Category: social media

SONAkakaduda 2024 #FactsFirst

PBBM: Mahigit limanglibo at limang daang flood control projects ang natapos na at marami pang iba ang kasalukuyang ginagawa sa buong bansa. [Applause]

The following night bumuhos ang katakutakot na ulan at bumaha nang bonggang bongga across Luzon, even in places that never used to flood, so reminiscent of Ondoy2009, The following day a state of calamity was declared in all of Metro Manila, Bataan, Bulacan, Batangas, and Cavite. [Ambilis ng balik]

DJ Chacha https://x.com/_djchacha/status/1816275607157874692 
Last year, 147.5 Billion Pesos ang total budget for flood control projects for Metro Manila only. Sa lake ng halaga na yan paulit ulit pa rin ang problema natin sa baha. Anyare? 

PING LACSON
It is because most of the budget for the flood control projects flood the pockets of the proponents in Congress in connivance with the implementing agencies and their favorite contractors.

So, were there really 5,500 finished flood control projects?  If yes, what difference did they make? Totoo ba na walang-epek sapagkat substandard ang materyales at trabaho sapagkat kung minsan halos kalahati na lang ang pondo dahil sa mga komisyon ng kongresista, DPWH, LGU, at contractor? [Guys, mahiya naman kayo]

So now I’m wondering, too, about other stuff BBM said at the SONA that were met with great joy by nation: the ban on POGOs and the unequivocal stand on the West Philippine Sea, in particular. 

Already nakikiusap ang PAGCOR that “12 of the 43 POGO companies” be spared kasi masyadong marami ang mawawalan ng trabaho. Yan na rin ang concern ni Senator Tolentino sa isang interview with Karen Davila back in June that I blogged on: #BagongPilipinasWalangPOGO.

G. Senador, lumang tugtugin na ang ganyang justification: na may mga Pinoy na mawawalan ng trabaho. Iyan na rin ang daíng ng mga taga-Zambales at Pampanga nung isasara na ang US bases. But the good Senators of the 8th Congress agreed that the welfare of the whole, the common good, is more important than the welfare of the few.

Besides, the US bases and POGOs were bad ideas to begin with.

And yeah, great that he took such an unequivocal stand on the West Philippine Sea and had the grace to thank our fishermen, coast guards, and soldiers for their vigilance and sacrifice. I was hoping he would say, too, that the repairs of BSP Sierra Madre are to proceed apace whether China likes it or not ’cause #AtinAngAyungin! Alas, bitin. [Unless I missed it lang]

There’s a lot more na kaduda-duda especially re the grand promises of infra and ayuda. Saan kaya kukuha ng pera na panggastos? Lubog na tayo sa utang.  Bugbog na tayo sa taxes. Paano na ba. 

Looking for kakampi, post-SONA, it was good to hear some credible pundits airing similar concerns on social media.

Check out Christian Esguerra’s political podcast Facts and Fiction in President Marcos Jr.’s 2024 SONA  with guests Pulse Asia president and political science Prof Ronnie Holmes, RJ activist and PNoy’s political adviser ex-Sec Ronald Llamas, UP econ prof. and ex-Finance USec Cielo Magno, and PR strategist Alan German na anak ni PR OG Reli whom I sort of knew back in the days.

Holmes, Llamas, and Magno are better informed than most, with a sense of the true state of affairs, past to present, and who clearly care about nation. German is a glib PR political tactician who always seems to know more than he’s telling and teases with tips on how-to-sell politicians, among other powertrippers. Host Esguerra, once of ANC, steers the talk with a GenZ’s take on national concerns that tends to provoke discussion, though only up to a point. 

Unlike public affairs TV talkshows of yore, there’s a lot of banter, chortling, private jokes, whatever, between Esguerra and German, Esguerra and Llamas, apparently to keep the talk from getting too serious,  or maybe his regulars like his GenZ sense of humor, I’m not sure. Whatever, it’s medyo nakaka-put-off, but the serious exchanges were | are worth staying for. 

The same goes for Magno’s Chikahan podcast that premiered the Friday before the SONA with Llamas as senatoriable Edu Mansanas. It was the best conversation I’d heard yet on the state of the nation 2024, though you’d have to sit through some  patawa and pababaw moments that interrupt trains of thought. And parang the sax and sing-along numbers are for another kind of podcast altogether. 

If senior-short-memory serves, Magno and Llamas had a brief exchange about the pink movement, recalling what that campaign was like, how huge the crowds, how magical, parang EDSA, or something to that effect [sorry ang hirap hanapin ng exact words]. That was a pretty solid base of 14M – 15M voters, as it turns out — some 14.4M voted her in as VP in 2016, and some 15M voted her for president in 2022. 

And if my social media algo is any gauge, buhay na buhay pa ang kakampinks  — a third force neither pro-Marcos nor pro-Sara — naghihintay lang ng timon at direksyon. Which brings me back to Esguerra’s and Magno’s podcasts, the likes of which can be the perfect vehicles for thinking Filipinos with a bias for the Common Good to discuss current issues frankly and in depth, hopefully towards a consensus to organize around certain advocacies — like flood control, land use, anti-dynasty, proper wage hike, divorce law, atbp. — that sina Bam and Chel et al. could campaign on and carry into Congress in 2025.  Hope springs.

