Anyone who was hoping to hear Noynoy Aquino talk about the direction his administration would take in its last two years would be disappointed. Then again, that is to be expected: his State of the Nation Address in recent years were mostly about him beating the drum of his accomplishments, paired with a couple of blasts toward his critics, and a bunch of feel-good statements for his so-called bosses, and how they are the most important part of the Philippines' transformation from sick man to model.
Personally, I was disappointed to hear nothing about the revelations concerning misuse of the PDAF - more disappointed if you consider the fact that he didn't mention anything about it last year, either; his last SONA was around the time initial revelations of Janet Lim Napoles' scheme with legislators came out. I was also disappointed to hear nothing about the Freedom of Information Bill, which has been meandering in and out of the Batasan for years now - but, for a while there, momentum was picking up on the measure and it looked like a common-sense tool to ensure transparency and accountability would finally get a mention.
To his credit, though, he did address the Disbursement Acceleration Program, and in a much less combative mode than his primetime address a few weeks back: recognizing the Supreme Court's point that the scheme's spirit was legal but the methods weren't, he asked Congress to submit a P2.6 trillion supplemental budget for 2014. (Makes you wonder why they didn't do this in previous years.) He asked legislators to extend the government's land reform program and quickly pass the Bangsamoro basic law, and broadly outlined strategies to combat looming crises in water and power.
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7/28/2014
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7/23/2014
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The line at Mini Stop was long, partly because it was eight o'clock and people are grabbing stuff to munch while pretending to work, and partly because the cashier was taking a while to... taking a while to do something.
The guy in front of me suddenly turns in my direction. He looks uncomfortable. Pained, even. It's like he's trying to keep something in, but he couldn't - and yes, I know what that suggests.
"Nagbebenta ba sila ng yosi dito?" he asks me.
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The guy in front of me suddenly turns in my direction. He looks uncomfortable. Pained, even. It's like he's trying to keep something in, but he couldn't - and yes, I know what that suggests.
"Nagbebenta ba sila ng yosi dito?" he asks me.
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7/15/2014
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Well, consider me surprised.
I wrote yesterday's longer-than-expected essay to, more or less, refute Noynoy Aquino's defense of the Disbursement Acceleration Program before he could deliver it. Let's be honest - we all know what he'd say before he could say it. And, in that regard, he didn't let us down. He said the government would, understandably, file an appeal to the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision calling the DAP unconstitutional. He insisted the DAP is within the bounds of the constitution (and, for his purposes, the 1987 Administrative Code, which his mother, Cory Aquino, signed into law). He maintained that the DAP did not go to dirty projects, but was used to accelerate programs deemed necessary to sustain the country's growth. Above all, he reiterated that the DAP was done in good faith, and therefore cannot be scrutinized in the same way as the Priority Development Assistance Fund.
Of course he couldn't resist the opportunity to, again, paint himself as incorruptible, and his immediate predecessor as impossible. But of course he'd say that. He always has.
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I wrote yesterday's longer-than-expected essay to, more or less, refute Noynoy Aquino's defense of the Disbursement Acceleration Program before he could deliver it. Let's be honest - we all know what he'd say before he could say it. And, in that regard, he didn't let us down. He said the government would, understandably, file an appeal to the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision calling the DAP unconstitutional. He insisted the DAP is within the bounds of the constitution (and, for his purposes, the 1987 Administrative Code, which his mother, Cory Aquino, signed into law). He maintained that the DAP did not go to dirty projects, but was used to accelerate programs deemed necessary to sustain the country's growth. Above all, he reiterated that the DAP was done in good faith, and therefore cannot be scrutinized in the same way as the Priority Development Assistance Fund.
Of course he couldn't resist the opportunity to, again, paint himself as incorruptible, and his immediate predecessor as impossible. But of course he'd say that. He always has.
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7/14/2014
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At six o'clock tonight, Noynoy Aquino will take to the airwaves again, ostensibly to "discuss current issues". Of course, we all know he'll take to the airwaves to defend the Disbursement Acceleration Program, a government spending scheme where savings gathered by different agencies are gathered and reallocated, to jumpstart an economy that began flagging after a slowdown in public sector spending.
From the moment the now detained senator Jinggoy Estrada revealed the existence of the program, portraying it as an "incentive" given to senators who voted to impeach former Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona, the president's fight against corruption (or, specifically, his fight against corruption during his predecessor's time) has threatened to bite him in unwanted places. Critics have called the DAP "presidential pork", because of its similarities with the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund, notably its a lump sum not appropriated to anything in the annual budget. How could Noynoy, his critics cried, fight one kind of pork barrel and keep another one to himself?
Noynoy and his allies unceasingly defended the program, claiming that the DAP had a key role in the stellar performance of the Philippine economy to date. To their credits, the numbers do support their argument: our economy grew around 7% each quarter in the past couple of years, with this quarter's slowdown easily (and sensibly) attributed to typhoon Yolanda. International financial groups have expressed their optimism for the country, and foreign investors are giving us a second look. Unfortunately, they also bolstered their argument by calling anybody who disagrees as haters who are merely bent on bringing the country back to the dark times.
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From the moment the now detained senator Jinggoy Estrada revealed the existence of the program, portraying it as an "incentive" given to senators who voted to impeach former Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona, the president's fight against corruption (or, specifically, his fight against corruption during his predecessor's time) has threatened to bite him in unwanted places. Critics have called the DAP "presidential pork", because of its similarities with the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund, notably its a lump sum not appropriated to anything in the annual budget. How could Noynoy, his critics cried, fight one kind of pork barrel and keep another one to himself?
Noynoy and his allies unceasingly defended the program, claiming that the DAP had a key role in the stellar performance of the Philippine economy to date. To their credits, the numbers do support their argument: our economy grew around 7% each quarter in the past couple of years, with this quarter's slowdown easily (and sensibly) attributed to typhoon Yolanda. International financial groups have expressed their optimism for the country, and foreign investors are giving us a second look. Unfortunately, they also bolstered their argument by calling anybody who disagrees as haters who are merely bent on bringing the country back to the dark times.
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7/13/2014
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100. Gretchen looks better on her uniform. Always has, always will.
97. I don't watch the PBA, so... but I do know she isn't the one who got Gatorade dumped on her. Or was it? See? I don't know what I'm talking about.
92. Wait, she's here?
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97. I don't watch the PBA, so... but I do know she isn't the one who got Gatorade dumped on her. Or was it? See? I don't know what I'm talking about.
92. Wait, she's here?
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7/10/2014
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I'm sorry about the news.
I know you're hurting inside. Really hurting inside. I mean, you might say I don't know how you feel, because I never went through what you went through. You looked up to him. You saw him as the perfect example. You imagined yourself with him. You wanted to be with him. And then you realized you can't, so you settled for watching everything he's in, reading everything he's mentioned in, that sort of thing.
And now you feel betrayed, because you hoped hard, and wished hard, and imagined hard, and yet it wasn't enough. Where was that law of attraction when you needed it? What happened to "if you think about it, it will come"? How come, after all this devotion, Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes end up having a baby?
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I know you're hurting inside. Really hurting inside. I mean, you might say I don't know how you feel, because I never went through what you went through. You looked up to him. You saw him as the perfect example. You imagined yourself with him. You wanted to be with him. And then you realized you can't, so you settled for watching everything he's in, reading everything he's mentioned in, that sort of thing.
And now you feel betrayed, because you hoped hard, and wished hard, and imagined hard, and yet it wasn't enough. Where was that law of attraction when you needed it? What happened to "if you think about it, it will come"? How come, after all this devotion, Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes end up having a baby?
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7/07/2014
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in·nit contraction (ɪnɪt) (1) slang for "isn't it", used in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia; (2) used as a replacement for a negative tag question, irrespective of person, number and verb; (3) an exclamation to the affirmative.
One of the pieces of feedback I got in my old job concerned my use of the word "innit" on my articles. My editor said I should not use the word, because it's not a proper English word - and besides, she doesn't know what it means.
I would've contended that it was slang, that my use of the word is me being conversational to my readers - you can't not be conversational when writing about television shows - but I realized she has a point. I've seen "innit" used in places, mostly British ones, and my lessons on context clues back in elementary school has equipped me to, at least, infer what it really means. But I never really know what it really means, so I dropped it.
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One of the pieces of feedback I got in my old job concerned my use of the word "innit" on my articles. My editor said I should not use the word, because it's not a proper English word - and besides, she doesn't know what it means.
I would've contended that it was slang, that my use of the word is me being conversational to my readers - you can't not be conversational when writing about television shows - but I realized she has a point. I've seen "innit" used in places, mostly British ones, and my lessons on context clues back in elementary school has equipped me to, at least, infer what it really means. But I never really know what it really means, so I dropped it.
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7/01/2014
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"We all know I respect Ms. Nora Aunor," Noynoy Aquino said in a news conference in Clark at midday today. "My only problem was her drug conviction."
So it did all boil down to that. Nora Aunor was not conferred National Artist status, despite going through a rigorous selection process and getting the approval of experts and peers, because of her past drug use.
"She was convicted and punished," he continued. "[The] question here is: if we make her a National Artist, is there a message we are sending to the people?"
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So it did all boil down to that. Nora Aunor was not conferred National Artist status, despite going through a rigorous selection process and getting the approval of experts and peers, because of her past drug use.
"She was convicted and punished," he continued. "[The] question here is: if we make her a National Artist, is there a message we are sending to the people?"
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Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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