Way I see it, every person who propagated those tapes by copying and disseminating is either 1) a part of the ploy; 2) a business opportunist who intended and/or actually made money from the tapes, directly or indirectly; 3) a political opportunist who sought visibility with the hope that with the downfall of one administration, he could hold a lucrative post in the next; or 4) simply and plainly gullible.
-- Sassy Lawyer aka Connie Veneracion
Ignacio Bunye could not have said it better. Thanks for the heads up from MLQ3, who reads Sassy Lawyer's blog regularly (so that we all don't have to).
Previous:
-- Why the "Ignacio Bunye Award"
UPDATE: More from Connie Veneracion, who defends gov't asset Jonathan Tiongco:
I don’t know if you’re aware of the antecedents of the Jonathan Tiongco incident. Jonathan Tiongco is, of course, one of those who figured prominently in the Garci tapes scandal. Just Google his name and you can read all about him. PCIJ and Tiongco crossed paths when PCIJ published an entry in its blog with a recitation of Tiongco’s “background” including information that he has an illegitimate family. The issue was Tiongco’s expertise and credibility to judge whether the Garci tapes were authentic. Of course, long before Tiongco made a public appearance, PCIJ had already decided that the tapes were authentic. It was even running transcripts of more than one version of the tapes.
Now then, how is a man’s marital and extramarital arrangement relevant to his expertise and professional credibility? When Manila Standard Today asked for my comments at the time, I said that the reference to Tiongco’s marital relations was totally irrelevant. PCIJ could have explored Tiongco’s educational and professional background without touching on that. Did it have to? The effect of course was tantamount to casting asperity on Tiongco’s person and dragging his family along the way. To me, it was unnecessary, irresponsible and malicious...
I don’t know how all you people define freedom of speech. Personally, I do not take it as a license to destroy the peace and privacy of innocent people—in the case of Tiongco, his family.
casting aspersions on tiongco's person? dragging his family along the way? Irresponsible? Malicious? LOL.
I think Sassy Lawyer is overreacting. Ito yung parte ng PCIJ article ("Mike Defensor's Expert") about Tiongco na na-TRO and got Atty. Sassy all steamed up:
Tiongco was born in Jaro, Iloilo and has known addresses in Fairview, Quezon City and San Fernando, Pampanga. He has four children, two each with his two spouses. The police know him to have several aliases: Jaytee, JT, Jeff, Jonathan Monarca Tiongco, and John Thomas Mendoza Tiongco.
That's it. No really, that's it. The name of the wife and kids were not even mentioned. The background info on Tiongco's family was only a minor part of the PCIJ article.
(What's funny though is that during erap's time, fair game yung mga private life ng mga erap mistresses and anak sa labas, but you never really heard these arroyo apologists complaining about "invasion of privacy" back then, ano?)
So I think Ms. Veneracion's rant is much ado about nothing.
OTOH, tiongco and wifey's complaints about "privacy" was more about the other unsavory stuff written in the article, like the summary of criminal cases filed against Jonathan Tiongco (from the PNP dossier), and Teresita Ang-See's damning testimony against Tiongco. But you wouldn't know that because Sassy Lawyer never posted the link to that PCIJ article.
And I just don't understand why some of these so-called smart arroyo types like Sassy, would stake their credibility in defending Tiongco, who's credibility is highly questionable and not exactly somebody I would trust.
She also wrote:
For many, many years, I held PCIJ with such high regard. When it opened its blog, I was among the first–if not actually the first–to register to post a comment to welcome its team to the Philippine blogging community. I think I was also the first blogger to drop PCIJ from a blogroll. Well, as the cliché goes, the only permanent thing is change.
Heh. i think sassy started hating PCIJ when they posted the "Hello Garci" tapes sa website nila, because that was like a death blow to her president's legitimacy claims.
UPDATE: Her blog used to be in the top 5 sa PinoyTopBlogs. Now, it's in #15. It seems that more and more people are aware of her pro-Arroyo leanings... No wonder she's resorting to gimmicks (like breaking her blog posts into three parts) just to get more hits, LOL.
Ho well, I guess when you're known as a pro-Arroyo blogger who writes for a crony paper owned by Enrique Razon, it's gotta hurt your credibility, sooner or later.
UPDATE: Sassy Lawyer comments.
She claims I misunderstood everything she writes in her blog, but offers no proof, just a general statement. And her readers are supposed to take her word for it, I think. Just like in the Jonathan Tiongco case. LOL. I link, you decide.
And she ended up spending 95% of her post talking about PinoyTopBlogs, which is I guess is by design or something... ;)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment