Filipino taxpayers can take pride in sponsoring two expensive teledramas.
In 2012, we saw the Club 188 signatories expedite the impeachement of then Chief Justice Corona, courtesy of a Powerpoint presentation. The drama was blown to a full scale at the senate, where we saw a nation polarized by the eloquent grandstanding of our public servants.
Our dear politicians spared no time in entertaining their public again this 2013 and gave us the most opportune controversy of an open secret and a popular government practice of partaking public savings. The gutter rebuttal of a senate president to valid arguments presented by a budget-aggrieved senator, who demanded transparency and accountability, floored many, who do not know much of the senate president’s dark history.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
What has the Filipino taxpayer got in return after funding the casts, venues and production of these teledramas?
I say, NONE. To put it bluntly and to use a local popular term, our taxpayers have nothing but : “Nganga!”
The Impeachment trial as the most expensive local production for the entertainment and expense of Filipino taxpayers should have given the people a good ROI (Return of Investment) IF Corona’s dare of exposing their SALNs prospered with the Club 188 signatories and the Honorable Senator Drilon.
IF our politicians are really serious about trekking the DAANG MATUWID, it should have been an onset of a practice, the dawning of sincere transparency and accountability!
The election is fast approaching and our dear senators and congressmen will soon be busy campaigning for re-election or endorsing their partymates, THEY ALSO HAVE LESS THAN A WEEK to pass the #FOI bill or the overdue Freedom of Information Bill.
Do we see them expediting its passage like how they did with the impeachment of Corona?
Is Corona’s impeachment more important than the transparency and accountability that the taxpayers had been demanding since PNoy promised a nation towards “Daang matuwid’?
Or is that “Daang Matuwid”, just a horizon too far to make a detour at, thanks to a Kapamilya, Kapartido, Kaibigan at Kabarilan policy?
Mike is the author of “Minsan may Isang Puta”, an allegory which has been circulating since 2004 and with over 50,000 likes and shares in social media alone. It won a film grant in 2010 to be included in the multi-narrative Indie film “Ganap na Babae” (International title: Garden of Eve). The teaser, reviews and commentaries are here. The movie was honored as Cinemalaya 2010’s opening film and has won international and local recognition.
The royalties from the initial 150 copies of Mike’s first sole-authored book, The Dove Files, went to a Project Malasakit scholar who graduated Cum Laude in April 2013, the rest was also paid forward to baby Mark who underwent a liver transplant in March 2013.
Part of the royalties of the “Minsan may Isang Puta” book at Barnes and Noble Online goes to support the education of a young Yolanda survivor taking up B.S. Accounting at U.P. Tacloban.
love it Mike!
Thanks, Paul. This election mood coupled with the tax season is getting me worked up.
Mike,
It’s hilariously tragic, this state we’re in.
But isn’t there another popular term to describe how the Filipino taxpayers react to all the drama in the Senate?
“Bitin!”
Ms Mike, Paul,
You guys voting? Given the latest surveys, there isn’t really any reason to hope for reform come election time.
—
Here’s something I received in an email. Sorta takes the sting out of that steaming pile we have in the senate. Just a little:
A woman went to her doctor for advice.
She told him that her husband had developed a penchant for anal sex, and she was not sure that it was such a good idea.
“Do you enjoy it?†the doctor asked.
“Actually, yes, I do†she said.
‘’Does it hurt youâ€, he asked?
“No. I rather like it!â€
‘’Well, then,†the doctor continued, “there’s no reason that you shouldn’t practice anal sex, if that’s what you like, so long as you take care not to get pregnant.â€
The woman was mystified. “What? You can get pregnant from anal sex?â€
“Of courseâ€, the doctor replied. “Where do you think politicians come from?â€
😉
haha
does that make them anal retentive, or just sh#ts
You realize that all these anal retentive S#ITs are responsible for our misery?
J. Saint
First time you make me ROFL…
in other news, philippines poised to get investment grade rating. but dont let the truth get in the way of the grp mission
Farce. What’s the point in all of this?
the simple point is its not all bad news
Only a FEW will benefit from it, not everyone else.
Very off-topic.
