It’s about time: Electric jeepney challenges the old King of the Road.
Even as Call centers craft plan, eye .5M agents, and More medical transcription firms go to RP, An article asks, What are ‘hot jobs’ in Metro Manila? Well,
The top 10 occupations in the talent shortage list were jobs for accountant, computer programmer, engineer, financial analyst, human resources development manager, information technology technician, lawyer, manager, nurse, and sales/marketing representative.
The only item that surprised me is that lawyers are still in short supply! But the list actually goes on and on…
In Newbsreak’s Verdict on Estrada Nears, there’s an interesting report on the jockeying for the remaining vacancy in the Supreme Court, and how the person to get the job might get it, depending on how the Sandiganbayan decides on the cases against former president Estrada.
Even more interesting are the different options the court has, as far as rendering a verdict is concerned. Acquittal seems the most remote, not only because of the evidence, but because under the plunder law, if an official is acquitted, then he is reinstated in his position. Obviously the government wouldn’t allow that. On the other hand, an outright full conviction for plunder (even if followed by a presidential pardon) might lead to trouble in the streets, so that might not be good, either. A more prudent course, some legal observers feel, might be to convict him on a lesser charge (instead of plunder, graft and corrupt practices) which could carry a penalty equal to the time Estrada’s already spent in detention. Anyway, the headlines are, indeed, Verdict on Erap out soon and so it’s handy that Anti-terror law to push through on July 15.
Speaking of other cases, 7 years for 54 Oakwood mutineers, while Gen. Garcia’s wife, kids disappear; lawyers withdraw. So let’s see, the rebels actually faced the music, while the top brass… oh, never mind.
On the electoral front, No. 12 unlikely to be named before August. And say it ain’t so: Joe dumping Nograles as majority leader?
Also, LGUs hurry report for Arroyo’s SONA. And, Arroyo to Cabinet: Where’s my loop?
Sources said Mrs. Arroyo had expressed dismay over the apparent delays in the construction of the link in Metro Manila’s railway system.
“Where’s my loop?” she reportedly demanded.
Sources said she ordered Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando and Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde on Tuesday to ensure the project’s completion by 2010.
The sources added that Mrs. Arroyo wants the bidding for the project to be conducted as soon as possible.
The directive reportedly triggered bickering among the three officials, particularly between Fernando and Mendoza, as to who should be on top of the project. Remonde is also head of the Palace’s Infrastructure Monitoring Task Force.
So no wonder the President keeps getting into trouble, for every victory she gains.
Peso Asia’s second-worst currency since crisis – DBS. And here’s the clincher, which our government had better pay attention to:
DBS said the fiscal slippage in the Philippines early this year would likely take its toll on the peso.
“Although we still like the peso, we believe that the fiscal story that supported it may have run its course. Looking ahead, further gains may need to be predicated on an investment story,” DBS said.
For the 1997 Asian Crisis and its aftermath, see The Economist Post-Mortem on the Asian Crisis and From the Press: EMU, CDOs/CLOs and Asian Crisis Post-Mortems.
As for deficit news (the slippage the Singapore bank’s talking about),GMA scolds Customs execs for P13-B shortfall in 1st sem; still, scolding aside, the 6-mo. deficit at P37.7B; tax targets stay, and so State considering sale of more assets to cover deficit (in PNOC-EDC and, surprise, surprise, San Miguel Corporation).
Why do we need to connect the dots, and not just leave it to the pros? As David Llorito puts it, Complacency kills!
Overseas, Shops emptied as panic grips Zimbabwe. And for boosters of a strong currency, a cautionary tale: as Baht ‘may hit 30 to $’ Experts urge BOT to be vigilant, there’s cause and effect: Japanese firms cut investments in Thailand.
The Guardian reports Made in China: tainted food, fake drugs and dodgy paint:
China is facing a global crisis of consumer confidence as the country’s food safety watchdog acknowledged this week that almost a fifth of the domestic products it inspects fail to reach minimum standards. Following a number of contamination scandals in the US, the world’s biggest exporter is struggling to prove that it can match quality with quantity….
…Last month, the government published its first five-year plan for improving food and drug safety. It closed 180 food factories in the first half of this year and seized tonnes of sweets, pickles, crackers and seafood tainted with formaldehyde, illegal dyes and industrial wax.
