Buying time

Women’s Day sad news is that Dr. Estefania Aldaba-Lim passed away yesterday, at the age of 89. She was a close friend of our family, and an outstanding public servant, educator, and civic leader; most of us know her as the mother of TV journalist Che-Che Lazaro. Rest in peace, Tita Fanny.

Leesburg1942
(The Filipino community in exile, Washington, DC, 1942; Estefania Aldaba-Lim is in the 4th row from the front)

The Philippine Daily Inquirer says Arroyo to use emergency powers again if needed: ‘It’s God’s plan I’m here’ (this story ruined village idiot savant’s breakfast).

Malaya also examines the President’s latest fiesty words: Practically describes ABS-CBN as seditious, irresponsible and has a story on the Speaker of the House being droopy: Joe tired of playing “big brother,” ready to hand over party-list 5

ABS-CBN online: SolGen: PP1017 flawed

The Manila Standard-Today has Satur slams Ateneo study and the International Monetary Fund warning about the ultimate cost of charter change: RP at risk from politics

The Daily Tribune rolls out a redesigned website (so much nicer-looking!) and reports that Palace to charge solon on bungled C-4 bomb expose.

Citizen Watch: Palace tells people not to join protests

The Business Mirror: Govt tracking sectors with brain drain

In the punditocracy, my Arab News column for this week is Arroyo Can Only Buy Time Now, which magnifies (not recklessly, I hope) points I’ve made elsewhere, often. Read, too, the Asahi Shimbun editorial I partially quoted.

The Inquirer editorial points out millions of reasons why Estrada manages to be influential with the armed forces. A hard-hitting letter to the editor says Filipinos have to assume the blame for the mess we’re in. Belinda Aquino points to a list of dictators (thank God you’re not in Nigeria).

JB Baylon is skeptical about government appeals to keep the armed forces out of politics.

Alvin Capino suggests the emerging line of attack of Atienza loyalists in the Liberal Party split, is to attack former Senate President Jovito Salonga for senility (what else does “out of touch” with regards to a party’s elder statesman suggest?).

Leandro Coronel asks why good apples insist on ending up among the rotten.

In the blogosphere, New Economist points to a study which says workers want trust, not money; and that good government makes people happy.

If Neal Cruz in his column says the University of the Philippines is debating disowning Jose Abueva, thirtysomething says Mike Defensor’s already been disowned by an organization he used to head.

Edwin Lacierda wades into the battle of the epistles. Demosthenes’ Game comments on the epistolary fighting going on.

Big Mango responds to Carlos V. Jugo’s critique.

Unhurried pauses to mull over the problem of a student.

Punzi plugs Atty. Teddy Te, whose personal blog, Vincula, has a blistering attack on GMA Anchor Mike Enriquez. Bunker Chronicles wasn’t pleased by the performance. Jove Francisco has his own view on the President’s guesting on Enriquez’s show -suggesting she is pursuing what atty-at-work calls her divide-and-conquer strategy there, too. Ellen Tordesillas details what she believes is a case of media intimidation aimed at the GMA network. I didn’t see the President’s appearance on Mike Enriquez’s show, and I don’t think the GMA people are cowards; as one person who is in the know described it, the GMa Network corporate culture is “dominated and run by lawyers,” so they simply prefer to err, if ever, on the side of caution, as corporate lawyers tend to do.

Batang Baler does media roundup on abducted Baler journalist.

Unlawyer says the boost to the Peso is due to remittances coming in for graduation time. OFW from Hong Kong says this isn’t good news for OFW’s.

By Karl has an interesting article by his father, on whether presidents should salute.

Brownpao points to Kottke.org, one of my fave blogs, abandoning its problogger status. Depressing, considering that blog has tremendous traffic.

Pulsar encounters a possibly Gay ghost.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

28 thoughts on “Buying time

  1. MLQ3 Thanks,

    Salamat sa attention!

    Sleeping Thanks for visting.

    I watched Korina last night and I just listened to your intro..I did not bother listening to the points of Mr. Magno, the propaganda machine himself.

  2. I was thinking out of the normal For and Against ideas..

    What really needs to happen is the entire Court System to start doing its job faithfully.

    If people were not getting out of things by paying off fiscals and buying the judges at a later stage. Then i think the police would start applying the laws and to the letter of the law..

    At the moment you can buy off the Fiscal and if someone complains where does it go to another fiscal.. Of course you have to file in the same location so what are you going to get Drinking buddies to file charges against one another.

    Next no one is above the law.
    Someone said last week they cannot investigate something because the person has resigned or left..

    Senate give them the power or are you protecting someone else.

    If the laws are written with the word should then the supreme court shall had them back to the senate for revising to say shall..

    Don’t leave any loop holes in the law..

    What happened in QC this week Lim or someone told to be released because he was not arrested correctly..

    Arrest that Fiscal – Judge…

    Open the bank accounts..
    lets see who is honest and who is not..
    What are you afraid off senators?

    Stop the pussy footing about and actually make the law work.. for the people..

    Why is Estrada staying in a rest house when others are rotting in prison on lesser charges?

    Once again who is afraid of implementing the law?

    Why are some police involved in drugs because the courts allow them.. Why do the courts allow them because they are the ultimate power and only power..

    Think of it all the Fights between the Government and Opposition allways goes to the courts..

    They are the Final Arbitrators of all things here..

    We would not be here today if they did their sworn duty..

    Lacson and the Drug ties and the Money in the US??
    Estrada Graft and corruption
    Gloria SCAMS..
    Airport Contract.
    Railway Contract.
    DAM’s and Power Contracts
    DAR .. Cory and her FARM.

    We can go on can’t we all..

    Look back at the last 20 Years and what have they given to us corruption, and greed..

    Not the governments but the courts because in the past no one ever had to pay for what they did if they were powerful or had money..

  3. How can a government charge people for corruption and get it too stick when they just pay off the courts..

    Any Ideas?

  4. MLQ3,

    With your permission, a plug for this Sunday’s anti-Gloria rally in HK.

    Following a successful anti-Gloria rally in Tokyo organized by Yuko and friends…

    We will assemble at 11:00 am between the Statue Square and Legislative Council Building in Central (near Chater Road). We will be joined by local groups and I heard that the South Koreans who are in Hong Kong to attend their hearing (they were the once arrested during the protest actions against the WTO ministerial meeting here in HK) will also attend the action.

    The march will start at 12:00 nn from Central to Admiralty in front of the United Centre where the Philippine Consulate General is housed. We will have an hour program there and we will submit a joint statement signed by different groups in Hong Kong.

    Legislator Leng Kwok-hung (Long hair) is doing a signature campaign for the immediate and unconditional release of Cong. Crispin Beltran whom he met during the People’s Action Week against the WTO last December. He will ask the support of other legislators.

    Meanwhile, trade unions and labor groups have already expressed their participation.

    We hope that we can replicate this actions in other countries, even not on the same date, I think it is still ok. MIGRANTE network in Asia Pacific, Europe, US, Canada and Middle East are already conducting protests actions since the declaration of PP1017. We hope that your network can liaise with them to organize bigger and sustained actions.

    The Secretariat
    United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK)
    2/F., New Hall, St. John’s Cathedral,
    Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong SAR
    Tel : (852) 2810-4379 Fax : (852) 3115-7772
    E-mail: [email protected]
    Website: http://www.unifil.org.hk
    Blog: compatriots.blogspot.com

  5. Sleeping,

    Tough question…
    although not all charged by the ombudsman have money..
    as my dad coined “unexplained poverty”.

    I am an open book..my dad together with a number of officers from the Navy are charged for something….but my dad had difficulty explaining his unexplained poverty in the sandigan once.
    Alright we are not poor but we don’t have enough money to pay off, and even we did, we have enough class not to.

  6. Karl,

    Your Dad used to tell me “The Philippines is a rich country that wants to remain poor!”

  7. AdB,

    I would ask my dad what he meant..just to be sure I don’t misread him like I usually do.
    anyhow..

    Buying Time..that is what GMA is doing.
    She learns from from history just to repeat it her way.

  8. He said ABS-CBN left the matter of crowd control and order to the PNP but it failed to call the police to the meetings held by event organizers.

    So once again we are about to see how money rules and LAW doesn’t….

    They didn’t even call the police to a meeting..And then they have the gall to say they are not partially responsible.. (Remember 17 People have been named for charges including the Mayor)

  9. MLQ3, with your permission, i would like to post here my reply to Big Mango’s response (also posted in his weblog):

    Big Mango, the fact that almost every President since Marcos has had legitimacy problems is no longer relevant. As Randy David pointed out, the values of [some] Filipinos are changing. What may have been acceptable then is not acceptable now. What matters is that GMA has a legitimacy problem *today*. Even if, for the sake of argument, we grant that GMA is a competent President, it still does not matter because a democratic government is not like a corporation where effectiveness automatically confers legitimacy. It is an issue that needs to be addressed head on, especially since GMA has been using the institutions of democracy to subvert its ideals.

    Why does it matter? Unlike you, i don’t consider ‘Hello Garci’ to be just another ‘battle’. It is a defining moment – for the President and for the people who supported her. (I voted for GMA in 1992, 1998 and 2004.) In one of your earlier posts, you stated “The Middle-Class we speak of are generally idealists— they believe in the rule of law, they believe in common decency”. How does that square with the actions of the President and those who support her? Is this what you mean by ‘rule of law’ and ‘common decency’?

