Is anyone watching?

ARE any of you still watching the hearings in the House of Representatives (Impeachment complaint vs. GMA) and the Senate (starring Joke-Joke Bolante and the fertilizer fund scam)?

I gave up at the last House hearing where former Speaker Jose De Venecia was shooting his mouth off regarding the money allegedly distributed by the presidentita to the congressmen to shut them up in the last impeachment complaint.

I don't doubt that what JDV is saying is true, and even whatever else he is claiming to have happened in China while the presidentita, her husband and he were playing golf w/ ZTE executives. It's just that, too late na dava? Why only now JDV? Just bec. you were still Speaker, you kept quiet all the while your son Joey and Jun Lozada were being grilled over the barbeque pit on the ZTE Broadband issue? Tsk, tsk. How convenient.
* * * *
I did sneak a peek at this afternoon's hearing at the Senate. I was curious to find out Ibarra Poliquit's involvement in this fertilizer fund scam.

(Barry Poliquit is currently VP of physical resources of the GSIS.)

You see I knew an Ibarra/Barry Poliquit almost two decades ago when he was just a staff assistant at the office of Undersecretary Celso Roque at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Roque, a former UP professor, I thought ran a tight ship, and handled the environmental concerns of the department. So even in the late '80s, we were already talking and writing about global warming, and debt-for-nature swaps, etc. Our environmental officials were pretty much ahead of their time compared to their counterparts in the U.S., Japan, and Australia.

Going back to Barry Poliquit, I knew him when he was thinner and was one of the people whom I knew who was already into scuba diving even before it became a rage in the Philippines. He was married to Rhoda Poliquit, who worked in the Dept. of Agrarian Reform then. He also struck me as one of those guys in the DENR who knew his stuff and was willing to share good environmental stories with us reporters.

In my 23-year-old mind, Barry didn't look like someone who would engage in nefarious activities involving gov't funds. Even though he was much older than I, he appeared as someone who still retained his youthful idealism despite the corruption in most government offices.

After I left the beat, I lost touch w/ Barry and his wife, and only heard of him again during the reopened Senate investigation on the fertilizer fund scam. According to the media reports, he was assistant secretary at the Dept. of Agriculture and had helped Joke-Joke Bolante, then Usec, oversee the implementation of the fertilizer fund program. Today he was being grilled on his apparent inadequate monitoring of the program w/c led to the purchases of overpriced fertilizer by their field office.

I wonder what happened to Barry. What changed? Did the corruption eventually get to him? Did it become an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" type of situation for him? Or did I just read him all wrong when he was still at DENR?
* * * *
After googling Dr. Celso Roque to find out what had become of him, I found out that he had passed away on June 30, 2002. Dr. Roque, who was such a masterful storyteller (he always had entertaining stories for us reporters), usually held court at Trellis, the original purveyor of sisig in the metro.

Among the DENR officials of his time, he was really the coolest cat. I could listen to him make kwento for hours, and learned a lot about enviromental issues from him. He is remembered as having pioneered the environmental movement in the Philippines. I raise a glass of wine in his memory.

Does anyone see a pattern here?

IN an attempt to boost her sagging popularity and credibility among the public, the Presidentita and her henchmen are trying to take on issues that would seemingly reinvent her as a heroine and savior of the country.

First she goes to the Department of Justice five times in a row just to see how cases against so-called rice hoarders/smugglers are coming along.

Second, she has her incompetents at the Ombudsman's office regurgitate a six-year-old corruption case against her former justice secretary Hernani Perez, his ailing wife, Rosario, and businessman Ernest Escaler.

Third, she has pushed her GSIS juggernaut Winston Garcia to take on the Lopezes so government can take over Meralco.

Fourth, she now wants telecommunications companies not to charge for text messages.

What's next? Will she now tell the banks not to charge fees for using their ATMs?

All these are desperate measures to shore up confidence in her flagging presidency. If the presidentita thinks that by coming to our defense in populist issues like these will make us like her better, she is sadly mistaken. As usual, her idiot brigade in Malacañang, who sit in their airconditioned offices all day, and who travel in style by land, sea, or air, anywhere they go, are so out of touch with reality. They don't know us really and what we think, and so they keep feeding their Madam the wrong ideas and concepts to help reinvent her image, which has been drubbed in the mud ever since the Hello Garci, the ZTE-NBN scandal, etc.

The Presidentita's makeover program will all be for naught, because she lacks the values that will make all of these desperate measures credible...honesty and humility. No one believes her because she has never been sincere in her intentions and motives.

I wonder, when she was thinking of grabbing Malacañang from Erap...did she actually want to do it because she wanted to change the country and improve our lives? Or did she just want to become President? Period.

Maybe it's about time the Presidentita thinks of the legacy she wants to leave behind. Because the way things have been going lately, I don't think History is going to be kind to her.

* * * *
NOW here comes the JDV threatening to spill the beans on what really transpired in the ZTE-NBN shenanigan. Isa ka pa! Here's another political opportunist trying to take advantage of an issue that he should have spoken on before, when the Senate hearings were at its peak. Why come out just now? Why not before when his own son had stuck his neck out and testified about the deal?

Kasi nawala na sa limelight so gusto na namang pumorma! Kesho the information he has may lead to the "fall of the government," etc. etc. Pwede ba?! This JDV and Manay Gina make me sick!

An appeal to NEDA employees

"We shall be transparent in all our actions
And continue to adhere to the highest
Tenets of public ethics.
For ours is a caring agency responsive
To the needs of every member,
While working for the welfare of all." (Excerpt from the NEDA Mission)

A GROUP calling itself ONE Executive Committee, purportedly compose of disgruntled employees of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), has issued a position paper calling for transparency in the ZTE-NBN Broadband deal.

Because of the way the scandal has undermined the credibility of the agency and these hardworking employees – most of them honest economic graduates who are probably brilliant enough to be teaching generations of students who want to understand the workings of the economy, but have chosen to protect the wider public interest instead – the group wants the documents relating to the case to be released for further public scrutiny.

I don't know if my friends, officials of NEDA I had covered before when I was still a business reporter, are part of ONE, but I appeal to them to take action, instead of just hiding behind an anonymous group and a position paper. I know it is difficult to put one's job on the line and speak the truth, but it is time for you to come forward, release those documents yourselves, and testify. You know very well that your head is a weakling who will come to the aid of the corrupt ones in Malacañang with just a snap of the finger. He and the one before him are the cause of the agency's downfall.

Courage, friends. Save your agency, save the country from the corrupt. Come forward and speak.

