis proposal. It introduces a menu of research methods for possible use in making a defensible thesis proposal. 

I. Practice of social research

A. Doing research

Ø Key concepts: research process, inductive, deductive

Ø Reading: How to design a research project by Earl Babbie (pp. 107-113) in The Practice of Social Research

B. Purposes of research and units of analysis

Ø Key concepts: types of research, descriptive, explanatory, time dimension

Ø Reading: Research design by Earl Babbie (pp. 90-106) in The Practice of Social Research

   C. Researching for what?

Ø Key concepts: values, advocacy

Ø Readings: The case for value-free sociology by Max Weber (pp. 23-25) and Whose side are we on? by Howard Becker (pp. 26-29) in Seeing ourselves edited by Macionis and Benokraitis

   D. What’s your problem?

Ø Key concepts: causation, patterns, research problem

Ø Reading: The idea of causation in social research by Earl Babbie (pp. 69-86) in The Practice of Social Research

  E. Conceptualizing the research

Ø Key concepts: research proposal, research problem, framework

Ø Reading: Conceptualizing the research by Wilfredo Arce (pp. 11-21) in The Systematic Qualitative Data Research

  F. Resolving your problem

Ø  Key concepts: theory, framework, hypothesis

Ø Reading: Look before you leap: Some reflections on hypothesis formulation in the social sciences by Michael Costello (pp. 26-36) and What is a theory? 

Additional reading: Why is my evil lecturer forcing me to learn statistics? by Andy Field (pp.  1-15) in Discovering Statistics using SPSS

II. Research processes and methods

A. To be or not to be: quantitative or qualitative?

Ø Key concepts: debate, nature of data

Ø Reading: The debate about quantitative and qualitative research by Alan Bryman (pp. 93-126) in Quantity and Quality in Social Research

B. Evaluative research

Ø Key concepts: program, project, evaluation, ex post-facto

Ø Reading: Of blackbirds and boxes: An introduction to evaluative research by Frank 
Lynch (pp. 174-182) in Philippine Society and the Individual

C.  Observational method

Ø Key concepts: social structure, qualitative

Ø Reading: Observational methods by William Foote Whyte (pp. 83-96) in Learning from the Field: A guide from experience

D.  Feminist research and life history

Ø Key concepts: feminist, perspective, case study, life history

Ø Reading: Understanding sexuality through life histories by Jeanne Illo (pp. 7-29)  

 E.  Conflict analysis

Ø Key concepts: conflict analysis, mining issues

Ø Reading: A conflict analysis of Rapu-Rapu mining issues by Menandro Abanes (pp. 150-157) in Southeast Asia Today: Development Paradigms, Reflexive Engagements

   F. Discourse analysis (critical)

Ø Key concepts: discourse analysis, development models

Ø Reading: People’s Organization (POs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), the Catholic Church vs. the State and a 
Transnational Corporation (TNC): A Critical Discourse Analysis of Mining Issues in Rapu-Rapu Island, Albay by Menandro Abanes (pp. 1- 27) in Gibon, volume 5, 2005

   G. Survey research (descriptive)

Ø Key concepts: volunteering, measurement

Ø Reading: To be men and women for others: Measuring volunteering in Ateneo de Naga 
University by Menandro Abanes (pp. 1-64) in the University Research Council-funded research project

   H. Survey research (correlation and regression analyses)

Ø Key concepts: ethnicity, religion, social distance, trust, identification

Ø Reading: Ethno-religious groups, identification, trust and social distance in the ethno-religiously stratified Philippines by Menandro Abanes et al. (pp.61-75) in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2014.02.001)

Course Outline for SOC001: Bikol Society and Culture

Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences

Ateneo de Naga University

SOC 001: Society and culture with family planning          Consultation hours: TBA

First semester, SY 2014-2015                                                Menandro S. Abanes

Course description and outline

How do we see the world? How do we make sense of it? This course will introduce two disciplines, sociology and anthropology, which will help us in trying to understand humans who inhabit this world and their societies that structure it. We will learn sociological and anthropological perspectives which will locate our experiences of this world within the larger scale of society characterized by social structure and system. Through this course, we will be able to view familiar things in a new light, find new meanings in the old and new ways of doing things, and gain understanding and insight of the rapidly globalizing and changing world.

I.                    The discipline of sociology

A.      Introduction

Ø  Key concepts: sociological imagination, history and biography

Ø  Readings: The promise of sociology by C. Wright Mills (pp. 19-26) and Invitation to sociology by Peter Berger (pp. 3-7) in Down to earth sociology (9^th Ed.) by James Henslin

B.      Theoretical perspectives in sociology

Ø  Key concepts: functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism

Ø  Readings: Doing sociological research (pp. 27-30); The presentation of self by Erving Goffman (pp. 106-115) and The uses of poverty: The poor pay all by Herbert Gans (pp. 314-320) in Down to earth sociology (9^th Ed.) by James Henslin

Ø  Requirement: Newspaper clipping that shows any of the perspectives

II.                  The discipline of anthropology

A.      Culture: Why we do what we do

Ø  Key concepts: culture as learned and shared, material and non-material culture, components of culture (gestures, languages, values, etc.)

