Moving to Wordpress! Time for change.
Dumbledore was gay, and I feel sad that he had to battle his first and probably only love kasi naging dark wizard. Hay. That must've been so painful! But we love Dumbledore all the more! I cried and cried when he died because he was such a good and kind person and brilliant besides, and it was such a relief to know that it wasn't really Snape who killed him. We carried that theory that he made a deal with Snape right after we finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and it was really a relief that we were right. Kasi naman, sobrang betrayal kung pinatay talaga siya ni Snape whom he trusted and defended against everyone. That would've broken his heart.
Hmm, come to think of it, I also cried when Snape was killed. But not as much when Dumbledore - or even Dobby-- died. Kawawa din siya.
I think the JK Rowling's biggest success was creating characters so well-depicted and developed that readers empathized with them kahit Muggles ang readers. This revelation that Dumbledore was gay makes us love him and appreciate him all the more kasi he sacrificed so much, even his personal happiness.
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For the last three days Kim and I have been talking about whether Piolo Pascual and Sam Milby are gay. Not that we them either of the two personally, but we caught Sam on The Buzz last Sunday, and we felt angry and outraged on his behalf because Lolit Solis charged him with having an affair with Piolo and that she saw the two of them kissing (or whatever) at the Sofitel swimming pool area. Sam looked tired and exasperated, and he sounded so bewildered when he asked what the heck Solis gets from coming out with made-up stories.
Bakit ba napakalaking deal na maging bakla sina Piolo o Sam? Leave them alone if they are (actually, even if they're straight. Ang weird ng showbiz gossip. Talagang brutal. Walang ni katiting na dangal na natitira sa mga artista. But like we really care. Most of the time it's all tacky and cheesy and we want to commit suicide over why we remain glued to the tv while these people wash their dirty laundry. Gad, don't let me get started on the long conversation my mom and I had over Pops Fernandez' tell-all story on what really happened between her and ex-husband Martin Nievera that came out in, um, S magazine? Hi Magazine? Some magazine my mom brought at the supermarket along with the oatmeal and the coffee.)
Anyways,personally though, we think Sam is straight. About Piolo we have our doubts.
Gad, what a depressing weekend, what with the newsreports of the dead and wounded of Friday's Glorietta 2 bombing, It's too much, way more than enough to suck all the happiness out of the air and it feels so difficult to breathe.
Mabuti na lang at patuloy din ang paglabas ng mga kasinungalingan at pagtanggi ng iba-ibang opisyales ng bulok at tiwalang gobyernong ito ni Gloria. All their lies and attempts to deceive served to make me feel less sad for the families of the victims and to make me angry.
This government is buying time for itself and it's using the blood of innocent civilians to do it. What's a few more dead Filipinos to save Gloria? She's already sanctioned the brutal extrajudicial killing of almost 900 political activists and the abduction of 200 others, so what's a few more mangled and bloodied bodies?
Cold and ruthless. This government has sold itself to the devil, but the deal is backfiring so it's going to take the rest of the nation down with it to hell.
We mourn for the victims and deeply sympathize with their families. The best way to secure justice for all of them is to go after the perpetrators and the masterminds, and one doesn't need to look very far to find them -- they're in Malacanang.
I have yet to talk to someone who doesn't think that the government is not behind Friday's brutality. The taxi driver in whose cab we rode last night was outraged that the Muslims are being blamed again. He was adamant in saying that it's Gloria Good For Nothing President ("Walang kwentang presidente!") who ordered the attack to distract the public's attention from the bribery scandal and the calls for her resignation.
Kung gustong makamit ang katarungan, labanan ang diktadurya ni Gloria! Prepare to join the rallies against this corrupt, morally bankrupt, killer administration and demand her removal from office.
I hope that the families of those killed and wounded will not allow themselves to be swayed by Malacanang's expressions of sympathy and solidarity. Arroyo is using this bereavement to project her and her administration's supposed humanity and compassion, their commitment to peace and justice. The victims were all collateral damage in Malacanang's desperate ploy to divert attention from itself, and to allow Gloria to milk the tragedy for all its worth and in the bargain justify heightened military and police deployment as well as the arrest of more civilians false accused of terrorism would make their deaths all the more tragic.
---
Paano pa ba pupunta sa Ayala without ever thinking of the bomb blast that killed 11 people and injured 120 others? Gad, hindi na talaga matatakasan ang riyalidad. Whenever I want to escape for a little while, I go to Ayala Center and walk around Greenbelt park, drink tea, eat cake, read. It's like Neverneverland there, and everyone looks happy and cheerful, and for a few hours I forget how sad and desperate so many, many Filipinos are because of poverty, malnutrition, homelessness and disease. I always, always look forward to the Christmas season because I love looking at Makati dressed up in bright, twinkly lights and there are giant parols and belens everywhere and even the manongs manning their squidball carts and the lolas selling newspapers and yosi are smiling more than usual and everyone, in general, seems to be in a better humor because of the twinkly lights and the massive holly wreathes and the brilliantly-decorated Christmas trees.
But now the military has bombed Glorietta 2 and there is no more escape.
---
Right now I just want to listen to Ben Lee and try to be less sad. I don't know why I'm so affected by what happened last Friday. I guess it's because, well, wala lang talagang kwenta ang buhay sa ilalim ng ganitong klaseng gobyerno, sa ilalim ng ganitong sistemang pampulitika at pang-ekonomya. Deaths are so senseless, the innocent are killed, youth and children are not spared. Everyday there are reminders of this, and sometimes, like now, it's just so overwhelming. You take care of your children, you raise them the best way you can, you love them so much it hurts, and then they go a mall and in split seconds they're gone, their laughter abruptly, sharply cut short and then silence except for the wailing and cries for help of others who survived.
Araw-araw na lang.
--
Love Me Like the World is Ending
Ben Lee
and all I want is you.
I wear a pair of socks you left here
but I know, I know, I know nobody could ever fill your
shoes.
I can't see so clearly when your smoke gets in my eyes.
Please me with your promises and hurt me with your lies.
Baby can you hear the message I am sending?
Love me like the world is ending.
This is the last day of existence
and all I want is you.
And there's a certain sadness
But I know, I know, I know the sky is what makes the ocean
blue.
I know, I know, I know the sky is what makes the ocean blue.
I can't see so clearly when your smoke gets in my eyes.
Please me with your promises and hurt me with your lies.
Baby can you hear the message I am sending?
Love me like the world is ending.
Love me like the world is ending.
And they all say to pour it has to rain.
So don't complain if we get wet
In the deep end.
I can't see so clearly when your smoke gets in my eyes.
Please me with your promises and hurt me with your lies.
Baby can you hear the message I am sending?
Love me like the world is ending.
Love me like the world is ending.
Come on and love me like the world is ending.
---
5pm
Drank coffee and now my heart is like a Mexican jumping bean. I had no choice but to drink coffee because I was suddenly so sleepy and I need to finish something.
In the news, the PNP is now bicycling backwards -- away from its previous revelation that the Glorietta bombing was courtesy of the Rajah Solaiman Movement. Also, now they're saying that maybe it wasn't a bomb.