    We, in the ‘middle’ must never forget that for the foreseeable future, we will be in the minority. Unlike the upper class, we do not have the resources. Unlike the poor, we do not have the numbers. The only thing we can offer are our values. According to conventional wisdom, it is the middle class that defines the nation. Where our values go, our country goes. Let’s not throw these away in the name of expediency.

  10. CVJ, allow me to add the following…

    The middle class is the backbone of ALL countries in Europe! That’s why democracy here WORKS! That’s why the Social Contract works!

    As you aptly said “we can offer are our values. According to conventional wisdom, it is the middle class that defines the nation. Where our values go, our country goes. Let’s not throw these away in the name of expediency”.

    A country cannot achieve its ambition of being a democracy WITHOUT a strong middle-class.

    Even the Philippine version of ‘democracy’ is bound to self destruct if the vision is perpetuated by a corrupt minority on a tiny middle-class and a majority of impoverished class. You’re bound to have some kind of social reckoning which will leave the Republic and its wobbly but still “functioning” institutions completely in tatters.

    History will tell us that.

    It is the Philippine middle class today that must lead the way, no matter how small because as you said, “”we can offer are our values” but these values must be based on moral values not pecuniary values.

  11. hey guys, maybe you can help me out. i’m looking for an e-copy or a link to the proposed charter as endorsed by the Jaraulla commission. I need it for my political science class for critiquing. thanks!

  12. GMA is really spawned by hell. She kisses her grandchild with that blasphemous mouth?!

    Times like this, I really wish God would intervene more actively.

  13. MLQ3,

    Gloria’s basis for proclaiming the SOE hinged on a technical flaw. The proclamation of the SOE is technically illegal if they insist on using their basis (in the recent AFP powerpoint presentation and Palace film aired on TV recently) that there was a COUP D’ETAT ATTEMPT by LEFTIST-MILITARY groups which would culminate in Gloria’s violent overthrow on Feb 24, 2006.

    I believe that if the Senate or any organization wishes to attack the legality of the SOE, they must attack the basis of the SOE to force the Palace to present their evidences, then their evidences must be attacked (they, Gloria, AFP, Palace will be obliged to present hard, physical evidences, etc. and all the elements to support their coup d’état attempt allegations).

    Their basis hinges on an attempted coup d’état. So let’s see their evidences… So far, their evidences point to a mere theory on a so-called purported NPA-AFP conspiracy to launch a coup d’etat culminating on 24th February 2006.

    What concerns me is that people are starting to see it the Palace way, particularly after Palace aired their cheap propaganda film on TV… and because of this cheap propaganda (well, you know naman Pinoys), baka maawa pa kay Gloria ang mga tao ngayon !

  14. Let’s look at their major evidence – the discovered Plan A of Oplan Hackle (presented by the AFP and aired on TV by Palace):

    This plan is similar to Joma Sison’s plan back in the late 60s when he started recruiting then AFP Lt Victor Corpuz who finally defected to the NPA in 1967.

    Exactly that – there’s nothing new. The tactic of an attack from the ‘nayon’ to the site of central government over a period of time is JoMa’s dogma. That someone lifted that from Joma’s website and passed it off as the current tactical doctrine of a new found left-military alliance is highly plausible…

    If for the sake of argument, we accept government thesis of a modern or latter day version of Oplan Hackle, the government has to produce evidence of a a united left wing and military alliance by way of naming names, military defectors and backers. Or one junior officer in active service backed by two very old retired military officers with a few civilian names are not exactly a proof of attempted government overthrow.

    Moreover, if we are to continue on the premise that Operation Hackle would indeed culminate in the overthrow of Gloria and her government on 24th February, then the AFP thesis is defeated because to reach their objective, the tactical alliance would have needed at least 1 army division and at least the same number of leftist fighters from the NPA in order to achieve a realistic overthrow attempt.

    I doubt that they would have been able to do that. Why? LOGISTICS: you need weapons, ammunitions, trucks, vehicles, other sort of motorized transport to get those men (and arms) – NPA & AFP military adventurers – into several BATTLE ORBITS or towards their MANY designated targets.

    How do you propose to do that without being noticed by the major service commands? Are they forgetting that there are military checkpoints in every single junction in the archipelago, so, how could an AFP military component get away with all the logistics without being discovered!

    The Palace is taking people for a ride!

    Wow! These palace people are spin masters. Unbelievable that they would try to force such thing in people’s throat.

