Cheap and easy guarantee

A mishmash of causes were represented as Estrada backers first to test Lim policy on Mendiola. The battle for hearts and minds flares up: Text messages vs Erap flood cell phones while ‘Erap leaving his fate to God’. but I wonder if its a battle in which the broader public’s really engaged. I tend to mostly agree with the analysis of Quixotic Kibitzer. What might irk the public is something else, entirely: 2 Senate bills to require registration of SIM cards.

It’s news like this that makes me think no one will really care how the court rules on the Estrada case: PCGG appeals defeat in P220M Marcos funds. Pro forma, or a real protest? Meanwhile, Carlos Conde reports in the International Herald Tribune, that Marcos family returning to the limelight in the Philippines:

After two decades of building legal cases against the Marcos in the Philippines and abroad, in hopes of reclaiming an estimated $10 billion it says the Marcoses stole during their two-decade hold on power, the Philippine government has suffered a series of stinging courtroom defeats in recent weeks.

The victories have emboldened the family, led by Imelda, to wage a renewed struggle to regain control not just of their assets, many still frozen by the government, but also their place in the country’s history…

Last week, Sandiganbayan, the anti-graft court where many of the cases against the Marcoses were filed, dismissed the government’s case to recover $4.7 million in deposits allegedly owned by the Marcoses at Security Bank and Trust.

The court said the Presidential Commission on Good Government, created in 1986 to recover Marcos assets stashed in the Philippines and overseas, had failed to offer testimony to prove that the money was obtained unlawfully.

Last month, a separate court acquitted Imelda of tax evasion charges, and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ordered the unfreezing of $4 million in bank accounts of Herminio Disini, a close Marcos confidant who had allegedly amassed millions of dollars in preferential loans, given to cronies without collateral, from government banks.

Also in June, Imelda’s brother Alfredo was acquitted by a Philippine court of charges that he used his influence to sell, in 1974, government property to a company allegedly owned by Ferdinand. The court said the commission based its case on documents that were unauthenticated photocopies.

Last week, local media reports said the Marcoses were poised to take back several other properties in the Philippines after the Presidential Commission on Good Government lifted its sequestration orders on these assets. The commission has not formally announced its decision.

In the late 1980s, the Marcoses faced nearly a thousand criminal and civil cases related to corruption and human rights violations. But so far, only $1.7 billion in assets have been recovered, and a good portion of those may ultimately revert back into the family’s control.

See also 07-07-07 with the Marcoses by Sylvia Mayuga.

Government says, Anti-terror law road show on. But Sunday’s Inquirer editorial pointed out why the so-called Human Security Act only breeds insecurity. In the meantime, the bishops seem to be growing a little (just a little!) firmer in their attitudes: CBCP wants anti-terror law reviewed -besides, there’s also Catholic bishops want Arroyo to revamp Comelec en banc.

Meanwhile, Gov’t looking into reports Burgos is dead, and so on: 6 military men linked to Burgos abduction. Actually, the assumption poor Jonas Burgos is dead became widespread when his disappearance stretched past the one week mark.

The senatorial merry-go-round continues: heated reactions to Billy Esposo‘s column: Palace approached opposition first: Noynoy. In her column, Ellen Tordesillas speaks of a “mongrel majority.”

the House intramurals might have just shifted in the Cebuano challenger’s favor: even as De Venecia, Garcia allies intensify drive to gain support of colleagues, the endorsements that count are being reported: Solon says Arroyo kin support Garcia bid. Scuttlebutt is rife that the President’s husband has expressed support for Garcia. An interesting side issue is what this means in terms of current DILG Secretary Puno -on the way out?

This news makes me nervous: 4.8-magnitude quake hits Davao, Gensan. Or should this cause more concern: Dengue cases up by 22% in S. Mindanao. Good news: Moro rebels ease up on claims to territory.

Overseas, Malaysia’s Opposition Pulls Up Lame. And ‘Old powers in bid to ruin Thailand’History Unfolding lists down American options in Iraq (while Iran media accused of trying to oust president) even as Top Dems threaten Scooter investigation is leading to Clinton vs. Bush. For our part of the world, Regional perspective :In search of the fading US policy on Asean. And other good reads: Social networking on the web – almost better than sex and Death by Amateurs? which has,

Now the debate seems to have moved into a wider circle – the realm of the amateur versus the professional, with or without the internet. Major outfits from Netflix to NASA have been trying to outsource some of their trickiest problems to the general public, which is as bizarre as it is exciting. Andrew Keen, arguably the most Web 2.0-enabled critic of Web 2.0, is well-placed to combat the Times coverage with his new book, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing our Culture, which he describes as a polemic against all of the monkeys with typewriters and webcams (that is, us) the Internet has now unleashed upon civilization.

