Category: chiz escudero

Senate Prez Chiz

Surprise, surprise, Sen. Bato got his 4th PDEA hearing last Monday (so much for my fearless forecast), and former LizaMarcos-law-partner Paquito Ochoa made an appearance and denied having anything to do with the aborted PDEA investigation. Short and sweet.

Then came the contempt citations on Jonathan Morales and Erik Santiago, which didn’t really surprise — napuno finally ang salop nina Bato at Jinggoy. What was curious was Chiz dropping in with a weird rather out-of-place smile on his face, which only made sense later in the day when I heard of the plenary session and caught him delivering his first speech as Senate Prez. Kaya pala. What a coup.

Of course my first thought was, the Palace must be pleased: the first couple was surely unhappy that Migs allowed the PDEA hearings at all, and that the chacha train has yet to get moving.

But Chiz says tuloytuloy ang PDEA probe, and he is still against chacha and does not plan to change his position.

And then again, what’s left ba for Bato to probe? The alleged threats to harm Morales? But the source Erik Santiago has already testified that he was lying, kathang isip lang yung kuwento niyang pinapatahimik ni Liza Marcos si Morales via a James Kumar who has already issued a statement denying it all. I guess Bato is simply leaving no bato unturned in case he gets lucky and some legit info turns up?

As for charter change, Migs has pointed out that not all the senators who voted for Chiz are also anti-chacha. “Strange bedfellows” indeed.

But knowing Chiz, a very public figure (more so since Heart entered his life) who’s impressively smart, sharp, and politically savvy, I can believe that the coup was on his own initiative, and, even, that he has a game plan in aid of restoring the independence of the Senate.  The shining example, of course, is 1991 when, against President Cory’s wishes, the Senate led by Jovito Salonga voted against the US bases.

“The proposed treaty is overwhelmingly one-sided and lopsided in favor of the United States,” said Sen. Agapito Aquino, the president’s brother-in-law, who voted against the treaty.

“I love my country more than I love my president,” he said. https://www.latimes.com/archives/

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“Orocan moments” by Ana Marie Pamintuan
“The beheading” by Lito Banayo

escudero, marcos, libingan ng mga bayani

last year, september 22 2014, to be exact, senator chiz escudero urged president aquino to allow the burial of marcos in libingan ng mga bayani to heal the wounds of the past.

Escudero said the fact that Marcos was a former president and soldier cannot be denied and based on these two things alone, he deserves to be buried at the Libingan. 

“… sa ganang akin (nararapat ito) para matuldukan na natin… yung 40-year rebellion nga sa Mindanao matutuldukan na, apatnapung taon na yun. Ito magtatatlumpung taon na,” he said.

“Wala namang debate na naging head of state sya. Wala namang debate na sundalo siya. If only because of those two facts, siguro marapat na bigyan natin siya ng karampatang paglilibing dahil anuman ang reklamo, ano man ang diumano ay ginawa o hindi niya ginawa bilang pangulo, o ginawa o hindi ginawa bilang sundalo, nanatili pa ring tutuong naging head of state siya at naging dating sundalo siya,” Escudero said.

exactly a year later, the vp wanna-be alleges that some twisting of his statement(s) happened, even if i don’t see any twisting, just an attempt by the good senator to sort of elaborate on the matter, not to deny anything he said.

“Of course people have been twisting that statement to simply mean to bury him at Libingan ng mga Bayani. But what I actually said was that issue is 30 years old. Can we finally address or settle it one way or the other, and not simply ignore it, brush it aside, and sweep it under the rug?”

… “He must be given a final resting place, wherever that may be,” said Escudero. “Government should address it and government should decide on it, of course in consultation with the family.” 

seems to me that the good senator is barking up the wrong tree.  the government has always said no to a marcos burial in libingan ng mga bayani.  it’s the marcoses who refuse to bury the patriarch anywhere else.  it”s the marcoses who refuse to concede, insisting that their patriarch deserves nothing less than a hero’s burial.  who knows, maybe it was a dying wish, and maybe imelda and the kids are willing to wait as long as it takes for a president who will say yes.

i wonder what grace poe thinks.  may i suggest that the prez wanna-be read of the damage marcos inflicted on nation: alfred mccoy’s notes on the Dark Legacy: Human rights under the Marcos regime.  and ninotchka rosca’s The day Manila fell silent.  and susan quimpo’s I saw martial law up close and personal.  and leloy claudio in The Marcos years were not the PHL’s golden era.  and monica feria’s Sept 22-23: Our lives changed overnight.  and kris lanot lacaba’s The torture of my father and other stories.  for starters.

donald trump & grace poe

i love the way donald trump is rocking the boat of the republicans, which suddenly makes me wonder if maybe i should be loving, too, the way grace poe is rocking the boat of the liberals so-called.

but then trump dares talk issues, never mind that he offends sensibilities with his political incorrectness.  poe for her part has yet to talk issues, baka pinag-aaralan pinag-iisipan pa niya, with a lot of help and input from her favored vicepresidentiable chiz escudero.  baka di pa tapos ang tutorial.

siguro kung di niya kailangan si chiz, siguro kung wala siyang chiz na kabuntot, kakayanin kong ibigay kay grace ang benefit of the doubt.  i saw that news report of her and chiz in  coronadal, south cotabato — on the invitation nga ba of NPC? is chiz back in the good graces of NPC because he has grace?

and in a short clip from her speech, some 24 seconds long, grace managed to mention chiz three times.

