WHAT TO DO WITH THE OMBUDSMAN’S RESOLUTION

1. Download it from the Ombudsman’s website.

2. Print as many copies as you can.

3. Wipe your a** with it.

WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

I practically “pirated” this picture from Black and White Movement’s blog. Thanks Helga. This made me laugh!

THE WHITEWASH COMMISSION

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER No. 157

xxx

CREATING AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO ADDRESS MEDIA AND ACTIVIST KILLINGS

xxx

WHEREAS, the Philippines is a bastion of human rights; Really? Since when did the Philippines, especially under the current regime, become a strong defender of human rights? Unfortunately, the human rights of those in power and those who lick the a**es of these pretenders are the only ones enjoying protection.

xxx

WHEREAS, the Arroyo Administration stopped judicial executions with the abolition of death penalty; Oh, we’re so grateful for this government’s benevolence, for its concern for the value of human life. But wait. It’s been long overdue. And please don’t take all the credit. The opposition voted for its abolition too. Besides, this administration’s real motivation is suspect. Highly suspect.

xxx

WHEREAS, the Arroyo Administration condemns political killings in the harshest possible terms; What did Mrs. Arroyo say during her SONA?

And we will end the long oppression of barangays by rebel terrorists who kill without qualms, even their own. Sa mga lalawigang sakop ng 7th Division, nakikibaka sa kalaban si Jovito Palparan. Hindi siya aatras hanggang makawala sa gabi ng kilabot ang mga pamayanan at maka-ahon sa bukang-liwayway ng hustisya at kalayaan.

Palparan is the very general (now retired) accused of masterminding the extra-judicial killings of activists in his area of asignment. She condemns the act but praises the man? How absurd! Pure lip service! Hogwash!

xxx

WHEREAS, the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police have been given a 10-week deadline to jail suspects in at least 10 media or leftists killings; So what if they’ve been tasked to investigate these dastardly murders committed in broad daylight? The question is, will they really investigate and file the necessary charges?

xxx

WHEREAS, the investigations shall not spare any sector; Yes, except the AFP and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

xxx

WHEREAS, this task requires the cooperation not only on the part of law enforcement authorities and the military, but also among the families of the victims and other sectors concerned; But how can these families fully cooperate without running the risk of becoming victims themselves? And more importantly, cooperate with whom? With the criminals masquerading as protectors of the state?

xxx

WHEREAS, witnesses are urged to come forward; In the same vein, I also urge the perpetrators to come out in the open. But I know they won’t. They would continue to conveniently hide under the cloak of anonymity just to go on with their killing spree and anti-Left propaganda.

xxx

NOW, THEREFORE I, GLORIA M. ARROYO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order: Her questionable claim to the presidency is precisely the reason why she is making this futile attempt at diverting the public’s attention away from all the cheating, lying and stealing and putting the blame on her critics for the country’s mess.

xxx

SECTION 1. Creation and Mandate – There is hereby Created An Independent Commission to Address Media and Activist Killings. To state the obvious, how independent is it?

xxx

SEC. 2. Composition - The Commission shall be composed of the following:

xxx

a) Retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo as chairman;

xxx

b) The Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI);

xxx

c) The Chief State Prosecutor;

xxx

d) University of the Philippines Regent Nelia Gonzalez;

xxx

e) One representative from civil society to be appointed by the President; and

xxx

f) Atty. Rogelio Vinluan as General Counsel. And they call that an independent commission? The investigation, I think, is more imagined than real. Noticeably absent in the composition are those who, by their track records in human rights advocacy, should have been included as members thereof. Sad to say, it’s either they declined the offer or they were not considered in the first place.

xxx

SEC. 3. Duties and Functions – The Commission shall have, among others, the following duties and functions:

xxx

a) Prioritize and focus investigation of media and activist killings;

xxx

b) Be the Government’s sole voice on the issue of media and activist killings;

xxx

c) Make a report to the President outlining its action and policy recommendations including appropriate prosecution and legislative proposals, if any aimed at eradicating the root causes of extrajudicial killings and breaking such cycle of violence once and for all. Haay… this will just be another waste of government funds that will not achieve anything. All for show. Hypocrisy rules!

xxx

SEC. 4. Prosecution – The Government members of the Commission, namely the NBI Director and the Chief State Prosecutor, shall form a team to prioritize the prosecution of media and activist killings which shall be mandated to put the murderers behind bars at the soonest possible time. Fall guys, get ready! You’re in for another spectacle!