While Vanity Fair has a Q&A with Conan O’Brien on his writing for The Simpsons.

The headline ‘We’ll keep you safe till 2010’ inspired my column for today, which is Cheap and easy guarantee. Columnists have been busy commenting on the Estrada trial. A similarity of opinion can be found in the columns of Solita Monsod, of Belinda Olivares-Cunanan, and Alex Magno (sorry, no link: the Star website is impossibly unfriendly to blog use, you can’t even find links to past articles). there’s Conrado de Quiros basically saying a pox on both their houses. On the other hand, Adel Tamano says what will inflict a black eye on the justice system is if an Estrada verdict is followed by the appointment of the Sandiganbayan judge to, say, the Supreme Court.

Today’s Inquirer editorial takes a thoughtful look on the charges against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. The paper points out the real charges leveled against Trillanes, and advocates his being allowed to attend Senate sessions until a verdict has been handed down by the court.

Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ explains the Yamashita doctrine and command responsibility William Pesek says bonds could scuttle Asia’s stock-market boom, a cautionary note even as Bong Austero writes on the mad rush for IPO’s in the stock market.

In the blogosphere, a charming entry by Perfect Miscreation on the 41st anniversary of the Beatles’ Manila concert.

And many thanks to the thumbsucker for the kind reference to this blog.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

46 thoughts on “Cheap and easy guarantee

  1. Maybe the public will be less irked if they see that sacrificing anonymity does not mean giving up privacy. Registration of SIM cards is essential for law enforcement especially now that cell phones are used as triggering devices for car bombs. However, the lawmakers who would take away the phone user’s anonymity are also responsible for putting more safeguards to that same phone user’s privacy.

    The telco companies should also be required to log the coordinates of every number that is called (gps coordinates if possible) as an aid to subsequent investigation.

  2. sorry, no link: the Star website is impossibly unfriendly to blog use, you can’t even find links to past articles).

    actually go to their main page (philstar.com), find the word “archives” (use ctrl-f para mabilis). then double click on the word.

    but yeah, wala pa yung mga recent articles sa archives.

  3. SIM cards, as far as I know had been registered in our case, since the beginning both for monthly billed and ‘pay as you’ subscribers. Not only that the phones can not be used for harassing others or criminal activities without detecting its registered owners, but it can also be readily disabled if the phones are lost or stolen.

    And since most of the Service Providers have their SIM unmovable, cellphones snatching and stealing is impractical. I think that is a sensible law, and if it is possible to make the SIM unmovable (permanently imbedded on the phone memory, and can only be replaced, activated or disabled by the provider) that could prevent a lot of stealing and snatching.

  4. Manolo,

    It was so easy for you to dismiss Lim pronouncement as sweet nothings from a poltician. Actually allmost all the polician are very much into it. Yes including the impeach Gloria kuno, the vows to get Gloria, and the host of other anti Gloria pronouncement. And you believ most of them.

    when are you going to face the reality that opposition that you have been passionately shoving in our throats are all there for their self interest and ambition alone. All their Anti Gloria and noisy decalarations are not really out of their convictions to serve the peopel and uplift the flight sorry filight of the nation but only to gain media points for their election. There are just no GENUINE oppOsition. Only genuine enterests and self serving ambitions

    You replied to me in earlier thread that the current senate “Pinoy Big Brother” show just fortified the stronger opposition, But even the current opposition alliance of Loren, Lacson, and Roxas were also founded by self serving enterest and not really for the upliftment of peopel lives. Anytime their respective self serving interests are threatend by each other that would easilly translate iminent collapse of that alliance.

    And you chiildlishly brag that that opposition has more presidentiables than the admin . But there is really no genuine dividing line between these two political side. There are just as many presidentiable who are supporting Gloria. The media is just demolish them by mere association that they less popular than your current list of presidentiables. In the first place, are these presidentiables that you are barraging to me the right presidentiable that the country needs? So there is really nothing to brag about them.

