Lolo, please sit down and shut up

I came across this article by Lisandro Claudio that sheds a more truthful light to recent happenings, good read.

JPE again?

Filipinos forgive easily. It’s a cliché because it’s true. Do you remember Ferdinand Marcos’s star lawyer who became his Minister of Defense on account of a scheming ruthlessness that mirrored that of his master’s? Yup, that one: the master political operator who faked his own assassination in 1972 to create a pretext for implementing the most draconian executive order in Philippine history. You remember that order right? Proclamation 1081? You know, the declaration of martial law. It was only the declaration that allowed for assassinations, disappearances, tortures, and the politicization of our once relatively professional military.

Oh you remember! Yah, Juan Ponce Enrile: the trapo who dyes his hair more than Manny Villar, who sports shades that make him look like a Filipinized Mafioso. Well, you know what? He’s now a senator for the nth time and Senate President to boot. How? Because he’s switched sides more times than Mike Arroyo has had heart attacks.

He loves playing both sides of the fence, and he’s been doing it since the 60s. Did you know, for instance, that he was the Cojuangco family lawyer who inserted anti-agrarian reform loopholes in the government agreement that allowed Jose Cojuangco (PNoy’s grandfather) to purchase Hacienda Luisita? When his patron Marcos ordered the distribution of the land in the late 60s, Cory’s Kuya Pedro used Enrile legalese to hang on to the property.

Some people might be forgiving of Juan Ponce Enrile because of his role in the People Power revolution or, most likely, political convenience. PNoy, for one, is too preoccupied with former illegal president Arroyo to bother exhuming the skeletons hidden in the closet of men who threatened the unstable democracy that his mother heroically defended. If only Noy had his mother’s vitriol for the chief patron of Gringo and RAM when they launched those coups against a democratically elected government…

In case our president has forgotten, he should feel the shrapnel still lodged in his neck. If he’s comfortable with it, maybe he can show the scar to allies who abandoned Kiko Pangilinan for the trapo for all seasons.

I, for one, think that nobody should forgive Johnny Enrile. Even in the one moment in 1986 when he seemed to side with the people, his motives were ultimately self-serving. Enrile did not bolt the Marcos government to support Cory Aquino. He launched an abortive coup because it was increasingly clear that Marcos would not choose him as his successor. He only sided with Cory because he had no choice; the people who flocked to protect him in Crame were chanting Cory’s name, wearing yellow, and making Laban signs. Enrile was relieved that the people saved his life, but frustrated that he, the dictator in waiting, would have to cede power to an elected democrat. In his frustration, he would back the efforts of his former aide-de-camp and torturer sycophant Gringo Honasan to overthrow the Aquino regime (allow me to once again cite Alfred McCoy’s stellar book Closer than Brothers as a good reference for people curious about this history).

The fact that Johnny Enrile remains in power after all these years is a symbol of the continuity of patronage politics, turncoatism, impunity, and elite democracy in the Philippines. Reinstalling him as the third highest official in the country is an insult to millions of Filipinos clamoring for change.

Emil Jurado nails the Dagger in the clutch

This Article of Emil Jurado says it ALL about the Yellow Leader:

Why I Won't for Noy

If we were watching a basketball game, we would now be in the last two minutes. The May 10 elections is only less than two weeks away, and anything can still happen.

Despite what the poll surveys say, I still believe that it is a four-cornered fight among Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno Aquino III, Nacionalista Party standard bearer Senator Manuel Villar, former President Joseph Estrada of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and even administration candidate former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

I have been a journalist for over half a century and I have covered elections since as early as the Laurel-Quirino fight. I know for a fact that there are so many imponderable factors in Philippine elections.

These imponderable factors are vote buying (especially in the provinces), cheating in spite of an automated election, command votes, violence, failure of the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines, disenfranchisement of voters, power outages and even the weather. Hence, I would prefer not to predict a winner at this point.

Santa Banana, despite avowals by the Commission on Elections and sectors guarding our ballots, and while I’m hoping for the best, I also know for a fact that old habits die hard. We should also not forget the Golden Rule in Philippine elections—he who has the gold rules!

* * *

The only thing I’m sure of is that I will not vote for Aquino. I’ve cited my reasons so many times before. I will say them again.

First and foremost are perceptions (or rumors) that Noynoy is mentally unstable, having been autistic at an earlier age. He has repeatedly refused to undergo a psychiatric exam if only to prove his critics wrong.

