Antoine Dufour - Catching the Light

Moron Dynasties

I'd like to write more about the issue of political dynasties.

 

"The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law." (Article 2, Section 26)

 

There are two things to look at. One is that political dynasties should be prohibited and the other, that equal access to opportunities for public service, be guaranteed. That guarantee is the aim of the prohibition.

 

In Fr. Bernas' commentary on the constitution, he explained that the subject of the article was a matter of serious debate. Commissioner Sarmiento, he recounts, rationalized the inclusion of the article as a means to widen the inclusion of competent, young and promising poor candidates to occupy positions in government. Though there were officials who ascended  into power despite "accident of birth", such cases were the exception and not the rule. The situation, Sarmiento lamented, was that many officials came from powerful clans with vast fortunes.

 

So the premise here, is that there are all these wonderful, perfectly capable and fine leaders who can't get elected because they can't compete with the lucky few who managed to crawl out of the right vagina. I believe that although this premise is easy to accept, it only just scratches the surface of a deeper problem.

 

The problem isn't just who we elect as leaders but who we are allowed to elect as leaders. I struggle to find ways to explain this but think of it this way; Imagine society divided by two. On the one hand are the regular Juans or the "masses" and on the other hand are the few rich families or elites.

 

Election day is coming and we need to field candidates. The elite of course, have all the money and means at their disposal and send out their sons, daughters and the endorsed cronies who ride on the coattails of the family names. This isn't a crime per se. People have a right to run for office after all. Now, what of the other half? Where are the leaders who rise from humble origins? Where are these mythical "competent, young and promising poor candidates"? Nowhere.

 

You may be thinking that, "Of course, we can't see them because they get steamrolled by the elite candidates who have more money and name recognition." But who's fault is that? Frankly, if all it takes to win an election is money and connections then its a damn embarrassment and its no damn surprise then that only those WITH money and connections can win.

 

What I'm trying to say is that elections should be more than just money and name recognition. It should be about ideas, about issues. But no, the other half composed of the starstruck masses can only respond to showbiz bullcrap and cash handouts. The "competent, young and promising poor candidates" don't exist not because the rich muscled them out but they don't exist because people don't want them. We don't respond to them because they're poor nobodies. We don't support them. We kill them.

 

Political dynasties only appear to be the problem but they aren't. The problem is that the path to power requires only those two things. Political dynasties only figure in because wealth and educational upbringing tend to be inherited. Rich families tend to breed rich and "smart" people. Even connections are inherited. A Mayor's or Governor's son can get a head start in knowing who's who very easily. They have an even bigger advantage this way and yet, people, critics of dynasties, see the advantages the elite enjoys as the problem instead of how these advantages hold such sway over the people.

 

Money and influence are a big advantage but when it's the only thing that's a factor in determining victory, then that's a problem. If only our civil society were as intelligent and mature as required by a democracy, political dynasties wouldn't be such a big deal. Imagine if people cared about ideas more than money. Imagine if competence and dedication were what people looked for in a leader instead of a familiar surname. Imagine if people wanted vision and leadership instead of platitudes are influence peddling. Now stop imagining and go back to reality. The elites, the dynasties, continue to have their way because we allow them to. Only they can produce the leaders we want but not the leaders we need. We need to change our standards. It's sad how winning elections requires so much yet demands so little.

 

The problem is us as usual.

Democracies and Dynasties

Americans just reelected Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. While I'm not a fan of Obama, the American people have spoken. It's going to be an interesting four years ahead.

Speaking of elections, if only ours were even half as exciting or interesting as the U.S. elections. It's not very exciting when it's the same familiar names running nor as interesting when we don't even talk about issues as Americans do. Nevertheless, with the Philippine Senate elections coming up in May of next year, a certain topic, that seems just as often recurring as the candidates themselves, has once again surfaced. The topic of "political dynasties".

It's funny that our constitution, as trite and verbose as it is, contains a section in article two that states quite bluntly that: "The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law." (Article 2, Section 26)

 

I'm sure the problem is obvious by just reading the article. Political dynasties are prohibited by law once they are defined by law. As of this writing, Congress has yet to pass any law defining political dynasties. It's mind-boggling how our lawmakers can rush a poorly crafted cybercrime law and railroad an impeachment complaint for a Chief Justice and yet ignore an article that has been needing a law since 1987. The problem is that political dynasties infest the political landscape of the Philippines and its stupid to expect the members of these dynasties to pass a law that would undermine the nice racket they have going on.