But the government also stands accused of reacting slowly to scandal rather than dealing with the root causes: a lack of trust in the safety standards of a country with a profit-first economic policy and a secretive, unaccountable political system.
Public confidence has not been helped by an official response that includes denial and scapegoating.
The need to counter such exposes is shown by this commentary in China Daily, Teeth for food standards, which tries to sound upbeat about the beating Chinese products have been getting:
Food safety standards are vital to both the health of the public and the development of the food industry. The food we exported overseas was sometimes found as falling below the standards required by importing countries. This is not because the food itself was of low quality but because the standards we use may be lower.
It is becoming increasingly urgent to raise the food safety standards to international levels. GAQSIQ and SSA have apparently long realized the importance of this issue.
The two departments reduced the time limit from 12 years to four years for revising food safety standards. The goal would bring a complete overhaul by the end of the 11th Five-Year-Plan period (2006-10). They want food safety standards to be revised every two years by 2010.
This is good news for consumers. At the same time higher demands will be imposed on food producers. But the higher standards can hardly materialize without the cooperation of producers.
On another China note: Hong Kong’s Media Ignore Falun Gong’s Marchers. Meanwhile History Unfolding reprints a letter written by Lawrence of Arabia complaining of British policies in Iraq -and which sounds as it was referring to present-day American policies there.
Even as GO bets in last-ditch effort to reunite, and Three GO senators told: You are with Opposition, and Nene: Opposition will give Villar no quarter, my column for today is Wrong kind of addition.
John Mangun says IPO’s in the stock market are great, but please, don’t view shares of stock as something like buying lottery tickets.
Geronimo Sy complains we don’t have a national motto. But we do -although it’s kilometric, asinine, and ridiculous. See Chapter III Section 40 of the Flag Law.
In the blogosphere, two views on Trillanes: The last man standing and The Boy with a New Toy.
Technorati Tags: elections, law, media, military, philippines, politics, president, Senate
Re. the “legal opinion†of Newsbreak reporters that any person acquitted of plunder shall be entitled to reinstatement: I thought that was funny. Here’s that provision of the plunder law, verbatim.: R.A. 7080. (Plunder Law)Sec. 5. quote “Suspension and Loss of Benefits. – Any public officer against whom any criminal prosecution under a valid information under this Act in whatever stage of execution and mode of participation, is pending in court, shall be suspended from office. Should he be convicted by final judgment, he shall lose all retirement or gratuity benefits under any law, but if he is acquitted he shall be entitled to reinstated and to the salaries and other benefits which he failed to receive during suspension, unless in the meantime, administrative proceedings have been filed against him.†Closed-quote.xxx
marichu, so reinstatement only applies for officials suspended because of charges?
btw, in your opinion, how strong is the case against estrada, and for the layman, how should one go about looking at whatever decision the sandiganbayan hands down?
Until now that the verdict is almost out I haven’t really given Erap’s case much thought. I don’t know if many more like me (OFWs) feel the same.
In a way, Erap’s conviction should serve as a lesson so that others would not follow his course. But while Erap’s case was ongoing, several other cases of people stealing people’s money happened and up to now nothing has been done (except Gen. Garcia?). So what kind of lesson Erap’s case is teaching us? The wrong lesson I think: don’t get caught!
If Erap gets convicted on the tobacco money for example, what happens to the collector and the delivery man Chavit Singson? If this guy is not punished, again what kind of lesson are we teaching?
In the end the wheeling and dealing (and not the normal course of law) used will have achieved no lasting benefit. Add to that the new breaking news today (this hour) that Gloria knew of the verdict and spoke to two religious leaders about it further diminishes the stature of our legal system.
In the Enchanted Kingdom of Gloria, the national motto is “Move On!” We even have a Guardian of the Motto: Bong Austero.
To all the Phd’s out there. Who decides on the value of national currency? Central Bankers or would it be best to simply leave it alone to “animal spirits?”
My vote would go to “animal spirits.” Somehow since they started the experiment with fiat currency post 1972 Central bankers have made sure that purchasing power of currencies have always fallen to allow governments to collect taxes without most people knowing it.
It is noteworthy that the two countries that have reduced poverty the most over the last 30 years have kept their national currency system isolated from (closed capital account systems)the dollar reserve system that rules wide swaths of the world.
