Explosive, Not So Explosive: Jinggoy, Miriam, and the Blind Item

 So today, it all went like this: 

But seriously, I have to agree with Miriam Santiago here. This is what we get when we elect actors to the senate! Literally, we get a court of jesters creating drama here, there and everywhere. They give us quite a soap opera, don’t they?

Jinggoy’s speech wasn’t particularly explosive, actually. It was hyped to be one, but really what was that? A lame attempt to confuse people and make all this a he said she said scenario?

AND, in case any one has forgotten Jinggoy Estrada, along with his friends Revilla and Enrile voted guilty during the Corona impeachment trial. 

So, I don’t know… If Jinggoy's accusation is true then he accepted this bribe? - or appeal or incentive or whatever it is they want to call it?! So he took it then? (If so, then isn't he self incriminating himself for selling his own vote?)

And, I could also believe Miriam when she said that Enrile is behind Jinggoy’s speech and the strategy that goes with it.

BUT the bigger explosion of the day is Miriam’s blind item.

And, if it’s true that it was Enrile who funded the Zambo rebellion.

Well, wow… What a man we have here.  

People were: Hostaged. Killed. Raped. Starved. Displaced. Terrorized…

All that, so he can pretend to have high blood and hide inside a hospital? So he can hold on to more power in his remaining years?

And, the Zamboanga siege is still on going and the lives of the people who would survive would forever be changed. (And this is no drama, this is reality.)

We have not even talked about the rebels who were recruited under false pretense. Those who were promised money/jobs/other items or told that they will only do minor task and not actually participate in the violence. These people who are now branded as rebels didn’t even believe in the so called cause their rebellion was allegedly for.

There are no words that can be said for commanding a senseless rebellion, knowingly sending innocent and even not so innocent men into their deaths, just because you can and just because it serves your purpose.

No words, perhaps, but karma.

-

On a side note:

-         -  Funny, how the mega star reacted via tweet as expected, quite outrageously and defensively.

-         - And, the man who refuses to fade away with dignity takes the opportunity to make another appearance in the media: Mr. Corona says that Jinggoy has vindicated him. Ok dude, whatever. 

Tanda, Sexy and Pogi

How funny these code names are not even clever or inconspicuous. They read like a gossip rag blind item alias. Just classy, isn’t it?

Anyway... What is there to say? I’m not surprised these three are in cahoots with Napoles. What is there to be surprised about? I never saw them as saints.

15 boxes of evidence on the PDAF case and on the 3 senators, pic from inquirer

Tanda 

Oh JPE, you and your clever mind and yet still we find you here. I still stand by the idea that there is a gap (though perhaps smaller than it should be considering his age) on his understanding of the youth and the modern times. Somewhere I feel that there is a generation gap with his understanding of today’s political landscape that he keeps insisting on pulling all these stunts (The same applies to all other trapos out there.)   

JPE, aka Tanda, you should have quit while you were ahead. Sometime after the Corona trial when your good name was restored, I thought you were looking to leave a good impression. Somehow I thought maybe you were looking to leave an image of good legacy. You should have stopped there.

And, now look where we are? I shake my head from side to side.

And, allegedly he’s sick now. How very trapo of you, Mr. JPE.

Sexy

Jinggoy, aka Sexy - To be fair, I was starting to really respect you as a legislator for the sheer reason that you were starting to make sense in these senate probes. I mean, I don’t particularly like you but at least I didn’t think of you as an airhead the way I think of other senators as airheads.

But, hey, how can I or anyone ignore the huge amount that you're involve with, with Napoles? Ironic that your dad was impeached because of plunder charges and here we are now.

Pogi

Bong, aka Pogi -  Obviously, I never respected you. And, yes, you are one of those that I think of as an airhead. Not one of the things I’ve heard you say in the senate floor was of actual substance and very prominent in my mind was the memory of your ridiculous diatribe during that so called inquisition on that Hayden Kho bruhahaha (which, incidentally, is just ironic since it's been said that you have lot of extra marital affairs).

And, seriously though, I’ve a beef with senators being such airheads on the senate floor. You’d think you get elected and you stay there for a few years, you could at least read up and have intelligent opinions and statements about things – about anything remotely substantial (And NOT, decide to make a big splash over sex tapes). At least people like Jinggoy and even Trillanes make an effort. This dude, he thinks he can just be “pogi” and it’s all set. 

