Blue Ribbon blues

Inaamin ko, nakatulog ako in some parts of Monday’s hearing — buti na lang may YouTube, twas easy to fill in the blanks — I guess because it was mostly disappointing. Nothing new except denials galore, no new whistleblowers to confirm previous allegations involving sitting senators, and meron ngang attempt to link Discaya with Romualdez, but using masked unidentified witnesses? Come on, guys, that was pathetic, try harder.

And while interesante naman talaga ang isyung Leviste files — the way he seems to have obtained some of them allegedly without a distressed Cabral‘s express permission, and the way he seems to be indulging the DDS who keep cheering him on, and the way Media can’t seem to have enough of his pabida pabayani script, na may paiyak-iyak pa, fearing for his life daw at kung ano-anong drama — mas interesado ako sa isyung Solar Corp franchise na allegedly in-award sa kanya ng Congress in a sweetheart wink of an eye, na hindi naman daw na-produce ang ipinangakong solar power, pero naibenta nga ba niya? at napagkitaan nang bonggang bongga? which deserves a separate hearing all his own.

And dahil inungkat ni Senator Ping ang kuwento ni whistleblower Bernardo tungkol kay Gen. Nick Torre, ngunit hindi ipinatawag si Torre, medyo nagulumihanan ako.  Dahil naipaliwanag na ni Torre sa ABS-CBN News three days ago what that was all about. Siya pala ang nilapitan nung priest friend na nilapitan ni Bernardo, nakisama lang si Torre, nagbigay ng options at advice. Tila walang comms group si Lacson na nagmomonitor ng media? Tuloy, nagbigay ng impression na nakialam si Torre, that he wanted to take custody of Bernardo, for sinister reasons, na quite unfair. https://www.youtube.com

Ang datíng sa akin, nangángapâ ang Blue Ribbon committee, what to uncover next that will not involve any of the senators already implicated by Bernardo. In aid of legislation lang daw kasi? Pero in aid of legislation kung mapupuntirya at matatanggal ang corrupt colleagues, di ba (unless nagtatago na o itinatago). Saka na muna yung masterminds, may araw din sila.

Imee, EDSA, Venezuela

Hindi lang pala si Imelda, pati si Imee Marcos ay sinasabing kinidnap sila, when asked by Karen Davila to comment on “what the U.S. has done to Venezuela.”

IMEE MARCOS: … There’s a personal history here. And that’s 1986. As far as my father and my family were concerned, nakidnap kami. Napunta kami sa Anderson Air Base in American planes. We ended up in Guam, thereafter in Hickam Air Base in Honolulu. As far as my father was concerned, it was an outright kidnap. … Hindi ko sinasabi na eksaktong pareho, pero nangyari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvbUBPhpl44 

Imee’s take is worth noting because EDSA history tells us that on Day 4 Feb 25, around 6:30 p.m. when the US choppers were already on the way to the Palace to pick them up, it was clear that Marcos indeed had no wish to leave the country but Imee and Irene wanted to.

The President’s daughters were in tears pleading with their father to make the departure for the US. They reasoned that they could not possibly come out of the situation alive, and their children, the President’s grandchildren, were with them. The Last Hours by Fe Zamora. Mr. & Ms. Mar 21-27 1986

In fact, according the Lewis M. Simons, their husbands had started packing up very early that morning of their last day in the Palace. https://edsarevolution.com/

Marcos’s two sons-in-law were supervising the packing of dozens of crates of family possessions, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold bullion and bonds, more than a million dollars worth of freshly printed pesos, as well as artifacts and jewels. These were delivered by boat to a bayfront lawn adjacent to the US Embassy. Weeks earlier, a number of bulkier items, mainly large oil paintings and other works of art, had been packed and shipped out of the country at the direction of the First Lady.

There was little sleep in the palace that night as aides scurried from room to room, sifting through cabinets and boxes filled with documents, receipts, letters, many of them incriminating. Imelda Marcos was able to provide little advice to her husband. She seemed dazed, drifting in and out of her private chapel where she knelt and prayed. Marcos’s son Bongbong and General Ver were arguing desperately with him to stay and fight. 297-298

So really, I imagine that when the Palace escapees had to stopover in Clark for the night — wala daw kasing runway lights sa Laoag Airport — and the next morning found their American saviors under orders to fly them all out of the Philippines, I imagine that no one was happier than the daughters.

Makes you wonder if she’s now complaining about being “kidnapped”?

