Category: politics

  • RIP

    1. Jose Allan De Jesus
    2. Liza Marquez
    3. Lester Peregrina
    4. Janine Marcos
    5. Anthony Marius Arroyo
    6. Maria Celeste Cruz
    7. Jee Ann De Gracia
    8. Ceasar Niño Vidamo (earlier posted as Cesar Nino Vidano)
    9. Rainier Tan
    10. Maureen de Leon
    11. Ricardo Petras (earlier posted as Bertras)

    As of right now these are the names of eleven people whose lives were inexplicably taken from them by some maniac who decided to blow up Glorietta the other day. I read these names and I wonder who they are, what they could have probably done to deserve their fate, and what level of lunacy there is to have influenced the nameless forces that had seen it fit to do such a thing.

    And since we have no answer to any of these, the only thing we can do is to pray for them, and hope that one day whoever it is to have caused such grief will be held responsible, so as to bring even a flicker of meaning to all this craziness. It is only right.

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  • Accepting Money is ALWAYS a Bribe.

    To all the governors, congressmen, mayors, and everyone involved. Let there be no mistake about it: The moment you accept cash, you are considered bribed. You have sold out. It’s amazing to me that there’s even debate about it, when it is crystal clear. It really doesn’t matter what you do with that money or whether they ask something from you or not.

    Ok let me clarify that last statement down in three phases: First, how you’re gonna spend the money: In a situation like a Malacanang meeting, being given cash with no receipt by a cohort of the President indicates that she wants you to align yourself with her. You can spend it to feed the poor and homeless ala Mother Teresa, or you can go on a month long cruise in the Bahamas – it doesn’t matter.

    Second, where it came from: Obviously the large sums of money didn’t come with a receipt. It was put in an envelope and handed out to them like so much hor’s devours at a dinner party. This indicates that efforts were made to detach the money from any sort of accounting and doing so, given the amounts, is already suspect. How could red flags not rise when you’re being given such a large amount? How could it not surprise anyone, or at the very least make it to the news if it weren’t for Among Ed’s almost casual remark about it? I’d suspect that if they received a P1,000.00 peso bill it should already have come to the press’ attention immediate, let alone P500,000.00

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  • Thoughts on the Senate Hearings

    This is a waaaay belated post that shouldve come out last month. Was just too lazy to actually publish it here but for all its worth, here are some random thoughts I put down when I was watching the Senate hearings of mid to late September. Enjoy.

    I loved the Senate hearings. You don’t need to use words like ‘true to life’ when describing it, because it’s real live drama and comedy right there and then. Finally a way to figure out these people via realtime impression! Anyway, I thought I’d list down some impressions before I forget them, considering we may or may not be seeing any more of these for a while depending on further events.

    Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano – As head of the panel on the NBN deal, I thought he was fairly up to task inasmuch as most of the Senators were eager to line up to ask their questions. Truth is, I was never really impressed at the guy. He’d occasionally make some slam bang accusation against the administration, guaranteeing an audience when he makes some speech or presentation, only to result in pffft, nothing. It has a lot to do with his lack of speaking (and maybe even writing) ability, in particular, focusing on what he’s trying to say. This is a basic, I think, most politicians need to master – which after developing that, a sense of drama would then be next. I have heard and watched a lot of his speeches and so called ‘exposes’, all of which leave me aching to tweak his speech. I’d understand what he’s trying to say, and imagine how best he should say it, but instead he says something that’s completely off-base, misses the point entirely, or most of the time forks onto another topic or topics. It’s a pain to hear him talk. Sometimes I think he just has too many things he wants to say at the same time.

