Romulo Neri's Suspension mere public relations and damage control.

Neri previously covered up as to the direct instructions Gloria gave him insofar as the deal is concerned, subject of the very juicy effusions he shared with his consultant Rodolfo Lozada. But in a sudden turnaround, what was generally expected to be the damning testimony against the president suddenly became a pleas for executive privilege. When the Senate forced the issue, Neri went to the Supreme Court and scored his first major victory.

On May 26, 2008, a Supreme Court decision nullified the Senate's citation of contempt against Neri, ruling that conversations between Neri and President Arroyo are considered classified information. That may have bolstered Neri's expectations of impunity.

But his impunity can only secondary to Gloria's impunity. This is what the Ombudsman is saying with the temporary clearance it gave the First Kotong.

In short, Neri is now in the can. People say he must have been paid a great sum for keeping mum on his M'am Gloria, but now that he has been suspended for six months from his exalted position in the Social Security System, the shame that he did not have by not corroborating Lozada's accusations, could start to seep in now.

Actually, it may not been money, but extreme harrassment not just to himself nut to his entire family. From 2002 to 2004, I worked with a cabinet secretary who was forced to take his whole family to self-exile in the United States because they ate death threats for breakfast, lunch and dinner while they were still in the Philippines. All because he did not agree to cover up for her plunder.

Forget Ben Abalos. He would most likely hold on to his legal hard nose. He will take chances with technicalities and equally corrupt magistrates. Besides, even as mayor of Mandaluyong, he was already corrupt. His family was able to stash all the capital that built the "Crossings" chain of department stores from so-called SOPs he collected from business licenses and construction permits.

I am sure Mike had a dossier on Abalos that he can put the former judge on leash. It is only in the Philippines that the chairman of the Commission on Elections takes multiple trips to a foreign land to broker for the First Gentleman. Equally promised impunity, he increases his leverage on the First Kotong by accepting to be scapegoat. But with a conscience seared, Abalos is playing for greater stakes here for his equal weight in gold.

Time, however, is running short for the First Kotong. And it is too late for PR to remedy.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has taken the same corrupt and violent road Marcos took towards the end of his term. Today as we speak, even the White House, the State Department and the American Embassy in the Philippines has categorically told Gloria that she must exit after her term and allow a credible election for her successor.

Of course Gloria is trying leverage back by forcing the renegotiation of the Visiting Forces Agreement. As a lameduck and unable to use her soiled Chinese card this time, she will of course fail to establish a counterpoise.

My group alone has more than 20 live cases against her in the Ombudsman, mostly for plunder.

The spectre of one day after her term she will lose all her friends, is not entertaining at all. First to go will be Ermita, Remonde, Golez and Olivar, her rahrah squad. Next will be Nograles, Puno and Duque, who will be now queueing to the new powers. The pera-pera political parties of Lakas-Kampi will also disintegrate in the same way Monching Mitra saw his party evaporate into the thin air. Mind you, she does not even have the following that Erap had, even through his prosecution, eventual incarceration and until now.

With Gloria, everybody is only as good as their last good performance. She used all her classmates to feed her ambitions to become president. But soon as she got what she wanted, she betrayed them one by one. Bing Rodrigo walked out of Malacañang because she caught Mike's hand in the cookie jar and she did not sustain her. Bing died some years after leaving Malcañang without the benefit of reconciling with Gloria. When Censors employes trumped up charges against Marilen Dinglasan, she unceremoniously replaced her. This broke Marilen's heart and sank her into a depression that snuffed her life less than one year from the incident. Bing, Marilen and Gloria were bosom friends since grade one at the Assumption Convent School.

So with Gloria who needs enemies? I can already smell the orange suit waiting for her.

As soon as her star wanes, Mike Arroyo will reunite with Vicky Toh with whom he has sired two children, and attempt an escape through Hongkong. His local fortune, he will leave with his brother Ignocito, who then will be non-electable and who will just waste the ill-gotten wealth resuming his drug addition and trying to regain a seat in Congress.

Gloria's children may even be reluctant to visit her in prison for fear of ostracism and reprisal. Her only way out is a bullet into her big, swollen head. Whether self-inflicted or not, nobody cares. Whichever is just as good provided she exits horizontally.

Sad, but necessary.

Neri must reconsider serving as state witness. He could still save the day. Not now but when the case finally gets to the Sandiganbayan.

