tracking cj puno, initiative, pork

suddenly former chief justice reynato puno is all over the place, even making headlines.  ‘Bribery’ voids Corona impeachment — Puno screamed the manila times yesterday.  and i can’t help wondering if he is why the president felt compelled to go on nationwide primetime tv last night.  unfortunately the prez didn’t say anything new.  on social media people talk about having made abang, expecting something huge, something that would halt the fall, change the game, level it up.  alas.  back to the streets it is.

so, does the palace have reason to fear puno’s call for people’s initiative and referendum vs. PDAF, DAP, and all discretionary funds?  the logistics are difficult and complicated but, still, doable, and puno even has a timetable: he will be done drafting the petition sometime this november, and sees the referendum happening in january 2014.  (hmm, alam na kaya ng comelec ito?)  i suppose puno knows what he’s doing, he knows what went wrong with pirma’s chacha attempt via initiative in 1997, and there is every possibility that he might do fvr better.

and there’s the catch.  is puno thinking anti-pork lang or is there a chacha scenario farther on?  oct 8 it was when puno first sounded the call for a people’s initiative to abolish all pork. just eleven days later, oct 19, carmen pedrosa announced in her philstar column that puno had agreed to become the symbol and advocate of “crowdsourcing a new Constitution for a new Philippines.”

alarm bells ringing and all that.  i’ve made no bones about it on this blog, i’m against charter change that seeks (1) to shift us from presidential to parliamentary/federal system and (2) to delete economic provisions that limit foreign ownership of land atbp.  this is not to say that i would not welcome a serious public debate on these two issues via a website that might inspire and inform debates on print, radio, and television.  but i’m not sure that this is the right time for it.  not until the pork issue is settled, how ever long it takes.

besides, puno’s reputation is not all that sterling.  he has some owning-up to do if he hopes to win hearts and minds.  read ‘Unmitigated hypocrisy’ by lawyer democrito c. barcenas and then go back in time to President Puno? and Who’s Hot, and Who’s Not by antonio c. abaya, 2009.  the comment threads are also quite enlightening.

de quiros, coloma, pork

Once upon a time, we were idol worshippers, and by idol we meant Conrado De Quiros. Every morning we ran to the newsstands for his polemics, especially those that captured national anger over Gloria’s evil reign (a fact apologists like Bobi Tiglao perpetually deny). We clung to CDQ’s every word, got a natural high from the ink in his columns. When he said it was black, we believed it to be black. When he said it was white, that was that. CDQ had the last word.

that about sums up how loved conrado de quiros was in the time of gma.  more than any public intellectual, because never high-falutin, rather, writing in easy if dazzling english that resonated with the reading public as he gave voice and form and substance to rumblings on street kantos and in workplaces, coffeshops, family gatherings, and the internet.

in the time of pNoy, however, the first three years at least, he was mostly an unabashed apologist come hell or high water — whatever the problem, it was worse when gloria reigned.  but the good news is, it would seem that he draws the line at pork, PDAF and DAP both, and is fully behind the abolish-all-pork-&-pass-FOI-bill actions. read his most recent columns, here, here, here, and here, and rejoice.

i know, i know, defending his brother (pNoy appointee) emil and the SSS bonuses in two earlier columns still rankles.  but that was a damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don’t kind of situation.  and it was a valiant effort naman; valid naman his defense from the pov of the establishment that pays executive officers huge salaries and bonuses for good performance, i.e. increased profits.  problem is, nothing much trickles down to members in terms of really good service man lang.  something’s not right with the system, and THAT needed acknowledging.  i wonder nga if he ever considered saying, i’m not my brother’s, much less the establishment’s, keeper.  because, in his place i might have, sabay, no offense meant, kapatid.

pero puwedeng palampasin.  great to have him on our side in this struggle against deeply rooted widescale corruption.  best of all, he obviously still has the ear of the palace, despite the rants vs PDAF and DAP.  if not for de quiros, wouldn’t we still be suffering the irritating student-council, and rather arrogant, briefings of lacierda and valte?