    During election period you wrote something about the middle or the non partisan people will be left rationalizing after the election. But look who is doing the rationalizing now? Your post elections writings are all rationalization of the choices that you made. And I bet you will be like that until the next election.

  5. rego, the one thing i cannot do is teach you how to read. but i do welcome discussing my opinions and yours.

    1. regarding lim’s “sweet pronouncements,” the point you overlook was the main one i made -lim knows the real score better than the president who is scared out of her wits over the possible repercussions of an estrada conviction. your remarks on this score ignores the very real reality that what one says, can affect what happens to you. it gets some people killed. it gets others sued. it may not get politicians killed or sued, but it ends up depriving them of the pork barrel, of committees, etc., which leads some to surrender but gets others to continue their opposition. the public in the end makes a distinction between the oppositionists who maintain their opposition, and those who don’t. which is why some move up on to the national stage and others fail.

    a distinction has to be made between those who oppose, and persevere, and those who end up quitting. the distinction is provided by events: the first cut is made by those who would dare express opposition and those who would rather keep silent; the second cut, by those who would say slogans in the streets and not just in the comfort of their homes; the third cut, by those who face inconvenience, hostility, professional and personal disadvantage and continue to oppose anyway; the fourth and final cut, by those who would do so, even when it endangers them politically in the short term (convinced of their side, you’d assume they believe history is on their side). until each point is reached, you take what they say in good faith. the same process works the same way for those on the other side, by the way.

    2. “when are you going to face the reality that opposition that you have been passionately shoving in our throats are all there for their self interest and ambition alone,” you say? never: because it cannot be said of all, therefore it is not the case as you say it. and neither could it be said of all, or even most, always, even though as in anything political, self-interest is a powerful motivation no one should ignore. the mother cat will give her life for her kittens out of self-interest as much as love for her kittens -to keep the genetic line alive. but it is bravery whichever way you measure it. i have met enough and talked to enough people who have worked day in and out against the president to realize that they aren’t always motivated by personal considerations, and that quite a few are motivated by idealism. most importantly, the process of opposing tends to bring out better things in people more than supporting the president has brought out in her, her officials, and her supporters.

    3. what is the interplay between leaders and followers? there are no leaders without followers and there are no followers unless leaders define shared goals between the leaders and the followers. at that point motivations -either for leader or follower- becomes irrelevant because of the shared goals and experiences.

    4. so if you criticize the current realignments (which i criticize as well), you have to bear in mind what, in the end, defines what works or not. and that is, that what the leaders do is ultimately watched and judged by the public, and they do so on a daily basis. let us assume, as you do, for the sake of argument, that “even the current opposition alliance of Loren, Lacson, and Roxas were also founded by self serving enterest and not really for the upliftment of peopel lives,” the fact remains that even if this were so, the public will judge them from now to 2010 on whether they actually do something to uplift the people’s lives. this is actually the genius of the process: that even if one enters into it selfishly, one is ultimately judged on one’s ability to somehow deliver to one’s constituency. in the case of senators, the nation.

    5. i have always been for an issue-by-issue formation of coalitions because i trust fanatical party loyalty less than i do politicians who respond to the issues of the day and act accordingly. the first task coming into may 2007, was to keep the administration from electing its candidates. whatever they do in the end, i prefer an alan peter cayetano because it’s better he sells out later, than selling out sooner which is what tessie aquino, etc. did going into the elections. the oppositionists voted into office have more of a tendency to bow to public opinion rather than spit on it the way those who gambled on machinery did.

    6. as to the number of possible presidential candidates: the opposition has more, the administration has less. but i suppose it depends on how you define “presidentiable.” if your definition is, people interested in running, perhaps you’re right. if your definition is, potential candidates who have an established base of supporters, who enjoy a measure of proven public confidence, and who can translate the two into a candidacy that will be taken seriously by the electorate, you’re back to seeing more presidentiables in the opposition than in the administration. as for who, i believe, are qualified to be president, and who i therefore believe are in a position to be good choices for the presidency, then i can tell you i see none at all in the president’s camp and the only ones i’m looking at are in the opposition. deals with the president this early on only helps cull the prospective list of presidentiables.