By that time Gloria would be citizen Arroyo.

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Ado Paglinawan is a former press officer of the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC who occasionally contributes to the Philippines Daily Inquirer. He writes for various email groups and blogs under the pseudonym "mymaestro888". Ado has best served overseas Filipinos as a resource person providing inside information and backgrounders about the celebrated fertilizer scam that rocked the Philippine Agriculture Department and the Presidency since 2004.

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Could a maggot metamorphose into a butterfly?

Once more, our people’s angry cry for transparency in national governance reverberated around the archipelago in the wake of Jun Lozada‘s disclosure on the NBN-ZTE deal. Hardly before its echo could totally ebbed, another highly questionable transaction of the government suddenly exploded before us with a resonating sound. This is the Joint Seismic Marine Understanding (JSMU).

A laundry list of unresolved issues in national governance.


We do not want to belittle the other perceived excesses from that hole by ILOG PASIG such as the hijacking of the presidential election in 2004 with some high placed members of the AFP as the enforcers of the heist; the Joc-Joc Bolante grand scale larceny; the inordinate and illegal use of public funds during the 2004 election; the Hello Garci scandal and the prostitution of the Comelec; the utter disregard for human life in connection with the disappearance and extermination of legal dissenters and young social activists; the malicious application of the Rule by Law for the Rule of Law to smother legal dissent; the unabashed attempt to amend the constitution at all cost to push a system that would obviously firewalled the agents of this government from accountability for their past egregious acts, to name a few. These anomalous acts are not mere pecadillos but egregious transgressions in office that assault our basic notion of decency in public service, both as a people and as individuals. All these questions remain unresolved today as the minions from that hole by ILOG PASIG continue to stonewall the demand for truth and justice in public service.


Now, the JSMU came out booming.


This latest caper from that hole along ILOG PASIG could be the MOTHER LOAD OF ALL CORRUPTION IN PUBLIC OFFICE.


Like other unresolved questions about this administration, it smells so odiously fishy from its usual sub rosa governmental cloak and surrounding loose ends. However, unlike previous unresolved questions, JSMU seems to top the list of what a repugnant and publicly insatiable greed could lead to. This time, the questionable transaction apparently involves the control and enjoyment of our natural resources; our national sovereignty, 3rd party foreign countries and an unconstitutional contract. It is publicly perceived that this agreement by the Philippines with China was in consideration of a soft loan from the latter to the amount of 8 billion dollars, allotted equally for the next 5 years starting in 2005.


Reacting, the Pharisees from that hole in ILOG PASIG and their ATM Journalists automatically replied with their oft-repeated mantra of varying tones. With their usual pious indignation and denial, they claim that the public is being mislead again by lies from opposition people and their communists allies; that the sole intention of this groups, behind their cry for truth, is really to unseat Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; that JSMU is, contrary to the shouts of street parliamentarians, Philippine diplomacy at its best because it could, among others, diffuse if not solve that dispute between neighboring countries over an area known around as the Spratly Islands and its maritime boundaries; that JSMU is but a tripartite business arrangement between business corporations of the Philippines, Vietnam and China pursued to address our over reliance to imported fuel at a time of a rising supply crunch; that as a business arrangement, with only the pre-exploration activity of our natural resources for its subject matter, JSMU is not circumscribed or limited by certain basic constitutional considerations on treaties, both as to their form and substance, and not being a treaty for that matter, the JSMU therefore is well within the discretion of the executive office to enter into, with or without the prior clearance nor ratification by the Senate.


The proof of the cake is the pudding.


Simply, the questions now before us are three fold:

1. Is the JSMU validly entered into by the Philippines or not?


2. What was the consideration, if any, for the Philippines, to enter into a joint and EXPENSIVE activity with China regarding a most vital and strategic natural resources of our country?


3. What happened to this consideration?

The JSMU between the Philippines and China before it was amended to include Vietnam, it appears from its wordings that it is supposed to be an agreement between the parties to conduct, as a pre-exploration activity, a joint research on petroleum resource potential of certain areas of the South China Sea. This provision of the JSMU on joint research, when put to actual practice, appears to consist of seismic surveys done on an area covered by the Spratly Islands, northwest of Palawan by China’s CNOGC.

