write it down, miriam!

Senate Prez JPE and Speaker Sonny may not be free to give year-end “bonuses” to themselves and to their staff, as a matter of law and delicadeza. Such “pamaskos” should be in the sunlight, given with transparency.

… Supposed to have said he was “just making lambing” to the senators, he (enrile) should have used his own money to stroke them.

that’s rene saguisag in Dark knights johnny and sonny, sunflower uncle jovy.  he also asks:

If JPE had given the same sums to Miriam & Co., would they have groused?

it doesn’t matter to me that miriam might be grousing only because she was one of four who had been given peanuts instead of the full monty.  what matters to me is that while grousing she has confirmed what we always suspected, that our senators are not only over-compensated, they are self-serving first, public servants kuno second, if that.

even more awesome, miriam has dared challenge enrile on historically significant matters.  read conrado de quiros’s Go girl:

Comes now Miriam Defensor-Santiago to set the record straight. Or to remind her countrymen of what they already know. Or to put back in shape the history that someone has tried violently to twist.

In her own words: “Namunini ’yan (Juan Ponce Enrile) noong martial law. Right-hand man iyan ni Marcos, martial law administrator iyan ni Marcos. (He immensely benefited during martial law. He was Marcos’ right-hand man, he was Marcos’ martial law administrator.) He should now answer for the crime of plunder. Bakit siya ganyan kayaman? (Why is he so rich?) He should answer for the crime of causing the disappearance of people. Defense minister siya, e di dapat managot siya doon.” (He was the defense minister, so he should answer for it.)

On Enrile’s part in Edsa: “Gusto niyang tanggalin si Marcos dahil buong pag-asa niya na siya na ang papalit. E, gusto pala ng publiko si Cory Aquino. Purmero, nakikipag-kaibigan. Mamaya nagbibigay ng pera pala para sa mga coup d’ etat laban kay Cory kaya pinatanggal siya sa gobyerno.” (He wanted to remove Marcos because he thought he would replace him. As it turned out, the people wanted Cory. At first he feigned friendship with her. Later, it turned out he was financing the coups d’etat against her. That was why he was booted out of office.)

On Enrile’s ambush in Wack Wack: “Tumigil-tigil na nga ’yang matandang ’yan! Noong panahon ni Marcos, inambush s’ya. Nung panahon ni Cory sabi nya peke ’yung ambush n’ya. Ngayong panahon na ito, sa kanyang autobiography kuno, sinabi naman niya na tunay daw ’yung ambush. Anong klaseng tao ’yan?” (That old man should stop it. During martial law, he said he was ambushed. During Cory’s time he said the ambush was fake. Then today in his autobiography he says again his ambush was real. What kind of person is that?)

What can I say? I love it.

i’m sorry she’s taken ill and i hope she recovers because there’s ping lacson to tackle pa.  he who calls miriam a crusading crook, the one senator who dares take up the cudgels for enrile, defending that gift-not-bribe, which makes you wonder about his no-pork-barrel stance.  hindi ba pareho lang yon, sa kaban ng bayan din galing ang funds?  ah but of course he’s defensive because he accepted the gift-not-bribe.

miriam can make it easy on herself by eschewing public interviews and, once she has recovered her health and equanimity, by writing it all down instead, e.g., a press release responding to lacson, for starters.  not that writing won’t raise her blood pressure, but it’s less stressful, and one can say more, even choose one’s words and frame one’s arguments, for best results.

my attitude is, miriam may not be without sin, as lacson insinuates, but i love her just the same for spilling the beans, like, you know, she’s our expert state witness!