Category: blogs

trillanes-lim breakaway, and surrender, live

4:20 p.m. pnp-swat forces surrounding manila peninsula hotel, apparently waiting for orders to move in and arrest senator trillanes and brig. gen. danny lim who are holed up in a second-floor function room with other magdalo soldiers after walking out of makati’s regional trial court at 10:30 or so this morning, and asking for gloria arroyo’s resignation.

4:45 the five-star hotel has not been completely cleared of people – meron pang guests, at marami pang media reporters and photographers. including magdalo lawyer j.v. bautista who is now questioning the legitimacy of the warrants of arrest. and what’s the point daw, talaga namang nakakulong na ang mga rebelde before this action. he says they’re not moving out or giving up. he also named teofisto guingona, dodong nemenzo, and unnamed bishops as supportive but haven’t seen them inside hotel.

4:50 pinky webb nag-uulat from inside hotel. hearing shots. teargas lobbed into first floor. trillanes on cam with ces drilon. trillanes: dito sa ginagawa ng administrasyon na ito, you have to witness the ruthlessness niya, walang pakundangan. ….endangering life of media men… extra-judicial killing. … watch !

i hear that on the march to manila pen trillanes was calling on people to come and stand with them. no people, but a lot of media. these media people, i wonder, the ones who have stayed in the hotel, covering all statements by the rebels and their supporters closely, are they there because they are sympathetic to trillanes et al? sila kaya yung people who will shield the rebels, as in edsa one?

teofisto guingona on cam. hanky to his nose. we are being teargassed. i think call for sobriety a little late.

korina (monitoring situation from studio), quoting guingona: sana kumalma pati ang gobyerno.

5:00. putukan blues. … raining hard outside.

5:07. tank forcing itself into first floor entrance. backs off. abante uli. obviously trying to breakdown door. … army tank/ apc? breaks into manila peninsula.

ces drilon: lalabas na sina senator trillanes and gen. lim to avoid civilian lives being lost.

5:12 guingona, trillanes, lim walking out, but not out of hotel? only to another function room. maybe setting up for a presscon? anc’s tony velasquez and pia hontiveros speculating.

text just came in from my daughter who got it from some news channel : OA ng reaksyon ni GMA! talagang destroy the hotel?

oops i missed that.

bishop labayen (inside hotel with trillanes et al): without justice, there is no peace. justice not administered properly, so no peace in the nation.

trillanes: ako po ay tumayo dito ngayon upang gampanan aking tungkulin… tumayo para sa mga karapatan ng mga naapi. subalit nakita natin kung hanggang saan ang gagawin ng administrasyon… you have been witnesses and victims of the kind of ruthlessness of this adminstration… like soldiers we’re going to face this. … whatever they would want to do with me. … we’re going out for the sake of the safety of everybody.

you’re surrendering?

trillanes: yes, for your sake. we cannot live with our conscience if some of you will be killed in the crossfire. …

danny lim: dissent without action is consent. what we did was in consonance with our solemn constitutional mandate to be the protector of our people…. there’s unfinished business here. …

father robert reyes, appear! and bibeth orteza!

trillanes: dissent without action is consent. one of my main voter base is the afp. im convinced that most of them sympathize with our cause. and thats enough for us for now. eventually it will be their turn, to live up to their mandate as protectors of the people. 5:25 this is not a loss. if somebody lost here its the whole nation. at the end of the day gma will still be there, and you have seen in the past 7 years what that entailed.

bibeth orteza: we were doing something we believed was right. i am very proud of our media… isa akong babaeng me cancer… sana kung kailangan mo mamatay, mamatay ka para sa bayan, wag ka namang mamatay dahil sa sakit. … kaya ako nandito. … hindi matatapos hanggat may ganitong mga taong ganitong katapang. right now im very proud to be filipino… sabi nga ni salud algabre, kung minsan kailangang umatras ka para manalo…

5:35 p.m. walking out of function room, led by trillanes and lim. standing around… a tank and an apc? in the lobby.

5:45. fr. robert reyes: tinanong kung kelan nila gustong lumabas. as soon as possible po.

5:50. bishop labayen’s prayer: …this is of the people, by the people, for the people. we are gathered here for the people to be the center of our attention. but we see that the system has injected in them massive poverty. for this we stand for them and we try to fight for justice, and we know that the forces of this world hate us for this. so we ask you lord to be with us and bless us with justice that we may have peace. we thank you for the gift of life and for the gifts that are still to come, according to your promise. this we ask through christ our lord.

pinky webb: mga taga-media, inaaresto at isinasama kami sa bicutan.

6:00. ces drilon reports, they’re ready to exit and are being asked to by gas-masked soldiers, but teargas fumes still too strong. masangsang pa, maiiyak ka… may 50 pa kami dito. … bigyan kami ng gas masks para makalabas.

j.v. bautista: we’re not going to leave them. …meron daw mga order of arrest. we do not know the nature of that. only courts can issue arrest warrants.

korina: pilit kinokompiska the video of our reporters…

jv: nilalapastangan pati rights of media. overkill. police brutality. state suppression. overreaction. … lumaban po kayo. wag kayo papayag. protektado ang press freedom dito sa ating bansa. sana ang media manindigan rin.

npc’s roy mabasa: nalulungkot kami sa mga nangyayari. ginampanan lang ng media ang tungkulin nila…. walang nilabag. kinokondena namin ito…

trillanes et al have left function room and brought to a holding area. aalamin kung sinong sundalo, sinong civilian, sinong tagasuporta etc.

human rights lawyer marichu lambino phonepatch to korina: harassing of reporters by armed soldiers, hindi ko alam kung bakit tinatrato bilang kriminal. … hindi puwedeng imbitahin pero nakaumang ang mga baril. illegal arrest. wala silang karapatang magconfiscate ng video kung wala silang search warrant. paglabag yan sa batas. nakikita natin kung sinong lumalabag sa batas.

6:20. trillanes being escorted/rushed out of hotel and into waiting pnp bus. arestado. nakaposas. next, vp guingona, nakangiti, then gen. danny lim, nakaposas rin. two more men, unidentified. now fr. robert and bishop labayen making their way slowly, isinasakay rin sa bus, along with some of the technical crew of abs-cbn.

6:37 p.m. two police buses moving out.

the end, and maybe not.

political soap operas, back to back

sa blogworld talbog siyempre ang malu-fernandez bruhaha sa erap-guilty verdict and its aftermath, a work in progress being covered closely by all media.

tapos heto pa ang zte-fg scandal, mabuhay si jarius at si joey, what a story. ito na kaya ang waterloo ni abalos, na hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit ubod ng lakas sa powers-that-be for such a long time na, mula pa nuong 1986 nang i-appoint siyang o.i.c. ng mandaluyong ni then minister of local governments now senator nene pimentel (mwahaha), later he became governor of the mmda, tapos chairman ng comelec — important high-profile posts, bakit siya love na love ng ating mga presidente? could he be some kindof edgar j. hoover figure, with secret files/tapes/cds/dvds on the ruling class? o meron siyang gayuma? puwede ring magaling lang talaga siyang mambola, the quintessential fixer?

interestingly enough, hindi natatalbugan ng zte-fg scandal ang erap-guilty drama. nakakalamang lang ng konti these days ang zte-fg dahil sa senatehearings. otherwise pareho silang winner, political soap operas back-to-back, one as controversial and shady as the other.

feeling liberated

i’ve written for all kinds of media — print, television, stage, film — and i find that the happiest kind of writing, i mean, the kind of writing i like best is this, writing for cyberspace, to be read by many or just family and friends, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that i’m free to say anything about anything, and it’s posted out there for cybereternity, what a great way of passing on mind stuff to my kids, and i can write it in any style and length i please, puwedeng no caps, use the same word twice, thrice in the same sentence, the same paragraph, and take as long as i like before bothering with a period, even smile or frown, scream or swear, in english or tagalog, taglish or gayspeak, and no censor, editor, director or producer to mess it up. sarap!

before i forget

as in, before the serious onset of senior moments… and because my geek son out in holland offers me the space on a cyberplate kumbaga, salamat, joel … and so that people will stop asking why i’m not blogging yet … and because saturn has just moved into my sunsign virgo so it’s the perfect time for new beginnings (whatever your zodiac sign, actually)… here i go bato bato sa langit