Mayhem in Manila . . .

The co-incidence was too much.

In the week or so before the huge Sept 21 anti-corruption rallies in Luneta and EDSA, Duterte propagandists were exhorting their online followers to join either of the two, basta anti-Marcos at hindi anti-Duterte. Nung pareho palang anti-Duterte rin, nag-plan B sila: a Maisug rally sa Liwasang Bonifacio, come one come all. On the side, Tiktok was alive with promises that Sara would be president by September 22.

But lo and behold, not one of the Duterte bigwigs showed up in Liwasan on the 21st. VP Sara, Kitty, RobinP, VicR, LorraineB atbp. had flown to Japan for a Sept 20 OFW rally, samantalang si TrixC was on her way to Europe and has been tiktoking from The Hague’s “Duterte Street” since around the 22nd.

Anyare? So they never meant to make sipot the Liwasan rally? After all those pep talks about people power, as in, let’s-go-do-an-Edsa, bakit parang tinakbuhan nila yung event, bakit sila nag-disappearing act lahat? Dahil alam nilang hindi kakayaning tabunan ng Maisug ang mga Luneta at EDSA crowds? Magkakaalaman na, at mapapahiya sila?

It made even more sense when the ugly riots broke out in Manila, near the Palace. I couldn’t help connecting the awful turn of events to the missing Duterte VIPs.  Maybe they knew this was in the works, and they didn’t want to be around when it happened, so they could pretend to be as shocked and angry as everybody else, and point fingers at everyone else’s corruption except Duterte’s? Read “Pakana ng DDS?” https://politiko.com.ph/ 

Thanks to YouTube, I saw enough live shoots of the action, particularly yung bandang simula sa may Ayala Bridge, when one tire pa lang of a container van was on fire, and spreading, and about a dozen or more masked youths in black were throwing rocks at a phalanx of police who were blocking their way to the Palace. The police, practising maximum tolerance, could only cower behind their shields and stand their ground, even when the kids came at them and beat at their shields with wooden poles.

I wondered who these kids were. I couldn’t quite believe that these were tibaks from the Luneta rally (who were said to have moved to Mendiola for a last rite but didn’t stay), because if they were, it would mean that the progressive Left had suddenly shifted from nonviolent to violent protest tactics?

It seemed to me that these boys were a different bunch, out only to provoke the police into arresting them so they could resist, fight back, create scenes of chaos, and incite usiseros and bystanders to join the march on the Palace, the more the merrier.  In Recto and Mendiola parang mas marami na sila, may kasama nang streetkids and riffraff, at mas magulo na, naninira’t nambabato’t  nagsúsunóg, at nanlabán when the authorities finally moved to detain, arrest, some 200 of them, di na baleng maakusahan sila ng police brutality, the young thugs had to be stopped from doing even more harm.

And when it was over, what a relief that the mayhem was nothing like that of Edsa Tres (May 2001), and that the arrested youth mostly confessed quickly enough that they were primed and paid to pretend and to play at being angry anti-Marcos activists, and to attack Malacañang and call for the president’s resignation, or some DDS sheet like that.

CITO BELTRAN. Were … they “hoodlums for hire” paid to agitate the police into attacking the protesters with a plan of creating negative content and videos for online propaganda? Apparently so, after some of the people arrested confessed that they were paid P3,000 to create chaos in the streets and attempt to siege Malacañang. https://www.philstar.com/

Which is not to make light of the plight of those mistakenly arrested and detained. Gets ko naman the concern of the organized Left (militants and moderates) for these poor kids and their parents. But there’s obviously a lesson to be learned here: stay away from masked figures in black wreaking havoc, or suffer the consequences.

… Garma in The Hague

On the ICC front, it would seem that Sonny Trillanes & Royina Garma have been sighted in The Hague, which would suggest na totoo ang tsismis, the police colonel will be testifying for the prosecution. Read “Duterte and Garma: The next chapter” by Marit Stinus-Cabugon.

The police colonel, merciless and feared even by her fellow police officers, became the face of President Duterte’s war on drugs in Cebu City. The war was indeed bloody and extremely violent. In 2019, the Cebu City Police Office was furthermore used to harass then-mayor (now vice mayor) Tomas Osmeña, his slate and supporters. Osmeña was defeated, and Garma was rewarded by the president with the position of general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

… It is an interesting twist that Trillanes, bitter foe of the former president, was the link between Garma and the ICC. Maybe Garma weighed her options. Hiding in the US was out of the picture. As for the Philippines, case or no case, she is hardly safe considering her testimonies against former colleagues. Also, the line of victims of the Duterte years’ violent law enforcement operations and extrajudicial killings is long. Some affected individuals might seek retribution.

The postponement “until further notice” of the much-anticipated Sept. 23 hearing comes as a great disappointment to those who pin their hopes on the ICC to bring former president Duterte to justice. However, it also gives the prosecution more time to prepare. What matters is that he will not be released, whether to a third country or to the Philippines. Being detained far from home may indeed have taken its toll on the mental health of the 80-year-old former president. However, allowing him to leave the Netherlands before the trial has even begun would be a victory for the very man who is on trial for crimes against humanity.

Garma doesn’t bode good for the defense, and the Duterte camp knows it. Maybe it’s why they’re suddenly on overdrive. My YouTube algo is rife with new live videos of some DDS peeps rallying in Liwasang Bonifacio demanding that BBM step down because he’s just as corrupt as everybody else in Congress and the Senate and the judiciary, and retired military officers vlogging and pushing violent versions of a people-powered government cleansed of all crooked politicians, or something like that.

Malinaw naman na ang goal ay maiupo si VP Sara, ngunit ayon kay Randy David, malabo itong mangyari nang basta-basta. Read “Don’t waste the anger” https://opinion.inquirer.net/

The Marcos administration wants to keep the anger alive, but under control, so it can immobilize its political enemies—notably the remnants of the Duterte regime. At the same time, it seeks to purge its own ranks of officials whose greed it can no longer defend, not because it has developed an ethical skin, but because the specter of removal from power before the end of its term has become plausible.

On the other side are the Duterte forces, still smarting from the sudden arrest and detention of their leader on orders of the International Criminal Court last March. Their sole agenda is to delegitimize Marcos Jr. and replace him with the constitutional successor, Vice President Sara Duterte. Outside of impeachment, they cannot do this without the tacit support of the military and the cooperation of the middle classes. Otherwise, they will have to wait until 2028. For now, they want to keep the spotlight on the Marcos administration’s culpability in the flood control scandal, hoping to sustain public anger until the next election.

Sana’y magdilang-anghel si Randy. Because so far the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) isn’t inspiring confidence that all corrupt heads will roll. What is, and why is it all, going on behind closed doors? That Mayor Benjie Magalong has resigned in disgust has online groupchats buzzing with prominent names allegedly being exempted from investigation. Guess who.

Distorting EDSA, Dismissing Agrava

Heard a pro-Duterte lawyer vlogger telling her followers na kung maraming marami silang jo-join sa  rallies, maaaring sumama na pati ang military, just like in ’86 daw when the military went to EDSA to protect daw the people in case of violent actions from the powers-that-be.

She also said that she doesn’t believe there can be a truly credible investigative commission. “Remember the Agrava Commission? May naniwala ba?” She reminded that there were two reports “dahil hindi magkásundô” [ang commissioners].

THE MILITARY IN EDSA 86

Sinong military troops ang pumuntang EDSA in ’86 to protect the people? Enrile, FVR, and Gringo’s RAM? The Marines’ Tadiar and Balbas?

FACT.  Enrile and Gringo’s Reform the Armed Forces Movement went to Camp Aguinaldo Saturday afternoon, joined by FVR a few hours later, to defect and take a stand vs Marcos (after their coup plot to replace the dictator was discovered). Wala pang tao noon sa EDSA. It was Day 7 of Cory‘s crony-boycott campaign. Close to midnight na when the people went to EDSA upon the call of Butz Aquino and Cardinal Sin to protect the rebel military who were perceived to be possible allies against the dictator.

FACT. Marine Commander General Artemio Tadiar and his tanks went to EDSA Sunday on orders to eliminate Enrile and co. but the people stopped them in Ortigas (as Enrile was crossing the highway to join forces with FVR in Camp Crame).  Monday Col. Braulio Balbas and his howitzers were able to enter Camp Aguinaldo through Libis, with orders to bomb Crame across the highway, but Crame was full of people protecting Enrile and Ramos, and Balbas simply disobeyed orders.

So. It’s not true that the military withdrew their support from Marcos and went to EDSA to protect the people. It was the people, waving Ninoy’s and Cory’s colors and banners, who marched to EDSA to protect the rebel military, not the other way around. Let’s get that straight. https://edsarevolution.com/chronology/

AGRAVA COMMISSION

Hindi rin totoo na walang naniwala sa findings ng Agrava Fact-Finding Board on the Ninoy assasination. Kapani-paniwala ang patunay ng Board na nagsinungaling sina Marcos at Olivas when they insisted na sa tarmac binaril si Ninoy at si Galman ang bumaril sa kanya.

Based on eyewitness accounts and audio recordings, the Board established beyond doubt that Ninoy, the victim of a military conspiracy, was shot on the service stairs by the soldier right behind him. All five members of the Board agreed on this principal finding.

The Majority and Minority reports differed only on how high the military conspiracy went. Chair Corazon Agrava named only the six (6) soldiers who were on the stairs with Ninoy, plus their immediate superior Avsecom chief Gen. Luther Custodio. The majority of four (Dante Santos, Ernesto Herrera, Amado Dizon, and Luciano Salazar) went all the way up to Ver and Olivas, with 22 military men, and one civilian.

That the Majority Report (Oct 1984) dared belie the dictator’s communist-hitman-tale and lay the blame squarely at the feet of Ver, Marcos’s highest military official, was a high point in the struggle to obtain justice for Ninoy.

Unfortunately, if expectedly, following the dictator’s orders na “Mag moro-moro na lang kayo”, the 1985 Sandiganbayan trial (Pamaran Court) declared inadmissible in court the copious evidence unearthed by the Agrava Board, and acquitted all 26, ruling that Ninoy was shot by Galman who was in turn shot by the military. The very next day Cory announced that she would run for President if Marcos were to hold snap elections. We all know how that turned out.

A year after Cory assumed office, there was a Sandiganbayan retrial of the Aquino-Galman double murder case (Hermosisima Court 1987-’90), this while Marcos loyalists mounted coup attempt after coup attempt to topple Cory and bring back Marcos. Criminal Case No. 10010 and 10011 was finally decided a year after Marcos died. It was a compromise decision, upholding Agrava’s finding of a military conspiracy but convicting only 16 soldiers, Custodio the highest ranking. Perhaps a concession to the restive military that settled down only in FVR times.

That Ver and Olivas (and other culpable ones) got off scot free, and that there was no evidence directly linking Marcos to the killing — these do not reflect on the Agrava Board, rather, on the genius of the mastermind who planned and enabled the project : How to kill Ninoy and get away with it. That’s my theory anyway, after some research on what Marcos and the military were up to in the three years preceding Ninoy’s homecoming.

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More in my Ninoy book, coming soon. This year, if I stop blogging. But these are such exceptional times. Even, desperate times for pro-Duterte vloggers, kaya nagkakalat ng fake history.

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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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