    But admittedly, they control the propaganda machine …

  15. What is it with Her Bogusness and men named Mike?
    There’s the lard-ass husband, the box-office flop son,
    the lapdog chief of staff…and now the erstwhile repspected broadcaster who
    had just discovered a new talent — fawning.

  16. What is it with Her Bogusness and men named Mike?
    There’s the lard-ass husband, the box-office flop son,
    the lapdog chief of staff…and now the broadcaster who
    had just discovered a new talent — fawning.

  17. Ate Glue’s loyal SG (Benipayo) is singing a different tune after his humiliation being “don’t-know-defender” of PP1017 is now telling the nation “TO BLAME THE POLICE IF YOU ARE ARRESTED (WITHOUT WARRANT) AND NOT THE PRESIDENT”.

    To all the readers, you can try to be creative when you are expected to be arrested.

    1. Bring along the newpaper clippings or print on Benipayo’s “arresting police are to blame and not Mrs. Arroyo”.

    2. Kindly ask for the most senior officer and have him read Benipayo’s statement regarding police to blame.

    3. Smile at all times. This is for your own benefit and the arresting officers are less intimidated and will become cooperative when you asked for their names and detachment.

    4. Use your camera to take pictures of the arresting officer(s). Better shake their hands and have somebody take your pictures with the arresting officer.

    5. Better ask for their autographs, say for posterity sake and make sure you say you love it coz they will love it too until they know your purpose later.

    6. While in a different holding area, talk to them to have you released as early as possible for good behavior.

    7. Consult a lawyer and file a case for warrantless arrest and without good cause in grave violation of your right and calling for suspension of the arresting officers. You need those pictures to identify them.

    Good luck!

  18. sleeping said:
    “Look back at the last 20 Years and what have they given to us corruption, and greed..
    Not the governments but the courts because in the past no one ever had to pay for what they did if they were powerful or had money..”

    To sleeping and others who think the same way, there is no need to look back at the past for simple reason that you cannot change the past. Be proactive, deal with the current because you can do something today. Today is about Ate Glue’s corruption which is ongoing and blatant.

    1. Ate Glue allowed the use of P22 billion Agrarian Reform money to be distributed to pro-government regions and provinces prior 2004 presidential elections to secure her interest.

    2. Ate Glue distributed signed voucher for millions of pork barrels to congressmen on the night before her congressmen voted to kill the impeachment.

    3. Ate Glue issue EO464 to gag the 2 marine officers from testifying on the use military in the presidential election and to prevent DAR officials to answer senate’s investigation on the use of recovered Marcos loot during presidential election.

    4. Ate Glue issued PP1017 to clamp down on media and threatened to arrest without warrant any person to silence valid and decent protest against the government.

    5. Ate Glue refused to court martial military officers involved in the wire-tapping which is a serious offense against commander-in-chief and again, refused to court martial military officers named and identified in her disclosed reason for PP1017.

    Corruption starts when you use money and power to move things your way. And Ate Glue is doing that to you. But you refused to see it and instead looked at the past. How can you stop corruption as it is ongoing in the government?

    oh, we know the answer…. just keep sleeping!

  19. Dodong,

    Did Benipayo say that the police are to blame and not Arroyo if a citizen is arrested without a warrant of arrest?

    Heavens! The guy has gone barking mad!

    Benipayo has just confirmed that command responsibility in the Philippines is non-existent in the current state of affairs; that’s what we call a total breakdown in the chain of command! Anarchy is slowwwwwwwly but surely creeping in….therefore, it’s really time to replace that horrid little girl called Gloria Mandaraya, err Macapagal, squatting in the Palace…

  20. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo: “It is really hard to be President. I have much faith in what God wants. And I believe that I am here because that is His plan for me, for us.”

    Archbishop Oscar Cruz: “Will all due respect to the President and I say this with emphasis, a good number of mentally deranged people also claim that they are God-sent. To verify this, you can just go to mental institutions or psychiatric ward of hospital.”

  21. ADB,

    Yes, Benipayo is going mental coz he is essentially daring the people to do what has been the legal practice in the Philippines, to go after the police.

    Years before, I worked with car manufacturing firm. It is a common practice for police to set up checkpoint to collect illegal fees from truck drivers or they will confiscate the goods. Our legal department told us we cannot sue the city or the department or the local government who has oversight of the police. But we can sue the police individually for abuse of legal authority. When we did, they suspended the police from the department but they reinstated him in another area.

    It is a test of will. And Benipayo as loyal to Ate Glue is running the scenario for her, let the police be the punching bag as they can do harrassment effectively for the government.

  22. Dodong — I was watching the rallies on tv, the cops are starting to use plainclothes goons to bring in the rally leaders. Since they don’t have nametags, they’d be difficult to complain against. It’s going to hard on the people in the streets.

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