The Kennel Club

Today’s papers have stories on how Cayetano’s slap on the wrist, say his peers, may not even take place, more news on Senate deliberations on the anti-terrorism bill:

Among the major amendments to the bill are the reduction (to three from 15 days) in the number of days a suspected terrorist can be detained without court warrant or formal charges, and the increase in the amount of compensation or damages (to P500,000 from P50,000) for each day of detention of persons wrongfully arrested and detained as a terrorist suspect.

Among the features of the measure are:

* When one is charged with terrorism and the case is dismissed, he can no longer be charged with similar cases under the anti-terrorism bill.

* Exclusion of military personnel from implementing or enforcing provisions of the bill.

* Suspension of implementation of the bill two months before and one month after any election.

The penalty for the crime of terrorism is 40 years imprisonment without parole. For an accomplice, the penalty is 17 to 20 years imprisonment, and 10 to 12 years for an accessory

(Bravo to Senators Roxas and Madrigal for voting against it).

Secretary Dureza blames The Manila Times for the hostage-taking incident in Sulu. Also, 27,935 jobs were lost in the first half of last year.

In election-related news, the efforts of Namfrel to be accredited, and the accreditation of the Anti Money Laundering Council, gets coverage. The latest survey gets coverage, underscoring the weakness of the Palace slate, as well as the ongoing shuffling and realignment of slates.

Jove Francisco, thank God, is back in his element reporting on the Palace Press Corps perpetual cat-and-mouse game with officials. He also makes some shrewd observations about the media savvy of some senatorial candidates (Angara is a pro; Zubiri is starting off with inept moves, etc. Sotto and Gomez are bowing out of their TV shows this weekend). He quotes a joke by a neighbor, which loosely translates into branding the administration’s “Team Unity” as nothing more than “The Kennel Club.” Ding, ding! I hjave a future column title!

And here’s a bogus story: Major party-list groups join Lakas. If you notice the list of party list parties and representatives in the story, they’ve all been pro-administration fixtures during the two impeachment efforts, and the Cayetano hearings. So this is not news, this is the announcement of a formailty.

In the punditocracy, my column for today is Tribute to Adel. Last night, together with Leah Navarro and Atty. Edwin Lacierda, I had the opportunity to sit down with Adel Tamano. He recounted the tremendous pressure he was under from both the administration and the opposition. When we were meeting, the deadline for giving the Palace an answer was ticking away. Ironically, I was informed this morning that my column renewed the efforts by the Palace (led by Paul Aquino and Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara) to draft him again. However he seems firm on declining to run for the senate, for either camp. He could easily have decided to run: despite his public positions and many writings on impeachment, criticizing EO 464, etc., he hasn’t received enough exposure to damn him in the eyes of the public if he accepted a Palace offer.

I asked him what his advocacy would be, just in case he ran, and he said human rights (he is for the repeal of the Marcos-era law on regulating protests), opportunities for young workers, peace in Mindanao, and education (H.O.P.E.) and is, of course, an expert on impeachment and a critic of recent efforts to create a unicameral parliament.

But personally, I was impressed by his decision to withstand pressure from the Palace and remain true to what he has publicly expressed. I hope he considers proposals from several quarters for him to be a spokesman for UNO.
Concerning the elections, the Philippine Star editorial criticizes efforts to draw the armed forces into the elections, while Joel Rocamora points out how both government officials and rebels are equal-opportunity political murderers.

Alex Magno says the economy is coming up roses, and to be sure, what we’ve seen is that the economy is basically divorced from what’s going on in politics. What’s debatable is how much credit the administration deserves for this situation. Magno says that,

In order to avert the possibility of an unduly heated political season, it is best to draw the diverse political groups into a truly patriotic project of making elections in this country predictable and boring. That will minimize the margin for political trauma and discontinuity, helping us maintain that “firewall” that keeps the sane economy protected from our insane politics.

Which is fine and dandy; but he knows as well as anyone that leadership requires legitimacy, and that legitimacy won’t be there unless all sides get to see that the 2007 elections are credible.

In the blogosphere, Manila Vanilla gives a foreign observer’s skeptical view of the campaign; Iloilo City Boy tries to digest all the news on the drafting and redrafting of slates.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

59 thoughts on “The Kennel Club

  1. It is sad that most people in the country do not take the time out to think and ponder. The Manila Times came out today on a piece about the the economy and the tag line, the “organ capital of the world.”
    Reuters also came out with an IMF qualifier on the economy.

    http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2007-02-07T230118Z_01_WAT006932_RTRIDST_0_IMF-PHILIPPINES-URGENT.XML

    http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/feb/08/yehey/opinion/20070208opi1.html

    Case in point for those interested.

    GMA purports to be an economist President. Dr. Manmohan Singh, the President of India is a practicing economist. He has published several technical papers. You will never hear him crow about his accomplishments.

    However let us look at the difference using the measures GMA uses to grade herself.

    India last year was granted investment grade status on her debt papers. The government of India both national and state are running a budget deficit of 7% of GDP. The Indian economy is growing at 9%. Together with China they are the new baby elephants in the world economy.

    Philippines is boasting that GMA’s policies of raising taxes and cutting expenditures has brought the budget deficit almost down to zero.

    The country has never been given investment grade status. That means we are considered speculative or junk.

    Obviously countries running balanced budgets though noteworthy are not entirely the only barometer. Japan has been running budget deficits of up to 10% of her domestic economy. (GDP) Both India and Japan can afford it. Both japan and the Philippines share a common trait. Both are heavily indebted countries. But the similarities end there. Japoan owes most of its debt to its own citizens. The Philippines owes most of its debt to outsiders.

    That is why you have to leave the country or sell your organs.

    But do not forget to keep the checks coming in after you leave.

    GMA has achieved something no other President has. The ratio of overseas full time employment has almost tripled the number of domestic regular full time employment.

    Emphasis on the words regular full time employment.

  2. The river of cash in the wrold.

    Asian Asset Bubbles Defy Higher Rates; Nations Try Other Tools
    By Shamim Adam
    Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Raising interest rates didn’t work.
    So now Asia’s central bankers and governments are trying curbs on bank lending, construction fees, even environmental regulations in an effort to combat asset bubbles that have made Seoul the world’s second-priciest city and Mumbai apartments cost as much as Manhattan’s.

    The measures aim to control lending and stem a gusher of money from overseas lured by the more than 25 Asian interest- rate increases last year. The risk is that the new measures, easily circumvented and effective only for limited duration, may work no better at deflating bubbles before they burst and prices tumble, potentially shaking global markets.
    “It doesn’t take a lot of capital inflows to create very bubbly positions, inflationary positions, financially destabilizing positions,” says Bill Belchere, Asian economist at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. Policy makers, he says, are “a bit confused about how to handle this.”
    Developing countries in Asia attracted $98 billion in overseas investment last year, according to United Nations statistics, about four times the average from 1998 to 2004. Investment in emerging markets in other regions declined last year, the UN figures show.
    No `Perfect’ Solution
    “There is too much money globally chasing meager returns, and the liquidity has found its way to asset markets,” says Arjuna Mahendran, chief Asia strategist at Credit Suisse Group in Singapore. “There is no perfect solution. If the flows aren’t absorbed, you’ll have a crisis at some stage.”
    A bust would be “highly disruptive to the Asian economies themselves, and also very unpleasant for investors who have been chasing returns in Asia,” says Donald Straszheim, vice chairman of Roth Capital Partners in Newport Beach, California.
    Not only did last year’s higher interest rates fail to curb overinvestment, they may even have helped draw in all that cash. The People’s Bank of China raised its benchmark rate twice last year; while higher rates kept consumer prices contained, they encouraged even more investment and growth by offering enhanced returns.
    China’s M2, the broadest measure of money supply, rose 16.9 percent to 34.6 trillion yuan ($4.46 trillion) in December, the highest since figures became available in June 1998. In Thailand, M2 in November reached a record 6.92 trillion baht ($197 billion).
    `Not Going Away’
    “The influx is not going away in the near future,” says Masahiro Kawai, dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo. “Raising interest rates won’t work, and they will just attract more money.”
    While South Korea’s central bank increased rates three times in 2006, Seoul’s real-estate boom has continued unabated, jeopardizing President Roh Moo Hyun’s pledge to make housing more affordable. That’s forcing the implementation of measures such as home-price caps, stricter borrower screening and curbs on the number of loans a person can take out. Central bank Governor Lee Seong Tae warns that household debt threatens the nation’s longest economic expansion in a decade.
    Reserve Bank of India on Jan. 31 raised its overnight rate for the fifth time in a year and said an explosion of credit remains “a matter of concern.” Governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy announced curbs on lending, telling banks to double provisions for real estate, personal loans, credit cards and loans against shares.
    China’s Investment Boom
    China’s rate increases last year failed to cool an investment boom that stoked the fastest growth since 1995. The central bank also increased the amounts banks have to set aside as reserves four times since June to discourage excessive lending. That helped slow money supply growth to 16.9 percent in December from 19.2 percent in January 2006.
    Even so, urban real estate prices in China rose faster. Prices for apartments and offices in 70 cities increased 5.4 percent in December from a year earlier, after a 5.2 percent gain in November, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
    Central bank Deputy Governor Wu Xiaoling said Jan. 25 in Davos, Switzerland, that China will tighten environmental controls to rein in overinvestment. Such measures “would only slow growth marginally,” says David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics in Singapore.
    “Short of establishing currency controls like we’ve seen in Thailand, I don’t think measures to reduce property prices across the region will have much of an impact,” says Eugene Kim, chief investment officer of Tribridge Investment Partners Ltd. in Hong Kong, a hedge fund managing about $100 million. “The wealth out there needs to go somewhere.”
    Hot Money
    Thailand’s measures to ward off “hot money” included seeking cooperation from banks to curb baht loans to foreign investors and the sale of bonds in repurchase agreements. The baht kept rising, reaching a nine-year high on Dec. 18. Then the central bank slapped penalties on early withdrawals by investors in Thai assets.
    “We’ve done conventional intervention and nothing worked,” Bank of Thailand governor Tarisa Watanagase said in a Jan. 15 interview. “It was important and necessary for us to put a brake on the sentiment, to create some uncertainty.”
    Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea have reason to be suspicious of conventional methods. At the behest of the International Monetary Fund, their central banks raised interest rates during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis to halt an attack on their currencies and stop a flight of funds. The higher rates hurt businesses and put a crimp in spending, plunging the economies into recession.
    Reinforcements
    Economists say central banks’ tinkering won’t work unless governments in the region reinforce those actions by opening up their economies. Allowing Asian currencies to continue appreciating will limit inflows and deter speculators, they say.
    “At some point, when a currency appreciates to a strong level, people will ask, `Are Asian assets still attractive?”’ says Sim Moh Siong, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Singapore. That will lead to more balanced investments, without the need for capital controls or other central-bank actions, Sim says.
    Asian governments might also do more to encourage companies and individuals in their countries to invest more overseas, economists say.
    Thailand and South Korea have already moved to relax controls on money moving abroad. South Korea suspended taxes on gains from overseas fund investments and let businesses and individuals buy more offshore property, while Thailand raised the ceiling for overseas investments for companies and individuals.
    “Asian governments must liberalize their economies to allow consumers and investors to do their thing,” says Macquarie’s Belchere. “Because governments aren’t doing that, it pushes central banks into a corner. They have to do something to absorb all that liquidity, all those inflows, or they risk a massive inflationary breakout.”
    Malaysia Draws a Line to Curb Ringgit, Says Goldman (Update1)
    By Jake Lee and David Yong
    Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Malaysia’s central bank will sell the ringgit to prevent the currency rising past 3.5 per dollar for the next three months, drawing “a line in the sand” to protect exporters’ earnings, said Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
    Bank Negara Malaysia wants to avoid imposing the kind of capital controls that have caused foreign investors to shun Thailand, said Adam Le Mesurier, an economist at Goldman in Singapore. The central bank, which has allowed the ringgit to gain 7.8 percent since ending a fixed exchange rate in 2005, declined to comment.
    “The immediate neighbors of Thailand are hyper-sensitive to sending negative signals to foreign investors,” Le Mesurier said in an interview. Instead, the central bank has “drawn a line in the sand and hopes the market takes the hint.”
    The ringgit has risen 0.9 percent this year, the second- best performer of 15 Asia-Pacific currencies, after foreign investment led an acceleration in economic growth and lifted the benchmark stock index to the highest in a decade. The ringgit’s rally has stalled at 3.5 for the past 12 days and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Jan. 27 currency swings threaten to hurt profit at exporters.
    The ringgit closed at 3.4995 per dollar on Feb. 2. Goldman forecasts the currency will strengthen to 3.45 in 12 months after remaining little changed for three months, Le Mesurier and fellow economist Mark Tan wrote in a report published Feb. 2.
    “Every day they’re buying dollars at 3.5 and increasingly in larger amounts,” Le Mesurier said in an interview the same day. “Their primary issue is to control the pace of gains as they’re starting to think it’s getting out of control.”
    Currency Sales
    Malaysia defended the ringgit from appreciating in 2004 by soaking up speculative foreign capital inflows, the central bank wrote in an annual report published March 2005. “While these operations entail cost, the returns from the management of the reserves have exceeded these costs,” Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz wrote. She is due to speak today at 4 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur.
    Malaysia’s foreign-exchange reserves rose 17 percent to $82.7 billion on Jan. 15 from the end of 2005, the highest since the Asian crisis.
    Malaysia introduced the ringgit peg at 3.8 per dollar in September 1998 after currencies across Asia collapsed, causing banks to default on their overseas debts. Then Premier Mahathir Mohamad attacked hedge funds for their role, describing investor George Soros as a “moron.”
    Mahathir’s successor Abdullah ended the seven-year peg on July 21, 2005, and wants to attract overseas investors to support growth. The economy will probably expand 6 percent in 2007, the Malaysian National News Agency cited Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop as saying. It grew about 5.8 percent last year, the agency said.
    Foreign Investment
    Nor said Dec. 19 the government won’t follow Thailand in restricting foreign investors. Thailand imposed penalties for withdrawing funds invested within a year and capped foreigners’ stakes in Thai companies, causing global bond funds to shun its market and prompting multinationals including Ford Motor Co. to reconsider expansion.
    “Prime Minister Abdullah has been very professional in his dealing with local and foreign investors,” said Arjuna Mahendran, a Singapore-based strategist at Credit Suisse in Singapore. “I certainly wouldn’t want to see in Malaysia what Thailand did.”
    He says the currency may remain around 3.50 for the next three months.
    `Still Competitive’
    An improving growth outlook in Malaysia will persuade the central bank to allow gains, said Emmanuel Ng, a currency strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. He predicts the currency will rise to 3.45 by the end of the year.
    So far the gains in the currency haven’t slowed exports. Malaysia’s overseas goods grew 17.5 percent in the year to November, the fastest pace in two years, a trade ministry report showed Jan. 5. Intel Corp. and Dell Inc. use Malaysia to produce semiconductors and notebook computers respectively.
    Shipments of electronics and electrical goods rose 7 percent to 256 billion ringgit in the January-to-November period last year, accounting for 48 percent of all exports, the ministry said. A stronger ringgit makes exports more expensive abroad.
    “So far, a stronger ringgit hasn’t been a problem because our members have been able to step up productivity,” said Wong Siew Hai, Chairman of the Malaysian American Electronics Industry group. Most Asian currencies have also appreciated so “we are still competitive out there,” he said.
    Growth Outlook
    The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 1.7 percent on Feb. 2 to 1209.48, the highest since March 28, 1997. Credit Suisse Group reiterated its “overweight” call on the market, citing increased confidence in the government and the prospect of higher earnings.
    Thailand isn’t alone in stepping up measures to stem currency gains. South Korea Jan. 15 eased restrictions on individuals and companies to allow them to invest more outside the country to boost outflows. The South Korean won fell 1.2 percent in January, its worst monthly performance since June 2005.
    A weakening dollar may also push the ringgit higher, said Mohamed Ariff Kareem, Executive Director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research in Kuala Lumpur, a think tank partially funded by the government.
    “The central bank’s capacity to control the situation is not limitless,” said Mohamed, in an interview on Feb. 2. “More funds are now flowing this way.”

