AKSYON

The protest action last Friday sent shivers down Malacañang’s crooked spine. It showed for the first time in years that there was truly a limit to our patience as a people. I am praying that the protest actions continue to grow so that the President is impeached at the soonest possible time.

In the meantime, I hope Cory continues to attend masses in schools throughout the country in order to mobilize students, teachers and school administrators. Erap, in turn, should continue to go around slum areas to rally the poor. And since we’re at it, the Makati Business Club should go around talking to businessmen that a corrupt government does them no good.

We should continue to watch events unfold. More importantly, let’s continue to keep the pressure up by voting with our feet.

Now Malacañang through lapdog Peter Favila is saying that the Godmother “agonized” over her trip to China allegedly because her husband was in the hospital at that time. So what?

This still does not excuse her from having admitted that somebody told her about the “anomaly” on the eve of the signing on April 21, 2007, but that she did not cancel the signing in Hainan, China, because it would be rude to the Chinese government. It took her five months to scrap the deal when it became clear that the Godmother’s government could no longer cover it up.

Sinungaling talaga!

There has been a lot to talk about the statement issued by the CBCP yesterday regarding the current political crisis. Leah Navarro of the Balck and White Movement said that they are becoming irrelevant.

I think it’s about time for many Filipinos, particularly the media, to get over this obsession with the CBCP and their statements everytime there’s a major political upheaval. What we need to do is strengthen the country’s secular and democratic institutions so that even when the CBCP defends evil, we all don’t have to go to hell.

I was talking to my friend Patrick earlier today about what to do given the increasing public anger over the ZTE scandal.

My idea basically is this: all of us turn up the heat, not just on GMA, Neri and the Cabinet, but also on our congressmen so that they’re compelled to impeach GMA later this year when the ban expires. Yes, I know they’re crooks too. But if we do it well enough and they realize that their re-elections are at stake, the optimist in me thinks it can work.

When GMA is impeached, we can ask the Senate to make sure the trial lasts for a few years to prevent Noli for assuming the Presidency (and have the benefit of running for the Presidency as an incumbent in 2010). They can convict her maybe shortly before the campaign period starts in February 2010.

This way we not only expel the Malacañang mafia, we also prevent a Noli presidency. The best part is, if we stick to the Constitutional processes, I do not think our economic growth would be adversely affected. And our people will not have to suffer as much from having been again betrayed by its leaders.

What do you think?

It’s not surprising that the Ombudsman’s pseudo-hearing recently on the ZTE scandal was timed to coincide with the Senate hearings on the same subject. I suspect that even the DOJ hearings would be held at the same time.

Given that invoking EO 464 this time around would only fuel even more public anger, Palace henchmen need a more acceptable but no less official excuse not to show up before the Senate to give their testimony. Hence, the Ombudsman and DOJ probes.

Will it work? Or are people tired of tolerating this Government’s bullshit? Interesting times indeed.

Malacañang’s propaganda machine is again going on overdrive - this time conveniently announcing a plot to kill the President just as she is facing re-energized attempts to force her to resign.

Does the plot really exist? I don’t think so. I suspect GMA is simply afraid to go to the Philippine Military Academy given widespread disillusionment among the junior officers with her administration. She’ll definitely be booed. I don’t know if she’ll be assassinated.

Given this government’s propensity for lying, I think the Palace fabricated the plot to scare people from attending the protest rallies and to justify heightened military and police activity throughout Metro Manila.

I don’t know what the end game will be. But I’m happy to keep on attending the rallies if only to tell GMA “SHAME ON YOU! YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WILL ROT IN HELL!”

“Puno: Estrada could get to keep P1B of ill-gotten assets

AN ABSOLUTE pardon means the government will no longer confiscate P1 billion in ill-gained assets that deposed President Joseph Estrada had allegedly acquired and that the Sandiganbayan wants forfeited in favor of the state.”

Given everything that this President has done to insult the intelligence of the Filipino people, I’ve tried my best to avoid getting angry.

But the article above has convinced me that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo deserves a fate worse the Erap and Marcos combined! She must be impeached, removed from office, proscuted and jailed for the rest of her rotten life! Now!

Guys, if you have no plans this Saturday, please support this concert:

A Good Start

A benefit concert for the Children of Mayamot Elementary School with performances by: Agape, Ang Bandang Shirley, Bobby Balingit, Death by Stereo, Los Chupacabras, Gapos, Marfcreature, Degage, Kilometer 64 and many more. Entrance fee (P150 i think) includes 2 free beers.

Date: 27 January 2007, 8pm
Venue: Purple Haze Bar and Cafe (Tomas Morato)

For more details, please call Kax at 0917-9959642 or email: kalatkid@yahoo.com

I have a confession to make. On days when I am not as angry, I am tempted to give GMA (just her and not her legion) the benefit of the doubt - that maybe there is a tiny part of her that truly wants to serve the people well.

And then you read reports saying that the reason why the 2007 budget has again been delayed (despite earlier announcements from the Bicameral Conference Committee on the contrary) is because GMA called up Rep. Joey Salceda to withdraw his earlier agreement to the Senate’s planned realignments. The re-allocation essentially was about transferring funds from the school feeding program and instead pouring them into classrooms construction and teacher hiring.

Thank God for the Senate. Anyone with half a brain knows exactly why GMA prefers the school feeding program (where every child is given a kilo of rice every day to keep them from dropping out of school). She needs to buy votes for next years elections to prevent an electoral massacre for the administration slate.

But it is really the educational infrastructure (both hard and soft) that desperately needs resources. We need more teachers who will be better paid. We need more classrooms where our children can learn.

I remember Randy David saying that there are three types of power: remunerative, coercive and moral. For obvious reasons, GMA has absolutely no moral authority left. Her coercive authority is of little use when you’re talking to the parents of school children. So her only option is to use whatever remunerative power she has left to get votes - even when its against wise public spending.

She really needs to be impeached and removed from office. This country deserves better.

I’ve always supported the Constitutional presumption of innocence - Filipino or otherwise. But when you’re convicted for a crime after a fair trial, then there’s certainly enough reason for people to believe that you committed the crime. Yes, you can appeal and until the appeals process is exhausted, you’re conviction does not become final.

But the thing is - Daniel Smith has been convicted. And unless a higher court reverses the conviction, we can all safely assume he raped Nicole.

So what the hell are these Filipinas trying to do/prove?

“As rape convict Lance Corporal Daniel Smith remains in the Makati City Jail, a group is praying that he will soon prove his innocence. Led by a Filipino woman married to a US Navy man, the group called “Supporters of Daniel Smith” is preparing to hold a vigil for the jailed American Marine. ‘It’s a group of military wives, expats [expatriates] and other Filipinos - bank employees, lawyers, men, women, daughters, grandmothers - who support Smith. This is the voice of Filipino women, not of that rape victim and her supporters,‘ said Grace Santos, 34. Santos she said she formed the group after Smith was convicted on Dec. 4.” (taken from www.inq7.net)

It’s bad enough many Filipinos still “thank” the US for colonizing us. But do we really need to support them for raping our women as well?