Waters under the bridge
Posted on June 30, 2008 - Filed Under Politics, Governance, Uncategorized
As early as June 26th, helicopters from the USS Ronald Reagan began delivering relief supplies to
Rather than go into its standard “We neither deny nor admit” response to address Biazon’s grandstanding, the Pentagon simply decided to move the aircraft carrier . . . and as it turns out, the rest of a carrier battle group which includes an Aegis cruiser, three destroyers and a guided missile frigate . . . to coordinates that are just outside Philippine territory.
The USS Ronald Reagan’s skipper must be shaking his head these days as he oversees his government’s timely and immediate response to a massive natural disaster that has claimed the lives of hundreds. While it should not be difficult to make sure that the waters under his high-tech bridge are not part of Philippine territory, he might be wondering why politicians like Biazon . . . who happens to be an ex-general . . . can’t see that there’s absolutely no point in wasting precious fuel to fly relief supplies and recovery personnel over a longer distance.
The road from Unity
Posted on June 27, 2008 - Filed Under Politics, Headliners
By most accounts, the first public appearance of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton together on the same stage after the bruising Democratic primaries was a day of unity, albeit heavily scripted, including the choice of the venue . . . a small town in New Hampshire called Unity. And everything unfolded in a way that showed some intriguing possibilities.
It was quite possibly by design that Barack and Hillary took the same jet and thereafter spent more time on the bus ride to Unity . . . which gave the former adversaries ample opportunities to joke around and do some serious bonding . . . that by the time they ascended the small stage it was abundantly clear that both of them had indeed buried the hatchet and were ready to work together on the formidable task of electing the first black US president.
If today’s hugely successful Barack-Hillary appearance is followed by a few more in the next couple of weeks, people might start getting used to what was considered near-impossible before today: a Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton ticket.
That tandem would undoubtedly be an unstoppable force on the road to the White House.
Barack makes history but Hillary resists being one
Posted on June 4, 2008 - Filed Under Politics
Barack Obama has effectively become the first-ever African-American to be his party’s presidential standard bearer but what’s Hillary Rodham Clinton now up to?
Her odd metric . . . pointing out that she has garnered more popular votes than Obama . . . can’t possibly set aside the reality that Barack has gone over the required number of delegate votes to be the Democrats’ presumptive nominee.
While I had said much earlier that “The man to beat is a woman.”, I now believe it’s time for Sen. Clinton to show some ‘testicular fortitude’ and deliver a concession speech within the next 24 to 36 hours.
Great Scott! McClellan is no longer Pinocchio
Posted on May 30, 2008 - Filed Under Politics, Governance
White House press secretaries can only be as candid as their prime sources of information that go into their regular press briefings. Unfortunately for Scott McClellan, George W. Bush and the US president’s senior advisers expected him take on the added burden of being the chief propagandist of a sub-surface agenda pertaining to the Middle East that . . . aside from defying common sense . . . clearly had no direct bearing on the interests of the American people in the first place.
McClellan left the White House two years ago after serving Pres. Bush for almost a decade in various capacities but in his just released memoir ‘WHAT HAPPENED: Inside the Bush White House and What’s Wrong With Washington’, he asserts that top officials allowed him . . . inadvertently or not . . . to mislead the public on the White House’s role in outing a CIA agent whose husband had declared that intel which was used to support going to war with Iraq was unverifiable at best:
“I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the seniormost aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.”
“There was one problem. It was not true.”
“I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president’s chief of staff and the president himself.”
McClellan’s book could not have come at a worse time for Republican presidential bet John MaCain. Earlier this week, the former POW declared that he “would never surrender in
Jail time for Nani? Perez the thought.