Hmm, make up your freakin' minds and pick a theory and stick with it. Kahit ano namang sabihin ng PNP, what's clear is that the attack was brutal, that it's connected to Malacanang's attempts to divert attention, and that public opinion is strongly leaning towards accusing the government for what happened. RSM daw, o.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes III is not budging - he will not retract from his statement that the military did the bombing. He knows what he's talking about, so why should he take back what he said? He doesn't stand to lose anything by standing firm on his accusation, and for the most part the public agrees with him kasi there have been previous similar incidents wherein the military did orchestrate bombings and this latest attack fits the profile very comfortably.
Iggy Arroyo offers P1M reward to anyone who can find the perpetrators. Asus! He's so confident kasi he knows no one will claim the money -- may magsusuplong ba sa Malacanang?
All work is disrupted as everyone here at the office remains glued to the tv and their computers monitoring reports about the bomb blast in Glorietta 2. 
Almost fell off my seat when the news reports first came in because only 40 minutes before my mom had texted me that she was in Ayala having lunch. Was so relieved when she responded to my worried text that she was already on her way home when the bomb exploded.
It's a terrible, horrible evil thing! Whoever had done it should roast in hell. The figures differ, but whatever the real numbers are, they're terrible - kahit isa lang ang namatay, masyadong nang marami yun. Latest reports say that eight have already died and there are over 80 injured.
Ano na naman ito?! One cannot help but immediately be suspicious of the military and the police, and by extension the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Who benefits from the frantic distraction this bombing at the very heart of the country's financial district but Malacanang? The spotlight is trained on Malacanang and the burgeoning calls that Pres. Arroyo step down on the grounds of massive corruption (among other crimes and violations of the law, morality, and basic human decency) . The bombing takes away the attention from Gloria, and the rest of the country is now riveted and monitoring the tragic aftermath of the Glorietta bombing.
Ganitong-ganito ang nangyari noong December 2000 nang lumalakas na ang mga panawagan na patalsikin si Erap Estrada. The LRT Rizal Day bombings. Ngayon naman, a popular mall that so many people frequent is bombed.
I bet PGMA and her closest allies are slightly relieved na nangyari ang pagsabog. I mean, it takes away attention from them, right? And provides PGMA a platform to express her sympathy and solidarity with the families of the victims - palalabasin na naman na mabait siya at maawain.
And what of the heightened alert? Red alert na ang Metro Manila. Is it such a crazy thing to think that the red alert is also to justify the massive deployment of police and military in the metropolis? In the guise of protecting public safety and going after suspects behind the bombings, they will be deployed to ensure that there are no big rallies or protests being formed calling for the resignation of the president.
At dahil sa nangyaring trahedya, mahihinto ang mga panawagan para sa pagpapatalsik at pansamantalang mangingibabaw ang mga panawagan para sa panalangin para sa mga biktima. There is no problem with this,tama lang naman, but it's also clear that PGMA and her beleaguered government benefits from this.
--
It's so frustrating how the police also look like they're headless chickens trying to figure out what really happened. They didn't even immediately rope off the scene of the explosion. They should be looking for bomb fragments now, and checking the security cameras. It's frustrating how the police immediately issued a theory that the explosion was caused by an LPG tank. Ang lawak kaya ng area of devastation to be caused by a exploding LPG tank! The blast reverberated to the rest of the mall and concrete windows crumbled, windows shattered to powder.
Jeez, baka yung mga artista playing CSIs on CSI Las Vegas, Miami and New York could do a better job putting together what happened.
--
At sino naman ang may kakayanang gumawa niyan?
The usual suspects- the military. They've done it before, and they did it again. Ask National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.Kung sila, paid mercenaries who are also, inevitably, connected to the military.
I'm willing to make a bet that in the next few days, the AFP and the NSC will issue statements to the effect that the bomb blast was the doing of either the Abu Sayyaf, the Jemaah Islamiyah, or the NPA. Ganun naman yun e. Then they will round up a few civilians, torture them, and make them confess to the crime. Baka mga Muslim din ang arestuhin nila, as the PNP will conduct raids in the Muslim communities in Pasay, Tondo or Quaipo.
GMA has now called for a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC). Will she declare a state of national emergency and then martial law?
---
Malacanang snubs PDI apology. Whatever.
Sana nga ituloy pa ng Malacanang ang pagtataray sa media. No one minds when the Inquirer blasts away at Malacanang. Donna Pazzibugan (my mom in the Philippine Collegian) , Norman Bordadora (batchmate in journalism) and Christian Esguerra must be secretly pleased to have been singled out because they wrote the article that has caused so much grief and irritation in the Palace.
For months now my favorite blog/site has been www.neatorama.com because it features so many, well, neat things -- new gadgets, games, art, animals, scientific and mathematic discoveries, etc. etc. A few days ago it featured Disapproving Rabbits, a photobook on rabbits and how they can express disapproval with the slightest twitch of their noses.
I miss Herbert whom I had for six years, and I wish I could get a new rabbit or even just hamsters. It's just too bad that Kim doesn't really like having pets in the house because he's freaked by fur and poo and pee and bacteria and all that. All he approves of is fish. Jeez. I prefer my pets furry; or at least pets I can touch and hold (like my turtle Enrique when he was still alive).
It's often frustrating being with someone who's often the exact opposite of me in terms of temperament. According to at least five EQ and IQ tests I've taken, I'm (average ito) 55% right-brained and 45% left-brained. I suppose if I didn't become tibak I'd've been more right-brained, so thank goodness again for the Kilusan for bringing some order and discipline into my life. For the most part, obviously, I use more of my right brain and what this implies for my day-to-day dealings with my scientist/mathematician of a husband is often explosive: we often argue and debate (his terms; I call it fighting) over the smallest things and preferences. We have yet to strike a happy medium, so for now we're both trying very, very hard to get there and survive each other. It's exhausting, it's frustrating, but when you love the person very much, you try and try again (the only alternative is to junk everything and find someone else whose more like you. Ang corny naman nun. Kim, for his part, is stubborn in his belief that adjustment takes years and what we're going through right now is pretty normal so he's calm about it. Ako, am often freaked but since he's patient, pwede na rin and am grateful).
Anyways, this definition of right-brain/left brain is the most apt I've found to describe how different Kim and I are: it's uncanny how exact it is:
RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS (me)
uses feeling, "big picture" oriented, imagination rules, symbols and images,present and future, philosophy & religion, can "get it" (i.e. meaning), believes,appreciates, spatial perception, knows object function, fantasy based, presents possibilities, impetuous, risk taking.
LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS (si Kim ito) uses logic, detail oriented, facts rule, words and language, present and past, math and science, can comprehend, knowing, acknowledges, order/pattern perception, knows object name, reality based, forms strategies, practical, safe.
Kim, I think, is 45% right brained, 55% left-brained, because he's also quite creative and appreciative of art, only he never lets his interest in it get him carried away. For instance, kung umuulan nang malakas at may super amazing art exhibit on, say, miniature models and he's really fascinated by them, hindi siya pupunta nevermind if the exhibit is only for that one day. Why? kasi umuulan at ayaw niyang mabasa at magkasipon. There. Ako, I'd run all the way to the exhibit and nevermind if I get drenched.
(One of my best experiences is walking in the rain all around Intramuros. There is always something so liberating in the feeling of rain on your bare skin, and the sky is the color of bruises and it's cold but comforting because you are happily silent, happily minding your own business in your solitary walk, your solitary thoughts and the sky opens after the rain to soft pale yellow light).
