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Ang Dalawang Mukha ng Sining

Published by Ellen on September 14, 2009

Privilege speech by Sen. Panfilo Lacson

In Greek drama, masks were useful devices that allow the actor to play several different characters.

In the Philippine political drama, nothing much differs.

Mr. President, distinguished colleagues. Today, I rise on a matter of
personal and collective privilege.

The great American writer Elbert Green Hubbard once wrote:

If you work for a man, in heaven’s name work for him…. If you must
vilify, condemn, and eternally disparage, resign your position, and
when you are OUTSIDE, DAMN TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT, but as long as you are part of the institution do not condemn it. If you do that, you are loosening the tendrils that are holding you to that institution, and at the first high wind that comes along, you will be uprooted and blown away, and will probably never know the reason why.

I hope you will understand why it has taken me this long to unburden
myself of the truth I carry.

No record of Mikey’s supplemental SALN in Ombudsman, Pampanga capitol

Published by Ellen on September 13, 2009

by VERA Files The Office of the Ombudsman and Pampanga provincial capitol have no record of presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo…

Bias for crooks

Published by Ellen on September 13, 2009

I beg to disagree with Ombudsman Merceditas Guttierrez that the “independence and objectivity” of the Ombudsman would be “endangered, diminished or destroyed” if they would not impose more restrictions on the public to secure the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth of government officials and employees.

In fact, by making it difficult for taxpayers to get those documents that are important in anti-corruption investigation, the Ombudsman is showing her bias for crooks in the government.

Enshrined in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights is the provision that “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by the law.”

Noynoy tsunami

Published by Ellen on September 13, 2009

It’s a Noynoy tsunami.

If elections were held today, in a five-cornered presidential contest, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, will win hands down with 50 per cent of the votes, according to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Station last Sept. 5 and 6 in the vote-rich province of Pangasinan and the regions of Metro Manila, Central Luzon and the Calabarzon.

Click below for the survey:

Sept 5 to 6 SWS Survey

The survey, done after Sen. Mar Roxas withdrew from the presidential race and before Aquino declared his presidential bid showed Aquino getting 50 percent of the votes followed by Sen. Manuel Villar with 14 per cent, former President Estrada with 13 per cent, Sen. Francis Escudero with 12 per cent and Vice President Noli de Castro with 7 per cent.

Tim Garcia: under arrest in designers’ garb

Published by Ellen on September 13, 2009

This is another world!

Fashion’s night on probation
by Peter Davis

Timothy Mark Depakakibo Garcia, a 25-year-old publicist for Marc by Marc Jacobs, has a court-ordered Fashion Week curfew.

Perched on a sleek white Armani Casa chair in his apartment in the modern, gilded Trump Plaza at 502 Park Avenue, Garcia is decked in head-to-toe designer: a supple caramel leather Alessandro dell’Acqua jacket, Alexander McQueen jeans, a thin white LnA tee shirt and YSL boots. His wrists are adorned with a big Cartier gold and silver Tank watch, a Cartier Love bracelet, a white enamel Hermes bangle and a $1000 dollar large gold plated spiked Hermes cuff called the Collier de Chien.

Then Garcia daintily rolls up his jeans to reveal one accessory he’d rather not be wearing: an electronic monitoring house arrest ankle bracelet, code number “HGM94472.” The thick plastic black box, the size of a pack of cigarettes, is snug up against his tiny ankle. Garcia’s movements are recorded by Homeguard 200, a big black machine connected to his angular, futuristic Bang and Olufsen phone.

Ang papel ni Kris sa pulitika ni Noynoy

Published by Ellen on September 12, 2009

Naabutan ko sa TV noong Huwebes ang pasasalamat ni Kris Aquino kay Sharon Cuneta tungkol daw sa suporta na ibibigay nila ng kanyang asawang si Sen. Francis Pangilinan sa kandidatura ng kanyang kapatid na si Sen. Noynoy Aquino sa pagka-presidente.

Bago ko nakita ang newscast na yun, may nag-text sa akin na reporter, “Sablay kaagad si Noynoy. Biro mo naman, kinuha si Kiko na spokesman.”

Ang reaksyun ko naman, “Hindi yata nagka-ayos sina Noynoy at Mar Roxas.” Sabi nga ng isang reporter din, “Doble sampal naman itong ginawa ni Noynoy kay Mar. Alam naman niya may isyu sina Mar at Kiko.”

Mikey’s assets before getting elected: P50,000

Published by Ellen on September 11, 2009

Miriam Grace A. Go
Newsbreak

President Arroyo’s oldest child, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, has lately been under scrutiny not only for allegedly misdeclaring his properties but also for being unable to explain satisfactorily how his net worth grew by more than 1,600% in the 7 years that he was an elected official.

Now, he may have to explain, too, the wealth that he acquired before getting elected as vice governor of Pampanga in 2001.

Newsbreak research shows that the rate by which Mikey’s net worth increased from the time he first served as his mother’s executive assistant in the Senate, to his election as provincial vice governor—an 8-year period—was far more dramatic.

Noynoy Aquino sets the pace

Published by Ellen on September 10, 2009

No doubt about it. With his declaration of his presidential bid in the 2010 elections, Sen. Noynoy Aquino, is dictating the agenda and pace of the campaign.

The issue has become character versus competence. This simplification, unfair it may be, reflects the people’s frustration with Gloria Arroyo. People are willing to take the risk with someone without a track record of leadership as long as he is not corrupt.

It was the death of former President Cory Aquino which triggered the interest for Noynoy and advanced the timetable of the campaign.

Graft charges filed vs Mikey Arroyo; Ombudsman tightens rules on access to officials’ SALN

Published by Ellen on September 10, 2009

By Michael Punongbayan
The Philippine Star

Following a series of negative reports on the First Family’s wealth based partly on their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, the Office of the Ombudsman has tightened rules in giving out copies of government officials’ SALN “to protect the integrity of the document.”

Graft rap filed vs Mikey Arroyo

By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Militant government workers have filed with the Ombudsman a graft complaint against Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo for not declaring his P63.7-million property in California in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

“With the small salary he gets, it is unacceptable that his assets more than tripled,” said Ferdinand Gaite, president of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage), which filed the complaint at 12 noon Thursday

Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni said the Ombudsman field investigation unit has already been looking into Arroyo’s assets after receiving an anonymous online complaint against him weeks ago.

Instead of a simple letter-request, requirements now include a sworn statement before a prosecutor of the anti-graft body stating the reasons for the request.

Painit na ang election fever

Published by Ellen on September 9, 2009

Mukhang tuloy na tuloy na ang eleksyon sa 2010. Noong Martes, nagdesisyon ang Supreme Court sa na ituloy and election automation kahit hindi pa nagkaroon ng testing sa dalawang syudad at probinsya sa Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao ayun sa batas.

Sa botong 3 (No) – 11 (Yes) at 1(hindi bomoto), sinabi ng mataas na hukuman na “waived” o hindi na naga-apply ang batas na yan.

Ay ewan. Magdasal na lang tayo na hindi magkakalat ang Comelec at Smartmatic-TIM sa 2010 eleksyun at ang kagustuhan ng taumbayan ay lalabas.

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