Posted on May 24, 2008 - Filed Under Politics, Governance
The alleged crime was committed just two days after Gloria M. Arroyo became president in the wake of Joseph Estrada’s ouster. However, for a special reason that has become an open secret, it has taken the Ombudsman all these years to charge Hernando ‘Nani’ Perez . . . Pres. Arroyos’s very first Justice secretary . . . with extorting $2 million from former
Looking back at an extraordinary sequence of events that have unfolded in the past couple of weeks, however, those of us who have been expecting Nani to join Romy Jalosjos in Muntinlupa shortly might as well perish the thought. Consider the following pertinent developments:
- Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez must have deemed that the opportune time to file charges against Perez has finally come because Jimenez . . . who has since withdrawn his lawsuit against Perez in what appears to be part of worming his way back into the good graces of the present administration . . . can no longer be expected to testify even as a witness for the prosecution.
- Instead of charging Perez and his cohorts with plunder inasmuch as $2 million converts to more than the P50 million minimum that qualifies a crime as such, Gutierrez inexplicably opted for extortion and robbery . . . which are both bailable.
- Sandiganbayan presiding justice Edilberto Sandoval has broadly hinted at least twice that he would dismiss the charges if Jimenez . . . who was noticeably absent at Perez’s arraignment last week . . . does not attend subsequent court proceedings.
- Both DOJ sec Raul Gonzalez and Palace chief legal boss Sergio Apostol are in sync in their unsolicited . . . if not improper . . . press statements that the pending charges against their former cabinet colleague are ‘weak’.
- Jesus Santos, who’s the First Gentleman’s attorney and spokesman is now officially lawyering for Nani Perez. And come to think of it, so are Merceditas Gutierrez, Edilberto Sandoval, Sergio Apostol and Raul Gonzalez . . . effectively, albeit unofficially.
There’s a silver lining in all of these apparently orchestrated efforts to handle Perez with kid gloves, however, and I have a feeling that most opposition figures have already realized that Demavera has actually done them a great big favour by omitting a plunder case despite what has been described as a traceable paper trail on the alleged $2 million bribe.
Sometime in the foreseeable future when the weather right . . . as in ‘weather-weather lang’ . . . Perez will be charged with plunder, be barred from posting bail and woefully unable to invoke double jeopardy.
Watch this guy Rolex
Posted on May 18, 2008 - Filed Under Politics, Governance
In the ZTE-NBN telenovela that’s poised to be launched its third season pretty soon, not too many may recall that it was Rolex Suplico . . . a former three-term congressman and currently the vice-gov of Iloilo . . . who went a step further than either Joey de Venecia or Jun Lozada: He took the trouble and shouldered the expense of filing a case with the Supreme Court in August last year on the massively anomalous mega-deal.
This time around, the relentless Rolex has come up with a witness who’s in possession of a slew of photos showing Pres Arroyo and her spouse Mike on the fairways of the Shenzhen golf course some five months prior to the actual signing of national broadband contract.
If the unidentified witness actually shows up at the next tri-committee Senate hearing and provides eyewitness accounts that would disprove the Palace spin that the unannounced Shenzhen visit was purely a ‘social call’, it may just be a matter of time before the beginning of an unceremonious end to what has become perceived as the most corrupt administration ever.
Heck, we wuz hacked!
Posted on May 18, 2008 - Filed Under Uncategorized
PinoyPundit was hacked . . . some mischievous soul managed to insert ‘traffic stats’ code in my version of Wordpress that alerted visitors about a viral threat . . . but after a search for a solution that took an awfully long time, I’ve finally pinpointed and plugged a couple of security vulnerabilities so this rare intrusion should now be a thing of the past, hopefully. My apologies to those of you that were inconvenienced.
As a result of this unwanted development, I’ve decided to switch to Norton 360 which I believe offers much better Internet security than AVG Anti-Virus Pro that I’ve been using for the past several years.
Aside from running the usual spyware and virus scans, 360 also keeps an eye on other potentially exploitable matters such as easily-guessed passwords, browser security issues and the like.
I got the Norton 360 Premiere Edition which allows me to automatically back up my important files . . . up to 10 gig . . . to a secure online location free of charge. The best part: This Symantec product does not require one to have the skills of a techie . . . which I definitely am not.
