Category: 2010

so long, gloria?

maybe it’s just talk, so take this with a grain of salt (and pepper, why not), but it’s the juiciest tsismis yet from the coffeeshop circuit.  to wit, that the americans intend to foil erap’s dream of capturing the presidency, take two.  how?  by supporting  vice president noli de castro all the way, which is to say, not just in the campaign for 2010 but much earlier on, by forcing gma to resign — it is said that the americans have the goods on her — which means noli ascends to power and will be impossible to beat as the incumbent in 2010.

what if gloria refuses to step down?  then i suppose the americans would release the incriminating information to media and watch gleefully as people power strikes again, oh wow!

neat plot, ‘no?  totoo kaya?  yes, they can?  or is it just wishful thinking on the part of the anti-erap opposition?  we’ll know soon enough.  abangan…

unsettling times

believe in astrology or not, it should be impossible to ignore the co-incidence of pluto’s transit from sagittarius (where it was for the last 12 years) into (the next sign) capricorn at 9:03 a.m. thursday morning and the bloody mumbai terrorist attack that started wednesday night and blasted on for some 60 hours, killing almost two hundred and wounding more.

. . . the city was taken just as Pluto was in the last arc minute of Sagittarius; literally hours before it entered Capricorn. . . . Whoever orchestrated this attack, reasonably described in today’s Daily News as an invasion of the city, fancies himself a master of the universe. If the psychological warfare implication of staging the attack the day before Thanksgiving is not apparent, take a look; because we are all connected by the nervous system known as the media, this is a worldwide event, and it will weigh on the mind of everyone taking a day with their family today.”

the planet pluto has always been associated with upheaval and transformation, and the sign capricorn with hierarchies and structures including governments and business corporations as well as religious institutions.

When it was discovered as a pinpoint of light on a photographic plate on February 18th 1930 , the world was in upheaval – financially because of the Wall Street crash, and politically because of the rise of fascism in Europe . Scientifically, early work on splitting the atom led to the development of the atomic bomb, ultimately threatening the survival of humanity. Psychologically, demons that had been conveniently projected onto the devil and all his non-Christian works were unearthed within our own psychology as a part of our nature.”

Pluto orbits the sun about every 250 years, so a quarter of a millennium elapses between its passes through Capricorn. The last time it was there was from 1762 to 1778, during the American Revolution. The time before that, 1516-1533, Martin Luther’s Protestant revolt created a religious and political crisis for Emperor Charles V and the Catholic Church. No matter how far back we go in recorded history, Pluto in Capricorn periods correspond with revolutionary changes to the existing world order.

The powers that be, however, never go down without a fight. Pluto and Capricorn do have some things in common – they both love being in control, for example – and so we can expect more of the “Big Brother” style surveillance and invasion of privacy that are already spreading through the United States and other countries such as Great Britain. . . . Government will seem to believe that, in order for freedom to be kept safe, it must be locked away.”

Capricorn energy is about creating a solid foundation for all endeavors. Anything lasting and worthwhile requires dedication and effort. Pluto in this sign will destroy anything failing to meet these standards, in order to birth something better. Gone is the instant gratification era of Pluto in Sagittarius (1995-2008). Capricorn rules all hierarchies and structures. Pluto in Capricorn will lift the veil of secrecy, exposing what’s really going on in government and corporations. The bigger and more bureaucratic the entity, the greater the need to transform – or die.”

Pluto in Capricorn will test the durability and regenerative resources of leaders and governments across the globe, as well as business and the corporate world. Old or staid structures will collapse or come apart at the seams if they cannot redefine their nature and cope with changing conditions and needs. The renewal or discarding of traditional practices or beliefs will play a part in this for Capricorn draws from inherited wisdom and practice. Those traditions that find new life will serve to guide modern leadership while those that are uprooted or outmoded will pass into oblivion. . . . No doubt, Pluto in Capricorn will bring us a new breed of leaders and administrators, noted for determination, practicality and organizational ability. Some of these will offer useful service where others will be ruthlessly ambitious and materialistic.”

Pluto transiting Capricorn thus promises radical changes in social and political organization, financial management and social perspective on finances, ideas about fame, celebrity and social strata, and a stern look at our management of collectively owned resources.

We might learn how to manifest more gracefully, to end world hunger, to share resources wisely. On the other hand, we may see an even sharper split between the haves and have-nots. There will be substantial changes in the ways we organize money – financial institutions we thought were solid will falter, prices and exchange values will be all over the place, and both personal, corporate and national wealth will change, both up and down. The ways we relate to resources of all kinds will be questioned, changed, and reorganized.