    7. how am i rationalizing? to rationalize would be to say, “i think it’s ok the senate opposition is making deals.” i don’t. like i said, the moment they do, they’re no longer opposition. it won’t deprive them of power, it will only deprive them of credibility. was it inevitable they’d do what some of them seem poised to do? not at all. but if the bad happens, then it’s bad. but their badness is still relative: look at de venecia, apparently a very loyal person to the president, look at what’s happening to him, and how as time passes, the president’s partiality for his oppoent’s being shown. at the very least, some of the opposition are proving as nasty, disloyal, and selfish as… guess who, the president and her people! the very same people who have, apparently, convinced members of the opposition to sell out and side with them. so the dark side, whichever way you cut it, is still the dark side.

    8. I’ll tell you where I can say I was 100% right: my decision not to vote for Manny Villar.

  6. Rego, criticism is always accepted, but try to make them substantive and specific, not general and vague…

    Who are the Administration Presidentiables you are touting? Name the names please…

    Rationalizing. name the instance of rationalizing so that Manuel can respond…

    Exactly who are the “all the polician are very much into it.” crowd??

    Your commentary is full of loopholes, that to the untrained eye, may seem logical and informative, but has made me lose five minutes of my life that I wish I had back…

  7. being only a year older from those edsa babies i obviously didn’t feel the impact of martial law as you people did. however, reading instances of it in our history books, listening to people who lived during that time, and of course lectures in class made me realize that the effects of it still linger in our present time. These effects which still haunt the Filipino people has made us unable to move on and progress as a society, politically, economically, and, dare i say, spiritually as well. And this recent Marcos victory in the courts is only twisting the blade even deeper.

    i am not a law student, however, as i remeber from my scholasticism class Aquinas said that law is an attribute of reason. Also, as one commentator of this blog said: justice is fairness – a rawlian statement indeed – but i completely agree with it. The existence of Laws presuppose that man has the tendency to commit evil as we can gather from the oldest legal text – the code of hammurabi. now my question is why are the Marcoses being given a get out of jail card? how can that be reasonable and fair for the majority? does not reason tell us that if we let them go that others, having the tendency to commit evil, will follow suit knowing that they can get away from it? -erap & GMA. some may argue that there was a lack of evidence, certain papers weren’t file, etc etc. But doesn’t that defeat the essence of law itself? the law is made for a society, a peaceful one, to exist.

    this is sounding more and more like an idealist’s requiem…

    yet i still have hope for our country.

  8. there you go again, mlq3, with your ludicrous hyperbole. the president scared? how did you know what’s in her mind or how she feels? what do you use, a witch’s brew or an oracle? or is you imagination just knows no bound?

    the erap fanatics march on the street at the drop of a hat. give them a little excuse and they would face cannons (water, that is) to harass law enforcers. almost always, their action results in violence. of course, the government would have to prepare to maintain peace, save lives, and preserve public order while allowing lawful exercise of free expression and peaceful assembly. preparing doesn’t necessarily mean being “scared”. erap looked very scared at the height of edsa 2.

    how many times has pgma shown that she can face mob protests with dignity and courage. if you are trying to picture her (which her haters in this blog just love to see) as a weakling or a coward, you are failing miserably, buddy, at least with this commenter.

  9. bencard, the way any journalist does. talking to sources, both within and outside the president’s official family. you are free to disbelieve or believe the composite pictures we put together.

  10. You nail it right on the head Bencard. I wonder why, mlq would not recognize the reality (facts) hehehe!

    “the president who is scared out of her wits over the possible repercussions of an estrada conviction”

    “you are free to disbelieve or believe the composite pictures we put together.”

    vs

    “how many times has pgma shown that she can face mob protests with dignity and courage. if you are trying to picture her (which her haters in this blog just love to see)”

    I prefer to agree with the latter. Everybody knows this for a fact. I wonder why, mlq, would try very hard (TH) to portray GMA otherwise? Hay….

  11. “you are free to disbelieve or believe the composite pictures we put together.”

    So.. this how the media (some: mlq, for example)works. In my poor community here in the rural areas…we take as gospel truth whatever garbage that comes out from the media.Hay…..

  12. Sir MLQ3,

    Thanks for posting your comment in my blog. I agree with Mr Esposo’s column. He has an even more detailed explanation of the real reason for the senate presidency merry-go-round which is the same with the explanation given to me by another opposition insider.