The meaning of the word, SURVEY, as appearing in the contract, when contraindicated with the meaning of that other word, EXPLORATION, seems to conjure a solid footing for the validity of the JSMAU. The word, survey, supports the argument that such an activity merely involves a comprehensive appraisal of the potential petroleum resources of the area and holds that what ever data gathered, collected and interpreted would be shared by all the parties of the contract.

Conventional wisdom observes that the problem in passing a lie, one needs to remember always the original story told lest the new yarn contradicts the old version. On the questioned JMSU, the government has forgotten this practical lesson from experience. Thus, what ever arguments of the government might have had on the validity of JSMU, were totally thrown to the back-house by the government’s own previous admission from its repeated use of the term “exploration” on the Philippine Information Agency’s website where a November 11, 2007 press release quoted Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye as saying that the “first phase or the exploration phase has been completed,” and that the Chinese Premier expressing hope that “the three countries would continue the cooperation on the developmental level.” These admissions were followed on its heels by no less than the latest declaration of the former president of the Philippine National Oil Company, Eduardo Manalac, being a signatory himself on behalf of the Philippines to the embattled JSMU, admitting that the “ seismic studies already form part of the exploration stage”. The gravitas of Mr. Manalac and his admission could hardly be questioned, being a signatory to the questioned JSMU on behalf of the Philippines and a Geological engineer himself, to boot. It is not surprising therefore to note that the corporations doing the surveys and tests in the area in question are corporations actually engaged in the commercial extraction, development and sale of fossilized fuel or petroleum. None of them could be called disinterested scientific legal entity because all of them are basically commercial companies.


Once more, the government could hardly deny the nullity of the JSMU for violating the constitutional injunction against the exploration, development and utilization of our natural resources including its marine wealth in archipelagic waters, territorial sea and exclusive economic zone by non-Filipino citizens and or corporations 60% of which are not wholly owned by Filipino citizens without the consent of the Senate.

On the matter of the consideration for the questioned agreement, it seems uncontroverted that this agreement is also premised on our country’s access to the 8 billion dollar soft loan from China. Since 2005, the funding of government developmental contracts such as the Northrail, Southrail, the aborted ZTE-NBN deal and some 27 other contracts since 2005 lead to the doorsteps of China and her 8 billion soft loan. These major and high-ticketed contracts of the government with funding from China’s 8 billion dollar soft loan are characteristically hounded by the same public cry for transparency in view of the questionable and scandalous circumstances surrounding these transactions. JSMU is no different. And as it was then and now, the people’s demand for transparency, for truth in national governance is unjustly muffled and gagged through a combination of government denials, double-talk, stonewalling, deceit and wanton use of executive influence, privilege and power not to mention public funds distributed for envelopmental ends such as to stymie the truth.

And as it was before, the people would like to know the long and short of these anomalies, not so much because they are still uncertain as to this administrations privilege to continue its mandate but precisely because they still want our democratic institutions to work before they take other options.

The fly in the ointment.

It is true. Aayaw pa ng taong bayan na sumuong sa isang hinde matahimik at matiwasay na pagaaklas para sa katutuhan at katarungan kung kayang kuhanin pa ang mga ito ng paupo. This augers well for the people, country and this administration. It shows our people have started to learn from the past and the country for that matter could be spared from an end that we might all regret in hindsight. For this administration, it gives it a breathing spell to make amends for its past sins to the people and country. But there is no true contrition if truth is still maintained deceitfully hidden. To start a new day and to move on at last for POR DIOS Y LA PATRIA, this administration must offer an untrammeled truth with justice on its side.

Will this administration do so? From its past actuation on similar matters, it would appear that it won’t. Ever since this administration assumed power in a historical fashion in 2004, it persistently met with unabashed arrogance every people’s demand for transparency in public office. Why? The answers are as clear as the stars on a moonless night. If transparency would be given liberty, many people will spend the rest of their lives from the opulence and glitz of that hole in ILOG PASIG to that real hole in MUNTINGLUPA even before 2010.

The Filipino people obviously failed to see this.

But the more compelling reason comes from the observation of a wizened man who asks; is it not against the law of nature to expect a maggot to metamorphose into a butterfly?

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Malu Fernandez is Back!

Yes, our “favorite” coñolist errr columnist Malu Fernandez is back the queen of shallow is biik (piglet) errr back with her ignorant rant but this time around she knows better not to touch OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers). Perhaps, playing safe and not wanting to get burned again or maybe learned a lesson or two that in trying desperately to feel superior one does not have to belittle a huge sector that keeps the economy of the nation afloat. Thanks to Karlo of Pinoy Blogero for alerting us on an article by Malu Fernandez, apparently a reaction to Baklang AJ's This Gucci Gang does Coke!.

