Category: senate
write it down, miriam!
Senate Prez JPE and Speaker Sonny may not be free to give year-end “bonuses” to themselves and to their staff, as a matter of law and delicadeza. Such “pamaskos” should be in the sunlight, given with transparency.
… Supposed to have said he was “just making lambing” to the senators, he (enrile) should have used his own money to stroke them.
that’s rene saguisag in Dark knights johnny and sonny, sunflower uncle jovy. he also asks:
If JPE had given the same sums to Miriam & Co., would they have groused?
it doesn’t matter to me that miriam might be grousing only because she was one of four who had been given peanuts instead of the full monty. what matters to me is that while grousing she has confirmed what we always suspected, that our senators are not only over-compensated, they are self-serving first, public servants kuno second, if that.
even more awesome, miriam has dared challenge enrile on historically significant matters. read conrado de quiros’s Go girl:
Comes now Miriam Defensor-Santiago to set the record straight. Or to remind her countrymen of what they already know. Or to put back in shape the history that someone has tried violently to twist.
In her own words: “Namunini ’yan (Juan Ponce Enrile) noong martial law. Right-hand man iyan ni Marcos, martial law administrator iyan ni Marcos. (He immensely benefited during martial law. He was Marcos’ right-hand man, he was Marcos’ martial law administrator.) He should now answer for the crime of plunder. Bakit siya ganyan kayaman? (Why is he so rich?) He should answer for the crime of causing the disappearance of people. Defense minister siya, e di dapat managot siya doon.” (He was the defense minister, so he should answer for it.)
On Enrile’s part in Edsa: “Gusto niyang tanggalin si Marcos dahil buong pag-asa niya na siya na ang papalit. E, gusto pala ng publiko si Cory Aquino. Purmero, nakikipag-kaibigan. Mamaya nagbibigay ng pera pala para sa mga coup d’ etat laban kay Cory kaya pinatanggal siya sa gobyerno.” (He wanted to remove Marcos because he thought he would replace him. As it turned out, the people wanted Cory. At first he feigned friendship with her. Later, it turned out he was financing the coups d’etat against her. That was why he was booted out of office.)
On Enrile’s ambush in Wack Wack: “Tumigil-tigil na nga ’yang matandang ’yan! Noong panahon ni Marcos, inambush s’ya. Nung panahon ni Cory sabi nya peke ’yung ambush n’ya. Ngayong panahon na ito, sa kanyang autobiography kuno, sinabi naman niya na tunay daw ’yung ambush. Anong klaseng tao ’yan?” (That old man should stop it. During martial law, he said he was ambushed. During Cory’s time he said the ambush was fake. Then today in his autobiography he says again his ambush was real. What kind of person is that?)
What can I say? I love it.
i’m sorry she’s taken ill and i hope she recovers because there’s ping lacson to tackle pa. he who calls miriam a crusading crook, the one senator who dares take up the cudgels for enrile, defending that gift-not-bribe, which makes you wonder about his no-pork-barrel stance. hindi ba pareho lang yon, sa kaban ng bayan din galing ang funds? ah but of course he’s defensive because he accepted the gift-not-bribe.
miriam can make it easy on herself by eschewing public interviews and, once she has recovered her health and equanimity, by writing it all down instead, e.g., a press release responding to lacson, for starters. not that writing won’t raise her blood pressure, but it’s less stressful, and one can say more, even choose one’s words and frame one’s arguments, for best results.
my attitude is, miriam may not be without sin, as lacson insinuates, but i love her just the same for spilling the beans, like, you know, she’s our expert state witness!
it’s more fun in the senate
we’ve always suspected naman that senators, just like the prez and the veep, the reps and govs and mayors, are traditionally willing to spend tons of money and energy to get elected because it’s an investment that pays back, pays off, big big big time, one way or another.
but what we’ve never heard before — go go go miriam! — is a senator confirming our suspicions, at least about the senate. the verrrry generous christmas gifts-not-bribes of php 2.46 million each in “additional maintenance and other operating expenses” for 18 senators who happen, or maybe jockeyed, to be in the good books of the all-powerful senate president is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. sabi nga ni senator miriam,
over a six -year term, even a three-year term, bawing bawi na, tubong lugaw pa. the most scandalizing thing is, it’s all perfectly legit. worse, most senators seem to feel entitled, think there’s nothing wrong with such practices in a country mired in poverty, after all, ang daming gastos, ang daming humihingi ng tulong, ang daming relief ops na kailangang suportahan, not to mention their sosyal lifestyles na kailangang i-maintain. worst, it’s like a reward system, and the pro-status-quo majority are the biggest winners. no wonder nothing ever changes.
hopes rise for RH
it was quite close: 113 yes, 104 no, 3 abstentions. so the NAYS may have sounded as loud as the AYES in the viva voce, therefore valid naman the anti-RH call for nominal voting. also, the hope may have been that, with the church watching from the gallery, the undecided / ambivalent / wishywashy reps who believe in a catholic vote might be intimidated enough to vote against the bill. which may explain the slim margin, clearly not representative of the 7 out of 10 filipinos who favor RH.
there’s talk, of course, as usual, of rewards from either the palace or the church in exchange for a yes or a no. no one’s offered any proof, of course, and i wouldn’t even have mentioned it except that on ANC i just heard a report that the president denies he dangled pork barrel funds for the passage of the RH bill. makes you wonder what kind of rewards the church, for its part, mayhap dangles for the defeat of the RH bill. the anti-RH catholic vote? but that’s only 3 out of 10 filipinos at best?
which, again, makes you wonder why, over in the senate, a minority is calling the shots on the RH bill. sotto has managed to delay delay delay his final interpellation, kung kailan he promises to demand amendments that will allegedly seal all alleged windows, cracks, holes through which a pro-abortion law might allegedly steal through in some alleged future. fortunately, senators pia and miriam are no pushovers.
samantala, the church has not conceded defeat on the RH fight, umaasa malamang na some reps will change their votes and swing the tide in their favor on third and final reading. sana naman hindi. sana, kabaligtaran ang maganap — NO votes going YES on third reading, alang-alang sa kababaihan.
here’s a list of the 104 NAY-sayers and 3 abstainers: kalampagin to vote YES, if s/he’s your representative!
here’s a list of the 113 AYES-who-have-it: palakpakan at iboto muli!