From someone who's not a Cory fan

Let me confess right now that I was not a fan of Tita Cory. I didn’t even join the People Power Revolution in 1986, out of respect to my father who was in government then. (I did sneak out the next day to Malacañang after the Marcoses had abandoned it.) Previous to that, I didn’t vote in the snap elections that had thrust whom everyone dubbed as “just a plain housewife” into the political limelight. (Click Something Like Life for the rest.)

Fertilizer scam all over again? (Part 1)

ILOILO CITY—Aura Drew Escanlar was all set to take the nursing board examinations in December 2004 when she decided instead to put up a piggery.

What changed her mind was an offer from the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor). Called “the poor man’s financing institution,” the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) credit-guarantee arm was giving out loans in the form of piglets and feeds, with a buyback scheme that assured borrowers some income.

Escanlar used her parents’ savings to build pigpens and buy piglets, and signed up for the Quedancor Swine Program (QSP). Less than a year later, Escanlar lost almost everything. The income from the buyback scheme was always delayed, and the feeds came late or were not delivered at all. After 50 of her piglets died, Escanlar stormed the Quedancor regional office here. “You have turned my farm into a graveyard,” she told Quedancor employees. (Read all about it in BusinessMirror.)

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CORRUPTION, scams, scandals...this is will be the enduring legacy of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration. Salamat presidentita.