 

What is a political dynasty?

 

A dynasty is a succession of rulers that belong to the same family. When one mentions the word "dynasty", what often comes to mind are the kings, queens and emperors of old. I think its redundant to call a dynasty "political" since we are talking of rulers and its necessarily implied.

 

What a political dynasty, in the Philippines at least, seems to mean is when public offices are occupied by members of the same family. It could be the same office occupied by family members successively. It could mean a political unit like a province with many offices that are held mostly by members of the same family. It could mean anything until we officially define it but the common thread going through this tangled web is the idea of officials, using their advantageous position and influence, to get their family members elected or appointed to positions of power. After all, article twenty six is about equal opportunities. Which is why political dynasties are seen as an evil; the reasoning being that the family of the powerful have an advantage over regular Juans who want to run for office.

 

Its disturbing how the admirable Filipino trait of "close family ties" could be turned on it's head and corrupted.

Skyfall

I saw the new James Bond movie today. It was pretty good.

So yeah.

Oppa Gangster Style

Just recently, some Koreans in Lapu-Lapu City were almost killed in a shooting allegedly masterminded by another Korean. The motive was said to be gambling debts amounting in the millions. Weeks ago, some other Koreans were busted operating illegal internet gambling rings. Many other incidents have happened in the past of Koreans misbehaving.

 

Now, I've heard people complain about those no-good Koreans. It's easy to think of them as ingrates who come here to cause trouble but are otherwise behaved in their home country.

 

Well, that's a little unfair to the Koreans who come here for good reasons like tourism or business. A better thing to do is to ask ourselves why our cities seem to be attracting the seedier types of foreign visitors. When a person travels to another country, they are usually behaved since it's only natural to be cautious in a new environent. However, recent events have shown that the criminal elements of tourists have become more brazen.

 

Instead of blaming Koreans, we should be worried about ourselves instead, specifically our society. Why is this allowed to happen in the first place? Because they think they can get away with it. With our corrupt officials, lax law enforcement, anemic justice system and an endless supply of poor people to use and abuse, this place might look like a land of opportunity for an enterprising mob boss. Hmm, I wonder if PLDT has a computer package deal for a businessman interested in putting up an illegal online sex/gambling internet cafe...

 

Face it, they fit right in.

Simcity 3000 - Magic City

Resident Evil 4: Un Forastero! (Part 2)

I guess this is where my pathetic RE series ends. I tried to get my hands on RE5 but I don't want that Windows Live bullcrap, not since Bioshock 2. RE6 is out of reach for the moment but it's good that the last one is about RE4, a truly good game that I had fun playing.

So Leon get's sent to an undisclosed part of Europe because the intel suggests that the President's daughter might be there. You know that Leon has gone up a few levels in experience since RE2 and is some sort of badass because why else would the U.S. send just one guy instead of, I dunno, Navy SEALS?

Fun Fact: While I'm no linguist, several articles claim that the "Spaniards" in RE4 speak in an incorrect Mexican accent. I hope I'm wrong.

Leon stumbles into a quaint little Pueblo where the ambushed police officer who escorted him before is being roasted over a large fire. The town is batshit crazy and as Leon discovers, the people are cannibals. By the way, the sign outside calls the village, "Pueblo". It seems the pueblo is named "Pueblo" as if it's the only "Pueblo" in the world. The church bell rings and the villagers run off. This is a hint that there's extra spooky cult stuff going on.

Leon runs into a guy named Luis. To my utmost annoyance, Leon mispronounces his name as "Lewis" instead of the Spanish pronunciation. Luis is a researcher of sorts. All the villagers are infected with mind control parasites. Who he works for and what he's doing there is not ellaborated further until later but he's just there for Leon's and the plot's convenience. Seriously, Luis is keeping the RE tradition of having NPCs appear just to move the game along, then promptly die when they've outlived their purpose. Fortunately, it's not yet that time. They get captured and Leon gets injected with the "Las Plagas" parasite, which is the "in" thing with the bioweapons crowd. Naturally, they manage to escape.

Fed up with wasting time, Leon goes back to his mission of rescuing Ashley. He defeats a lake monster but collapses in a nearby lake house from fatigue and having a large parasite injected into his neck.

Fun Fact: If you stand at the dock and shoot the lake a few times before the boss battle, "Del Lago" will pop up and kill you. I nearly pissed myself when I tried this.

Leon obtains a key to open the church where Ashley's being held. He also fights a giant along the way because why not? He tries to escape with Ashley but they run into the big bad himself, Osmund Saddler, the leader of the "Los Illuminados" cult. Wait, Osmund? They named the main villain Osmund? Anyway, Saddler makes light of the situation and just cracks jokes about how there's parasites in both their bodies. They escape from him and meet up with Luis at a small cabin. Thus begins the "cabin siege" battle of the game and this was easily one of the best if not the best part of the game.

After the battle, Leon and Luis needlessly separate. Leon's discovers his escape helicopter has been shot down. Leon has no choice but to move forward but I always found it strange that Leon seemed to go deeper and deeper into enemy territory where he and Ashley blundered into increasingly dangerous circumstances. I mean, wouldn't you rather go to a safer direction or stay put rather than make your way to a creepy looking castle infested with cultists? Leon goes for the castle anyway. He beats the village chief, Bitores Mendez, and uses his eye to get past a completely out-of-place retinal scanner that blocks the passage into the castle

As if the bullshit wasn't enough, Leon runs into the castellan, Ramon Salazar, who's a Spanish midget Napoleon. The conversations between Leon and Salazar are comedy gold. While the voice acting is alright, the dialogue is just nice and stupid.

Ashley coughs up blood and fucking runs off by herself. She gets her dumb ass captured. Leon meanwhile, meets Ada Wong, the only woman he ever loved... and they split up. Leon goes through more bullshit, fighting off tentacle dogs and invisible giant mantis things. He solves a few puzzles too because you got to have puzzles or else this won't seem like an RE game. He eventually rescues her and Luis shows up with some meds and a sample of the dominant mind-control parasite. Luis got it! You know what that means?

After Saddler impales Luis with his boner, he runs off with the sample. Leon angrily vows to avenge the death of his friend Lewis. Just to summarize, the game goes for a stretch at this point. Leon kills everyone in his path, including that little dick, Salazar. Leon runs into some guy named Jack Krauser, who's this red beret wearing muscled badass knife nut. I honestly do not know who Jack Krauser is or why they stuffed him into this game. He just seems like an enigmatic character and by enigmatic, I don't mean "interesting" enigmatic but "why-should-I-care?" enigmatic. Leon hints they have a history together but we may never know. Literally nothing is elaborated on.

Fun Fact: The giant statue sequence is the craziest thing in this entire game. A giant statue of Salazar is being built underground. This statue is several stories tall and can MOVE. It chases Leon over a narrow bridge. What were they smoking when they came up with this!? Note also that the giant statue bit where you pull levers is similar to a level in God Hand, another Capcom game. A lot of things in RE4 remind me of God Hand actually.

Leon takes the fight to the Los Illuminados' top secret pirate island base. Is the Spanish government totally oblivious? It seems cultists have taken over the countryside, a large fucking castle and a whole island. Saddler's plan was to use Ashley to get to the President but Leon put's a stop to that. They manage to get a cure and chopper evac. Mike the chopper pilot is the second best character in RE next to HUNK. He's the only chopper pilot who lasts more than a fifteen seconds in the sky before being shot down; an RE record! Remember that chopper pilot in RE2? How about in RE3? Oh, that's right, they were all chumps who can't hold a candle to Mike. Mike even manages to take a lot of bastards with him before eventually getting gunned down. Resident Evil hates chopper pilots. Rest in peace Mike, you lovable bastard.

Chopper evac ain't an option so it's time for a final boss fight. As if the developers were checking boxes on a list, the self-destruct sequence activates. Leon manages to defeat the mutated Saddler thanks to Ada dropping a rocket launcher. It's a reference to RE2, GET IT!? Leon and Ashley escape on a conveniently placed jet-ski. In a scene that reminds me of the awkwardness between Snake and Otacon's ending in Metal Gear Solid, Leon and Ashley drift for a while on the sparkling blue ocean. The President's underage daughter then asks Leon if he'd be available for some "overtime". Disgusting.

Well that's it for now.