the problem with lolit solis

is that she is even less credible than kit tatad.  she really should just stop with the pasabogs, and arnold clavio should just stop with the radio interviews, unless she is willing to name her sources, and/or clavio has other sources to confirm lolit’s allegations.

nakakalabas si napoles sa fort sto.domingo para maligo sa bahay niya sa alabang?  kung totoo, explosive nga, but this would mean that the entire police force tasked with her security is in on it, and could it happen without the okay of the palace?  hard to believe that the palace would condone such special treatment on top of all the speculations with regard to the surrender.

easier to speculate that lolit is engaged in major major disinformation as part of a plot to drag down the palace along with her showbiz alaga, bong revilla, who is in deep shit together with enrile and jinggoy estrada, the first three senators to be charged with plunder along with napoles.

curiously enough, lolit is said to admit to being a recipient/beneficiary of napoles’s generosity.  read LOLIT SOLIS, JULIA ABAD AT ANG PORK BARREL SCAM.

Sinong hindi matutuwa kung bibigyan ka ng P50,000 o P100,000?

Sabi ni Manay Lolit, ito ang mga natanggap niya kay Janet sa pagdalo-dalo nito sa paokasyon ng pork barrel queen sa ngayon.

a total of 50,000 o 100,000 as of now?  o baka naman 50k to 100k on every occasion, and on how many occasions kaya as of the last time?  manay lolit, handa ka na bang mag-accounting at magsoli ng datung sa kaban ng bayan?

kung sabagay, napakadaling bumawi from whomever is putting up the datung for all these pasabogs.  if there’s anything we can be sure of, it’s that lolit isn’t doing this  for free, much less for nation.

napoles in the palace, tatad in history

why is it so hard nga ba to believe tatad’s story of napoles’s long lunch in the palace before she gave herself up to lacierda in heritage park later in the day?  a question of credibility?  you would think he had successfully reinvented himself since marcos times, having been elected to the senate and having served from 1992 to 2001.  well, he was part of the craven eleven that refused to open the second envelope…  or maybe it’s his anti-RH stand?  or maybe it’s the timing, martial law anniversay and all, and people are remembering him as minister of public info, the first face on television after a long blackout, the face that introduced the dictator’s the day martial rule went public.  interesting, that for some things, we have such a long memory.

tatad should have named his sources, let the chips fall where they may.  why would we take just his word for it when he’s obviously defensive for enrile estrada revilla atbp.

this is not to say that there was nothing questionable about the napoles surrender.  i’ve always wondered why the president had to meet with her for ten minutes behind closed doors.  much can be discussed and agreed upon in ten minutes, especially when both sides are desperate for concessions.  if the president had truly wanted to be transparent, the whole affair should have been documented every step of the way and televised live for all the nation to see and hear.  then maybe there wouldn’t be all this speculation, suspicion, about a palace-napoles deal.

not that it would have stopped tatad from telling his story.  you wonder now if he received kickbacks/commissions, too, from his share of the pork barrel in ramos and erap times.

lean alejandro (1960-1987)

he was assassinated 26 years ago today.  soon after, i wrote this piece for the manila chronicle (via iskho lopez ).

IMAGES OF LEAN

When I heard that Lean Alejandro had been shot — my son had been watching That’s Entertainment when GMA-7’s character generator spelled out the news — my heart sank.

I never met Lean but I had encountered him often enough on television these last four or five years to feel like I knew him, and to be touched by his death.

The images are clar. In Marcos’s time, of an angry and audacious young activist. In Aquino’s time, of a recalcitrant critic.

Television didn’t tell me about the beachwalk slippers, but I might have guessed, given his upper torso’s usually nondescript look. Which I thought added considerably to his credibility as a spokesman for the colonially oppressed.

When Lean plunged into electoral politics last May, I read it as a sign of his willingness to work for reforms within the framework of Cory’s system. When he lost, and bitterly, I hoped he would recover. A couple of months later, I caught him hurling questions at the military about the ambush of Bernabe Buscayno, and it was good to see and hear him back in form.

Constant and consistent, and always up front, Lean registered as no other leftist did. In my wildest dreams for this dawning age of Aquarius, I had seen Lean eventually sitting down with centrists and rightists of his generation, together hammering out a nationalist ideology and program of government which would make our fragmented nation at last whole and dynamic and sovereign.

But he’s gone now. Which means a change of cast, which will in turn change, even if subtly, the final product. Unless, of course, Lean’s spirit is kept alive, his words and works remembered and shared, in time to be added to, enhanced, and brought to fruition.

Which is, I know, optimistic of me. In reality, I wonder if we’ll ever see Lean on TV again. In a film documentary, for instance, like we did Ninoy and Evelio. Or will he go the way of fellow leftist Rolando Olalia — already a fading, because unreinforced, memory.

Security Forces, Muslim Rebels Should Protect Civilians

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

(Zamboanga City) – Philippines security forces and Muslim rebels have committed serious abuses during fighting in the southern city of Zamboanga. After taking over five coastal villages on September 9, 2013, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) took dozens of residents hostage, though many have since been released. The Philippine military and police have allegedly tortured or otherwise mistreated suspected rebels in custody.

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