---
Magco-comment pa ba ako sa aksidente si Ka Bel? Hwag na. What's important is that he's mending, and so's Ka Jim, and everything else is up to the lawyers. Am so relieved that nothing worse happened kahit na he hit his face. He's 74 years old and not as strong as he used to be, but he's a fighter so we expect him to get all better by Christmas time.
---
Great lecture yesterday afternoon on the Writ of Amparo sponsored by the National Union of People's Lawyers! Justice Adolf Azcuna's lecture was interesting, and so was Atty. Neri Colmenares' sharing on the various kinds of Amparo writs in Latin America.
Seems to me that while the Supreme Court's Amparo is already a very important achievement when it comes to amending court processes and proceedings related to prosecuting cases of extralegal killings and disappearances, there's still a lot of room for strengthening it further. Make it a more effective instrument that will enable victims and families to get closer to just resolutions and solutions -- the surfacing of their loved ones; finding the perpetrators and paving the way to the filing of strong criminal charges against them.
The Writ of Amparo will be tested when the Burgos families apply for it next week. Somehow I don't feel so enthusiastic about the chances of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and its agencies like the ISAFP being more cooperative.
Let's not even talk about AO 197 which carries the objective of protecting the military and doings from investigations. This AO was released on the very same day that the SC announced the Amparo writ finalized and ready for implementation.
---
Resign resign resign! Gad, why doesn't she step down?! Hindi na talaga nahiya. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Argh! Wala.na.akong.masabi.!!! Aksyon na! Bakit ang tagal ng simbahan magpatawag ng People Power?! What is everyone waiting for?
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary
Ronaldo Puno is now saying that the
money that was given to lawmakers last Thursday came from the office of House
Speaker Jose de Venecia. Sec. Puno has also absolved Pres. Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo of accountability for the bribery of solons.
Of course Sec. Puno is expected to defend Pres. Arroyo and
then turn around to pin the blame on Speaker de Venecia. At this juncture, Sec.
Puno really has no credibility to speak on what Malacanang is guilty or not
guilty of doing – he himself hasn’t been cleared regarding the filing of the bogus impeachment complaint
against the president two weeks ago. Speculations are still rife that Sec. Puno
is one of the Malacanang insiders bent on getting Speaker de Venecia ousted for
standing against Pres. Arroyo and the First Gentleman on the controversy over
national broadband contract with China's ZTE Corp.
This will be the tack Malacanang will be using to answer
accusations of bribery and financial opportunism – blame it on JDV who’s
becoming more and more vocal in his criticism against corruption
Macapagal-Arroyo style. Instead of pointing fingers, Malacanang and its various
spokespersons should welcome independent investigations into the bribery
allegations and cooperate with all efforts of the Philippine Senate to ferret
out the truth. Sec. Puno may have absolve Pres. Arroyo from accountability, but
the Filipino people haven’t. As far as the public is concerned, corruption in
the government stems directly from the Office of the President.
In the meantime, it’s highly unlikely that the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) will yield any credible results. Not to disparage the PAGC, but the chances of the commission investigating the president and getting true and credible results are very slim. Malacanang is sacrosanct as far as the PAGC is concerned, and even if this were not the case, the results will go to Executive Sec. Ermita who will launder and sanitize the results so Pres. Arroyo will come out smelling like a rose when she actually stinks like three-week old garbage.
--
Watched Mel Gibson's 'Apocalypto' last night on DVD. Am grateful I already ate dinner before I saw it.
Attend this and learn more about how to defend your rights and the rights of other Filipinos!
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Green tea is said to have health benefits, but jeez it smells fishy and tastes faintly of metal. I think it's the container, though. The teabags have been exposed to the air, and the jar they're in is quite close to the sink.
I drink tea not only because it tastes good (the fruit infusions, in particular. I also prefer black teas and Earl Grey), but because they smell good; so when the tea isn't fragrant, it kinda spoils the experience.
I wish I could attend one of those seminars on the ancient tea ceremonies, or study the various kinds of tea and how they're made.
I've noticed that there are more tea varieties being sold in the supermarkets, and many of the brands aren't that expensive so I've stopped going to The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf: one cup of tea there is equivalent to one box of tea bags!
I prefer loose leaf tea, though; but not may stores sell them here. Hindi uso,e. Mas teabags pa rin.
There's a tea store in Ayala than offers British High Tea for P450 a set -- tea, scones, cookies, sugar or honey. The tea things are dainty, fragile and beautiful. The tea is, well, not really different from what you could buy from Rustan's. Ang imoral ng presyo ng meryenda.
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Bribery, bribery, bribery. Ano ba yan! Ang dami talagang pera just floating around, and somehow (nooneenoneenooh)they end up in the pockets of local executives and politicians.
It's appalling how some try to justify accepting bribes by saying that the money will be used to serve their constituencies anyway. It's bribery, for crying out loud - and it's to cement the support and loyalty to a particular political party or executive and ensure that no moves to unseat them power will ever prosper.Kung talagang para sa mga constituents yun, then the money should've been released through the proper venues and channels -- channels that can be audited by the Commission on Audit; where there are records and complete receipts and documentation.
No wonder corruption prospers and thrives in the Philippines - officials find no wrong doing in giving and accepting bribes, and they disguise these bribers as 'financial assistance' and 'donations.' Nakakasuka.
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Celebrated my 32nd birthday at the old standby Bubba Gump's in Ayala with my mom and Kim. Gorged on shrimp and squid, and generally felt like I will not touch either seafood for at least six months.
Thank you to friends Walkie, Edre, Sonny Af, Sarah B, Nova, Alex Rem, Chi, Anya, Lisa, Ganni, Tin-Tin, Mau, Lyn, Noi, Jennifer, Yolly, Malou, Bam-Bam , Ms. Belle who remembered, called up or sent email or texts to greet me happy 32nd.
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Rereading the Lord of the Rings trilogy (I have really old copies, printed in 1969), and I still get the shingles over how brilliant it is, how imaginative, how creative, how beautiful. I want to move to Middle-Earth and get a mushroom house in Bag's End. I'll find work as a gardener and tend flowers and vegetables, or be a teacher.
---
Report on Inquirer.net: GMA says her government has no tolerance for human rights violations.
Ang kapal!
“Investigations suggest links to both right and left -- to
communists, communist rebels as well as possibly elements of our own military.
The investigations of the national police's Task Force Usig have unearthed some interesting facts such as
23 cases of killings perpetrated by the NPA against their own men, the
discrepancy between the number of cases reported by the front organizations of
the communists and the numbers in the police files, and two cases where the
supposed victims were confirmed to be alive. It's disheartening to contemplate
that anyone upholding people's rights could engage in such deeds. I need to
absorb fully what it means.
So kill activists to keep the peace. That's the policy of the Arroyo government.
T
he 23 complaint forms filed against the NDFP were filed by the Judge Advocate General Service (JAGS) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines /AFP (15); the Philippine National Police/ PNP, seven; surviving victims (two) and a relative (one). The complaints filed by one surviving victim and the relative of a victim are both unsigned, further putting the credibility of the complaints in question.
Oroquieta
City
, Misamis Occidental.
Thus said Department of Interior and Local Government Sec. Ronaldo Puno.