Big Mike and GMA like all the rulers before them in the Philippines likes to believe that we can run the economy the way the U.S. does theirs. The U.S. can be a net capital importing economy because their foreign obligations are based in their own currency. “Helicopter Ben” as he is fondly called can always print more dollars if they so need to. Like when they dropped their discount rate to 1%. That way the world apart from the American public finances the U.S. economy with all its implications. Yes Juan de la Cruz our own BSP finances the U.S. economy together with our banks. Sadly that is how the international financial system works. What is good for Uncle Sam is good for the world.
Here our friendly Central Banker has to keep interest rates high relative to his gurus at the Federal Reserve. He calls it the market determined rate. (The trading floor of the BAP)The critical rate at which people switch their pesos to Dollars or Euros. High interest rate arbitrage is the only thing we have got going.
They (the U.S.) can buy all the goods they want from China and give the Chinese all that green paper or bytes (in the banks computer ledger) denominated in dollars in exchange which has depreciated in value against major commodities. The new mutually assured destruction model in the financial markets. The Chinese keep the value of their currency low to be able to offer cheap goods to the U.S. Then they lend back the money to the U.S. to keep U.S. interest rates low to enable American consumers to keep buying.
Central Bankers are the main source of inflation as like the old master said so many times, inflation is everywhere and always a monetary phenomenon.
Keynes well thought out formula for inflating deflated economies was a last resort solution for the depression. In the hands of government bureaucrats, Central Bankers and private bankers it has become a very potent political weapon to maintain an unequal economic system.
A fair international trading system (merchandise trade, financial trade and labor mobility) would require a neutral medium of exchange. The world has been battling over that for centuries. Who would rule the exchange of mankind’s goods?
When you see the faces of Garci and Bedol you know the kinds of animal spirits loose in this country. Somewhere still in the Dark Ages.
The root source of fiscal and monetary policy is the social contract between the government and it’s source of power (the power to confiscate property)from the governed.
Taxes to fund the administration of governance and government debt as fiat currency. It binds a people to the nation state. If abused it causes the disintegration of the state.
And who were responsible for those Erap “guilty or not guilty” full page ads? Somebody said that to run those ads, one needs at least 1 miillion pesos! It’s the first time I’ve heard of such ad before a verdict is handed down. Wala bang contempt of court para sa mga nagpalabas noon?
I have a feeling that a conviction of Erap won’t lead to full-scale trouble on the streets. Im just not getting that vibe. We’ll get a few rallies, but not much else.
Jeg,
When Ninoy was shot and killed, I don’t have any feeling then that it will signal the end of Marcos. ( Although it took three more years ).
When they failed to open the second envelope, I do not feel it then as the start of the downfall of Erap.
When Garci scandal broke and other succeeding issues compounded GMAs problem, I felt then that it was the end of GMA.
See, Jeg. Your feeling could be more psychic than mine. But the moral lesson. We will never know waht will happen unitl it is happening.
I remember the downfall of Shah of Iran then. The American intelligence community admitted then that they were caught by suprise because no one in is “intelligent mind” will ever think the Shah being deposed.
As with the the fall of Vietnam, the fall of communism in Russia, the ability of the Chinese communists to hold on to power, ad nauseam.
“When you see the faces of Garci and Bedol you know the kinds of animal spirits loose in this country. Somewhere still in the Dark Ages.”
hvrds, amen to everything u said, but esp this.
alright, alright… erap was not that clean as he claims to be. acquittal or not, my question is: what about those who came after erap’s era? the plundering that’s happening involves much more than what they claim against erap. so, after eraps 6 years of waiting, HOW LONG WILL THE NEXT ONE WAIT? will there be a next one after all?
If Erap will be convicted, the decision should be better than the Estrada vs. Arroyo case wherein the SC had to invent the term “consstructive resignation” and apply it to no less than the highest leader of the land with unquestionable mandate.
In Marcos vs. Manglapus, the High Court introduced in this jurisdiction the concept of residual powers of the Executive. Nonetheless, it has sound basis from American Jurisprudence interpreting the US Constitution(on which the 87 Philippine Constitution was copied).
The interesting question is actually in your title: When Erap was originally indicted for plunder after his so called resignation from the Presidency, was there ever a legal possibility of acquittal?
I pose the question above also to Ms. Lambino as a legal-theoretic question, because if it cannot be answered in the affirmative definite, then have we not proved that the defense is right–that Erap was denied due process, and that his plunder trial cannot possibly be fair and impartial since a finding for acquittal would bring various absurdities down upon the Supreme Court, the Presidency and, well, reality.