    Sen. Mar Roxas – I was actually planning to mention Mr. Palengke later on, but I’m adding him directly under Alan Cayetano to serve as a contrast to Cayetano’s inability to express himself. If A. Cayetano cannot bring two different thoughts on a single paragraph together, Roxas on the other hand is the master of it. When he started on CHED (formerly NEDA) chair Neri, Roxas knew exactly what he was doing, with one question leading to another and to another and onto, finally, his point. It’s obvious he thought it out as if knowing what the answers would be before he asks them, leading me to wonder if he was a lawyer (I couldn’t find out if he is on his website). He displayed the thought organization needed to make a point via direct questions, and then brought on the drama big and powerful as he reached the end. Unfortunately he starts screaming when he gets near his point, but I could see it as a headline maker anyway. And even then it was ok, because sure enough he finally got the clear reply – the two or three clear statement from Neri that made you second guess his sincerity – and you feel like applauding. Sure enough, Roxas gets the headline the next day. When the papers need an image or the TV needs a two second headline video, it’s Mar Roxas we’ll see, pounding (and screaming) away as he makes his point. As such there’s no question we’re going to see more of this guy in this country’s future. He obviously knows how to work a performance and I’m glad, in this case at least, he was on the side of the truth.

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  • Where is Jonas Burgos?!

    Sometimes I look around the local Internet as I know it and I have to wonder – are any of the things going on around the country of any consequence to these people? Of course it is silly for me to ask anyone to pay attention to anything they don’t want to pay attention to, but I really have to ask anyway.

    All around us, our country is drowning in a cesspool of violence, injustice and apathy. I don’t know Mayor Binay from Adam, but I do know harrassment when I see it, and I find myself hoping that he manages to find a way around this inspite of the obviously formidable odds. The Secretary of Justice is an indignant fool whose agenda – to draw attention to himself and away from his boss, is obvious, irritating and effective. He calls a well – loved and well – meaning foreigner careless for taking a walk in the mountains alone, calls a rape victim ‘dreaming’ even as the prosecution had yet to state their case, and allows the Marine responsible for it to escape in the dead of the night, away from the grasp of the country where he committed the crime and which is supposed to prosecute him. In effect, sending the clear message that foreigners are not welcome in the country, and that U.S. Marines are welcome to do anything they want to Filipina women whilst in the Philippines because we owe their country far too much to jeopardize jailing a guilty man.

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  • Can you be any more of an idiot than this guy??

    apr232007_raul_gonzales.jpgI mean, WTF!! How long does it take before they fire him?!

    UPDATE: And the hits just keep on coming. I mean, seriously, it’s the summer heat right? It’s getting to him? It must be. Can’t think that anyone rational would say these things.

  • Seditious and Incendiary Post

    I hope whoever that likely Law Student who started the blog on Sec. Raul Gonzales called ‘Secretaryofinjustice’ keeps it up. There’s only been two posts but its hilarious as hell, so I’m helping it along by plugging it here on my 10 viewers – a – day blog. (more…)

  • I got one! (Plus hello again after a blogging hiatus)

    gloria arrovo billsFirst of all, hey I got one of those Arrovo bills everyone’s been talking about.

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  • Google Bombing Knocks Arroyo Out Of Office! – not

    So the Young Radicals blog managed to get Google to display Arroyo’s website whenever someone enters the keywords “pekeng pangulo”. Whoopee.

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  • Where art thou (web-based) Opposition?

    I thought of an idea that might help concerned bloggers unite. I wanted to do an affiliate system where bloggers can install on their website a small graphic, maybe something as simple as this:

    I’ll offer it two ways, either with unique code that’ll distinguish one click from another, or just plain old code with an ahref link. Which leads me to my problem – where do I link it to?

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  • 8 gadgets in 8 weeks

    I have been tasked to write about one gadget a week for eight weeks, to result in 8 articles, aka a tech-writer’s dream, aka a golden opportuntiy to manhandle and abuse things I could never afford if I earn twice as much, aka an enjoyable and productive writing opportunity, aka a reason to blog about our country’s dire need of strong leadership and direction, the loss of quality professionals to nursing opportunities abroad, and the general decay and misopportunities befalling our nation.

    Say what?

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