Suddenly in September, telltale times

It was surprisingly swabe and civilized, the turn-over by Chiz Escudero, and the take-over by Tito Sotto, of the senate presidency. After all, they belong to the same political party, i.e., the National People’s Coalition (NPC) founded in ’92 by the late Danding Cojuangco (of which Alice Guo was briefly a member not too long ago). May pinagsamahan, ika nga.

Quite a relief to have been spared histrionics from the Duterte bloc upon their demotion to minority status. By the time they found out, fait accompli na. Twould seem they got too big for their britches, especially after the archiving of the impeachment, thought the bloc too fearsome and formidable, and DDS vloggers too vigilant and savvy, to be outfoxed, outwitted, or outmaneuvered, much less caught off guard.

But that’s exactly what happened Monday as DDS senators and vloggers were reveling in, and cheering on, DDS Senator Rodante Marcoleta‘s  Blue Ribbon hearing that had contractor Curlee Discaya naming Speaker Martin Romualdez and Rep. Zaldy Co among those mired in flood control anomalies.

Tit for tat. Of course the House struck back the very next day: at the infrastructure committee hearing, former DPWH district engineer Brice Hernandez name-dropped demoted Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva (na-double whammy rin sila) regarding 30% commissions from Bulacan’s flood control projects. Which of course the two senators vehemently denied forthwith on the Senate floor just before Ping Lacson‘s privilege speech that same afternoon which turned out disappointing for having nothing to say to, or of, the two senators so named.

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Are the hearings a waste of time because the Senate and the House are not likely to investigate any of their own members no matter if implicated by the testimonies of witnesses under oath? The Senate has no prosecutorial powers daw kasi, it’s mostly in aid of legislation, but also, said Minority Leader Alan Cayetano, it’s also to “ferret the truth” such as in the ZTE, fertilizer scam, and Pharmally investigations. Umm. Noong ZTE it was whistleblower Jun Lozada who went to jail; sa fertilizer scam, the plunder case vs. Bolante was dismissed anyway; yung sa Pharmally, may nakulong ba o nabawing pera?

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Meanwhile everyone’s on tenterhooks, anxious about when the next rains and floods will hit (konting ulan, baha) and angry irate furious about the failure of overpriced flood control projects, and how government has failed us big time, and how systemic and systematic the corruption in both the executive and legislative branches, which actually only confirms our long-held suspicions, except that we had no proof, they were all always covering up for each other, until ibinulgar mismo ni PBBM dahil sobra na, sabay pangako that heads will roll, iwas pusoy kumbaga, kaysa ma-Indonesia o ma-Nepal.

Because it’s rally season in the run-up to the anniversary of Martial Law, PBBM’s AFP and PNP must be on red alert, and this time the agitation is aggravated by a restive and blusterous DDS camp that’s looking for a rally to join that’s anti-corruption and anti-Marcos but NOT anti-Duterte. Together they hope to gather big enough numbers to oust PBBM and install VP Sara, which could increase chances of bringing Digong home. They got the ICC to postpone the Sept 23 confirmation of charges hearing, but only for a limited time while their experts determine if it’s true what Kaufman says, that Digong, 80, is “not fit to stand trial as a result of cognitive impairment in multiple domains.” Tipong limot-limot na daw, unable to recall events, places, and people, even family. But does it matter? What’s the law? What’s the history?

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And meanwhile there’s talk of another Senate coup brewing, with Cayetano poised to take over. The Duterte bloc of 9 only needs 4 votes to unseat Sotto. Sino kaya sa majority ang liniligawan, ginagapang, na magbalik-loob? The Villars, I imagine, and maybe the other Cayetano, and the other Ejercito? But a majority of 13 would be even more manipis than Sotto’s current 15.

“Very devious!” Sotto tweeted Sunday. “Wala pang hearing ang Blue Ribbon ni Ping Lacson, gusto ng ilan magpalitan agad. What are they so afraid of?”

Afraid of being exposed, maybe? Because what if Lacson’s Blue Ribbon committee has the dope pala on the rumored billion bucks worth of Discaya flood control projects from 2022-2024 in Taguig? Cayetano country, no less.

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No to cha-cha, YES to united front

August 11, Antipolo Rep. Ronnie Puno in a privilege speech called for charter change via constitutional convention, triggered by the “vagueness” of “forthwith” and Senate Prez Chiz Escudero‘s cavalier take that led to the delays and eventually the archiving of the impeachment. Pero natabunan agad ito ng same-day exposey by PBBM of the 15 top flood control contractors, among them (it was quickly revealed) one who donated P30 million to Chiz’s campaign kitty in 2022. Double whammy kay Chiz. Kumusta na siya.

September 3, the House of Reps’ Young Guns filed a resolution also calling for cha-cha via con-con to lower the minimum age for president and VP from 40 to 35, and for senators, 35 to 30, apparently triggered by a notion that it would work for young ones like the hugely popular heartthrob Vico Sotto who turns just 39 in 2028 which to me only means hindi pa oras ni Vico, huwag madaliin.

But the grapevine buzz is that Congress is serious and are moving on it, or something like that, amid coup rumors in both Houses. I heartily hope it’s all just talk, trying o distract us from flood and corruption issues. Because now is not the time for charter change. Maybe later, in a new admin led by an enlightened one who wins on the promise of a constitutional convention streamed live, and a multi-media information campaign so that the people will know what they will be saying YES or NO to in a nationwide referendum.

CHACHA CONCON
Besides, mahaba at magastos ang proseso — from election of delegates, to drafting of a new charter, to prepping the people, to holding a referendum. Back in March 2023, in response to House Bill No. 7352, the expense was among the concerns of the Makati Business Club:

NEDA estimates a Constitutional Convention would cost Php 14 billion to Php 28 billion. HB 7352 proposes 300 delegates who would get P10,000 per day, or a total of Php 3 million per day, or more than Php 400 million for the seven-month project. We believe these funds can be better used on agriculture to address the high inflation, transportation to enable Filipinos to get to work and home in much less time, and needed social services like health, education, and social security. https://mbc.com.ph/2023/

Pero sabihin pa nating pursigido’t desidido ang Konggreso. The only way it could happen very fast is not through a Con-con but through Con-Ass, where the two chambers agree to constitute themselves into a constituent assembly, and the lower house finally agrees to the two chambers voting separately. Ibig ding sabihin, kailangan ay parehong YES or parehong NO ang boto ng dalawang kamara for any amendment to pass into law. Which is so iffy.

Besides, it would be open season for all kinds of surreptitious insertions and deletions that dynast lawmakers and government officials have long pushed for (term extensions, foreign ownership, shift to unicameral federalism), at tiyak makikialam ang mga naghaharing-uri to protect their interests, as in the Quintero payola scandal noong 1971 ConCon.

Sabi nga ni Ronald Llamas in a sober panayam with the sophomoric subsaharan Richard Heydarian who actually thinks charter change might be the only way:

LLAMAS:  In principle I’m for a federal system but if you federate without the necessary minimum reforms, you are just federating warlordism, you are just federating concentration of power in the hands of a few, on the local level you will just be federating poverty. You need minimum economic and political reforms so that federalism would be much [more] real.

… Its about changes, [there are] minimum requisites before you change the constitution. Like, education is pretty basic, even congressmen don’t read the constitution. Perhaps even senators. So you have to popularize what you are changing and the proposals to change that. Usually the timing should be in the first half of a president’s term. Usually in the last half it’s tainted with suspicion that you just want term extension. You just want to change the system for vested interests. So if you start it early you have time to present, to educate, to do the minimum reforms necessary for changes in the constitution. They always use the excuse of economic changes but what is real is the political changes…

HEYDARIAN: Baka the right time will never come unless you create a sense of crisis… and maybe kicking off a constitutional change process by the trapos will activate the good guys.

LLAMAS: I doubt that will happen. … Because for now those who will push for charter change are the corrupt people of the present system … even, the most corrupt. You don’t even have a reformist in that group. So if you change the system, those who will decide about the changes will be the vast majority who are involved in the ills of the system you are trying to change. You want to change the system so that the ills will be mitigated, but the ones who will change the system now, if we do it now, will be the same guilty persons responsible for those ills.

Exactly. Whether con-con or con-ass, wala tayong panalo. If anything, dumadagdag lang ito sa gulo ngayong nagkakabukingan at nagkakaalaman na ng mga pasikot-sikot ng sistemang bulok na nagdadala ng karumaldumal na bahâ at karagdagang hirap sa taongbayan. As if life weren’t miserable enough.

LLAMAS. For me, the trigger is that the Dutertes may win in 2028. … This week there are lines being drawn for a united front. … So for now the trigger is 2028. If we don’t build a broad anti-Duterte front then the Dutertes will come and there will be hell to pay.

Yes. There are other ways to beat Sara in ’28. As in 1986, if the anti-Duterte forces and the anti-corruption movement, across classes and colors, can get behind one candidate, may panalo ang taongbayan.

Firing Torre

Read “Big questions on Torre’s ouster” by lawyer Joel Ruiz Butuyan.

A reading of the laws governing the Napolcom (Republic Act No. 6975 as amended by RA 8551) does not show that Napolcom possesses the power to review and overturn the PNP chief’s assignment of police generals to top brass positions, as claimed by the agency. The powers of Napolcom are primarily for “policy and program coordination” and administrative disciplinary proceedings against erring police officers. Its “administrative control and operational supervision” over the PNP are clearly for the limited purpose of developing policies and promulgating rules and regulations,” which do not include the power to review and reverse designation or transfer of officers made by the PNP chief to high-ranking positions occupied by colonels to generals, contrary to Napolcom’s claim.

… However, the President’s decision to remove Torre as PNP chief is valid because the President has absolute discretion to appoint and remove the PNP chief. But there are big and gnawing questions: Was the President misled into believing that Napolcom possesses the power to review and overturn the PNP chief’s designation of top officers, and that Torre blatantly violated the agency’s exercise of its powers? Did Napolcom overturn Torre’s reassignment of officers upon direct orders of the President?

Makes you wonder what’s really going on and if there’s any truth to The PH Insider story shared by MaxDefense Philippines on Facebook that Torre’s sudden removal has to do with his “refusal to sign a Request for Endorsement and Budget Support to Congress for an additional Php8 billion funding for the PNP for the acquisition of 80,000 units 5.56mm assault rifles for FY2026”?

The justification for such acquisition was said to be due to the PNP now focused on taking-over internal security operations from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, in which the PNP currently has capability gaps in terms of many aspects including firepower, and that its current inventory of rifles are insufficient.

The report said Gen. Torre refused to sign as he believe the acquisition is excessive for a civilian agency like the PNP, which had him in disagreement with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Jonvic Remulla.

Meanwhile the DDS are on celebratory mode, which makes you wonder if firing Gen. Torre is some kind of concession to the Duterte camp that heartily hates the fired PNP Chief for the Quiboloy and Digong arrests.

REGINE CABATO:
Facebook 26 August 

The DDS are having a field day with news of police chief Nicholas Torre’s dismissal. My disinformation-related take: Not only does it send mixed signals about the Marcos administration’s commitment to human rights-related reform, but they have also thrown to the trolls one of its most high profile officials capable of tackling the pro-Duterte disinformation machine.

Just last week, Torre exposed an organized smear campaign against the police. He pointed to a coordinated attempt among DDS vloggers spreading viral video to depict “lawlessness” in the Philippines. But these videos were from Indonesia and Vietnam, and the one video from the Philippines was taken out of context. What does this mean? There is an organized attempt to make crime in the Philippines look worse than it actually is, all toward: 1) campaigning for a Duterte return to power, and 2) spreading the ideology of killing, as opposed to reform, as a solution for crime.

Torre’s publicity stunt against Baste Duterte last month was another rare moment: he was seen as standing up to a bully, successfully fundraised some PhP 20 million for flood victims, and won some amor among soft Duterte supporters. (I’ve seen comments going: ‘I’m a DDS, but Baste was wrong this time…’)

Torre has proven himself to not only be efficient in tasks that few others would have gamely executed — particularly the arrests of Duterte and Quiboloy — but in a skill so many of our public figures lack: seizing the narrative in a Duterte-driven information ecosystem.

He turns defense into offense, and it sends DDS trolls scrambling, which is why they dedicate so much of their time making transphobic video reels that liken Torre to social media influencer Diwata, in an attempt to emasculate and undermine him. The flooding of laugh news reactions on news items about his dismissal, and the gleeful comment of senator Imee Marcos about karma, show that the Duterte disinformation machine does not rest.

Torre being out of the way after pushing for the takedown of 1,000 fake news posts allows the Duterte machine to recuperate, and the curtly worded dismissal letter gives trolls and vloggers another bullet for their smear campaign. This also raises questions about whether the next police chief will make similar commitments to information integrity among and affecting its ranks.

The smear campaign against Torre should not be taken in isolation: it is part of broader smear against career officials in law enforcement, including the military and coast guard, because the DDS machinery wants Duterte loyalists in these positions instead. The script against Torre is also being levelled against AFP chief Romeo Brawner, PCG spokesman Jay Tarriela, and so on. This script includes accusing them of being foreign hacks or sympathizers, using distraction to undermine reform, and it comes from the same influencer talking heads of the DDS sphere. The accusation that Torre, et al are ICC or U.S. puppets is especially hypocritical and ironic, given that these pro-Duterte networks have been found to have ties to China.

These DDS online reactions are not, of course, a clear indicator of the true pulse of public opinion. But they are an indicator that Marcos is losing the optics war.

 

Ninoy wasn’t perfect but he was one bright star!

First posted November 2019

And he was for real, nothing like the three “brightest stars” kuno … “shining” in the sky … that Duterte claims himself, Go, and Cayetano to be.  Hello.  Not one of them, not all of them together — kahit isali pa natin si Inday Sara at ang buong Konggreso — can hold a candle to Ninoy.

Were he still alive, Ninoy would be 87, retired na siguro but still nakiki-alam malamang, still holding forth with his ten-centavos worth on every issue under Sun and Moon, leveling up popular discourse at the very least.  What I’d give for some informed intelligent talk about Nation, with wisdom that comes from age and experience, with credibility that comes from integrity and love of country.

One thing his political opponents couldn’t fault Ninoy for, ever, was corruption.  And so they hit him hard with the communist card, tagged him a godless enemy of the state, without evidence other than that he was friendly with certain anti-America anti-bases Huks and communists, but then so was Marcos, friendly with certain other anti-America anti-bases communists but secretly, of course, in the run-up to martial law.

Which is not to say that Ninoy couldn’t have played his cards better.  I can understand, for instance, that he thought it a great idea to facilitate, hasten, a meeting (which would have happened anyway without his help, it is said) between the communist ideologue Joma Sison and the rogue Huk Bernabe Buscayno, but did it have to happen in / around Hacienda Luisita?  Of course nakarating ang intel kay Marcos, and of course Marcos exploited it to the hilt.  Ninoy laid himself wide open for that.

I like to think that Ninoy didn’t have to die just so we could topple Marcos.  I like to think that we would have toppled Marcos with Ninoy himself leading the way.  But i guess that would have been a different kind of battle.  Enrile, for one, might not have given way to Ninoy the way he did to Cory.  And then, again, who knows.

Ang nakahihinayang sa lahat, Ninoy never, it would seem, considered the possibility, in case he was killed, that Cory might take up the struggle in his place.  Because if he did he might have prepared Cory better, and Noynoy too?  Or did he try sharing the Christian Democratic Socialist ideology with his family but their eyes glazed over?

Maybe they would all have tried harder had they known how much Ninoy was loved and admired for standing up to Marcos, even in exile, and had Ninoy known how eagerly we awaited his return.  But then how was he to know, when Marcos controlled all media, and he continued to denounce Ninoy as communist, and we had learned to keep our mouths shut, or else.  Almost like now.

We had no idea then how many we were (legion! pala) who believed in Ninoy and trusted him to lead the way forward, that is, until he was taken from us, murdered on the tarmac, our one great hope.  No wonder the love and the hope spilled over and embraced Cory and the children in grief.  The rest is history, ika nga.

Nowadays, we have no idea, either, how many we are who desperately desire a better life for the marginalized and impoverished masses and a just and equitable social and political order for all.  But little do we really know what it would take to achieve these goals.

What we need is a Ninoy, nay, we need many Ninoys, who have the welfare of the masses at heart, and who have the expertise to pick up where Ninoy left off, craft a credible and sustainable development program (beyond BuildBuildBuild and PPP) toward systemic change that would be worth uniting behind. 

In an interview with Nick Joaquin, Ninoy said that in 1967, when he ended his gig as manager of Hacienda Luisita to run for the Senate, it took eight men to take over his job. [The Aquinos of Tarlac page 278]

Eight is a good number, for starters.  But, yeah, Ninoy is a hard act to follow.

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