True, kahit kami nagtataka -- why the heck bribe Ka Bel? It's an exercise in futility to even try. Huh?! It would've been easier and more productive to try giving a crocodile a mani-pedi.
In any case, Ka Bel is outraged and disgusted. Mostly because he's insulted (and no, not because he was offered only P2M and not more) because gad, after more than five decades as a militant labor leader and six years as a progressive people's lawmaker, may nagtangka pa ring suhulan siya.What the hell were they thinking?!
Or maybe, it's better to ask - were they thinking at all? I mean, seriously?
In truth, this isn't the first time that Ka Bel was approached for a 'favor' in exchange for money or, when he was still incarcerated, for his freedom. He was asked by Malacanang emissary Luis Villafuerte to write a letter to President Arroyo to ask that he be immediately released. Earlier on, a pro-cha cha lawmaker told him that if he (Ka Bel) signed the charter change resolution, he would be sprung from the hospital and the rebellion charges would be dismissed.
Tumaas ang blood pressure niya on those two occasions.
It's pretty fishy how this Francis Ver person of the president's KAMPI party just came out of the blue and offered moolah to congressmen. Hindi niya kaya kilala si Ka Bel? Maybe he mistook Ka Bel for somebody else?
Now the guy is denying that he ever approached Ka Bel and asked him to support Atty. Pulido's impeachment complaint. Is he wacko? Is he fresh from outer space and the rush of oxygen has gone straight to is brain rendering him wonky? What gives?
Now KAMPI stalwarts are falling all over themselves trying to put as much distance between KAMPI and Ver. First thing they did is to practically disown the guy and try to make him out as some Joe Shmoe from Kokomo who was appointed some ho-hum position as DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE PRESIDENT's POLITICAL PARTY and just likes to hang around the House of Representatives. Why- for the free aircon and Wi-Fi?!
Through all this, House Speaker Jose de Venecia should assert leadership and decry the insult against members of Congress (kunwari honorable pa rin sila....). He should tell Pres. Arroyo that he will not take the bribery attempts against solons without raising bloody hell about it.
E tuloy hindi naman sila cool ni GMA ngayon. Malacanang and the Arroyo boys are out to get JDV and JDV3 for the ZTE contract fall-out which also, surprise surprise!, involves First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.
JDV can make his mark and stand up to the President and KAMPI. And then, of course, throw out the impeachment complaint and say that the 14th Congress will only support the strongest, most well-written impeachment complaint against Pres. Arroyo and it will do so at the soonest opportunity (meaning, as soon as may dumating na magandang impeachment complaint. Larangan pa rin ng debate at digmaan ang impeachment process kahit sa tutoo lang, imposibleng asahan yan without the support of the House Majority).
--
Am so looking forward to this!
From the Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center
for inquiries pls contact avhrc tel no. 4120909 or 09167900671
--
Update as of 4:10pm: KAMPI has relieved Francis Ver for the bribery attempt. Yun lang? A slap on the wrist? Isn't attempting to bribe a public official a criminal act?
---
Just found this out: Last year, Anita Roddick,founder of the Body Shop sold the Shop to L'Oreal, and L'Oreal is a subsidiary of Nestle. Bugger - yun na nga lang ang mga pinaka-luxury ko, ang shampoo at moisturizer ng L'Oreal , Nestle din pala! May dugo ang buhok at mukha ko!!! Okay, boycott na rin ang L'Oreal (as if naman madalas ako bumili nun e super mahal. My supplies are from my short stint as an independently earning person in Hong Kong where L'Oreal is actually cheap. Mas mahal dun ang Ponds).
Weekend reading consisted of this book by an author I've never heard of (that sounds so snotty - okay, so he's never heard of me, either) but apparently he's kind of famous because of this hip book he'd written previously called Nothing Feels Good.
Miss Misery by Andy Greenwald is about blogging and becoming so engrossed with reading other blogs that you lose track of 'real life' and focus on the lives depicted, described, painted, desecrated, cursed and created over the web. 
Envying how other people live their lives, or wanting a life other than the one you have because yours is so, so boring and you wish you had the courage , the chutzpah, the daring to go out and live a life you'd actually want to write about and describe in full detail.
Anyways, it wasn't such a big deal. I liked it and all; I don't regret that I shelled out P90 for it (got it from a Power Books affiliate Book Sale type store called Buy-Out Books in Manila) , and I don't regret using up an entire afternoon reading it. It had its moments, no major epiphanies, but a few keen observations about what why emotional people are the way they are:living on the edge of falling into something that could either break you or give you wings.
Siguro if I were younger I would've liked it more, but am older, and am done with whining about life and why it's sometimes boring. Life is what you make of it kung peti-burgis ka. May sapat na kakayanan na umunlad at iangat ang sarili; o mas mainam, magkaroon ng buhay na kapaki-pakinabang hindi lang para sa sarili kundi para sa lipunan. No excuses for whining, moaning and groaning about how life is so, so boring.
I don't envy other people's lives as depicted in other blogs, but I do envy their energy - their drive. I regret my sloth and my easily-bored brain, my impatience and my conflicted need to be comfortable but intellectually challenged at the same time. I am frequently reminded that everyday, good songs are being written, new books rolling off the presses, new art being created and while at least 95% of all these works speak about the human condition without prescribing any remedies or cures, they are, at least, there to be enjoyed and appreciated in refreshing, teeny tiny sips (kasi mahal, at kasi mas maraming mahahalagang bagay na dapat pagtuunan ng pansin).
I don't really have an agenda for this blog, either. I just write whatever is in my head at the time I log on, and I rant away. Kim has previously slashed my wrists about writing about what he terms as 'personal stuff' instead of sticking to more meaningful things like, say, politics and the economy and human rights and the war, but I told him to go write in his own blog and quit reading mine if he doesn't like what he reads.
How boring! Lagi na lang pulitika! (Actually, you can never really run away from it: everything is political)
Anyways, what I most liked about Miss Misery is how Greenwald also included lists of music albums and artists the main character (lazy, no-ambition writer David Gould) likes to listen to while he's blogging or reading other people's blogs. In the next few days I will be checking out this albums (mostly grunge and emo. Okay, mostly emo by bands like Jimmy Eat World and New Found Glory) and listening to the songs and maybe I'll like them. Last album I really liked is Keane's 'Under the Iron Sea," and I haven't gotten over it it. It's been a year, gad. Hmm, there's a new All-American Rejects album out. And am still looking for that album by Damien Rice.
Okay so maybe am not being completely honest here. Something else also struck me about the book's theme: about being lost while in the middle of something you're doing more or less expertly; about wanting, for a moment, to step out of your own existence and try new things regardless of how scary they are, nevermind that these things are 'so not like you.'
I am 'so not like' ..
(1) Riding roller coasters
(2) Singing videoke
(3)Wearing make-up
(4)Wearing slinky, feminine clothes
(5) Going to parties and being the talkative, jokey and popular one.
Not that I want to do any of these things. I don't regret not being able to do them, but sometimes I do feel like it would do me really good to get happy drunk in a videoke bar with my closest friends (and Kim, who really has a good voice, believe it or not).
