Category: gossip

ATTN: PBBM & Friends #Gifts

In the beginning I didn’t think it was worth blogging about just because it seemed open-and-shut : the prez is immune from suit until he steps down from office AND there’s no chance that the House of Reps would impeach him meanwhile.

But this sum-up from Michael Henry LI. Yusingco, lawyer and research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, cited in Business World‘s “Analysts: Marcos may have violated law with Duran Duran birthday bash”, changed my mind.

Yusingco … said Section 7 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials [RA 6713] provides that public officials and employees “shall not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of monetary value from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected by the functions of their office.”

Presidential Decree No. 46, a decree signed by no less than Mr. Marcos’s father and namesake, states that it is punishable for any public official or employee, whether of the national or local governments, to receive directly or indirectly, and for private persons to give, or offer to give, any gift, present or other valuable thing on any occasion. “Even if presidential immunity takes precedence in this case, that argument must still be made,” Mr. Yusingco said in an e-mail. “At this point, the wrong that needs to be corrected goes beyond what is provided by law.”

“It’s all about doing the right thing in the context of our problems with patronage politics, graft and corruption, and bureaucratic inefficiencies.” [bold mine]
https://www.bworldonline.com/editors-picks/2024/09/17/622180/analysts

It’s definitely an “ATTENTION: PBBM & Friends” moment — just in case they truly didn’t know that the law prohibits private citizens from giving costly gifts to the President AND prohibits the President from accepting such gifts, simply, plainly, because such gifts are a kind of bribery, a way of currying favor with him for some future high position or huge contract or mining concession or tax exemption or land reclamation or flood control project — sky’s the limit on corrupt deals upholding the personal-private rather than the public interest.

Of course it is quite possible that PBBM and his billionaire friends KNEW that gifting the prez with Duran Duran Live! — believed to have cost around a million US dollars — is against the law but went ahead anyway either because (1) they were naive enough to think that they could keep it under wraps or (2) they were feeling invincible, beyond the reach of the law, as the OG Marcos and his cronies were?

Which might explain why the invite to “PBBM @67” kindly asked guests to “keep the vibes cozy and private” …. “skip the photos and videos” … “if possible, leave your phone in the car” … “or check it in at the reception desk” … “make this night extra special and intimate.” https://www.facebook.com/

News of Duran Duran LIVE! leaked out anyway, thanks, it is rumored, to sis Imee who gate-crashed, snapped a photo of the band performing, and sent it to a DDS vlogger based in China who posted about it on Facebook, claiming that the band was flown in using public funds and urging the public to go and join the fun.

The very next day the Palace denied the use of public money: the band was a gift of “old friends” …  “at no cost to the government”.  Besides, it was a welcome surprise at the end of a hard day’s work (distributing a total of P3.19 billion in government aid to the provinces).

Pundits had a field day dissing the Palace response.

One said the Palace shouldn’t have dignified the Duran Duran buzz with an official statement. Really? As though there was no alleged wrong-doing that had to be denied or justified?

One said that the prez should not have indulged Duran Duran & friends with his presence, he should have snubbed the event. But what if he was truly surprised?  What was he to do then — walk out of the event? Leave, and disappoint, family and friends to party without him, the celebrant?  Medyo unthinkable that BBM, or anyone, is capable of that.

The best responses yet — because law-abiding na, doable pa — came from Ronald Llamas and Winnie Monsod. Puwede kasing  naganap ang Duran Duran Live! event without controversy, or puwedeng na-damage control agad nang maayos.

Akbayan activist Llamas is all over the place these days, apparently the favorite political pundit of today’s crop of eager beaver podcasters. Sorry I can’t find the video, possibly with Christian Esguerra or Richard Heydarian or Politiskoop or Storycon (if not all of the above), where he pointed out that the ONLY ones who are allowed to gift PBBM with expensive gifts are members of his immediate family.

According to RA 6713 Section 3d, that means only the spouse and children below age 18 (RA6713 Sec3d). So if it had been the First Lady pala who had spent for Duran Duran or who would spend for the next surprise, no problem. Good to know.