xxx

SEC. 5. Powers – The Commission shall have, among others, the following powers:

xxx

a) It shall have all the powers of an investigative body under Section 37, Chapter 9, Book I of the Administrative Code of 1987, including the power to summon witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony or evidence relevant to the investigation and to issue compulsory processes to produce documents, books, records and such other matters in the performance of its functions; Hmmn… summon the wrong witnesses for purposes of giving perjured testimonies?

xxx

b) It shall have the power to clear or disapprove all pertinent media statements by any member of the Administration; Hahaha! Try disapproving and/or belying Raul Gonzalez’s media statements.

xxx

c) It shall have the power to promulgate the necessary implementing rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Administrative Order; The commissioners better preoccupy themselves in formulating the implementing rules of the Administrative Order so they’ll have a fitting scapegoat to delay the deplorable mandate given them.

xxx

d) It shall have the power to call upon any agency of the Government for such assistance as it may require in the discharge of its functions; What an awesome power! Let us experiment by inviting first the National Security Council headed by Norberto “Mr. Venable” Gonzales and then the DOJ under the Honorable Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez. What assistance could they possibly provide the Melo Commission? Obscure the facts? Spit out propaganda?

xxx

e) It shall have the power to engage the services of resource persons, professionals and other personnel which may be necessary to carry out its functions; Just another added expense to an already wasteful expenditure.

xxx

f) It shall have the power to deputize the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, the Department of Justice, and any other law enforcement agency to assist it in the performance of its functions; Whitewashing the results of the investigation would surely be a welcome development for Palparan, Esperon, Calderon and Gonzalez who respectively head these agencies.

xxx

g) It shall have the power to perform any other acts as may be necessary and appropriate to implement this Order.

xxx

SEC. 6. General Counsel – Atty. Rogelio Vinluan shall serve as General Counsel to assist the Commission in the discharge of its functions.

xxx

SEC. 7. Secretariat – The Commission shall be an independent body. It shall be supported by a Secretariat composed of technical and administrative personnel which shall provide staff support to the Commission. Bwahaha! Sorry for the sarcasm. I just couldn’t help but laugh to my heart’s content on the Melo Commission’s assertions of independence!

xxx

SEC. 8. Funding – The Office of the President shall provide the funds for the operation of the Commission. Bwahaha! Again, talking about independence!

xxx

SEC. 9. Agencies’ Support – The various departments, bureaus, offices, agencies or instrumentalities including government-owned or – controlled corporations are hereby directed to extend such assistance and cooperation as the Commission may need in the discharge of its functions.

xxx

SEC. 10. Effectivity – This Administrative Order shall take effect immediately upon its publication in a national newspaper of general circulation.

xxx

DONE, in the City of Manila, this 21st day of August, in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Six.x

xxx

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
By the President:

xxxx

xxxx

(Sgd.) EDUARDO R. ERMITA

Executive Secretary

(above photo courtesy of PCIJ)

HOW TO BE A LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN

If you want to be a law-abiding citizen, here are a few helpful tips:

1. Never talk ill, criticize or oppose the actions of President Arroyo. Praise her if need be.

2. Forget about Garci and the Garci tapes. He’s just a former Comelec official caught on tape having conversations with a woman whose voice sounded like that of Mrs. Arroyo. Nah, their discussions merely centered on how to manipulate the will of the electorate. No big deal. After all, everyone cheats during elections.

3. Be careful not to irritate the Justice Secretary unless you’re prepared to be suspected as a destabilizer.

4. Don’t get disgusted at the fertilizer funds scam. It’s just a meager 2.8 billion pesos allegedly used to reward politicians who supported the Administration in its bid to win in the elections at all cost. After all, Jocelyn Bolante is now in the U.S. enjoying his refuge at the San Pedro Detention Center in California.

5. Don’t support the personalities and groups out to challenge Mrs. Arroyo. Truth and accountability are no longer important these days. Besides, to borrow the words of Bong Austero, the opposition is merely a bunch of power hungry fools.

6. Don’t attend anti-Arroyo rallies or wear Patalsikin Na, Now Na! t-shirts or else Gen. Querol will not hesitate to arrest you for violating BP 880, unless of course you delight seeing yourself beaten black and blue by truncheon-wielding policemen.

7. Sign the People’s Initiative of the Sigaw ng Bayan (a.k.a. Bulong ng Malacañang). Visit their website and be counted as one of its 9 million visitors.

8. Don’t support the impeachment. It’s a waste of precious time for your Congressman. Better write a letter to Tita Cory and post it in your blog if you have one.

9. If you’re a Catholic Bishop, befriend the Palace. Don’t imitate Bishops Cruz, Iñiguez and Tobias. They’re too meddlesome. But next time, please don’t accept cash “gifts” below 20,000 pesos. They’re too small compared to the millions the Congressmen received in last year’s impeachment.

10. Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil. Be indifferent and apathetic. Move on. Just imagine yourself living in Gloria’s enchanted kingdom.

INSULT

Politicians being likened to pigs and crocodiles is indeed an insult — not to the politicians but to the poor animals themselves! Pigs and crocodiles don’t lie, cheat or steal. They just eat. Politicians don’t just eat. They also lie, cheat or steal. You can check them out here and here.

Come Monday, July 24, 2006, they will be at the Batasan in their best suits and gowns to witness the President’s State of the Nation Address.

THIS SONG IS HEARTILY DEDICATED TO ALL POLITICIANS

If you search for tenderness
it isn’t hard to find.
You can have the love you need to live.
But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind.
It always seems to be so hard to give.

Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.

I can always find someone
to say they sympathize.
If I wear my heart out on my sleeve.
But I don’t want some pretty face
to tell me pretty lies.
All I want is someone to believe.

Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.

I can find a lover.
I can find a friend.
I can have security until the bitter end.
Anyone can comfort me
with promises again.
I know, I know.

When I’m deep inside of me
don’t be too concerned.
I won’t as for nothin’ while I’m gone.
But when I want sincerity
tell me where else can I turn.
Because you’re the one I depend upon.

Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.

–a classic song from Billy Joel

TIDBITS PART 2

SLIP OF THE TONGUE..

Did I hear it right when Secretary Mike Defensor, upon being interviewed by a TV reporter, said that the military had no reason to “kill” former NDF consultant Sotero Llamas? His justification was that Mr. Llamas was no longer connected with the communist movement and was in fact helping the government implement its projects in the countryside.

What if he was a Bayan Muna member at the time of his assasination, would the government have the motivation to liquidate him in cold blood? Seems like a slip of the tongue to me.

“SIRA ULO”

In english, it means a person with a “crazy mind”. This was what I heard from State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco who told a group of reporters that he was being shouted as such by Atty. Romeo Capulong, defense counsel of the Batasan 6, while entertaining interviews after the hearing on the rebellion case at the Makati City Regional Trial Court. The human rights lawyer was so enraged by the recent pronouncement of the DOJ that mentioned him as among those who allegedly conspired to oust Mrs. Arroyo last February. If you were the counsel for the Batasan 6 and all of a sudden you were included in the DOJ’s virtual “death” list, how would you react? Just because Atty. Capulong happened to be sympathetic to the cause of his clients doesn’t mean he’s already part of the leftist-rightist conspiracy theory being propagandized by the government. If that would be the mindset of the DOJ, no lawyer would dare defend the rights of these people for fear of being included in the charge shit.. este sheet.

EARTHQUAKE!

Just a hypothetical question: what if the earthquake happened somewhere in Manila, particularly in the vicinity of Mendiola, which resulted in the collapse of Malacanang, what will your reaction be? Happy? Sad? Grateful? Angry? Thankful? Hmm… sounds like we have similar answers!

QUISUMBING’S CHR

Kudos to the Commission on Human Rights for its brilliant findings recommending the filing of multiple murder charges against TMG personnel involved in the Ortigas rubout. Had the findings been one of exoneration, it would have sent a very bad signal to the doubting public that a government agency tasked to investigate possible human rights violations could no longer be relied upon to perform its constitutional mandate. Worse, it could encourage similarly-minded and trigger-happy policemen to do the unthinkable by simply passing it off as a legitimate police encounter.

TIME OUT

In the ongoing NBA Playoffs, my heart belongs to the Detroit Pistons. Despite the two disappointing losses they suffered under the star-studded Miami Heat, I still believe they can pull this one off in 6 or 7 games.

Ben, Rasheed, Tayshaun, Rip and Chauncey– hope to see you at the NBA FINALS!

THE KAPUSO NETWORK BLINKED?

I’ve always thought of Mike Enriquez as that type of journalist who leaves no stone unturned in ferreting out the truth of a particular issue. But I was virtually surprised at the way he comported himself during his interview with, well, President Arroyo in his daily radio program on DZBB. He seemed obviously flattered when President Arroyo was all praises for the “Kapuso” network for exercising what she calls as “responsible” journalism, contrary to the “seditious” journalism supposedly practiced by other networks.

Wait. If Mike Enriquez is really the journalist as he purports to be, he could have readily observed that Mrs. Arroyo merely wanted to pit GMA Channel 7 against rival network ABS-CBN, currently the object of the President’s ire for its coverage of the Fort Bonifacio standoff. He should not have allowed himself to be manipulated by the very person who was trying to clamp down on media to toe the government line. And instead of asking the customary questions, he could have directly inquired from the President if there was any truth as to e.g. the “Hello, Garci” tapes, the jueteng payola given to the First Gentleman and the Jocjoc Bolante fertilizer fund scam, regardless of whether she answered them squarely or not. It turned out he was no different from the anchors of the Malacanang-produced TV program “Tinig ng Bayan” shown on NBN Channel 4, a far cry from the no-nonsense image he projects in “24 Oras” and “Imbestigador”.

Of course, Mike Enriquez cannot be blamed if he merely acted upon the instructions of his superiors not to take it hard on PGMA. After all, this is the same station that prohibited the airing of an episode of Eddie Villanueva’s weekly TV program “Diyos at Bayan”.

Be that as it may, let us still give GMA Channel 7 the benefit of the doubt. Let us wait and see if it lives up to its slogan as the station “na WALANG KINIKILINGAN, WALANG PINOPROTEKTAHAN, WALANG KASINUNGALINGAN, SERBISYONG TOTOO LAMANG“.

A flattery designed to sow division among members of the media is no flattery at all. It is more of an insult masquerading as a compliment.

CIGARETTE WARNING: G.M.A. IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH

Cigarette smokers must be all smiles nowadays. Smoking no longer holds the distinction of being the leading cause of cancer among Filipinos. Its no. 1 status has been overtaken in just a matter of months by a virus called G.M.A. (short for government of Mrs. Arroyo). This virus has become so lethal that many people, like congressmen and some members of the clergy, have been infected with this disease. Its symptoms, among others, consist of cheating in the elections, lying about the tapes, stealing taxpayers’ money, concealment of Virgilio Garcillano and suppression of democratic rights. According to recent surveys, almost eighty percent of the population have become restless because it looks like the virus will not go away by itself. Scientists from all over the country are trying their best to develop several vaccines which include the constitutional succession of the vice-president, a transition council, a military junta and snap elections. In the meantime, in order to caution the public of its menace, manufacturers deemed it wise to repackage their cigarettes with this new inscription: “Cigarette warning: G.M.A. is dangerous to your health”. 

x 

More and more people literally get sick every time they see GMA on TV — nausea, high blood pressure, pneumonia, LBM — just to name a few. Even in the middle of a tear-jerking soap opera or spellbinding telefantasya, they can’t seem to avoid her with all these “flash” reports showing the President trying to paint a rosy picture of her government. Well, it’s not that they don’t like the contours of her face or the way she puts on her make-up. It’s not even her height. The reason is quite obvious. It’s because every time she shows a brave face on television, they are reminded of how their votes were desecrated during the last presidential elections. Every time she labels her critics as coup plotters, they vividly recall that she once conspired with generals in toppling a duly elected president. And every time she declares about respect for the rule of law, they remember her numerous phone calls to Garci which, I am sorry to say, are not mere lapses in judgment. 

x

To make matters worse, the implementation of the CPR has left scores of people injured and harassed by policemen who have not read nor understood the provisions of BP 880. As expected, the government tried to rationalize the hosing down of the hapless protesters by saying that they had it coming. I beg to disagree. Section 10(c) of the same law specifically prohibits the use of water cannons unless the assembly is attended by actual or serious threats of violence or deliberate destruction of property. The video footage showed that there was yet no actual or serious threat of violence when the marchers were “cannonized”, not to mention the fact that the policemen considerably outnumbered the rallyists. Other less confrontational means could have been resorted to but the usual trigger happy policemen were just too eager to order the unthinkable. Gen. Querol should stop justifying his men’s actions because what happened in Mendiola was a simple case of overkill by an insecure government. 

x 

Gloria is dead wrong if she thinks her dictatorial policies could silence rising calls for her ouster. Of course, with the aid of her loyal generals and congressmen, she may survive for yet another day. But with the question of legitimacy hanging over her head, it would be virtually impossible for her to finish her term unless she employs repressive measures similar to what Marcos did during his 20-year rule. History, however, frowns upon tyrants. No amount of CPR can stop the people from exercising their freedom to assemble as guaranteed by the Constitution. No amount of EO 464 or EO 454 can defeat the people’s right to know the truth about the various scandals rocking her administration. And no amount of joint statements by religious hypocrites could avert a looming end to a presidency shrouded by doubts of legitimacy. 

x 

We must find a cure for this virus before the infection becomes widespread and uncontrollable.