in fairness to the president

it was a kneejerk reaction, i admit, the fear of what else president aquino and the house of reps could railroad, given the surprisingly speedy impeachment of corona.  it brought back tense memories of the nograles congress’s attempt back in 2009 to rush through the transformation of the legislature into a constituent assembly, the easier, the faster, to foist charter change on a chacha-suspicious public.  i had visions of the aquino-belmonte team  succeeding where arroyo-nograles failed, and it was scary.

but okay, benefit of the doubt, credit where credit is due.  would that the president apply the same kind of zeal to getting passed the RH bill and the Freedom of Information Act both pending, and dragging, in Congress, and the same kind of passion and creativity and transparency in turning around the economy through appropriately drastic rather than quick-fix measures.

read Huffington Post‘s Of Circuses And Sanity In The Philippines by Edsel Tupaz and Daniel Wagner.

Comments

  1. manuelbuencamino

    After Corona’s stump speech at the Supreme Court steps yesterday, his spokesman Midas Marquez told the press that there would be no further word from Corona who would now focus on his defense. Lo and behold, tonight at a gathering sponsored by the Public Attorneys Office, Corona showed and delivered another stump speech attacking the president. He really should resign and run on the 2013 Kampi senatorial slate.

    That’s the third time in three weeks that Marquez lied. First, he lied about the TRO being in full force and effect. The Court actually had to vote on the issue after he made his statement just to cover up for his lie. Note that in this vote one of the Arroyo justices actually switched his vote.
    Second lie was in that newspaper column where he said Congress was changing the rules to railroad Corona’s impeachment by not referring the complaint to the justice committee first. The rule is once 1/3 of Congress signs the impeachment there is no need for referral and it is automatically transmittable to the Senate. The third instance I already mentioned in the first paragraph.

    Here’s another thing: At a TV interview where it was pointed out to Marquez that the court holiday inconvenienced a lot of people with pending cases, Marquez dismissed the issue by replying that if it’s okay to postpone hearings for a christmas party then more so when it involves a question of great national importance. So Marquez thinks it’s permissible to suspend hearings for a christmas party? Then how about a birthday party or anniversary or a baptism or a golf tournament? He said he as court administration would not discipline the judges and court employees who took a holiday and engaged in a partisan political show of support for the chief justice.

    Anong klaseng tao ba yan si Marquez? Ano bang klaseng tao yan si Corona na he does not reign in his spokesman and court administrator? How can you entrust the entire judicial system to people like that? Most of all, if you listened to Corona’s speech it was not just about his case anymore. He went down to the level of partisan politics going as far as to criticize the president’s handling of the economy. That only goes to show that Corona does not know where the line is. And that’s why he was impeached.

    Recall that Congress was really angered when he issued that status quo ante order in the merceditas gutierrez impeachment. Rep Fariñas threathened impeachment then because he said the Court was meddling in an afair that was the sole prerogative of Congress. Thank God that congress defied him by voting to impeach her anyway before the time for an impeachment proceeding ran out. Did Corona cite the congress for contempt after they did this?

    Betrayal of public trust. That’s what he’s been doing from day one, even before he became chief justice.

    • i’d like to view it as masterfully trapping someone who should only stick his head in legal matters into submitting him to act as a politician or, for the gloria’s Crown’s situation, to act as a game-show host

      mouthing this kind of tune: “bakit ba ako na lang lagi ang pinupuntirya n’yo? napakaraming problema ng bayan na dapat inaatupag n’yo! sana naman lubayan na ako.”

      • …Hindi ko po maintindihan kung bakit nanggigigil ng husto sa akin…

        …Marami po tayong problema. Nandiyan po ang mabagal na takbo ng ekonomiya, kawalan ng trabaho, kahirapan at kagutuman…

        Teka, teka, teka…hindi po ‘yan si Willie Revillame

        Ang nagsabi n’yan ay si Corona, na ayon sa kaniya, siya ang “unang tagapagtanggol ng hustisya.”

  2. I think Pinoy cannot institute drastic measures for our economy to take-off and achieved a progressive turnaround unless the entire bureaucracy is cleansed of endemic corruption like TRO for sale, tongpats, patronage politics, ad infinitum. Given the complexity of our damaged institutions by GMA, i will be happy if Pinoy continues to inspire and lead by example as one who has no ulterior motive to steal from govt. Secondly, transforming our bureaucracy to be efficient,nationalistic and transparent by leadership example will ease the imposition of short term means to address the quagmire of slavery from the corporate greed sucking the lifeblood of our the vital and national industries like the oil & power mining,agricultural and even utility infractures. We must nationalize our basic means of production or forever we will be slaves of foreign multinationals. That is an extreme and alternative solution. A bitter pill to swallow like antibiotics.

  3. Because it’s on huffington post?

    Aquino seems to be laying the foundation of a real democracy… Even big people go to jail.

    Our economy is run by bad people. It will get very, very dark before we see the light.

  4. gloria destroyed the main pillars of our economy to the point of no return…all for self perpetuation.

    judicial independence and strong legal frameworks are part of good institutional pillar to prop up a good economy.

    it will take radical moves to purge the coronarroyo “legal” frame of mind from everyone in the judiciary (legal and paralegal).

    after all the din has died down we should expect something good from this political exercise.

  5. ricelander

    The whole system is infested. Indeed, cleaning it all up is a welcome exercise but this: who is to make judgement who’s corrupt and who is not? how are we to determine who is and who is not?

    Take this, who would likely replace Corona just in case?

    Carpio? Hahaha! Never mind.

    I would be swayed, but even PNoys own appointments to the SC, if run through a thorough scrutiny, do not really astound so much so that making any sort of comparison with their elders would look odious.