Philippines Are You Not Entertained?

It dawned on me exactly what has been bugging me. I am no legal expert. But I do know something about sports and I do know a little about movies. It is in these arenas that I see analogies that help me figure out what was so wrong in the Chief Justice Impeachment trial.

Tim Donaghy was once an NBA referee who was making 250,000 a year for 8 months work. He lost all that and spent some time in jail. Organized crime was able to manipulate Mr. Donahy to affect point spreads in NBA games. For those of you who do not understand the implications of that manipulation, suffice it to say it makes the Mob’s already profitable business of the of the books betting even more profitable. I bring this up because normally fixing or manipulating the outcome of a competitive situation is frowned upon even with something of no real consequence like NBA Basketball.

I have here an iconic scene from the movie Karate Kid. In a tableaux designed to artificially get your emotions going the “evil” coach specifically tells his fighter to go after the injury of the protagonist. By some interpretations this is playing dirty. Well Noynoy acts like he is crusading against the evil GMA yet he employs tactics that are not appropriate for a head of state. He himself wants every person and every unit beholden to him to “sweep the leg”.

He who has not sinned cast the first stone. (John 8:7)

If you have to lie to make your point how good is your point? Justice ideally should be an efficient , transparent and objective process. Not the way BS Aquino runs the show. Not sure how that is good for us.Knowing how things work. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same people doing the prosecuting was compromised by the very charge they are prosecuting.

The outcome is the process. On May 29th 2012 I was experiencing Deja Vu of the opening of second envelope in Jan 2001. You knew exactly who was going to vote what. It was not legal it was political. Votes were cast on the basis of bias and not evidence presented. You can tell a person’s or even a system’s values by the way things play out. For example you can tell by how much I pay my D.I.’s to be on call that I value my dancing. The whole impeachment process did not seem to value any kind of protocol and structure. Just throw stuff on the wall and see what sticks.

Noynoy continually in the process places institutional obstacles to justice. He has no concept of due process. He has no concept of day in court. The same person going after GMA for election cheating yet he tries to force an outcome prematurely. Justice (the statue of the woman) measures the strengths of a case’s support and opposition. The issue I have here is BS Aquino’s role as scale tipper and he makes no effort to hide it

The incident with Congressman Toby Tiangco comes to mind. How dare he exercise independent thought. How dare he insist on reading something before signing it . BS Aquino and his cohorts just wanted to ramrod it through.Screw protocol, screw due process. Justice is supposed to be blind and weigh out the facts unless Noynoy wants to prioritize a personal priority.

I constantly quote Colin Cowherd because I love how he puts things. If you have the law on your side, bang on the law. If you have the facts on your side bang on the facts. If you have neither on your side, have some reporter from ABS CBN or PDI make up facts. h All this is stuff everybody saw but some ignore as long as Corona gets crowned with the gavel. Why let the facts get in the way of a conviction?

I was never glued to the Impeachment Hearings. I work a regular job. Every working day I am traumatized by bad Manila drivers. and when I get home, last thing I want to see is politicians do what they best, lie. What’s the point trying to come to a conclusion about the truth when it is presented by people who by the definition of their occupation are liars, opportunists and biased?

The process should be just that. A series of activities designed to produce something. Noynoy stacked the deck. He wanted an outcome and he got it. Nothing wrong with that on it’s own but its how he got it . I did not really have a dog in the fight. I just wanted it to resemble a fight.

I am all for public officials being accountable and upholding a certain standard. If he was truly guilty let him fry. Let the evidence fry him. Time after time though their were violations of procedure by the prosecution that were allowed to go on. Just like a steel chair being snuck in behind the referee’s back in pro wrestling.

BS Aquino beneficiary of a biased system so of course he won’t think anything is wrong overseeing a system that is meant to produce an outcome of personal preference. Noynoy is where he is because of the editorial policy or lack of it of the PDI and ABS CBN news. Their consistent genuflecting to BS Aquino during the campaign period was all sorts of unethical. Yet we don’t question it. People are sheep. Noynoy gets a pessimist like me and shatters all boundaries of what I used to think how useless useless could be.

In a previous blog entry I made the case that BS Aquino had no traits that one looks for when one selects a leader. All along the impeachment process Noynoy needs to learn a thing or twelve about picking his spots. he showed no sense of the moment, no perspective, no decorum, no tact and absolutely no idea of the concept of rules of engagement. Somebody should explain to him the concept of due process. They will have a better time explaining it to Bemby. A bull in a china shop seems to have more poise than Noynoy when it comes to these high profile situations.

The most telling scene of all from cinema comes from the Academy Award winning Gladiator. Joaquin Phoenix’s character (Commodus) back stabs Maximus backstage just before the final fight. This is all done off stage so it looks like when they finally fight in the coliseum it looks like Maximus is being dominated. I am not suggesting for a second the Chief Justice is Maximus but I am definitely suggesting BS Aquino has all the ethics and sense of fair play of Commodus. Manipulates behind the scenes so he can try to smell like a rose on it.

The concept of the level playing field. Barely exists here in a culture known for lusot. Like I said in a previous blog entry. Noynoy will defend Pinoys who break rules in other countries but will get furious if it was the other way around. Double standard. No consistency.

My take on the people who are happy that things turned out the way they did is it validation for their support for the Bald Vindictive one all along. The dude gets to manipulate the justice system.Noynoy had a personal agenda. Noynoy is too dumb to realize how bad it looks. It also turns out he is not the only one.

Marcus Aurelius listed the four chief virtues: Wisdom, justice, fortitude and temperance. Weep for our country since our president showed none of those things in what was supposed to be a watershed moment for this country.

To quote Keith Olbermann “Good Night and Good Luck .”

Gogs