And then, at the age of 26, he reportedly violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act by putting up a security agency (bearing his initials, BSA) with his uncle-in-law Len Oreta. The company cornered contracts with sequestered companies during the incumbency of his late mother President Cory Aquino. If this is not conflict of interest, I don’t know what is.

My gulay, Noynoy even had the gall to list the presidential residence on Arlegui Street as the company’s official address!

And then there are the Hacienca Luisita massacres and the Kamaganak Inc. I was among the latter’s victims. I was co-founder of Erectors Inc. (with the late Transportation Minister Totoy Dans). My investment of P200,000 disappeared into thin air.

The same group which comprised Noynoy’s security agency reportedly grabbed an insurance company owned by a Chinese-Filipino who was accused by the Marcos dictators of something. The group then went on to corner, together with the Government Service Insurance System, all insurance contracts of government firms.

Santa Banana, some people really laughed all the way to the bank. The big scam at the time was the GSIS’ striking an insurance deal with Lloyds of London. Can you imagine the kickbacks that some people must have had?

This is why I can’t stomach voting for the son of Ninoy and Cory.

* * *

The only thing that’s getting clear to me is the race for the vice presidency with Senator Mar Roxas surging ahead of rival Loren Legarda, although this doesn’t guarantee Mar’s victory yet.

I have always believed that Mar should not have given way to Noynoy. Roxas’ advocacies and programs of government are clearer than Aquino’s.

Sadly, the Yellow Fanatics and everybody else around Noynoy believes that he is the better candidate. They were overwhelmed by the outpouring of grief and support upon Cory’s death.

Filipinos are truly sentimental, sometimes letting their emotions cloud good judgment. Unfortunately, that sentimentalism is still showing in poll surveys. This is why Noynoy is still leading.

As for Loren, I’m not giving up on her, either, because of her advocacy for the environment. I also cannot believe that Loren has lost her constituency that made her No. 1 senator during the 2001 and 2007 senatorial elections.

* * *

As I’ve said so many times before, all elections are local. People in the provinces, and even in many areas of the National Capital region, don’t really care who will make it as president, vice president and even senators.

This is why national candidates rely on local politicians to carry them.

I have to say it, but the Philippines is still very much a feudalistic state. People in the provinces rely much on local leaders to provide food on the table, livelihood, education and health care.

That’s why the campaign line of local candidates is: “If you are in trouble and you go to me for help, I also want your help to vote for somebody I am endorsing.”

And that means money for local politicians. In fact, the rivalry is so heated in some areas that there is bloodshed. To local politicians, funding is survival —it spells the difference between victory and defeat.

My gulay, why do you think movie icon Fernando Poe Jr. lost? The usual talk is that he was cheated but in reality, his funding dried up!

* * *

Commission on Elections Chairman Jose Melo should not be pressured by business sectors identified with the Yellow Brigade of Noynoy and other segments of society to have a manual count of the May 10 polls.

If Melo and his fellow commissioners relent and submit to this pressure, they in effect would be admitting that automation will not work, and that would be a reflection on the credibility and integrity of the Comelec after it paid P7.1 billion to Smartmatic to give us an automated election.

The only reason I see why Noynoy’s fanatics are insisting on manual count and audit is that they don’t trust Comelec to give us a credible election.

They are also trying to make a connection between the possible results of the automated count and what happened in the 1986 snap elections. This was one of the triggers of the Edsa Revolution.

* * *

For the May 10 polls, it will be difficult to contemplate the mechanics of a parallel independent count and a manual audit of results. Such move will open the floodgates of results that can be different from the automated count. And right there and then, a candidate can claim he was cheated. In this case, it could be Noynoy, who now thinks he is a sure winner.

Obviously, some of the faces around Noynoy who are salivating for a return to power are dreaming of a repeat of the walkout of the Comelec computer people during the vote counting in 1986. And for a People Power Revolution. Santa Banana, Noynoy is truly his mother’s son!

* * *

In the 1986 snap elections, all that was needed to put to question the entire electoral process was the walkout of 30 Comelec computer technicians to protest the manipulation of the official results to favor Marcos. It was a tipping point. That walkout was re-enacted at the Batasan Pambansa when 50 members of the Parliament then also walked out after Comelec proclaimed Marcos the winner.

It was at this point that then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and then PC/INP chief Fidel Ramos broke away from the Marcos regime and led a mutiny leading to the ouster of the dictator. The rest, as they say, is history.

Recall that Noynoy talked of revolt following a failure of elections, leading to non-proclamation. Could this actually be “Plan B” for his victory?

Tony Lopez speaks!