  3. Hello to everyone,

    Been quite a while since my last visit..

    I read the PDI article about Adel Tamano.

    Adel who happened to be a high school batchmate at LSGH (Batch 88)

    So pardon me MLQ if I use your blog space for a message for Adel.

    Adel,
    I am Karl Garcia,of LSGH batch 88 I read the article of MQ3 in tribute to you and I agree that you could represent our muslim brothers in the senate..sayang medyo naipit ka..

    sa batch lang natin hati na sa admin at sa opposition..wuth Cong. Albert Garcia an active member of the lakas party…and on the other side we haveforner Q.C. councilor Bong Suntay who is supportibg the opposition…

    And Neal Tupas JR. also belongs to our batch…

    Adel,
    Join our colorful batch 88 yahoo group by visting:
    [email protected]

    Sorry MLQ..minsan na nga lang ako dumalaw nag post pa ako ng private message..

    On another note…

    HVRDS..I missed your long encyclopedic comments,nice to see them again.

  4. I am back alright…back witrh my typos…

    With wha’ts going on with Mike a and Allan Cayetano..I would not be surprised if Allan wins a senate seat..any publicity bad or good is still publicity and it works well during elections.

    But for what it is worth… it is about time some one face the big guy head on..di ko naman masabing nakiki ride lang sa senate elections dahil consistent naman sya..for the last year and a half or so….pero kahit na..some one must have the balls to face the fatman and that some one is Allan…

  5. Hi Karl, good to hear from you again! On a personal note, it’s heartening to know that Adel is a fellow La Sallite. It reflects well on our alma mater.

  6. On our so called rosy economy….

    T bills rate down,dollars lowest in six years.. ..so what!

    Our banking sector does not lend to SMES, if it does..why do we have to resort to MICRO lending..sure they have lots of NPLs mking their balance sheets mesy.. but those loans were to the landed or rich fellows with assets.

    Low interest rates are useless if the lending instututions is not interested.

    The increase in our Stock index was highlighted…but that was due to the influx of foreign capital and capital fro our desperate kababayans..

    Our taxes are really taxing..if you are a religious taxpayer lalo ka pang pahihirapan sa hirap ng processo..

    E ano pa nga bang nabago sa ating Pilipinas..another law passed..another one to add to our judiciary backlog…

    ang dami nating batas,dami naman nating kaso an nakatiwangwang..

    That’s all for now….

  7. there is a firewall between economics and politics? Magno wishes it were so. Unfortunately, every political candidate anywhere in this planet always promises a better economic future to the electorate.

  8. MB,

    True, “every political candidate anywhere in this planet always promises a better economic future to the electorate” except for Gloria who makes it her personal promise and by extension, government policy to export Filipino labor because there are no jobs in the country.

    Neither Bush, Blair, Chirac, Merkel, Prodi, nor any self-respecting or decent politician would ever mouth Gloria’s extraordinary economic-labor policy, “My target is to export 1 million Filipino modern slaves a year, never mind the destination, never mind what happens to the family unit in Pinas because the bottom line is my government of thieves, cheats and liars cannot provide them with jobs back home.”

    Anywhere in the world, that kind of policy would bring a government down, dead, kaput, mort.

  9. Short of tens of thousands of FOREIGN election observers (damn!!! why does it have to be foreign…) plus a FOREIGN tallying firm counting the votes, I do not think anything can happen between now and May2007 which will change how cvj, rego, and the various Filipino subgroups will view the legitimacy of the 2007 elections, no matter the results. This leads me to opine that sustained effort should be put into the 2010 elections (and/or… the next con-con).

  10. “But for what it is worth… it is about time some one face the big guy head on..di ko naman masabing nakiki ride lang sa senate elections dahil consistent naman sya..for the last year and a half or so….pero kahit na..some one must have the balls to face the fatman and that some one is Allan… “- Karl Garcia on February 8th, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    To me (and even most people in our yahoo group), Allan has it from the very begining. He and Chiz wanted to be senators from the very begining. They both use the Garci Scandal and all other issues they can come up with to be very visible in the media. All in the name of name recall. Are they really serious on going after the Arroyos? I dont think so. Bacause if they are really serious something must have been accomplished already.