Say naman ni Prof. Winnie Monsod on Cielo Magno‘s “Usapang Korupsyon”:

Who would be stupid enough to give a gift [of that magnitude], unless they expect something in return. If not now, maybe later. …  If I were the president and I was surprised by that gift, obviously I could not possibly say, Go away, Duran Duran…  I would have to repay that person who gave me the gift, whatever he spent to give me Duran Duran. Obviously.  https://www.facebook.com/cielomagno/videos/1067077645425752

Oo nga. And I imagine that it’s not too late. Huwag lang sana sa confidential funds kukunin ang Php55 million or so. Good luck to us.

sawsaw pa more sa barretto brouhaha (in defense of tsismis)

no, it’s not just us pinoys who are tsismoso, as pat-p daza suggested (or is it opined) on dzmm teleradyo.  gossiping is a universal human predilection, we are wired to gossip and to be receptive to gossip, not just for distraction or entertainment but as a matter of survival.

read  in defense of tsismis” [below], a 1996 column I wrote for jarius bondoc’s radical all-opinion tabloid where I quote evolutionary psychologist robin wright [The Moral Animal 1994] at the height of the gabby concepcion – jenny syquia scandal.  read too the new york times’ Go ahead. Gossip may be virtuous. [2002], the guardian’s  In defence of gossip: no better way to navigate life’s flawed relationships [2015], and psychology today’s  Addicted to gossip?” [2016]

medyo level-up pa nga itong barretto bruhaha compared to the usual showbiz scandals involving sex videos, love triangles, broken marriages, adulterous relationships, abusive or two-timing partners, lgbtq+ closets and out-of-closets atbp. because this one is, above all, about FAMILY, and the sisters’ slaphappy showdown at their father’s wake–everyone (burgis and masa alike) agrees–was inappropriately wild and uncivilized, and because (beyond the juicy tidbits and sideswipes) the fact and context of family looms large and touches us all.

the reaction that most resonates with me is that of pinoys who are also members of big families, like the barretto’s seven sibs: nag-aaway din naman kaming magkakapatid, pero never naming dinadaan o pinapaabot sa sampalan at sabunutan, sipaan at sapakan.  

true.  family conflicts can, and should, be settled amicably, but every one concerned has to be willing to rise above self-interest for the good of the whole.  it’s also good for the soul, and good for the karma.

In defense of tsismis
Isyu 23 January 96

Natabunan nga ba ng Jenny-Gabby scandal ang EVAT, jueteng, at iba pang isyu? Dapat nga bang lubay-lubayan ng media ang katsitsismis about the private hells of the rich and famous dahil wala naman itong katututuran except as escapist fare for the poor and obscure?  read on…

binay vs. binay-campos (the abby road)

listened to abby binay-campos on karen davila’s headstart.  my smpathies go to jojo binay.

this is what dynasty has come to.  abby says she worked so hard to do all the things she has accomplished for the city of makati, so it’s unfair that she’s being asked not to run for re-election, as in, paano na ang projects niya, something about a subway and free wifi, e baka di na matuloy, sayang naman.

crazy, right?  para namang hindi niya kapatid ang ibig makabalik sa puwesto.  bakit hindi itutuloy ni junjun ang mga project na nasimulan na kung para sa ikauunlad at ikaliligaya ng makati?  iyan na nga mismo ang rationale, ang advantage, ng dynasty rule, di ba, yung built-in continuity ng leadership ng isang angkang nagkakaisa, with the good of their constituents in mind.  but wait.  heto naman si junjun, saying the same thing, gusto daw niya tapusin yung mga nasimulan niya na apparently ay hindi itinuloy ni abby.  eh iyon naman pala.

life was simpler back when dad jejomar aka jojo, the original mayor binay, went national and became veep: the lines were clearly drawn, it seemed to me.  jojo left the mayor’s seat to junjun, abby went to congress, and nancy made it to the senate.  hati-hating kapatid, kumbaga.  ang kaso, into his second term, sometime 2015, nakasuhan si junjun sa ombudsman at na-suspend; saglit nakaupong mayor si oppositionist vice mayor kid pena.  noong 2016 elections, di pa puwede si junjun, dinidinig pa ang kaso, so si abby ang tumakbo in his place.  kaysa mapunta sa iba, di ba.  syempre, as with any dynasty, keep.it.in.the.family ang mantra.

perfect timing naman dahil kaga-graduate ni abby sa congress (one of two makati seats), three terms na, so ang asawang si luis campos ang tumakbo in her place, na nanalo siyempre.  kumbaga, bonus na kay abby yung biglang run-for-mayor-and-win.  ang problema ngayon, she’s enjoying herself much too much (and we can guess why) and simply doesn’t want to give it up / back to junjun now that junjun wants city hall back.  she practically tells junjun to clear his name first (or something like that) before going back to public service.  in a statement, meron pang:

… when she took over as mayor two years ago, Makati was “in a state of neglect and disorder… worse, dirty politics and shameless political patronage had taken their toll on basic social services.”

teka.  the year before she took over was the year when acting mayor kid pena couldn’t get anything done because binay supporters in and out of city hall were forever blocking him on every front imaginable.  dirty politics din iyon at dirty politics pa rin ang namamayani sa makati (like everywhere else), or at least that’s the maugong na chismis.

and now here’s junjun on headstart.  hindi pala siya bilib sa subway project ni abby, cute and fancy, but is it viable?  AND he reinforced some chismis i’ve been getting from three different grapevines about abby’s hubby who’s running for re-election sa congress, nag-e-enjoy din, I suppose, and abby doesn’t have the heart to ask for her seat back, pero si junjun kayang-kaya niya?

