Category: politics

changing times

i am glad that barack obama hasn’t taken or returned gma’s phonecalls.   i am glad becauseit pops the illusion that we are special to america.  i am glad because it puts us in our place.  we are a poor relation, that’s all, and america takes our support for granted.

maybe the inquirer editorial is right:

It is not difficult to speculate why Obama has been avoiding Ms Arroyo. Aside from the fact that the Philippines does not figure importantly in the US’ geopolitical scheme of things, Ms Arroyo is not exactly a political figure that Obama, who ran on a platform of change and would like to project a good, clean image, would want to be seen with. The nation’s experience with Ms Arroyo the past eight years shows that she is the quintessence of the traditional politician.”

quite possibly obama has a different take on the spratleys, mindanao, and the visiting forces agreement — maybe he wants to bring the u.s. soldiershome (would that include corporaldaniel smith, convicted rapist of nicole?) and quite possibly the uncertainty is what’s really freaking out gma — ang hirap magplano,  lol– thus the stop in chicago?  one last attempt to get to the guy?

samantala metromanila is abuzz with talk of a paranoid palace hearing midnight mass, and ding g. gagelonia wonders if the regime is in trouble:

. . . there are wagging tongues asking why Mrs. Arroyo is out of the country just as Joc Joc Bolante is set to face the Senate and amid the persistent talk of a new plot to bring doiwn her government.

A clear indication of that danger is the appearance of a web site purportedly authored by rebellious soldiers with the site prominently featuring the call of 5 ranking Catholic bishops for “radical reformsagainst massive corruption,”

Pundits are juxtaposing this angle with last Friday’s surprise midnight mass in Malacanang where churchmen, politicians, and civic leaders supporting Mrs. Arroyo where in attendance.

Is the ground shifting from under the embattled leader or will she, like before, be able to stare down the threat which her security people are closely watching?”

interesting times. obama’s triumph was no freak event.  up in the heavens jupiter saturn and uranus are configuring a rare triangle, and pluto, associated with upheavals and transformation, is changing signs this month of november.  as above, so below.

exposing manny villar

mala-mr.exposey ang drama ni lito banayo these days.  patindi nang patindi ang mga banat niya kina manny villar, the senate president, at cynthia villar, the congresswoman from las pinas, sa kanyang malaya column.  check out A case of plunder and The road to nowhere or read on.

A case of plunder

When Rep. Joker Arroyo of the first congressional district of Makati was robbed of the speakership in June 1998, he asked some investigative journalist to dig deeper into information he received about an alleged land-grabbing incident in the hilly town of Norzagaray in Bulacan, right beside the foothills of the Sierra Madre. He had information that behind the supposed land-grabbing was the Villar couple, Manuel, soon to be proclaimed Speaker of the House by the grace of the newly-elected president of the land Joseph Ejercito Estrada, and his wife Cynthia.

On August 17, 1998 Joker Arroyo spoke before his peers and charged the new Speaker with violations of the Constitution and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, or R.A. 3019, in all of ten specific instances. The fourth charge of corruption stated by Arroyo was about the Capitol Bank’s receipt of financial accommodations from the Bangko Sentral between 1992 and 1998, when Mrs. Cynthia Villar was its CEO, and her husband Manuel was a congressman from Las Piñas, and now, Speaker of the House.

Sometime last week, at just about the same time that now Senator Arroyo was defending his by now good friend and fellow Wednesday dining companion, Senate President Manuel Villar, on charges of conflict of interest discovered because of a 200 million peso “singit” in the 2008 national budget, a story appeared in one of the national dailies. It said that a certain Gina Jarvina and Valentin Amador, representing several farmers of Norzagaray, filed charges of probable plunder against Villar, his wife Cynthia, now congresswoman of the lone district of Las Piñas, along with Anacordita Magno, first vice-president of Capitol Development Bank, Arturo de los Santos, executive vice-president of Optimum Development Bank, and Andres Rustia, managing director in charge of the Department of Loans and Credit as well as the Assets Management Department of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, in connection with an unpaid loan from the BSP amounting to almost P1.5 billion.

Cynthia Villar was charged in her capacity as president of the Capitol Development Bank (now Optimum Development Bank) who was one of the signatories in the P1.5 billion loan, while Senate President Manuel Villar was made respondent for being a shareholder in the family-owned bank.

The plunder case was filed last Friday by a group of farmers whose ownership of some 484 hectares of agricultural lands in Norzagaray, Bulacan is being disputed by the Bangko Sentral before the Regional Trial Court of Malolos. Complainants are assisted by their lawyer Sergio Angeles of the Angeles, Golla & Associates which holds office in Eagle’s Nest, Sumulong Highway, Barangay Sta. Cruz, Antipolo City.

