brian’s blog 2

interesting developments on delfin dj montano’s blogspot.

upon the importuning of fans, brian gorrell is now accepting donations. and the expectation seems to be that when the $70,000 has been raised, he would should consider himself paid.

meaning what? that brian must call a halt to donations? shut down the blog?

parang hindi tama. what the generous ones are doing should be meant to benefit not the alleged swindler ex-lover but the swindled and heartbroken victim who has HIV. it should not let the alleged scoundrel off the hook – where’s the justice in that? kung sinong maysala, siya ang magbayad, di ba.

and don’t say that being crucified on the blog is punishment enough. i don’t think so. i mean, how do we know? until the guy comes forward or puts up his own blog (maybe named briangorrell.com) to either confirm or deny brian’s story, we won’t even know that he’s been punished justly or unjustly, much less that he’s been punished enough.

i suppose this is why there are libel laws, to protect the alleged swindler. kung pinoy si brian, tiyak meron nang restraining order. i suppose also this is why kitty go, a jetsetter lifestyle writer who has written two small books dissing the alta syudad’s shameful decadence, herself stops short of naming names. check out this great review:

And even if I read it voraciously from cover to cover, I can’t helpbut wonder if I only found it interesting because I already knew the people you were talking about. And if people don’t kinda realize that apparently these purported characters were supposedly Antoine Saint Diyego, Aryel Losada, Emilee and Selene Lopes, Josiefene Knocks, Andrue Gan, Jonattan Matthi, Meelet Manankheil, Sary App, Gretsen Bareto and Teena and Ryko O’campoe, would the book be just as interesting to them? And some parts are a little too harsh I have to say. Ok, perhaps the stories about some of the characters’ penchants for embezzlement and backstabbing might be a cause for alarm, but a lot of people you mention in the book only suffer from the harmless inborn crime of being baduy* at the very most. One could turn the tables and think of it as a case of the kulangot** calling the other one grey here. Because if you are going to start picking the noses of these folks, then I certainly hope your nostrils are clean too.”

sey ni kitty sa tv patrol interview where she expressed support for brian: that if brian hadn’t told all, she would have written about it in her next book. really? would she have been as brave as brian kaya? brave enough to name names? which would mean she might never come home?

scary

suddenly, after more than a decade on the shelf, the Freedom of Information Act is up for debate and approval in the house of representatives.

i remember catching senator drilon and representative locsin on an anc sometime last year and they were talking about how FOIA bills have been pending in both houses for the longest time, thanks to majorities who donot want the public to know about the appropriation of funds, i.e., how our taxes are spent, i suppose, for bayad-utang and, let’s not forget, the pork barrel.

so what has changed? bakit biglang eager na eager si speaker nograles na ma-aprub na ang FOIA? can it be really because it is an anti-corruption measure that will “promote transparency and confidence in government?”

or is it because, in the wake of the public outcry against the latest supreme court decision upholding executive privilege even on matters like the corrupt nbn deal, nograles and gma’s other minions in the lower house want to enact an FOIA that will uphold the supreme court ruling? gloria gloria hallelujah?

scary.

in defense of gossip

the supreme court has ruled that romulo neri is right to invoke gma’s executive privilege and to refuse to answer questions that might could would implicate his president and her fg in the nbn-zte bribery scandal.

as a result, there is no way now that we can get to the truth of the matter. so biglang all the talk about gma and her fg’s involvement in the corrupt deal is reduced to the category of gossip, as in tsismis lang, because it is unproven or unconfirmed, and never natin mapu-prove o maco-confirm. unless of course the court reconsiders and reverses itself, which seems quite unlikely.

well. let’s look at the bright side. at least all the anti-gma nbn-zte tsismis is an improvement on showbiz tsismis that’s mostly petty and personal. how great that we’re swapping stories not only about gretchen & tonyboy, piolo & sam, sharon & kc, but also about political figures gloria and mike, luli and joey, jun and cory, the bishops and romy, on matters of national importance.

the thinking about gossip is right:

. . . gossip can be a form of political resistance to undermine entrenched systems of power and domination. Getting the scuttlebutt about salary discrepancies, executive perks, kickbacks, nepotism, conflicts of interest and the like ”benefits those excluded from power more than it helps those who exercise power since the former have less to hide.”

sometimes, gossip is our only revenge. just as it might be brian gorrell’s only revenge on the sosi peeps who he says lied to him and cheated him and stole from him.

brian’s blog

there’s this theory that brian gorrell is in cahoots with the gma administration and that his infamous blog is meant to distract us all from the nbn-zte scandal that’s been giving ate glue sleepless nights.

i doubt it. sa totoo lang, i would think that the oligarchs are far from happy about the spotlight that’s been thrown on the wickedly decadent lifestyles of their rich and famous brats (and their climber friends ). i would think that the oligarchs are getting kinda nervous given the hundreds of thousands of visits brian’s blog gets every week and the hundreds of commenters joining the fray, adding fuel to a fire that could spread and devour them all.

terribly karmic the timing, i’d say, considering that nbn-zte whistleblower jun lozada has been going around the country giving lectures a la romulo neri on the yawning gap between rich and poor in this third world country where the oligarchy rules. in fact i wouldn’t be at all surprised if pressure is put to bearon the gucci gang’s families to raise the money and pay up, the sooner to shut the blog down. they would be crazy not to, though i wouldn’t mind if they don’t. there’s something terrifically poetic, and epic, about the (in)justice of it all.