Until recently, the core dysfunction in the collective thinking faculties of Philippine society has largely gone unpenalised. Careers have been broken, people unjustly imprisoned, and suicides committed because of this. The current imbroglio that Philippine politics has now found itself neck-deep in following the grossly-misguided release of various lists of alleged pork barrel thieves by no less than the President, the Secretary of Justice, and former Police chief Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson this time may claim different victims for a change.
Victim of Napoles List mongering: Senator JV Ejercito
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Ejercito may now be in the mood to forgive. But forgiving is different from forgetting; “Height of irresponibility. Reputation badly damaged by their act. Thinking of what action to take.” he tweeted today. According to Ejercito the whole supply chain of flawed information — including the Department of Justice and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee — is liable for this slander.
Committee head Senator Teofisto Guingona III released the signed initial list last Thursday despite appeals from de Lima, saying it’s time to put an end to all speculations amid the disclosure of several unsigned lists.
In the weeks prior to the flooding of the National “Debate” with these Napoles Lists, social media “activists” had been busy using their social media clout to pressure all who were purported to be in possession of such lists to reveal their contents. Leading the charge was a group known as the “#ScrapPork Network” which, in an “open letter” to Justice Secretary Leila De Lima demanded that the lists be made available to the public under the premise of a need to “enable citizens to independently inquire into and verify what funds and projects were involved, and who among our public officials may have been involved…”
The group invoked the citizens’ constitutional right to information stipulated in Article III Section 7 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which reads…
The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.
The question they needed to ask (but didn’t), however was quite simple:
Is the Napoles List an official government record or document that pertains to an official act, a government transaction/decision, or a form of input into research used for policy develoment?
The argument that the public have a right to be privy to evidence used in the on-going pork barrel scam investigation would fly if this exercise were political in nature. But, unlike the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, this is not a procedure being facilitated by a political body. Nontheless, as recent history revealed, that simple principle simply flew over the heads of the nation’s activists, thought leaders, ‘civil society’ leaders, and officers of law and justice. Merely the latest of a long testament to the long-observed intellectual bankruptcy of Philippine society.
Manila Times columnist Ben Kritz highlights the fatal nature of the Philippines’ current lack of intellectual bearings in his recent blog post The Revolution Seems Unlikely. Or Does It?
In all likelihood, an uprising to topple the Aquino Regime would look more like Egypt’s and less like Poland’s or Czechoslovakia’s, precisely because there is no personified ‘post-revolution vision’; the Philippines does not have a Walesa or a Havel, much less a Gandhi or a Mandela, and it is in some ways a sad indictment of the quality of Philippine society that some of the names which have been cautiously put forward as possibly filling that role are laughably inadequate by comparison. The last figure who might have even come close was Ninoy Aquino – but that is a judgment based on largely mythical ‘what-ifs’ generated after his death, and the sorry records of his superstitious and vindictive consort and his apparently sociopathic heir tend to suggest the elder Aquino might have been a disappointing leader had he lived.
Indeed, this is only the most recent of instances when the whimsical ideas emerging from the din of non-thinking popular chatter (subsets of which consist of the badly-degenerated “activist” community) and the endorsement of these by a cardre of institutionalised “thought leaders” in Philippine Media trumped the more mature thinking processes of the country’s true intelligentsia.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
it’s pretty easy to be an arm chair admiral 30 years later,huh, Mr.Benny Krist?
To refer to a dead Man’s wife as a ‘consort’ is just despicable. That Man, who considered his fellow-countrymen ‘Worth dying for’ (and then promptly did so), put his life on the line for flips like YOU.YES HE DID(Emphasis on ‘YES HE DID’).To refer to his wife like that is beyond despicable.
Maybe Mr.Benny Krist could have done better,HUH? DOUBT IT.
That LADY was brave enough to step up when asked by her fellow countrymen to do so. To have to walk,nevermind attempt to govern, amongst the Men that murdered her husband took nerves of steel, and THE LADY DID IT (Emphasis on ‘THE LADY DID IT’).
