IT’S still part of Malacañang’s grand script, Sen. Serge Osmeña III said yesterday on the proposal of Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago that former elections commissioner Virgilio be given immunity in exchange for his telling all.
"That is a move to protect Garci and Gloria (Arroyo)," Osmeña said as he joined fellow senators in rejecting Santiago’s proposal.
Garcillano, accused of supervising cheating in the May 2004 polls to ensure President Arroyo’s victory, has been invited to the House for the Dec. 7 resumption of the inquiry being conducted jointly by five committees, and by the Senate committee on national defense and security headed by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon on Dec. 8.
Osmeña said giving Garcillano immunity would only allow him to turn the tables on the opposition and incriminate those who have been vocal about the alleged election fraud.
It would also provide Garcillano an opportunity to further muddle the issue, as he has been doing in interviews with selected media outlets.
More from PCIJ's Alecks Pabico:
Garci criminally liable for his actions - lawyers
SINCE resurfacing last week, former poll commissioner Virgilio Garcillano has gone public twice, portraying himself a victim and convincing television viewers that there is nothing wrong with the phone conversations he had with Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the May 2004 elections caught on tape in what has come to be known as the "Hello Garci" recordings.
Lawyers are however not buying Garcillano’s line, arguing that he could in fact be criminally liable for his actions.
Read the rest of the article for the whole shebang.
-- Bunye blames opposition for bleak Christmas. This is also the same guy who blamed the media for his boss' unpopularity and was makapal enough to claim that Arroyo's EVAT was the reason for low gas prices.
-- Gen. Carlos Garcia found guilty of corruption
AFTER more than a year, retired military comptroller Major Gen. Carlos F. Garcia was finally found guilty by a general court martial at three this afternoon of massive corruption charges. The case stemmed from his misdeclaration of his net worth in his statement of assets and liabilities for 2002 and 2003, and possession of a "green card" or permanent resident status in the United States while still serving as a general in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Garcia was subsequently ordered dishonorably discharged from the service, his pay and allowances, including his pension, forfeited. He was also sentenced to two years of hard labor at a place to be determined by military authorities.
WTF?!? Only 2 years for Garcia? That’s it? This boy got off with a very light sentence. Hindi ba plunder yung ginawa niya?
At saan kaya mapwe-pwesto si Garcia for his "two years of hard labor"? To be determined by military authorities raw eh. Pwede kaya sa Club Med yan o sa loob ng military base where he’ll uhhh.. do “hard labor” e.g. like pushing the remote of his DVD player?
And wasnt he supposed to blow the whistle on the other military officials involved in similar scams too? so what happened there?
-- Another reason why it's not a good idea to let arroyo change the constitution
From JB Baylon:
I tell you, we are slowly transforming our country into a heaven on earth for crooked pols.
This transformation, I believe, will be hastened even further by a transition from the present presidential system with a bicameral legislature to the proposed parliamentary system with a unicameral legislature. Think of it: in a parliamentary system the members of the legislature are the ones who elect the prime minister from among themselves, and who determine whether a prime minister stays or leaves office, through a vote of confidence. If the prime minister is crooked, the members of parliament normally oust him. But what if the prime minister is cut from the same cloth as the men and women who elected him in the first place? Given the new criminal law principle above, what relief can we expect from them?
Nothing.
Neal Cruz adds:
The congressmen showed the abuses they could do when the present two-house Congress is changed into a unicameral legislature. The Constitution will be changed for one principal reason: to shift to a parliamentary system where the prime minister will be elected not by the people, as in the present presidential system, but by members of parliament, the counterparts of the present congressmen. In a unicameral legislature headed by a leader they themselves elected, the MPs can do pretty much what they want. There will be no Senate to balance the House as at present. Worse, since the prime minister -- the counterpart of the present (ugh!) House speaker -- would be the chief executive -- the counterpart of the present president -- and the Supreme Court justices will be chosen by the MPs, there will be no system of checks and balances among the three branches of government. Only one person will be running the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Can you imagine what any of the present congressmen can do when put in such a position of power?