    In terms of making things happen. I would still give to the Spice Boys, (Mike Defensor, Miguel Zubiri, Nonoy Andaya and Ace Barbers) for being able to bring Erap to the impeachment court.

    In terms of Loyalty and principle orientation, I would still give it again to Spice Boys for sticking it out with Gloria to the very end even risking their own political careers. It would have been easier for them to join the bandwagon of Gloria haters to further their chances of being a senator. So unlike Allan Peter who easily jumped to the the other side when he saw an opportunity never. Mind if he ran and USED the Aroyos to be able to get elected in the last election. And what happened to all his crusade against the Arroyos?. Did the nation benefitted from it? Nothing, nada, zilch! To me he has not acomplished anything for the nation. All he has accomplished was for himself alone. Being able to get elected to the senate through the media that he used shrewdly. He has a trapo written all over in his face and body.

    And what good can we get by having a brother and a sister in the senate, a father and son, a half brothers, a nephew and aunt?

    And then we have two coup plotters ( oh sige let launch a coup para sumikat) several movie actors and political parties who distributed their candidates on both sides?

    The senate election is nothing but garapalan, lokohan… so I will never ever allow myself to be a part of it. Kayo na lang dyan.

  11. Mlq3,

    Adel emphasized on the need for “Moro representatives in the highest sectors of government, articulating Muslim concerns and interests”.

    Should’nt Adel be given a space in mainstream media by way of a regular column in The Inquirer to “articulate Muslim concerns and interests”? I read “Crisscrossing Mindanao” with heart-felt interest and wish that more views be shared by Muslims and Minadanaoans. I listened to a lengthy interview of Santanina Razul by Teddy Boy Locsin, Batasan resident-intellectual, whose ‘knowledge gap’ on Muslim affairs was apparent. Santanina kept correcting Teddy’s assumptions and facts.

    Was there ever a proposal for an equitable sharing of power among Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao that was seriously taken up at the national level? Was there any serious commitment by a national political leader to correct the terrible imbalance?

    Was there ever a President from Mindanao? Manuel Pelaez was VP.

    If we have to nationally elect a President of the Phiilippines from Mindanao now can MLQ3 or anyone please name atleast 3 candidates?

  12. jm… The Office of the President is not intended for weather-weather… “… you’ve had your turn, now it’s our turn”. [At least, this is so in the current version of the Constitution.]
    The objective is not to elect a president from mindanao, the objective is to elect a president for luz-vi-minda. The objective is — if the candidate that gathers the most votes for president is from mindanao, then that person should, without any hindrances, take over the Office of the President.

  13. The Constitution’s statements on how a Mindanawan can be President are the same statements as to how a Bicolano can be President, namely:
    Section 2. No person may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election.

    Section 4. The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote of the people for a term of six years….
    A Filipino, born in Hongkong or Hawaii, Copenhagen or London, Haifa or Bur Dubai, cannot be president of the Philippines, no matter how qualified that person can be to lead the country. Saudi Arabia can not anoint who is to be President of the Philippines. [Unless there is a coup and/or a different constitution.]

  14. Before the romance gets too involved, some numbers need airing.

    And these are all Year 2000 numbers so one needs to make some proper extrapolation to arrive at current figures.

    Almost 25% of Filipinos live in Mindanao. That translates to over 18 million people. Of that number about 15% live in the autonomous areas (ARMM) where Muslims are concentrated. This translates to over 2.4 million people. Of that number only 90% are Muslim.
    Thus, even from the narrow perspectives of Mindanao, couldn’t one say that the Muslims are still a decidedly small minority?

    But who champions the causes of the 85% of Mindanaoans? Hopefully, Nene Pimentel and hopeful soon-to-be peer, son Koko, can raise its banners. Is former VP Guingona interested in any senatorial slate position?

  15. is cayetano a lawyer? shame…he should have been expelled outright!

    i can accuse anyone then ask a waiver from him…that’s good lawyering!

  16. To me (and even most people in our yahoo group), Allan has it from the very begining. He and Chiz wanted to be senators from the very begining. They both use the Garci Scandal and all other issues they can come up with to be very visible in the media. All in the name of name recall. – Rego

    We do not (or at least should not) condemn businessmen for trying to make money as long as they don’t do it through underhanded means. So why are you condemning Chiz and Alan for highlighting the Garci scandal, an issue that clearly should be highlighted?

    Are they really serious on going after the Arroyos? I dont think so. Bacause if they are really serious something must have been accomplished already. – Rego

    Seriousness of purpose does not automatically mean success. They can be serious, but results are dependent on factors beyond their control such as the herd like behavior of their fellow congressmen and the apathy certain members of the public.

    In terms of Loyalty and principle orientation, I would still give it again to Spice Boys for sticking it out with Gloria to the very end even risking their own political careers.

    Valuing loyalty to a person instead to a principle just propagates a Mafia-like culture. In order to fight corruption and dishonesty, we should instead encourage a culture that protects whistleblowers.

    On Alex Magno’s firewall between economics and politics. It only appears that way because we are unable to perceive missed opportunities.

  17. Rego,

    Hello spice boy.
    Wala akong babawiin sa sinabi ko..I might even compare Allan’s crusade and compare it to Lacson’s..sabihin na natin na from the very beginning senado ang habol nya…karapatan na nya yon libre lang mangarap pero bilyones ang kailangan para manalo…that is the nature of the beast…pero balik tayo ke Lacson..nabitin ako sa Jose Pidal case ni Lacson… nang olats na..no comment na sa mga ibang issue.

    Now to your spice boys..anong magandang nagawa ni Mike Defensor sa housing at sa DENR…???
    Sure he is the loudspeaker of the administartion but hanggang dun lang..

    Nonoy Andaya…no problem with him
    Napakahirap asikasuhin ng budget..my friend once worked years behind the scenes with him..You might not know him ..the SEC commission sectretary Gerard Lukban

    Migs Zubiri….cool!
    I like his biofuel initiative..wag lang nya palabasin na yan na ng magsosolve ng lahat mg problema natin…bola na yan..

    You may be surprsided with my comment…I think neither UNO or Unity will sweep the senate race if they really base it according to track record…

    pero we all know not all the best people win elections.

  18. We do not (or at least should not) condemn businessmen for trying to make money as long as they don’t do it through underhanded means. So why are you condemning Chiz and Alan for highlighting the Garci scandal, an issue that clearly should be highlighted?—-CVJ

    It is condemable because they did not drive this issue to closure. Hindi mo rin lang naman pal kayang is close ang issue eh di wag ng buksan. Pinagulo mo lang nag buong bansa at aalis ka na lang sa position mo ng wla rin namang nangyari.

