Making news today is another blast from the past — the re-opening of the 2004 election cheating scandal that engulfed most of former President Gloria Arroyo’s term from then ’til 2009 and a new investigation mounted on the back of a possible testimony from Zaldy Ampatuan and Lintang Bedong both of whom have admitted to being complicit in carrying out electoral fraud under the orders of the then President.
What does it all mean to the average Filipino?
I struggle with an answer. Subject these “developments” to the So What? Test and you come out of the exercise scratching your head.
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How long will it take? Who will go to jail? What will change?
Even with those three fundamental questions, one already struggles to pinpoint this new circus’s relevance to a people whose immediate concerns do not go beyond scraping together their next meal or slogging through the ridiculous red tape that comes between them and their plane out of the country to overseas employment bliss.
Between teasing the truth out of an alleged case of election fraud many young Filipinos today barely remember and the price of investigating and prosecuting it — specifically, a possible get-out-of-jail deal with an accused mass murderer awaiting trial — one wonders whether the return on investment (ROI) of this proposal stacks up to the risks.
Firstly, identifying The Truth in a society that possesses a deeply-ingrained cultural aversion to dealing with it, by itself, already makes the exercise nakakatamad and nakakawalang-gana (roughly translated “an unsavory slog”). Why dig deep for a gold nugget for a people who prefer to surround themselves in turd?
Second, mass murder is hands down more horrifying than electoral fraud. And with very little resources — much less, chances of success — surrounding the noble cause of solving crimes for which the accused happen to be wealthy, the choice in this context is a no-brainer, one would think. Unforunately, the Philippines is not exactly renowned for its thinking faculties. Filipinos had six years to resolve the 2004 election fraud claims. What makes us think that it will be solved in the next six?
It is also interesting to note that the usual suspects — our “heroic” champions of “justice” in Philippine Congress — are likely to figure in this public spectacle that is guaranteed to fill their personal quotas for media coverage. Recall then how it is this same “institution” that, to quote former education secretary and Liberal Party leader Florencio “Butch” Abad “slammed shut” a bid to impeach then President Arroyo in 2005. Indeed, this failure to impeach Arroyo — this “outrage” perpetrated by duly-elected “representatives” of the Filipino people — then became the basis for calls for another Edsa “Revolution” to be mounted on Manila’s streets — a call led by the late former President Corazon Aquino that fizzled out spectacularly…
In a country peppered by souls still heady and giddy about Fiesta Revolutions of past, the rallying cry in response to an impeachment bid against President Gloria Arroyo that catastrophically failed to pass Congress on 06 Sep 2005 was once again — you guessed it — FIESTA REVOLUTION! Led by no less than Madame Ex-President, former Time Woman of the Year, and Ms 1986 “Revolution” herself — Ms Corazon Aquino, what may now be billed Edsa IV (or Commonwealth Avenue I, as the case may be), promised to be another spectacle of sorts. This time there was no particular heir-to-the-throne around which the fete was organised. If it succeeded in its bid to amass enough warm bodies in the streets to make a statement, it would have marked a new low in the practice of a concept that Filipinos fancy themselves to have invented back in 1986. If it had failed, it will have further served to highlight the utter ridiculousness of how Filipinos conduct their affairs.
And failed miserably it did. Bursts of little street protests sporadically erupted in Manila’s streets in the days following the House dismisal of the impeachment bid, but none even remotely approached the kind of numbers these would-be anarchists crowed in the days leading to Tueday. Each were in fact smaller in number than the equally ridiculous street gathering in Makati on 25 July [2005].
Shortly after, Inquirer.net columnist Amando Doronila wrote in a 09 September 2005 article what practically comes across as a eulogy to the only casualty of this political song-and-dance…
One of the ‘truths’ that emerged from the dismissal of the impeachment complaints is that people power has been drained of its mystique as a magic formula to oust much-demonized leaders. The indiscriminate use of people power to overthrow unwanted leaders has drained its potency as a weapon for effecting political change. Its potency has been depleted by frequent use. The sputtering of protests after the House vote should be a rude reality check to Cory Aquino. She has been deserted by people power. And nothing could be more pathetic.
As we can see now, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has much to gain personally from this re-visit of an electoral “crime” that even the full force of his clan’s Yellow Army utterly failed to indict six years ago. Like George W Bush at the time he pondered re-starting a war his father left unfinished against a “dictator” who, as history would later reveal, was irrelevant to a “war on terror” of Bush’s own making, Aquino is likely out to vindicate his mother’s involvement in that embarrassing 2005 “revolution” that never was.
It is up to Filipinos and their “representatives” in Congress today to decide whether they want to jump into the bandwagon for a similar ride into a quagmire.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
I wonder about ascribing the motive of “personal” or “vindictive” to probes of corruption. I see the clean-up that is going on nationwide – big things (Maguindinao elections) and little things (LTO transparency on contract bidding) – and say “this is good”. Why sharpshoot it? Undermine it? Man sweep the place spic and span. Look under every rock, even ones that have been examined before. How else do you uproot a really ugly culture of corruption?
i agree 2 u joe.
I think you uproot a really ugly culture of corruption by starting with, “This corruption stops now and from this instant forward will not be tolerated and punished severely,” and show as much resolve in maintaining that new perspective as you do in ferreting out the truths that should have been revealed in their own time. So far, as it’s always seemed to be in this country, what fits the definition of corruption seems to be a matter of dates.
matter of dates? what do u mean?
if anything, dates dont matter — as B0 is alleging, 2004 elections is supposed 2 be ancient history.
that’s exactly the point, gabbyd. it’s supposed to be ancient history (in your words, not mine, but heck let’s use them), but in this country, what fits the definition of corruption seems to be a matter of dates.
backfire much?
so ben means, its corruption ONLY if its ancient? and 2004 is “ancient history”. he’s not focusing on more recent problems?
why, they just talking about he pcso issue, and that happened a couple of years ago. is that ancient history?
or is ancient history == NOT TODAY?
no, einstein. da pinoy calls something corruption when it happens on someone else’s watch but on never his own.
c’mon, miss this point gabbyd. please miss this point. i beg ya!
@parallax
ok. i’ll give u a chance 2 prove it.
can you give an example of corruption in his admin, that he didnt call corruption?
ignoramuses can ask for proof till the cows come home.
one example? sure, but i’ll need my beauty rest after this.
pnoy chose to keep the pork barrel and uses it now to exert influence as needed. (never mind if ping lacson had a hand in some dirty work and clearly ran from the law; as long as agreements are made, he’s back as senator, and cannot be touched, especially since he’s willing to kiss pnoy’s butt, and just like the rest of the apes point a dirty finger towards the same direction.)
okay, genius. tell us where it all goes and itemize them please. surely there is no corruption there, that it all goes to the people, for the people, huh gabbyd? has pnoy called his pork a form of corruption yet, gabbyd? i didn’t think so.
oh btw, thanks to rep. mitos magsaysay for revealing on gnn that while this administration acts like its people in customs are cracking down on smuggling, the smuggling is actually at an all-time high.
quickly, gabbyd. tell us if pnoy ever calls his own phoney palabas an act of corruption.
first, pork barrel is not on its own corrupt. many folk, including orion, can tell you that.
disliking pork barrel is a political opinion. you are free to hold it, but its not corruption per se.
second, when has pinoy said there is no corruption in customs? pnoy has acknowledged it, you said it yourself…
remember, our deal was that you’d tell me what pnoy doesnt call out as corruption in his present admin.
you know what, if thats the best example, never mind.
Customs is exactly the sort of example I’m talking about. Peenoy can say that Customs was corrupt and smuggling was rampant under GMA, and he would be correct. Peenoy can say that Customs is still corrupt and smuggling is still a problem, and he would be correct, because it’s reasonable to assume that problems don’t get solved overnight. But there’s only two conclusions one can draw from what is presumably a sincere effort to stamp out corruption and keep it from recurring, if the problem is worse now than what it was under the president who was (according to Peenoy) the source or at least an enabler of the corrupt activity:
Either he’s an idiot in giving directions or in choosing qualified and committed people to handle the problem, or both.
Or, he’s not actually doing anything about the problem.
Or, he (considering that he should be held accountable to the same standards of blame he applies to another president) is no less corrupt than anyone else.
Here’s another example for you: BSP violates just about every due process that already exists in writing in order to shut down Banco Filipino. On top of that, BSP ignores TWO court orders to make good on a financial settlement to BF prior to shutting the bank down. What does Peenoy have to say about this? Not a damn word. Doesn’t even question it.
Here’s another example for you: signed contract with a foreign company — one that already has a record of completing a similar project here under budget and ahead of schedule — which Peenoy, because he is skeptical that the contract was signed under GMA (which is reasonable I suppose) asks his own economic and technical advisors to vet. They come back and give it the thumbs up, he cancels it anyway and lands the country in a case at the ICSID. While at the same time the government is getting billed for commitment fees for not holding up their end of the bargain, to a tune of around $1.5 million a month.
You can define corruption any way you like, but an elected officials’ actively or acquiescing in “ignoring a court order” and “purposely breaking a valid contract” are more than close enough for me.
1) i dont know if smuggling is worse or not. mitos magsaysay has her view. regardless, your comment of “what fits the definition of corruption seems to be a matter of dates.” is incorrect.
he knows there’s corruption there. he openly acknowledges it. he claims to be implementing policies to change it.
2) BSP ignoring the courts? IF TRUE, thats a big deal. any links?
3) on laguna lake dredging…. what, specifically, is the corruption here?
IF you are right that its corruption, someone must benefit. who? as you write, if its true that PNOY is wrong, then he does the unpopular thing AND hurts the economy. who benefits? where is the exchange of favors?
As I said, you can define corruption however you like. My definition need not go beyond “willfully causing harm, or allowing it to happen” to satisfy me.
And you do know there is this thing called Google, right? If you’re familiar with that, try looking up something on your own for a change. If you need a place to get you jump-started, begin here:
http://grbusinessonline.com/wp/?p=94
“As I said, you can define corruption however you like.”
i wish. if this were true, we could solve all our problems simply by defining it as we like.
so, this ignoring of the courts by the BSP. any links? your link was on the dredging.
gabbyd, wag sagot ng sagot ng hindi naiintindihan ang binasa. you’ve already demonstrated the reading comprehension skills of an intelligent toenail, so the act is really old now, in case you were wondering.
the point of raising the pork barrel issue was most certainly missed (yet again brickboy) when you ignored (ignoring: the thing ignoramuses do, yet do not realize) how such sums of money go completely unaccounted for. how that relates to corruption must be beyond your mental capabilities to process, huh einstein?
another thing – you said “second, when has pinoy said there is no corruption in customs? pnoy has acknowledged it, you said it yourself…”
again, a clue for the (deliberately) clueless: that is called LIP SERVICE (because on his watch the corruption INTENSIFIED).
speaking of lip service, have you pulled yours away from right next to joeam’s over there on the yellowed-up seat of your idol in malacanang yet? you still eat, right?
@parallax
if you can point to any specific claims of corruption in pork barrel in the aquino administration, and has been ignored, PLEASE, cite it.
if you are just making broad claims about pork barrel, then you’ve moved beyond the issues raised in this thread.
remember, the original argument: corruption is about dates.
if true, then pork barrel corruption NOW is being forgotten.
well? pls cite.
@paralax
further, as a general rule, the administration is cognizant of the possibility/history of abuse of pork barrel.
if u google it, u’ll see it. but i guess medyo tinamad ka.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=602274&publicationSubCategoryId=63
“BACOLOD City, Philippines – Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday the congressional allocations in the 2011 proposed national budget were designed to promote transparency in the spending of lawmakers’ pork barrel funds.”
gabbyd, i’ve already ASKED YOU FIRST to prove that you won’t find ONE single line item on how the pork is poorly spent. since you, for the waste of money spent on you in university, conveniently wimp out on the simple challenge handed to you, i guess there never was anything to expect but pathetic replies of cite this or cite that.
you were given a chance to show that there’s no corruption whatsoever happening with the completely unaccounted-for pork barrel, and you, surprise, suprise, failed.
now that you painted yourself to a corner reserved for the intellectually dishonest only to segue into “the argument was about dates,” this will just be another round of hearing “cite an example of” blah blah to “prove that” blah blah blah as you can’t really explain why your lips haven’t left the last place talcum powder hit the obviously-himself-corrupt stuck-in-a-dumb-smile-beside-the-bus yellow president.
sige, hirit pa.
and gabbyd, expressing cognizance of the corruption yet capitalizing on it instead of addressing it makes your idiot president a snake oil salesman, like you. though he’s probably smarter for benefiting from it while you on the other hand only invite the opportunity to have your face dipped in your own rubbish. o, ano napala mo? eh ikaw pala ang tamad eh.
i give you the chance to google it as you deeply need some braining, seriously.
what i am i supposed to prove?
that none of it goes to corruption? the only thing i know is what is brought out in the media.
what do you know?
here’s the point: if there is an instance of corruption using the pork barrel that pnoy is actively ignoring, please share.
in fact, i have just proven to you, that sec abad is aware of the problems and has been trying to address it.
i have not found any example of that in my readings.
now, have you?
if you have found a good example, i would glad agree with you that aquino should spend effort going after it.
ok? meron? o wala?
ok. i’ll bite. you say “expressing cognizance of the corruption yet capitalizing on it instead of addressing it ”
what is the problem: “the point of raising the pork barrel issue was most certainly missed (yet again brickboy) when you ignored (ignoring: the thing ignoramuses do, yet do not realize) how such sums of money go completely unaccounted for.”
lack of transparency ang problem? twas addressed by abad!
““BACOLOD City, Philippines – Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday the congressional allocations in the 2011 proposed national budget were designed to promote transparency in the spending of lawmakers’ pork barrel funds.—
“meron o wala?”
you can answer that yourself, can you not? oh, wait. you can’t. does not compute. file not found. prove it. style bulok ka talaga gabbyd.
read this and weep:
Biggest ‘porker’ ever
09/06/2010
Ninez Cacho Olivares
The Daily Tribune
Guess who is the biggest “porker†in the government?
It’s Noynoy Aquino, President of the Republic, who spoke of the need for reforms and austerity, and slammed away at those officials in government-owned and controlled corporations, and government financial institutions for giving themselves tens of millions in allowances, fat pays and bonuses.
But hey, what’s a few hundred millions when compared to Noynoy’s increased pork barrel — amounting to a staggering P1 billion, just for himself — and unaccountable too, as these are confidential funds.
And this is apart from his presidential social fund, which also amounts in the billions yearly.
It has been pointed out by congressmen that the 2011 budget Congress is now reviewing, shows that not only has Noynoy bloated his pork barrel to P1 billion but also did not provide a single centavo to the National Food Authority (NFA) for rice subsidy in the proposed P1.64-trillion budget submitted to the House.
All for him and nothing for the poor people who have to buy cheap rice?
But not only did Noynoy give himself P1 billion for his pork barrel. He even retained his P500-million intelligence funds!
Noynoy has certainly earned the title of the country’s biggest “porker.â€
One wonders whether Aquino ran for the presidency despite his knowing that he can’t hack the job, for the money, and not bothering with reforms or even ensuring that the Filipinos live under better conditions. That’s a trapo for you!
But then again, even as a congressman, and as a senator, Noynoy did get his pork barrel, and there has been no improvements made in his district all that time in his stay in Congress.
More to the point, he has never been transparent in the way he spent his pork barrel, hard or soft component.
If he was never transparent then, how can he be expected to be transparent today, when he has allocated for himself billions in pork barrel funds?
It was also shown that Noynoy, despite claims that he won’t be taking many trips abroad, had not cut down on presidential travel expenses, as shown in the budget.
As an opposition congressman, Milagros Magsaysay, pointed out: austerity cannot be what is proposed in the budget, for Noynoy to even increase his contingency funds, and awarding himself P1 billion in confidential funds.
It appears to be all for him, and none for the people — at least in terms of services to them.
For all his talk of reforms and austerity, and change, Noynoy’s budget even made sure that while his pork is increased, the environment sector’s allocation has been decreased by P1 billion; funding for water resources development and flood control-critical for the water shortage and flashflood-prone country was slashed from P18.5 billion to P14.5 billion.