. . . During this phase we may discover something that will make life on earth more abundant. We may also have something we thought was deeply necessary taken away.”

dito sa atin, walang patayan tulad ng sa mumbai, at wala ring matinding protesta laban sa gobyerno tulad ng sa bangkok, subalit di dapat isipin na porke’t walang malawakang manifest outrage ay hindi iniinda ng bayan ang nagaganap na mga drama ng gobyerno — lalo na sa executive and legislative branches — na malinaw namang selfish and vested interests of the few ang namamayani instead of the interests and wellbeing of the many.

di dapat isipin na balewala sa taongbayan ang nagaganap na pagbasura sa impeachment complaint sa mababang kapulungan (how baba the pigs).  dahil ikaapat na ito in as many years, paulit-ulit lang naman daw, say ng isang representante ni gma, so therefore ay walang katuturan.  say ko naman, nadadagdagan ang impeachable offenses ni gma every year, so therefore it’s never been just same-old same-old.  everytime it’s something old, something new, something buried, something true.

di rin dapat isipin na balewala sa taongbayan ang testimonya ni joe de venecia, kahit too-late-the-hero, tungkol sa personal involvement ng arroyo couple sa nbn-zte deal, gayon din ang lagayan blues to kill last year’s impeachment complaint.  di rin balewala ang bolante hearings sa senado dahil palinaw na nang palinaw ang pasikot-sikot ng fertilizer scam.  lalo nang di balewala ang pagtulak ng charter change by hook or by crook, at ang pagpigil ng simbahan sa reproductive health bill kahit ano pang pananakot ng mga obispong nakapalda, gayon din ang walang katapusang jet-setting ni gma, at kung anuano pa niyang kapabayaan at kasalanan sa taongbayan.

sa palagay ko the collective mind of the pinoy is neither asleep nor overcome by apathy.  who knows, it may be quietly absorbing and assimilating lessons learned over the years since edsa ’86 and gearing up, slowly but surely, for an issues-oriented electoral show of people power in 2010.

for those of us who were part of edsa ’86, indeed nakaka-nostalgia the current bangkok version flying yellow colors and featuring massive throngs of people (rather than politicans a la edsa dos).  and then, again, tapos na tayo diyan — we’re done with picnic-type revolutions and short-term cosmetic changes.  time to move on to a higher level of mind and action for deep-seated change, if not at the polls, then in another improved edsa.  trapos, beware!

vilma santos a la sarah palin?

sabi sa newsbreak governor vilma santos is being sold as RP’s sarah palin:

People in Lakas and the camp of Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos Recto who have been selling since last year the idea of the former actress being the administration’s vice presidential bet for 2010 have found a very good reason to float the idea again.

Following Republican John McCain’s choice of a woman governor as his running mate for the November elections in the US, spin-meisters here have started comparing the popular Governor Vi to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. (The idea first made it to the front page of a broadsheet over the weekend).

The administration believes that a Palin-type VP bet can compensate for the pathetic survey performance of its prospective standard bearer. . . “

hmm. a blind item from newsbreak. wazzup wazzup? sinong prospective standard bearer ng administrasyon ito na pathetic ang standing sa surveys of presidentiables?

aha. check out this abante report of a june survey:

. . . resulta ng isinagawang survey ng Issues and Advocacy Center nitong nakalipas na Hunyo 16-20 sa may 1,200 respondent sa National Capital Region (NCR), Luzon at Vizayas.

Nanatiling nangunguna si Vice President Noli de Castro na nakuha ng 18%; Senator Franciz ‘Chiz’ Escudero, 16%; Senator Manny Villar, dating Presidente Joseph Estrada at Senator Loren Legarda, na nag-tie sa 13%; Senator Mar Roxas, 8%; Sen. Panfilo Lacson, 3%; MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando at Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, 3%; Senator Richard Gordon, Interior Sec. Ronaldo Puno, Former Rep. Prospero Pichay at Defense Sec. Gilbert Teodoro, 1%.”

newsbreak can’t be referring to noli de castro, nor i bet to mmda chairman bayani fernando or interior sec. ronaldo puno.  i bet it’s referring to defense secretary gilbert teodoro, na medyo high-profile since the resumption of military offensives vs. milf insurgents. sey ni julius fortuna sa manila times:

Mindanao crisis propelling Gilbert Teodoro Jr.

Some sectors within the Lakas party seem to be impressed with the leadership style of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. As a result, this former representative of Tarlac is being discussed in party caucuses of the Lakas party as a possible candidate for President in 2010.

I am not sure if this is just intended to float an idea. But no less than Lakas Executive Director Ray Requero said that the defense secretary’s strong leadership and managerial skills impress many. These two virtues, according to Roquero, are the party’s top criteria for choosing its presidential candidate.

