Juana Change as Cecile Alvarez:
Carlo Caparas and Cecile Alvarez just don’t get it.
There is a process in the nomination for the National Artist Award. A series of eliminations is conducted until the best of the best are chosen for the prestigious award given every three years.
(I can’t help but find some similarities described by Wolfowitz here to the current situation like “there’s no real alternative” and the “opposition weak and expected the US government to do their work for them.”)
By Paul Wolfowitz
The Asian Wall Street Journal
Corazon Aquino, who died of cancer Saturday at the age of 76, will be remembered as the surprisingly tough “housewife” who forced a dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, to leave office after his attempt to steal an election. But she also deserves to be remembered as the leader of the first “People Power” revolution. Her success strengthened U.S. confidence in what was then a new policy of promoting peaceful democratic change, a policy that remains relevant today.
Marcos ruled the Philippines for 21 years, nine of them under martial law. Initially hailed as a reformer, his regime became progressively more tyrannical, corrupt and incompetent, particularly as his health deteriorated and he became dependent on his wife and on the cronies he promoted solely based on loyalty.
Some U.S. officials in the mid-1980s defended Marcos on the grounds that “there’s no real alternative” (though not, as often claimed, because “at least he’s our son of a bitch”). Embassy officials said that the Philippine opposition was weak and expected the U.S. government to do their work for them. But that ignored the fact that continued U.S. support for Marcos was itself discouraging opposition.
Pasalamat pa pala tayo dahil simple lang ang hapunan ni Gloria Arroyo at ang kanyang “wine imbibing” o mahihilig sa alak na kasamahan.
Kung naiisip pala nila na magkaroon ng medyo bongga na hapunan, para ipagdiwang ang pang 41st na anibersayo ng kasal nina Gloria at Mike Arroyo, baka ilang miyong dolya ang inabot ng bill.
Habang nagpapaliwanag si Press Secretary Cerge Remonde tungkol sa kanilang halos isang milyong piso na hapunan sa New York, lalong lumalabas ang kanilang despalinghadong pag-iisip.
Much as Lorelei Fajardo tried to put up an undaunted stance saying her boss, Gloria Arroyo, did not feel threatened by the massive turnout for President Cory Aquino’s wake and funeral, it was obvious it was plain bravado.
Arroyo’s fear of the people was betrayed by the script that they executed when she visited Cory’s wake at the Manila Cathedral early morning of Wednesday, upon her arrival from the United States and a few hours before Cory’s interment.
About two hours before Arroyo arrived, her advance party came. I saw Mike Defensor, former presidential chief of staff and now chairman of the Philippine National Railways. He was followed by Mai Jimenez, one of those very close with Arroyo whom she installed as a director of the Asian Development Bank.
In Kris moving funeral mass speech, she related that her son Josh asked her brother, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, “Please, Tito Noy, never get married.”
But Kris assured Noynoy not to worry, “Kung saan ka liligaya, pwede na rin.”
A source close to the Aquino family said Noynoy, 49, had brought to the already sick President Cory his girlfriend, Shalani Soledad.
Click here for PEP article on and photos of Nonoy and Shalani.
Update:NYP report on Le Cirque dinner exaggerated: Remonde
Nang binabaybay namin ang South Luzon Expressway noong Miyerkoles sa libing ni Pangulong Cory Aquino, tinatanong ko ang mga taong nagtiyaga maghintay lima or anim na oras para lamang makapag-paalam sa isang taong nagbigay ng tapang sa Filipino na manindigan para sa demokrasya kung ano na ngayon ang gawin natin kay Gloria Arroyo.
Kaagad ang sagot ng marami, “Gloria, resign! Gloria, resign!” Merong isa nagsabing, “Patalsikin si Gloria!”.
Ngunit merong ilan na matindi ang sagot. Sabi ng isa, “Bitayin si Gloria!”. Yung isa mas grabe: “Patayin si Gloria Arroyo!.”
Update Sunday morning: VERA Files site is back! Thank you very much, Abe, Jason. The VERA Files site is temporarily down. The administrator has put…
Inquirer update: GMA allies can’t remember much about the Le Cirque dinner because they have been to so many dinners and lunches. Press Secretary Cerge…
Several National Artists on Friday joined the “necrological service” at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and “funeral march” to the National Commission on Culture…
This news item came out in today’s issue of New York Post.
At the exchange rate of P47.75 to a dollar, the Le Cirque dinner of Gloria Arroyo and her friends cost the Filipino people P954,000 or almost P1 million.