Even the allocation for health was slashed, from P40 billion to P38.6 billion.
As for NFA, there isn’t any budget for this agency, which has to buy at the very least, the palay from local farmers — apart from ensuring that cheap rice will be there for the poor.
According to lawmakers, while Noynoy stuffs himself with billions in confidential funds, health, agriculture and environment sectors’ budget allocations were slashed heavily.
It is also no secret that the Department of Social Welfare and Development gets a whooping P35 billion — which is reportedly meant for the cash transfer program that would be giving the “poorest of the poor†some P1,500.
Yet everyone knows that more often than not, these funds are being used in the practice of patronage politics, where certain “loyal†constituents are the ones being given their share, not to mention the corruption indulged in by both the local executives, as well as the national officials.
One thing sure: There won’t be any change forthcoming. Nor reforms, for that matter. And things in government won’t be any different. It just gets worse — as shown by the proposed 2011 budget — with the biggest porker in Malacañang getting it all!
would you like some more, mister cite this cite that?
PeNoy: P8B for the poor, P35B for bankers
09/06/2010
Herman Tiu Laurel
The Daily Tribune
Dinky Soliman, PeNoy Aquino’s Social Welfare secretary, trumpets her P8-billion cash dole-out for the poor. That’s measly compared to the P35 billion Soliman’s CodeNGO is handing out to the bankers this year through the payback to her group’s so-called PeaceBonds.
Just think: The bankers are going to get four times more than the poor. And we don’t even know if all of this P8-billion dole-out will really go to the intended recipients, given the notoriety of the PeNoy administration’s utter lack of control. Stated simply, this is my way of telling Soliman to cut the crap about her and her government’s fictitious “pro-poor†claims. Her NGO work had always been masked subversion projects of the Western funding agencies — thus, explaining why her NGO comrades are so well taken care of by such bodies as the Kennedy School of Government and the Cory Aquino foundations of the oligarchs.
As we speak, PeNoy is already increasing the number of financial rip-offs to benefit Big Business through new projects such as the MRT and the new South Expressway extensions, water privatization, power privatization (which has given us the highest power rates in Asia), plus giving tollway operators more leeway to exact exorbitant fees. All these are being contracted under PeNoy’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, which will have P15 billion in funding cum dole-out for the big, favored corporations — again outstripping the dole-out for the poor.
Already, under this PPP arrangement, three new tollways are being planned, as well as, tourism infrastructure to be mapped out by Ayala man and Tourism Secretary Bertie Lim. In all, the P35-billion CodeNGO pay-off and the P15-billion PPP projects total to an astounding P50-billion “social welfare†for Big Business!
But even as PeNoy gives this P50-billion subsidy to the bankers and Big Business, his government’s pencil-pushers under Butch Abad, such as the Treasury boss, did not allocate a single centavo for the National Food Authority (NFA), under the Department of Agriculture’s budget. Without this, the NFA will not be able to purchase rice from our millions of farmers. In short, there will be no subsidy at all, which will place them at the mercy of unscrupulous traders and middle men, thus, drowning us in the deluge of imports from countries such as Vietnam, India, and China that subsidize their own farmers. I really wonder if NFA chief Lito Banayo will be able to stomach this as he claims to be pro-poor and a nationalist ever since his college and activist days.
In the meantime, behind the veneer of brooking “no corruption†is this reality: PeNoy now bloats the President’s pork barrel from P800 million to P1 billion and keeps his P500-million intelligence fund, which he earlier vowed to forego. PeNoy also did not reduce his travel budget as he said he would.
Following his lead, Malacañang has now increased its contingent fund under the new budget and listed this under the Special Purpose Fund which only the President can draw from. In turn, budgets for Environment and Health were reduced. Funds such as the P18.5 billion for water resources development and flood control and P40 billion for health services were slashed to P14.5 billion and P38.6 billion respectively.
Yet the palakasan in favor of the Ateneo-UP Student Catholic Action (UPSCA) club, nurtured by the Jesuits Delaney and Intengan, is ever present. Why, the Atenean Butch Abad has already allocated P34.3 billion (up from the previous year’s P15.4 billion) to UPSCAn Dinky Soliman.
All this should be lessons to the wide-eyed believers of PeNoy and the Yellow movement to snap out of their trance. This call is made to such Yellow supporters as Reyn Barnido, who has issued an open letter to PeNoy on the Internet that takes off from the hostage fiasco, saying in part: “This is not anymore about failing to handle the hostage-taking as much as this is about fulfilling the promises of your oath-taking… This is not about a singular madman shooting bullets up and down; this is about an orgy of fools shooting lies left and right… not anymore about the negotiators’ inefficiency to convince a police officer to surrender, but the government’s incapacity to comfort a nation… We don’t deserve this, Sir. This is not the covenant we entered into during your oath-taking… I grew up in the shadows of the Abads, Soliman, Deles… Do not take their analysis of society at face value for theirs is a construct designed to fuel a protest movement, not manage a large bureaucracy… Believe it or not, your cheerers may have become cynics, but they are still your companions in this journey. I, for one, will not abandon you Mr. President.â€
Apparently, Barnido still thinks that the crisis bedeviling his former mentors and PeNoy himself is just a crisis of incompetence, where one is sentimentally loyal even to the failed and foolish, hoping they will learn. Well, he and his youngish ilk are the ones who have a lot to learn!
