I know that Noynoy Aquino won't say anything new in his unprecedented televised speech - as the story goes, his team begged the television networks to interrupt the primetime soaps so he can discuss "current issues" with the nation - last night. That said, I wanted to listen to him again. I wanted to see if I could stop myself from writing something angry.
As it turns out, I could, but only because I did not get to hear him speak. At a quarter to eight last night, I was at Fully Booked, doing some Christmas shopping, and secretly, (although not anymore as of this morning,) buying a Sophie Kinsella book for Rainy. I only read up on the speech when I got home at around ten, and even then I did not feel compelled to react, partly because I was tired and wanted to sleep, but mostly because, really, what there is left to write?
But the main sound bite - that one line he said that the press pounced on - stuck with me. Noynoy, as I guessed, talked (again) about the issues surrounding pork barrel, whatever it really is nowadays. You know, that the DAP is legal, that it helped the economy, that the real issue is whether the money was stolen, that the money wasn't stolen in this case, you know, the usual. But then there's that main sound bite.
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10/31/2013
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10/29/2013
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To be honest, I actually forgot I needed to do my Christmas shopping until I saw someone - I'm not sure, but I think it's Chiqui - tweet about it.
There's less than two months before that time of gift-giving again, and yes, I have yet to buy gifts. Granted, I have yet to have enough money to buy gifts. Granted, I do have a credit card, but - and this depends on who you're talking to - I'm either frugal or scrimpy, and I don't like using my credit card for the sake of using it. (Also, you will have to pay with actual money anyway, and if you don't have it, well, it's going to be a pain in the ass.)
And I'm giving more gifts this year. Four for the family, two for the extended family, two godkids, a bunch of colleagues, and Rainy, of course. This is going to be hard.
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There's less than two months before that time of gift-giving again, and yes, I have yet to buy gifts. Granted, I have yet to have enough money to buy gifts. Granted, I do have a credit card, but - and this depends on who you're talking to - I'm either frugal or scrimpy, and I don't like using my credit card for the sake of using it. (Also, you will have to pay with actual money anyway, and if you don't have it, well, it's going to be a pain in the ass.)
And I'm giving more gifts this year. Four for the family, two for the extended family, two godkids, a bunch of colleagues, and Rainy, of course. This is going to be hard.
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10/27/2013
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Did that title work? Do I have your attention now? Great.
Now, I have to admit. I lied. I don't have a problem with gay people. I don't really care if you are or not. I remember knowing this guy from school, and everybody was telling me, "you know, I think he's gay," and I'm all, "and so?"
Granted, I didn't believe them. I didn't believe them when they said that. I never saw the difference. I just thought he knows a lot of things, that's all. We, for one, had a discussion about why two people can never be in a swing set and both swing forward, why one person always has to swing backward while the other swings forward.
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Now, I have to admit. I lied. I don't have a problem with gay people. I don't really care if you are or not. I remember knowing this guy from school, and everybody was telling me, "you know, I think he's gay," and I'm all, "and so?"
Granted, I didn't believe them. I didn't believe them when they said that. I never saw the difference. I just thought he knows a lot of things, that's all. We, for one, had a discussion about why two people can never be in a swing set and both swing forward, why one person always has to swing backward while the other swings forward.
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10/23/2013
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Noynoy Aquino attended an industry event last Monday, an event that I almost went to.
We didn't send anyone, though, because it came in short notice - the organizers waited two months for the president to confirm his attendance - and, considering where the event was held, the prices were high. Also, the big boss was around.
If I went though, I swear it would've made a good blog entry. For all the vitriol that seems to come out of this blog whenever the topic is the president, I was kinda looking forward to being in the same room as him. How would I react? What side comments would I make to my colleagues? Would I clap? What if I find myself a meter away from him? Would I ask him one question? Will I be able to spin his possible answer into another 2,000-word blog entry explaining why he's wrong?
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We didn't send anyone, though, because it came in short notice - the organizers waited two months for the president to confirm his attendance - and, considering where the event was held, the prices were high. Also, the big boss was around.
If I went though, I swear it would've made a good blog entry. For all the vitriol that seems to come out of this blog whenever the topic is the president, I was kinda looking forward to being in the same room as him. How would I react? What side comments would I make to my colleagues? Would I clap? What if I find myself a meter away from him? Would I ask him one question? Will I be able to spin his possible answer into another 2,000-word blog entry explaining why he's wrong?
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10/16/2013
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I type this feeling a little uneasy, as you would expect after yesterday's events.
I work in the nineteenth floor of a 27-storey building in Ortigas. It's newly built - it just went up two years ago - but considering that there's a major fault line just ten minutes away, I can't help but be scared anyway.
So, yes, after seeing the effects of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Central Visayas yesterday morning - of historic churches going down in Bohol, of familiar structures sustaining damage in Cebu, and most notably for me, of two people sandwiched between the pavement and a collapsed wall in the public market in the town of Talisay - you can't help but imagine what would happen if the fault lines running right in the middle of the Philippines' most important city finally snaps.
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I work in the nineteenth floor of a 27-storey building in Ortigas. It's newly built - it just went up two years ago - but considering that there's a major fault line just ten minutes away, I can't help but be scared anyway.
So, yes, after seeing the effects of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Central Visayas yesterday morning - of historic churches going down in Bohol, of familiar structures sustaining damage in Cebu, and most notably for me, of two people sandwiched between the pavement and a collapsed wall in the public market in the town of Talisay - you can't help but imagine what would happen if the fault lines running right in the middle of the Philippines' most important city finally snaps.
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10/12/2013
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Thirty-three past three. I know what I said in the last blog entry, but I just had to watch this game. La Salle! UST! The latter not winning! Wishful thinking. But yeah, I just had to watch this game. Obviously, from home. Now, this is ABS-CBN, so can the courtside reporters please stop speaking in slang-ified English?
Thirty-five past three. I only know half of our players. I have no idea of how they play. And is it in the crowd's interest to introduce the Tengs last in both teams? Will one of them die after tonight?
8:30 in the first quarter. They're all just answering each other with shots. One team will run out of steam at the end of the quarter. (Sorry. Do not trust me with analyses.)
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Thirty-five past three. I only know half of our players. I have no idea of how they play. And is it in the crowd's interest to introduce the Tengs last in both teams? Will one of them die after tonight?
8:30 in the first quarter. They're all just answering each other with shots. One team will run out of steam at the end of the quarter. (Sorry. Do not trust me with analyses.)
Read more »
10/09/2013
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"I think some people working at DLSU would feel the same way I feel right now," Carmel's post on Facebook said. "I am beginning to feel [and] think [that] many people just know me, or become my friends, during UAAP season, when there's a must-watch game."
It's an unofficial Lasallian rite of passage: you can't be one if you haven't seen the Green Archers, in this case the basketball players, play live. In that case, then I am not truly a Lasallian. I have never seen the Green Archers live.
Well, actually, I have never seen any UAAP game live. It's not that nobody invited me - sure, watching the games at the (then Smart-less) Araneta Coliseum is really a barkada affair, and watching alone is really sad - but really, I just never felt like it. It's partly because I live far away, but mostly because I just never felt like it.
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It's an unofficial Lasallian rite of passage: you can't be one if you haven't seen the Green Archers, in this case the basketball players, play live. In that case, then I am not truly a Lasallian. I have never seen the Green Archers live.
Well, actually, I have never seen any UAAP game live. It's not that nobody invited me - sure, watching the games at the (then Smart-less) Araneta Coliseum is really a barkada affair, and watching alone is really sad - but really, I just never felt like it. It's partly because I live far away, but mostly because I just never felt like it.
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10/08/2013
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"Their style is DOM. They deny, they obscure, they misdirect. That's what they do. They distract from the issue, so they are DOM."
-- Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, addressing those who question the legality of the Disbursement Acceleration Program
"When he was at the Senate, there was the fertilizer fund scam, the NBN-ZTE, many other corruption cases were tackled by the Senate Blue Ribbon but he was quiet. Where was his, 'Kung bad ka, lagot ka?'"
-- Edwin Lacierda, questioning the motives of former senator Joker Arroyo in questioning the DAP
"Ang dapat pagtuunan ng pansin ni Robin Padilla - and with all due respect to Robin Padilla - is, like what we’ve been saying, bilang isang mamamayan, ang tanungin natin sa bawat mambabatas, sa bawat government official: paano niyo ginamit ang kaban ng bayan? Ikaw ba ay nagnakaw?"
-- Edwin Lacierda, addressing Robin Padilla's calls for Senator Franklin Drilon to step down for his involvement in the DAP
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-- Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, addressing those who question the legality of the Disbursement Acceleration Program
"When he was at the Senate, there was the fertilizer fund scam, the NBN-ZTE, many other corruption cases were tackled by the Senate Blue Ribbon but he was quiet. Where was his, 'Kung bad ka, lagot ka?'"
-- Edwin Lacierda, questioning the motives of former senator Joker Arroyo in questioning the DAP
"Ang dapat pagtuunan ng pansin ni Robin Padilla - and with all due respect to Robin Padilla - is, like what we’ve been saying, bilang isang mamamayan, ang tanungin natin sa bawat mambabatas, sa bawat government official: paano niyo ginamit ang kaban ng bayan? Ikaw ba ay nagnakaw?"
-- Edwin Lacierda, addressing Robin Padilla's calls for Senator Franklin Drilon to step down for his involvement in the DAP
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10/07/2013
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"I have an American accent," Jeany said.
"Of course," I answered. "You're American."
It's been a while since we talked - take note, not chatted, but talked. We sort of agreed to talk on FaceTime. That hasn't happened in a while because we live twelve time zones apart, even if her sleeping patterns are technically out of whack -she's awake when I'm awake. Also, when she tries to actually call me, I'm at work doing something.
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"Of course," I answered. "You're American."
It's been a while since we talked - take note, not chatted, but talked. We sort of agreed to talk on FaceTime. That hasn't happened in a while because we live twelve time zones apart, even if her sleeping patterns are technically out of whack -she's awake when I'm awake. Also, when she tries to actually call me, I'm at work doing something.
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10/02/2013
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The first I heard of plans to file an impeachment complaint against Noynoy Aquino was, well, from Noynoy Aquino himself, as he spoke to reporters earlier this morning. "Isulong nila kung sa palagay nila ay nasa tama sila," he said, when asked about his hand in the possibly anomalous Disbursement Acceleration Program.
Minutes later, he, alongside agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala, budget secretary Butch Abad and several others, were slapped with charges of plunder and graft. The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, burned by how farmers like them were used in the P10 billion pork barrel scam, thought the president, above all, should be held accountable for the actions of his cabinet. "Since there was no reprobation or disapproval coming from President Aquino regarding their actions, it can be easily inferred that the president acquiesced to such acts," the complaint said.
The plan, I assume, is for the Ombudsman, as a supposedly independent body, to begin an investigation on the president. The end game, perhaps, is an impeachment trial.
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Minutes later, he, alongside agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala, budget secretary Butch Abad and several others, were slapped with charges of plunder and graft. The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, burned by how farmers like them were used in the P10 billion pork barrel scam, thought the president, above all, should be held accountable for the actions of his cabinet. "Since there was no reprobation or disapproval coming from President Aquino regarding their actions, it can be easily inferred that the president acquiesced to such acts," the complaint said.
The plan, I assume, is for the Ombudsman, as a supposedly independent body, to begin an investigation on the president. The end game, perhaps, is an impeachment trial.
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10/01/2013
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Say what you want about Jinggoy Estrada, about how he's a thief dragging everybody else down or something, but you have to give him credit for starting the conversation on yet another facet of pork barrel: the Disbursement Acceleration Program, or DAP.
The way he's framed it in his speech on the Senate floor last week, it was a mechanism that allowed Malacañang to bribe legislators to support the impeachment of former Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona. At least P50 million in additional funds were given to senators who found Corona guilty, he claims.
Of course, this assertion has been shaky right after the speech. Estrada said that the DAP isn't a bribe, but rather, an incentive to senators who voted yes, a fact you can ascertain to be true by the timetable of the funds' release, which is half a year after the impeachment trial. But then again, the distribution is inconsistent: Pia Cayetano, who voted guilty, said she didn't receive any of the DAP. On the other hand, two of the three senators who did not find Corona guilty - Bongbong Marcos and Joker Arroyo - both received funds through DAP. Finally, if it was indeed a bribe, the amounts distributed were inconsistent between senators: Frank Drilon admitted that he received P100 million from the DAP at the end of 2011, while Chiz Escudero received P99 million from the DAP at the end of 2011.
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The way he's framed it in his speech on the Senate floor last week, it was a mechanism that allowed Malacañang to bribe legislators to support the impeachment of former Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona. At least P50 million in additional funds were given to senators who found Corona guilty, he claims.
Of course, this assertion has been shaky right after the speech. Estrada said that the DAP isn't a bribe, but rather, an incentive to senators who voted yes, a fact you can ascertain to be true by the timetable of the funds' release, which is half a year after the impeachment trial. But then again, the distribution is inconsistent: Pia Cayetano, who voted guilty, said she didn't receive any of the DAP. On the other hand, two of the three senators who did not find Corona guilty - Bongbong Marcos and Joker Arroyo - both received funds through DAP. Finally, if it was indeed a bribe, the amounts distributed were inconsistent between senators: Frank Drilon admitted that he received P100 million from the DAP at the end of 2011, while Chiz Escudero received P99 million from the DAP at the end of 2011.
Read more »
Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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