Bato, bato sa langit...

I was finally able to stop reading that new vicious blog which has kept everyone glued to their computers for the past two days. Nakakalokah na sya! It's so freakin' addicting! Every few hours there was a new entry from the blogger, then an avalanche of comments, and even more rumors/allegations brought up/stirred up about several pasosyal subjects of the blog...it was tough reading all of 'em. Hay! Nothing like good 'ol chismis about the so-called high society to make the weekend interesting.

I still can't make up my mind whether the allegations on Brian's blog are true or not, or if it's simply a case of an "away bakla." No offense to all the gay people out there, but you know what I mean. It could just be a lover's spat gone awfully haywire.

But if true, nakakaawa naman 'yung Australian na 'yun. Sayang gwapo pa naman sya. Ahem. What I really meant to say was, it really gives us Pinoys a bad name. That one of our own, albeit a socialite wanna-be, allegedly screwed this poor Aussie farmboy out of $70,000 of his life savings?! Shame, shame, shame.

I knew the subject of Brian's blog many years ago when he was just starting his restaurant and bar in Malate...back then when the district was still cool in its bohemian way. He seemed nice, intelligent, and well-mannered. I think back then he was still not surrounded by these ja-fake sosyals. I could be wrong though. Baka na ja-fake nya rin ako. Hahaha! But I have to admit, I liked the food in his restaurant and enjoyed his seriously fabulous bar. He actually has talent in that line of business.

Last time I saw the blog subject was in Boracay in Mandala Spa with a writer (from Metro Society I think) sometime last year. We exchanged a few words of greeting, small chica about how it was great to be in Mandala again — our favorite spa on the island — and how our treatments felt sooo good, etc. etc. Honestly, in the brief chats we've had since I met him, I have never felt any negative or ill vibes from him. And I'm not one to cut down people I know unless I've been on the receiving end of their nasty behavior.

So it's quite surprising to read all the allegations about this guy from his Aussie ex-. Of course the guy is no saint, what with the company he kept, but a thief?! Good Lord! Sayang naman itong batang to kung totoo. Brian's blog makes interesting read, no doubt. Highly entertaining. And definitely more exciting than the ZTE-NBN gossip that have been going around of late. (Madam Presidentita, pls. fire your lousy scriptwriters!)

Will Brian get his money back? Abangan...

Jun Lozada on my mind

JUN Lozada has been on a lot of people's minds lately. From the time he made his first appearance on TV in a press con to talk about his kidnapping, at the Senate where he testified on the corrupt ZTE-NBN deal, to his current speaking engagements, his words and thoughts have shaken up a lot of us to the reality of the evilness of this government.

This may be a belated reaction to his testimonies at the Senate hearing, but I've been truly moved by his bravery, his courage of spirit, and the sincerity of his actions. He isn't perfect. He's no saint. He has admitted to many shortcomings in his past. Which is why he continues to be credible in the eyes of the public no matter how many propaganda stories and gossip churned out against him by GMA's minions.

About a month ago, I stumbled on the blog of Jun Lozada's nephew, Voltaire, and it really pained me to read how his relatives missed him. Voltz talks about his uncle being persuaded to buy them pizzas while he and his cousins play tong-its during family get-togethers and such...just tiny close-up views of his uncle's ordinary life. If you want to read more about what's on Voltz's mind, I've added a link to his blog (Strawberry-filled donuts), which you can also click on from the sidebar at the left.

I hope that this present chaos in Jun Lozada's life and those of his relatives and friends, will all work out in their favor in the end, and benefit the nation. It is heavy burden that they carry and they need all our good wishes and prayers.

When you're past your 40th birthday

IT had been a most unusual day.

I woke up rather early, at 5 am, and couldn’t go back to sleep. I watched Cate Blanchett’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age while waiting for Sis to wake up so we could have breakfast. Usually, it is she who wakes up early and eats breakfast while she leaves me alone lolling in Dreamland.

We were in Boracay with Pangs for my birthday last weekend and even before we arrived, the island had been suffering from a spot of unusual weather, battered as we were by strong gusty winds and intermittent rainshowers. Phooey!

There were hardly any people awake as we went down to the resort’s restaurant for our morning meal. We plunked down in an empty cabana, and I stared at the breakfast menu for the first time in three days since we arrived.

After giving out our food orders, we stared at the dark heavy clouds and shuddered in the cold winds. I wondered when I would ever get to swim in the beach and if the sun would ever sneak a peek from behind those billows in the sky. Then the faint strains of some groovy ’70s Motown music started wafting through the restaurant speakers, feel-good doo-wops that my older siblings were singing and dancing to back when I still toddled behind them. Sis and I were like, “Wowwww!” Suddenly the gray morning didn’t look so bad anymore.

As The Moments’ “Love on a Two-way Street” played away, we heartily dug into our bangus belly à la pobre and beef lugao. We swayed and sung along as we laughed and exchanged stories. We were amused at how these songs from our childhood, tunes from Pangs’s CD as we later found out, just put us in a freakishly good mood. They just made us feel that everything was perfect and all right in the world. Stories of Benjamin Abalos and his $130-million cut, the raging controversy on the ZTE-NBN deal, just seemed so far away. It was as if these songs held a promise of better things to come.

We were not disappointed. As soon as we were done with our meal and finished with our coffee, the pillow-like gray clouds began to part, and the sun’s rays finally broke through. Yay! The powdery white sand was finally dotted with shadows from the beach umbrellas, the tables and chairs, and the people walking. Salamat, Lord!

Still, the waters were just much too cold for swimming. I froze my hefty buns off as soon as I set them down on the water, which made me instantly leap up and run back to shore. Brrrr!

But when you get to be my age -- for the record, it is 23 forever -- you learn to appreciate the small stuff. At least the sun was out, and although shaded by a huge beach umbrella as I lounged on the beach bed, I was enjoying a mild dose of vitamin D. I read my magazine, spied on the young gorgeous European hunks nearby playing volleyball, and sipped on my cool mango shake...what more could I ask for?

I take my birthdays very seriously. It is usually a time for me to offer up my thanks to the Great Almighty above for all the blessings in the past year, as I look forward to another one full of exciting possibilities. It’s just like celebrating the New Year, as my reflections take on a more individual, closer-to-the-soul note.

Unfortunately, there are certain realities one cannot escape as one rushes past 40.

Like, no matter how my brain thinks I’m still in my 20s or 30s, there are just some days I wake up in the morning with the wind whistling through my bones. I am creaky all over and feel too tired to get up. Of course, my age is also an advantage, because this is probably the only time in my life when I can actually declare that, fudge all that! I shall stay in bed the entire day! If I were in my 20s and 30s, I’d still get up, despite a hangover or a fluish condition, and haul my carcass to the office.