Ikinagagalak ko po na isa sa nagawa namin, kasama ni Senator Chiz, na dumaan at dumadaan na po ang BBL sa senado, gaya nga po ng sinabi ni Senator Chiz, ang mga probisyon dito ay kailangan nating pangalagaan.  maganda nga po ang national roads niyo dito  pero nasabi din sa akin ni Senator Chiz na marami pang kailangang gawin sa mga provincial roads.

ano daw?

as for teddy locsin calling idiotic the idea that grace should get some more experience muna in preparation for a 2022 run — for a while there i thought he might have some significant insight or info that would change my mind, but no.  as usual, he’s just being flippant, mocking, even satirical:

In our kind of government, which is modeled after the American, no experience is needed or asked for. Indeed, experience is what screws up your electoral chances unless you can hide it. Hillary Clinton has much to brag about and therefore much to be attacked for. Mar has served in the past 3 administrations—look where he is in the ranking.

As for the presidency, the job is easier than it makes itself out to be. It requires minimal intelligence to get by; though some cunning to get more done. It has an unlimited number of experts on call (and unlimited cash to pay them with) unless you prefer the company of friends. Even then, you’ll get by. And the media—from fear or for favor—will shower you with praises in the first half of your term.

You don’t pay for your mistakes; the country pays for them.

In the Philippine experience, nobody learns anything useful and good from serving in any administration, including not repeating the same mistakes. It is the same with any government experience, even on the local level: look at Binay.

locsin does not mention chiz at all.  in ANC’s coronadal report, walang sound bites from chiz even if he also gave a speech.  it’s almost as if he’s being ignored.  aray.  but that’s what he gets for piggybacking on grace’s popularity instead of standing on his own.

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http://www.philstar.com/opinion/518995/unraveling-chiz-escudero

walang kamatayang pork barrel

so, we’ve been had, we who rejoiced when the supreme court declared the PDAF unconstitutional last november and thought we had heard, seen, the last of it.

Pork Barrel is very much alive and kicking! warns prof. ben diokno.  and, like Dracula, the pork barrel is alive, in another guise, bewails neal cruz.

as it turns out, only 15 of the 24 senators gave up their pork barrel.  9 senators — the cayetano sibs, the estrada-ejercito sibs, lapid, trillanes, recto, and miriam — did not, and instead “realigned” their PDAFs with the budget of one or another line agency, or the calamity fund, in the bicam- and senate-approved 2014 budget that the prez signed into law last december.

senator chiz escudero, chairman of the senate finance committee, and very much the pilosopo lawyer, justifies it thus:

Is the realignment legal or constitutional in the light of the high court’s decision on the PDAF?

Yes, says Sen. Francis Escudero, chair of the Senate finance committee. The realignments (Escudero calls them “amendments”) came before the implementation of the P2.265-trillion national budget, he says.

The high court had declared unconstitutional all provisions of the law that allowed legislators “to wield any form of post-enactment authority in the implementation of the budget.”

But Escudero says the identification of beneficiaries of the realigned PDAF “does not violate” the high court’s ruling. “It’s well within our right to review and approve the budget,” he says. “This is preenactment intervention.”

say rin ni bayan muna partylist rep neri colmenares:

“The Supreme Court was not clear on whether lawmakers could realign the funds or not because it is clear that Congress has the power of the purse and has the prerogative where government money should be spent,” says Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares. “What it was clear on was that lump-sum items should be discontinued and that everything in the budget should be itemized.”

Members of the House had realigned a much bigger amount—P930 billion, including the PDAF. 

at parang tuwang-tuwa lang si senator chiz, as in, tipong naisahan nila ang presidente?

“In accordance with the powers of Congress, all of us can introduce an amendment. That’s our legislative power. If the President submits the budget, we can’t skirt our duty to amend it. What are we, a rubber stamp?” Escudero said by phone, chuckling. 

more like, naisahan ang anti-pork people’s movement, as in, nakahanap sila ng legal loophole (salamat sa supremes?) and it’s as if the people’s outcry against all pork-n-patronage fell on deaf ears.  it’s as if two of the nine senators, estrada and revilla, were not facing charges of receiving substantial kickbacks from fake NGOs identified with the notorious accused napoles.  and it’s as if the other seven senators were themselves untouched by any suspicion of similar kickbacks in the past.

of course, it might be that these realignments no longer allow kickbacks of any sort in any way.  if so, i wish they’d come right out and say it, assure us na, wala na pong kickback.  but of course they won’t because it would be to admit na oo nga, dati ay may kickback.

but, hey, jinggoy estrada, who aligned half his PDAF to the budget of the City of Manila of which his tatay, ex-prez erap, is mayor, is the most unrepentant, defiant, shameless, and brazen of them all.  hiyang hiya naman ako for the senate, who allowed him to gift his tatay’s city hall with a hundred million bucks.  hiyang hiya rin ako for erap, who had no idea daw that it was coming, and who doesn’t have the sense to say no-thanks, kahit out of delicadeza man lang.

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pahabol.  say ng grapevine, the supreme court is poised to rule vs erap in the disqualification case filed by ex-mayor fred lim.  if true, it would serve jinggoy right.