Highway robbery
Posted on April 13, 2008 - Filed Under Governance
My brother Rey, who’s a New Jersey-based town planner and architect, forwarded an email with magnificent photos of the almost completed Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).
The email’s original sender hints at possible kickbacks of 10% in the freeway’s construction which is obviously way under the 25% to 40% ‘going rate’ . . . an open secret going back more than a decade that has been publicly acknowledged and denounced by Salvador Enriquez who was Budget Secretary during the Ramos administration.
To be sure, there have been persistent charges of overpricing in the construction of the Japanese government-funded project. In fact, a joint congressional probe was conducted in 2006 by the Good Government and Oversight committees. However, ‘operators’ at BCDA may have succeeded in mollifying the solons because the project was allowed to proceed. But a special report 2 months ago by Newsflash is an eye opener:
“Apart from being Japan’s single biggest project loan to the Philippines, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project is also notable for another less edifying reason: It has the biggest cost overrun so far among the ODA-funded projects.
When NEDA approved the project in 1999, the cost was estimated at P15.3 billion. In 2000, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which was implementing it, raised the cost estimate to P18.7 billion. NEDA approved this the following year.”But the lowest bid BCDA got when it auctioned off the contracts between September 2003 and January 2004 was P27 billion. Though it knew that costs had gone up to P25.1 billion, BCDA was hoping competition among the bidders would force down the price.”
NEDA refused to approve the higher cost, prompting BCDA to negotiate with the winning bidder to bring the price down to P20.1 billion. NEDA cleared the award to the Japanese companies but the latest indications are that the cost may go up to P32 billion.”
Which gives a new meaning to ‘highwaymen’.
Adding salt to injury
Posted on April 8, 2008 - Filed Under Governance
Step aside, Joc-joc Bolante. It looks like the fertilizer scam that you allegedly orchestrated has now been overshadowed.
As reported by Malaya . . .
“COCONUT farmers yesterday echoed the call of the Federation of Free Farmers for an investigation on a P2 billion salt fertilization project and corn seed program of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) for violation of government rules on procurement.”
“The coconut farmers belonging to the Pambansang Koalisyon ng Samahang Magsasaka at Mang-gagawa sa Niyugan called the program a waste of money. ‘Failure po ang corn seeds at hunger mitigation program ng Pangulo. Thirty percent lang ang germination rate ng mga mais at late ang delivery ng corn seeds na dapat May pa dumating, kaso dumating ay July at August na.’ ”
“‘Nasa $92 million ang gagastusin sa pag-iimport natin ng asin sa China. Bakit kailangan pa e ang Pilipinas, napapaligiran naman ng dagat. P25 ang cost nito kung bibilhin sa China pero sa palengke P5 lang,’ the group said.”
Why, indeed, was it necessary to import salt . . . at 5 times the retail price at any public market . . . when there has never been a salt shortage in our country?
Okay, there’s the matter of ‘tong-pats’ but who are these PCA people who had the gall to believe that they could actually insult the intelligence of our fellow Filipinos with this unprecedented level of greed and expected to get away with it?
Days of swine and ruses
Posted on April 5, 2008 - Filed Under Governance
Hogging the headlines in the past few days is another scandal that has something to do with sort of ‘rerouting’ around P2.2B in Quedan and Rural Credit Corp. (Quedancor) funds. There are allegations that most of this government lending agency’s 2004 budget to assist farmers in boosting swine production went instead to Pres. Arroyo’s presidential election campaign war chest in 2004. But in response to Sen. Chiz’s demand that the Palace make public the beneficiaries of Quedancor’s loan facility, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol pointed out yesterday that disclosing the identities of the borrowers would run afoul of bank secrecy laws! Besides, why can’t we busybodies out here not wait for the results of an internal audit that’s being conducted by the Department of Agriculture?
