My first column came out today; it is, of course, mostly political, and follows what my editors call a “condo” format. It’s a condominium of uneven but discrete units. Today’s main topic: the real stakes in the contest for Speaker of the House, at least as far as the President is concerned.
Spent the whole day at the Supreme Court-organized summit (and I mean the whole day; it was my car’s coding day, so I was at the Manila Hotel before 7 am and left after 7 pm). I will post about some of the highlights later this week; for now, however, here’s something that can help put Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s closing address —- summarized in this story’s headline —- in some perspective.
“Let us rather engage in a conspiracy of hope,” Puno said.
The phrase “conspiracy of hope,” however, was first used by Ed Garcia, peace advocate and a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, earlier in the afternoon, to describe the long-term challenge facing the summit’s delegates. Puno paid tribute to Garcia’s presentation (easily the best of all 12 group reports) by borrowing both idea and phrase.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Goodness is hard to come by and good people tend to shun politics.
Good people are made to look bad (usually through intrigues which the good shun like a plague) while bad people fake out that they are “skillfull” by stealing ideas and achievements of those who deserve it and junk the one who really has the actual skill and talent.
I remember a friend who applied for a grant whose approval would have to pass through government. It got positive reviews and was said to have a good possibility of being approved. Later they were rejected. The sad part came later when another group with practically a cloned proposal got their grant approved with practically the same concept that my friend had.
With this kind of bullshit going on in governance, the influential bad people gets the nod while the good is left by the wayside.
Is it a wonder why we live in such a hell of governance right now?
Remember the North Rail Transit study/proposal? The same proposal was submitted for FREE years ago by a European company which was disapproved. Recently the same study/proposal was made and approved but the proposal itself (yes just the proposal) had a large fee worth millions.
There are more out there but recording them would not fit in this column. Feel free to check out government protected anomalies which up to now are NOT resolved and which I do not expect to be resolved at all … aregluhan na lang.
This goes back all the way to the Marcos regime, through the presidencies (and presidential relatives) up to the present; from Luzon all the way to Mindanao (yes including the War syndicate and racket happening between the Moro rebels and government, so don’t wonder why Senator Trillanes did what he had to do.)
July 25th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Well, it is sad, isn’t it..to settle for the lesser evil was a choice. Can’t we have better choices?
A choice between evils…you are left with evils pa rin. As a Filipino, I deserve better. Alam ba nila ang ibig sabihin nun?
July 25th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Yeah Bert, seems that KAMPI does not have enough clout yet to warrant a Lower House takeover.
KAMPI’s maneuver for a secret balloting was too fancy and was immediately shot down, after all they were rushing to finish their “leadership issues” before the SONA starts, it would have been embarrassing for the Lower House if they didn’t.
Hmmm, the lesser of two evils … perhaps even for the Filipinos? I hope you’re right in that regard.
July 24th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Waaaah! I lost my ten. But that’s life, sometimes you lose talaga, sometimes you win. I guess I’ll just have to console myself by always remembering the wise saying that, “Between two evils, JDV is the lesser.”
July 19th, 2007 at 10:58 am
An interesting development is currently happening. Now Garcia and his men wants to have a “secret balloting” for the election for the position of House Speakership.
As usual these “trapos” think that people cannot see through their ruse. We know secret balloting has always been fraught with vote manipulation and cheating. Now they are setting a stage for vote fraud even in the very house of Congress.
This will pave the way for the designs of party members of Kampi and their leader (who else?) for power extension and other selfish schemes.
Nakakahiya kayo, sabagay sanay na ang mga trapo sa pakapalan ng mukha.