I can’t hold my liquor as long as I used to. Time was when I could start drinking from 6 pm until 4 am the next morning, and still go to work the next morning. These days, three glasses of red wine is cutting it too close and the sulfites in my drink will deaden my brain right up to next day. (Again, staying in bed is usually the solution.)

My forehead has two fine horizontal lines and I have dark spots on my cheek that refuse to go away. No matter how many anti-aging creams I slather on my face, they just sit there staring back at me from the mirror. Unfortunately, my unpredictable cash flow won’t pay for any Botox injections. Besides, I’m a coward when it comes to needles and even if I had more financial resources, I will probably spend the money on traveling and good food rather than on my face.

I am now prone to allergies. For some strange reason, some food or beverages which I had no problem ingesting only a few years ago, now give me a rash or a headache. Take cheese, for example: I used to eat all my favorite nutty and intense varieties at any time and any day. But now, I noticed that as my period approaches (excuse me, gentlemen), eating cheese gives me a migraine. Added to that, the migraines sneak up on me more often than they used to.

And as I mentioned in this space two weeks ago, I am now on maintenance pills to restrain my hypertension, a legacy from both sides of my parents’ families. Thanks to mom and dad, I have to watch what I eat, making sure I stay away from Aling Mila’s lechon and Two Seasons Resort’s sinfully good Crispy Rack of Pork and Char Shiu Rice forever. I cannot afford to miss a single class of yoga, otherwise my blood pressure may start hiking up a treacherous path.

(UPDATE: Three days ago, my doc took me off the anti-hypertension meds, pronouncing me in the pink of health...well, almost. Just need to exercise more. But at least, this is one reason to feel good on this birthday.)

To top it all, I hate exercising, and any effort spent on a treadmill or stationary bike makes me feel cheap. I love my body and I’m happy with it, but somehow I still feel I need to conform to society’s standards of beauty and wellness.

I don’t have the patience to read books anymore. A bookworm since I knew how to read, I now can’t sit still through three pages of any novel, no matter how high up it was on the New York Times bestseller list, without my mind wandering off somewhere. I think of my schedule for the entire week, the recipe I’ll be using at dinner, or what I’ll wear to an interview I’m conducting the next day. Maybe it’s because I already do a lot of reading on the Internet that having pages of printed words on paper just doesn’t hold my attention anymore as staring at my computer. If I do read a book, it is usually a biography or a collection of short stories. My favorite reading materials now are magazines -- Vanity Fair, Gourmet, Travel + Leisure, Interiors.

Finally, I want someone to come home to other than the mother and the maid. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a pet. There are just days when you want to cuddle with someone because you are feeling awful and need to feel secure or comforted. Or just do the nasty with every night. Because Johnny Depp is already hitched to that beyootch Vanessa Paradis, I might have to get a cat instead.

But in all things, I take the bad with the good. You can’t have a happy sunny morning without going through some voluminous rainclouds first. So, thank you, Lord! Thanks for another fabulous birthday in Boracay with my best buddies. Thanks for those relaxing massages I got. Thanks for that gorgeous birthday spread and for all the lovely meals we enjoyed. To all those who remembered my birthday and took the time to greet me, Bless you all! It feels great to be alive and well, the sometimes creaky bones notwithstanding.

The ultimate reality bite: It’s the little things in life that count the most and make me happy.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. Photo from BusinessMirror.)

Don't change the gov't without me!

I need a break from all this political squabbling, and brazen lying of the Arroyo government. I shall be conveniently away on vacation beginning tomorrow when the militant organizations' rally in Makati is staged. Then also on Sunday, when ex-President Aquino leads a prayer rally in La Salle Greenhills. (It's my birthday so please excuse me, Tita Cory.) I shall pray with you in Boracay and especially for Jun Lozada...that brave, brave man. I really hope he gets through his ordeal. Nakakaawa na sya talaga. Pati ako naiiyak na sa mga engot at paulit-ulit na tanong mga senador natin. Hay, anovayan!

Someone asked me if I wasn't going to tomorrow's rally because it could already be the "tipping point." Sorry, I don't think entire country is that enraged yet, despite the nauseous Mafioso-like activities of the presidentita and her henchmen. (Just call them The Sopranos.) I really don't know what the people are waiting for. Parang, something is still holding us back from rising up and kicking these corrupt family and their people out of power. I guess, we're all still hoping that the presidentita actually becomes enlightened, shazam! kapow! and she changes for the better. This reminds me of woman in an abusive relationship. Sinasakal ka na, sinusuntok ka pa, pero ayaw mo pa din iwanan ang asawa mo. Feeling mo your love will save him, and he will still change. Paking shet.

Anyway, talk to you next week guys. Just don't change the government without me.

* * * *

AY, and as Jessica says, Happy Kris Aquino Day! (Or Happy Juan Ponce Enrile Day! ick, obvious ba ang leanings on the ZTE-NBN Broadband deal?)

Why Romy Neri refuses to tell the truth (from our mailbox)

For Immediate Release

Contact: Vicente R. Romano III, 0920.9615610
Leah Navarro, 0917.898.1957

Dear Friends,

Here's a short write-up that Jun L wrote sometime in October. He wanted me to disseminate it without attribution. I believe he was motivated both by his genuine concern for a beleaguered friend who was being maligned no end, and his desire, even then, for the truth to somehow surface. He left it up to me as to how and when to disseminate it.

I did not find any compelling reason to get it out then. But now that Jun has told it all, and Neri is being invited back to testify, I believe the public deserves to know what was (and maybe still is) in the mind of Neri – at least from the point of view of a friend. I'm sure Jun will not mind.

Let's get this out in the open.

God bless,

Enteng

* * * *

"What is Neri afraid to say and Why?

Many speculations have been made as to what Neri knows about the ZTE-NBN most particularly the direct involvement of Pres. Gloria Arroyo in this abominable affair. After his damaging “Sec. May 200 ka dito” demolition of Abalos, the discredited former Comelec Chairman, many were left disappointed when Neri suddenly clamped up when the Senators started asking him about the nature of his conversation with Arroyo, no amount of coaxing, cajoling and threats was enough to break his Code of Omerta. The question on many people’s mind was, What was Neri trying to protect when he repeatedly invoked “Executive Priviledge” during that gruelling 12 hour Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on live television?