PeNoy’s budget and programs, foisted unto us by the evil powers that Barnido has been taught in the Ateneo not to see, are the best eye openers. These evil powers, the money masters to whom the Jesuits genuflect, are anti-poor and anti-human, on top of being pro-Big Business. Only when he awakens to how he was inveigled to help install a puppet that has brought us to the deepest nadir which the Yellow movement is capable of can he truly help this nation as a “Man for Others,†and not as a “Man for the Money Masters.â€
o, ano? your turn to give me a cop-out answer, dali.
and forgive me ilda and benign0, but let me just say to gabbyd:
transparency my nuts.
there is no such thing and you know it.
o ano, wala? tsk tsk tsk, gabbyd. what a fail.
diba sabi mo sa akin “what i am i supposed to prove? that none of it goes to corruption? the only thing i know is what is brought out in the media.”
akala ko ba you were telling me i’m tamad and i should use google.
pull your lips away dude, pull your plucky red lips away from where they are, and take your own advice: learn to use google. it’s as simple as typing in a few keywords like pork and barrel and noynoy or pnoy. don’t forget to press enter or you’ll be waiting a long time.
sure:
http://www.mb.com.ph/node/279942/pre
“MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang intends to reduce its P650-million intelligence fund and increase the budget for personal services and other items under the Office of the President (OP) – a funding realignment aimed at keeping a lean budget for the Executive Branch.”
“These funds will be redistributed to various programs and agencies subjected to audit. He said the realigned budget from the Palace intelligence funds and the PAOCC will be used to cover the funding requirements of two new offices – the Truth Commission and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office.”
so there IS transparency….
transparency has to involve all the several billions in THE PORK BARREL, not just this peephole you’re already calling transparency.
that example is nothing more than a pathetic PR move to counter the barrage of criticism pnoy got from his porking up to P1billion.
are you sure you study at university? your ability to answer simple queries and challenges really suck.
“transparency has to involve all the several billions in THE PORK BARREL, not just this peephole you’re already calling transparency.”
it does. thats what all of this back and forth between us leads to.
hey, i’ve been straight w u. again, if there is an instance of corruption that pnoy has been ignoring, i havent found it.
neither have you.
learn to read gabbyd. it’s all over the articles i’ve posted.
and don’t be a blatant liar gabbyd. you were never straight with me or benk on this thread. not once.
try again.
how have i lied? we’ve discussed all your examples. there is transparency.
if u think its all a PR stunt, thats for you to prove.
and save you the trouble of disproving the very thing you’ve been evading right from the top of this thread? you need to get your head checked.
for contents.
whats that? dont keep us in suspense 🙂
hahaha! idiot all the way.
see, thats what i find weird.
i’m asking nicely, and i’ve been replying to all your issues.
you come at me with accusations and name-calling.
dont you have anything substantive? if u wanna name-call, you can do it, but it only makes u sound stupid.
oh come on gabbyd, you’re not fooling anybody with that act. the readers here are smart enough to be able to tell the difference between real civility and a contrived one like the way you (poorly) play out. i couldn’t care less whether you ask nicely or not if the only thing you do is dishonestly deny the existence of what’s already presented right under your nose; but then, we also have to remember where your lips have been attached to ever since.
so far you haven’t landed one intelligent counter to the evidence we’ve given you; so now you’re playing victim like joeam does. is that all you yellows know how to do, gabbyd? could you please list down the names i’ve called you here so we could review and prove definitively that your feelings were hurt in the process? could we do that now please? the possibility that my brutal honesty with you makes you right is just killing me to bits. 😛
Yes, indeed. 😉
so ano nga yung evidence na yun? i’ve addressed your issues on pork barrel. ano pa?
“could you please list down the names i’ve called you here so we could review and prove definitively that your feelings were hurt in the process? ” i didnt say my feelings were hurt. i said name calling makes you look dumb.
any substantive issues?
only an idiot would deliberately ignore something right in front of him and say “i addressed it,” unless ignoring it is his way of addressing the problem. oh, i’m sorry. did i just call you something again gabbyd? or did i just describe you and pnoy accurately?
and could you please give proof to the contrary on what i’ve just said? pretty please?
the articles about pnoy bloating the pork barrel further despite knowing that this is a fund where corruption exists in a scale he has yet to grasp are up there on this thread. care to explain why pnoy pretends to fight corruption by INCREASING it?
hello, anybody home in there? the lights are on but nobody’s home.
“the articles about pnoy bloating the pork barrel further despite knowing that this is a fund where corruption exists ”
as you know, pork barrel is not necessarily bad. the implementation is key.
i’ve shown how they have reformed implementation.
http://www.mb.com.ph/node/279942/pre
“MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang intends to reduce its P650-million intelligence fund and increase the budget for personal services and other items under the Office of the President (OP) – a funding realignment aimed at keeping a lean budget for the Executive Branch.â€
“These funds will be redistributed to various programs and agencies subjected to audit. He said the realigned budget from the Palace intelligence funds and the PAOCC will be used to cover the funding requirements of two new offices – the Truth Commission and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office.â€
ANYTHING ELSE?
anything else ka dyan. now you’re just repeating a reply you’ve already used unsuccessfully. what do they say about insanity, gabbbyd? “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” are you trying to tell us you’re insane, gabbyd?
read this slowly so that you can understand, okay? explain to us how pnoy tangibly curbs corruption in the pork barrel issue by actually bloating it.
read it again.
once more.
exhale.
now, explain. no more excuses from you.
how is it “bloated”
when
1) its being “reduced”
2) its all being audited, therefore transparent?
come back a few years later when you figure that one out (if you ever do), okay einstein?
it’s ridiculously simple.
i thought i told you no more dumb excuses. but then, that’s all you can come up with, right gabbyd?
I agree with Joe America with this one..
redemption time for zaldy ampatuan? That’s good news.
i’m with trosp — in what sense did bush sr leave the war unfinished, since the stated goals of the war were achieved?
what goals do you know of?
GabbyD,
These aren’t the droids you are looking for.
Move along…
its not star wars i’m thinking of.
i think B0 has seen oliver stone’s W a few too many times.
Gabby,
Yes, Dubya and Cheney wanted Iraq for different reasons. But the only reason why the military-industrial-complex made it happen (you see, as Clinton and Nixon said, there is a government within the government), was because Saddam started trading oil for Euros. This is a very serious transgression. The American Empire is made possible by two main pillars, the Military-Industrial-Complex and the Dollar-Oil standard.
Gadaffi made the same mistake by trading oil for Gold. Challenge the Dollar-Oil standard and the empire goes after you–no questions asked.
If you don’t believe me. Here is some juicy info that may convince you: Iran just started an Oil bourse to challenge the Dollar-Oil standard. So guess what? This means war. Iran is next.
How soon? September. Forces are already mobilizing in the US East Coast (ask any military buddy of yours in the east coast). Israel will make the first strike.
Result? $200 per barrel oil and lots and lots of blogging for sure.
But unlike most of you, I don’t waste my time on sheeple bloggers. I act on information. Since I am beginning to like you, Gabby, let me tell you how make money on this war.
If you can, do any of the following:
1. Buy Oil Futures
2. Buy physical (not ETF) Gold
3. Buy Commodities (Corn, Wheat, Soybeans)
Short any stock with a crazy valuation. If you want to play currencies, CHF (swiss franc) is your safest bet.
This is your chance to make $$$ Gabby. But you have to act on it. I am guessing, however, that you will not. It is so much easier to argue with sheeple who have no idea what the hell is going on.
Have a nice life.
You claimed:
“Like George W Bush at the time he pondered re-starting a war his father left unfinished against a “dictator†who, as history would later reveal, was irrelevant to a “war on terror†of Bush’s own making…”
Facts:
o The objective of the first Iraq war to liberate Kuwait and the UN coalition force accomplished the objective. You’re wrong to clam it as unfinished war. Invading Iraq was not among the coalition’s objective though they should have done that.
o If you’re referring to Saddam as the dictator that was irrelevant to war on terror, for the anti war Americans, they would like to make it appear that he’s irrelevant to a “war on terror†for the sake of discrediting Dubyah Bush. But Saddam is relevant.
Read this link: http://floppingaces.net/2007/02/11/no-evidence-of-a-saddam-osama/
The link will refute your claim that Saddam was irrelevant to “war on terrorâ€.
The Iraq war is not Bush own making. A resolution was submitted to congress for approval. This is totally different from Obama’s war where he decided it based on his own whim.
Those are interesting factoids. So what’s your point?
You’re again distorting facts.
Well, it’s one man’s facts against the others’. You think George W Bush didn’t start the Second Iraq War. Others will beg to differ. If you want to get into a Google-search-copy-and-paste “debate”, there’s lots of online forums that excel in that sort of moronic style of discussion.
It’s not one man’s facts against the others. It’s my fact against your speculations you masked as a fact.
If you say questioning your speculations against a fact is a moronic style of discussion, then, suit yourself.
I don’t oblige you to explain your side. More often, it’s enough for me to let the comment readers to read and decide if I’m correct or not.
That’s nice. I’m happy for you.
I think there is a logical reason for the first inquiry of the alleged 2004 poll manipulation. The one being probed was sitting in power, and she had a lot of politicians from her party elected in house of representatives, therefore making any efforts of an impeachment futile. It is plain and simple to see the huge difference of the circumstance from the previous effort to what they plan on doing now.
I don’t find anything wrong in doing another investigation with regards to that, the one who wasted the funds for investigation was not really the one doing the investigation now, but the ones who tried to do the investigation before.
In addition, re-opening the investigation doesn’t only try to prove the discrepancy that happened before, but also is a method of eradicating the thought of “you can get-away with the wrong things you’ve done”, discover the conspiracy behind all the misused funds, and hopefully recover the billions that the country lost because of the greediness of the politician. This things, I think, shouldn’t really be easily dismissed.
It’d be the yellow army’s turn to steal after Arroyo is jailed. Itaga nyo sa bato.
I find the timing of this investigation quite suspect. Obviously, the Ampatuans, the people allegedly behind the most heinous crime in the history of the Philippines is trying to strike a deal to get away with just a slap on the wrist.
Escudero has been a senator for quite some time now. I don’t understand why he didn’t dig into this a few years ago. I mean, why only now? Don’t get me wrong, it would be good if something comes out of it but I have a feeling that this is just another diversion from the empty SONA and mediocre performance of the current administration.
It’s just another one of those circus performances to entertain the masa.
We are descending into a “Banana Republic”, like those countries in South America. We may even end up as a “failed state”, like Somalia. Noynoy Aquino is using these investigations to get away from his responsibilities as a President…His primary duty is to solve the economic problems; and address the economic issues. So far; he cannot produce a working program and plan to do so…so he wants to divert us to these unnnecessary issues.
