Malaya – Page 69 – ellen tordesillas

Playing God

Published by Ellen on September 30, 2007

Never have I seen Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim as upset as in last Friday’s hearing of the special general court martial trying the 28 officers accused of planning to withdraw support from Gloria Arroyo’s bogus presidency in February 2006.

In the past 10 months of tedious and frustrating trial, Lim has always been a picture of calm demeanor, never complaining even as younger officers would sometimes express annoyance openly over what they perceive is the blatant railroading by the court created by AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon.

But last Friday, Gen. Lim stood up when the panel was asking the whereabouts of Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda who was absent. An officer, apparently in charge of the detainees, said that Miranda was in bed when he checked him before the hearing.

The crime goes back to 2001

Published by Ellen on September 30, 2007

Malaya editorial: Scratch my back

Administration members of the House reportedly are wary of impeaching Election Chairman Benjamin Abalos because Senate trial on alleged graft in the $3290 million national broadband could show that the corruption trail leads all the way to Malacañang.

We are no long surprised by such a display of utter lack of principles. Gloria Arroyo’s allies, relying on sheer numbers, threw out the past impeachment complaints against Arroyo. They said impeachment is more a political process than a judicial determination on whether the impeachable official is indeed guilty of the complaint filed.

The rat

Published by Ellen on September 27, 2007

To say that Romy Neri was a disappointment last Wednesday at the Senate hearing is an understatement.

Here’s a guy, blessed with intelligence and good education and what did he do? He allowed himself to be used to hide the truth from the Filipino people that pays him in order to protect a corrupt, fake president.

Never mind Abalos, who is in the same league as Lintang Bedol and Virgilio Garcillano. This NBN ZTE scam is just another item in the lengthening list of crimes they have committed against the Filipino people starting with declaring winner a president who did not win in the 2004 elections.

But we thought Neri had enough decency left in him to tell the truth, nothing but the truth, as he pledged at the Senate. We even prayed for him.

Test case for Ombudsman

Published by Ellen on September 25, 2007

Like many citizens of this distressed republic, law-yer Ernesto B. Francisco Jr. who follows the ongoing Senate investigation on multi-billion national broadband network and its seemingly anomalous awarding to the Chinese government-owned firm, ZTE Corporation, is very concerned that certain big personalities and high government officials who have been prominently mentioned as having played a major role in the deal might be spared from investigation especially with the recent announcement of Gloria Arroyo that the project would suspended.

Since he knows the law better than most of us, Francisco last Monday filed a request with the Ombudsman to investigate Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos and Gloria Arroyo’s husband, Mike Arroyo.

Gloria Arroyo’s complicity

Published by Ellen on September 23, 2007

The past days, Malacañang has been on overdrive trying to prevent the stink of the ZTE national broadband deal from reaching Gloria Arroyo.

Philippine Star columnist Jarius Bondoc believes that Malacañang’s suspension, not cancellation, of the controversial ZTE NBN contract, was a “calculated move to dissuade former NEDA director Romulo Neri from testifying when the Senate Blue Ribbon committee resumes its investigation on Wednesday.

Reports have it that Neri told Gloria Arroyo about the P200 million bribe attempt by Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos.

To Luli: Que barbaridad!

Published by Ellen on September 20, 2007

In his explosive testimony at the Senate last Tuesday, Jose de Venecia III related the meeting at the Wack-Wack Golf Clubhouse last March where, in the presence of Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, DOTC secretary Leandro Mendoza, Ruben Reyes, Jimmy Paz, and retired Police General Quirino de la Torre, Mike Arroyo, husband of Gloria Arroyo told him to “back off” from the big-ticket National Broadband project.

Mike Arroyo’s business in Europe

Published by Ellen on September 18, 2007

While Jose de Venecia III, son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., was telling the Senate and the Filipino nation that one day last March, in a function room in the Wack-Wack Golf clubhouse, that Mike Arroyo pointed a finger at him and ordered him to “back off” from the National Broadband project, Gloria Arroyo’s husband was enroute to Venice, Italy.

Accompanied by his cousin, Benito “Bomboy” Araneta, Mike Arroyo left Manila Monday afternoon for Hong Kong.
In Venice, a source said Mike Arroyo will be met by a very close female friend whom we identified earlier in this space as “E”, who is a Filipina carrying Swiss citizenship.

Licking cervical cancer

Published by Ellen on September 16, 2007

At the launching last month of Cervarix, GlaxoSmithKline’s cervical cancer vaccine, one of the guest celebrities was singer Joey Albert.

Dr. Cecilia Llave, chairman of the UP-PGH Cancer Institute, introduced Joey as “not just a songbird but a phoenix.”

The legend of the phoenix is that it lived for five to six centuries in the Arabian desert, was consumed by fire by its own act, and then rose in youthful freshness from its own ashes.

Looking at Joey, vibrant and lovely after two bouts of cancer, the comparison to the legendary phoenix is most apt.

D-day

Published by Ellen on September 11, 2007

On the eve of the Sandiganbayan verdict on the plunder and perjury case against former President Estrada, here are some of the thoughts being shared around by text or email:

From a friend close to the Estrada family: “Be daring in your prayers. God still works miracles.”

Akbayan issued a statement that whatever the verdict is, it’s tainted due to the interference of Malacañang in a process that should remain credible and beyond reproach.

‘Hello Garci’ connection

Published by Ellen on September 9, 2007

Last Friday, while former military agent T/Sgt Vidal Doble at the Senate was recounting live before TV viewers efforts of persons close to Gloria Arroyo to hide the truth in “Hello Garci” scandal, Army Capt. Ruben Guinolbay was making a statement related also to the cheating in the 2004 elections, but under the most restrictive media coverage.

It was Guinolbay’s turn to exercise his peremptory challenge on any member of the panel presiding in the special general court martial for the 28 military officers who had allegedly planned to withdraw support from a “bogus president” in February 2004.

But before exercising his right to peremptory challenge, Guinolbay asked and was granted two minutes to make a statement.

The young officer, known as the “hero of Lamitan” for his courageous battle against the Abu Sayyaf in June 2001, said it was the first time that he got near a microphone since the start of the trial almost a year ago.

Category: Malaya