I want to
(1) Go Bunjee jumping;
(2) Get a tattoo (I've wanted one since 1996 when I went to Silliman University in Dumaguete for the National Creative Writing Workshop but always, always hesitated at the last moment: security reasons daw);
(3) Wear mascara (yeah, yeah, you can laugh all you want);
(4)Cook a four-course dinner for my friends;
(5) Get drunk. I am so sober right now my brain hurts.
--
Next up for reading:Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss" and Andrea Levy's "Small Island", Both gifts from Tita Agnes.
I like it when am reading something I've not read before -- a book by an author whose work I haven't previously encountered. I look forward to slipping into a new stream and feeling the current and wondering where it will take me.
I eat raisins and drink bubbly flavored water while I read. When I write, I drink tea. Lately I've been drinking caffeine-free, peppermint herb tea so I don't end up shaking like a leaf three hours later.
---
When I read friends' blogs, I feel close to them in a way that I never do when am actually with them. Isn't that strange? Or maybe, I feel closer to them because I read their words, and there's the assumption that they've been honest as the words poured out of them. Not that my friends are dishonest, it's just that, well, so many things one could never share with the world even by BEING. One must write and write well and compellingly to be understood or, if one doesn't care about being understood, to at least be able to explain and acquit one's self well.
--
One cool painting- notice the detail!
---
Am compelled to write something about the Pacquiao-Barrera match, given that almost everyone is raving about it (mostly over the frustratingly large number of ads that kept flooding the screen every two minutes, I was told).
I completely missed it, but all the while Kim and I were aware of it because all the tv sets in the neighborhood were tuned in to the match and there was palpable tension as all the residents glued themselves to their sofas or floors to watch two grown men try to reduce each other to a bloody pulp of blackened eyes, broken noses and swollen cheeks and lips.
I don't care about boxing - I think it's a brutal sport, the boxers' faces all smashed and mashed up like so many overripe tomatoes under the wheels of a cement mixer. I find neither grace nor beauty in it, and the fierceness that goes with every punch thrown makes me avert my eyes.
I love Simon and Garfunkel's 'The Boxer,' though. And Morrissey's "Sunny.' That's as far as I would ever get to liking boxing -- loving songs about it.
"Mag-ingat ka!" - Journalist Ellen Tordesillas receives another death threat. Means that she's really good at doing her job.
Was it f
unny or not - the supposedly racial slur made by Terri Hatcher's character in 'Desperate Housewives' on not wanting a doctor who graduated from a Philippine med school? Eto ang sagot ko dyan, mula sa Avenue Q:
"Everyone's a little bit racist
Today.
So, everyone's a little bit racist
Okay!
Ethnic jokes might be uncouth,
But you laugh because
They're based on truth.
Don't take them as
Personal attacks.
Everyone enjoys them -
So relax!
Everyone's a little bit racist
It's true.
But everyone is just about
As racist as you!
If we all could just admit
That we are racist a little bit,
And everyone stopped being
So PC
Maybe we could live in -
Harmony!"
Actually, I think its outrageous and hypocritical that the government should make such a huge stink about this samantalang its been so inutile when it comes to helping the nurses who fell victim to the Sentosa recruitment agency. Ordinary Filipinos -- especially our nursing professionals and their families, they have all the right to complain because they work hard, but the government? Utang na loob. What has it done to genuinely help the Pinoy nurses and doctors? Dito nga lang sa Pilipinas, the pay in the public hospitals is so low the staff have no second thoughts about leaving; can't really blame them this however much I want to appeal to their sense of patriotism and love of fellow Filipinos.
Also, the scandal that surrounded the rigged nursing exams hasn't been given a just and satisfying resolution (mauulit na naman ya-an). Predictable na ba, but really it's the Philippine government who's largely to blame for the negative reputation of Filipinos in other countries, the scandals and controversies, the extrajudicial killings, etc.
At ang walanghiyang Department of Labor and Employment, talagang binubugaw ang mga OFW. The export-labor policy of the government never included fighting for the rights of Filipino migrants and workers abroad. case in point: former DOLE secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas signed an agreement with the Saudi Arabian government that says the Philippine government allows the latter to adjust (a euphemism for cutting) wages of OFWs in the kingdom.
On the upcoming Pacquiao bout: does it make an awful excuse for a Filipino the way I don't feel like cheering him on? Like, well, it wouldn't be such a big deal if he lost? Okay, I even think it would serve him right to lose. Paano naman, sobrang yabang na niya, at isa pa, he lets the Arroyos ride on his victories and his over-all popularity (as a boxer, obviously -- kasi knocked out siya kay Darlene Custodio nung May polls).
I suppose this is what really gets my goat, how he lets Macapagal-Arroyo use him for her own purposes. As a distraction from all the problems and the controversies that hound her corrupt and illegitimate presidency.
Wouldn't it be cool if he won but says he will no longer be used as a mascot for Malacanang? E di naging Pacquiao fan ako ng di-oras! Kasi sa ngayon, gad, I think he's been hit on the head far too many times.
---
Great news (or at least, pwede na rin kasi tuloy pa rin ang charges, hmph)! Dutch appellate court
upholds JMS freedom
Taken from the ABS-CBN news site: The Dutch Court of Appeals has upheld a decision to release
Filipino communist leader Jose Maria Sison while he undergoes pretrial investigation,
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau reported Wednesday.
The appellate court said, "The prosecution file lacks
enough concrete evidence to directly link Sison to the assassinations which is
needed to prosecute him as a perpetrator."
What's the current status of the peace talks? The answer will depend on whom is asked. It's a very good development that there is continued interest in the talks -- despite the Macapagal-Arroyo government's declarations that there is no more need to talk kasi wala namang pag-uusapan.
In the wake of the military's admission that it has failed (and how) to meet its target of moving sufficiently closer to putting an end to the insurgency, dapat tuunan na muli ng pansin ang kasalukuyang kalagayan ng usapang pangkapayapaan. Contrary to cynical beliefs that the peace talks count for nothing, they actually imply a lot for human rights and the country's prospects for peace.
The formal meetings of the negotiating panels of the
Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP are postponed, but the NDFP
maintains that the peace negotiations are ongoing. The NDFP affirms that all agreements signed
with the
GRP remain binding and in effect. The Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC)
which was established in February 14, 2004 on the strength of the signing of
the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International
Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) between the two parties back in 1998 continues to
function. The same goes for the Reciprocal Working Committees (RWCs) on human
rights and international humanitarian law, and on social and economic affairs.
The NDFP also raised the issue of the release of the political prisoners, the worsening and increasing number of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, and the GRP’s failure to resolve the issue of the ‘terrorist' listing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People’s Army (NPA) and the NDFP Chief Political Consultant, Prof. Jose Ma. Sison. The NDFP considers these issues as prejudicial questions that should be settled before formal negotiations can resume.
Instead of meeting the efforts of the NDFP halfway, the GRP virtually suspended the peace negotiations when, in February 2006, it filed rebellion charges against Prof. Sison, NDFP Panel Chairman Luis Jalandoni; NDFP Panel members Fidel Agcaoili and Juliet Sison; NDFP Panel consultants Vicente Ladlad, Rafael Baylosis, and Randall Echanis, among others. The GRP’s Department of Justice has also attacked the integrity of the Joint Secretariat by identifying its office as the address of the individuals it charged with rebellion.
