i had been thinking along the same line as manila standard today columnist antonio c. abaya (no relation to the tony abaya who accompanied jun lozada to fely arroyo’s residence, and who is the husband of anabelle abaya, one-time presidential spokesperson in fvr’s time) regarding noli de castro as the constitutional alternative to ate glue should romy neri find the balls to tell all once and for all.
So, given the stark emptiness of the Philippine political landscape, is there any reason for Romulo Neri to break his silence and divulge all the sordid details he knows at first hand about corruption in high places, and thereby cause the House of Arroyo to come crashing down?
“We can only appeal to his patriotism. He can take some comfort from the fact that if President Arroyo is forced to step down, the constitutional successor is Vice President Noli de Castro, who is neither a “trapo” nor a communist nor a military mercenary, and has no known—to me, anyway—connections to any of the three.
“He lacks social pedigree and political kingdom, as Jun Lozada himself describes himself, and he definitely has no vision of a new order. But we have to make do with what we have. And who knows, given the right inputs from the right advisers, he may be able to craft and articulate that vision of that new order, between 2008 and 2010?
“At any rate, he couldn’t possibly do any worse than the pedigreed Arroyo or the self-styled king of the masa, Erap. If the middle class, the business and professional communities, civil society, the Churches and the idealistic elements of the military support this constitutional process, it would be a painless solution to our dilemma.
“The pedigreed presidential wannabes will certainly resist such a scenario since it would threaten their presidential ambitions in 2010 if De Castro turns out to be a good leader in the next two years. But what can these presidential wannabes say? They are either for or against the constitutional process. If they are against, then they have no business running for any office.”
but wait. manuel buencamino posted excerpts from raul gonzalez’s business mirror column “that man, noli” where ate glue’s justice secretary is all praise for the vice president and thinks he’s going to make a good president.
“The recent SWS survey has confirmed this perception because Vice President Noli topped the SWS survey, beating such declared presidentiables as Senate President Manny Villar, Sen. Loren Legarda and Sen. Mar Roxas II….
“I would like to impress upon the public that during Cabinet meetings, VP Noli is always in my radar screen, and I see that the Vice President has the intelligence, the clear grasp of the problems and is equipped with the stature of leadership, which a national leader must possess.”
oh no. totoo nga yata ang tsismis na nakikipag-negotiate na ang gma camp with noli, you know, in case the shit hits the fan, she’ll make way for him but he promises her and fg immunity from suit and all that jazz.
worse, a couple of reactions to mbuencamino raise warning flags. one says: “If you only knew/know what he did at the office of the vice president. He is one person who only thinks of himself. Ask the people who know him.”
another shares a text message that has been circulating: “If you think VP Noli de Castro is a good alternative, you should continue reading. The P200 MILLION house & lot bought by VP Noli de Castro 2 months ago was given to his girlfriend Lucille Ortille. He acquired the property from Lucille Carlos & the exact address is 2256 Paraiso St Dasmarinas Village Makati City.”
hay naku. paano na nga ba. since we want to do this the constitutional way (the world will call it mob rule, but at least it’s constitutional), we might not have a choice. but maybe the people could impose certain conditions? noli has to promise transparency in all transactions involving public monies? how about promising to take the arroyos to court a la erap? the people should draft / craft a “we, the people” kind of document for noli to sign. this way we take people power to a new level. i know, i’m dreaming . . .
Hi Angela,
To me, if Noli is legally qualified to run for president after 2010 then he is qualified to replace Gloria today.
I may not like the man as a person or as a ‘leader’ but he’s the one who is 2nd in line to the throne so to speak and unless the Supreme Court declare both top office holders as constructively resigned, there’s not much one can do about Noli potentially replacing Gloria.
But I have my doubt — I don’t believe Gloria will resign. She will fight it out – she’s made of stern evil stuff.
hi anna, you may be right about gloria, unless her luck has run out and more whistleblowers corroborate and add to the jarius-joey-jun story. sana.
Hi Angela,
Just read that Albay gov J Salceda said of Arroyo,
“She may be a bitch but she’s the luckiest bitch around.”
When the woman in the highest office of the land is tagged that, i.e., bitch, in whatever context, and so loosely at that by one of her own allies, it says a lot: there’s lil respect left.
This is all not true, The house is not bought by Noli de Castro, we are the one who bought the house, my family worked hard to pay for the house! This is all false!!! Even the value is over declared!
hi ivan, in my next blog, freudian slip of a bitch, i have a link to lito banayo’s malaya column where he says he got the same text and he checked it out and oo nga daw, none of it is true.