Based on that complaint, pertinent facts of which were confirmed to this writer by the investigative journalist Joker Arroyo commissioned in 1998, this is the story of the case:

Mrs. Cynthia Villar and Ditas Magno (once introduced to this writer by then Speaker Villar), president and vice-president of Capitol Development Bank, managed to secure a loan from the Bangko Sentral amounting to one and a half billion pesos in two tranches: 1.17 billion on 22 April 1998, and 332 million on 24 April,1998.

Based on the promissory notes signed by Villar and Magno on the two mentioned dates, they promised to pay their loan after six months or 180 days at an interest rate of 14.957 percent per annum. Upon maturity however, the bank and/or the signatories to the loan accommodation failed to pay.

Instead, they settled the loan through a dacion en pago of 483.97 hectares in Norzagaray, Bulacan, the same property that the complainants now before the Ombudsman are claiming to be lawfully theirs. At the time of the dacion, the zonal value assigned by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which is supposed to approximate actual market value, was 60 pesos per square meter or 600,000 pesos per hectare. Those 484 hectares should therefore be worth 290 million pesos, but it was used to settle an account from the Bangko Sentral of 1.5 billion pesos! Can you beat that?

In fine, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, fiduciary trustee of the people of the Republic of the Philippines, issuer of legal tender used by its benighted residents within the metes and bounds of the same Republic, now holds assets valued at 290 million, which “erased” liability of the Villars worth one and a half billion, or five times the value of the property now in its possession. In effect, the Bangko Sentral lost 1.210 billion of the people’s money to some very, very wise guys, for and in behalf of a hopelessly bankrupt Capitol Development Bank.

The deed of real estate mortgage was dated June 29, 2001 for the 483.973 hectares (484 has.) of agricultural land in Norzagaray, Bulacan which was used as payment for the P1.5 billion loan of CDB in April 1998. By this time, Manuel Villar had ceased to be Speaker of the House, and was already a candidatefor senator of the realm under newly-proclaimed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s People Power Movement ticket, in the “unusual” company of Joker Arroyo, his erstwhile tormentor-rival in 1998. Both won, Joker Arroyo for his tagline “Uubusin ang corrupt!” and Manuel Villar as “Mr. Sipag at Tiyaga”.

The perfect corporate crime, with the people of the Republic holding land one-fifth the value of the monies it lent? That’s not the end of the story, though.

It was only in 2007 that the complainant-farmers learned about the so-called nine transfer certificate of titles (TCT) covering the 484 hectares of land now being claimed by the BSP as their property after the foreclosure proceedings it conducted against the CDB.

The complainant-farmers, whose forebears had been cultivating the land since the turn of the last century, learned about the BSP’s claim only when they filed before the Malolos City Regional Trial Court for reconstitution of their land titles after the records of their titles in Norzagaray were burned in a fire that destroyed the building which houses the local Register of Deeds.

The complainants questioned the validity of TCTs in the possession of BSP since the date of issuance of the sales patent on July 17, 1944 and the date of issuance of the original certificate title (OCT) on July 25, 1944 “took place when there was no civil government in the Philippines.”

The complainants added that Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, maintained that “authorizing the issuance of sales patent was illegal and inoperative during the Japanese occupation.”

Sa madaling salita, “peke” pa ang mga titulo ng lupa na ibinayad sa Bangko Sentral!

Niloko na nga sa over-valued na halaga, naloko pa ang Bangko Sentral, na binayaran ng “mickey mouse” torrens title, issued during the Japanese occupation. At ninakawan ng lupain ang mga mahihirap na magsasaka. Will wonders never cease?

When the complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman was printed in a broadsheet, the spokesperson of the Villar companies, or was it the Nacionalista spokesman, former Rep. Gilbert Remulla of Cavite, the young man who would be senator of the realm, called it “old hat”, “recycled issues” that were already dismissed by the Ombudsman. “Pulitika lang ‘yan”, he scoffed. Yet a check with the agency records in the pink building along Agham Road in Quezon City shows that what was brought before the graft prosecutor was a mere letter-complaint, and this is the first time that a formal complaint of plunder regarding the transaction was received by them.

The signatories of the promissory notes for which Bangko Sentral loaned out 1.5 billion of the people’s money were Mrs. Cynthia Villar, not yet a congresswoman at the time of the transaction, and Ditas Magno, with Arturo de los Santos participating at the time of the dacion. The signatory for the Bangko Sentral was Andres Rustia.

