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Last night (the 12th of Feb 2012), the legal team defending Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in his impeachment trial went public on a plot allegedly perpetrated by Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa to “persuade” members of the Philippine Senate to defy a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court on...
I was anticipating what Budget Secretary, Florencio Abad would have to say about former President Gloria Arroyo’s (GMA’s) “It’s The Economy, Student!”, a paper about her achievements during her nine years in office. But I ended up laughing so hard after reading that the only thing Abad had to say was that President Noynoy...
I read with some interest Jaime Garchitorena’s “End of Year Thoughts: If there’s a good time to initiate change I think that good time is now”, and I found it intriguing in that it echoes in many ways my own understanding of the futility of ‘ideal democracy’: That rules many times are nothing more...
While watching Immigration officials stopping former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from leaving the country on TV, I marveled at the people who would scream at the top of their lungs at the TV screens, saying something like, “catch that thief! jail her! Hahaha!” I thought, that was such immature or trivial behavior. As if...
Hard on the heels of a thoroughly uncomplimentary review of Manila (interesting fact: it’s a dump) by regular visitor Geoffrey James on Travelblog.org, Filipinos have a new reason to feel persecuted with the announcement that NAIA was rated the Worst Airport in the World by the Guide to Sleeping in Airports website. The rating...
Politicians are quick to grandstand about their achievements and their “contributions” to the development of our wretched land, the Philippines. Whenever statistics about the economy or survey results describing public sentiment is released, politicians will go on a media blitz to ensure that an association between these and themselves are implanted in the vacuous...
My dear countrymen, members of Congress, honourable House Speaker, Senate President, and Chief Justice, ladies and gentlemen of the dimplomatic corps: Today I stand before you, this 25th day of July 2011 to do three things: (1) report on what we had achieved in the last twelve months, (2) give you a summary of...
One wonders now what really motivates Roman Catholic Bishops’ taking certain positions on various matters of the state. Take the issue of Reproductive Health (RH) — an issue where the Church takes a strong anti-modernity stand on. The ends to which the Church took the “debate” and the pitch to which it took its...
Considering that even Panfilo Lacson, a Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, felt that he was better off running than subjecting himself to the whimsical world of the “justice” system of the Philippines, I wonder how dumb Jose Barredo needed to be to think he could play whistle-blower and come out a winner?...
Any Government is quick to associate itself — or worse, credit itself — with statistics that describe some kind of success or achievement for the nation. Even as the Inquirer.net editor struggled to find Filipino “achievements” in 2010, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda was busy citing hard figures and associating these to his boss… After...