To be honest though, I don’t even see it. I don’t find him “pogi” at all.

A friend of mine recently told me “grabe talaga itong si Bong Revilla, he’s just the epitome of trapo, actor version.” That is, he is a trapo politically, yes, but on camera he is also the equivalent of a trapo because he keeps on doing the same old lame cheesy movies (assumed to be targeted for the masses.)

And really, his whole existence, down to his code name is all just downright cheesy and everything about him is typical of trapos, so sleazy and so epal.  

And, here we find him at the top of Napoles’ list. He’s the number 1 politician to benefit from Napoles’ scheme. As if he needs any more evidence that he is the winner of all trapo behavior. 

Binay & Zamboanga

Binay

The moment I heard of a vague notion that VP Binay wanted to be included in the Zamboanga issue, I thought: Eto nanaman... And visions of him riding an amphibian vehicle, going around the flooded streets of Makati, flashed before me.

Binay and son on the streets of flooded Makati, photo from dzmm

Suddenly, pictures of Binay’s relief goods wrapped in “office of the vice president” bags appeared online. (I was going to post them here but when I was looking for the link – Lo and Behold – they disappeared!!!)

But anyway, humor me and just imagine it… VP Binay going to Zamboanga with his son the Mayor of Makati (for that matter, what business does he, the Makati mayor, have there I wonder?), giving out relief goods in the VP's very own epal packaging… (The seal of office of the VP was printed and his full name was also printed) Then, also, insisting on being a negotiator because he says he used to be Nur Misuari's school seatmate.

First, re the epal bags: Huli ka na sa balita Mr.VP. Luma na yan. Nag trend na ang anti-epal campaign. Madami na napaso. Pero, talaga lang, gagawin mo pa din? 

I don’t know. Maybe you’d like to be a little more discreet? Print like a smaller print of your name or something on those bags, why don’t you? (Oh, how I wish I had those pictures) Really, how efficient of your team to have these bags ready, printed and available, or do you have stocks of these bags just cause you never know when tragedy might strike?

And, as for that botched ceasefire announcement… What was that?!

What’s worse than inserting yourself in a negotiation that you were not originally in, effectively undermining the people who were supposed to be legitimately doing the task --- is to insert yourself, publicly annouce a ceasefire when there was none, effectively botching it completely. 

People were confused. News outfits reported the ceasefire. The Zamboanga people had a ray of hope…. 

And then, apparently, there really was no ceasefire. What was that?!

Mr. Binay: Epic Fail.

Zamboanga

I don’t know about you but I find the timing of this very suspicious.

While it is true that these groups have long had their grievances and have been feeling left out and what not…This is all old news.

I am not saying their claims and rants are baseless or unimportant (to be honest, I am not that informed to make a remotely knowledgeable comment on this), all I am saying is: Why now? What triggered this sudden attack?

And, what do they really want?

It seems to me their refusal to even give a sense of what they really want, what their demands are, and their continued insistence on shooting innocent people and keeping them hostage just indicates that they are out to simply make noise and make a mess of things, all while claiming to do it for religion or independence (or whatever else they claim this is about). 

I am just saying, I will not be surprised if this was instigated by all these people who are or about to be implicated in the pork barrel case. It has been reported that the captured rebels said they were promised P10-15K if they joined in on the fight. (So wow, they are even getting paid for this.)

Is it a distraction or a means to destabilize the current government or something along the lines of these conspiracies? I will not be surprised if this is really the case - if only because I cannot see what the point is of all this? 

I don't see the point. Lives lost. Neighborhoods displaced. The poor just gets poorer. And for what? 

#MillionPeopleMarch

I will admit to it, I want to wear white and at the very least drop by the march but I am otherwise occupied so I sadly can’t be there.

I support what the march stands for. It is not about anarchy, it is about citizens voicing out their cry against the pork barrel and everything it stands for.

I am just glad I have a few hours to tune into the media coverage of the march before I have to be busy again. I support the cause in spirit and will be tuning in via the internet for news and updates.

One thing to note though, apparently, a certain Mr. and Mrs. Corona were spotted trying to attend the march and was heckled, booed and driven away!

Well, HELLOOOOO what do you expect?! Mr. Corona, were you expecting everyone to open their arms and suddenly hug you since you wore white?! (Maybe he just can’t resist a themed t-shirt day? Remember he kept asking his cohorts to wear different color shirts back then?)