If you bury your head in the sand, then your bum is in the air, and then the only use you have is as a parking slot for a bicycle
Investment ratings won’t help get food on the table, stop rising criminality if the way things are handled right now is incompetently done.
so you’re claiming there’s no difference between an AAA country and a B? i envy your blissful ignorance hehehehehe
Well at least im not envious of your blissful stupidity sendong”girl”. Troll harder. Hehehehe
ok jonny since you’re saying investment ratings dont matter, are you saying investment risk is the same in norway and uganda? since their ratings are irrelevant right? go home and study. then get back to me
But in the context of the article, the investment grade rating is a big SO WHAT epic fail. It’s irrelevant.
You’re not very smart, are you, sendonggirl?
Bale wala parin yan credit ratings dito kung palpak ang na mumuno dito, sendong”girl”. Once again, you completely missed the fucking point. Tingin mo ba nararamdaman ng tai ang credit ratings dito? Kung ganon, bakit HINDI ramdam ang sinasabi mong epekto?
@sendongFAG
“ok jonny since you’re saying investment ratings dont matter, are you saying investment risk is the same in norway and uganda?”
Where did I imply that in my comment hmm? I only said that ratings are irrelevant IF the leader of the country is INCOMPETENT as f*ck. It is completely irrelevant if the people don’t feel its effects.
P.S.
Go home and grow a f*cking brain and go f*ck yourself
thank you for your free advice that we invest in uganda. you can now work for goldman sachs hehehehe
^^^^^^
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you an example of INSANE TROLL LOGIC
i will simplify this for your brain jony. is a ratings upgrade for any country good or bad news? (regardless of the competence of its leader)
There’s NO effect if the PEOPLE aren’t affected by it even if the president is competent or not. I’ll simplify this for your puny little brain then, you SUCK and you SUCK as a TROLL. You FAIL.
there’s no effect if theres no affect? hehe thanks for this new causality theory you have come up with. brilliant.
are you now saying that an economic indicator can only be regarded as positive if it has a direct effect on the lives of all filipinos 100%?
if that is so, then the only positive news acceptable to you is if some benefactor suddenly decides to give all filipino citizens cash hehehehe
i will lecture you fanboys now, even if it does not have a direct effect on any random pinoy on the street it is significant because an investor will choose to invest on a lower risk country. that is a very tangible effect. get it? got it? good.
“i will lecture you fanboys now, even if it does not have a direct effect on any random pinoy on the street it is significant because an investor will choose to invest on a lower risk country. that is a very tangible effect. get it? got it? good.”
Good investments depends if one country has good economic policies. Unfortunately, those foreign investors wouldn’t last very long since the Philippines’ economic policies are flawed.
No wonder why we suck as a country. Please, don’t lecture us on the “pwede na iyan” attitude. In fact, it’s also a source of cultural dysfunction. Get it? Got it? Maybe you’re too stupid….
Oh please, spare us your stupid lectures. You are still not making your point any clearer.
I will simplify this for your brain, sendonggirl:
How will an investment grade rating help me feel good about not getting my tax money’s worth from my politicians?
You’re still not very smart, are you?
You should apply some ice sendong”girl” since you just got BURNED. Hahahahaha
the purpose of the sovereign credit rating is not to make you feel good nor is it an indication of how taxpayers money is used amir. it is simply a metric used in investment decisions. it is very simple. a is better than b. bb is better than b. its similar to bra cup sizes. can your brain process that now? sheeesshh
jony, improve your reading comprehension first. help me help you
But the investment grade rating is not the point of this article. You brought it up saying “it’s not all bad news”. So you’re looking for something to feel good about.
You still keep straying away from the points discussed in any of the GRP articles you comment in. You’re still unable to address the points raised directly. You attempt to derail the discussions. You suck.
It’s a metric. So what?
You’re not very smart, are you?
@sendong”girl”
Nope, you are the one clearly who needs help with reading comprehension. You are still going off the topic. Grow a brain first before you show your retarded face here or better yet, don’t show up AT ALL.
So how do you cook investment grade?
Deep fried?
Very rare. 😛
A la carte?
I wonder then, how an investment grade rating will help me feel better about not getting my tax money’s worth from my politicians.
Seems like some people need an explanation of sovereign credit ratings, and why they don’t mean jack under a government like this one.
good luck explaining that to the likes of sendonggirl…
Oh, that’s obviously a waste of time, but some other people who have not yet performed a self-lobotomy might be interested in learning something.
