Once upon a time, we were idol worshippers, and by idol we meant Conrado De Quiros. Every morning we ran to the newsstands for his polemics, especially those that captured national anger over Gloria’s evil reign (a fact apologists like Bobi Tiglao perpetually deny). We clung to CDQ’s every word, got a natural high from the ink in his columns. When he said it was black, we believed it to be black. When he said it was white, that was that. CDQ had the last word.

that about sums up how loved conrado de quiros was in the time of gma.  more than any public intellectual, because never high-falutin, rather, writing in easy if dazzling english that resonated with the reading public as he gave voice and form and substance to rumblings on street kantos and in workplaces, coffeshops, family gatherings, and the internet.

in the time of pNoy, however, the first three years at least, he was mostly an unabashed apologist come hell or high water — whatever the problem, it was worse when gloria reigned.  but the good news is, it would seem that he draws the line at pork, PDAF and DAP both, and is fully behind the abolish-all-pork-&-pass-FOI-bill actions. read his most recent columns, here, here, here, and here, and rejoice.

i know, i know, defending his brother (pNoy appointee) emil and the SSS bonuses in two earlier columns still rankles.  but that was a damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don’t kind of situation.  and it was a valiant effort naman; valid naman his defense from the pov of the establishment that pays executive officers huge salaries and bonuses for good performance, i.e. increased profits.  problem is, nothing much trickles down to members in terms of really good service man lang.  something’s not right with the system, and THAT needed acknowledging.  i wonder nga if he ever considered saying, i’m not my brother’s, much less the establishment’s, keeper.  because, in his place i might have, sabay, no offense meant, kapatid.

pero puwedeng palampasin.  great to have him on our side in this struggle against deeply rooted widescale corruption.  best of all, he obviously still has the ear of the palace, despite the rants vs PDAF and DAP.  if not for de quiros, wouldn’t we still be suffering the irritating student-council, and rather arrogant, briefings of lacierda and valte?

october 20, exasperated at the palace communication group’s failure to anticipate and more effectively deal with the plunder-accused jinggoy estrada’s allegations of anti-corona bribes that inadvertently led to the toxic revelation that is DAP, de quiros wrote:

… government’s communication department has been unprepared for challenges like this from the start. That department has three de facto secretaries who are not talking to each other. They are Ricky Carandang, who is now no longer to be found except when P-Noy takes a trip abroad when he suddenly reminds the world he is still alive; Edwin Lacierda, who is a lawyer, who goes on to explain everything in a way Joker Arroyo finds amateurish (for being visible, he is one of those who has suffered a plunge in ratings); and Sonny Coloma, who has the communications skills but is kept to administrative and organizational functions.

just two days later, coloma was on cam, apparently taking over palace briefings, even if graciously insisting that this is par for the course, he’s part of the group, after all.  naturally he is defending DAP, too, but at least he’s not antipatiko about it, and at least the press gets to engage with a pro.  oh, and i love his tagalog.

in a more recent column, de quiros trained his guns on the liberal party that he blames for the president’s stubborn refusal to scrap all pork.

P-Noy doesn’t need pork, he is not seeking another term. He doesn’t need pork, he can get the senators and congressmen to do what he wants not by getting them behind him but by getting the people behind him. If his purpose is true and good, like impeaching Corona, the people will back him. He doesn’t need pork, he need not pursue his agenda behind the prying eyes of the public, he can always do it under the glare of their scrutiny: If that agenda is lofty and inspiring, they will fly their banners behind it. That is how legacies are made.

He doesn’t need pork, but his people do. Mar Roxas and Butch Abad do. The Liberal Party does.

They’re the ones who want another six years, they’re the ones who dream of another six years. They’re the ones who need to keep the senators and congressmen happy so they’ll support them. They’re the ones who need the money to get the politicians to support them. The question is whether P-Noy will remain true to the vision that made him soar or to the cabal that made him sink. Unfortunately, he seems to believe those two are one and the same, the latter the extension of the first. Which makes him need pork, too.

reminded me of something i heard through the grapevine soon after corona was convicted.  to the effect that palace peeps were ecstatic: six more years! referring to the 2016 elections (talbog ang three years pa ni kris aquino).  to doubting thomases, the retort was: watch us!

who would have known that barely a month and a half later, the inquirer would explode the napoles-PDAF bomb and that the collateral damage to the palace would be so colossal.

of course the president might yet rise to the challenge, take the plunge and scrap all pork, prepare to win 2016 for his annointed based on merit rather than pork and patronage.  that would be awesome and, yes, we are watching, though not with bated breath.