Unfortunately, white apparently isn’t his color. Everyone kept commenting on his man boobs. Just. Simply. Hilarious.

I still cannot believe his nerve. Seriously. 

Also, it has been said that the opposition are trying to ride on this event and make it an anti-Pnoy thing. I would like to believe that our democracy is relatively evolved than those of, say, the Arab Spring countries where opposing forces keep trying to angle for a power struggle amidst the fray and chaos. (On this note, the discussion of new democracies, the Arab Spring and it’s growing pains, should be also be discussed another day).

Let us be clear with this though: TODAY is a cry against the pork barrel and everything it represents. It is a cry for the government to do something about all of this.

TODAY is NOT a rally to bring the current administration.

The nerve of these opposition people but, I suppose, such people never sleep. I wouldn’t expect them to anyway.  

In a country where often the hot new issue makes everyone forget about the previous week's hot issue... and last week we were hit by the year's Habagat among the many major things that happened last week (and so many they were).... I'm sure the culprits are crossing their fingers and hoping we've all forgotten everything.

BUT let today's march be a reminder to you Janet Napoles: We have not forgetten you!

Let the games begin: Where in the world is Janet Napoles? 

Commentaries on issues of the week

I’ve heard these commentaries from various people I've recently spoken to. 

Some of them are funny. Some of them, I must say, worries me. 

On Snowden:

Person A (holding up a newspaper): Why is Russia so thick skinned like this, giving asylum to Snowden with their buddy buddy with the US?

On Napoles:

Person A: Stupid Napoles, she should have gotten out of the country earlier. She already was able to get so much money, why was she still staying?

ME:  Um, you know Napoles is a (alleged) criminal. We should want her to be caught.  

-

Person B: Well, for me, these things are ok (corruption), as long as they’re done well.

-

On Shootings:

ME: Oh, so you study at (insert US school)? Wait… isn’t that the one with the shooting?

Person C: Yeah, but let’s face it… All schools have shootings these days.

On Egypt:

Person D (watching CNN): O, stupid Egyptians, look now they don’t have a president. They shouldn’t have revolted, look where they are now.

ME: Well, they were revolting against a longtime dictator. I’m sure they didn’t know this would happen.

Person D: Well, they should have had thought of a replacement before they overthrew him.

ME: I think initially they were looking to the military, which they believed to be credible, to lead for a while but now there’s a power struggle and it seems the military is still inclined with the old regime.

Person D: They should have asked the old guy to stay, he’s been there for years, and he must know what he was doing.

ME: Hmm?

On Habagat

ME: Grabe naman nitong Habagat.

Person D: What’s Habagat?

ME: Hello. It’s been on the news for days.

Person E: Ah monsoon rains, ang lalim lalim pa ng term.

Filipino Pride: The Apprentice Asia & FIBA Asia

The Apprentice Asia

I used to tune in the Apprentice in its early days. I know Donald Trump can be cheesy but what can I say? The concept of a business/entrepreneurial reality show is just something that interests me despite it's potential cheesiness. 

I haven’t tuned in to any of that last few seasons though so I really didn't make a point of tuning in to the Asian version until I found out a Filipino won. I was able to watch a replay of the season finale on AXN. I must say, Jonathan Yabut makes me proud. His performance on the show was impressive and his personal story is a good one.

"you're hired"

He mentioned that he was also a fan of the show from its early days and was familiar how the game was played and so he played it well. His opponent, the Singaporean lawyer, strikes me to be very true to her roots, in that Singaporeans are seen to be more stiff and more clinical. The stereotype is that they are achievers and competitors, yes, but are also seen as too academic. During the final task and the last boardroom interview, it seemed to me that the Singaporean girl somewhat cracked and at some point she was in tears. She kept on saying she has a mix of smarts and emotions. I don’t know if that convince me. I guess, it didn’t convince Mr. Fernandes either.   

Meanwhile Jonathan Yabut mentioned that he used a brand of Filipino "diskarte" with regards to his strategy. And, really, in life and in business, it can't be all straight laced rules. Life is unpredictable, circumstances are unpredictable and certainly business is unpredictable. So, I suppose a pinch (or more so) of "diskarte" is a good thing to utilize in The Apprentice. 