I know I have been raving about Manila Standard articles recently, particularly by the editorial columnists Emil Jurado and Jojo Robles.

Today's post however, comes from a man named Tony Lopez, publisher-editor of BizNewsAsia weekly newsmagazine and six-time president of the Manila Overseas Press Club or MOPC, founding member of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, and a long-time member of the National Press Club.

MANNY VILLAR CAN DO IT

Manila Times

Tony Lopez

April 20, 2010

For the first time, a certifiable tycoon is running for president, Senator Manuel Bamba Villar Jr.

Villar’s listed property holding company, Vista Land and Life-scapes, is worth P17.25 billion. He owns about 70 percent of that, or P12 billion.

Financing his own presidential campaign, the senator is his own vested interest. He is not beholden to various business vested interests and lords of all kinds—political lords, warlords or drug lords.

Among the nine presidential candidates, Villar is the only one with the track record and experience to fulfill what he vows to do. “What my opponents have been promising, I have done it,” he says without a touch of hyperbole. “Who can run this country better?” he asks his rapturous audience.

As for Noynoy Aquino, well, he has Time magazine and the description by the prestigious The Economist—“nondescript senator.” Time itself, despite a brave effort to portray him as the savior of the Philippines , concedes Aquino’s is an “a undistinguished political career.”

Villar in the late 1990s built a billion-dollar enterprise with only P10,000 in start-up money. He has built more houses—250,000 units by his own count—than any other developer. He has planted more trees—one million, by his own count—than any other environmentalist and green do-gooder. And in the sense that housing stimulates no less than 18 other industries, he has triggered more economic stimulus than any other CEO, in government or in private business.

Villar is the only prospective Chief Executive since the War to have been both speaker of the House of Representatives and president of the Senate. As speaker, the House received its highest approval rating. As Senate president, the Upper Chamber got its highest approval rating. That’s leadership.

“I am offering to our people my experience as speaker of the House, my experience as Senate president,” Villar told a group of businessmen, Filipino and Chinese, in Greenhills recently.

“I also want to share with you what none of them [the other presidential candidates] can offer,” he deadpanned, “my business experience.” “I know exactly what we, businessmen, want. I am offering you the excitement of living in a country with a very vibrant economy.”

“I make no guarantees,” he cautioned, “but I can tell you, I know how to do it.” “I have done many things in my life that a lot of people know could not be done.” “Gentlemen, ladies, I can do it,” he thundered. The crowd responded with a loud applause.

After his brief speech, Villar fluttered table-to-table, glad-handing and pumping hands. He sat down at the table reserved by juice and airline tycoon Alfred Yao and engaged the businessmen in can-do talk. They included the PCCI’s top brass Mike Varela, Donald Dee, Jun Ortiz Luis, Ed Lacson and Jess Varela. They seem to like Villar earnestly. Then he took his dinner at the table reserved by the Zamora brothers, congressman Ronaldo and businessman Manuel and property magnate Toti Cariño.

“Villar has a broad experience in getting things done,” says Ronnie Zamora. “He has achieved very difficult things.” “Compare him to Noynoy [Aquino, the Liberal Party frontrunner] . When you see him work or not work, you see that he [Aquino] cannot hack it,” the veteran legislator sneers. Ronnie and Noynoy were together in Congress.

“He has the strong will to do what he says he will do,” adds businessman Donald Dee. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, the nemesis of President Arroyo and First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo, believes that the Nacionalista Party standard-bearer will be a good president.

“Manny will be a very good president,” Cayetano asserts. “Unang-una may takot sa Diyos. He has a passion to get things done. By nature, ayaw niyang nagpapatalo, meaning if people tell him you cannot solve poverty or you cannot finish the land reform or you cannot irrigate this amount of, by nature hahanap ng paraan ‘yan.”

“I’ve seen him do that in the speakership fight—when they said don’t fight Erap because he is a sitting president. I’ve seen that when he appointed me blue ribbon chair despite the protests from Malacañang. And then, nag-aaral talaga siya.”

Cayetano says Villar’s fight to become president and deliver on his promises to the people “is all about legacy. He wants to leave his children a name that means excellence.”

“I don’t think he will be a corrupt president,” the neophyte senator notes. According to him, every person has either a passion, which is positive, or lust, which is negative. “Manny’s is not one of lust,” Cayetano says.

Alan adds: “He is in love with getting things done. He probably will be the only president in a long time that has more money than he will want to get when he becomes president . . . If Villar goes after money when he becomes president, he will only destroy his name, which he will never do.”