But that ruse pales in comparison to the subterfuge that accompanied the Supreme Court’s favorable decision on Romulo Neri’s petition to clam up on 3 key questions that could have shed more light on key details of Pres. Arroyo’s alleged direct criminal complicity in the ZTE-NBN scandal.
As reported by Newsbreak, the majority’s decision, which was penned by newly-appointed Associate Justice Teresita de Castro and concurred in by eight more of her colleagues, was pre-cooked.
Justice de Castro reportedly had a draft of the 35-page decision on March 24th . . . which was the day before the high court went through the motions of rendering an en banc verdict. The justices voted 9 to 6 at around noontime of March 25th, without reading the final draft that was only submitted by ponente De Castro some 3 hours afterwards
Pigafetta was an ‘embedded’ journalist
Posted on April 4, 2008 - Filed Under History
Enumerable articles and quite a few books have been written about Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe, including his supposed ‘discovery’ of an archipelago that subsequently became known as the Philippines. Most of the eyewitness accounts are attributed to Antonio Pigafetta.
But would you believe that Pigafetta was practically a glorified tourist? At best, the adventurous Italian may have been one of the world’s first Read more
No lies shortage
Posted on March 29, 2008 - Filed Under Governance
UP professor Felipe Medalla is a rarity among former public officials. He rarely issues press statements but when he does, he makes excellent sense. As quoted by Malaya yesterday in reference to a looming rice crisis, the former Economic Planning secretary said,
“The collective wisdom of the market should decide importation. The more the government interferes in the market, the more the economy is vulnerable to shocks and crisis.”
Medalla’s words were a polite way of telling Pres. Gloria Arroyo that the existence of Read more
Worst kiss scenario
Posted on March 24, 2008 - Filed Under Politics
Political strategist James Carville . . . along with George Stephanopoulos . . . are credited with the brilliant strategizing of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign. But the outspoken Carville, who’s sometimes referred to as ‘The Crazy Cajun’, clearly miscalculated when he Read more
Ye must go green and sin no more
Posted on March 21, 2008 - Filed Under Religion
The Vatican, through Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, a close ally of Pope Benedict XVI and the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary . . . which is unlike the one in Muntinlupa but one of the Roman Curia’s main courts . . . has announced Read more
Let them eat cassava cake?
Posted on March 21, 2008 - Filed Under History, Governance
In the days leading up to the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, the Queen Consort of Louis XVI, was supposed to have said, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!” (Let them eat cake!) after she was informed that the French masa (pan intended) had no more bread to eat.
Some historians are unsure if Marie Antoinette actually uttered those words but, to cut a long story about an unmercifully shortened reign, the French revolutionaries guillotined the much-disliked royal in 1793.
Death by guillotine is a thing of the past but one hopes that Pres. Gloria Arroyo and the people around her would have a better sense of history. Why? For one thing, Pres. Arroyo and Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap have been less than forthright in assuring the public that there is no Read more
Marquez takes the floor; PacMan takes WBC crown
Posted on March 16, 2008 - Filed Under Pinoys Extraordinaire
With blood flowing from a cut above his right eye and hardly able to see powerful punches being thrown at him by Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao relied on a big brave heart to Read more
Unlike father, unlike son
Posted on March 15, 2008 - Filed Under Governance, Pinoys Extraordinaire
Manila’s Mayor Alfredo Lim has a well-deserved reputation for fairness in enforcing laws . . . albeit sometimes unconventionally.
The mayor had an unusual opportunity to prove this once again yesterday when he was informed of his son’s arrest by Read more
Buenos Diaz, Chiz!
Posted on March 14, 2008 - Filed Under Pinoys Extraordinaire
Two exceptionally super-achieving young Pinoys . . . Illiac Diaz and Sen. Chiz Escudero . . . have something in common with the Queen of Morocco, the King of Bhutan, CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Leonardo di Caprio.
All of the above are no more than 40 years old but, more importantly, they’re Read more
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