Yet, the complainants and their lawyer included Senate President Manuel Villar in the complaint, who at the time of the transaction and its episodes, was either a congressman or already Speaker of the House. The lawyer explained that though Villar was not a signatory, the circumstances in the irregular and unusually generous transaction suggest clearly that the latter must have exerted undue influence or pressure upon the officers of the Bangko Sentral.

While that contention may be legally debatable, would Manny Villar leave his wife the congresswoman to answer this complaint singly? Can he simply shrug these charges off as “recycled” and “old” or leave the explaining to his faithful political acolytes, as he did the mystery of the 200 million double entry which would cross through properties he and his wife own, and for which monies of the Republic were used to compensate for road right of way? ”

***

A road through elsewhere

The Carlos P. Garcia Avenue, from SLEX to Sucat Road Extension, and from there, onwards to the Coastal Road, is not a “road to nowhere.” More appropriately, it is the “road through elsewhere”.

What has become a road to nowhere though is another-the original C-5 as planned, and for which money spent by two previous administrations have been laid to waste. Read on and find out how this happened:

The Circumferential Road that was to thread around the metropolis, just as EDSA does, was planned long ago, in fact, as far back as Ferdinand Marcos’ extended stay in Malacañang. EDSA stretches from the city of Caloocan at the Bonifacio monument all the way down to Roxas Boulevard, crossing through Quezon City, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Pasay. C-5 strings Navotas-Malabon in the northwestern side of Manila Bay, goes through Caloocan, then Quezon City, to Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasig, Taguig, crossing SLEX around the Bicutan area, and through Parañaque up to the Coastal Road along the southwest part of Manila Bay. There is absolutely no doubt that it is a major road artery with great benefit to motorists and transport operators. Nobody disputes that.

In fact, it certainly qualifies for foreign funding. But somehow, we’ve always been using funds appropriated piece-meal from the General Appropriations Act, except for fly-overs traversing it, which were funded by bilateral financing assistance from Japan.

But here is the startling discovery the Senate investigation into the 200 million peso “insertion” triggered: The original C-5 stretch from SLEX to Coastal as planned, has been transferred to some other site. It has been moved elsewhere!

Originally, DPWH would have constructed the road from somewhere in Bicutan through Parañaque, and comes out to Sucat after passing through the huge property of Amvel Corporation, owned by Bro. Mike Velarde of the El Shaddai, which ends at Sucat Road. From there, it goes through San Dionisio in Parañaque, almost at the border of La Huerta, widening an existing road called Kabihasnan. In fact, as early as FVR’s term, concluded in Erap’s shortened term, a negotiated price had been set for the road right-of-way traversing Amvel’s land. Government had already paid 1.2 billion pesos for that stretch of road.

Yet in a macabre twist of events, that stretch of C-5 or Carlos P. Garcia Avenue, was moved from the area traversing Amvel’s paid-for right of way, and forays farther south, through other properties, and approaches Sucat elsewhere, near the border of San Dionisio, right smack into the SM Mall complex. Then, a new road, already constructed, traverses the SM property, cuts through portions of Pulang Lupa in Las Piñas, and ends in Aldana, also in Las Piñas. From there, it will cross onto the Coastal Road. The new road will be longer than the original C-5, but what’s more, it passes through 39 lots, 12 of which belong to either Adelfa Corporation, or Brittany Corporation, or Golden Haven Memorial Park, all of which belong to the Villar spouses, Manuel and Cynthia, their children and minority assigns.

By moving the C-5 Road “elsewhere,” not only has the cost of construction expanded, but the purchase of right-of-way has multiplied.

Worse, criminal in fact, is that by so doing, government throws away 1.2 billion precious pesos paid out in road right-of-way rights to private landowners, chief of which is the Amvel of Bro. Mike Velarde.

How was this done? How was the original plan scrapped, and the road effectively moved elsewhere? Ask the spouses Manuel and Cynthia Villar, now Senate President and lone representative of Las Piñas City in the Lower House.

For when Villar the husband was yet the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee back in 2004, he and his Cynthia worked out a project proposal with the Department of Public Works and Highways, providing funds amounting to 710 million pesos, for road construction and “road right-of-way” payments in the newly-moved location of C-5. For that year alone, 355 million was allocated for right-of-way settlements. And clearly, Villar and his family corporations own so much of these properties. From the public monies appropriated in the budget Villar “amended” – to his own pocket, right?