***

SONA blogs across three admins 2008 – 2019

SONA 2019 message: he ain’t no lame duck, not yet anyway

ChaCha: Duterte’s endgame #SONA2018 #NoToChaCha

SONAkakasindak 2017

sona, tsona, torre de manila #takeitdown (2015)

SONAkakaiyak (2014)

SONA’s deafening silence on coco levy loot atbp. (2013)

SONA as farce (2013)

the spin that is SONA(kakasuya) (2011)

SONAkakadismaya (2010)

kontra-SONA (2008)

Kaabang-abang ang next episodes… kuwentong Tsina at kuwentong kokeyn

KUWENTONG TSINA

May 7 Tuesday, China released an audio recording of a Jan 2024 phone conversation between some Chinese official and Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos (AFP Western Command) where Carlos is supposed to have agreed on a new way of managing tensions over Ayungin Shoal.  Also, China was supposedly assured that Defense Sec Gibo Teodoro, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner “all concurred with the plan”.

Say pa ng China, they released the video not to embarrass the Philippines but to prove that they were not lying about a recent agreement. One that China alleges was unilaterally abandoned by the Philippines “for no good reason.” 

May 8 Wednesday, Defense Sec. Gibo Teodoro response was to cast doubt on the recording, citing the Chinese government’s “propensity for misinformation.” And surprise surprise, Vice Admiral Carlos has gone on “personal leave” and cannot be reached for confirmation. And we are all supposed to just be upset, like Sec Gibo, that the Chinese have apparently violated our Anti-Wire Tapping Law?

It would be good to know if there was such a conversation or not.  If there was not, why was Vice Admiral Carlos allowed (made?) to go on leave instead of being ordered to tell the truth and assisted in disputing the authenticity of the audio recording?  Is it possible that there was such a conversation and Gibo et al knew about it but are resolved to deny it because at the time they were hedging their bets in case the US-Japan-Ph alliance didn’t pull through?  Could this be our version of gray tactics?  Sino ba talaga ang na-embarrass?  Meron bang na-embarrass?  All is fair in love and war? Kaabang-abang.

KUWENTONG KOKEYN

Circa 2012 pa ang dokumentong nakahain — authentic nga ba, tulad ng say ni Sen. Bato?  Mapapa-appear kaya niya sa senate hearing si dating executive secretary Paquito Ochoa na sinasabing siyang nagpahinto ng napipintong PDEA investigation of BBM noong 2012 dahil law partners sila ni Liza Marcos once upon a time? Meron bang basis ang proposed investigation other than info from the two maids whom Maricel Soriano dismissed for theft in 2011?

Pero sabihin pa natin, for the sake of argument, na totoo lahat iyon 12 years ago. What makes DDS vloggers think that it is reasonable to conclude without evidence that BBM is presently a drug addict and therefore not competent to run government?  Doesn’t it remind of Duterte times when he seemed really slow and stumbling and ill or on fentanyl, but when we asked to be assured about his health and whether he was still up to the job, we were ignored? Kesyo confidential daw ang medical records ng presidente, or something like that? Nothing has changed, guys. Tiis muna. Hysterics don’t work.

Pero kaabang-abang pa rin kung totoong ire-reveal na ng hitad na vlogger ang source(s?) niya of leaked documents and phone conversations. Wire-tapping, anyone?

DDS vloggers on oust-BBM mode

Duterte Diehard Supporters have been on oust-BBM mode for a while now. As far as I can tell, their grievances boil down to three issues:  BBM’s chacha project, the economic crunch, and BBM’s pivot away from China.

Of the three, I agree only with the chacha assessment. Malamang nga that the long-term goal is political change, from bicam to uni-parliamentary system, no VP needed, in aid of the Marcos dynasty reigning forever and ever. #NO to chacha indeed.

The economic crunch, however, is something else, and not one that can be credibly thrown at BBM alone. Last year pa lang, there was already this Reddit community saying that the “Living crisis is not just BBM’s fault,” reminding that Duterte was an epic fail, too.

mattventurer: People only blame duterte for red-tagging and human rights violations, pero not many have mentioned that Duterte failed to prepare our country for the future.

Walang ginawa si Duterte to improve agriculture sector. Walang ginawa si Duterte to improve education sector. Walang ginawa si Duterte to improve industries and manufacturing. Walang ginawa si Duterte to protect the environment. He failed his drug war! He failed to end contractualization. Philippines still flooded by corruption. https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/

To be fair, I would edit that to “Walang nagawâ”…. he may have tried, or his people surely tried, to make a difference, but like the presidents before him, found the corrupt System practically impregnable to Change.  No quick fixes here.  Even before the pandemic.

Read also Boo Chanco’s “Energy policy failure.”

