Category: Malaya

It was the most unexpected occasion by the most unexpected person to be reminded that 21 years ago, the nation stood united for freedom and democracy and ousted a well-entrenched dictator.

It was the first encore (he did three) of the brilliant Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu that reminded us of the exhilarating moment evening of Feb. 24, 1986 when it was announced that Ferdinand Marcos and his family had left Malacañang.

Tomescu played “Bayan Ko”, the anthem of Filipino freedom fighters. It was actually his tribute to the late conductor-violinist Redentor Romero, who introduced him to the Filipino audience in 1999.

.Here’s an interesting item from the blog of Susan Ople.

I have this on good authority.

Detained Navy Lt. SG Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes was recently offered campaign funds amounting to P4 million by a known jueteng lord. Despite meager funds, certainly not enough to finance a full-blown TV ad campaign, the senatorial candidate of GO refused the offer.

That P4 million would have been enough to at least cover the expense of a few radio spots, campaign posters, and mobilization costs of his volunteers. That he turned it down speaks volumes about this young guy’s principles.

Continue readingSelling one’s soul

In the song, “The Way We Were”, there’s a line What’s too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget.

That’s the appropriate theme song and slogan for Gloria Arroyo’s amnesia- afflicted senatorial candidates.

In ANC’s “Strictly Politics” last Tuesday, host Pia Hontiveros recalled for re-electionist Edgardo Angara the scenes during the congressional canvassing of votes of the 2004 presidential election where he, Tito Sotto, and Tessie Oreta accused Gloria Arroyo of cheating their candidate, Fernando Poe, Jr.

Senators Joker Arroyo and Ralph Recto truly belong to Gloria Arroyo.

We can now throw away whatever illusions we had nurtured for Joker in matters of democratic ideals, honesty and integrity. Never mind Recto. We never expected much from him.

A conversation I heard last week between a PDP-Laban stalwart and a reporter who covered the 2001 senatorial campaign should help explain Joker Arroyo’s puzzling maneuvers in the Senate when it comes to issues against Mike Arroyo as well as his decision to be on the administration ticket for his re-election bid.