It wont.
Everything now is being spun in advance of elections ( hence WEF) – the LP candidates are so weak that it will bep-noy as frontman hoping to emulate 2010 , with comelecs help), and the usual promises of jam tomorrow.
Most filipinos just want rice today, and the opportunity of a decent paying job.
Senators on 40 – 60 million pesos a year couldn’t give a shit.
Their political philosophy is ‘ i’m alright, juan’
As if it’s really the “truth.”
Tits or you and your precious pwesident’s noses are getting longer. Troll harder sendongslut.
@sendonggirl
From what I’ve so far observed, the only kinds of “truth” that “get in the way of the grp mission” are half-truths. Exposing half-truths to get the complete picture or whole truth, I would say, actually turns out to be grp’s mission and its contributors’ prime directive.
I think what these guys are simply saying, is that you cannot cherry pick one metric, consider it in isolation, and treat it as if it were the sole criterion by which you gauge the overall performance of a country or its current administration.
BTW, you should also be thankful they’ve accommodated you however off-topic your interjections were.
im not competent enough to “gauge the overall performance” hehe all im saying is that its not all bad news in the philippines and a ratings upgrade is good news. the fanboys have now been forced to defend the position that a sovereign credit rating is unimportant hay naku
That’s because you’re an escapist about this country’s problems jon-asshole’s wife. You’re just making yourself a happy-go-lucky ignorant because you’re a big fat coward on facing serious problems.
you’re the escapist who cannot accept that the country he loves to denigrate is starting to make some progress. pitiful
Nope, you are the one who is pitiful since you keep living in delusional land together with your precious pwesident.
TROLL HARDER
Yaaawwwn! Can’t you make better arguments anymore than throwing my words back to me “woman” in a dress? Your rebuttals are so childish and full of spam. And please stop wearing that Pyro Vision Goggles of yours already, if you know what I mean.
Or is it because you’re being a tsundere to us now?
@sendong:
What’s really pitiful is you just want to make feel good about yourself, using this some sort of “good news” to escape from reality and refused to see the bigger picture. If progress is ABS-CBN, canneries, breweries, and local cronies are progress to you, I pity you even more.
“Fiscalizer” my a$$. <_<
Reality is different from spin or wishes. Fitch, moodys etc want to see achievements not rhetoric.
The country has to address some key issues first
Tax collection/system
Inclusive growth
Gdp debt ratio
Manufacturing sector growth/investment
Foreign investment 60:40 rule
Infrastructure spending
AMLAC
Judicial system – contract/commercial law
Philippines is not even able to join the trans pacific partnership which will hit revenues/trade hard from 2015
Understand a subject first rather than soak up propaganda.
An economist you clearly are not.
Added to which the philippines is pissing off the WTO ( world trade organisation) by refusing to accept/object to rulings, and continue to maintain strong protectionist policies ( for the oligarchs/trapos who can only make money in a monopoly business). Not a clever move if you want to be taken seriously by investors, but instead risk isolation and declining FDI ( foreign direct investment).
Try downloading it to sendonggirl’s pentium 1 memory, error 404..
Sendong”girl” is too dense to realize that credit ratings don’t mean jackshit if the government is too incompetent to handle the problems of this country.
How dare you tell the us that we haven’t gained any from Corona’s conviction? We have acquired justice!
Wrong.
Corona was impeached not because he did something wrong. The procedures are wrong, the outtakes are wrong, the process is wrong, everything. It’s more like a personal vendetta than justice. When does “fishing for evidence” a good idea? It can happen to anyone, including YOU.
And yes, we acquired nothing. After all. I’ve totally lost faith to Noynoy after that.
If the procedures were wrong in the first place, why did the trial never stopped? The impeachment was proper and accepted by majority of Filipinos.
Wrong again, the impeachment went on because your president bribed congress and the senators to impeach corona and also because aquino needed to protect his precious hacienda luisita.
Of course, it’s all POLITICS. Actually, Noynoy used pork barrel to bribe the congressmen for Corona’s impeachment, making the process being railroaded.
Totally wrong on the impeachment being proper. It was improper from beginning to end. So villification, demonization, and accepting hearsay evidence is a ok for you? Sorry, but you fully admit that you are one of the sheeple who will believe what others and even the media tell you.
