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.

corona impeachment: let’s hear it all, prosecution AND defense!

i like it that chief justice corona is not resigning, instead will face trial in the senate.  it would be good for us all, since phnoy has seen fit to get him impeached by the house of reps, to see due process taking its course, whether toward an acquittal or convicton.  i hope corona does not change his mind over the holidays.

i still remember erap’s trial, all the dirt and rot that surfaced, and the named names, which i suspect was the underlying reason for the representatives-prosecutors’ pouncing on the second-envelope fiasco, any excuse to walk out before the defense could be heard, which may also be the reason certain quarters would prefer that corona do a merceditas na lang?

please lang, no walk-outs, let us hear it all, prosecution AND defense!

meanwhile, listening to lacierda lash back at corona after the latter’s address to the nation only makes me wonder/wander back to why phnoy has gotten so ballistic.  he got his way, after all, on holding gma in the country and getting her arrested (in another blitzkrieg process).  kinda creative naman sila pag gitgitan na.

read Hell to the Chief by Theodore Te on move.ph

corona impeachment is to save hacienda luisita?

i thought the house of reps was working on impeaching supreme court justice mariano del castillo for plagiarism.  as it turns out, that was just a distraction.  behind the scenes, the reps (188! medyo o.a.)were working pala on the impeachment of bigger, nay, the biggest, fish, chief justice renato corona.  phnoy’s valte and rep. tupas et al can deny it all they want, but clearly the prez was behind it — i just heard him gloating on anc as he addressed house allies — and it’s quite believable, as edcel lagman claims, that many reps signed to make sure they get their pork barrel next year (ay, shades of gma) and, of course, marami sa kanila ay pumoposisyon for the basbas of phnoy sa 2013 elections.

blogs carlos conde:

According to this story from @moveph and the venerable @glendamgloria … President Aquino’s recent attacks against the Supreme Court were calculated, designed to prepare the public for the possible impeachment of the “last Arroyo holdout,” Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona, whose court the Aquino administration has accused of being obstructionist in its fight against corruption.

The strategy is brilliant: to make Corona’s impeachment in Congress easier (given that Filipino politicians respond better to the supposed public pulse than the law and the Constitution), he must first be impeached from the public mind.

and like caloy i suspect that it’s not all just about gma but also about hacienda luisita:

But before I can believe that all of this is for good governance and against corruption and all that, let me make a simple challenge, one that will remove a huge doubt on the motives of the president:

The government should first implement the Supreme Court order on Hacienda Luisita and distribute the land to farmer-beneficiaries. (Distribute it, that is, as ordered by the high court. So none of that higher land valuation and more beneficiaries gambit by Hacienda Luisita Inc.) This time, actually distribute the land. Immediately. Before any Supreme Court impeachment happens.

The next Corona-less Supreme Court should no longer have to handle the Luisita case. Changing the composition of the Supreme Court and then letting this new court decide on the Luisita case is no different from packing the jury. No different, in fact, from Arroyo packing the Supreme Court with her own appointees.

If the government cannot or will not distribute the crown jewel of Aquino’s family before of all of this Corona contretemps comes to a head, all of this is suspect.

i hear the pressure is on for corona to resign a la merceditas and save us all the trouble of a senate trial.  i’m hoping corona doesn’t cave in.  i want to hear his defense.

the question of course is, who will phnoy appoint in his place.  pinoyexchange forum‘s fearless forecast: antonio carpio: “alam na ni Carpio ang gagawin niya”.  abangan.

The lost boy

By Edith Burgos
As told to Patricia Evangelista

My husband Joe Burgos was the perfect husband. We were together for more than 40 years, and we were still in love until the day he died. He was a very good father, very strict, a disciplinarian. He wasn’t around most of the time. He would tell me, “There’s something bigger than just the family.” And it was the legacy he wanted to leave with his children.

On April 28, 2007, my son, Jonas, was abducted in a mall in Quezon City. He was 37 years old at that time. The whole family was supposed to meet that night, but he didn’t come. The next day, he answered my calls, it was about noontime, but his voice was very, very weak, and he didn’t make any sense. Then his phone went dead.

read the rest here