If acquittal was impossible (since it would reduce the Law to absurdity!) how can anyone claim Erap’s plunder trial was “fair”?
MLQ3,
Either Section 5 applies to Erap or not.
If Marichu Lambino is right then it does not apply to Erap, because he is no longer a “public officer”, having resigned from the Presidency effective 20 January 2001, as retroactively determined by the Supreme Court in March 2001. This, he supposedly did, just four days after he was already assured of acquittal in his impeachment trial.
Even so, acquittal, imho, was logically impossible, because, if he is innocent of plunder, then what was People Power for?
The Defense is right. Erap has already been “prejudged” and unfairly put on trial. He may actually have committed plunder. But such fact is IRRELEVANT to this point about due process.
Look, it’s like if they searched your house using the anti terror law and found all your bombmaking books, but did not get search warrants.
We cannot uphold and defend the Constitution, nor can we expect the Constitution to defend and uphold us, if we turn a blind eye to huge transgressions of it, just because we like who the victim is.
My attitude towards the Constitution is not the same as my attitude to the Bible, which is holy writ, but mere written text, redacted over the centuries.
The Constitution on the other hand, is to me, a Machine of largely foreign and alien design, which we have nevertheless instituted as an integral part of our cultural and social reality.
To dick with such a Machine in the manner that we have, just to get rid of Erap, is like removing various parts of a car’s engine because you want to eject the driver. And now realizing, there really isn’t anyway of putting the parts or driver back.
Both must now be jettisoned. President and Constitution. Honor and Logic. Truth and Fairness.
Hi Manolo! On “how strong is the caseâ€Â: If I were a judge, I’d like to look at corroborating evidence; rather than what the protagonists/ antagonists said about each other during the trial and outside. If the main evidence of one charge is testimonial (“he-said-she-saidâ€Â) evidence; you’d like to look at the hundreds of pieces of corroborating evidence (checks, deposit slips, etc.) to resolve any doubt. Unfortunately, that’s not what the public is being made to see: they’re being made to see Erap vs. Chavit, or Gloria vs. Erap. Whoever put out those ads last Wednesday is, wittingly or unwittingly, rabble-rousing. On: how should the public look at whatever decision: Maybe, the public can, after looking at all the evidence, ask: Can each of the three justices withstand tremendous pressure from all sides? Do we have a credible judicial system? How strong are our institutions? If millions of people think that the three justices are not impartial, that the judicial system should no longer be trusted, and that our institutions are built on shifting interests and collecting of favors, then this government should fall, whatever the decision is. Where does your faith lie?
MLQ3,
By the sheerest coincidence, I once shared a long, productive car ride from Subic Bay to Manila with the Presiding Judge of the Special Court trying Erap, ten years ago! I was reminded of this fact by my younger brother who was driving that car and got me to suddenly remember what a remarkable and protracted conversation I had with her during that long ride in the Zambales-Pampanga-Bulacan twilight right after the Asian financial crisis.
Know what? She is a straight-shooter and an honest, earnest judge with real intellectual integrity, in my opinion, (just as an aging judge of character.)
Which means, this case must really be a terrible burden for her. Marichu is right. The pressures must be tremendous.
frombelow: See, Jeg. Your feeling could be more psychic than mine. But the moral lesson. We will never know waht will happen unitl it is happening.
That is true. But here’s the thing: In the early 80’s, when I went out with the tambays, the ordinary man on the street, there was a palpable feeling of righteous indignation. It’s the topic of conversation in street inumans and while waiting for a tricycle in the tricycle stand. Same was true with the Erap thing. The mood was right and was waiting for a trigger.
I dont feel any of that mood now. If Erap is acquitted, Im sure the politicos in his camp will use it for their ends, and the administration would use that for theirs but there just isnt that mood of righteous indignation in the people on the street I meet. None from the tambays, none from the tricycle drivers and laborers…nada. The “he’s a crook, but he’s our crook” attitude just doesnt have that same moral gravitas.
But Im from south metro manila, and Ive never been north of Ortigas in ages. 🙂 Maybe things are different up north.
DJB, if the judge is really a straight-shooter and honest and earnest and possessed of intellectual integrity, then anyone of the same persuasion expects her to shoot anyone, I mean anyone, with contempt citation who calls her about the case. PERIOD. This is one opportunity where we can really radically change our justice system.