And that is just the 2005 appropriations law. What about the 2006 budget, which was a re-enacted budget? Did the Doña’s DBM release re-aligned funds once more to fund Villar’s favorite project? After all, Villar was a pillar of the administration’s support base in the Senate, having in fact become Senate President by virtue of a term-sharing deal ironed out with Franklin Drilon, who in the middle of 2005, after discovery of the election cheating conspiracy between Garci and Gloria, had the courage to call for his president’s resignation. Not Villar. Never Villar, who now styles himself as “opposition”.

Now, pray ask our dear senators of the realm – did then Senator Manuel Villar, by effectively causing the re-routing of C-5, not cause the waste of public monies already sunk in road right-of-way payments to private persons to the tune of almost 1.2 billion pesos? Is this not violative of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act?

And in proposing the new C-5 project, passing through properties that his family corporations own, pray ask, was not Senator Manuel Villar guilty of conflict of interest, which violates constitutional provisions?

And in appropriating funds for the revised road project, the road right-of-way problems for 2005 alone amounting to 355 million pesos, was not Villar guilty of self-dealing, using funds that belong to the Treasury over which he had greater power to appropriate than any of his peers, being at the time chair of the Finance Committee? Isn’t this again a clear conflict of interest?

Then again, this time as Senate President in 2007, while passing the General Appropriations Act for the current year 2008, did not Villar cause the “insertion” of an additional 200 million pesos over and above a similar amount proposed in the President’s budget through the National Expenditures Program? That fact was established during the single open-and-shut hearing called by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who himself confirmed that it was his Senate President who asked for the insertion, earmark or amendment.

That the money had not yet been spent, and that the money was not to go directly to Villar’s pocket or anybody else’s, does not detract from the fact that all along, the Senate President who was once chair of the Senate Finance Committee, was profiting, and profiting immensely, from the relocation of a new C-5 from an old C-5 road plan. And would profit even more, in fact, humongously more, once the new road opens up all his real estate, which will later spot such ultra-expensive brands as Portofino, or La Marea, or Brittany, or whatever else, no more the plebeian Palmera or Camella?

Why am I now detailing the specifics of the bizarre arrangements made by Senator Manuel Villar with the present administration, as if I were a reporter instead of an opinion writer?

Because the public has the right to know what many sectors of media have conveniently hidden from them, whether through deliberately shortened reports of through a plain news blackout, as happened on the night and succeeding nights of the nation’s biggest television network. 1.2 billion pesos down the drain, and additional public funds spent and yet to be spent, simply because one family’s greed knows no bounds, yet this is not considered important enough to be news? One wonders whether the network’s moguls are in the know about what their editors and news managers do “on the side.”

But that is not the only story. There is more than what we see on the surface. This is not just a case of self-aggrandizement, enriching one’s coffers by using power and influence to determine policies, plans and programs of government.

In the next column, we will detail more sinister C-5 related deals of the man who heads the Senate of the Republic. . . .

***

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.

double entry, double-dealing

if he is telling the truth, i do not for the life of me understand why senate president manny villar doesn’t simply answer the questions that have been thrown at him regarding that c-5 extension.

kung totoong wala siyang ginawa / ginagawa na mali o labag sa batas, dapat ay siya mismo ang nagtatanggol sa sarili at hindi ang mga kaalyado niya sa senado, e.g., alan peter cayetano at joker arroyo, na sobrang offended that lacson dares accuse the senate president and the senate of corruption. wtf. as if senators were saints.

napapaghalata tuloy na merong itinatago si villar, malamang tungkol sa right-of-way, malamang conflict-of-interrest, and that he’d really rather not have it investigated or made public because it would put him in a bad light, perhaps bad enough to lose him a shot at the presidency.  i’m sure he’d like nothing better than the ceasefire that kiko pangilinan is asking for. i suppose this is kiko’s way of being an independent, stop the shooting?

but really, lacson is right, why should the opposition oblige? wala namang executive privilege si villar. he is as accountable as any senator, as any public servant. too bad for him that the timing is terrible vis a vis his 2010 ambition, but such is life.

kung walang ping lacson on the scene, there would have been another, on similar mode, to call villar to account. just as, even if he hadn’t climbed that stage, he would have bumped and cut his forehead anyway, and, lacson exposey or not, he would have been on public exhibit after, with that white white tape by his eyebrow, looking dazed, natauhan kaya?

pana-panahon lang yan, ika nga.  maybe it’s time to cut, and cut cleanly? as in, tell all, turn state witness, lol, wouldn’t that be fun! for a change.