    I just cannot post his complete story because he asked me to keep it a secret. Chiz has wanted to speak one the matter but a leading and important opposition figure told him NOT to because it will only show that the opposition is not united. He also confirmed that he will not leave the opposition.

    Even during the campaign period, GO is not united especially during the last few weeks. You only have to watch their body language during the miting de avance. Another example, there was one candidate who vehemently denied that he/she dropped the GO line-up but he/she ACTUALLY dropped the line-up which is evident in his/her sample ballots. His/her father sent a box of sample ballots in our house but when the people in our town saw that he/she dropped the line-up he/she ended up second in the final tally instead of his/her usual first ranking.

    I actually could not comprehend why the other senators are doing this to Pimentel. He deserves respect and not as a front to their naked 2010 ambitions.

    It’s starting to annoy me that the senators who had a record of changing positions and parties in the past are seen as the betrayed underdogs. Haay naku. Kelan ba naging oposisyon yang si Mar Roxas eh bigla ngang natulog ang political career niyan pagkatapos ng eleksyon! Nagsisi na ako at ibinoto ko pa siya.

    I’ll be the first to leave Team Chiz if Chiz moves to the administration.

    Jowana Balana Bueser

  13. The problem of the opposition in Malaysia is the “political machinery” there is for real. The BN coalition, dominated by UMNO, controls all the levers of private, public, and uniformed power. Besides, Malaysia is parliamentary not presidential. Getting rid of a party dictatorship is a little more difficult than
    than people powering out a dictator. Finally, Malaysia has an Internal Security Act which the ruling coalition uses without any qualms or hesitation.

    Malaysia’s opposition did not pull up lame. It was and is crippled by the ruling coalition.

  14. Bencard,

    Bencard to MLQ : “there you go again, mlq3, with your ludicrous hyperbole. the president scared? how did you know what’s in her mind or how she feels? ”

    MLQ to Bencard: “bencard, the way any journalist does. talking to sources, both within and outside the president’s official family.”

    And that’s the difference between observing events from a distance and observing them up-close.

    We are where the action is, you are not.

  15. I find disturbing the last sentence of the Inquirer’s editorial, “that justice may be blind but it can, and it should, also listen to the roar of the crowd.”

    The primary duty of a judge is to apply the law with the cold neutrality of an impartial judge. What the editorial suggests is that, aside from what is in the law, the judge should also consider the court of public opinion. Make a Pontius Pilate of the courts, anyone?

    This is a very dangerous proposition.

  16. “1. regarding lim’s “sweet pronouncements,” the point you overlook was the main one i made -lim knows the real score better than the president who is scared out of her wits over the possible repercussions of an estrada conviction. your remarks on this score ignores the very real reality that what one says, can affect what happens to you. it gets some people killed. it gets others sued. it may not get politicians killed or sued, but it ends up depriving them of the pork barrel, of committees, etc., which leads some to surrender but gets others to continue their opposition. the public in the end makes a distinction between the oppositionists who maintain their opposition, and those who don’t. which is why some move up on to the national stage and others fail.”

    What I woudl like to point actually is that it is soo easy for you too dismiss any kind of support to Gloria as sweet pronouncements by that person. while anything against her is you just believe as real and sincere. Isn’t that prodded you to vote for chiz escudero and alan cayetano? Their pronouncements ..

  17. “a distinction has to be made between those who oppose, and persevere, and those who end up quitting. the distinction is provided by events: the first cut is made by those who would dare express opposition and those who would rather keep silent; the second cut, by those who would say slogans in the streets and not just in the comfort of their homes; the third cut, by those who face inconvenience, hostility, professional and personal disadvantage and continue to oppose anyway; the fourth and final cut, by those who would do so, even when it endangers them politically in the short term (convinced of their side, you’d assume they believe history is on their side). until each point is reached, you take what they say in good faith. the same process works the same way for those on the other side, by the way.”

    ——————————————————-

    but where are those who persevere? in the senate? The problem sa gianling galing ng media. Yung mga nagpersevere was put ontehsidelights tpaos yung mag nagkokunwari lang yun ang nasa senado!

  18. rego, lim’s was the kind of support that doesn’t matter, because it’s the kind of support you’re never really going to have to put to the test. my point is lim knows there won’t be another edsa tres, the president however, still lives in mortal terror of one.

    as for escudero and cayetano, they voted twice for impeachment. they were at the forefront and continued to be in opposition, even when other oppositionists caved in because they’d been deprived of pork barrel, etc. so it’s more than their pronouncements, though making a pronouncement is in itself a way of taking a stand. for their staying the course during the two impeachments, that’s reason enough to have voted for them. as was their not running under the president’s coalition. i explained my criteria for voting for senators clearly enough.