Last August 28, the Dutch police raided the office of the NDFP in The Netherlands, as well as the houses of Luis Jalandoni and NDFP Panel member Coni Ledesma; Juliet de Lima; Danilo Borjal, Political Consultant; Ruth de Leon, Head Panel Secretariat; and Aldo Gonzalez and Joselito Baleva, volunteers in the NDFP International Information Office. They were brusquely interrogated and forbidden from moving around their homes while the rest of the premises were being ransacked. Ms. Ledesma was even taken to the police station for questioning.
All computers, laptops, external disks, USB sticks, CDs, diskettes, cameras and MP3s players were seized, along with voluminous documents and papers including Mr. Jalandoni’s complete files on the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations from 1986 to the end of 2004.
In the meantime, the room that Mr. Agcaoili uses whenever he is in The Netherlands was also broken into, ransacked, and its contents pillaged. Included in the confiscated documents were the complete set of complaint forms submitted to the JMC against the NDFP and the GRP, as well as written communications between the NDFP-MC and the NDFP Joint Secretariat (JS), and documents of the NDFP-MC. A box of diskettes and CDs containing documents pertaining to the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations and the work of the JMC were also taken.
It goes without saying that the actions of the Dutch police have greatly disrupted the operations of the NDFP-MC, and have caused great inconvenience in our work, not to mention compromising efforts to secure justice for the thousands of human rights victims who have placed their trust in the mechanism of the NDFP-MC for the redress of their grievances.
All the seized digital files -- computers, laptops, external disks, diskettes, USB sticks, CDs, cameras and MP3s -- documents and papers have no connection whatsoever to the charge against Prof. Sison. Sison himself was released last September 13 after the Dutch District Court in the Hague declared that there was no sufficient and credible evidence connecting him to the alleged murders in the Philippines. It is the NDFP’s stand that the Dutch prosecutor’s office went on a fishing expedition when it authorized the raids of the NDFP office and the houses of the NDFP’s staff and volunteers.
Despite this, the Dutch prosecutors have appealed to the Court of Appeals that Prof. Sison be placed back in detention.
It should be noted that the Supreme Court of the Philippines itself in a landmark decision released on July 2, 2007 declared Prof. Sison innocent of rebellion charges the same way that it said that the progressive party-list lawmakers dubbed the Batasan 6 were not guilty of the same accusations.
From reading these documents, you may be able to better understand and trace the course that civil society can take in helping to push the peace process forward.
It would also be most productive to support other civil society initiatives which have been reported in various fact-finding mission reports on the killings, abductions, and other violations of the rights of activists, lawyers, journalists, church people and others. In the wake of the discussions, concerned sectors can determine the recommendations they can make, hopefully in support of the peace process and all other efforts to uphold human rights in the the Philippines.
All freedom-loving Filipinos are being called upon to support calls to put an end to the extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other human rights violations. This means supporting and even participating in independent and credible investigations in accordance with the guidelines laid down by Amnesty International and other groups.
The journey towards peace starts with a single step. Join the many others who have begun to pave the way and support the peace negotiations. #
Am grateful that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's hearing on the NBN scam today was much tamer than yesterday's. Otherwise wala na naman akong nagawang trabaho.
What made my day today is how Sen. Miriam Santiago is now eating crow for her 'the Chinese created corruption for the rest of the world' remark. Now she's saying that she didn't mean to be insulting. Holy crap, there really must be some truth to the allegations that she's literally, clinically, insane. 
I wasn't able to finish my blog yesterday because, well, I had work; pero I did feel compelled to express my INDIGNATION and OUTRAGE that Romulo Neri shut his trap to protect PGMA. Hell, is he in love with GMA so he went to such lengths to protect her?! Wala na akong ibang maisip na dahilan. Everyone says he's an incorruptible, credible guy; so what else could've prompted him to shut up, invoke EO 464 and essentially protect his superior and her husband?
Love, I've been told, makes fools of us all. Has it made Neri a traitor to the Filipino people and the truth? Binata siya, hiwalay naman daw si Gloria kay Mike, parehong may bigote si Neri at si Nani Perez, so...Maybe he's hoping that in her time of need, GMA will turn to him and they'll fall in love and live happily ever after.
(on hindsight, nakakangilabot ang ideya na in-love si Neri kay GMA. Ewe.)
There's this text going around that goes: Ano ang nagpasikat kay Erap? Wristband. Ano ang nagpayaman kay Abalos? Broadband. Ano ang magpapabagsak kay GMA? Husband.
You have to laugh.
--
The lunchtime conversation centered around animals. Started off with discussions about pets (I've had dogs, cats, a rabbit, turtles and hamsters), but soon after a colleague told a story about how he was bitten by a snake and survived. Then he said he had eaten snake. and turtles -- the ones that lived in forests near streams, but never the ones that live near houses sa probinsya, because these turtles liked to dig under latrines and, well, I'll leave that to your imagination. Then, soon enough, somebody else said that she'd tasted dolphin (outraged shrieks despite explanations that the dolphin had quite literally committed suicide by deliberately banging itself against sharp rocks and then beaching itself); and another said that sting ray flesh tasted like kalabaw.
Buti na lang tapos na ang lunch by the time the discussion veered towards the various animal-based delicacies in other cultures.
---
I have just learned that Jim Henson based the Swedish Chef on a real Swedish Chef in the 80s who fell apart on a daytime tv talkshow in the 80s. The poor guy got so nervous he blubbered, unable to speak either in English or Swedish. Mr. Henson reportedly called the guy, paid him 80$ for permission to base a muppet on his character. Hence the unintelligible but extremely funny Swedish Chef ("Yorn desh born, der ritt de gitt der gue, Orn desh, dee born desh, de umn børk! børk! børk!") was born.
--
Okay, Buddhist Monks are being shot at, their peaceful gatherings attacked. The most gentle, peaceful people taking to the streets. That takes the cake. Gad, Burma, move and expel the dictator! Over 700,000 protestors willing to risk their lives to finally kick out the junta.
--
Kadiri na talaga si Abalos. Sobrang kapal ng mukha. He says that he's actually basking in the attention that he's getting over the NBN controversy. Gad, if the man had even an ounce of delicadeza, he'd have resigned long before this entire mess blew up. But no, he sticks to his post like a wad of bubble gum mixed with shit sticks to the bottom of one's sneakers.
Gad, I wouldn't be so surprised if he gets a heart attack: Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos looked like he just saw his favorite golf club reduced to a twisted mess of metal under a steam roller moving along a concrete pavement. CHEd chair Romulo Neri just said under oath that he was surprised when Abalos told him "Sec, may 200 ka dito." Nevermind if it's P200, P200,000 or
P200 million, Neri said that he was shocked because it was so big. Clearly he understood it to be to a large sum, and when he told Pres. Arroyo, she told him don't accept the money but approve the project.
Talk about the roof flying off!
---
Am writing this while paying attention to the senate investigations on the ZTE Corp contract telecast live over at ANC. It's impossible to focus on my work today because, well, I just have to watch and hear the senate hearing -- everyone here at the office is also riveted, and have been so since last week. Even yesterday's wire-tapping investigations was like a soap opera what with Arlene Doble exposing the former ISAFP agent Vidal of being a serial womanizer and a good-for-nothing excuse for a human being.
I can't believe am actually enjoying this.
Abalos really twinked. Involuntarily he took a deep breath -- It think it's already hit him how deep the trouble he's in.
