mvp & zte

so what does manny v. pangilinan of the telecom giant pldt have to do with zte-fg?

twice his name has come up.

once in the senate, when nene pimentel asked the two deans (one current, one former) of the u.p. school of economics something like, who did you write the paper for, that paper socritical of government’s national broadband network project. abah. it was commissioned by manny pangilinan of pldt no less for a very cool million bucks.

the second time in a very long text message from a “palace loyalist” that manolo quezon posted in his blog, to the effect that the zte deal involves a manila counterpart, and zte chose multimedia telephony (once owned by joey de venecia, now by bigbusinessman ricky razon na super-close sa arroyos and owns manila standard today), and that it was not only joey who was jockeying to become the manila counterpart, si manny pangilinan din daw

tried 2get a share of d biz but Razon wont let him. N return, PLDT paid d UP prof P1M 2 make d study dat wil put d NBN-ZTE look bad. PLDT s fundingall d bad PR on Razon & giving d oppositionsenators d bullets 2 kill d NBNZTE. NBN-ZTE s nothing but a fight of greedy pipol but could cause enormous economic loss 4 d country.

Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose

hmm, di ba. too much. how greedy talaga. talk about corporate social responsibility. nasaan na ang spirit of giving back to society? kung getting to that last mile ang problema, malinaw naman kung saan kailangan ang tulong, ang charity, ng pldt at globe, di ba? given their billions in profits last year (47!), they should be giving back, paying back, the right way, the right place, to the right people. instead we read in the inquirer about filipino firms investing $1.8 billion dollars abroad from january to june this year! and we read in the manila times that only 160 families own the economy and the politics of this country! where’s the justice?

but i don’t agree with the texter na cancelling zte would cause enormous economic loss for the country. i hope s/he’s just talking about the many other big projects that were in the bag na sana. because, sa totoo lang, nakaka-tense yang super-close relations ni gma with china. what’s she up to ba talaga? playing the china card and selling us out bigtime? is that really the way to go? can’t we be more creative than that?

senate hearings a waste of time?

i disagree with senators like miriam and joker who say that senate hearings on the garci tapes and the zte-fg deal (no deal) are a waste of timeand resources. not at all. like the erap impeachment trial, i find them quite informative and educational, not only re the facts of each case, no matter how kulang-kulang, but also re congressional rituals and level of discourse, or quality of thought.

i also disagree with pundits who think that there is no outrage, no edsa cuatro, because people don’t care anymore, because people are done with edsas, thanks to that edsa kuno that gave us gma. on the contrary. i think there is outrage and disgust, but that’s not all that’s needed to get people moving.

in 1986 we at least knew enough about the excesses of the conjugal dictatorship and the cheating in the snap election, thanks to the mosquito press, and mababaw ang kaligayahan natin, mapatalsik lang si macoy okay na, bahala na. in 2001 we at least knew enough about the jueteng pay-offs and the bank accounts, thanks to the live broadcasts and replays of the impeachment trial.and mababaw pa rin ang kaligayahan natin, mapatalsik lang si erap okay na, bahala na.

this time people are thinking muna before moving. hindi na mababaw ang kaligayahan nila. next time they want real change. and they don’t know enough, they need to know more, to make informed decisions. so anc’s live broadcasts of the senate hearings are invaluable. people can see, hear, for themselves about the cheating and stealing that’s going on, and sometimes, sometimes, the senators ask good questions that expand the mind and raise understanding a notch.

every little helps.

political soap operas, back to back

sa blogworld talbog siyempre ang malu-fernandez bruhaha sa erap-guilty verdict and its aftermath, a work in progress being covered closely by all media.

tapos heto pa ang zte-fg scandal, mabuhay si jarius at si joey, what a story. ito na kaya ang waterloo ni abalos, na hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit ubod ng lakas sa powers-that-be for such a long time na, mula pa nuong 1986 nang i-appoint siyang o.i.c. ng mandaluyong ni then minister of local governments now senator nene pimentel (mwahaha), later he became governor of the mmda, tapos chairman ng comelec — important high-profile posts, bakit siya love na love ng ating mga presidente? could he be some kindof edgar j. hoover figure, with secret files/tapes/cds/dvds on the ruling class? o meron siyang gayuma? puwede ring magaling lang talaga siyang mambola, the quintessential fixer?

interestingly enough, hindi natatalbugan ng zte-fg scandal ang erap-guilty drama. nakakalamang lang ng konti these days ang zte-fg dahil sa senatehearings. otherwise pareho silang winner, political soap operas back-to-back, one as controversial and shady as the other.

feeling liberated

i’ve written for all kinds of media — print, television, stage, film — and i find that the happiest kind of writing, i mean, the kind of writing i like best is this, writing for cyberspace, to be read by many or just family and friends, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that i’m free to say anything about anything, and it’s posted out there for cybereternity, what a great way of passing on mind stuff to my kids, and i can write it in any style and length i please, puwedeng no caps, use the same word twice, thrice in the same sentence, the same paragraph, and take as long as i like before bothering with a period, even smile or frown, scream or swear, in english or tagalog, taglish or gayspeak, and no censor, editor, director or producer to mess it up. sarap!