Talk is cheap,Mr.Benny Krist! ACTIONS speak louder than printed words. When someone in power murder’s your ‘consort’ Mr. Benny Krist, what will you do about it?Act like a total Judas ?Deny you know her? Silly flip, how fugly you are, sittting in judgement of the dead.
For all you really know,buddy….He MIGHT have been an awesome leader.
While I am convinced that this exchange is unlikely to result in any kind of sensible discussion, I am compelled to ask: How is the use of the word ‘CONSORT’ to refer to Mrs Aquino in any way derogatory?
Do you even know the meaning of the word? To save you the trouble of looking it up…
Consort [ n. kon-sawrt ]
1. a husband or wife; spouse
2. a companion, associate, or partner: a confidant
All of which describe the relationship Mrs Aquino had with her husband Ninoy Aquino. The use of the word is very apt in this context.
It isn’t the fault of Mr Ben Kritz that your reading comprehension does not extend further than the first grade.
@ Jonny-BOY, So, U in-correctly think I do not know what the fuck ‘consort’ means,HUH? You ass-hat…it is called respect, shithead! Something you do not understand.
True to form the anti-intellectual pile calling itself ‘JT JERZY’ goes out of its way to find slights when there are NONE ro be found. Except within the boundaries of its tiny, little mind.
Here’s another thing that needs to be questioned: Does ‘JT JERZY’ have an inkling of what it means to ‘show respect?’ Anyone who’s followed GRP will recognise that his comments are usually peppered with profanity, vulgar expressions and name calling in response to anyone he disagrees with. Usually without provocation. Nothing that belongs in civilised discourse. And certainly not a modicum of respect for any GRP patron.
any reference to a former President that is not “Former President so-and-so” is at best,condescending and at worst, an insult.
it is considered disrespectful, by every Filipina/o I asked, to refer to a former President the way Mr.Krist did…..and that is most likely why he did it.
As you have said, talk is cheap.
1. After 2 EDSA revolution the country remained in a status quo or didn’t improved.
2. After being a President, she still cannot convict the Marcos family and pin point who really ordered to have her husband murdered.
3. Not brave enough to admit that she is incapable of leading the nation and have someone else capable do it.
@ Tokwa, IDK if U were even alive back then BUT to even get a legislative quorum together was probably a difficult thing to do.Life after revolution is complicated, everyone out-jockeying each other for control of resources.
U say the LADY was not capable enough to lead the nation, then WTF did they ask her to do it for in the 1st place? How would it have looked if she resigned? OR SAID NO? OH that would have been just great, huh? and finally: Look at the people she had surrounding the her, Enrile and the rest of today’s oligarchic for-runners. The LADY was fortunate not to be murdered herself.From the little I know, a few unsuccessfully tried,no?
U know, I am not a Filipino. I truly do not give a good fuck what happens to almost everyone in that country. With the exception of about 40-60 people I know personally, the fuckin country could imlode on itself tomorrow. The thing that bothers me and everyone else I know who takes a good look at what is going on there IS: You ask for a change, pick the wrong people to implement the change and then get mad at them for being imcompetent for being unable to rescue you from your lifes problems.
it is your country, and if you can not get out of the circular corruption that is the bane of your existence, Who the fuck’s fault is that? Filipino’s are the only nation of people that I have observed that treat each other like the N@gg#%’s in the states treat each other(HINT:Badly). That is what Filipino’s remind me of.
I do understand that IF she was truly a Catholic then why she did not seek retribution against her husband’s murderer’s(“Vengence is mine saith the Lord”). If it was my Dad that got murdered on that tarmac? I’d have murdered every single one of the scumbags I thought even had for-knowledge of what happened, never mind who actually did it.
@Bjorn
There are a lot of capable people back then, she is clearly not one of them.
If she have said no or resigned, there is a chance that someone capable might have taken over.
It is her choice to be surrounded by Enrile, the oligarchs, KKK, etc., thus it is her own fault if they also drag her down.
Being a Filipino or not has no bearing as the subject is not about you and me, it is about her as stated in your initial comment.
She doesn’t have to kill them with her own hands, we have a court of law and being the President of the Philippines, she have the resources to go after the Marcos family. The big question is why cant she put them behind bars.