OR the chismis goes, okay lang kay campos na bumalik sa congress si abby but he wants to run for mayor in abby’s place?  junjun does not say it in so many words but he certainly says a mouthful.

…my father doesn’t like him, may mga issues with him, may nga nagsasabi sa father ko na may sinasabi na hindi maganda tungkol sa family. … I’m sure he has his own ambitions. Isa yan sa naging isyu dun sa ground. Naging isyu yan… my brother in law. Meron siyang iba ring agenda eh.   Which is, hindi namin gusto ang agenda niya, it wont be good for the city.

and yet jojo in his wisom has refused to rule, or even just remind, that city hall is junjun’s, congress is abby’s – the husband is abby’s problem.  i’m still trying to figure out why.

sabi naman ni rene saguisag who was with jojo sa comelec.

The other day Mayor Abby Binay filed her CONA. The day before, JunJun, her brother, did. Normally, one may say that the Binays and the Estradas enjoy the paradise of pedigree, but not this time. How I wish they could find a way to reconcile, but a Prez Duterte, Mayor Duterte and Vice Mayor Duterte?  https://www.manilatimes.net/cream-rises-and-values-dip/453983/

hard to sympathize with either binay or binay-campos.  much easier to sympathize with the poor people of makati, and of davao, and poor people everywhere in this benighted land, who aren’t really being given a choice any longer, kept largely without options, caught in the cruel trap set by dynasties who mean to rule forever.

tony lopez rightly asks, what has been the impact of dynastic rule?

Is it a coincidence that the Philippines has one of the worst income equality ratios in the world, that it is the only major country that failed to solve its poverty after the entire world solved its poverty in 2015, that in ASEAN, it has the highest poverty incidence, the highest unemployment rate, the highest inflation rate, the highest interest rates, and the lowest level of foreign investments?

no coincidence.  more like cause and effect.  political dynasties enrich the dynasty at the expense of the masses.  at the expense of democracy.  which makes ours a poor and fake democracy.

mike drop

when director mike de leon started quarrelling with rogue magazine and the MMFF peeps last year, i started getting nervous for his comeback film Citizen Jake.  i wished him well, if not better than ever.  in my book mike de leon was neck-and-neck with peque gallaga, next only to lino brocka and ishmael bernal in the roster of top directors of the second golden age of philippine cinema.

i wished atom araullo even better, hoped the new road taken would mean a level-up in his activist advocacies as journalist for nation.  i wasn’t surprised that mike had thought him perfect for the role — atom is muy simpatico with tons of sex appeal, and he looks good on screen.  can he act? was the 64$ question, but it didn’t seem to matter, or mike would not have made the effort to convince him that only he could play the role of jake herrera, citizen journalist — even, that if atom said no, then it would be the end of citizen jake the concept.  that must have been the clincher, so to speak.

it promised to be interesting at the very least, a blockbuster at the very best.  unfortunately the jury is in, and the verdict is out, as in, out cold.  the legit reviews (as opposed to promotional pieces) are of a flawed film, but i haven’t seen it so i won’t go there.  but i will go where mike de leon himself has dared, beyond the film, to his outrageously nasty and scandalizingly out-of-control take-down of atom as actor as journalist as person for some 10 days now on citizen jake’s facebook page.  all in the spirit of truth-telling, he says

Citizen Jake: its strange that the phenomenon of social media has made us even more timid to speak the truth about anything. people cannot seem to get that one of the major reasons i have decided to speak out publicly on this issue is that it is undeniable that we have made a very politically charged melodrama. and AA was part of it not just as an actor but as a very active screenplay collaborator. please do not forget that. end of discussion.

it seems to me that it’s not speaking the truth that mike is up to as it is spinning the truth and blaming, taking out on, atom his failure as director of Citizen Jake.  no doubt there was a huge clash of egos and that atom gave as good as he got, why not.

and then, again, it could just be a case of unrequited love, as in, hell hath no fury…. as many opine.  or maybe mike simply brought out the worst, instead of the best, in atom.  what.a.waste.

*

‘Citizen Jake’: Brave but unrealized by j. neil c. garcia
Monsters in white sneakers by arnold alamon