How about, if we investigate the conducts, of that Japanese Imperial Army collaborator, Benigno Aquino, Sr.? This person did a lot of suffererings and murders to Filipinos, during Worlds War II…Or how the Conjuangcos acquired the Hacienda Luisita? Some believed, it came from the funds of the Philippine revolution…this is plunder, also…Or, Ninoy Aquino, Jr.; unholy alliance with the NPA, and the MV Karagatan armed shiptments? Noynoy Aquino says “everybody stinks”…he does not smell, that his family stinks more…with a lot of skeleton in their closets…
benign0, reading your article and all this talk on who really won the 2004 elections sort of reminded me of al gore’s concession to dubya.
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/gore-concedes.htm
even way back then when i listened to his speech, these words stood out:
Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity of the people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.
“…for the sake of the unity of the people and the strength of our democracy, i offer my concession.” to me these are words of a TRUE statesman. where have all our statesmen gone? these people who are speaking of the truth smacks of partisanship and hypocrisy.
believe it or not there were actually quite a number of people like me who voted for gma as a “lesser evil” option. that is not to say that fpj was an evil man, but i did not vote for him for the same reason the present occupant of malacanan should not have been voted in the first place: he simply was not ready for this. considering the crisis and the challenges the country faced the past years, i do not regret my vote then.
Unfortunately, Pinoys have very short memories. The sense applied at one time changes when evaluated at a different time. So the perfect sense evident in voting for Arroyo in 2004 is conveniently forgotten today, specially when much of the folk who are rallied to the “anti-Arroyo” cause weren’t even old enough to vote at the time. So there is an immense pool of idle non-thinking “talent” always waiting to be tapped for street “ocho ocho” revolutions and low-brain-applied political campaigns and “movements” whenever the newest cretinous slogan and catchphrase (e.g. “Patalsikin Na Now Na”, “Kung walang kurap walang kurakot”, “Unity Walk”, “Interfaith Rally”, etc.) needs to be publicised and viralised.
pinoys are truly an ambivalent lot (or balimbings really)…which is why they are susceptible to manipulation which the yellows have mastered. no wonder billions are spent on PR and “communications” than actual projects that can bring progress. methinks that our so-called “leaders” would rather keep the country mired in poverty to better keep the masses under their control.
i will never call myself “pinoy”. i would rather be a filipino. i think these two are separate species. to be honest though, maybe i’m just an aberration…thank god! :p
BenK,
You write: I think you uproot a really ugly culture of corruption by starting with, “This corruption stops now and from this instant forward . . .
You are basically arguing for a blanket pardon of all ill deeds done before. I think if it had been your house that was robbed, or if we think of Ampatuan victims, and excusing the criminals who did that, it becomes clear that it is necessary for law officials to track down old culprits no matter how cold the crime scene. On the other hand, yes, the new President should enforce good behavior among his own government officials.
I can’t grasp where hunting down criminals is the act of a vindictive person.
Maybe I’m missing something in the argument and need further enlightenment.
joe says: “I can’t grasp where hunting down criminals is the act of a vindictive person. Maybe I’m missing something in the argument and need further enlightenment.” surprise, surprise, surprise!
nobody expects anything else from likely the most ingenuine, most insincere excuse for an educated person (self-made ignoramus, gabbyd, comes at a distant first runner-up for the habitual idiot act, but very much alone up there) than his completely missing this bit from benk:
“Customs is exactly the sort of example I’m talking about. Peenoy can say that Customs was corrupt and smuggling was rampant under GMA, and he would be correct. Peenoy can say that Customs is still corrupt and smuggling is still a problem, and he would be correct, because it’s reasonable to assume that problems don’t get solved overnight. But there’s only two conclusions one can draw from what is presumably a sincere effort to stamp out corruption and keep it from recurring, if the problem is worse now than what it was under the president who was (according to Peenoy) the source or at least an enabler of the corrupt activity:
Either he’s an idiot in giving directions or in choosing qualified and committed people to handle the problem, or both.
Or, he’s not actually doing anything about the problem.
Or, he (considering that he should be held accountable to the same standards of blame he applies to another president) is no less corrupt than anyone else.
Here’s another example for you: BSP violates just about every due process that already exists in writing in order to shut down Banco Filipino. On top of that, BSP ignores TWO court orders to make good on a financial settlement to BF prior to shutting the bank down. What does Peenoy have to say about this? Not a damn word. Doesn’t even question it.
Here’s another example for you: signed contract with a foreign company — one that already has a record of completing a similar project here under budget and ahead of schedule — which Peenoy, because he is skeptical that the contract was signed under GMA (which is reasonable I suppose) asks his own economic and technical advisors to vet. They come back and give it the thumbs up, he cancels it anyway and lands the country in a case at the ICSID. While at the same time the government is getting billed for commitment fees for not holding up their end of the bargain, to a tune of around $1.5 million a month.
You can define corruption any way you like, but an elected officials’ actively or acquiescing in “ignoring a court order†and “purposely breaking a valid contract†are more than close enough for me.”
joeam is all form, no substance. lipstick on a prize porker, if i may be so subtle.
Seems to me Parallax comments are insightful. I might not agree with some specially with Banco Filipino issue but who can argue with a person who has facts to show. Meaning, he takes the discussion seriously.
“I can’t grasp where hunting down criminals is the act of a vindictive person.”
Hunting down criminal maybe is not an act of vindictiveness for some. But it has a very specific definition as far as Penoy narrow mindedness is concerned – there is no other definition but vindictiveness. Throw everything at GMA including the toilet bowl.
