Rigoberto Tiglao, along with Gabby Claudio, Eduardo Ermita, and Mike Defensor, lead the charge to retake the high ground. They’re doing it very, very well.
Their press conference began with Tiglao, head of the Presidential Management Staff, soberly yet strongly pointing out that the cabinet members who resigned were cowards (he used the analogy of a soldier of the front discovering the other soldiers had abandoned the field), and then enumerating the different, rather goofy, he seemed to imply, pet programs the resigned cabinet members had been pushing, which he’d been diligently studying, only for them to suddenly become amateur, and ineffective, politicians.
Claudio followed this by emphasizing the cabinet member’s having embarked on amateurish adventurism, on breaking ranks and forgetting team-work, and issuing the pious hope that they simply disagreed with the President on principle, and nothing else.
Ermita then continued and first continued the sorrowful, shocked, tone and began to be scornful, emphasizing the way the cabinet members abandoned the president and their peers, and suggesting that perhaps there are more sinister motivations, which may be unearthed after due study in the coming days.
Defensor then rounded it up by raising the heat, proclaiming the cabinet members cowards, traitors, ungrateful schemers and opportunists, participants in what can only be considered a cabinet coup. He leaves an opening by saying he’s prepared to exonerate the Vice-President, the Senate President, and Senator Villar of knowledge of, or participation in, such an offensive power-grab. Quick out-takes from Jove here.
All in all, an effective effort, carefully calibrating the good cop, bad cop, but coming out swinging and serving notice to those that resigned that, having turned their backs on the president, they’re now fair game. The name of the game now is to tar and feather. My earlier feelings that this is a tactic that needs careful watching, still stands.
let me get my anti trash suit now…trash is going to come from all directions. but may I ask why was the press con of the ex-men cut right smack in the middle, i was listening to them then suddenly heard the rather distinct voice of tiglao…..hmmmmmmmmmmm…
on another matter altogether..mike should get off his high horse…..masakit mahulog sa mataas…aray…
i hope somebody points out the ‘patriot’ description by musselini of the U.S. embassy.
just for fun.
“sapat na ang paghusga sa kanila ng mamamayan…” -sec. mike
spell H-E-R-O-E-S…for argument’s sake of course 😉
We will hear a lot from this pack from now till the curtain falls.It will never be over till the fat lady sings.Ad nauseam!
summary of press conference:
whine, whine, whine.
Well bobi tiglao hasn’t forgotten his Maoist orientation in dealing with enemies. You vilify and demonize them! Observe how among the rest of pro-GMA cabinet secretaries it’s only Bobi and Mike who’s doing the vilification campaign.They come from the same Maoist tradition.
everyone’s hooked up…with so much hot air blowing out of malacanang it’s no wonder everyone’s listening. another whole day press conference….much like yesterday….a whole lot of nothing.
Sam says: Bobi and Mike who’s doing the vilification campaign.They come from the same Maoist tradition
Actually it’s nearer to Lenin. Bobi was never a big fan of Mao, his radical experience having centered on worker and student organizing.
bunye boasted the it was a widely covered conference.
well, everybody’s like looking at a train wreck.
bunye said: “THIS IS THE MOST VIEWED AND LISTENED TO PRESSCON EVER”
(exclusive lang kasi sa ANC na kunsaan hooked up ang ABC5 ang presscon ng CAB7+3 or the DOVES kanina eh…sayang…hindi fair. di simulcast sa mas marami. baka matalo sila sa gyera ng impression at siraan na ito)
i hope PCIJ makes a transcript of the ANC exclusive manolo… or sana ricky will give us his transcript… mayruon sa akin snippets lang. (oops sorry, na plug)
people should see it para balanse.
precious din kasi ang mga words nila lalu na yung kay deles.
sana anc will replay it.
what is far more important, is what is not being said literally, but to read between the statements of these people,
a power grab has happened, but the original power grabbers came too late,
this country has been compromised, need i say more
Yes Jojo, but there’s a thin line that differentiate a Leninist from a Maoist when it comes to the orientation of vilifying enemies.Ah, but then again this is moot and academic.From where Bobi is right now, he is more a Gloriaist than a Leninist.
Join kayo sa discussion dito tungkol sa bagong Constitution:
New Philippine Constitution
http://www.geocities.com/phil_consti
This site contains the proposed new Philippine Constitution creating a Federal Philippine Republic with a Parliamentary system of Government. Some of the highlights of this constitution include:
1. Creation of Federal States which includes the Bangsa Moro, Kalahatang Maynila, and other region-states, city-states, island-states, and economic-zone states.
2. A titular presidency, known as the Lakan, who is nationally elected and with limited constitutional powers.
3. The Philippine Government is headed by the Governor-General, elected by members of the Parliament.
4. The Parliament is a unicameral body, but composed of multirepresented political and sectoral bodies: the Kinatawang Pambansa (senators of the realm) which are elected nationally by voting on political parties, Kinatawang Pangkalahatan (state representatives) which are elected by their states, Kinatawang Pangkat (sectoral representatives) which includes representatives for overseas Filipinos which may be appointed by the President when no election has been made, and Kinatawang Pandangal (honorary representatives) which are honorary in character and has limited powers and given to past undisgraced Presidents and Filipinos awarded merit equivalent to a Grand Collar.
5. Creation of an Electoral University which oversees national elections and matters of political parties. Powers to arbitrate electoral matters have been solely delegated to the Judiciary.
6. Creation of The Filipino Commission with various constitutional duties among which includes approving candidacies for national election from stringent criteria set by the Constitution.
7. Strengthens and empowers the anti-graft and corruption bodies such as the Ombudsman, the National Commission on Audit, and the Presidential Institute on Good Governance.
8. Includes provisions on streamlining the beaurocracy, on preventing political dynasties, on prohibiting the creation of pork barrel funds, on women empowerment in politics, and other political reforms.
What other provisions do you want the new Constitution to have? Agree ka ba sa proposed Constitution? Give your say! Join na!
Sam, history show a more complicated comparison between Leninist and Maoists, but we can quibble on this in another setting. But I agree with you, Bobi has become a Gloria-ist. Though I am still at a loss though as to what this political creature called “Gloria-ism” is and to what cult group (Maoist, Leninist, Jesuit, Mafia) is it most comparable with. Cheers…
Sam, history show a more complicated comparison between Leninist and Maoists
I completely agree, Jojo.
Manolo,
Can you ask around whether there is an order by ABS-CBN management for its anchors to be biased ahainst GMA.
It seems ABS-CBN wants Gloria Arroyo unseated. Listen to their anchors. Ces Drilon is hostile to GMA allies, look at her interviews. She tries to be profound – tell her it’s not working. Tell her to leave the being profound to guests like you.
Is ABS-CBN working to make sure Noli de Castro becomes president so that they can control him?
ABS-CBN hasn’t learned. Look at where its biased election reporting (that time for Gloria) has brought ABS-CBN. It’s now second to GMA 7.
I think having Noli as a president will surely get those lopezes more power to strangle our necks. i might be wrong but thats my impression. Noli is known to be Boy Kamote. I never heard him passed a bill while he was a senator. I never heard him talked or debated on some senate hearing.
If gloria cheated in the election, maybe so does noli. She gave noli the vice presidency to ensure that the poeple will not want her to get out of the office because of the alternative. I could had sworn I voted for loren legarda that time.
my isang sentimo. dahil yan na lang ang aking pera.
jude: counterbalancing the individual biases of some anc anchors (not all) is the over-all policy direction of maria reza, which is straight from cnn, as you can see from their graphics. the market determines these things; the problem is, anc is a monopoly, there’s no other dedicated-news channel. i think audiences already know how to distinguish the biases of anchors (and commentators) from the news.
“For whom does this society exists? There are three forces at work: government,business, and church. Government’s aim is to keep “in a straight course or smooth operation for the good of the individual and the whole. Business is to provide an environment where individuals may trade their talents and abilities for financial return. Business people have a legal fiduciary responsibility. The church’s responsibility is to produce men and women who will operate in the government or business environment for the good of others rather than self. The lack of success by the first two forces can be attributed to the lack of success by the church”
Rev. Arthur Hartwell
Maytown, PA
March 1993 Computer Language magazine
Manolo (and others), I was thinking about Bobi, the oppositionists led by Jojo Binay (and I presume, if he has recovered from his triple bypass — Boy Morales), Alex Magno, Gloria Arroyo, etc., and came up with this puzzle that you can help me with, viz: is this present crisis evidence of the failure of the First Quarter Storm generation?
Jojo, I think it’s not the failure of the FQS generation. Perhaps the present crisis is part of a continuing process to complete what the FQS has started. And yes, BM has already recovered from his triple bypass.
Joj, I’d posit the challenge to FQS dates back to martial law itself, when the middle and upper classes embraced martial law; at that point, the divisions began; few chose armed struggle or jail; the others had their hair cuts and went back to school; they split again at edsa 1, edsa 2…. along the way came the biggest division of all, facing middle age. but yes, a failure is there, because reaching a position to actually set policy starting in 1998, they have failed, in large part, I’d suggest, because they hate the politicians but have proven incompetent politicians themselves. why are they incompetent politicians? they don’t understand politics.
Manolo, you’re right – the FQS generation was never exposed to cacique democracy. The politics they knew was the politics of polarization: Marcos or the CPP. This may explain the “Leninist” kind of retort that Bobi and others resorted to (that Sam noted): that was the rhetoric and practice they were used to. Their failure to understand politics also brings back echoes of the ouster of Mabini under the hands of the representatives of the Malolos Congress, and, to a certain extent, the Federalistas as they were ousted from power by the Nacionalistas in 1906.
Sam, extremely interesting take, i.e., that for us to understand what is happening we have to look at it as part of a process that began 33 years back. Can you elaborate more on this?
jojo: exactly. what people forget is the supreme example of machine politics, amang rodriguez, saw marcos for what he was and kept him at bay until he was too old to be effective. malolos is a fascinating example, because that constitution in essence contains the view of executive power that fidel ramos and gma want today: a decorative, nominal executive subservient to a legislature dominated by the landed. i’d go as far to say that 1935 was the resurgence of the mabini view; 1973 a wavering in between; 1987 a muddled compromise, but the battle lines drawn in 1898 remain: not for nothing was, as i told you, mabini mlq’s personal hero (and laurel’s? and fm patterned bagong lipunan on 1943 puppet republic).
Manolo, I managed to get a photocopy of Nick Joaquin’s Reportage on Politics and did read about how adept the old man Rodriguez was. But this is interesting news to me to know that how much he tried to control the ambitious Marcos. And more fascinating to know how much MLQ saw Mabini as model (did he ever meet the guy?).
It’s this contradiction between centralization and decentralization of politics that animated the book my wife and I wrote (Pinoy edition published by Anvil). GMA perhaps reflect this schizophrenia: wanting reforms and a strong republic on one side of her political brain, and quintessentially trapo on the other side.
jojo: amang was the supreme example of the politician of the old school, who made money through “honest graft,” you know my view on that -thats how they all got rich- which was anchored on a certain amount of self-control. this principle was the factor crucial to politicos like amang. if you examine his scorched-earth white paper battle with garcia, it makes for very interesting reading. why would a loyal party man oppose his president? i believe, but cannot prove, he saw the erosion of the self-control among politicos necessary to keep the existing order intact. garcia was too weak to prevent it. amang, if you ask the oldies, really hated marcos and made it the mission of his life to keep him from the presidency. mlq never met mabini, but if you have ambitions, mabini sets it all out, and reember my thesis that the end of mabini’s book is the blueprint for the independence movement (such as it was) in political terms.
remember: gma’s strong republic is bobi’s, not hers; her fundamental flaw is the inabilty to form a vision; mlq could present partyless democracy; laurel a similar idea, carried on by fm, too, but without corresponding self-control of a leader; from day one, gma has had to be provided a vision, which she has been lukewarm too; it’s not even a case of being fed an idea and seizing on it, like some of the others.
Amang and Mahathir Mohammad were cut from the same cloth. Sayang Amang was older. Well, Bobi envisioning the strong Republic and GMA unable to understand it also brings back memories of Mabini and Aguinaldo. Will email more later; gotta catch the Shinkansen. Cheers.