BSA: Proof of Noynoy's Early Corruption Exercises

I received this report regarding a major anomaly during the past Aquino administration.

That anomaly is NEPOTISM (which Cory stated she was against), GRAFT and CORRUPTION. (which Noynoy is stating he is against)

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BEST SECURITY AGENCY ni BENIGNO SIMEON AQUINO, III

HINDI AKO MAGNANAKAW? … SAY THAT AGAIN?

He is running an entire campaign based supposedly on good governance. Everyone else is evil, only he is good.

Magnanakaw ang iba. Siya daw hindi. Emphasis on “daw.”

At first, the strategy seems sound. How else is he supposed to go head-to-head with somebody like Manny Villar, his closest rival?

Villar is second to none in laws authored and passed, Aquino authored zero bills into law – the father is a hero, the son is a zero.

Ang mambabatas na walang ipinasang batas ay pangulong hindi kayang panguluhan ang sambayanan.

Villar made houses affordable for the poor; Aquino’s biggest accomplishment in the private sector is that he made Nikes fashionable for the wealthy.

Villar, despite poverty, was a self-made millionaire at 28. Aquino, despite his family’s affluence, spent 10 of his 12 years in the private sector working in family-owned corporations – the Hacienda Luisita and Best Security Agency or BSA.

The latter, which he set up himself, had his initials BSA – Benigno Simeon Aquino, III.

Aquino sat on the security agency’s Board of Directors, while his uncle Antolin “Len” Oreta, Jr. acted as BSA chairman and president.

Oreta is the husband of former Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta who now sits as chairperson of the Early Child Care and Development Council and holds the rank of Cabinet member in the Arroyo administration, along with several other Aquino relatives.

Other directors of BSA were Cipriano Lacson, director-treasurer, George Gaddi, Bienvenido Reyes, Alexander Lopez and Jacob Acuna, known friends and allies of the Aquino family.

The Arlegui House, the official resident of then president Aquino, was declared the company address on its SEC registration documents.

According to Aquino, they never dealt with government. Records say otherwise.

During the incumbency of then president Aquino, BSA secured contracts from government such as Philippine National Construction Corp. and the facilities and buildings of sequestered companies under the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

Its other big clients were AsiaTrust, the Tanduay Distillers of taipan Lucio Tan and Uniwide.

The mere involvement of a the presidential first-son in a company that bids to secure contracts from government, the head of which is his mother, violates the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act of 1965 which states that:

“unlawful for any person having family or close personal relation with any public official to capitalize or exploit or take advantage of such family or close personal relation by directly or indirectly requesting or receiving any present, gift or material or pecuniary advantage from any other person having some business, transaction, application, request or contract with the government, in which such public official has to intervene.”

Noynoy Aquino was 26 at that time. At worst, what he did qualifies as corruption, at best, it constitutes sheer ignorance that he could not tell the difference between what is ethical and not.

Either way, a Noynoy Aquino, does not deserve to be president. The promise of a good government falls flat on its face, on both instances. His anti-corruption platform is a sham; his theory on good governance, hollow in the absence of a good leader.

Nagsinungaling si Noynoy nang sinabi niyang pamumunuan niya ang laban kontra sa katiwalian. Sa murang edad, ay ipinakita niyang salat man ang kanyang kakayahang mamuno ay sapat naman ang kanyang kakayahang magsamantala sa posisyon ng kanyang ina.

Tama nga ang sabi ng iba, kapatid ng sinungaling ang magnanakaw.

And yet again, this was proven true when Aquino was confronted about the issue. He said he no longer had any interest in the company 3 years after it was formed – his resumé and own official website alongside documents from the SEC say otherwise, Aquino was a member of the BSA Board until 2002. Once more, the man was caught lying through his teeth.

Malinis daw, madungis pala.

GloriAquino: A Graphic

I recall that Sen. Manny Villar was once dubbed as the REAL administration candidate.

His name was even intertwined with Gloria Arroyo: "VILLARROYO"

This rumor is totally BOGUS though, honestly speaking.

Connect the dots:

• Noynoy and the Liberal Camp is running on a hate campaign against everyone, with specific focus on Gloria Arroyo and her administration.

• Gloria Arroyo is keeping her distance from the administration candidate, Gilbert Teodoro, because she is costing him much needed votes.

• The Liberal Camp capitalized on this situation by inserting Noynoy's main rival, Sen Manny Villar, into the mix.

• They started this unnecessary rumor that Gloria is backing off Teodoro to support Villar, hence the 'Villarroyo' monicker.