Okay, now Sen. Lacson is questioning Abalos about JDV III. He seems bent on denying everything. Just deny deny deny. But hell, kahit ano pang sabihin niya, what the heck was he doing getting himself involved with the ZTE Corporation and brokering a multi-million dollar government broadband contract? He's the chairman of the Comelec!
---
All of his bluff and bluster is gone, his previous confidence wrung out of him. Abalos looks like he's barely keeping himself up.
--
JDV III is being questioned. In contrast to Abalos, he exudes confidence. He looks like he's had a good night's sleep, and his dreams were very kind to him. Who knows if he's a good guy or not (nevermind his former drug habit and receding hairline which Luli Arroyo says must have affected his brain and prompted him to expose Abalos and her father the First Gentleman), but right now he's a favorite of mine. For reasons strictly related to his testimony in the senate (and he's a fluent and clear explainer as well).
---
Lacson is abrutal. He's scary.He's going after Abalos' jugular, and Abalos for his part had just said that Neri lied under oath.
Abalos is now beginning to take on the look of a drowning cat who survived, but it's still well aware that the dunking is still not over.
It's Jinggoy's turn.
Abalos is denying everything left and right. I think his game plan now is to simply deny everything and say that everyone else who says different is a freaking liar. Am starting to feel quite, quite sorry for him, but heck, this is what you get for orchestrating massive fraud in the 2004 and 2007 polls (harhar, karma. Maybe there really is something to that Hindu belief).
--
Si Miriam Defensor-Santiago nanggugulo na naman. She's a real weirdo - agaw eksena talaga. I don't know what the hell she's saying -- she says that the witnesses are all lying, but telling the truth as well. She should be prohibited from attending the senate investigations on important issues. She's a complete whack-job. Why the hell she's not in a strait-jacket is a mystery. Dinadaan lang siya sa lakas ng boses, utang na loob. For the most part, she's a self-centered, self-righteous official who trusts no one's word but her own.
The media probably continues to pay attention to her because she's nakakaaliw. A good source of out-of-this-world quotes. She makes good copy the same way major traffic accidents make the headlines. She's a walking, talking circus act, kulang na lang ang big red nose and the big hair. Gad, what I would give for a massive scandal to break out involving her -- say, she gets caught having sex with a 19-year old male prostitute, or shoplifting from Rustan's or any one of those high-end stores in Rockwell.
She's now attacking the credibility of JDVIII as a businessman.She's also made a hyper racist remark: China invented corruption (so all Chinese are inherently corrupt?!) She's gone totally nuts, and on camera as well.
--
Kiko Pangilinan was firm and to-the-point in his questioning, but Neri invokes the Malacanang gag order. Pangilinan is determined to get to the bottom of Neri's talks with the president regarding the bribery attempt and the ZTE contract.
---
It's Loren Legarda's turn now. She's wearing pink. She's questioning Abalos about whether not his functions as Comelec chair have anything to do with brokering business deals with foreign partners. Wala daw, sabi ni Abalos. The next logical questions hangs them unasked: kung wala, bakit ka nakikialam sa paglakad ng deal?
--
It's pathetic how Abalos keeps saying that JDVIII was the one who kept hounding him, following him around and dropping by Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club and the Comelec to pester him about the NBN contract.
JDVIII said that he's not a member of Wack-Wack, and that there's no way to enter the club if one is not a member without being invited by a member or better, an official of the club.
If Abalos didn't want JDV III from following him, then he should have had him banned from Wack-Wack, or a restraining order, or ordered the guards at the door to lie whenever JDV III came knocking.
Joker Arroyo is now picking Neri apart about the latter's endorsement of the broadband project. I don't think Joker is doing such a good job of making clear what really transpired. But then again, he's trying to determine the process of the how the NBN project was conceptualized and given shape to.
Ang nakakatawa, Joker doesn't look at all knowledgeable about the technical aspect of consultations between government agencies when determining projects it will undertake, feasibility studies and financial reports and all that. Nagkakalat si Joker Arroyo! He doesn't know what he's talking about! Venturing into unknown and unfamiliar territory. It's obvious he doesn't know or understand the workings and functions of the NEDA.
Sen. Arroyo, what's wrong with going over and expressing approval for a well-written and well-conceptualized project proposal? Especially it aims to bring down costs for the government?
---
Resumption of hearing. Sen. Enrile taking a crack at JDV3 and questioning him about communications between DOTC and Ernesto Garcia, colleague of JDV3. The title of the House Speaker JDV Jr. has been mentioned.
Is the son a little shaken? Enrile is reading deliberately slowly, and the letter is being admitted into record. The NEDA's approval for the Orion/Amsterdam proposal is being mentioned.
Enrile's asking JDV3 whether the Speaker has any interest in the project, and why is the office of the Speaker has sent a letter on the NBN to the DOTC.
The North Rail Project has been mentioned -- another mess of a project which was endorsed by the NBN, and another (daw, sabi ni Enrile) baby of Speaker de Venecia.
Hmmm, some of the heat will now be shifting to de Venecia I think.
Umeksena si Zubiri kasi daw lumalabas sa media na missing in action siya sa ZTE hearing. May skedyul daw siya (bakit defensive ang dating niya?)
Chiz Escudero after Joker's fumbling attempts to redeem himself by asking why Joey's name does not appear in any of the documents of Amsterdam holdings.
Chiz says its questionable why the ZTE contract has been kept under such close wraps.Ang NEDA daw ang head ng lahat ng deliberations dahil ODA ang contract.
(Chiz really talks like a robot -- monotone ang boses niya e. High tone, low tone, high and low. Oh well. In his case, it doesn't matter kasi may laman naman ang sinasabi niya.)
He's now questioning NEDA and Neri's authority to assist in the privatization of the telecoms industry by entering deals with the foreign private sector and awarding contract. The NEDA and the DOTC and the DTI have endorsed the ZTE contract, and Chiz says that this questionable.
In this round, it's the government itself that's under fire for entering the contract of procurement. This is getting complicated now, malay ko ba sa proseso niyan! But what I understand is this, the NEDA -- the executive too -- overstepped their boundaries in getting involved with this project directly and instructing the DOTC to go along with it as well.
--I can't keep this up. Am getting behind my work!
Abalos has lost his temper, but the very able chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was able to calm him down AND make him realize the inconsistencies in his statements to the media and his current testimony re: JDV3 and their meetings, including the one in China.
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel asks: may anak ka ba sa labas?
Abalos: That's unfair to my wife and children.
That's a very effective tactic ha, to shock the person, get him off-balanced with a personal question about a personal weakness and then quickly shift to resuming your original questions. Nagulantang na ang pobre, wala nang presence of mind, all semblance of calm and confidence shot to smithereens!
Suspended na.
--
And they're. Zubiri again denies that he met with Abalos. Pimentel says hindi pa tapos ang isyu, pero ibang venue na lang daw para hindi mawala sa focus ang pinag-uusapan sa ZTE investigations.
Cayetano allows Madrigal to begin her questioning: interesting daw ang isang sinabi ni Abalos about raising money by waving a piece of paper.
Who is Abalos' travel agent? Wala daw. Jamby asks hindi pa mahirap magtravel nang walang agent considering you've gone abroad at least seven, eight times in the last year.