I consider Bedol and Zaldy Ampatuan as his dirty toilet bowls. Walden Bello, Frank Chavez, Ted Casiño will eventually evolve from dirty kitchen sinks to dirty toilet bowls.
Kawawa naman si de Lima. Damn if she do and damn if she don’t.
Laking sakit ng ulo ni Penoy pag nag resign itong si de Lima.
Trosp, the facts are those copy/pasted from BenK’s write-up. So I think the credit goes where it is deserved, to BenK.
The difficulty I have is understanding “ulterior motive” for investigations. Are they out of revenge, or to fulfill a campaign promise? The writers here believe they are out of revenge, in large part because that is the norm in Filipino society, where power and self-advantage underwrite most activities. So, from that perspective, I would tend to agree that vindictiveness may be in play. But I also ask, was there a crime or was there not? If there was, the notion that it should be overlooked disturbs me. Indeed, to overlook it would be a form of corruption.
That is what I have a hard time with. I can’t read President Aquino’s motivations as others here claim they can. My readings suggests the investigations are widespread – Justice, Ombudsman, Executive all engaged – and not just focused on Ms. Arroyo’s acts. That, to me, is a good thing, and suggests the “vindictive” claim may be motivated by political agenda. You can identify political agenda when people refer to the President as Peenoy or other disparaging terms. Rather than just present the facts that we can both appreciate and debate.
Parallax, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from commenting on my remarks. You bring nothing to the table that is kind or original. I welcome BenK’s insights, as he does.
you can kiss my gabbyd, joeam.
There are a lot of ugly things that go on in our world. Most originate with minds such as yours, where kindness and grace have no place, having been replaced with some warped notion that innuendo and insult are somehow funny or worthy of respect, and that what goes on in your mind is the center of the enlightened universe.
It is not. It is a small, obscure and irrelevant point that originates in Hell.
cut the drama joe or you’re gonna make me cry.
it’s an honor to put you through such a horrible experience, joe, because in hell you’ll probably be assigned the job of keeping my beer cold while writing down beautiful sensitive prose in a french maid uniform. you’ll have to wait up for me, okay?
in the meantime this “irrelevant point” just blew your phoney “I can’t grasp where hunting down criminals is the act of a vindictive person” act out of the water.
you claim to welcome benk’s insights yet completely ignore what he said up there on this same thread. phoney much?
i’m very much interested in the administration ignoring a court order regarding the BSP case. any more info on that?
No, Joe, I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying put at least as much effort into real-time corruption-hunting as is directed at the past. Although I would argue that rooting out ongoing or new corruption is more important, because addressing something that already happened – and in this 2004 election case, for which there is no remedy of any real substance, in that the presumed “victim” in the crime is dead – doesn’t send as strong a signal to the would-be corrupt as jumping on the corrupt behavior right when it starts certainly does. If I’m a corrupt official, and all I see by way of risk of getting caught is that someone might try to get after me about it a couple years from now, I might be strongly inclined to go ahead and do my thing and figure I’ve got enough of a head start to get away clean before anybody decides to take it seriously. See what I mean?
Okay, we are closer to alignment. I agree he should lead firmly by example and be especially hard on those who would have the audacity to remain corrupt within his own organization when he has staked so much on ending such. However, also see an alternative perspective in my comment in Ilda’s new thread. I won’t duplicate the comment here.
Noynoy is not P’noy previously. I just hope I’m not insulting penoys caling P’noy Penoy.
He is an international embarrassment.
He is only an embarrassment to those who are embarrassed for the qualities that make up 95% of Filipino culture. He is just another Filipino, elected to a big job. I also think the international diplomatic community does not find him embarrassing, but, rather, a refreshing change from the corruption that was his predecessors. Investors don’t find him embarrassing if I judge by the 42.62 measly pesos my lousy stinkin’ dollars will buy… It was almost 49 just before he was elected. And those damn ratings increases that Moody’s and S&P keep coming up with are hardly embarrassing. One of the key criteria for lending is “Character”, and it improved the day after the election.
The international diplomatic community will not tell you outrightly if a leader is an international embarrassment or not. That’s why we call them diplomatic community (and you’re a mind reader). And they’re country has a vested interests in our country.
As for the corruption of his predecessor:
“It is not the credibility of accusations that count in shaping public opinion, but the seriousness and sheer volume of accusations that do. Never mind the evidence. Let the junk media, those newscrafters, do the finishing touch.”
USD exchange rate as your benchmark for Penoy’s peformance? Duh??? Tell it to the exporters. If you’ll still insist, GMA has done better.
You’re very selective with the data that you want to present. BTW, what is that 95%? Is that just a figure of speech? Where did you get that? How about the GDP?
According to Wiki:.”
“Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country’s standard of livingGross domestic product (GDP) refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country’s standard of living”
Our GDP Performance 2010 GMA/Penoy Governance:
1st Q (Jan to Mar) 7.8% (strong start-under GMA’s watch)
2nd Q (Apr toJun) 8.2% (attributed to election but still under GMA,s watch)
3rd Q (Jul to Sep) 6.3% (strong decline under Penoy’s watch)
4th Q (Oct to Dec) 7.1% (recovering under Penoy’s watch)
It seems you want to avoid this GDP item in promoting Penoy.
BTW,calling him international embarrassment is from me and those other political analysts who should know the score based on actual Penoy and his appointees’ performance we see everyday.
Google it.