I would have let it pass; unfortunately there she goes again with her ignorant rant on people’s reaction to the biggest scandal in Philippine society caused by the thieving impunity of the Gloria M. Arroyo’s administration as mere whiners claiming that it was about our indecisiveness really shows her shallow perception, to quote:

It’s just like all this hullabaloo about ousting GMA. You deposed ERAP in Edsa Dos. Now you’re unhappy with his replacement. Make up your minds. (For the record I’m ot pro anybody I’m pro whatever lesser evil is out there). You can’t overthrow one resident then decide you made a mistake with your second choice. I’s not like buying a green Hermes bag and suddenly deciding, oops I should have gotten the black one instead. Unfortunately that’s the kind of nation we have become, a bunch of wishy-washy whiners who whine about everything under the sun and found the blog sphere to be the new medium for whining. Yes we do what we have to do as a nation to get things done and stop corruption and evil (I’m all for that) but we never seem to be happy with what we have, hence the complaining and whining. It just never stops.

It is unfortunate and at the same time a reflection on the liepapers’ credibility and poor standard in hiring a shallow “writer” dipping her fingers on subject she knows nothing about comparing it with shopping experience is so absurd and ridiculous.

What drug is this fatso errr girl on? Looking at the problem with an attitude of judging political performance on a scale of lesser evil is a shallow attempt at accepting the nature of politics resulting in the Philippines as the basket case of Asia and pretty soon at the rate these leaders plunder the nation may even go down at the bottom of Africa’s economic development.

One is allowed to make a fool of themselves, that is the essence of living in a free country and she can stay that way because she is fixated on accessorizing herself with name brand items unfortunately wearing expensive name brands does not necessarily make one look better. It is not what you wear that counts but what you are deep within that determines your character as a person. Maybe if she can spare a minute or 2 she can learn something from a quote on "Increasing Poverty Caused by Corruption" by Neal Cruz one of the “whiners” if we go by her standards:

Actually we don’t need the statistics just released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) to know that poverty is worsening because we can see it day by day. Nevertheless, the NSCB has made it official: One out of every three Filipinos is poor. The Inquirer editorial last Saturday spelled it out very clearly: Within the presidency of GMA, from 2003 to 2006, the number of poor families—those that earn less than P6,274 a month, the amount a family of five needs to be able to afford the basic necessities—grew from 4 million in 2003 to 4.7 million in 2006. The number of poor Filipinos grew by 3.8 million, from 23.8 million to 27.6 million. The number of families that did not earn enough to buy the minimum amount of food they needed grew from 1.7 million to 1.9 million—meaning 14.6 percent of the population, 12.2 million souls, were not eating enough.

While the likes of Malu Fernandez mouths her lesser evil which in effect gives a thumbs up to plunderers we see 1 in every 3 Filipinos joining the ranks of the poor with 1.9 million families hardly able to put food on their table and here she is talking about her name brand items dreaming of shopping spree while 12.2 million Filipinos are slowly dying of hunger.

My unsolicited advice to a shallow pretentious name brand addict is to once in a while stay away from “reading” name brand ads (those are not the news, lol) but try reading the articles instead if not go grab a book or something for a change… better yet here go to "Economic Gains Crumbles in the Bukol Republic" where you can find the link to ADB’s “Philippines: Critical Hindrance to Development” and hopefully you can still redeem yourself. Lastly and I suggest you take this seriously that is, if you are capable of doing so....... pray that the social volcano does not erupt because the first thing that disposessed angry people will pounce on are shallow pretentious thinking rich people insensitive to the flight of fellow Filipinos.

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Executive Privilege or GAGo Order

Finally, the Supreme Court ruled that former kickback henchman errr greed moderator yikes I meant former director general of the National Economic Development Authority Romulo Neri is allowed to attend Friday’s senate hearing. That is the good news, unfortunately that is all there is to it because while he can attend the hearing the senators will not be allowed to question Neri regarding his conversation with the evil errrr president. Say what now? Now what is the point of all this? Is he going to attend the hearing like a distinguish guest and sit there as what?