By the time Duterte came into power, new power plants were urgently needed to provide the baseload for the power grid. It was obvious only coal and natural gas can provide the dependable output to feed our growing demand for electricity. But on Oct. 27, 2020, Alfonso Cusi, Duterte’s energy secretary, declared a moratorium on the construction of coal power plants.

Most likely, the technocrats at DOE convinced Cusi that a coal moratorium will endear him to the noisy climate change people. Embracing renewable energy, or RE, is trendy.

… So, no new power plants went on line during Duterte’s time in office. We are now harvesting the bitter fruits of that incompetence in policy formulation. https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/04/24/2349921/energy-policy-failure

As for the allegation that it’s Atty. Liza the Fierce Lady and not PBBM who’s running government, parang eksaherado naman. I don’t doubt that she has some influence on her husband’s thinking, especially on legal matters, but not to the point of BBM being under-the-saya — the prez knows what he’s doing, whether we like it or don’t.  And really, I think she’s an improvement on Imelda whose “hole in the sky” and “true good beautiful” rhetoric drove me nuts. I don’t mind the fierce one’s candor, drawing the line at “bangag” and without whitewashing the “badshot”.

Which brings us to the China issue. Galit na galit ang mga DDS kay BBM for rescinding that “status quo” agreement with China and pivoting to the U.S. and Japan for help in stopping the bully from aggressively encroaching on our territorial waters and resources. They warn of war,  and insist on Duterte-like diplomacy as the only way to deal with China.  But that only means more of the same gray, if not grayer, tactics to drive us away from our own waters for good.

Read Rafael Alunan III‘s “Countering China’s modus operandi”.

ALUNAN.  In 1988, then Foreign Affairs Secretary Raul Manglapus sent me to Washington, D.C., to attend a conference on technology. I was impressed by the Chinese delegation. It boasted that China had a master plan to become a superpower in 50 years through technology and that it was underway. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese were sent yearly to the US and Europe for post-graduate studies to transform their country. So far, so good.

Superpowerdom was China’s goal; technology would be the means. Sun Tzu emphasized the importance of strategy and deception in warfare. China’s approach to exerting influence and gaining control of other countries often involves a combination of economic, political and cultural means, rather than overt military action. Through the years, the US was subjected to unrestricted warfare in the gray zone to weaken it from within and without.

… For a time, China lured us to its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), offering opportunities for economic cooperation and integration principally to buy influence and capitalize on potential debt traps. Fortunately, we saw through it and decided to drop out of the BRI last year. The pullout came amid tensions in the West Philippines Sea and China’s delaying tactics to conclude the long-delayed Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

Freeing ourselves from China’s strategic influence and control requires a multifaceted approach, including but not limited to 1) strengthening institutional integrity, 2) reinforcing legal safeguards, 3) diversifying infrastructure partnerships, 4) promoting civil society engagement, 5) enhancing cybersecurity measures, 6) fortifying intelligence capabilities, 7) upscaling civic education and awareness, and 8) forging strong international partnerships.

The imperative here is to sanitize our ranks now with no time to lose, observe operational security (opsec) to keep secret what is secret, and engage those lurking in the shadows who are out to harm us with extraordinary measures before it’s too late. https://www.manilatimes.net/2024/04/23/opinion/columns/countering-chinas-modus-operandi/1942790

And this from Jose Ma. Montelibano, “China defies Deng Xiaoping warning”

“If one day China should change her color and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her … social-imperialism, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.” ~ Deng Xiaoping speech at the United Nations, April 10, 1974

MONTELIBANO. Deng Xiaoping was a political survivor, a visionary, a street-wise leader, and obviously was profound. He could not have led China out of the dark ages into the irreversible journey towards superpower status by simple brute force (he used that, too). He had power and he knew how to wield it, but he had shrewdness, precision, and wisdom, too. He knew China would be a superpower, and he tried to warn those who would succeed him, and the world at large, that China could get drunk with power.

Instead of internal propaganda that would have restrained China’s rapid transition from vassal to world leader, Deng simply pushed the transition even faster. But he took the stage in the United Nations, as if to allay fears that China would one day go haywire, and delivered a prophecy hidden … in a warning, “If one day China should … play the tyrant … the people of the world should identify her social-imperialism, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.”  https://opinion.inquirer.net/73236/china-defies-deng-xiaoping-warning

DDS vloggers vs BBM

Facebook note 

UNFOLDING. fascinating drama ng ilang vloggers who are out to bring down bbm for drugs, or something like that. over the holidays the leader of the pack promised the release of incriminating video that could be grounds for impeachment daw, or something like that. nasaan ang video? apparently napigil ng palasyo? so now nagteam-up na ang tatlong dds vloggers, crying foul! and freedom of speech! dahil na-takedown ang fb account ng isa. who’s next daw kaya. bakit hindi daw icategorically deny ng palasyo kung di totoo ang tungkol sa drugs at iba pang mga pasabog nila ng kung anoanong anomalies. most fascinating is that they actually think they can bring down bbm because the people are with them daw. totoo ba.  #notes2024jan #b4i4get