    Alan indeed engaged himself face to face with Mike Aroyo. Pero anong nagyari. It was an empty face to face. wlang nangyari Hindi napatunayan kulang sa ebidensya. At ano ang napala ng bansa. Kung san napakulong nya si Mike Aroyo. Then bibilib ako sa kanya.

    Eto ang nagyayari sa bansa ngayon. Labas tayo ng labas ng issue pero wlang nasasara. Uulitin ko kung di mo rin lang naman pala kayang idrive to proper closure yung issue na hihighlight mo eh di wag na lang.

    The Spice boys were in the opposition before. They did not even hold an important position like Chiz when they move to impeach Erap. But they were able to drive it to closure that resulted to the impeachment of erap and subsequently resulted to his removal from office.

    Ang ginawa ni Chiz at Alan nila ay puro dakdak at press release lang. Pero kung tanungin natin ang ating mga sarili kung may nangrayi ba sa mga pinadadakdak nila. Ang sagot: WALA, NADA, ZILCH!

    Ang BTW meron nag post earlier about Chiz and Sorsogon. Lagi akong napapadaan sa Sorsogon papuntang Masbate. Kawaawa ang probinsyan eto….

  19. “Valuing loyalty to a person instead to a principle just propagates a Mafia-like culture. In order to fight corruption and dishonesty, we should instead encourage a culture that protects whistleblowers.”

    Loyalty to a person or principle is a very imortant value. Because loyalty is the foundation of trust. Go and do some background check from the very start of his career. Can we really trust and rely Alan that she will indeed go against anybody who is corrupt as the Aroyos? I dont think so. The mere fact that he is ignoring the political dynasy issue against him is a a very bad indication of how he is going to be.

    Sabi nga ni hvdrs watch for this guy Alan. I woudl say WATCH OUT FOR HIM!

    Pagusapan natin is Alan one or two or 5 years from now and I bet my ass CVJ, kung gaano ka bitter ngayon kay Gloria ganyang ganyan ka ka rin kay Alan later on. 100% sure ako dyan.

  20. Karl,

    All I was comparing the Spice boys and the Smart boys based their impeachment efforts. Kasi yun ang common na ginawa ng mga younger politician na eto.

    I agree , Mike performance in DENR is not acceptable. That is why I dont want to vote for him. He is not made for the senate yet. I already said this in the previous thread.

    As matter of fact I have decided to never to vote anybody in the senate.Its apersonal protest!

    BTW, if Migs Zubiri has biofeul initiative what do Chiz and Alan have?

  21. “In terms of making things happen. I would still give to the Spice Boys, (Mike Defensor, Miguel Zubiri, Nonoy Andaya and Ace Barbers) for being able to bring Erap to the impeachment court.”

    no rego, i’d give more credit to erap for having the balls and the willingness to face the music; hence the reason why congress then quickly voted to impeach him. wish it were true for pgma–spice boys or none–skirting the issue.

  22. rego, di ko ma gets ang punto de vista na kung di ka naman magtatagumpay, eh de wag na lang subukan. kung ganun ang mentalidad natin eh de dapat kolonya pa tayo ng espana o kaya bahagi ng america katulad ng puerto rico.

  23. Why almost no one in the Philippines understand the power of local governments when it comes to basic economic realities as simple as currencies.

    You do not need the central government. Forget micro finance. To governors and mayors, push your businessman to create their own currencies. You do not need the bankers. You do not need the BSP. The government has already repealed the uniform currency law. Destroy the beast with their banker friends.
    Destroy that fraud Alex Magno who mouths libertarian dogma but collects his stipend as a director in a state owned development bank, a heresy of his stated principles and beliefs. He is a liar and a hypocrite. A perfect example of carpetbagging at the highest level.

    February 9, 2007
    In the Land of the Euro, Small Towns Adopt Alternative Currencies
    By CARTER DOUGHERTY (NY Times)

    ROSENHEIM, Germany — Christian Gelleri, with his straightforward manner of speech, rumpled suit and home office, hardly resembles the polished central bankers whose every breath captivates financial markets. But just as Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, lays claim to the title “Mr. Euro,” Mr. Gelleri can plausibly call himself “Mr. Chiemgauer.”

    Mr. Gelleri runs an organization that issues an alternative currency, known as the chiemgauer, that consumers in the region southeast of Munich use to buy products as diverse as pizza, haircuts and rugs. Aimed at fostering the production and consumption of local products and services, the chiemgauer challenges the central banking orthodoxy that pumping more cash into an economy accelerates inflation and eventually harms growth.

    “When people use the chiemgauer, the apple juice producer sells more bottles and the cheese maker sells more cheese,” Mr. Gelleri said. “In theory, this is not supposed to happen, but the fact is it does.”

    While more than 300 million people in Europe use the euro to buy life’s essentials, a small but growing number concentrated in the German-speaking world use a proliferation of currencies with names like chiemgauer, urstromtaler, landmark, kirschblüte and kann was.

    Issued by private organizations, these currencies are probably better understood as vouchers — pieces of paper that can be redeemed for goods and services at regional businesses that have agreed to accept them.

    Charitable organizations sell the currencies for euros, at a profit, creating an incentive for people to obtain them. That, added to the desire to buy locally in an era of globalization, gives businesses that accept them a new vein of customers.

    But they also typically include a feature aimed at jarring users into spending them. In the case of the chiemgauer, the notes lose 2 percent of their value each quarter unless spent.

    Regiogeld, a German association for alternative currencies, tracks 21 such types of money in circulation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with an additional 31 in preparation. Gerhard Rösl, an economist with the University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg, Germany, has also located similar experiments in Denmark, Italy, Scotland, Spain and Italy.

    According to the Bundesbank, the German central bank, these alternative currencies are legal, provided they do not resemble the euro. But they are not legal tender like the euro and are unlikely to challenge the official currency shared by 13 European nations.

    Mr. Rösl recently published a paper estimating the value of the currencies in Germany at 200,000 euros, or $260,000, a drop compared to the trillions of euros in circulation.

    The currencies are inspired by a German theoretician, Silvio Gesell, a socialist activist who died in 1930. He argued that money that sat in a bank was like dead weight on an economy, because it was accruing interest rather than being spent to fire consumption and production. Mr. Gesell proposed that money automatically depreciate over time — essentially hard-wiring inflation into the currency to generate an incentive to spend quickly.

    The chiemgauer, named after the region around Rosenheim when it was created in 2003, follows this thinking.

    To obtain chiemgauers, the roughly 1,000 users register with Mr. Gelleri’s organization and get what resembles an ordinary bank card. At about 40 sites around the region, they can draw chiemgauers at the rate of one per euro, and spend them at roughly 1,000 businesses.

    The currency’s structure nurtures a psychology of spending to increase what economists call the “velocity of money.” That way, even though the total amount of money in circulation may not rise because euros get swapped for chiemgauers, the economic activity generated rises.

    Alfred Licht owns a small family rug-weaving business in Rosenheim, and estimates he has accepted 8,000 to 10,000 chiemgauers over the last two years. He began accepting them as a way to lure customers who are interested in regional products. He spends them on medication, shoes and the occasional beer in a local tavern.

    “I could hardly tell you how many I take in because I pass them on as fast as I can,” Mr. Licht said.

    Mr. Gelleri, a 33-year-old former economics teacher, contends that the statistics bear out the anecdotes. While the euro money supply turns over about seven times a year, the supply of chiemgauers turns over at three times that rate.

    Orthodox economists do not dispute that the chiemgauer’s velocity outstrips the euro’s, but they contend that people will logically draw fewer chiemgauers to protect themselves against the automatic devaluation.

    “Yes, people spend the money more quickly,” Mr. Rösl said. “But this money is expensive, because it loses value, so people are bound to hold less of it than they would otherwise.”

    But Jürgen Wemhöner, a retired retail manager who estimates he spends several hundred chiemgauers a month, said the currency’s appeal was that it supported the locals who accepted it. That seems to matter very much to people in Rosenheim.

    “This currency gives small villages and regions a chance to survive,” Mr. Wemhöner said.

  24. A “‘firewall’ that keeps the sane economy protected from our insane politics”? Wow!

    Alex Magno is either naïve or a bogus. How can one who styles himself as some highbrow political adviser dare to insinuate publicly that the government be severed from the national economy?

    Isn’t the chief business of politicians to secure the resources for the subsistence of all the inhabitants of a society, or otherwise to provide subsistence for the people and produce revenue for the state. As early as 16th century that business was called political economy. It still is now. So, what is this firewall between the economy and politics Magno is talking about?

    The last time this same newspeak has been plied was during the 2005 SONA where GMA claimed the economy as “poised to take off” but for partisan politicking (excluding hers, of course, she being supposedly a “US-schooled economist” and therefore Filipinos should give her full credit for half of her being.) At that time I called it as “deceitful hairsplitting” (of the political economy of GMA). Alex Magno is at it again coming from a reverse angle this time but instead of a fissure he calls the split a firewall. Smart but crude.

    In 2005, the call for GMA’s resignation was mounting, hence the brandishing of her so-called economic credentials to fend off the beatings on her political half that was on the red because of the unfortunate Garci tapes political mishap. Now, an administration debacle is looming in the May 2007 elections, which most certainly will expose anew GMA’s political vulnerability on the same Garci-scandal driven legitimacy question. Is it still too hard to see why the economic messiah complex is being unabashedly spun again?

    Sans the agitprop, the economic truth of the matter is that the pursuit of an annually balanced budget could be contractionary because the imposition of more taxes and reduction of government expenditures dampen down rather than stimulate aggregate demand. Balance budget does not mean a balance economy, which many economists believe exists when there is a non-inflationary full employment.

    The claim of a strengthening economy notwithstanding, where the elites get wealthier and the poor get even poorer while the there’s a clear and present danger of the middle becoming an endangered specie, what that amounts to is simply an economy that is both imbalance and insane. And the much bruited fiscal discipline launched to please rating agencies rather than address the immoral plight of the mass of the Filipino people is nothing but “organic economy.”

    It seems that hvrds has an interesting definition of organic economy: it is the export in whole or in part of Filipinos. That is, you either leave the country as OFW or sell your organs (and if the organs survive rejection, they may be deemed to attain inchoate citizenship in another clime minus the need for a visa to Disneyland.)

  25. Hindi mo rin lang naman pal kayang is close ang issue eh di wag ng buksan. – Rego

    From your comments a few months back, I thought you were pro-impeachment? Now it seems that you think we have already crossed an [artificial] deadline on this issue even without the third impeachment getting started.

    Eto ang nagyayari sa bansa ngayon. Labas tayo ng labas ng issue pero wlang nasasara.

    Arroyo’s cheating and the first couple’s corruption are *not* victimless crimes. These issues have to be brought for the sake of its victims. The reason why there is no closure is not because of the Opposition. It is because of the apathetic sector who prefer to look the other way and ‘move on’ thereby making themselves complicit with this administration’s sins.

    Loyalty to a person or principle is a very imortant value. Loyalty to a person or principle is a very imortant value. Because loyalty is the foundation of trust.

    Just to make it extra clear. I do *not* have any issue with loyalty to a principle so in this matter, we are on the same side. However, in terms of loyalty to a person, a time comes when a person has to choose between this and his principles. Anyway, it is Gloria who betrayed our trust. Remember the ideals of EDSA Dos? (I’m referring to the above-ground mass actions, not the backroom conspiracy.)

    Kung sana napakulong nya si Mike Aroyo. Then bibilib ako sa kanya.

    Which means that your support for Alan is contingent on him winning? Isn’t that the essence of the balimbing mentality? Do you think ok lang maging balimbing? I thought you valued loyalty?

  26. Rego….

    Tulad ng sinabi ko nabitin ako ke senator lacson nung tinigil nya ang Jose pidal nung mamatay ang issue…

    I am for follow thrus and consistency…

    pero as MLQ3 won’t get it..pag di mo kaya wag subukan..

    ano yon.?.mas masama pa yun sa urong sulong sa simula pa lang atras na dahil walang mahyayari?

    bilib na sana ako Rego pero ..dehins pala dapat.

    Spiceboy…loyalty… consistency??what about Ace barbers?

    With all due respect to my upperclassman in LSGH ? What has done to show consistency,loyalty and principles with the moves he made for the past months?

    I stick to my guns to the two spice bys Andaya and Zubiri..but Defensor and Barbers..thumbs down..

    may isa pa akong di magets..si Jacinto Paras…nawala lang ang oras ko sa ANC..iba na ang ihip ng hangin..

    ano na naman ang drama nya ngayon..paki update naman ako oh

  27. Rego says :
    Hindi mo rin lang naman pala kayang is close ang issue eh di wag ng buksan.

    Another thought to ponder… there are people who view at the stuff Alan C raised as not holding up in court, and AlanC is proving them right.
    Wasn’t Senator Lacson also accused of money-laundering or similar?

  28. Alan C unable to prove his case against The Fat Guy truly is frustrating and is a stark reminder of how weak the Philippine institutions are. Before people say that GMA stacked the halls of congress with people in her favor, it remains the case that people voted for those people in congress, in the same manner that the marches that cvj and many others joined put GMA in power, and the vote that cvj and others cast also put GMA in Malacanang.
    /.. The “good” part is that some people want the way things stand (i.e. GMA at the helm) but even they can only observe the weakness of institutions with an AlanC (and the resources available to him) unable to prove his point against the FG. Then it is understandable to expect the comments “… baka wala naman palang ibubuga…. para pogi-points lang pala.”