Thank you for admitting that you are indeed a liar. The trial was accepted by many BRAINWASHED Filipinos who will love and hate one person by just a single whim. Just as expected from one who has an angry mob mindset.
Or you’re just trolling… XD
We didn’t gain anything from the yellow’s impeachment of corona. It did absolutely NOTHING to reduce the problems our country is facing.
Our government create a convenient scapegoat for its fight against corruption.
Plus the Cojuangcos still have their land.
It actually did something for the country as foreign investors sees it as part of the anti-corruption drive of President Noy (P-Noy).
And yet, the investors aren’t lining up to invest here because of your president’s rules on keeping foreign investors out by only giving them 40% ownership of companies.
In any form of government, there will ALWAYS be corruption. The difference is the progress and how to set daytime goals and what not.
It’s not the anti-corruption drive. It’s how economic policies are implemented. You’re totally wrong about corruption per se.
If you’re not contributing something other than Yellow Propaganda, please leave. 😛
Nope. What we got is a messed up Supreme Court. More like a Supreme Mess.
Why did you say so? Last time I heard Sereno is doing a brilliant job in the SC.
Right, and yet her fellow justices just keep giving her the cold shoulder because of her “brilliant” job.
These articles prove your claim as a total LIE
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/319209/sereno-ruling-on-adb-funded-project-roils-sc-justices
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/322553/sc-row-justices-revoke-sereno-order
READ THEM AND WEEP
Lies. It’s just the media who tells you that. We are just looking at the bigger picture. Gets? 🙂
Troll Fail. Sereno is still being given the cold shoulder by her fellow justices at the SC, Now how is that considered a “brilliant” job?
The great architect Noynoy who has never done a constructive things his life does not know what synergy is even it bit him in the tookas. He put CJ in charge not to make the whole better than the sum of the parts, not because it serves the country but for the same reason he wears that ghastly yellow ribbon to official functions. He is there to promote his family’s agenda and not the country. In the words of Frank Zappa- Do Not Eat The Yellow Snow.
Looks like poor Eduardo is out of the loop, and looking at his own world
We gained a god-appointed CJ. Does that count?
“God-appointed”? Everyone can claim about it. So what’s the idea about Corona’s impeachment? It seems you have no idea.
“God-appointed”? Does God wills it too?
In the eyes of Filipinos, she is God-appointed.
“Yellow Zombies =/= Filipinos”
thefuckyousay.jpg
Only some, and very few of them.
And how dare you being an angry mob for just justifying that Corona is corrupt you sloppy simpleton? And what justice? Justice for your revenge?
No, it is justice for us and the judiciary which have been wrecked by the previous administration.
Really? You must be confusing your facts. The judiciary was wrecked by AQUINO not the previous administration. What a typical idiotic troll you are.
Lies. Selective justice is NOT real justice. If personal vendetta is justice to you, then I’m very sad that we were in a hellish society.
For people who have mob mentality, it’s ok for them, even at the expense of others. Just like the poor farmers of Hacienda Luisita. Enjoy your blunder. 😀
The justice system had long been wrecked. Judges have been getting bribes for ages. It’s now worse because of a CJ who is a puppy to the current admin.
Eduardo,
I know of a guy who was murdered in an enclosed area, with lots of media nearby. You would think a guy like that would get justice. Oh, his wife and son both became President. We are no closer to anyone paying for the murder in thirty years. Ask yourself, is that justice. Ask yourself does it speak to the competency of his wife and son? What was Corona convicted of? His judges held to the same standard?
There is no retard like a Noytard.
Looking at our senatorial choices, I feel like a condemned man asked to choose between the guillotine, the garote, or being burned alive….
plus lethal injection, firing squad, or death by simply bleeding after cutting certain appendages (Most of the “senatoriables” fit the last option).
He he he…
Seeing the faces of the candidates in the TV is already a capital punishment.
(Just look at the face of Hontiveros. PWE!)
Swerte pa nga, si piggy boy, next election pa.
Very sad indeed for a nation of 100 million, our choices are the same inherently defective,ineffective and useless politicians that have been recycled and repackaged many times over. If they were pieces of commodities, they could have been condemned and thrown to waste a long time ago.