@Bjorn
My mistake, it is about her as stated in the initial comment of JT JERZY.
Ninoy Aquino, Jr. , “what iffers”, are just stupid speculations from his loyal YellowTards. As a Senator, or politician, did Ninoy Aquino, Jr. brought any sense of prosperity program to Tarlac, or to the Philippines?
Ninoy Aquino, Jr. was more interested in grabbing power; protecting his Hacienda Luisita; and doing political mischief, by strengthening the New Peoples’ Army…the oligarchs made him a hero…
I believe the Napoles List is just some way to divert the peoples’ attention from our downspiraling economic condition…All who had handled Pork Barrel is tainted with this Scam…I do not believe anyone is innocent…
Speaking of ‘yellow-tards,’ please refer to the very first comment as a glaring demonstration of the delusional fanaticism with regards to the myth of Ninoy Aquino that seems intent on elevating the late senator to demigod status.
Ninoy Aquino, Jr. was the consummate Political Opportunist. The Feudal Oligarchs and the Clerico Fascists made him a Hero…his death is in exchange of his political opportunism…”worth dying for?”…My Ass…
Some people even see PNoy as their messiah. That or it’s just paid hacks to dump their crap to fool the nation. Then again, this natoin can easily be fooled and bought.
*nation
@ Jonny -BOY and now U think I elevate the elder Aquino to ‘demigod status’, again U fail to understand what was stated! and it is ass-hats like you that think U know things that U have no clue about and make you soooo irritating.A clue-less know-it-all,LMAO @ U!!!!
I saw Aquino speak in Boston, in the early 80’s and he bored me to death and I did not get his humor, but he certainly stood up for his fellow Filipino’s, and unlike any that have come after him…he was willing to die for his people…and he did just that! You, ass-hat do not understand a lot of things and that is why I refer to you as BOY! That is why he is Internationally respected, but you are too stupid to see it! It is just beyond you and that is why you are an ass-hat! THAT RIGHT THERE Jonny-BOY. The guy put his life on the line for his fellow countrymen. That is it, RIGHT THERE…nothing else was necessary for the guy to be Internationally RESPECTED. Something YOU will NEVER BE!!!
For example( I GUARANTEE THIS ONE!!!)You will be taught the meaning of respect one day,OH you sure will! No doubt, when U employ the same bad judgement you used above, but in-person, and go on to assume incorrectly what someone says,and think you know what is being said,but again,truly do not! I am sad I will not get to see it, but that is OK. it is assured as the sunrise,BOY!
IDK what is worse, Clue-less know-it-all’s like you, or semi-educated,self-agrandizing ass-hats like your buddy who is going to get thrown in jail in Paris.
Both of your comments about what I stated, in-correctly stated what I said….you are an idiot/ass-hat…it is that simple.
con·sort
noun
a wife, husband, or companion,
in particular the spouse of a
reigning monarch.
– nothing offensive about this word
used in the context to refer to a former president of the country that the person making the referrence is what makes it an insult.
napoles has zero credibility, her words are no worthier than the oink-oink of a pig.
HA, she is a pig,no?
I have seen again the effects of systematic brainwashing, in the way these YellowTard think and behave.
Hitler brainwashed the German people, thru his propaganda machine, managed by Joseff Goebels…the Japanese militarists brainwashed the Japanese people, thru the worship of their Japanese Emperor…
Aquino propaganda machine brainwashed these YellowTards; thru the worship of Ninoy Aquino, Jr.; and Corazon Aquino…
“Those who forget the past, are condemned to repeat it…” warned a noted historian philosopher…
it seems that no matter who is the leader of this failed state, they are hated by at least half the people.The Fail-ippines is fucked…
and the people here bitching and complaining about what a mess the country is will be doing the same exact thing in 50 years, if they live that long, because they do not have the balls to do something about it.
It is an historical fact that if 100 people are willing to die for what they believe in, that 100 people will dictate to the masses what will be.
From what I have seen, 250,000 pissed of people in two strategic locations demanding what they want…could easily accomplish the ousting of the scoundrels.