Teodoro has taken a high profile in the management of the Mindanao crisis that followed the debate over the memorandum of agreement. “With his unblinking response to the crisis in Mindanao, he is proving that he can handle any difficult situation,” Roquero said. “For a while, I had thought of Gilbert as a liberal, given to legalisms. The Mindanao problem has shown the tough side of this bar topnotcher.”

But if Teodoro is drafted in 2010, he will haveto first clarify his previous membership in the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). This is the party that brought him to power as three-term representative of Tarlac. All throughout his stint in Congress, he was head of the NPC that tilted the balance between the majority and minority.

One possible solution to his dilemma would be to forge a Lakas-NPC Alliance in the runup to 2010. That alliance may be hard to arrange at the moment because many NPC in the House and the Senate are aligned with the opposition while some are with the administration. But somebody said that politics is the art of the possible.”

we can be sure that a lot of wheeling-and-dealing is going on among administration parties to unite behind a common candidate in 2010, which is the only way they can defeat a fragmented opposition. manolo was just saying in today’s inquirer:

. . . if the efforts to form a super-party by the Ramos-De Venecia Wing of the Lakas-CMD by means of a coalition with the Nacionalistas and, possibly, the Nationalist People’s Coalition are true, then surely the usual suspects know this will be more palatable to the public than the Frankenstein-like stitching together of Lakas and Kampi could ever possibly be. Such a reconfiguration would inevitably result in some of those presently in power finding themselves out of it: think of Speaker Prospero Nograles, and the old fuddy-duddies in the President’s Cabinet.”

which means baka me pag-asa pa si teodoro? — i remember him from that time when he co-sponsored the failed impeachment of chief justice hilario davide. i remember being intrigued by the audacity of the act, tipong wow, how dare these brats. a power move if i ever saw one. maybe there’s something there? maybe, if he could break out of his uncle’s shadow.

in any case, kapanipaniwala that governor vi is being wooed left and right by administration presidentiables.   vilma santos is YES magazine’s 7th top celebrity endorser, said to be “worth no less than P10 million per tri-media campaign.”  [kris aquino is 1st, sharon cuneta is 2nd, kc concepcion and marian rivera are tied at 3rd, aga muhlach is 4th, piolo pascual 5th, judy ann santos 6th — of “20 stars who earn P1M to P20M because you buy what they say.” October issue]

of course the star governor endorser is playing coy and saying that she’s not thinking about it, which may be true. she leaves the thinking to husband mentor ex-senator nedachief vatman ralph recto, who is himself running again for senator in 2010.

fair ba ang comparison of vi with sarah palin? all fluff, no substance? i’m not sure.

i remember when vi was not so conservative and conventional. when she was much younger and lived a deliciously wicked life, changing lovers now and then, kakainggit. she thought nothing of breaking rules and defying social mores that didn’t work for her, and she got away with it. buhay pa ba ang vilmang yon?

here are excerpts from julie bonifacio’s pep interview with vilma santos soon after bayani fernando asked her to be his runningmate. mostly she defends ralph’s vat bill. too bad she wasn’t asked where she stands on the reproductive health bill, the censorship bill, the foreign debt, the war in mindanao, charter change, at kung anoano pa. or maybe she wouldn’t have answered such questions anyway, siguro itatanong pa kasi kay ralph who would surely try for something politically and religiously “correct” a la gloria gloria hallelujah. hay.

on the vice-presidency:

“. . . Ang dami ko pang dapat gawin dito sa Batangas. I’m not entertaining it . . . Ang concentration ko ngayon talaga focused sa Batangas. Wala ka namang magagawa ng dalawang taon lang, e. Alam mo ang ibig kong sabihin? Three years ang term mo as a governor, pero on the third, ‘yan naman hindi ka na napapakinabangan dahil nag-uumpisa na ulit ng kampanyahan ‘yan.”

on bong revilla asking if she’s running because if she is then he won’t:

“Sweet naman niya. Thank you naman kay Bong. Pero, ah…he can plan his political career. He can plan it, if he really wants to run, then go ahead. Wala naman siyang dapat i-worry sa akin.”

on being governor:

“So far, so good. Awa naman ng Panginoon maganda yung koleksyon….maganda ang aming local revenues collection. Solid ang programa ko. Wala pa akong isang taon, nalibot ko na ang buong Batangas. Lahat ng 34 na bayan…

So far I’m getting the full cooperation of my Sangguniang Panglalawigan. ‘Yan ang pinaka-mahirap kasi, e. ‘Pag hindi mo kasama ang iyong Sangguniang Panglalawigan, mahihirapan ka being the executive. Kasi lahat ‘yan dadaan sa Sanggunian mo, e. . .

Ah, I think, diyan medyo nahihirapan si Ano… si Father [Eddie] Panlilio, am I right?” Father Panlilio is the elected Pampanga governor. “But I’m very thankful even yung mga mayor na hindi ko naging kasama noon, they’re been very, very supportive.”

on jueteng:

“Wala namang pagkakataon na walang bumatikos sa akin maski nung mayor pa ako. Dito pinagbibintangan ako ng jueteng-jueteng. God knows, first month ko pa lang dito, sa lahat ng buong bayan nagpalabas na ako ng sulat saying na I am not encouraging any form of gambling, including jueteng.

“And then, may mga lumalabas diyan na may share daw ako, may kotse? I mean, you know me better than that. Pero ang point ko, ang jueteng is a perennial problem. Nung araw pa ng mga ninuno ‘yan. Ngayon, kung ako ang pag-iisipan ninyo, hindi ako jueteng lord. Hindi kayo namumroblema doon, pero tulungan ninyo ako dahil hindi ko ito kayang mag-isa.

“Kayong mga sector diyan, like kapulisan, tulungan ninyo ako. Pati kina Archbishop [Ramon Arguelles, Lipa archbishop], humihingi ako ng tulong. Sabihin ninyo sa homily ninyo, huwag tumaya ang mga tao. You get me? Kasi habang nandiyan ‘yan, ‘yan ang gagawin niya. But for me na sasabihin ko na lang, laging kokontrahin…paano ko makokontra ang 1.3 million na population?

“But, ako lang, mapapatunayan ko sa inyo, I’m not encouraging it. Walang sugal na pupuwede sa akin. Pero I cannot do this alone. Ayaw ninyo, bantayan ninyo. E, Diyos ko, paano ko mababantayan? Tulungan ninyo ako. . .

“Kung yun ang iko-concentrate ko dahil tintira ninyo ako diyan, e, teka muna, excuse me. Hindi lang jueteng ang problemna. Mas maraming gutom dito at uunahin ko yun. At uunahin ko na masiguro na maganda ang kinabukasan sa edukasyon ng mga bata.”

on ralph, neda, vat:

Natuwa ako, of course. But, he’ll be running again in 2010. That’s his forte. Alam ninyo ano…hindi naman niya pinagsisisihan [being appointed NEDA director]. Kung kakausapin mo, iniinterbyu sa mga radyo ang mga ekonomista na sina Winnie Monsod, how they explain V.A.T. [Value Added Tax], ang nagsi-save sa atin ngayon V.A.T., pati yung itinaas ng value ng piso, lahat ‘yan.

“Pinapaliwanag lang sa kanila kasi sinasabi nila si Ralph …ginawa yun for the country, e. Ginawa niya yun kung paano makakatulong sa bansang ito sa pamamagitan nitong V.A.T. Pero yung proseso o polisiya ng pagpapa-implement niyan hindi na naman niya hawak. But we have extra money for our national government na ang intensyon nito nung una, pandagdag na budget, pandagdag-eskweala, kalye, hospital.

“Napaka-negative na niya. Tinanong ko nga siya, nagsisisi ka ba dahil sa VAT issue? Sabi niya, ‘No, no regrets.’ Kung mangyayari ulit yun sa atin at alam ko yan ang makaka-save sa bansa natin, ganun pa rin ang desisyon kong gagawin kahit hindi nila ako iboto. Yun ang sinabi niya, I respect that.

“Now that he’s with NEDA, yeah, okey sa akin. Kung makakatulong, bakit hindi? I trust Ralph, e. Kasi kung maganda ang tingin nila sa akin, maganda ang ginagawa ko, maganda ang ginawa ko sa Lipa, maganda ngayon ang mga plano sa Batangas, he’s my mentor. Siya ang nagga-guide. Siya ang gumawa ng matrix ko.

“Kung nagpunta kayo dito nung first six months ko, makikita ninyo sa blackboard, siya lahat ang gumawa. Bakit ito ang dapat? Magkano ang budget dito? Nasa blackboard para alam ko kung saan ako pupunta. Without Ralph din, paano ko gagawin lahat ‘yan?

“E, unang-una hindi naman ako politiko. Pinag-aralan ko, yes, pero ang expertise, hindi ko alam kung saan ko kukunin yun. Kaya ngayon, napakadali naman sa akin. Dito sa Batangas, hindi pa dumarating yung krisis natin, alam na namin kaya nakaka-prepare kami.”

hmm. scary. as scary as sarah the hockey-mom. as scary as ralph the vatman.