Jonathan Yabut is certainly a good story. He was educated through scholarships and remained an achiever through his stints in the corporate world.  After his Apprentice win, he was quoted as saying "When I wear this Filipino flag pin, it's not because I'm too nationalistic. It's because I want to serve as that inspiration to the rest of my country that there is hope, that I represent that hope in them, sir. That despite the fact that you may be from poor beginnings, you can make it big"

I don’t know, but it’s these things, (relatively) small victories that we Filipinos also should celebrate.

I like the idea of Jonathan Yabut. His message is simple yet it is positive and it is about hope.

He is a positive representation of the country, a nice counter image to all the negative things that the world has assumed / may assume about Filipinos.

FIBA ASIA

Round 2, Group E rank #1 team is the Philippines!

Must say, the sometime sports groupie that I am was quite happy that I was able to catch the game that put our team in the top spot (Philippines vs. Hong Kong) despite the fact that it was such a terribly slow and sadly pathetic game.

More than half of the time Hong Kong was playing poorly and, unfortunately, the Philippines played worse than them. For a while, I wasn’t sure what to think (because I haven’t watched any of the FIBA games so far). So I was like: Was our team so poorly formed? Why is this group of guys playing worse than UAAP teams? Isn’t this supposed to be the national team? How did we even win our other games? How did we get to round 2? So the other countries were even worse than these 2?! What is happening?!

SLOW: Hong Kong vs. Philippines 3rd Quarter - 37 vs 36 score!

Afterwards, I read online that apparently some players got injured and were sore after the Philippines vs. Qatar game. So the plan was for these star players to get reduced playing time while the other players are left to work against Hong Kong, which hasn't won a game in round 2. Unfortunately, this plan backfired when Hong Kong actually tried to play to win, even if it won't make a difference for their standing (they will be eliminated regardless).

BUT ANYWAY, it all ends well as the Philippines eventually won against Hong Kong and, as a bonus, topped Group E in round 2. So, it’s on to the Quarterfinals against Kazakhstan we go on Friday.

Little victories – is what I said that we should celebrate so, ok, let’s celebrate this first then.

First place in Group E: feels like 2^nd place overall, for now.   

Royal Baby Watch + The SONA

Royal Baby Watch

While trouble shooting my laptop and internet connection and doing some work done, I tuned into the Royal Baby coverage. I was never an enthusiast for the royals, well the current ones, though I did read my share of books and watch several shows/movies about historical British royals.

I don’t know, Prince William never did it for me. Princess Diana thrived when I was too young to care. And, I think Kate Middleton seems too (gasp) boring. I don’t even like her fashion choices (though I get it, she needs to look respectable and squeaky clean).

I’ve read some regency (embarrassed smile) romance novels recently and all I can say is, Kate, you’ve really moved on up in the world, my dear.

From a pretty townie (which likely possess average smarts and talent – just because we’ve not heard anything about her intelligence, career prospects or anything…) to a duchess and mother to the future King, you’ve so made it.  

I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t be saying this, except the mini documentary I saw made it seemed like she somewhat sought to befriend him (then again, if we were enrolled there, wouldn’t we also try to?). The editorial slant just felt mildly predatory to me, that's all, but who really knows?

And... just when you think it's over... Now, the fuss is about the baby's name.... Any bets???

The SONA

So, ok, I confess, I wasn’t able to catch it. I heard it was long. And, I’ve no time to read the transcript or look into the issues in detail yet. 

photo from the Philippine Star website

I did catch a couple of programs discussing the SONA and caught some clips from the news.

I will skip commenting on the ridiculous glorified saya fashion show. (Normally, I am an enthusiast of fashion but not this time) 

Generally, everyone said it was good enough. It’s above average. Some critics even gave it high marks.

I, personally, still approve of the very Tagalog approach to it.

It has been said that the SONA was here and there. There was a lot of criticism of what was not mentioned or discussed: FOI bill, pork barrel, the South China Sea, and the sex for flight issue. Also, the Customs department got a lot of flak, Ruffy Biazon’s resignation was rejected. Hmm?

But, still, the country is on the up. From a 10 year or so decline from the previous administration, we are on the upward trend now just 2-3 years into Pnoy’s term. No matter how you look at it, it’s still an economic turnaround, even if you say that it hasn’t tricked down to the masses.  

Hey, an upward trend that still has not tricked down is still better than a downward trend that’s bringing everyone further down.   

AND I still stand by this, though I could name a few cynical people I know that would disagree, he is championing an anti-corrupt slogan and this is (you’d think it would be obvious): Good.