Pedestrian Observer GB: 1/1/13

Looks like the recent senate scandal has all the makings of a telenovela complete with love affair that started with, of course as usual, money. The first impression or what was being fed the gullible pubic was that those pesky troublemakers are just sour griping due to the measly P250K they received (returned by Miriam Santiago while Pia cayetano turned it over to DSWD) compared to the P2.2M that the 18 senators received dubbed as Christmas gift out of the additional maintenance and othet operational expenditure (MOOE).

Listening to Alan Peter Cayetano’s privilege spits errr speech it seems that Gigi Reyes is the unelected 24th Philippine Senator, or was she?

It seems that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s chief of staff has some extraordinary position and privilege in the house of Lolong errr senate. For one the caucus room reserved only and exclusively to the elected senators. But Gigi Reyes seems to have been given access and able to hob knob with the elected senators like she is one of them. As if that is not unusual enough it seems she seems to have that power of the farce errr I meant purse because of her privilege to sign checks for the Senate president. It is understandable why some people get that privilege if they are truly super-efficient but when she is the subject of a story not related to efficiency then it’s kind of scandalous.

I never paid attention to Enrile who I consider a dinosaur that will eventually fade in the political scene but boy was I dead wrong on that, lol. In a perfect world that would have been the logical outcome but not in a patronage based political system where the once driven out and disgraced Marcos family and their minions are allowed to return home. That would have been a very humanist approach but when they are treated by some of their province mates as if they are conquering heroes and even get themselves elected to national office you know something is horribly wrong with the political system.

So what makes Gigi Reyes a powerful political player who is just the chief of staff of the senate president? It seems if we go by the old Chicago Tribune article it started with this scandal which I quote:

Enrile is not the president, but his alleged tryst with a top aide prompted his wife of 40 years to leave him this week with the public quip that she no longer could tolerate his chasing after other women, including domestic helpers, cooks and assistants.

The top aide happens to be Gigi Reyes and if that is true should explain her privilege and access that no other chief of staff has ever had. The senate is like an exclusive boys and girls club. Gigi Reyes misgiving is joining in the fray and publicly accusing the senators receiving the tail end of the MOOE of hypocrisy. A line that she should not have crossed, after all it is not her business to defend what her boss did since it was not her call but her boss. Now why would she do that?

Funny that she and Enrile are playing the resignation script but her resignation was denied by her boss and her bosses’ accomplices errrr loyalist did not take it also. The only thing that any good will come out of this is that we are learning how rotten is our senate and that’s just 24 people with access to billions of pesos, what about the lower house of Lolong este congress and the biggest employer in the Philippines the office of the president?

Update: 1/24/13

Apparently the story telling a lie errrr I meant the story line was that Gigi Reyes tendered her "irrevocable resignation," according to Juan Ponce Enrile. He now will have to convince her to go back as Enrile further stated to do what exactly, revoke the irrevocable?

So who is winning and losing in this squabble that's more of a display on how the senators and a chief of staff argue their point down the gutter level? Remember the argument is more about a question of whether it is ethical for the senate president to give away people's money in the form of Christmas gifts and not about side issues that has no relevance to what's at stake. Alan Peter Cayetano is definitely having the edge here but was he right or wrong is really not that important but what has to be resolved is the conduct of the senate president and his chief of staff in disbursing MOOE.

The irony of the scandal way back in 1998 regarding Enrile's marital problem and the rumored romantic link to Gigi Reyes if true makes, the accuser of Cayetano as a hypocrite also one if not a bigger hypocrite. Top that with comments coming from Enrile's side kicked errrr party mates specifically from the now old man who was tagged before as the so young yet so corrupt character weakens Enrile's stand even more. If would have been a better scenario if those who are offering their worthless opinion are known for their propriety and ethical conduct but that is not the case. If honesty and integrity is at stake one must get people to vouch for them who shall we say are known and without a doubt a person with good clean tract record.

In the end there are really no winners in this argument and we have to agree with Sen Panfilo Lacson on this one, they are all losers, errrr you know what I mean. They definitely destroyed whatever good image the senate has, not that it is any good right now considering the characters that cheats errr seats in that chamber but it just validates once more the perception of corruption and greed.

Gigi Reyes laments the way she is being dubbed as the 25th senator but I say she is wrong on that because at the rate she conducts herself it was more of the unelected 24th senator, as in, seating in for her boss JPE, LOL. Others say even worse why she is the unelected 24th senator, she acts like a tagak on top a carabao, LOL. So now she says because of her difference with her boss her resignation is irrevocable and also issued an apology that sounded more like a lovers quarrel este non-apology.

The problem with this woman is she never believes it was not alright for her to join the fray of the senators and only apologized solely on calling Cayetano a hypocrite, hehehe. For a very smart lady, she seems to miss the point that she is out of bounds or simply not her place to join the argument.

What a joke, now she calls on the majority bloc to speak up and continues to defend her boss. Is she saying her boss can't defend himself and it is her duty to push the senators in the majority to speak up?

Perhaps she should consider ruining este running for a cheat este seat in the senate so that she can spar with them anytime she wants. It is unfair for the senators and their constituent for an unelected senator acting like one, hehehe.

Subscribe in a reader

Click on the images to receive your free email updates POGB will not sell, exchange, use or allow any 3rd party access to your email for
any other purposes without exception, email exclusively for article updates only. Follow PJ @ Facebook, NetworkedBlogs, & Twitter

If the water purifier invented by Melvin Melgazo is rejected and deemed not good enough by the Philippine government, why is it accepted and working really well in Thailand for almost four (4) years now?

Perhaps Thailand has lower standards but if that is true where is the superior purifier being used in the Philippines?

This is quite disappointing to quote Cheryl Daytec on her FaceBook status:

South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, India and other countries used technology developed by Filipinos to move forward. The Philippines? It keeps rejecting its own. The military needs more budget than science and technology.

Even Cambodia is about to leave us behind. Tsk, tsk.

Watch and weep +Cesar Torres ......