Jamby reads an account of the Speaker's report that he heard the President speak with Abalos about the ZTE contract. Is Abalos saying that there was no such conversation? Is he willing to be the fall guy for the president? Nagtuturuan na kasi ang mga tao.
Abalos: Huh? What? Huh?! Duh?! Hindi ko na alam saan ako lalagay, your honor.
Jamby: Sa kangkungan. I sympathize with you kung ilalaglag ka na. (Ang taray ni madam! Jus me).
Sen. Honasan quizzing Neri on the NEDA processes. Most instructive. Sabi Gringo, Neri is the fulcrum of the investigations, and his credibility impacts on the outcome of the investigations.Ano kaya ang point niya?
Medyo nakakatawa ang quetsioning ni Sen. Bong Revilla. I couldn't take it seriously. He has good fashion sense, though -- pink polo shirt, gray necktie.
Pia Cayetano on the floor. She strikes me as so much milk and water, then suddenly there's steel. Sa wakas pinagsalita si Rolex Suplico, pero no your honor lang ang sagot. She's called a roll call of the witnesses, asking them if they've been investigated by Malacanang in its discreet efforts. Walang kahit isa sa kanila ang nakakaalam na may discreet investigations ang pangulo -- wow, sobrang discreet talaga!
Pia wonders about the ZTE suspension. Para que? To throw the senate investigations off-kilter? She's questioning Mendoza. Now the questioning has shifted to Neri: she's confirming the dateline stated in Jarius Bondoc's column and whether or not they're based on reality. Paano nagawang bigyan ng gurantee ang approval ng NBN contract when so many requirements were still not met?
Ate Pia is allowed by younger brother Alan to ask: wala bang interpreters nung panahon ng negotiations over the contract?
Mendoza: Wala. technical staff ang bihasa sa english. (Whoah! Paano kung iba ang tina-translate? Iba pala dapat ang itsura ng deal, or maybe no deal would've been finalized at all dahil sa mga translations ng interpreter!!)
Somehow I am interested by Sen. Gordon's line of questioning. He's being plain mean and deliberately difficult in his cross-examination of Neri. As if kasalanan ni Neri na palpak ang priorities ng gobyerno (actually, kasalanan ng NEDA, ng Malacanang, ng mga ahensya nito, ng kongreso at mga trapo, at mga bulok na opisyales ng korte).
Change that - am interested. Ang taray din ni Gordon. Gad, I officially feel sorry for Abalos -- Gordon made him a laughingstock. He made Abalos look like a doddering old fool. Photokina anyone?
Bastusan galore. A colleague here sez the middle class has made up its mind about Abalos- their representatives in the gallery are laughing themselves to stomachaches.
Sen. Pimentel calls for subpoena of Abalos flight records, Alan Cayetano asks for passport.
Sen.Mar Roxas' turn, questioning Mendoza who looks relieved and grateful that he's not Abalos. More inconsistencies - done deal na ba talaga ang deal with the ZTE o hindi? Ang gulo na nila,a. Lumalabas na hindi. BOT project? E bakit uutang from the national coffers? ODA ba? Where's the money (napunta sa bulsa nina Abalos?).
Roxas coins "mahiwagang golf game" to refer to where and when the P200M bribery took place.
Faculty protest action at Asian Institute of Management
When: 8 am, Friday, September 28
Where: Main entrance (Paseo de Roxas, in front of Greenbelt Park) Asian Institute of Management, Makati City
Recently, Dr. Victor Limlingan and Prof. Noel Leyco, AFA
chairman and president, respectively were suspended for one year after their
lawyers wrote to the AIM governing boards regarding the unpaid share of faculty
and staff in 70% of the tuition fee increases as mandated by a PD 451 and
subsequently amended by RA 6728. AFA now estimates this amount at around P984
million.
Second month and counting. This is an issue that will, hopefully, not go away. The controversy generated by the anomalous NBN contract with China's ZTE Corp. has again exposed the deep-seated corruption of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. This is not like the 'Hello, Garci' scam which was easily twisted and manipulated by Arroyo's supporters as just a mistake and hence should be forgiven. This is corruption documented, signed and sealed, and there are witnesses whose credibility cannot be easily maligned or dismissed. The Senate should continue the investigations and then make recommendations - hopefully administrative and criminal charges against the officials and individuals involved. Need it be mentioned that they include the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, and by inevitable extension, Pres, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Is there no ends to her infamy? PGMA is now asking CHEd secretary Romulo Neri to go with her to the US when she makes an official visit this Wednesday and ditch the senate inquiry. She's really asking to be impeached, and it boggles the mind why she remains president after so many transgressions, scandals, and abuses, even if we don't count the extrajudicial killings. The middle class is probably so freaked by the idea of having Noli de Castro for president, hence the grim hesitance to call for GMA's impeachment, resignation and ouster.
It's cool, though, how practically everyone is talking about this issue of the ZTE contract. I think that the media has done a very good good of making this issue easy to understand, digestible for the public, and hence, it generates interest and outrage. 'Bulok at kurakot talaga ang gobyerno," as the driver of the jeepney I rode to morning said to his co-pilot after listening to a radio newsreport. "May utang na loob kasi si Arroyo kay Abalos."
In the meantime, GMA's approval ratings have also gone down as a direct result of this latest controversy. No one is actually surprised.
It's so frustrating and infuriating how projects that could do good for the Philippines and help push the economy forward will never really take off because of corruption in government. Everything gets twisted and corrupted and in the end, no one benefits but the unscrupulous crooks in the upper levels of the bureaucracy who broker the project contracts with foreign business partners.
It really isn't as if any of the DOTC experts need to explain the benefits of the NBN project. Mapapakinabangan naman talaga iyan kung maayos ang kontrata at napag-aralan ng mabuti. At kung sa ilalim ng malinis na gobyerno pinapatupad ang poyekto.The problem is, taxpayers are being made to pay through the nose for a white elephant. And for Abalos' trips to China's brothels, the FG's golf clubs, and God knows what else.
Presidential legal adviser bumbler Sergio Apostol says it will be up to the Supreme Court to decide on the legality and validity of the NBN contract. Gad, we sure hope that the SC doesn't vacillate on this one and immediately declare the contract illegal and invalid. Baka naman gawin ng SC ang ginawa nito before on the issue of the EVAT -- suspended it, and then after six months, gave its implementation the go signal.
TxtPower uploads new ringtone on ZTE controversy.
Agham, Agham Youth and Computer Programmers Union hold forum on same. Eggheads rule!
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Pic
tures taken at the Palais de Wilson office of the UN
Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance (UN WGEID).
and Atty. Edre U. Olalia (Secretary General of
Karapatan, Bayan and Central Luzon-Karapatan and Karapatan Special Legal
Consultant on UN Mechanisms, respectively) joined the mother of Jonas Burgos,
Mrs. Edith Burgos, to 
personally file and speak with Ms.Claudia De La Fuente,
Associate Human Rights Officer of the UN WGEID at the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights.
Enriquez and Cruz briefed the
WGEID Officer about the 
disappearances in the Philippines. They said that other serious
human rights violations that continue. They highlighted the case of
Sherryln Cadapan and Karen Empeno.
The WGEID will hold its 3rd
Session and take up its annual report on November 21-30, 2007 at the Palais de
Nations in Geneva.