Read the whole thing. Neal is also right when he said that we should vote NO to the Arroyo Constitution. Kasi hindi naman yung 1987 Constitution natin ang may kasalanan sa GLORIAGATE eh kundi yung nagnakaw ng pwesto mismo, si Ate Glue. But delikado pa rin ang sitwasyon natin since yung Arroyo admin at ang COMELEC nito ang o-organize ng referendum kasi "sisiguraduhin" nilang "papasa" ito, if you know what I mean.
-- More on the RP Thailand Brouhaha-haha
Bangkok says Thaksin misquoted. Uhmm Hmm... Talk to the hand girl!
It's not yet over folks. Bangkok fires new salvo vs Manila over medal rig.
The sports squabble isn't over yet — not by a long shot — and not even when Malacañang says the case is now closed.
Thailand yesterday again slammed the Philippines over the conduct of its hosting of the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) and vowed to do a better job when its turn to host the sports event comes in 2007, even as President Arroyo insisted that the squabble over medal rigging is a closed book.
In another round of criticism hurled against the Philippines, which is currently hosting the games and leading the table of event winners, the Thai government took aim at the “incorrect” idea that the host of the biennial event should win the most medals.
Thai government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee told reporters in Bangkok that Thailand wanted to reassure people it would be a fair host for the next SEAG.
“As the host country, we will be good hosts and guarantee fair play in order to upgrade regional sports to international standards,” Surapong said.
“The host must extend a good welcome to visitors and have fairness in mind,” he said.
Ellen Tordesillas:
The Thai premier’s insinuations may be baseless, but the fact that the country has a president who is a cheat makes it easy for everybody to believe that there is cheating in a contest being supervised by the Arroyo administration.
Indeed.
Lito Banayo nadadamay ang mga atleta natin dahil sa reputation ni Arroyo:
Pity the Filipino athletes who prepared mightily and assiduously for their moment of rightful glory. It had to take a contemptuous remark by the Thai prime minister, mismo, to tarnish the luster of their victories.
But that is not bad enough. What made it worse is that the leader of their country, who should have protested strongly over what clearly was affront to the national pride, had no moral ascendancy to even attempt to put her foreign equal to task. Instead, she lamely "orders" sports officials to conduct a quick and "impartial" investigation into Thaksin Shinawatra’s impolitic accusation.
That is adding insult to the injury inflicted upon our athletes by Thaksin. That is almost like an admission that indeed, the conduct of the officiating was less than "fair and square", that trite but automatically-used shibboleth that Doña Gloria’s defenders mouth when they talk of her electoral "victory" in 2004.
To be sure, even Doña Gloria knows how to read what lay behind the irrepressible remarks of her Asean peer. It was undisguised contempt of her persona. Everybody and his mother, even beyond her shores, know that she cheated to become leader. Which is why, try as hard as she does to enter the world stage in forum after forum, she is either snubbed or simply tolerated, never taken seriously. Because they know. And she knows they know...
But Thaksin obviously finds little if any reason to be tactful or diplomatic. He looks at her with contempt, and expressed his pique with little reservation. The words he used though were not as caustic as would be expected of one who in the heat of battle feels he has been cheated. Therefore it was not just unpardonable intemperance. It was calculated insult.
If she had any self-respect, as the leader of a self-respecting nation, she would froth in the mouth and demand apology from her peer for insult to the national honor. As it is, we were simply treated to the sour spectacle of a sports official from Thaksin’s country saying "I am sorry" to our sports officials. But that should not be acceptable.
Yup. She has no self-respect. Because she's a phony.
-- Arrogance of Davide's Supreme Court
The arrogance of the justices of the Supreme Court appears to be without bounds. In a letter to the Judicial and Bar Council, 11 justices demanded that the JBC scrap a public interview of the nominees to the post soon to be vacated by Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. The JBC, not surprisingly, bowed to the justices’ wish.
Tapos ito:
If this is not arrogance, we don’t know what is.
But it is par for the course for the Davide court. Remember the sell-serving rulings on the attempt to impeach Davide over the Judiciary Development Fund? And that laughable doctrine of "constructive resignation" to justify Arrooyo’s usurpation of the presidency?
The justices piously speak about the need for reforms in the judiciary. We have a suggestion. To redeem the institution, they can, for starters, all resign.
-- Ini-isnab si Arroyo sa nakaraang APEC meeting sa Busan:
Foreign leaders don’t respect her. This was most evident in the recent APEC leaders meeting in Busan, South Korea. Not one of the 20 leaders agreed to have a one-on-one meeting with her. The Department of Foreign Affairs tried to arrange one-on-one meetings with her with a few leaders, notably US President Bush. They were all too busy for her.
In diplomacy, a one-on-one meeting is where two leaders sit down together with some members of their staff to discuss issues common to both countries. A variation to that is called "pull aside" meetings. The two leaders agree that during a break in the summit, they go to one side of the room and, together with their respective staff, talk.
As a good host, South President Roh Moo-hyun of Korea, was agreeable to a meeting with her but since he will be coming to Manila on Dec. 14, it was decided that their bilateral meeting would be held in Manila.
Yet, back in Manila, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye claimed that Bush and Arroyo had a one-on-one meeting. A Malacañang release said, "She held one-on-one meetings with US President George W. Bush, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and other APEC leaders on the side of the summit meeting and discussed issues of mutual interest to their respective countries."
In his column, Bunye said," At the sidelines of the APEC summit, President Gloria met with US President George W. Bush." He mentioned other APEC leaders.
Bunye continued: "President Bush expressed concern about the situation in Myanmar and President Gloria agreed to support efforts in the United Nations, particularly in the United Nations Security Council, where the Philippines is currently a non-permanent member, to help spur democratic reforms in Myanmar." He mentioned other topics like avian flu and terrorism.
DFA officials said Bush discussed those things with Asean leaders during the ASEAN-US meeting, also in Busan. To say that Bush told those things in a one-on-one meeting with Arroyo is like a reporter who reported statements made during a press conference as an exclusive interview. It’s misrepresentation. It’s dishonest.
Dishonesty is Arroyo's policy.
-- Last but not least, from JB Baylon again, which I found sad and funny at the same time:
I’ve had a hard time explaining to people I meet here the "new" logic we have about corruption and criminality in high places. It seems people here have too much of a simplistic mindset, unable to comprehend the complicated logic of the Filipino.
To the folks I meet here, the issue is simple: is there an allegation of conduct unbecoming? If yes, then investigate it impartially. If the allegations are found to have basis, charge the culprit who, if found guilty, goes to jail. End of story.
For the Filipino, the logic is a bit more profound: Is there an allegation of conduct unbecoming? If yes, so what? Everybody does it anyway and even assuming the incumbents are found guilty, wouldn’t their replacements just do the same thing once in power? So why make a fuss?
Is someone still making a big fuss out of the allegations? If yes, then it must be a plot by the political opposition to destabilize the government. If so, then people in government should not cooperate in any investigations lest they just end up being used by destabilizers. In the meantime, whoever in government may know anything about the allegations must shut up, plead a failing memory, or better still disappear for some time in order to get their story straight. And then the people should be told it is the system that is corrupt, and there is a need to change the system, never mind if the same people who are in power today will be the same ones in power under the new system tomorrow.
Oh, and charge the opposition for destabilization. Threaten them with water cannons, or jail if necessary. End of story.
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2 comments:
Hi John Marzan. This is Mercy Abad. I would like to invite you to our office at TNS Trends, so we can explain to you how we do our work, and also show you the evaluation of the Exit Poll Review Committee. My telephone number is 9253170. We will be expecting your call. A good journalist should do a good review before casting aspersions on integrity.
hi ms. abad. so how did the internal investigation go on the exit poll fiasco? why don't you post your findings here, and I'll post it in my blog.
and specifically, which post of mine do you find offensive? can you direct me to that link?
you can also email me at krove04@yahoo.com
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