  19. jowana, i think chiz is clever enough to explain his side without demolishing the opposition. this is one of the first tests of his new mandate, he should embrace the challenge instead of shrugging it aside.

  20. 2. “when are you going to face the reality that opposition that you have been passionately shoving in our throats are all there for their self interest and ambition alone,” you say? never: because it cannot be said of all, therefore it is not the case as you say it. and neither could it be said of all, or even most, always, even though as in anything political, self-interest is a powerful motivation no one should ignore. the mother cat will give her life for her kittens out of self-interest as much as love for her kittens -to keep the genetic line alive. but it is bravery whichever way you measure it. i have met enough and talked to enough people who have worked day in and out against the president to realize that they aren’t always motivated by personal considerations, and that quite a few are motivated by idealism. most importantly, the process of opposing tends to bring out better things in people more than supporting the president has brought out in her, her officials, and her supporters.

    —————————————————

    I did not say all, pero may kinapanya ka katulad ni Alan Peter na kahit yung isisue of polical dynsaty na ni raise you just ignore it. Di mo ba talaga nakita kaya Alan Peter yun. The last time he became a congressman was through the support Mike Aroyo.

  21. …“that justice may be blind but it can, and it should, also listen to the roar of the crowd.”

    Quick! Hide this phrase from DJB lest he rains down curses on Hilario Davide again. 😉

  22. and teh rest of teh Hyatt 10. I believ they have the purest intetion among the oppsition.

  23. and teh rest of teh Hyatt 10. I believ they have the purest intetion among the oppsition.

    Because they did not run for office? I ask because you seem to be of the opinion that running for office is an indication of impure intentions.

  24. rego, pero walang may balak sa hyatt 10 na tumakbo para sa senado.

    kay alan peter, actually pinakamadali ang explanasyon niya: NP siya katulad ni Villar. Ang talagang wrong yung kay Kiko na LP siya pero mas sinusundan niya ang linya ng NP.

    at iba ang usapan sa 2001 and even 2004 -ang defining point ay yung garci, di ba. before that you can give supporters of the president the benefit of the doubt. after that, saludo ako sa nanatili sa panig ng presidente but siyempre mas bilib ako sa kumontra. as for the dynasty issue, nagkalinawan na tayo diyan noon pa diba. kahit sa kilos ni cayetano ngayon di naman relevant yun.

    kahit naman si chiz, pwede mo ring sabihin, sinusundan niya ang linya ng NPC… kaya ang talagang nakakagigil sa kanila, si kiko at si jinggoy.

  25. 6. as to the number of possible presidential candidates: the opposition has more, the administration has less. but i suppose it depends on how you define “presidentiable.”

    ————————————–

    ipara ang presientiable yung talagang may kakyana at mmaganadang record na may nagw na…. There is Sonny Belmonte, Bayani Fernando. Joker Arroyo, Angara Jesli Lapus, Margarito Teves, Gilbert Teodoro. Ang tinutokoy mo kasing presidentiabl sa kabila ay yung mag topnetcher sa senado lang…But I dont think Lacson and Loren wil be a good president. Pwede pa si Mar Roxas

  26. walang balak kasi alam nilang hindi sila popular. Bwinakaw ni Chis at Alan ng lahat ng media exposure eh!

  27. ay naku manolo i have to go. Its 2:30 am here and I still have a meeting at 8 am…just rushing up some prsentations kay gising pa ako….

  28. Sir MLQ3,
    Tama po kayo si Jinggoy ang ‘gulat factor.’ sa lahat. Unless totoo ang chismis ng Villar-Jinggoy 2010. And he will not shrug it aside. He will explain his side sooner or later. Much as I want to drop hints, I made a promise to my source/friend to keep it a secret.

    Let’s just say that I’ll be part of Team Chiz for years to come 🙂

  29. (Resubmitting from yesterday)

    Regarding the proposed mandatory registration of SIM Cards, maybe the public will be less irked if they see that sacrificing anonymity does not mean giving up privacy. Registration of SIM cards is essential for law enforcement especially now that cell phones are used as triggering devices for car bombs. However, the lawmakers who would take away the phone user’s anonymity are also responsible for putting more safeguards to that same phone user’s privacy.

    The telco companies should also be required to log the coordinates of every number that is called (gps coordinates if possible) as an aid to subsequent investigation.

  30. mlq3, more like gossip within or outside the presidential family. the media is irresponsible when it, deliberately or negligently, fails to challenge the veracity of the “source”. as “there’s snake in every forest”, there is a gossip monger in every seat of power, e.g., dinky soliman and the infamous “hyatt 10”.

  31. buencamino, just because you can talk to gossip mongers, you have the advantage over us here abroad? over here, we don’t have to rely on propagandists, spin doctors and prophets of doom and gloom. we just watch the events as they actually unfold and form our judgment on that basis. some in the media live up to the reason for their existence. they bring up the real news, not spins according to their self-serving agenda.

  32. bencard,

    “we just watch the events as they actually unfold and form our judgment on that basis. ”

    You see what’s published and aired in media. By that time those events have already unfolded, silly.

    We are the ones who see things as they unfold, not you the end user who lives thousands of miles away.

    You may have forgotten that Manila is a very small society so access is not a problem. And I’m not talking access just in the journalist sense. I am talking about access in terms of family, extended family, school ties, business connections and everything else that comes with it. So when we report certain things as coming from the “inside”, you can be sure that we know what’s gossip, spin, and reality because we are part of the “inside”. You, on the other hand, have as much information about the inner workings of the capital as the guy from Maguindanao who reads newspapers and watches TV. An example closer to home for you would be a guy from Chicago telling someone who lives, works, and breathes D.C. that you know better than he does what’s going on inside the nation’s capital. It just doesn’t happen that way.

    Get used to it,.

  33. buencamino, like i said, there are members of legitimate (for want of a better modifier) media that give true, running account of really important events, not self-serving punditry or blatant misrepresentation, e.g., publicizing a canard made by a lying politician without the reporter vigorously challenging and testing the truth of the statement, often because it fits the reporter’s own agenda or prejudice; or a t.v. interviewer who merely nods his/her head or say “uh-huh” to everything the interviewee asserts – thus giving a subliminal message to the reader/listener that what is being said is true.

    in this day and age of instant communication, we who are 80,000 miles away, might as well be right next door to you and don’t underestimate our own access to information there. we, or most of us, also have families, friends, professional and business contacts, who are able to give us a leg up before events are actually reported by the media.

    oftentimes – and baseball fans out there can bear me out – a guy sitting at home watching a game sees a lot more detail than one actually watching in the stadium (especially from the bleachers).

    so, you have no advantage over us, buencamino. to argue otherwise is pompous, if not hopelessly idiotic.

  34. erratum: i mean 8,000 miles away, not “80,000” miles (that’s a mistake, not hyperbole).

  35. Bencard,

    Yeah, except that only those in the dugout, sitting with the players, can see and hear things a couch potato does not see.

    You might as well be on the moon.

  36. oh, you think you, buencamino, are so privileged being a “journalist” to be in the dugout with the players and coaches, huh? i don’t think so if you, or your organization, are a persona non-grata to the ball club because of irresponsible reporting.

  37. “kahit naman si chiz, pwede mo ring sabihin, sinusundan niya ang linya ng NPC…”

    And this is not rationalizing, Manolo?

  38. rego, not rationalizing. i;ve made it clear that to me, the important thing is for the opposition to vote one of its own senate president, either pimentel or villar. furthermore, i have said if someone makes a deal with the admin to elect a senate president, they aren’t opposition at that point, because they’re going against the mandate the opposition was given. that’s my position.

    to explain is not to endorse. but, for say, escudero or his supporters, they can say an oppositionist is best judged by the totality of their performance, or, they can say, well, it was a matter of party loyalty. whether the public will accept or, or if the public will lessen its confidence in escudero et al., is an entirely different matter.

  39. [q]Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names. And years later, they’ll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer. I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most.
    [b]Even our dreams…[/b][/q]
    – Aunt May
    Spiderman 2

    😉

  40. In my poor community here in the rural areas…we take as gospel truth whatever garbage that comes out from the media.

    Well there are also many people here and abroad who choose to take as gospel truth whatever garbage that comes out of Malacanang’s propaganda machine.

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