  29. Before people say that GMA stacked the halls of congress with people in her favor, it remains the case that people voted for those people in congress, in the same manner that the marches that cvj and many others joined put GMA in power, and the vote that cvj and others cast also put GMA in Malacanang.

    UPn Student, if you’re description above represented the complete picture, then your point would be valid. As it is, your account is at best, a half truth. You still have the reality of Hello Garci to contend with. I wonder why you keep missing out this detail? If we are looking for an example of how our politicians weaken our institutions, we don’t have to look any further than this.

    As for the FG, he is one more example of Gloria Arroyo’s broken promises. So far, he has been behaving more like an Al Capone than a Mr Thatcher. That’s why the people are on Alan Cayetano’s side.

  30. The Philippines has incidents that fall short of its goals — AlanC claims not holding up (though he’ll probably make it to the Senate).
    The Philippines has incidents which overshoots its goals — Hello Garci surprise, though she’ll likely make it to 2010.
    /… AND cvj… you have to look farther than the biggest issue that drives you berserk, along with minding your economics.
    /… One of my digs against People-Power is that it — people-power — delivers a Pandora’s box of goodies. It may lull the cvj’s that progress has been done — Erap is gone and GMA is a leader worthy of a vote-for-reelection — only to be surprised by Garci and the possibility of “being had”. In the meanwhile, the institutions (Comelec, Congress, the courts) remain weak as people are unable to focus on the important because they are distracted by the urgencies of… well, pain.
    Check out DJB’s Thursday, February 08, 2007 Commentary “A Man With Two Watches Doesn’t Know The Time”.

  31. GMA making a telephone call is NOT the issue as much as whether or not GMA won the last elections. A fully-functioning and robust COMELEC would have been satisfactory to everybody. The very important — strong institutions — really are very important.

  32. UPn Student, by ‘look farther‘, i take it that you mean ‘look the other way‘, right? Now, why would i want to do that? FThat would not be fair to those who had been cheated. Besides, i focus on the Garci issue in large part precisely because i’m minding my economics. The key to sustained economic development lies in the build-up of social capital and the quality of our institutions, not in the opinions of the international rating agencies. It is much harder to build up social capital if one segment of the population (the middle class) supports an occupant of Malacanang who is a known cheater.

    As to the pandora’s box of goodies, why blame people power and not the apathy that follows? The latter is what allows our public officials to get away with betraying their mandate. In any democracy, a healthy public sphere is needed to complement and, in our context, discipline the State.

    As to DJB’s commentary (“A Man With Two Watches…), i’d be a fool to rely on a defective watch, which is what the Comelec can be compared to in its present condition.

  33. I did not say “look the other way”… by “look farther”, I am saying to NOT be fixated on one item only.
    “Pandora’s box” is my admonition that this world does not follow your expectations. Chaos is. My admonition is that that the lambinos and cvj’s don’t have the sum-power of ability to predict what totally happens after they unleash what they unleash, or even (it so seems) to know what is happening as it is happening. To repeat… were you had? Also to remember, there are many who say that your actions to push out Erap was a betrayal of a lot of voters.
    And if what happens is not what you anticipated, then while can feel no mea culpas about what was not your intent, maybe you should not be too quick to be Pontius Pilate, either.
    DJB said what DJB said… but I will add that there is foolishness (and irresponsibility) in not putting effort to fix the watch.

  34. UPn Student, same difference. As you point out, i was had, so it would be foolish to pretend that nothing happened. However, i don’t think fixated on one item only is an accurate characterization. I vaguely remember commenting on other issues besides this one. (Just the other day, weren’t we discussing Mindanao?)

    Once again, you have equated People Power with Pandora’s Box. What i don’t understand is why you fear People Power more than War in Mindanao (which you seem to have no problems endorsing). In the hierarchy of chaos inducing events, i believe that we should fear war the most. Next in the hierarchy are the backroom conspiracies against the people (like Hello Garci) because these weaken our institutions and degrade social capital. Compared to these two, People Power (EDSA, EDSA Dos & EDSA Tres), which is a peaceful demonstration by ordinary citizens, ranks a distant third. I think the conceptual mistake lies in equating people power with anarchy. (And what’s with the reference to Pontius Pilate?)

    (On fixing the watch, I have no disagreements with DJB’s recommendation to fixing the Comelec except that 3 months is too short a time to implement ‘software’. For now, we need independent watchdogs to monitor election results.)

  35. Now, now medyo mali yata na sabihing fixated si CVJ sa sole issue of Garci…

    now look who is not looking farther than this comment thread…

  36. Karl,

    Isa pa yang si Lacson. Nag higlight din ng pagkadadami issue. Pero Ano ang nangyari. Na elect na sa senado wala pa rin.

    That just mean to me that there is something wrong with his and Alan and Chiz brand of leadership.

    BTW Karl, I have no intention na pabawiin sayo ang mga sinabi mo. Im just expressing my own and personal opinion which happens to be different to yours. Ganyan lang naman dito dapat di ba? Now sino ang may magandang opinion? Only time will tell.

  37. Manolo,

    Simple lang po ang ibig kung iparating.

    If you initiate to highlight an issue. Own it! And be resposible to substabtiate it and drive it to closure. That way you dont waste anybody’s time.

    Now as to your reference to Spanish time, the fact that we are now free from Spaniards only means that those e people who highlighted the issue against teh Spaniards are very resposible enough to drive it to closure. Even the sacrfice their own live and face death. Thats how serious, passionate, reponsible they are with regards to the issue that they highlighted.

    Compare that to the current whistle blowers kuno na sabi ni CVJ. Their whistle sound like a trumphets. Soooooooooo faaaaakkkkeee!!!!!Its a trumphet of vested interests and personal gains. No wonder it failed to mobilize the people…..

  38. BTW Karl, isa nakakbitin din etong si Loren. Dakdak ng dak na daya sya ni Noli. Nagpunta sa proper forum which pet. Tapos biglang tinigil par kumadidato. Tapso balik dadak uli na may roon daw talaga silang fake na CoC.. Hellooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

  39. Now as to your reference to Spanish time, the fact that we are now free from Spaniards only means that those e people who highlighted the issue against teh Spaniards are very resposible enough to drive it to closure – Rego

    By that line of reasoning, you would have a different answer depending on the outcome. To interpret the revolutionaries’ sense of responsibility or lack thereof based on whether the Spaniards were thrown out or not is to neglect the other factors that may influence success or failure. One part of being a hero is the willingness to start taking action despite overwhelming odds. Your interpretation above does not allow for this aspect.

  40. Rego,

    Now on who threw out the spaniards ..our heroes or the americans is now immaterial I would not call our heroes half heroes dahil hindi naman talaga sila ng nagpatalsik sa mga Esanyol…They still fought the good fight.