october 20, exasperated at the palace communication group’s failure to anticipate and more effectively deal with the plunder-accused jinggoy estrada’s allegations of anti-corona bribes that inadvertently led to the toxic revelation that is DAP, de quiros wrote:

… government’s communication department has been unprepared for challenges like this from the start. That department has three de facto secretaries who are not talking to each other. They are Ricky Carandang, who is now no longer to be found except when P-Noy takes a trip abroad when he suddenly reminds the world he is still alive; Edwin Lacierda, who is a lawyer, who goes on to explain everything in a way Joker Arroyo finds amateurish (for being visible, he is one of those who has suffered a plunge in ratings); and Sonny Coloma, who has the communications skills but is kept to administrative and organizational functions.

just two days later, coloma was on cam, apparently taking over palace briefings, even if graciously insisting that this is par for the course, he’s part of the group, after all.  naturally he is defending DAP, too, but at least he’s not antipatiko about it, and at least the press gets to engage with a pro.  oh, and i love his tagalog.

in a more recent column, de quiros trained his guns on the liberal party that he blames for the president’s stubborn refusal to scrap all pork.

P-Noy doesn’t need pork, he is not seeking another term. He doesn’t need pork, he can get the senators and congressmen to do what he wants not by getting them behind him but by getting the people behind him. If his purpose is true and good, like impeaching Corona, the people will back him. He doesn’t need pork, he need not pursue his agenda behind the prying eyes of the public, he can always do it under the glare of their scrutiny: If that agenda is lofty and inspiring, they will fly their banners behind it. That is how legacies are made.

He doesn’t need pork, but his people do. Mar Roxas and Butch Abad do. The Liberal Party does.

They’re the ones who want another six years, they’re the ones who dream of another six years. They’re the ones who need to keep the senators and congressmen happy so they’ll support them. They’re the ones who need the money to get the politicians to support them. The question is whether P-Noy will remain true to the vision that made him soar or to the cabal that made him sink. Unfortunately, he seems to believe those two are one and the same, the latter the extension of the first. Which makes him need pork, too.

reminded me of something i heard through the grapevine soon after corona was convicted.  to the effect that palace peeps were ecstatic: six more years! referring to the 2016 elections (talbog ang three years pa ni kris aquino).  to doubting thomases, the retort was: watch us!

who would have known that barely a month and a half later, the inquirer would explode the napoles-PDAF bomb and that the collateral damage to the palace would be so colossal.

of course the president might yet rise to the challenge, take the plunge and scrap all pork, prepare to win 2016 for his annointed based on merit rather than pork and patronage.  that would be awesome and, yes, we are watching, though not with bated breath.

ka freddie

comic relief, the kneejerks to ka freddie’s love affair with a 16-year old, ranging from scandalized and outraged to bemused (legendary nga!) and envious (astig!).

of course we’re hearing more from the scandalized and outraged, as in, it’s a crime, the girl’s a minor, he should be taken to court and made to desist from such legally and socially condemnable behavior.

at the height of the violent reactions on social media, i happened to catch on blink channel the british film notes on a scandal where kate blanchett plays a schoolteacher in her 30s, maybe 40s, married to a much older man, and she has an affair with a 15 year old testosterone-high student who has the hots for her.  not a love affair, more like a lusty one.  when they are found out (thanks to judi dench who plays a lesbian teacher in love with blanchett), the boy’s mother makes sugod blanchett at home, and so the husband finds out and his question is WHY? and she starts with I WONDERED…. and the husband screams DO YOU THINK YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE? WE ALL DO, BUT YOU HANDLE IT!!! (or something like that).

i wondered what blanchett was about to say, she wondered what?  i guess, what sex would be like with someone younger?  something, in fact, that’s said to be rejuvenating, at least according to ancient texts on esoteric sex.  for men especially, who sought longevity or immortality, sexual intercourse with young virgins was said to be the way.  and, i hear, even for today’s older men with jaded apettites, nothing excites, perks up, again like the anticipation of and intercourse with a nymphet.  i would suppose it’s the same for older women with pubescent boys.