Really? So he is perhaps going to the hearing as an observer and messenger of the goddess of 'heaven' by the stinking Pasig River allowed to shut his trap as his lieyers errrr lawyers argued 'brilliantly' so as not to jeopardize national security. What a bunch of jueteng crap and unbedolable errrr unbelievable tall tale was that all about? The project is how to fleece errrr provide electronic access to government offices so what has that got to do with national insecurity errr security and diplomatic relations with lutong macau (hao shiao or shady deals) errrr China? Here is a quote from GMA News on the “legal” arguments:

Lawyer Antonio Bautista, Neri's counsel, said Neri will attend the Senate inquiry but will not reveal his conversations with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo because it will affect national security and diplomatic relations with China.

It will reveal military secrets, it will offend people, like the Chinese. They may be offended. It will reveal the President's opinion on various matters.

Huh? What military secrets is he yapping about, is it the go signal to go ahead despite the P200M bribe offer to Neri? So how will that offend the Chinese? The Chinese counterpart getting offended because the scam errr the deal did not go through? Where is the military connection and why will the people get offended? Hesumalosep naman (invoking the holy trinity), its bad enough that this botched deal is so scandalously corrupt they even have the gall to further insult the people and the Supreme Court with such nonsense is in itself offensive to the people. What I find offensive is precisely these arguments presented by Neri’s lawyer, to quote:

Bautista accused the Senate committees – Blue Ribbon, defense, and trade – of "legislative tyranny" for insisting that Neri answer questions.

Bautista said disclosing the content of a privileged communication between Neri and the President will likely "open the President to condemnation."

He said that any future appearances before the Senate should first be preceded by questions being sent in advance, adding that under the present set-up, "any senator can ask any question under the sun."

Sounds like they want a scripted hearing so what is the point of the investigation if the probe has to be filtered in advance? To make matters worse the lawyer further added another absurd argument:

He said not all dealings of the President can be made public, and revealing privileged communication to the public would be an embarrassment, “like washing dirty linens before other countries."

Well this lawyer seems to know a lot about the scandalous president because if Gloria Arroyo is such a saint then I don't think he should worry about embarrassing our "Mother Teresa" of the Garci order congregation. Now was that an open admission or conspiracy to hide the truth in the Supreme Court at that really shows lack of common decency? Apparently what this implies is that the ZTE-NBN deal is so anomalous that need's to be covered up due to the irregularities from the top. How can one wash dirty linens if Neri and Gloria Arroyo are above board in dealing with the project? What I don’t understand is despite the statement of Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, citing constitutional provision on the accountability of public officers to the people at all times and that "in case of doubt, the Supreme Court will rule in favor of transparency", they still went through with the GAGo errr gag ooops “executive privilege” on the Neri-Arroyo conversation? Then we have Justice Reynato Puno’s statement below:

Puno said there was no aspect in the scuttled NBN contract that directly involved national security and diplomatic relations, or if it was ever referred to the Department of National Defense or Department of Foreign Affairs prior to its approval.

Puno cited the three written questions posed by the Senate to compel Neri to appear before its inquiry. These questions were:

1. Did the President have any interest in the NBN project?
2. Did the President order Neri to prioritize the NBN? and,
3. Did she order the continuance of the project despite his allegations of bribery?

Puno asked lawyer Paul Lentejas, Neri's other counsel, how revealing the questions posed by the Senate to "debilitate" the President if indeed the project was aboveboard.

If the President wants to prioritize this project, why should the heavens fall on the President?

Precisely, so why was Romulo Neri allowed to shut his trap if that is the case? Almost encouraging but still disappointing because despite all these Romulo Neri who can provide the damning testimony to the institutionalized corruption gets the "executive privilege" to skirt the issue and the people are the eventual losers. I don’t know about you but clearly the arrogance is showing in what appears to be an open conspiracy to deny the public the truth discussed at that at the Supreme Court really brings us to the muck of a dysfunctional Arroyo’s governance.

No wonder we see so have up to this day human rights violations are still rampant an indication that we are losing our humanity and compassion as a people. Here is another version of Freddie Aguilar's rendition of Bayan Ko, unlike the previous version this time around featuring what tourist will never see, hidden and ignored like these things never happen. Other human rights videos available at the end of the this one.

Yeah go ahead with your executive privilege or GAGo order, the people will not be fooled anymore and at the rate these morons insult the peoples intelligence they are just digging their own graves deeper.

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