    Also if you run for now and live to fight another day is not cowardice for me…

    kaya maybe I was to harsh on Lacson for short of accusing him na pinabayaan na ang Jose Pidal issue nung lumamig ang issue….maybe narealize nya na mahabang labanan pa ito..atras muna..pero di naman talaga nya inaabandon totally.

    pero if Loren runs for the senate parang Mirriam protest ang resulta ng protest ..moot and academic

  41. Karl,

    Im not talking about cowardice. I talking about taking responsibility, driving the issue to proper closure and stop wasting everybodys time.

    So when is the right time for Lacson to resume the fight? Pag naging president na sya? Is this a conditional fight for a cause. Elect me first and I will fight?

    I would be very interested how will Alan and Chiz continue the fight once they get elected to the senate. Because I have a very strong feeling that once they get what they want. Tatahimik na bigla ang dalawang eto.

    That is when the bitterness of CVJ toward these people will start to creep into his system.

  42. I would be very interested how will Alan and Chiz continue the fight once they get elected to the senate. Because I have a very strong feeling that once they get what they want. Tatahimik na bigla ang dalawang eto.

    Rego, in your opinion, would that be a good or bad thing? I mean, assuming they get elected to the Senate, would you want them to continue the fight or not?

  43. I get what Rego is saying. An effort that’s half-baked won’t get anyone anywhere. It’s either you have it in you or you don’t and you’ll see things through to the bitter or victorious end. Anything else – BS – that we don’t need in our already chaotic country. If you have nothing better to contribute, find some other cause for goodness’ sake! Continuing to fight is not enough when you’ve set your sights on the wrong goal – like your own self-promotion! Bale na lang….leave us all in peace, puh-leaze! Damn, I’m starting to sound like a conservative Republican!

    It’s as simple as starting something and being responsible enough to finish it. Everyone speaks as if they would give their life for their causes but when push comes to shove, pa-cute na lang sila. Yes, like Loren with her virtual abandonment of her election case and like Cayetano who couldn’t even present evidence at his expulsion hearing….sheesh!

    Can you blame Joker and Ralph for joining Team Unity? Pr Villar and Pangilinan for going independent? Why not a NO-BS Party??

    Let’s face it. Walang viable opposition naman talaga. Popularity and the people’s gullibilty will win it for any dumb A-hole and they are banking on that.

    The opposition has no meaningful goals that will HELP the country and its poor. It’s just getting rid of one trapo who is going to be replaced by another, equally corrupt trapo and our only option is to pick the maggot with a conscience – that is our fate!

  44. CVJ,

    Sabi nga ni Mita its either they have it or they dont. We dont have no conrol over these people especially when they got elected . The question is wil they continue the fight or not? The decision is in the is also on them, As I ve said, I dont believe that these people will continue the fight and drive the issue they highlighted to proper closure. All they are interested is to highlight the issue and gain media attention. Then produce all big alibis as the can produce on why teh issue was never closed.

    Alan Peter has all the time, the resources and the power to produce all the evidence against Mike Aroyo. But he did not do it. Remember how he paraded those boxes of evidence after the 2nd Impeachment? And when ask why not open it to the public. What he said I will ope it on the proper time. when is the proper time? He was already facing suspension from congress but still he can not produce the evidence?

    Chiz has all the time, the resources and power to gather all the support he needed to gather all teh oppsition members to support the impeacment. The same way that Mike Defensor and the Spice had when they impeach Erap. If Mike and company can accomplish it during their time. Why can’t Chiz and Allan Peter cant.

    The same way with Lacson. My gosh, he spent 6 years in the senate. If he is really serious on getting the head of Gloria and Mike. He coudl have done it already.

    Loren was alrerady in PET. And why is the opposition and and teh anti Gloria is not so interested on >Lorens protest? When it is the most proper venue to determine the cheating? If there is really and evidence of cheating it could have come out by now!

    My feeling was that they dont want to cxlosed this issue because their allegations is really empty! They are only highlighting this issue to gain media milleage.

    Senator Magsaysay was able to drive the Fertilizer Scam closure. Why cant these opposition people drive their issues to closure? Simpel lang ang sagot. Senator Magsaysay means business and is responsibl enough. And he doesn’t need to use media like the poeple that idolizes. Unlike Alan, Chis He is already a senator. Unlike Ping Lacson and Loren, he does’nt have a presidential ambition. Kung meron man he set his ambition aside and really pursue the issue sincerely and objectively.

    Do your self a favor CVJ, ask yourself how many issues did the your whistel blowers from opposition and and the anti Gloria Civil society has trumpheted?. And how many were closed properly?

    Aminin!!!! atwag magbingi bingihan sa sarili konsensya……

  45. Mita, I hope the Opposition will not fall into the trap of taking your criticisms with a grain of salt just because you are an Arroyo apologist who thinks that your position in life puts you over and above the rest of the Filipinos. Instead, the Opposition should choose to listen to what you have just said, take these as constructive criticism, and more importantly, as a challenge to finish the job once they are elected to the Senate.

    Rego, i understand that you don’t believe Alan and Chiz will push on once they get elected to the Senate. But my question was, assuming they get elected, do you personally want Chiz and Alan complete what they started of not? Since you are one of those who represent the great undecided in this comments section, i’m interested in your opinion on this.

  46. cvj, call me names, accuse me of anything you want. that seems to be the norm in Philippine blogs when someone’s opinion differs from their own. unfortunately, the debate online goes that low and this is also true in real life…

  47. CVJ,

    Well, CVJ, would you like Gloria to push for economic take-off of the country?

    I already told you, I have seen enough of what Alan and Chiz can push in the years that they have spent in congress. And that is their very personal gains alone And there is nothing more than can be expected of them. Im very sure of that!

  48. cvj, call me names, accuse me of anything you want…- Mita

    I notice that whenever you, Rego, Bong (and others of like-mind) get criticized in turn for your criticisms, that is the standard non-response response that is used. You think nothing of questioning other people’s motivations, but when you get questioned in return, then *that’s* the time when we start hearing that “the debate online goes that low…” etc. etc. I take that onion-skinned reaction as a sign of narcissism and a misplaced sense of victimhood.

    Well, CVJ, would you like Gloria to push for economic take-off of the country? – Rego

    I believe she can only do that if she snaps out of her misbegotten sense of destiny, humbles herself and resigns. As far as i’m concerned, her time ran out the day she called up Garci.

  49. cvj, maybe you should take your own advice and take it as constructive cirticism then…

    but seriously, i wouldn’t have responded to you because none was required but you put this in:

    “just because you are an Arroyo apologist who thinks that your position in life puts you over and above the rest of the Filipinos.”

    all that from one comment on a blog that’s not even yours? and you added more to it…when does it end?

    you know when people are in the public eye, supposedly serving as public servants, being paid with tax money that i have contributed, then i and any member of the public have every right to citicize them. are you saying we can’t do that anymore?

    as for you, i don’t know you from adam and have not criticized or called you any name now or ever – that i recall anyway…hope you’re not getting onion-skinned…

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