The Chicken and the Duck

One that quacks like a duck and walks like a duck is certainly not a chicken.
Groups that flaunt themselves as community organizations but say their financial books are private and that the public has no business to pry into them are chickens pretending to be ducks, or is it ducks pretending to be chickens?
A community group as the name clearly spells it out is born out of community organizing part of which is finding out what the needs of the community are and hence advocates for these needs. Such groups rely on volunteers who: a) have good hearts, b)have all the time, energy and money to spend in attending meetings and social events, c) have hunger for a little play with fame and recognition, or d) all of the above, to rake in money into their coffers.
The public is made to believe by the leaders of these groups that everything they do is for the ‘community’ and therefore there is no profit made from any of their fundraising activities. These people seem to spend more of their time for their organizations for free. Their sacrifices are all for their avowed love for their community. Baloney!
As a character in the tale “The Three Little Pigs” says “”Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin”.
They make the public believe that they do not gain anything and therefore should be spared from public scrutiny especially when it comes to their financial state. If so, why is it that they are willing to be put to public humiliation and despite the shame and humiliation, not to mention the aggravation they put themselves in, they still continue to hold onto their organizations and do the activities that they do year after year after year. They may be masochists — loving the pain that they get out of it.
Meanwhile the public may be duped. But suckers are born every minute and we all are.
People who follow the story of the beleaguered Philippine Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona are on tenterhooks as the trial of the impeached CJ resumes at the Senate on May 16. His lawyers say he will testify to prove his innocence of all the allegations hurled on him specifically his alleged $10M bank deposit. He agreed to do this, so it is said, only because Ombudsman Conchita Carpio, former Anak Bayan Chair Risa Hontiveros Baraquel and, Walden Belo will testify also as witnesses, although hostile.
As everybody knows this is a political exercise. Majority of the Filipinos believe that a disgraced Chief Justice such as a midnight appointee as Renato Corona would be a heavy baggage for the Philippine Justice System to carry even if the Senate sitting as an impeachment court acquits him. He is now as dirty as the rag in my kitchen and the honorable thing for him to do is to quit if he has some decency left.
The rest of the trial will be on national television in the Philippines and anyone, anywhere, who has an internet connection, could follow the spectacle. I am really curious how the senators, especially those seeking re-election on May 2013 will try to impress their constituencies when they grill the CJ. Equally and perhaps more interesting would be Renato Corona’s demeanor in the face of intense cross examination while all television cameras will be on him. Abangan.
Also abangan is the case between actors Raymart Santiago, wife Claudine Barreto and the Tulfos. If you recall the older of the Tulfos, mediaman Ramon Tulfo figured in a scuffle at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport involving the actors and their alalays. The incident has become a case for the media’s role and people’s privacy.
Where does the boundary lie between the media’s role to keep the public informed and people’s right to privacy? Of course there’s the other issue of the use media as an armor to protect one’s interest, it also being dangled as a weapon and the more obvious in this case, the use of physical violence.
Here’s a taste of what people (over the internet) have to say on the case between the Tulfos of media fame, the Santiagos and the Barretos of showbiz:
Rubyred says, “Bullies, that’s how I see these brothers…I love their crusades against corrupt, erring public officials, but on the other hand they only picked (sic) their target if they could bully them. Big fish they won’t touch especially if they are friends with those corrupt politicians.
From arao liwanag: The Tulfos behave like untouchables. They bragged (sic) their connections with the Military and Police…
“Hayop na Raymart at Claudine toh kung ako lang ang T3 (the Tulfos TV program on TV5) mas masahol pa gawin ko doon (referring to threaths they said over the program of which they are suspended by the MTRCB). Ubod ng sinungaling… said MightyOne.
To which JK1000 replied “Easy lang hindi tama ang pagmumura ni Claudine. Bakit ka ba nagagalit kina Raymart? Nandun ka ba noon nangyari yun? Wala!
“Hay nako…sayang di nila ito nababasa at least alam nila kung ano ang opinion ng bawat tao,” from blackberry2012.
Hopefully, in the end, we will be able to know which is the chicken, which is the duck. Quack!