Kinidnap nga ba #Marcos86 #Duterte2025

Since Maduro‘s “cowardly kidnapping” by the U.S. a few days ago, nabuhay ang mga paratang na si Marcos Sr din ay kinidnap ng America noong Feb 1986, at si Duterte ay kinidnap ng MarcosJr admin at isinuko sa ICC noong Mar 2025.

kidnap verb: to seize, detain, or carry away a person by unlawful force or fraud, often to hold them prisoner for ransom or in furtherance of another crime; essentially, stealing a person, taking someone against their will. synonyms abuct, seize, snatch, or capture

No debate, Maduro was kidnapped. Read Reuters‘ “Mock house, CIA source and Special Forces: The US operation to capture Maduro”.  https://www.reuters.com/

But please, not Marcos in ’86, kahit pa iyan mismo ang bukang-bibig ni Imelda nang nasa Hawaii na sila, na kinidnap sila ng mga Kano, na ang usapan ay sa Paoay sila dadalhin, desidido kasi si Makoy na mag-regroup ang AFP loyalists sa Ilocos, the plan was to retake Manila — which would have meant bloodshed, mapapalaban ang People Power. When Cory was warned, she asked the Americans to take him away and the Americans agreed and Marcos had no choice. Marcos’s mistake was to accept the Americans’ offer of help to escape the palace and to take them wherever they wanted. He could have flown to Paoay under his own steam. Presidential choppers had been on standby since Day 3 Feb 24.

And please, not Duterte in 2025. He was arrested and taken to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity. He knew it was coming. Duterte’s mistake was: umuwi pa siya. He was already in Hong Kong for that rally. We all imagined he was asking China for asylum and so it surprised us all na umuwi pa siya. China said no kasi? He had no other options? Hubris? He was assured perhaps that PBBM wouldn’t dare? At the end of the day he went along and climbed up that plane with no resistance and minimum assistance.

Kung tutuusin, yung kay Maduro ay pinaghandaan nang bonggang-bongga ng mga Kano so much so that the safe house proved unsafe and it was all out of Maduro’s hands. Pero yung kay Marcos hinged on his mistake of accepting the Americans’ offer of an escape route out of the Palace. At yung kay Duterte hinged on the mistake of coming home pa from Hong Kong. Kumbaga, from the frying pan into the fire.

Pregnant pause…

But one-sided, because the DDS nepo cong hasn’t stopped with the braying, insisting that what he is in possession of, that he calls “Cabral files”, deserve immediate authentication and publication by DPWH Sec Vince Dizon and Ombudsman Boying Remulla just because, you know, he says so.

Dizon and Remulla are uncharacteristically silent, which makes me think na it’s just, you know, Pasko and Bagong Taon. Break muna. Let the brat whistleblow himself hoarse meanwhile. Regalo na rin nila sa media, LOL, a political-monologue-drama, con todo tears, to feast on, and for punditz and hecklers to speculate and prognosticate and cackle about.

Tanong ko lang diyan sa so-called Cabral files na hindi itinatanong ng media: Listahan ba yan ng mga hiningi ng proponents o listahan ng mga inalok ni Cabral? Sa akin lang ba hindi malinaw?

Of course we haven’t stopped hoping to see big fish proponents in jail, as promised. Sabi nila merong magpa-Pasko sa kulungan, wala naman. Sa New Year kayâ? E tipong last two minutes na.

Ang dasal ko lang of the PBBM admin ay: Sana hindi totoo ang palagay ng marami na dedz na ang flood-control corruption investigations. Sana may inihahanda silang bonggang pambungad sa New Year that will convince us that “due process” continues and, yes, corrupt proponents will be identified and will suffer for their sins.

Because otherwise, sabihin pa natin na totoong sobra ang takutan na nagaganap behind the scenes, powerful ones with private dossiers protecting their favorite legislators and cabinet officials past and present, anong magagawa natin? May magagawa ba tayo?

At the moment, while I’m counting on Vince Dizon and Boying Remulla to deal with the nepo brat ASAP, the one we need to hear from is the mother senator Loren na one billion lang naman daw ang nakatalâ sa listahan, ayon sa anak. Does she approve of her son’s pa-pansin politics at pa-anti-corruption drama? Are we seeing a stage mom whose advocacy is to keep the evil system in place?

Kung si Vico Sotto ang huwaran na hinahabol ng Leandrong ito, medyo they aren’t reading him right. Pero kung si Vico ang tinatarget nilang tapatán, e di wow. Lalong lumilinaw na the two are worlds apart.