I’m from the EDSA Dos crowd so i’m clueless as far as how Erap’s constituents would react upon a conviction. I try to get a feel of it over at Ellen’s and it seems that Jinggoy’s consorting with the Admin Senators is bound to defuse the impact of a guilty verdict. But then again, we have been sitting on a powderkeg which could be triggered by a miscalculation by GMA, which i suppose is one of the reasons why the anti-Terror law is there.
acquittal impossible? hardly, i would say. but so is conviction.
in our system of justice, exoneration results when there is failure of the required proof of guilt, either on account of insufficiency or total absence of it, as determined by the judge. reasonable doubt is all that it takes to acquit and every doubt is resolved in favor of the accused.
the evidence for the prosecution must be so compelling as to remove it from the realm of reasonable disbelief. in the plunder case of estrada, the circumstancial evidence of unexplained immense wealth, profligate spending, an extravagant lifestyle, secret bank accounts under fictitious name or “dummies”, heavy gambling losses, all corroborated by testimonies of credible fact witnesses having personal knowledge, are evidence that have the potential of meeting the required burden of proof for conviction. in the hands of an able prosecutor, the case could result in conviction.
having said all that, the acquital of estrada may be said to be a juridical finding that regardless of whether or not he commited plunder, the prosecution failed to sustain the charge. he could very well have committed plunder but he could not be convicted and punished for it.
as far as the consequence of acquittal is concerned with respect to the existing political order, why should that be a problem at all? by SC decision, he is already deemed resigned. such resignation was not dependent upon whether or not he was guilty of plunder. exoneration will not undo it and somehow force the country to go back in time and bring him to the status quo ante. that’s absurd.
Erap and GMA are both corrupt. They should both go to hell! And Bencard, you can go with them! 😉
comparing erap’s (possible) guilty verdict with ninoy’s assasination is like comparing apples with pigs.
in other words, no point of comparison.
I would certainly not waste my time joining rallies in erap’s defense as i have more important things to do, like watching the paint dry.
realist,. i won’t go to hell because i know who is stoking the fires there – you!
DJB,
“Even so, acquittal, imho, was logically impossible, because, if he is innocent of plunder, then what was People Power for?”
In your blog in June 14, 2007 (which was about 3 weeks ago); you stated that
“In my own opinion it would not have been morally or poetically RIGHT that Joseph Estrada be acquitted at the Senate Impeachment Trial because I believe he was unworthy to be President and deserved to be impeached, convicted and forever banned from Public Office.”
Strictly speaking; acquittal does not mean innocence. But should Estrada be acquitted of plunder, would you now think of him as “worthy” to be President?
Justice League : The impeachment process was failing so Erap (who legitimately won the elections) should have finished out his term as President, according to the 1987 Constitution.
Two U.S. Presidents had been impeached but acquited, and the last one, Bill Clinton could have won another term if allowed to run. But then again his sins were different than that alleged of Estrada (although he was also into the Game Big time).
UPN,
Well, the question wasn’t exactly for you as I specifically quoted “2” statements of DJB and my question clearly implies that the query arises from those “2” statements.
Unless of course you commit to be bound by the statements that DJB made on that particular matter.
Anyway, the SC has decided that Estrada has resigned.
Justice equals truth and fairness.
The problem here is that everyone focuses only on the truth of what Erap did. I’ve been harping on the fairness of what everybody else did.
The logical impossibility of acquittal has to do with the fact that such a verdict would put the onus of dereliction upon everybody else, not Erap.
He may be guilty of plunder, but we would be guilty of injustice not because the charges against him aren’t true, but that the process of getting rid of him was not fair. Remember, he was already sure of acquittal in the impeachment trial (which is also the reason his supposed resignation is pure idiocy and fabrication.)
As big a criminal as Erap–no, far worse–was Hilario Davide. And us. Erap’s crimes are done. Ours is a continuing insult to the intelligence of the Future.
DJB,
“Remember, he was already sure of acquittal in the impeachment trial”
“Already” sure of acquittal in an impeachment trial that was supposedly not even halfway finished. I don’t think anyone will argue with you on that.
JL–I stand by “both” of the “2” statements. To your question, would acquittal for plunder make Erap “worthy” of the Presidency: of course not! It was the 1998 elections that made him “worthy” of that.
But his freedom from the charge of plunder, at least until 2004 only, should have been won by an acquittal at impeachment trial, six years ago already. GMA would not have had to cheat in 2004. She would’ve won by a landslide and become a good President, i.e. a discreet Plunderer.
If Erap were acquitted, it would make everybody look like Fools, except for Rene Saguisag and Alan Paguia. No one would blame the Prosecution, despite Bencard’s excellent explanation of the technicalities of the Law.
A guilty verdict is foreordained by the need of Society for a comforting legend about Edsa 2 People Power. People Power wants to believe it was People Power that did Erap in.
Acquittal would make Time Magazine right that Edsa 2 People Power was Mob Rule, headed by the Chief Justice. Acquittal would be inimical to amor propio.
Acquittal would make clear that the Mob chose Barrabas, Queen of the Jews, and Davide as Pontius Pilate, obliged them.
Acquittal therefore, is as sure as Resurrection from the Dead.
what does it all matter anyway to the country anyway, if estrada is convicted or not?
DJB,
I’m not asking anyone else’s opinion (in this thread at least) but yours on Estrada’s “worthiness” to be President because of your statements.
If it is “your” opinion that the 1998 elections made him “worthy” to be President; then why did you bring forward the idea in “your” blog that you believed that he was “unworthy” to be President and deserved to be impeached, convicted and forever banned from Public Office?
JL,
His plunder made him worthy of being impeached, convicted and banned. Then criminally prosecuted. But Erap, didn’t deserve to be impeached, and then when some people saw that he would NOT be convicted, to then be removed from office and have the Supreme Court invent a fairy tale to explain how it happened that way. Neither do the Filipino People deserve to live with a lie that will be there long after Erap is dead and buried.
Erap was not responsible for the process that got rid of him. Why is it impossible for you to see that if a Chief Executive can commit plunder, that a Chief Justice can be guilty of dereliction of duty? We are a democracy. Not an autocracy. Not even a Bible wielding Justice has any right to disregard the Constitution.
It’s like allowing the local barangay mechanic to fool around with a jet engine. You end up with the disaster we now have.
JL,
If YOU were President and you knew you were guilty of plunder, why would YOU resign four days after the Craven Eleven just proved their loyalty to you?
I am not defending the position of the Craven Eleven. I am merely pointing out the fact that Erap knew he would be acquitted in the impeachment trial. How can we possibly accept that Fairy Tale for Adults that he actually resigned four days later?
It’s just a Big Fat Lie isn’t it?
DJB,
“His plunder made him worthy of being impeached, convicted and banned. Then criminally prosecuted. But Erap, “didn’t” deserve to be impeached,”
So he was “worthy” to be impeached but he “didn’t deserve” to be impeached?
As to why would he resign? Well his letter did say
“… It is FOR THIS REASON that I now leave Malacañang Palace, the seat of the presidency of this country, for the SAKE of peace and in order to begin the healing process of our nation….”
And where were the CRAVEN ELEVEN during EDSA DOS anyway after proving their loyalty to Estrada?
JL,
You misread the above. He didn’t deserve to be impeached,and then have the rules on impeachment changed by the acts of Davide.
Of course he deserved to be impeached, but he also deserved a fair trial, whatever the result.
The letter you quote was never signed by Erap and he has denied it from Day One. It was simply one of many that were being urged on him. Where even in that letter does it say “I resign”? All it says is he is leaving the Palace, probably because of the threats on his life by both the Left and the Right.
If that is your idea of “resignation” it is a very strange one.
Don’t you believe that the essence of a resignation is its VOLUNTARINESS?
Can a duly elected president go to sleep one night and wake up in the morning and suddenly find that he has actually resigned??
Ang problema kay Erap, lasing man sya noong mga panahon na nagkakagulo. Dinaan nya ang lahat sa bote, So noon mahismasan sya, at di nya kayang lahat harapin ang mga ginawa nya. Wa choice kundi deny to death na lang sya. ( I shoudl becuase during my youngers years in Manila I drink a lot too)
Anyways what ever your version of the events DJB. All those event was covered by TV . Pwede ba naman nyang aminin na nag resign nga sya di wala na eh tapos na kaagad ang kaso nya and he will be easilly relgate dto oblivion….
Erap is not imepachable? yeah right! parang hindi naman nakita ng karamihan yung mga mansion , at mga excesses ni ng mga nya like Jude na pupunta lang sa UP nakahelicopter pa!) and the women and the countless of elligitimate children…
Just the same I dont want any people power any more….
Until now I m still wondering where are you really going with all your write up about Erap….
From the perspective of republican constitutional law, the American Jihadist Bocobo is absolutely correct. Erap should not have been tried. You cannot destroy the process of constitutional law and then go back to it to satisfy the persons who organized the coup vs. Erap.
Big Mike and GMA do not and did not have the political will themselves to initiate a revolution. It was a military coup aided and abetted by the Supreme Court of this land. The SC cannot rewrite the constitution on their own.
She became the lucky recipient of that coup. Noli de Castro almost became the second V.P. to rise to the Presidency during the height of the Garci crisis. The military did not go along with that attempt. They had too much to loose. Big Mike made sure of that.
The effects of destroying constitutional institutions is being felt today and will be felt going forward.
Despite all the theoretical discussions on legalese the issue is plain and simple. You break the constitutional due process you have no legal right to put Erap on trial under the same constitution that already has been ripped up.
George W. and his Rasputin V.P. are now harvesting that very same thing when they declared absolute power for themselves in preemptive unilateralism in their ideological war on evil. The countries in the Muslim world that have been their staunchest allies are the source of the most rabid crazies that are now attacking the U.S. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and in some ways Indonesia under Suharto (Wolfowitz was Ambassador there)Iraq up until the First War vs. Iraq.
Condi Rice said one correct thing. Democracy is hard and countries will have to go through the painful birth pangs to get there.
The Philippines is no exception.
Unfortunately most pinoy’s still are not conscious of the ideas and ideals behind state institutions since they are dependent on patronage for their own survival.
Erap does not appear the type to take a principled stand. He is a product of the very patronage system the political establishment is built on. They will press him into a corner and he will eventually accept what they give him as he appears to already be a footnote in history.
His followers know that he does not have control of the purse strings that is the basis of their “loyalty” to him.
That is why you have to give credit to the jihadists of all stripes. Just be careful of the crazies on all sides.
Erap vs. GMA is not about any principle. It is about who controls the gold that does not belong to them.
The difference between the American Jihadist Bocobo and Alex Magno is the latter’s principles are for sale while the former appears to be based on principles.
Big Mike and GMA have little time to repair the damage they have both wrought if they happen to care about their legacy.
Off Topic:
Are there any lawyers here who can initiate a case against Lito Lapid if and when he tries to reclaim his seat at the incoming Senate? My humble understanding is that he can go back to the Senate after his losing mayoral candidacy in Makati by virtue of a constitutionally defective rider in a law about electoral reforms.
I don’t want a single centavo of my money being paid to the goverment as tax being spent by Lito lapid.
“The difference between the American Jihadist Bocobo and Alex Magno is the latter’s principles are for sale while the former appears to be based on principles.”
I have not read a word of Magno’s works, but been reading DJB’s and based on his steadfast defense of the Constitution and its Provisions, and you don’t need to have a PhD in Law to understand the intent of the each provision in the constitution as we ordinary Citizens had and have been challenging and successfully defeating laws that were enacted in what we believe in violation and contrary to the provisions of our constitution, I could not but agree more “hrvds” quoted comment.
Well, thanks for all the kind comments, including “American Jihadist.” But we have not even begun to jihad, me fine lass and lad. (I heard the Colt Co. has just introduced a 50 caliber hand gun for law enforcement. Maybe they should send an advanced model to the guys hunting for Fr. Bossi) for old times sake.
I was listening just now to Nene Pimentel, Neri Colmenares and Ricky Carandang laughing it up about the Human Security Act, which is really a booby trapped law that reads more and more like ANTI-ANTI-TERRORIST law to me.
So I already got a preview of the arguments y’all are gonna be presenting on that gem of a beut.
“Can a duly elected president go to sleep one night and wake up in the morning and suddenly find that he has actually resigned??”
There can be no turning about it Dean – one of these days, during one of her foreign sorties Gloria just might find that she’s actually ‘resigned’, you know what’s good for the goose should be good for the gander kind of thinggy.
What Gloria and her fat husband, along with Davide, ex-Ayala dog/DND cat/Army ‘teka-teka’ pillock Rene de Villa, treacherous Angie Reyes with a host of other people, did to Erap set a precedent and re-defined the parameters of what should constitute a presidential ‘resignation’… i.e., to serve as part of the nation’s jurisprudence.
DJB,
Well then I apologize for misreading your statements back there. But I think everyone here will be better served if you’ll enumerate what those rules of impeachment were.
As regards the letter not being signed; the SC states that it was indeed signed by Estrada. I guess you’ll have to show more proof that it wasn’t.
And the resignation wasn’t my idea. I just yielded to the decision of the SC.
So what do you make of all those “courtesy” resignations being asked/demanded when a cabinet official enters the cabinet?
No need for apology JL, I do it all the time too, where I misread what someone meant and jump on it. By the way I just realized how profoundly indefinite one of my statements above actually is: “Acquittal is as sure as Resurrection.”
I guess it does depend on what Gods we believe in.
but my view of the trial is that it should simply have concluded, probably with Erap acqquitted and the rest of us hopping mad until 2004 when a new era in Philippine politics should have begun. Well, I guess it did, but that isn’t what I had in mind. Even the masa would’ve been full of Erap for not having delivered nuthin by 2004.
But look at him now: more trusted than Cory and any other major personality but Jesus H. Christ hisself. Curse that Davide!
manila bay watch, your use of the word “re-defined” presupposes that there is already an existing definition of “resignation” that is cast in stone – immutable, unchangeable – prior to estrada v. arroyo. what is it?
djb, i beg to differ. i don’t think many of those who voted for GO did it because they “trusted” estrada. i would even venture to say that most, if not all, the GO candidates who sought estrada’s blessing, did it out of “trust”, rather than cash and his “masa” fanatics. maybe, just maybe, only junggoy, loi, and j.v. trust him the way you describe it.
Whether Estrada be acquitted or convicted, the cards are stacked in the administration’s favor.
If he is convicted, there’s the appeal to the Supreme Court. Unless the administration makes the blunder of transferring him to Bilibid and making a martyr out of Erap, it would just be status quo until the high court makes a final ruling.
If he’s convicted of a lesser charge, pardon can only be given if he does not appeal and he has always maintained that he won’t do that.
If ever he is acquitted, I don’t think he’d ask for the presidency back. He has made peace with the fact, i think, that it is lost. He’d probably content himself with making sure that he’d be a thorn in the side of Mrs Arroyo and be the opposition’s capo.
More importantly, there’d be little chance of people massing in the streets.
First, you have the weather. And I wouldn’t put it past the Arroyo government to do “cloud-seeding” just in case there’d be an attempt to gather people.
Second, by the end of the rainy season, at the very least by mid-October, there’s the genseral sense of well-being due to the Christmas season.
By January, when people are more hot-headed and now predisposed to mass-actions and protest rallies probably because they are again neck-deep in debt due to the holiday festivities, the issue would have blown-over.
DJB,
Richard Nixon enjoyed a higher status too after leaving office than when he left it.
Bencard,
I hope I never said people voted GO because they trusted Erap. They voted GO because they hate GMA’s guts and her puny, grasping heart compared to Erap’s, who’s really a nice guy of a plunderer! Not like her: hard-hearted, mind-scheming, always computing the odds and hedging her bets, sharping the cards, rearranging the deck. But never having any fun. Erap’s alway’s partying it up. Know what I mean?
But I was merely referring to the SWS NET TRUST RATING (the difference between the percentage who say they trust a given personality and those who distrust that personality). For whatever this statistic is actually worth, when you compare their numbers, no one even comes close to Erap, except Cory among all the nationally known figures.
I hazard to characterize this statistical trust as boiling down to this: what you see is what you get with Erap. But with GMA, God only knows what evil lurks in the hearts of the vain and unrepentant.
People should not mock Erap on his slow, slow descent, as they did when he was on his way up. If Tito Guingona thinks he has changed, those who’ve used Erap as a foil for their own failings may lose the very basis for their false feelings of moral superiority towards him.
Erap was just a victim of others smarter, more determined, vainer and more cunning than him. But as long as they have him to kick around and put on dislay, they can hide their own shrivelled souls and nasty habits under the cloak of his disrespectability.
And in history, no one will love GMA, yet no one will hate Erap. For now, it just SEEMS as if Evil and Stupidity will triumph. Corrigibility is a rare but potent virtue. Beware!