Unintended consequences — the evil spawn of those famous last words: It seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s the cancerous mass-thinking process that latches humanity onto the glitzy, glossy, mind candy of easy shortcuts and quick fixes fuelled by sef-important notions of what one considers to be “noble” goals. “Cheaper faster better” got us addicted to easy credit and cheap Chinese goods. “Green revolutions” got the planet engulfed by a sea of humanity that on one side of the globe couldn’t be fed and on another obssessed with fighting wars to secure fossil fuels used to manufacture their synthetic fertilisers and power their tractors and combines. Nuclear weapons ended one terrible war, but doomed the species to live under a cloud of fear. And “winning” the Cold War merely created a void in the global order that is now being filled by a headless mass of terrorist vermin crawling out from under the damp rocks within which they bred.
Who would have thought a few months ago that what started out as one camp giddily lifting another’s skirt in the pettily poralised politics of a Third World basketcase like the Philippines could potentially morph into an orgy of skirt lifting that could expose everyone’s skid marks? This is, in fact, the latest brainwave of a brainwave-starved nation evident in the latest call to activism issued by “a very involved, concerned citizen” shared on Facebook by “a friend who in turn received it from a member of the Defense [team representing Chief Justice Renato Corona in his impeachment trial] 
There is a glimmer, albeit unlikely, ray of hope for us yet. It might actually be possible to reunite our nation if all those concerned — the Chief Justice, the Senators and the Prosecutors — simultaneously issue waivers for their dollar accounts and open these up to the public. If they do this, who needs Corona’s testimony? Who would care afterwards? In all probability, the outcome of such a revelation might stun the people, but only momentarily. The nation is entitled to know. The people are already convinced that holding public office is an opportunity to amass ill-gotten wealth. Besides, with what I have come to know of our political temperament, I am quite sure we will all get used to the idea that amassing money is a given among persons in public office.
For the average Filipino politician, this will indeed be a chilling unintended outcome of this whole circus. It is their worst nightmare — a scenario where the Filipino public no longer dances to their partisan tune but are, instead, one in the notion that all of them are the same — all of them with something to hide and actually doing something about it.
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Perhaps to be fair to Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and the monomanic vindictiveness against Corona that he applied to his government over the last couple of years, this wholesale lifting of the legal veil that may be masking a vast treasure trove of political wealth across all camps may be his greatest legacy. Perhaps the Senator Judges in Corona’s trial may do well to examine more closely what it is they may actually be flirting with at this point.
But if there is something we will have learned from human history by now, it is that bloodbaths and purges usually precede periods of calm and order. As I warned a while back, Senator Judges beware! I have to agree that despite the rather embarrassingly goofy presentation of meaningless evidence by the ombudsman in last week’s grilling, many Filipinos have become a bit more aware of what Conchita Carpio-Morales’s office can actually do for them and how various agencies such as the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) can be conscripted to this service. Indeed, one can feel this in the nervous deference the Senator Judges exhibited when they addressed the ombudsman. The implications to them were quite stark…
Is the AMLC investigation of the alleged Corona dollar accounts a once-off thing conducted at Malacañang’s behest? Can it be called upon to do the same thing in the future should any of the Senators, shall we say, displease Malacañang in the future?
Cue in the Darth Vader march theme…
Today the Supreme Court, tomorrow the Senate.
Noynoy can perhaps still be a “hero” — if such a scenario can be pulled off and a windfall of sequestered dollar accounts re-channeled back into the service of this wretched nation. Ain’t it ironic? The term “sequestered” is a buzzword that once defined the late 1980s that were the golden years of Yelllowist “investigation” prowess.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
What is happening is a challenge to all public officials…elected and appointed…we are throwing the gauntlet at them…let’s see who rises up to the challenge. Let us see who is here to serve the people…and who are here to serve themselves…
Thank you as always…
The sleeping president, his false crusade and the hypocrisy it spawns…
http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120521com1.html
http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120521com2.html
bravo — benigno – that PNOY could actually steer the country to progress by running after all the crooks…
sequestration, which you sneered as a ‘yellow project’ was not that successful because the legal machinery was captive of the moneyed class… danding, tan, romualdezes, the marcoses figthing for their wealth…. in the face of such formidable resources, you can predict the outcome in a court only intent less of restoring the lost patrimony of the nation, but more of getting a slice of it.
this effort you alluded to as another form of sequestration could suffer the same fate as the earlier ones because the very institution that ensure its demise in the first has no reason to support this latest exercise. to do so is to give up its way of life.
Sequestration of assets proven to be ill-gotten is a good project indeed. The key word there is proven. If you have the sort of moronic prosecutors and “investigators” as the ones we’ve seen screwing up this impeachment trial, and then the underhanded manner with which “evidence” was falsified, miisinterpreted, misrepresented, and then bandied to the media, then that is the sort of thing that I personally will always rally against.
Long-term progress starts with doing things properly, which is why my esteemed colleague Ilda’s seminal piece Filipinos cannot progress if they cannot follow even simple guidelines will ALWAYS be relevant and why Niel Tupas Jr and his cohorts will go down in history as one of the country’s biggest goats.
very common – two people seeing an event but drawing separate impressions. i see the ic spectacle as educational and that despite the bungling of the prosecution,the ic will convict corona while you see him acquitted.
i see the evidence against him while you consider it inconsequential to his trial.
@jcc,
Don’t waste your energy convincing these people especially benign0 – his eyes are tantalizing with $$$. BTW, I have posted an invitation to Corona through his wife’s Facebook account — an invitation to teach him the art of sepukku so that he’s got some escape after his testimony at the IC..
Read the entire blog again jcc, and you will notice that GRP does not make hasty conclusions as to whether Corona is guilty or innocent. What they’ve been hinting at is the flaws of the process with which the trial was carried out.
You, and Noytards who think like you of course, only see one thing: that CJ Corona is guilty even if nothing has been proven against him. Innocent until proven guilty. If you are indeed a lawyer, jcc, I would have expected you to hold to this presumption of innocence. But of course, that is too much to ask from yellow supporters.
And Harakiri, that is such a declasse thing to do. Typical of Pinoys na walang modo at bastos.
Perhaps you should take your own advice and commit ritual suicide yourself because there is no honor in what you’ve done, and in what you’ve been doing supporting a President who’s clearly incompetent and vindictive and who’s running the country to the ground.
@HaraKiri: Vindictive and malicious trolls would never succeed. You’re just a part of the mob who wants to see blood, right?
You totally lost your credibility after all since it’s all ad hominem that your spouting. Sarap pala maging bastos, ‘no?
Still missing the point.
Amir Al Bahr, so yun palang name-calling eh hindi bastos… and calling the the president himseln names eh hin bastos… he he..Baygon..biili ka benigno ng Baygon..nilalangaw ang site mo..
Katsumi, uhugin ka pa rin.. cannot say anything but “missing points” .. o yeah, I love to be bastos sa mga uto utong tagasunod ng dayuhang si benigno. You can’t imagine what I did to two German “ingrato” assholes 10 years back …he he..Alam mo ba yung salitang “nanghiram ng mukha sa aso”.. yeah bastos ako to some extent.
@HaraKiri: Why resort to ad hominems? You can’t even accept the fact that you’re indeed a point misser. So you’re almost as insane as the majority who are ignorant and anti-intellectual.
Sorry, pero hindi uto-uto ang mga taong hindi naniniwala sa Yellow Propaganda at hindi napapadala sa sinasabi ng media sa ‘yo. IDEAS are discussed in this site, if you know what I mean. No matter what you do, sira na ang credibility mo so you’re now attacking the person instead. Uncivilized, isn’t it?
@jcc
“that PNOY could actually steer the country to progress by running after all the crooks…”
What progress are you talking about? Show me proof that the economy is improving. Better yet, show all his impressive performances in even making accountable his cronies involved in mansion building.
Here is the tip of the iceberg on our so-called progress.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/258888/news/nation/sws-unemployment-hits-record-high-34-4-13-8m-jobless
If chasing crooks is a definition of progress, then I feel sorry for you. You can’t even explain the 7.6% GDP increase during GMA’s time as opposed to PNoy’s 3.4%. Even PNoy and his cronies are crooks, you know that.
So think about it. I’m sure you’re a Cory fanboy. But I tell you this: it’s been 26 years and she had nothing to offer but ABS-CBN, canneries and breweries. If THAT is your definition of progress, then thank god that I’m laughing at your stupid a$$ miles and miles away.
Add to that the recent increase in the spate of crimes, such as kidnapping and home invasion. What crooks are they chasing? Imagined crooks?
Add also the stupidities of his cabinets.
BenignO
The challenge to issue the sought-for “waiver to confidentiality†should come, not from PNoy, but from CJ Corona himself whose financial documents have already been subjected to the minutest scrutiny by the gang of “matuwid†prosecutors.
And he should hurl this challenge during his request to avail of his right to confront his accusers tomorrow, Tuesday, May 22nd.
CJ Corona’s plea for the issuance of such “waiver to confidentiality†should be directed, not only to his accusers, but to ALL appointive and elective public officers, particularly those removable only by impeachment–“the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and the Ombudsman.â€
In fine, CJ Corona should insist that ALL public officers, appointive and elective, be required to immediately issue the following:
–WAIVER to any implied confidentiality in ALL their SALNs and Income Tax Declarations
–WAIVER to the confidentiality of ALL local and foreign bank accounts in their name and those of their spouse and unmarried children.
–Authority to sequester assets disproportionate to declared sources of income
In fact, ALL appointees to public office as well as ALL candidates for any elective office during forthcoming elections should be required likewise to issue, attached to their respective certificates of candidacy, the same set of “matuwid†WAIVERS listed above.
This way, the Ombudsman that lies in the heart of every citizen of the Republic will decide who qualifies to be “matuwid†enough to be appointed or elected to hold public office.
Actually, it’s a perfect opportunity for Corona to issue such a challenge, endear himself to the viewing public, and put all the politicians involved in this circus on the spot…
Unfortunately, it is CJ Corona facing impeachment, not the politicians involved in this circus.
If ever the challenge is issued, the ball or his head might still roll. He can be the “sacrificial lamb.”
Don’t you get that feeling that the verdict was already a done deal even before the drama started? If the president didn’t appear sooo vindictive from the very start, I might have some semblance of faith in this process.
brianitus, I was assuming, of course, that CJ Corona would be convicted and removed from office. Hence, I was more interested in the “politicians involved in the circus‖the Senator-Judges, including the 188 Belmonte group who filed the impeachment complaint–for they all have fixed terms of office. And, if still qualified, these politicians will soon be running for re-election in less than a year from now.
So, having been the first waiver “sacrificial lamb,†CJ Corona’s WAIVER advocacy during the confrontation with his accusers tomorrow may yet turn out to be the “change†that we have been looking for since.
Imagine being able to scrutinize the SALNs, bank accounts and Income Tax returns of PNoy, Rep. Tupas and Ombudsman Morales, among others
hoohuum — i thought this blog is a stickler for “due process.” corona was in such a predicament because congress had impeached him. he is the one in the hot seat and not his accusers.
he or his supporters should also bring the proper charges to his accusers, let them hire topnotch lawyers to defend themselves in a proper forum. the ic right now is a forum for corona to prove himself innocent or guilty. it is not a forum to prove his accusers guilty as well.
it is simply not a fuction of a constitutional govt. of letting go of the crook that got caught because there are other crooks as vicious out there.
you have to process them the way the present govt. had processed the chief justice.
dapat ay isaisa alng muna tapusin muna si corona kung ano ang desisyon ng mga senator judge tapos yung ibang judge naman at isunod din ang mga politiko at military at mga pulis para luminis at magbago na ang ugali ng mga tao sa gobyerno kaya magintayintay lang kayo..
in politics, as in comedy, timing is everything, so expect some revelations relating to senators dollar accounts early next year.
It would be like the PCGG in Cory days… they would “sequester” assets even if the crimes on them haven’t been proven yet, and they would be handed over to the admin cronies. Again, all for KKK.
It’s like the way Dubya carried on his father’s unfinished business in Iraq..
“It’s like the way Dubya carried on his father’s unfinished business in Iraq..”
Duh?
The next generation carrying out the same vendetta. That Duh.
This Corona issue has already polarized the nation. Instead of uniting the country… this evil and wicked President has polarized it. It is worse to see, how vindictive, he is. And, how he has gone to the extreme of protecting the Hacienda Luisita. The land they swindled from the Philippines government. Power is used to support their Greed…the Aquinos made themselves heroes, and we believe them…
tapos na ang HL tigilan na ninyo nakakasawa na mabasa na ang HL issue humanap naman kayo ng ibang isusulat ….
Nah. Alam mo naman ang mga Cojuangco: they’ll do everything to protect their precious Hacienda. So they even want Corona to be removed through impeachment so PNoy can appoint his own CJ by his own interest.
Does that make sense?
Luisita, Luisita, verily it was all for Luisita.
ancientaliensguy.png
COJUANGCOS
Translation- i am an avid reader of GRP.
The sleeping president, his extreme obsession in destroying his perceived enemies and the convoluted straight path to perdition.
http://www.opinion.manilastandardtoday.com/2012/05/22/job-number-one/
The problems of this country are not being addressed by Mr. BS Aquino. I could post a litany of woes but I guess this is already public knowledge. Here is a good commentary that does not make me feel good…
http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120522com6.html