We have known the Truth all along as one of the few people that Neri confided his predicament during those fateful days of April 2006, and how he wanted to resign his post of NEDA Director General and Secretary for Socio-Economic Planning over this incident where he lost all his moral respect for Pres. Gloria Arroyo.

We are doing this document to give the public an understanding of this predicament.

What is Neri afraid to tell the public? He is afraid to tell the public that after he reported the Abalos P200 million peso bribe offer, Arroyo casually told him to ignore it and work for its recommendation for approval anyway. That when he protested that it is too controversial and may attract the wrong kind of attention from media, Arroyo retorted back “Pakulo lang ni Joey yan and his father”. When he tried to reason that it may not be accommodated in the Chinese ODA package because it has been filled up with a list of projects already, Arroyo again ordered him to remove the low cost housing project and some water project to accommodate the ZTE-NBN deal in the ODA loan. That when he attempted to reason that it may not be approved in time for the Boao Forum which was only two days to go from that fateful April day, Arroyo with raised voice told him to include the ZTE-NBN project in the agenda of the following day’s meeting of a combined NEDA Board and Cabinet Committee, who as expected promptly approved the project paving the way for the contract signing between ZTE and DOTC in China the next day. Neri is afraid to tell the public that this conversation took place between him and Arroyo because it might spark another impeachment complaint against Arroyo.

Why is Neri afraid to tell the public about this conversation with Arroyo? He is afraid that another impeachment will simply result to more expenses of public funds similar to the Hyatt 10 impeachment crisis, because as DBM Secretary who replaced Boncodin, he was entrusted with the large scale DBM payola operation of Arroyo to Congressmen, Senators and Governors not quite similar to the crude Panlilio incident that the public is witnessing now. He is afraid with a more partisan Andaya at the helm of DBM, more public funds will be spent to buy the silence and favour of these greedy legislators and local executives.

He is afraid that with Arroyo’s firm control of public funds she can buy all the necessary support from most sectors of society to keep her in power.

He is afraid that even if the opposition knows about this conversation with Arroyo, he is afraid that the opposition will not pursue a serious impeachment proceedings against Arroyo, because it is not to their political interest that Noli de Castro becomes President in case Arroyo is impeached and becomes a more formidable political opponent in 2010. This insincere and unpatriotic goal of the opposition is already being manifested by the malicious speed that the Erap pardon is being cooked by Ronnie Puno together with the Erap camp to hastily put a united front of “Birds of the same corrupt feather” coalition against the emerging JDV led political opposition.

He is afraid that even if the Church knows the truth about Arroyo’s direct involvement in the ZTE-NBN deal, the Church will still not call for her resignation due to the closeness of Arroyo’s trusted lady liason to the Cardinal of Manila who was very effective during the “Hello Garci” crisis. That Arroyo’s Religious Affairs Operators have the Bishops firmly in their “donation” graces, as again manifested by the quick rebuttal of the Mindanao Bishops’ of the call of their fellow bishops in Luzon who where calling for the resignation of Arroyo just after Arroyo gave them a visit in Mindanao.

He is afraid that even if the military knows the truth about Arroyo’s direct involvement in the fraudulent ZTE-NBN deal, the AFP brass is much to indebted to Arroyo for their position and the perks that goes with their position, that they have demonstrated this twisted loyalty with their willingness to detain, remove from the service and even shoot their own men for voicing out their legitimate concerns regarding the corruption and moral authority of their Commander in Chief. It is a sad spectacle to see the respected warriors of the Marines & Special Forces rot in jail with their ideals, while their men are dying even without receiving the measly P150 per day combat pay that was promised to them by Arroyo due to lack of funds & generals gets a gift bag similar to those given to the governors and congressmen just for having dinner with Arroyo the day after that infamous breakfast & lunch meeting where bribe money flowed scandalously free.

He is afraid that even if the Media knows the truth about Arroyo’s direct involvement in the ZTE-NBN scam, Media will simply wither in the torrents of cash and favors similar to how the Hyatt 10, Hello Garci crisis were killed in the media headlines and Radio& TV coverages. Although he believes in the integrity of a handful of Journalist, he believes that a handful of these mavericks cannot withstand the hordes of paid lackeys of Malacanang. Especially that the Arroyo crisis team is now being handled by the best mercenary money can buy, from Ramos Sulo Operation, Erap’s DILG and now Arroyo’s troubleshooter, Ronnie Puno. Ably supported by the Media and PR money from PAGCOR being handled by Cerge Remonte to buy positive airtime, headlines and editorials.

He is afraid that even if the Business Sector knows about the truth of Arroyo’s direct involvement to defraud the coffers of the taxes they are paying, the businessmen will be reluctant to rock the boat of the current economic uptrend, especially with the very close personal and business relationship of the so called leaders of the big business like Ricky Razon of ICTSI, Donald Dee of PCCI and Francis Chua of the Filipino-Chinese Federation to Arroyo herself. He is afraid that the hard earned remittances of Filipino OFWs that is keeping the economy booming and that can keep the economy afloat even under any administration is being wasted under this unholy alliance of Arroyo and her favoured businessmen.

He is afraid that even if the Civil Society knows the truth about Arroyo’s direct involvement in the ZTE-NBN deal, that the Civil Society is now tired of mass actions after witnessing two failed EDSA revolutions, that Civil Society is now afflicted with a “Rally Fatigue” and cannot muster enough public outrage to denounce Arroyo’s “corruption with impunity”. He is afraid that the middle class is now indifferent to the corruption that goes around them, not realising that the middle class are the ones mainly carrying the burden of the loan payments for these corrupt deals. He is afraid that the middle class are more interested to become an OFW & to leave this country leaving their family and children behind, and may not care anymore about the crimes being committed against their country by its own President.

He is afraid that even if the Masa, the students, the workers knows the truth about Arroyo’s direct involvement in the ZTE-NBN deal to steal precious resources from public funds, that they are now too poor and impoverished to be able to afford the time to join mass actions against the abuses of the Arroyo administration, that these former vanguards of mass actions in the country are now completely dependent on financial resources of professional organizers and have turned themselves into a “Rally for hire” groups rather than a true and genuine political gathering shouting for reforms.

He is afraid that the public may not know the extent of corruption in this country and may wrongly believe that they can cure corruption by simply replacing Arroyo with another person. He is afraid that the public may overlook the systemic and institutionalized nature of the source of corruption in this country, he is afraid that the people will again opt for a regime change without concern or a plan to correct the root causes of corruption in the country. He is afraid that people may not realize that it is not bringing Arroyo down that is difficult, it is establishing a new order that is the difficult task.

This is the predicament of Neri which I want people to realize especially to those who are asking Neri to tell the truth."

FORWARD THIS SO THE PUBLIC MAY KNOW.

Nausea

THIS is what I felt like after listening to Jun Lozada, the latest witness in ZTE-NBN Broadband scandal. His statements during a press conference at the La Salle Greenhills and at the subsequent hearing at the Senate showed just how far the illegitimate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo presidency will go just to protect its corrupt acts.

Smacking of Soprano-like Mafia tactics, Lozada was kidnapped, and only released after media became too nosey and noisy about his disappearance and Lozada signed, albeit forcibly, papers saying that he requested for security and protection from the PNP.

I don't know how the presidentita, FG Mike "Baboy" Arroyo and their minions - Environment Secretary Lito Atienza (fallen leader of a fake Liberal Party faction), PNP director-general Avelino Razon, and DILG Secretary and special ops expert Ronnie Puno can stand themselves lying with straight faces about the stunt they pulled. Do they actually think the public believes them?

How can these people especially retired Comelec (more like Kumolek) chairman Ben Abalos sleep soundly at night, knowing that we all know how crass and dishonest he is? He will supposedly file a libel case against Lozada. For what? For having the guts to tell the truth?

The man obviously could no longer live with himself, knowing what he knew about this nefarious deal with the Chinese. And no matter how the presidentita tries to steer clear away from this mess, ordering the DOJ to investigate the case, the grubby hands of her minions has stained her indelibly. (Take note, DOJ's Gonzales actually wants to investigate Lozada the whistleblower, instead of those who have been accused of enriching themselves in this caper. Magkano ba'ng sa'yo Sec?)

I empathize with Mr. Lozada. He is obviously someone with no political affiliations. He's just an ordinary man with a telecommunications and engineering background, whose expertise had been tapped by the government for what it felt was a vital broadband project. He has nothing to gain in coming out in the open with what he knows, and yet a lot to lose. I felt the pressure he was under and my tears welled up as well as he sobbed in frustration and fright at what he had done. He put his life in danger, also that of his family, just because di na nya masikmura ang pangungurakot ng mga tiga gobyerno. (I remember a foreign investor telling me once that under the Marcos regime, only he took 20 percent of any project as kickback. Today, under the GMA administration, kickbacks are par for the course from the lowliest civil servant until Malacañang, with bribes as much as 50 percent of the cost of the project. The punchline of course is, you can't even be sure that the project will actually be implemented. That's how garapal this government is! Yikes, there it goes, the bile up my esophagus...gotta barf folks!)

What's even more troubling about Lozada's revelations is that he confirmed that we are virtually living in a police state where Big Brother can just home in your conversation or intercept your cellphone text messages without you or possibly your telecom provider even knowing it. It's scary to live this way...you will always have to be careful about what you say or text, constantly look over your back even if you have done nothing wrong, because anything you say or do might be misconstrued by the powers that be and you will be picked up, kidnapped, possibly even tortured and killed. GMA's motto after all is, "If you're not with us, you're against us." Tony Soprano is that you?

As for you runny Romy Neri, how dare you even try to stop your friend from coming out with the truth. Bakit, tinanggap mo na ba ang P200M bribe ni Abalos? Why are you now sucking up to your presidentita? Hino-hostage din ba nya ang boypren mo? Nakakahiya at nakakasuka ka talaga!

No matter how Malacañang tries to play this, the public knows the presidentita and her ilk are the bad guys, the liars, the cheats, the corrupt, while Lozada and Joey de Venecia are the ones telling the truth. We are not fools.

It's about time we fight back and kick the shits out of these people in Malacañang.

The intelligence aspects of the ZTE broadband deal

Not intelligent though to realize her foundation isn't pantay. Calling Joan Zapanta! Pls. get the Presidentita a new makeup artist.

(IN an email, net activist Gerry Kaimo asks pointed questions about the intelligence aspects of the ZTE broadband deal. While I doubt that the Chinese government is interested in us at all considering the bumbling stupidity of our government leaders and amateurish techniques of corruption in this country they surely will not learn be able to learn from, his musings are nonetheless valid.)

Gerry writes:

Can we get someone to explain to the forum the intelligence aspect of the deal? China can and will tap all those lines and it's like a spy's dream of Christmas come early. If they install it, they will obviously arrange it so that firewalls will have enough "holes" in them to manage to tap into the entire system. So instead of sending a slew of spies, they just have to switch on their PHILIPPINE CONNECTION Computer and have a couple of hundred geeks monitoring the Philippines. I can't get over how with all the military people in GMA's junta, so blinded are they by other aspects of this deal that basic rules of intelligence gathering are about to be initiated by China and used for whatever devious plans they have. Military intelligence, economic information, data from one barangay to another all the way to DILG (Department of Interior and Local Governments) to Malacañang will fall into China's hands. Considering their Big Picture plans on Asia, it still hasn't dawned on them [GMA and company] that no other country in ASEAN has gotten into a deal with China, be it ZTE or whatever other lead-based company is involved. It just doesn't make sense."


Yes folks, Gerry is an Atenean. Thankfully, he's one of the good guys...unlike you-know-who's husband.

Wassup por yu?

Something Like Life
Oct. 12, 2007

I’VE been sick again and, after finally consulting a doctor on Sunday, I was basically told to shut up for 24 hours to rest my inflamed throat, which I probably got from cheering excessively during the La Salle-Ateneo game two Sundays before, then downing half a bag of microwave popcorn that night. (During the championship game against UE, all I could do was clap my hands silly. But yay, Green Archers! Animo La Salle!)

So I was pretty much sidelined in the last two weeks, unable to meet my deadlines because I was also feeling fluish. I was downing all sorts of drugs and incessantly gargling with Bactidol to help ease my discomfort. Because my greatest fear in my life is to die from sheer hunger, I still ate meat and all sorts of yummy chewy treats, which my doc eventually told me were no-no’s. (“Soft foods only!”) Great. That meant lots of lugaw and chicken noodle soup with crackers, but I was too afraid to follow the doc to the letter, lest I become runny like Romy Neri. Ick.

So during the past weeks I was away from the real world, I was occupied with the cyber/video world. I watched the first episode of Private Practice (the “bleah!” Grey’s Anatomy spinoff), the first episodes of the new seasons of Grey’s and Ugly Betty, and now I’m deep into the sex, blood and gore of Rome, the first season. Needless to say, I got involved in the online debate regarding the real or imagined slurs against Philippine medical schools and former President Cory Aquino.

Frankly, I don’t watch Desperate Housewives. I find it a ditzy, boring and brainless show. I watched it only for two seasons, because of James Denton, the actor who plays the sexy hotbod hunk of a plumber who falls for the ridiculous Susan Meyer, played by has-been actress Teri Hatcher. (I hear that Denton’s character is now in a coma and is under the covers most of the time, so why anyone still bothers to watch this show mystifies me.) Out of curiosity, I downloaded that premiere episode of Housewives which contained the allegedly inflammatory remark against local medical schools. Truth to tell, I didn’t find it that offensive.

It’s only a TV show after all, and it was a joke. Susan Meyer is supposed to be an idiot who probably wouldn't even know how to find the Philippines on a map even if it was as large as North America. Besides, I can tell the difference between reality and fantasy because I’m well-educated and because of my own experience with Filipino doctors and nurses. All races and nationalities are always stereotyped or insulted on TV...the arrogant waspish American, the poor hip-hopping Black Americans, the noisy cliquish Chinese, the British and their bad teeth, the Vietnamese and their extended families, the Italians and their mob connections, etc. But these nationalities don’t gnash their teeth or pull their hair over these supposed insults because they know, in TV land, everyone is fair game.

Even our own local TV shows are riddled with all sorts of regional insults — the Visayans who always confuse their “e’s” with “i’s”, the Capampangans who reverse their “f’s” and “p’s”, the kuripot Ilocanos and the angry Batangueños with their balisong, among others. Where are all the online petitions against these TV stereotypes?

Now, if you read the comments left by our kababayan on YouTube and on the Desperate Housewives web site, it showed how some of them are even more racist than the clueless writers of the show. Invectives and slurs were all over the place, not the least of them the anti-American everything! I cannot help but feel ashamed there are Pinoys like that.

The management of ABC has already said sorry along with the promise to delete the offending scene from their reruns, international editions and DVD version. Malacañang has already accepted the apology. Still, some of our kababayan continue to scream for blood! Instead of being gracious enough to accept the apology, we continue to curse Americans, the writers, Teri Hatcher, ABC. There was this old lady who was even crying hysterically about how uneducated Americans are compared with Filipinos during an LA Fil-Am TV show’s phone-in portion. It was so sickeningly OA! If you think so lowly of Americans, why the hell are you killing yourselves trying to get a US visa or even buying their products?

(It's a fake news show, people! Notice the Comedy Central logo at the bottom right corner of your TV screen? Sos.)

Riding on the Housewives controversy, some people also tried to pick on a month-old episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, who is my husband by the way, so lay off! If the aggrieved – led by Sen. Noynoy Aquino, who seems so desperate to have his 15 seconds of TV airtime that he has to use his poor mother to generate news – actually watch The Daily Show, they would know it is a political satire. The piece by Samantha Bee in a Sex and the City format on whether Americans are ready for a woman president was actually poking fun at Americans themselves. Here are these countries — the UK, Israel, the Philippines — which are many light-years ahead of the US in having elected their own female heads of state. It played to female stereotypes—idiots, tramps and sluts — and because most intelligent people know that in real life Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher and Cory Aquino are not, they get the joke. Sadly, the rest don’t. Hello? Have you eaten your galunggong today? If you didn’t get that one either, here’s a gun and go shoot yourselves.

C’mon, do you ever hear the White House complaining every time David Letterman puts out his piece, “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches,” which basically portrays President Bush as a bumbling idiot? In the first season of Ugly Betty, Mark, the gay assistant of Wilhelmina, persuades Betty to be his fake girlfriend. In trying to memorize facts about each other, he asks the eternally unfashionable Mexican Betty, “You’re from the Philippines, right?” Naku, how dare these Americans mistake us for Mexicans! Or what about Will & Grace? Karen to her maid Rosario: “If it weren’t for me, you’d be flying back to Cucaracha on Air Guacamole with live chickens running up and down the aisles!” Any diplomatic protests from El Salvador or Mexico? As Fil-Am comedian Rex Navarette jokes, “Wassup por you?”

What does this say of us and our relationships to other cultures?

We often ridicule others and make stupid jokes just about every political issue (“AB-ZTE-FG!”), but we cannot take a joke about ourselves. We can dish it out, but we aren’t so accepting when we’re on the receiving end. We are pikon, because I’d hate to think that we are bobo instead and just don’t get the joke.

We have such fragile egos that if anyone makes fun of us, we automatically lash out. It’s as if we love reveling in acting api-apihan to foreigners, so we strike at them by pushing online petitions, rallying, sending diplomatic protests, and demanding for the moon and stars to assuage our hurt amor propio, instead of proving them wrong by being on our best behavior. Was this attitude formed because we were colonized by foreigners, so we have some sort of superiority complex that masks our actual feelings of inferiority toward other cultures? Other nationalities, especially Americans, know Filipino doctors and nurses are among the best health-care professionals in the world, never mind that Liz Taylor has banned the latter around her hospital room. (Anyone picketing her by the way?) So how can 10 seconds in a 45-minute episode of an idiotic TV show change that opinion and fact?

Sadly, I can only blame Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano for these unfunny events. If he had only continued the ZTE broadband hearings, we would be happily texting more ridiculous jokes or poking fun at Ateneans, Ben Abalos’s Viagra prescription, JDV3’s high forehead, Romy Neri’s intentional flu, Mike Arroyo’s dirty finger, and Presidentita’s Victoria Court ad (“shhh”). Get it?

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. Main photo from BusinessMirror.)

Paging Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (aka ang mamang walang baba)

HEY Sen. Alan Peter! Will you please get off your ass and continue the hearings on the ZTE broadband deal? Like real soon? People around these parts are already obsessing over American TV shows and protesting left and right to real or imagined slurs on Filipinos and an ex-President who did nothing to improve the system of landholdings in the country because her family owns a huge hacienda in Tarlac!

Give these bored people something to occupy themselves with for heaven's sake! They need a new drama anthology to watch on TV. Or baka naman it's true that some high-powered businessman kitchy-kooing with the Malacañang residents are leaning on you to deliberately slow down on the hearings? I'd hate for Sen. Jamby Madrigal (aka ang babaing laging nakatungo) to be right about you.

Speaking of kitchy-kooing businessmen...the usual reticent ICTSI chairman and president Enrique K. Razon issued a press statement last week saying he has no time to engage in local politicking and kibitzing. His name was dragged into the ZTE broadband controversy by the runny Romy Neri, former Director-General of the once respected National Economic and Development Authority, who had accused Razon of berating him at a party over the raging ports liberalization issue.

Said Razon: "In a year, I spend almost 200 days out of the country. How could I possibly find time to participate in these political issues? We operate in 10 countries aside from the Philippines so how can my being involved in politics help me in these 10 countries? It just doesn't make sense," he said."

Umm, sige na nga.

BFF? Presidentita GMA at the ICTSI port in Shandong, China, with Enrique K. Razon to her left. (ICTSI photo release)

(Disclosure: In a previous frenetic life, this blogger was business editor of Manila Standard - now Manila Standard Today – which is owned by Enrique K. Razon. Seriously, okay naman sya. I just don't like some of his pushy annoying arrogant friends. They know who they are.)

***

GAME OVER! DLSU Green Archers will beat UE Red Warriors today! Promise!

Arroyo decides 'not to continue' with ZTE deal — Bunye

From the Inquirer, Oct. 2, 2007

SHANGHAI (VIA PLDT)—(UPDATE 2)President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has decided "not to continue" with the controversial $329-million contract for the National Broadband Network (NBN) project.

At a closed-door bilateral meeting, Arroyo took it upon herself to “explain” her decision to Chinese President Hu Jintao, her spokesman said.

“At this point, the President explained ‘the difficult decision’ not to continue with the NBN contract,” said Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, recalling Arroyo’s words during the 50-minute meeting with the Chinese leader.

IT'S like we're all still waiting for the punchline..."not to continue"...for now?/just yet?/in the meantime? you fill in the blanks. Take note, the quote "not to continue" did not actually come from the Presidentita but from Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye. The verbatim quote from the terrifying little one was only the phrase "the difficult decision," in her talk with President Hu of China.

Bunye, a former journalist (which should make him an excellent communicator), was even too afraid to speculate what "not to continue" meant, lest he misconstrues his Presidentita's real intentions. How can the Presidentita quell the political noise she keeps complaining about when she can't even be clear about her policies? Aba, does she need a dictionary or thesaurus to make a serious and important announcement on an issue that is tearing her administration apart? All she has to say is "CANCEL" right? That is, if that's what she meant exactly.

But you and I know that's not what she really wants to happen, di ba? After all, the bribes have all been paid and probably spent (or deposited in Switzerland), so she is just leaving herself some legroom to squeeze in the controversial China deal at the last moment, just when everyone least expects it, when no one is looking. I wouldn't put it past her.

****

BUTI nalang me good news. Our own Superstar Nora Aunor is free! Yehey! After doing a Lindsay, her lawyers said Ate Guy no longer has a criminal record. Another little one...but super talented. "My brother is not a piiiiiiiiiiiig!" (Bow!)

Read on at Ate Guy forevah!

Haba ng hair ng lolah ko! Ate Guy leaves the LA court with her lawyer Sherwin Edelberg and aunt Belen Villamayor. (Photo from the Inquirer)

Quote of the year

Senior Comelec officials told Newsbreak that Abalos’s resignation was long overdue. “We’ve been waiting (for his resignation) for the longest time. The Comelec suffered in credibility because of him,” said one poll official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of antagonizing Abalos. “He is leaving no legacy. Instead, he took everything away: integrity, honesty, transparency, good governance,” said another.

Read on at Newsbreak

Araaaay...ang sakit mo naman magsalita, kapatid!

I think the Presidentita should take this opportunity to regain her lost credibility and for once appoint someone honest and respectable to head the Commission on Elections. Anyway, she can no longer run for President so she doesn't need anyone to fix the votes in her favor. Ay, but then she has that loser son pala, who couldn't make it in showbiz so now he's into politics also. Oh well...

Why Neri wouldn't talk

GOTCHA
I understand why Neri couldn’t talk

By JARIUS BONDOC

The Philippine Star, 10/01/07

I called Romy Neri right after testifying Sept. 18 in that first Senate hearing on the ZTE scam. It was our tenth talk about the issue since Apr. 20, when The STAR ran my first of a series of articles. I pried why he didn’t show up, if he was under any threat of harm, and when he’ll reveal all he knows. From his replies it was clear he was charily weighing the consequences. There’s a time and place for everything, he mused, then asked if what he has narrated to me thus far would "incite another EDSA." I said I didn’t know, but that I do wish the Senate inquiry would spark a wave of reforms, starting with clean elections. He shared the dream, but doubted if it would come true soon. Our talk eventually led to sacrificing for the sake of the nation. He said Joey de Venecia was brave to implicate big names, adding that if push comes to shove the young whistleblower fortunately has a rich dad to fall back on. "I’m not affluent," Romy stated the obvious. Neither am I, I reminded him. Whereupon, he shot back: "Oh, but you’re a journalist, you’re supposed to be dedicated to the truth."

Yes, in this calling our first instinct is to truth and justice, at all costs. So with Romy’s words in mind I must disclose what he has told me. I know I might get him and myself into deep trouble with powerful persons. But that is journalism. Too, in my hierarchy of values, God is first, country next, family and friends third, and myself bottom. Patriotic duty calls.

Romy bared many frightening things when he called me morning of Apr. 20. I had written that the government was rushing to award the ZTE contract the next day in Boao, China, and that the NEDA, which he headed then, had approved the overpriced telecoms supply in a huff. Before I could ask anything, Romy blurted three items in succession: "This deal was the handiwork of Ricky Razon and Comelec chief Benjamin Abalos ... I warned President Arroyo about this, and also told Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. ... Abalos tried to bribe me P200 million."

Read on at Gotcha

Abalos resigns!

WINNER!

Finally this kapalmuks is letting go of what should have been an honorable and respectable position as chairman of the Commission on Elections. Remember when everything was clean and orderly under Christian Monsod? We should get him back to head Comelec.

But of course, Abalos doesn't lose anything by resigning considering the millions of dollars in lagay he was supposed to have received from ZTE China to shepherd the National Broadband Network into place. He is pretty much taken cared of for the rest of his life.

For sure Malacañang had a hand in Abalos' resignation. The Presidentita knows fully well if the House impeachment motion is carried out and hearings are held, Abalos may be forced to tell the truth about what he did for her in the last presidential elections. Afraid! Kaya, bye-bye nalang ke Abalos anyway kumita na sila. Not unless they're asked to return the moolah!

Click Abalos nalaos for PDI's take on the Comelec chair's resignation.

Bakit ganito kapatid?

THERE'S this really fascinating story in GMANews.TV about how former NEDA Director-General Romy Neri is supposedly sore at the media for trying to drive a wedge between him and his Presidentita. He supposedly lamented about this situation to Secretary Cerge Remonde, director-general of the Presidential Management Staff.

The story is so hilarious because it is so elaborately-constructed, with matching bakla dialogue ("Bakit ganito kapatid?" was how Remonde says Neri put it), and with angst dripping all over the place. It is so utterly unbelievable considering that Neri isn't really close to anyone in the Cabinet to confide his feelings to...well, except maybe for Finance chief Gary Teves, who became an unwitting accomplice in the Abalos-ZTE bribery fiasco.

And even if the conversation did take place, Bakit ganito kapatid? because kapatid you were stupid not to have told the truth! That's why. Gads since when did the PMS chief become an administration mouthpiece? Di ba tiga-ayos lang 'yan ng papeles ni Presidentita sus?

The lengths to which this administration goes to just to spin this scandal in their favor continues to amaze me. It is almost terrifying to have these many amateurs working on the Presidentita's team, you constantly wonder about the future of this country. It's so nakakatawa na nakakainis!.

Teves admits Neri told him about Abalos' bribe offer

MANILA, Philippines -- Romulo Neri informed not only President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but also Finance Secretary Margarito Teves about Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr.'s purported offer of P200 million.

Teves himself disclosed this to reporters in New York, saying that Neri, then the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, had told him about Abalos' alleged bribe attempt to push the approval of the National Broadband Network project in favor of China's ZTE Corp.

But at that time, "I did not put too much attachment to it," Teves said on Thursday. The finance secretary is part of the entourage of Ms Arroyo, who is in New York with other heads of state to attend the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly. (Read the rest at Inquirer.)

HAVE we Filipinos lost our sense of moral outrage over corruption in government? Apparently so, as even someone as respectable and honorable as Finance Secretary Gary Teves, apparently didn't even flinch when told of Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos bribe attempt on former NEDA Director-General Romy Neri!

Why did Teves think Neri was telling him this for? Btw, FYI lang? Obviously, Neri turned to him for guidance being a decent man of his stature. Neri's conscience was bothering him and he wanted to tell someone so he would know what to do about it. But how did Teves behave? Wala lang.

It irritates me to no end that even people whom I thought were decent have a cavalier attitude over stomach-turning incidents as this. If you don't say anything about it or put a stop to it, then you are guilty by complicity. Such a shame Gary Teves. I believed in you.

Romy Neri the wimp

(Romy Neri with his Presidentita...BFF! Photo from The Philippine Star)

ATENEo/UP technocrat Romulo "Romy" Neri will go down in Philippine history as the man who could have, but didn't. He could have stopped all this moro-moro, put an end to the shenanigans in this corrupt government of his Presidentita GMA, could have saved taxpayers a lot of money by ending the Senate hearings, etc., but alas, didn't.

He shirked away from his patriotic duty and lost his balls possibly while he had the runs last week. Oh sorry, did someone say his balls are well taken cared of? Oh excuse me...that's probably why he wouldn't talk...the Presidentita knows all about it.

Well, as I said earlier, Romy Neri should never have been given the post of NEDA director-general in the first place. He has no backbone to speak of unlike his predecessors Winnie Monsod, Ciel Habito, and Dante Canlas. Those guys were honest to the core (okay forget about Habito and the voice of God stint) and would not be swayed by any of Malacañang's exertions. They never lied about the true state of the economy, unlike this guy Neri who has led all the government agencies in charge of economic policy and statistics to massage the country's growth figures. We journalists have a term for a similar kind of reporting...SS (go ask your media friends what it means). With Neri's personal background, we're not at all surprised. (Gads, wasn't it super annoying how he kept on turning to his alalays for each and every question asked of him? Ano ba?! How the hell did you become a Cabinet Secretary?!)

Okay give the guy a medal anyway for confirming that Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos did offer him a bribe of P200 (pesos? thousand? million? billion? pesos or dollars?). But by claiming executive privilege on the other parts of the conversation he had with his Presidentita after he made sumbong about Abalos' bribe try, he was merely protecting her dastardly deeds (how could she not know what was going on with a big effing deal costing $340 million?).

By running away from the truth, Neri has singlehandedly destroyed the credibility of NEDA, a government agency tasked to assess all major government projects and monitor the implementation and use of overseas development assistance. He even allowed his Presidentita to take over its oversight functions. (A text message from a former DG: "Deliberate 'yan: Destroy NEDA's oversight function so the plunder agenda would meet no resistance.") I can imagine the frustration of all the hardworking good people over there.

Unlike Joey de Venecia who stood up to his father with the immortal words, "Pop, do you really want me to stand aside while the Filipino people are robbed of $200 million?” (as quoted by Boo Chanco), Neri stood by his Presidentita and allowed her and her minions to get away with murder. Maybe Neri just stayed too long at the Congressional Planning Budget Office, he probably got infected by the slimy ways of the congressmen. May you be cursed with the runs for the rest of your life, you wimp!

Meanwhile, it really frustrates me to listen to our supposedly esteemed senators rant about the proposed National Broadband Network and the ZTE deal when they can't even tell the difference between broadband, bandwith, IP, Voip! Pwede ba, mag-research naman kayo before attending the hearings? Can't you just google the goddamned terms? Or better yet, consult real IT experts. How dare you people go to your hearings unprepared against someone like DOTC Asec. Lorenzo Formoso. Grabeh, you guys sound like idiots! Grrr! (A basta, idol ko si Kap! K.)

And this is why La Salle will win the game today versus Ateneo. Animo La Salle! (pwede ba pagbigyan nyo na ko, blog ko 'to noh?)

Will he or won't he?

THE guessing game around town these days seems to be whether or not former NEDA director-general Romy Neri will be appearing at the Senate hearing tomorrow. We understand the intense pressure that Sec. Neri must be under, thus, his no-show twice. His first reason was that he needed to get permission from his presidentita GMA. The next was that he was suffering from intentional, este, intestinal flu.

Then yesterday there was this whole drama of whether or not he would be joining his presidentita on her trip to the U.S. What is the presidentita afraid of pa ba...e bukong-buko na sya at ang kanyang mga tuta sa ginawa nila sa NBN-ZTE deal? Ang dudupang nyo kasi e!

Well the resolution of this issue rests squarely on the shoulders of Romy Neri. He has already given our colleague Jarius Bondoc a lot of background on the deal, it's time for the good Secretary to come right out in the open and just tell the Senate what he knows. By keeping quiet, he is the one fanning the flames of the controversy.

Btw, those who want to turn the 'AB-ZTE-FG' video clip below into an MP3 ringtone for your cellphone can just click on this online converter. Fun!