Ø  Reading: The cultural context of social life (pp. 69-71) and Body ritual among the Nacirema by Horace Miner (pp. 73-77) in Down to earth sociology (9^th Ed.) by James Henslin

B.      How culture is studied: Participant observation

Ø  Key concepts: fieldwork, ethnocentrism, cultural relativism

Ø  Reading: Street corner society by William Foote Whyte (pp. 59-67) in in Down to earth sociology (9^th Ed.) by James Henslin

III.                Research process and methods

A.      Human inquiry and research model

Ø  Key concepts: research model, surveys, experiments, data-gathering

Ø  Reading: How sociologists do research by James Henslin (pp. 31-42) in Down to earth sociology (9^th Ed.) by James Henslin

B.      Practice of research

Ø  Key concepts: theory, inductive, deductive, quantitative, qualitative

Ø  Reading: The role of theory in sociology by Janet Saltzman Chafetz (pp. 15-20) in Readings for introducing sociology (Ed.) Richard Larson and Ronald Knapp

Ø  Requirement: Participant observation on your own social group/neighborhood

IV.                Enculturation/socialization

A.      Social interaction and structure

Ø  Key concepts: agents of socialization, institutions, self-emergence

Ø  Reading: Town fiesta: An anthropologist’s view by Frank Lynch (pp. 219-236) in Philippine society and the individual

Ø  Requirement: A sociological paper written in one’s native language

B.      Family and kinship

Ø  Key concepts: family planning, marriage, kinship

Ø  Reading: The elemental Filipino family by Yen Makabenta http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/philippine_articles/elemental_family.html

C.      Deviance and control

Ø  Key concepts: breaching, norms, rules, labeling, anomie

Ø  Reading: Suicide by Emile Durkheim (pp. 125-131) in Readings for introducing sociology (Ed.) Richard Larson and Ronald Knapp

V.                  Stratification

A.      Sex and gender

Ø  Key concepts: identity, roles, social construction of gender

Ø  Reading: Fraternities and rape on campus by Patricia Martin and Robert Hummer (pp. 353-362)

B.      Class and inequality

Ø  Key concepts: status, power, social mobility, prestige, patron-client relations

Ø  Reading: Big and little people: Social class in the rural Philippines by Frank Lynch (pp. 104-111) in Philippine society and the individual

C.      Categorical differences (ethnicity and religion)

Ø  Key concepts: ethnicity, religion, social distance, trust, identification

Ø  Reading: Ethno-religious groups, identification, trust and social distance in the ethno-religiously stratified Philippines by Menandro Abanes et al. in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility

VI.                Social change

Ø  Key concepts: modernization, globalization, trends

Ø  Readings: The Mcdonaldization of society by George Ritzer (pp. 494-504) in Down to earth sociology (9^th Ed.) by James Henslin

Ø  Requirement: A research paper due on the final examination date

Surging Brooklyn Nets at the start of the 2014 NBA campaign

The Brooklyn Nets just won its 11th straight home game and is now 36-31. Playoff spot is almost assured. Last year, many analysts saw the Nets as a joke and blunder. What made the turnaround and change of fortune for the Nets?

When the 2013-2014 NBA season began, the Brooklyn Nets had a new and rookie coach (Jason Kidd) and several new and yet veteran players in the team line-up (Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry, Andrei Kirilenko, among others). Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez were retained to keep the core of the team. The new line-up and hiring of new coaching staff cost hundreds of millions of dollars to the Russian team owner and billionaire, Mickail Prokhorov.

Salary cap seems not in Prokhorov's mind. His mind is all set for the championship now. To give you an idea of how the team payroll looks like, the first five (Williams, Johnson, Pierce, Garnett, and Lopez) combined salaries alone has exceeded the salary cap for an NBA team which currently stands at $58.7 million. Thus, the expectations for the 2013-2014 Brooklyn Nets are very high to give the defending champion, Miami Heat, and contender Indiana Pacers a run of their money.

When the 2013-2014 regular season began, the Brooklyn Nets started pathetically. Injuries and adjustments to new teammates were the logical factors in the poor start. The rookie coach, however, got the heaviest punch of blame in the lackluster performance of the team.

After 10-21 win-loss record at the end of 2013, many basketball analysts and enthusiasts counted out Kidd as competent to be a head coach in the game immediately after retiring from playing it. The loudest call at that time was for him to resign or be fired. However, the Nets stuck with him and continued to believe in him.

Then, the new year came. Kidd forgot his necktie and did not wear it during the team's first game of 2014. The Nets won. For the next games, the Nets found its winning ways. Kidd continues not to wear a tie believing that it has a correlation with winning. Now, the Nets is 26-10 this year. It is the best win-loss record in the Eastern Conference from the start of 2014. Kidd is even priming his team to go deep into the post-season and setting his sight to the NBA finals.

If the Nets continue to surge, it may find itself against the best in the Eastern Conference and ultimately against the best in the Western Conference.

Why was Vhong Navarro mauled?

Source: http://www.jennibailey.com/

That is the question!

Both sides have their answer. On one hand, Vhong Navarro cried that it was a set-up. On the other hand, Deniece cried that it was rape. Both sides cried, but one cry seemed to be louder than the other.

Which one?

Let us hear their cries based on the news.

No doubt, Vhong's is the louder one. Being an actor and a resident artist of ABS-CBN network do help in shaping the direction of the investigation and people's opinions. The release of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) report based mainly on the closed-circuit television (CCTV) clips from the Forbeswood Heights in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Metro Manila bolstered Vhong's claim of set-up. Notably, the CCTV clips are spliced to follow the events as they unfolded in two locations of the condominium unit (lobby and elevator). Several times as I watched the CCTV, I noticed that Vhong and Cedric, after they reached the second floor where Deniece's unit is located, got out of the elevator and turned right, while the rest, including Deniece, when they reached the second floor, turned left. Another issue is that the CCTV did not capture the most important event (i.e., set-up or rape) which happened inside the room. Thus, everyone is free to interpret and conclude. However, the CCTV could not provide an answer to our question: Why was Vhong Navarro mauled? Set-up. For what? 1 million pesos. That is equivalent to 125,000 pesos for each of the eight accused of set-up. 125k pesos!

Deniece's version of rape is getting flak from social media users and fans of her Kuya Vhong. Her claim has been prostituted many times. What she has to support her version is the signed police blotter describing briefly the incident that happened on the 22nd of January 2014. The blotter was signed by Vhong Navarro. The police officers who were present there tried to get the side of Vhong several times. But Vhong repeatedly (not once, but several times) declined to counter the claim explicitly written in the blotter. He was quoted saying: "For my family's sake, I'll rather not talk." Another piece that is, to my mind, the most important evidence to bolster her claim is her story. Because of her friendship with her Kuya Vhong and the mauling Vhong got from her friends, she was willing to forego the filing of the case as indicated in the police blotter.

Now, both sides have filed their legal cases. It is up to the court to decide who is telling the truth.

Why was Vhong Navarro mauled? To me, I'd rather be convinced by a story than a CCTV.

Philippines will not reach 100 million in population this year (2014)

The Population Commission (PopCom) of the Philippines declares that the country will hit 100 million in population this year 2014. Below you will see how PopCom counts by the second. As of January 26, 2014 (00:56:29), its counter shows 99,028,209 (just 971,791 short of hitting 100 million). The projected population is based on the 1.98 population growth rate.

THIS IS INACCURATE!!!

The use of 1.98 growth rate to project the population for this year is quite over-extending the numbers. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has projected the growth rate between 2010 and 2015 to be 1.82 percent (1.16 percent lower than what PopCom is using). The trend is going down as the years pass. So we should expect that 2014 must be lower than 1.82 percent.

If you google Philippines population growth rate, there will be a graph that looks like this. The data is from the World Bank. It shows that the Philippines population growth rate is 1.7 percent in 2012. That is lower, as expected, than the 5-year (2010-2015) projection of 1.82 percent. To project our population this year, we will use the 2012 rate of 1.7 percent. Thus, our projected population at the end of 2014 is 98,616,825 (short of 1,383,175). This is closer to the real number of Filipinos.

All Saints' Day (not halloween) in the Philippines

November 1 is a feast day. That's what we know. And that's how we celebrate the day. Contrary to popular celebration of the day, the Philippines celebrate the day with cultural and religious meaning. It is All Saints' Day, also known as todos los santos. Other ethno-linguistic groups call it differently. Tagalogs call it Undas and Bicolanos call it Fiestang kalag. However, there are common characteristics in the celebration, such as the day is an opportunity for family gatherings, class reunions, and of course, praying for, remembering and being with the loved ones who passed away (literally being with the dead family members). Yes, Filipinos spend the day in cemeteries. In Bicol, cemetery is called, kampo santo (camp of the saints).

So, how do we spend the day in a cemetery?

In a typical Filipino way of gathering people, food must be present. Yes, there is a variety of food being prepared, served and shared. Candles are lit and flowers are laid. All day, from dawn to dusk, from sunrise to sunset, family members, relatives and friends flock to and stay in the kampo santo. Stories and memories with the dead are reminisced over and over again.

I remember when I was young, I stayed in kampo santo in the afternoon until 7PM. As I grew older, I tended to stay late, until the wee hours. My elder brothers often stay until early morning the next day. In the Philippines, November 1 and 2 (two days) are public non-working days or holidays.

To know more how we spend the day, below is a video made by Kevin Richberg, a foreigner who experienced November 1 in the Philippines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWFGRdbIrhQ