speaker alvarez, sex videos #everywoman

Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez on Wednesday said he would allow the House of Representatives justice committee investigating the alleged Bilibid drug trade to present the alleged sex scandal of Senator Leila De Lima.

… Alvarez called the sex video the only material evidence to prove De Lima had a relationship with her purported lover, her former driver Ronnie Dayan, who inmates in the national penitentiary and a National Bureau of Investigation official said collected pay-offs for De Lima from the Bilibid drug trade.

mr. speaker, even if those sex videos were proven to be authentic, they would not prove that de lima was the recipient of money allegedly collected by dayan from bilibid druglords atbp.  it is obvious that making those videos public is meant to shame de lima, nothing more.  as if it weren’t bad enough that the prez has seen fit to publicly accuse her of screwing around with whoever.  kailangan pa talagang ipakita, ipalabas, i-exhibit for public viewing sa konggreso, sabay hirit ng isang papoging representante na ito’y “horror” show with “ugly performers”?  the shame’s on you, macho pigs!

this is not to say that i am with #everywoman who “would like to testify in congress” because “it was me in the sex video.”

The hashtag #everywoman on Friday trended in various social media platforms, less to support embattled Senator Leila de Lima and more about taking a stand against gendered attacks launched by certain statesmen.

“gendered attack”???  kung lalaki si de lima, and accused of screwing around with his lady driver allegedly picking up money from criminal gangs in bilibid for his benefit, and there were a sex video of the couple, gagamitin din ‘yan nina alvarez for sure, unless of course the male version of de lima were smart enough to remain calm, cool, and collected, innocent until proven guilty.  i mean, you know, like, vp binay never lost his temper, ever, in the face of all provocation, while de lima in her last presscon was reduced to a screaming banshee, auguring the end of whatever.

the lady doth protest too much when she could be building a defense that will stand up in court.

joma sison, plaza miranda, ninoy aquino

it was while i was writing marginal notes to the ishmael bernal anti bio, grounding a “dialogue” between bernal and jorge arago (both leftists at some point) in the culture and history of their times, when i found myself forced to deal with senate president jovito salonga’s studied view that it was cpp chairman jose maria sison who had ordered the bombing of plaza miranda in august 1971, and not, as we all had believed, president marcos.

sison has always denied it.  of course.  but salonga was known for rectitude and probity; he would not have charged sison so unequivocally if there had been any doubt in his mind.  and in this light there is no ignoring related questions raised re ninoy aquino who was expected at that miting de avance of the liberal party of which he was secretary-general.  it is said that he was just delayed by a party that he had had to attend; but it is also said that he had been warned to stay away from plaza miranda by a kadre friend, thereby insinuating that ninoy had not only saved only his own skin, but even that he had been complicit in the bombing.

i wondered if that was why ninoy stayed and submitted to arrest in september 1972 instead of going underground or fleeing into exile — he felt that he deserved some punishment for plaza miranda?  perhaps he could have done something to prevent the carnage?  but what if maybe, if there had been a warning, it had come too late to warn anyone else?  more recently, as i was reading up on the affair and writing this blogpost in my head, i wondered if the discovery that sison was responsible for plaza miranda may have affected the way that senator salonga had felt about ninoy, given the latter’s admitted links to the cpp-npa.

steve salonga, a friend from u.p. days and on facebook today, was quick to enlighten me via private message:

I looked positively at those links [of Ninoy with the CPP-NPA]. That happened way before Miranda and has no relation to later events. Most of what you hear about that today was actually trumped up ‘evidence’ during Ninoy’s military trial for murder.

Dad began hearing the ‘scuttle-butt’ about JOMA ordering the Plaza Miranda operations as early as 1982. Although it wouldn’t be until 1990 that testimony at a senate blue ribbon comm hearing would expose the whole fiasco.

The rumors that Ninoy knew about the bombing before the fact are true, but then, so did we. At that time we had raw intel of a plan to bomb our campaign sorties. But nothing definite. After Miranda, the rumors about Ninoy surfaced. But neither Dad nor I believed any of it. We knew Ninoy was at a party with Doy Laurel at the Sky Room at Jai Alai. We also knew he would follow shortly after that party. We never changed our mind about his innocence.

just the same it boggles the mind that when ninoy came home from exile, he timed it so that he landed on the tarmac on the 21st of august 1983, twelve years to the day since the plaza miranda bombing.  at the very least, it tells me that august 21, 1971 was a critical juncture in his life that he deemed worth marking.  with his death, as it turned out.

*

Truth about blast first told in Sierra Madre by Jovito Salonga
Revolution by assassination? by Max Soliven
Days of Shame: August 21, 1971 and 1983 by Rigoberto Tiglao
Once upon a ride to the Plaza Miranda bombing Part 1 by Mauro Gia Samonte
Part 2 …  Conclusion 
Ninoy Aquino, the Plaza Miranda bombing and Japanese collaborators
Jose Maria Sison Arrested by Dutch Govt for Murder
Victor Corpuz, Joma Sison, Martial Law, Plaza Miranda Bombing

Ayala Land: Health hazard

Katrina S.S.

One of the things that I appreciate about President Duterte is his consistent stand against oligarchs’ abusive ways (no matter how selective), and his notion of community justice that happens not just in terms of peace and order ala war on drugs (highly arguable strategy notwithstanding), but also in terms of bringing back peace and quiet to our communities. During the campaign, I heard him talk about videoke bans in public places, and I was hopeful that things might change for us who suffer through the incessant construction noise of big urban land developers.

Read on…

“state of lawlessness”

late friday night when the news of the davao explosion broke — 10 dead, 60 wounded was the first count — and as we waited for more facts, i was of course thinking abu sayyaf:  who else would dare hit out at the president’s beloved davao, especially since he had recently ordered the armed forces to destroy the terrorist group down to the last man.  i imagined that duterte must be livid with anger, all his strongman threats for nought.

by the time i woke up saturday the president had declared a state of lawlessness across the length and breadth of the archipelago, which only means daw that he is calling out the military to help police suppress the violence and terrorism.  but this raises so many questions.  is the threat of terrorism — whether from the abu sayyaf or, as the bandit group alleged later, from its ally daulat ul islamiya — nationwide?

if yes, why are we not being told unequivocally about these threats and why are we not being properly advised?  to avoid sowing panic?  but we have seen enough of ISIS terrorism in europe, and threats in america, via cable tv — people are properly warned and advised to be vigilant, and it is for the people to decide whether to stay home and avoid crowds, or to refuse to be frightened or cowed.

listening closely to the president and his men, it’s clear that that they choose not to dignify the claim by the abu sayyaf or to acknowledge its ally, daulal ul islamiya, as though that would be to glorify them, or dahil ba ayaw rin nilang i-acknowledge na naisahan sila?  they had been warned pala, as vice mayor paolo duterte admitted, but we don’t know by whom, or what the extent of the threat is, as he continues to keep it all secret.  i suppose they didn’t take it seriously — macho bravado?  these terrorists, isis-linked or not, wouldn’t dare?

because otherwise that davao night market would could should have been better secured, with more police and plainclothes peeps hanging around, keeping an eye on things, and the populace would have been vigilant rather than relaxed, as in, pamasahe-pamasahe.

and then i saw this, thanks to raissa robles.  a facebook status by one of the president’s men, peter tiu lavina, saturday afternoon.

Early this morning I wrote that three groups were likely behind the bombing in Davao City last night that left 14 dead and 67 injuredt: 1) drug lords, 2) terrorist ASG, and 3) political opposition. I stand corrected. There is a fourth group. One that is a collusion of these three suspects. An alliance of all anti-Duterte forces. Drug lords providing the funds, Abu Sayyaf providing the muscle, and the political opposition providing the brains and hecklers. Not farfetched, don’t you think even if the ASG has claimed the wrongdoing? Let this 0.2% do their evil worst. The rigtheous many will always be victorious.#SulongDabaw #SulongPilipinas!

it’s quite a conspiracy theory — clearly a barefaced attempt to connect the davao blast to EJKs allegedly perpetrated by drug lords — that so far has no basis in fact, or we’re simply not being told the facts?  maybe it’s pure speculation, pang-distract, but we’re expected to swallow it all, hook line and sinker?  by the way, guys, you left out the CIA.  but never mind, your new ally, the CPP, has not.  read Reds blame US for Davao blast.

i agree with rene saguisag (just heard him on tv) that we do not have a state of lawlessness nationwide, chaos and anarchy do not reign.  well, except perhaps in the wishful minds and hearts of the duterte admin.  and i agree with teddy locsin jr. that the abu sayyaf are not terrorists of the same blend as al qaeda, hamas, IRA, or ETA.  nor do they seem to be of the diehard islamic terrorist kind.

They do not have a serious political aim. They are bandits whose aim is the extortion of anything within reach. And that reach goes only as far as the weakness of national government is deep.

But there is no hatred—like Bin Laden’s for America’s desecration of Islam’s holy lands by American physical presence there.

Not yet.

So the ASG can be talked to.

But that requires keeping a tight rein on our rhetoric. (That is, shutting the f*** up.)