among musicians naman of ka freddie’s generation the question is, why did he even have to call attention to the affair?  for the publicity, it is supposed, in aid of selling his new joint in QC, and maybe a new CD?  but people are apalled, i thought, only to be reminded by a 40-year old male that any publicity is good publicity, and, if he were ever in the vicinity himself, he would surely check out ka freddie’s bar, sabay silip sa 16-year old.  lol.

interestingly enough, anti-RH bishop oscar cruz, from whom i expected the usual blahblah against all the talk as occasions of sin, because inciting to impure thoughts, sixth commandment and all that, was quite liberated about it.  speaking from experience as head of the National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal (NAMT) of the catholic church, he only warns the couple that the huge gap in ages won’t make it an easy relationship to sustain.

my own initial take was as one who trained in psychology: minors are usually still naive and innocent about the wicked ways of the world.  but then i heard ka freddie on a headstart replay saying that the girl was already working as a model, moving around on her own, when they met.  it was is possible then that she’s mature for her age, streetsmart even, maybe she knows what she’s doing, and feeling.  benefit of the doubt.

just the same, i wish ka freddie had not outed her when he did, the way he did.  his excuse is, i was asked who i was with, i was only being honest.  or something to that effect.  but honesty is not always the best policy.  he could just as easily have replied, kaibigan (accent on the second i), and changed the subject, let the story be told in its own good time, instead of himself hastening her exposure to public scrutiny and speculation.  privacy works wonders for relationships, especially unconventional ones.

where’s our sense of priorities? #bohol

boholanos are feeling abandoned, said tina monzon-palma on anc news last night; many devastated boholanos had yet to receive any kind of relief goods and services three days after the quake.  on tv patrol charie villa observed that there seemed to be no foreign assistance coming in, unlike in other disaster ops, and noli de castro said it could be because the government had said we didn’t need help, we could handle it (or something to that effect).  of course it could also be because the roads leading to these neglected towns and barangays have been rendered impassable, and yet ANC was able to get there.  and on dzmm teleradyo’s SRO, doris bigornia asked pointedly why the congressmen of bohol, relampagos and yap, in particular, were nowhere to be seen or heard.

maybe it would have been different if the prez had been around — i’m sure south korea would have understood if he had postponed the trip to a better time — and then, again, who knows.  what’s clear lang is that other concerns seemed to have overwhelmed, such as how metromanila would fare if/when the west valley fault acts up, and meanwhile, are manila’s old churches safe? is malacanang palace?  and, of course, back in bohol, the question of bohol’s ruined churches, for which there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and the call for restoration seems to be getting more government attention, as if these were more important than the hungry, thirsty, miserable people of bohol, some of them desperate for loved ones still buried in rubble.

please, first things first.  unahin naman ang taongbayan ng bohol na kalunoslunos ang kalagayan, hindi ang mga simbahan that used to be.  those churches are gone. let’s settle for ruins as tourist attraction, why not, and build new ones on the side, stronger versions.  but all that should wait until life is back to normal for boholanos.  all that can wait until it is clear where the money will be coming from.  meanwhile, church authorities will simply have to fend for themselves and for their parishes, find places to hold mass and other rituals, rain and/or shine.  this is not a good time to ask the faithful for help to rebuild churches, not even the rich parishioners; any available funds and resources should first be poured into helping the people of bohol rebuild their lives.

and speaking of funds.  ano ba ang totoo?  ubos na nga ba ang 2013 calamity funds — break it down, please — and this is why palace spokesman lacierda is saying that they hope to use the “savings” aka DAP to respond to the needs of bohol?  i suppose he was also thinking DAP when he said this:?

“What we need in terms of assistance from international friends would be experts in restoring churches…these are heritage sites. We’re looking at making sure were able to restore churches,” Lacierda said.

“We will appreciate (international aid). We’re not calling for aid. No man is an island. Kagandahan lahat ng bansa, nagtutulungan ang marami. May concern sa bayan kung may maitutulong. We appreciate international assistance although we have enough resources to handle the situation,” he added.

or is it just a ruse to pressure the supreme court to rule on DAP’s legality fast, otherwise kawawa naman ang bohol?  sana naman hindi.  surely mayroong matuwid na paraan.