Anyone who will vote for a cat?
http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-mayor-stubbs-the-cat-mayor-of-an-alaskan-town-2012-7
hindi pa umabot sa lima ang mapipili sa mga senatoriables, ang natitira puro basura… hindi na sila nahiya
hindi pa umabot sa lima ang mapipili ko sa mga senatoriables, ang natitira puro basura… hindi na sila nahiya
And another waste our tax money goes to is CCT. That’s in another article in GRP, but yes, our tax money continues to be wasted.
Voting season is just the same as “Taking side with the lesser evil”. We’ve got a cacophony of choices between political sluts, TraPos, ingrates, pigs, crocodiles and alligators. The available choices of politicians is what the exact reflection of this wretched country and their mission in life. And that’s bullshit, if you ask me.
Mike, thumbs up to your article 🙂
With everyone preoccupied with the Enrile-Cayetano squabble, what legislation remains stalled in the House and/or Senate that should have been passed ages ago? And what has the Aquino administration done to get things rolling?
Two thumps up to this article and the people here. 😉
And it looks like Comelec really cut down all the possible challenges to the Liberal Party’s and other major parties’ dominance in the coming elections.
whenever i see the candidates for this election, i tell myself: “somebody shoot me”
get that person to shoot me next. Specially after looking at whatever party has that big “L”.
a monkey would be elected. just call him
ninoy ‘the man’ aquino-binay
and put him in a pink t-shirt and train him to sing karaoke – badly.
the sad thung is he would do less harm than the criinals and dim-wits who do get elected.
if the monkey could shoot a gun he could even be president
Looking back on my comments on this thread, I realize it would be hypocritical to question the integrity of the vote or the value of participating in election, and, in the same breath, lament the quality of our leaders and the misery they inflict on the Filipino people. As they say — you get the leaders you deserve.
Ultimately, it is still up to “those who beg to differ” — those who should know better — to deliver an unequivocal message that we reject politicians who aspire to public office for a chance to raid the treasury and use their position to further personal or family interests. We have to do our part in making sure that we do not elect dead weight whose only claim to fame is the fact that they share the family name of trapos currently in power. The Senate and the House of Representatives should not be run like family businesses at the taxpayers’ expense.
The pickings may be slim but we need to introduce worthy candidates who have a better sense of public service and who can initiate real change. Here are some tentative choices:
Edward Hagedorn. A traditional politician, but he has proven himself as the long time mayor of Puerto Prinsesa. His experience in local government and efforts in environmental protection may prove to be significant in the Senate.
Richard Gordon. Listening to Dick Gordon on the radio and watching him on Channel 5, he can come off as being arrogant and full of himself. However, his heart is in the right place and he has produced results. That was evident during the relief effort in Baguio City in the aftermath of the 1990 Luzon earthquake and the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. And his management of Olongapo City and Subic Bay in the wake of Americans leaving brought him to national prominence. This is also exemplified by his Red Cross activities. Also, among the candidates in the last presidential election, Dick Gordon was the only one who presented a comprehensive program of government. Not a collection of bullet points copied from the 2008 Obama campaign.
We shouldn’t be voting for:
Jack Enrile. J. V. Ejercito. These two epitomize trapo families who abuse power and have no respect for the law. Both their families have links to criminal enterprises and/or criminal acts.
Bam Aquino. It isn’t that he is a scion of the Aquino political dynasty. He actually has done a lot of public service work with various NGOs. That’s the problem. Grassroots activism is fine work; but all too often community organizers tackle their problems with the same approach. And that usually involves direct resource reallocation. In other words — government handouts and “socialized schemes” where the better off segments of society will be required to foot the bill for the “less capable” of the population. The last thing we need is to throw more money away for the cause of “social justice.”
—
This list is far from complete. Anyone out there who wants to contribute for or against?
—
I got this from a friend’s Facebook page. It fits the whole Senate brouhaha.
Prosecutor to woman: “So when did you realize you were raped?”
Woman, wiping away her tears: “When the check bounced.”
Accountability, etc., cannot take place if the government essentially works for the elite. The bad news is that the same problem is taking place worldwide, with the effects of corruption subdued by increasing availability of credit.
But once the resources on which that credit is dependent decrease…
For Eduardo… here’s what happening to the SC under the supposedly “brilliant” new CJ:
What’s with the Sereno court?