• Now, they are able to hit 2 birds with one stone. Their HATE CAMPAIGN is further fueled with this rumor they started.

• This benefits them given the fact that THERE ARE PLENTY OF MEMBERS IN THE LIBERAL PARTY THAT ARE FROM THE ARROYO ADMINISTRATION AND THERE ARE STILL CURRENT OFFICIALS THAT ARE RELATIVES OF NOYNOY AQUINO

In Disarray

Dis-ar-ray:

noun

1. confusion; dismay; a state of disorder; lack of discipline

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Liberal Party is currently in disarray.

Some candidates within the Yellow Camp are not in good terms because of bets that are clashing. To name a few...

Chiz Escudero (a.k.a. the-guy-who-didn't-get-allowance-from-his-'ninong'-Danding) has vowed to support and campaign for the Liberal Party standard-bearer Noynoy Aquino BUT is openly supporting for Makati Mayor Jojo Binay for Vice-President... Which would clearly irk the Party's VP bet, Mar Roxas.

And what is Noynoy doing about this? I read in the Inquirer last week about this issue and it seems that Noynoy is NOT EVEN TRYING TO MEND THE TWO. He merely said that Chiz is WITHIN HIS TEAM AND NOT WITH THE LIBERAL PARTY.




Oh my god... So Noynoy has his own team and he also has the Liberal Party with him??? Ano ba talaga manong? Noynoy seems to be only thinking of his own damn self, and is set to do everything and anything regardless of who he tramples upon, just to claim the presidential seat.

Of course, Noynoy for me is a straight up idiot. But I would have at least respected him if he conducted himself properly within his group, where he should be comfortable with. But NO, he's just letting people get pissed and irking each other rather than mending it.

Another situation is the case of Serge Osmena III. He was one of the ORIGINAL Liberal Party members dating to 1998 where he ran under the party, and therefore has some kind of right to be included and supported by the party. To his disappointment however, NOYNOY allowed the inclusion of Ralph Recto, a rival of Serge Osmena, to run under the Liberal Party. We all know that Recto is a 'bata' of Gloria Arroyo, so what of the 'hate campaign against the Arroyo administration' now huh?

Noynoy... EPIC FAIL.

Aquino... the NON-LEADER of LP

"Sandali lang, hindi ako nagpa-utos na kunin sila, si Mar yun!"

I came across an article that shows just how incapable Noynoy is in managing people. His own party, the Liberal Party is not intact because Noy cannot make rival senators coincide with each other.

This is not surprising since Noynoy has never REALLY managed people or a group. I mean, when he was congressman of Tarlac and Senator of the country, he didn't even pass ONE law!!! Lito Lapid was even able to pass ONE. The son of a national icon and a senator was not able to pass one measly law in his 9 years as a public official??? disappointing... no, EMBARASSING rather..

anyway, the article:

Press Release

March 26, 2010

LP infighting shows

Aquino flawed leader

Nacionalista Party spokesman and senatorial candidate Adel Tamano said yesterday the infighting within the camp of the Liberal Party shows weakness in the leadership of its standard-bearer Sen. Benigno Aquino III.

“The fact that some of LP’s senatorial bets are fighting among each other indicates a leadership flaw in Aquino. If you cannot even unite your own people, how can you do the same for the rest of the country?” Tamano said.

According to reports, Aquino has drawn up plans to keep two “feuding" senatorial bets from crossing paths.”

They were referring to former senators Ralph Recto and Serge Osmeña III.

"The LP has been unfair to Serge. Serge has gone out of his way to support Noynoy and then the LP turns its back on him by including Recto in the team,” Tamano said.

“The vital question is whether the LP has the leadership to unite Filipinos. Since LP can’t even unite Serge and Ralph, then the obvious answer is no,” he added.

Tamano said that this was in stark contrast with the leadership of Sen. Manny Villar, whom the party said had to deal with the same problem with the party’s senatorial slate.

“He brought together militant senatorial candidates Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza, military men Ariel Querubin and Ramon “Mon-Mon” Mitra, and Bongbong Marcos, son of former president Ferdinand Marcos, in what is arguably the widest alliance of sectorally divergent groups in the 2010 polls,” Tamano said.

He added that these NP candidates have three things in common: first, they are each other’s traditional political rivals; second, they are all opposed to the Arroyo administration; and third, they all support Villar’s bid for the presidency.

“Surprisingly, they have gotten along and may well have established, against expectations, camaraderie and team play,” he said. #