This is being written early in the morning of Thursday.
Wednesday was apparently spent by the Speaker (depending on the version one heard) avoiding all contact with people, or in a series of meetings with his loyalists from the House. (update: see Newsbreak’s After Son’s Revelations, Will JDV Allow GMA Impeachment?)
The President’s day and strategies are described in the blog of Jove Francisco. As were some reactions from the President’s children.
By late afternoon there was word that a meeting had been called at the Palace for later that night. Set for 9:30 pm, at first word spread that members of Kampi viewed as loyal to the President would attend. Then, word was that besides presidential loyalists in Kampi, those considered loyal in Lakas-CMD would attend. Then, word was the meeting would be open to all members of the House who were committed to maintaining the President in office until 2010.
Details, as of shortly before dinner time, are in the blog of Ricky Carandang.
Around dinner time (that is, a few hours ago), firmer details emerged from various sources. The meeting had been called by the President’s sons, Reps. Mikey and Dato Arroyo (that afternoon, their sister, Luli Arroyo had appeared on TV to lash out at Joey de Venecia). The President’s sons were hopping mad; the meeting in the Palace was their initiative (confirmed by multiple sources).
Members of the House showed up at the Palace (reportedly, at Bonifacio Hall, the former Premier Guest House) at the appointed time: interestingly, Sec. Ermita had been sent out of the Palace to represent the President in meetings outside, so he may or may not have been around. The President’s sons led the faction demanding retribution against the Speaker. The President appeared, joined the meeting, but didn’t say anything. Some congressmen were silent; others advocated a conciliatory policy, and cautioned against rocking the boat; others, irritated that events had moved too quickly to topple the Speaker earlier that day, argued plans had to be made to change the House leadership when sessions resumed on Monday.
At that point, the Speaker arrived unannounced at the Palace. The President left the meeting to confer with the Speaker in another room. The congressmen waited where they were. A while later, someone was sent to inform the gathered congressmen that a change in the House leadership was off the table. The Speaker (according to the functionary who was sent to the gathered congressmen to inform them of developments) basically threatened the President: if she moved to topple him, he would spill the beans on her. And so, the advisory that the status quo would be maintained. These are details from a source that attended the meeting.
As of about half an hour ago, it seems the congressmen were still at the Palace, the President was still huddled with the Speaker, and so it can’t be said for sure, if a stalemate is where things are.
12:55 am Winnie Monsod on TV saying she believes Joey de Venecia 100% and says President owes an explanation, if she knew Abalos was involved, why didn’t she tell him to back off… And Tony Abaya is pissed, because he’s been targeted by a government smear campaign. See Uniffors:
Monsod closed her weekly TV show, Palaban,with the following statement (as best as I can recall)addressed to Gloria
“Joey de Venecia is telling the truth… I admire Joey and I accept his reasons for exposing the corruption….One does not make accusations against very powerful people if he has no basis in fact, specially since doing so would endanger his father’s position and his personal safety… You owe us an explanation….Why did you change the policy on telcoms….why did you..(I forget the other two “whys”)… If your husband told Joey to back off because his father was speaker, then why didn’t you tell Abalos to back off when you found out he was involved in the ZTE dea….I have defended you before but this time you have to defend yourself…”
I’ve never seen or heard Winnie attack Gloria personally. If she ever attacked Gloria before, it was over issues.
(addendum, 9:53 am Denials from some quarters as to the Speaker showing up at the Palace and his conversation with the President. Counting of heads in House supposedly ongoing. Addendum 11:52 am See Admin solons, sans JDV, meet with Arroyo in Malacañang: what Rep. Garcia said was he “did not see” JDV; a separate update I received was that 150 representatives showed up at the Palace: addendum to the addendum, 12:57 pm: another source says 120 congressmen).
8:54 am update: Let me quickly list some insights I’ve been given into what’s going on, by people who have served in government and know some of the protagonists.
1. The modus vivendi in the past was that the Speaker had the franchise on all deals involving China. Obviously the problem now is that the agreement’s not being honored and his economic turf muscled into. This turf is what gave Joey de Venecia room to maneuver, and his method was by means of a proposal that earned him profit while not raiding the treasury (a very traditional scheme). It seems other parties then moved in, and kept him in orbit and then decided to cut him loose, and the icing on the cake was they treated him like dirt. This, Joey himself, could not accept, and this is what stiffened his resolve. It then became an outright assault on the Speaker’s turf.
2. Pragmatically speaking, there is no reason such a squabble should have turned into a political crisis. Particularly since the Speaker has been described as the sort of individual who would take a bad deal over no deal at all, whose instincts are always for the less confrontational way out, and who prefers disagreements ironed out if brokers are available. The reason things tend to escalate all the time is that the President’s inner circle has increasingly adopted a take-no-prisoners approach; gradually, officials useful for brokering peace deals, and who can engage in diplomacy with allies and even enemies have been eased out. Therefore, there’s no one to pacify allies and so matters tend to quickly spiral out of control.
3. The sons of the President are now political players on their own, and they are also aggressive personally and politically. Their involvement in trying to mold events is reminiscent of 1986 when the Marcos children tried to run the Snap Election campaign, with disastrous consequences.
4. The real action may not necessarily be in the Senate, but in the Supreme Court: if it voids the contract then the President is left holding the bag.
5. The Chinese government has warned the Philippine government that to renege on the ZTE deal will put all Chinese government investments and concessions in peril. The Palace itself is saying this. But the Chinese government is probably more pragmatic than this, and even if it made such a threat, is posturing.
6. The weakest link among officials who will go before the Senate today is former NEDA chief Romulo Neri.
Poor Bel Cunanan is obviously worried. This morning’s news stories: ‘Luli’ Arroyo leads counterattack on De Venecia son (in his blog, Jove Francisco has details on the Luli Offensive); Lawyer: Mike Arroyo met De Venecia III; Abalos decides to face Senate but not on Thursday ; Chinese press RP on broadband deal; NBN deal should’ve been junked from get-go.
Random Thoughts points to Tek for the Pipol, which presents information and analyses on the NBN scheme.
(addendum 10:19 am) Here is a report on GMANews.TV: Arroyo Cabinet members hold emergency meet on ZTE deal:
Hours before they were to face a Senate investigation on the $329.5-million broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., Cabinet members of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo held an emergency meeting to discuss their “strategy.”
Radio dzBB reported before dawn Thursday that Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, who attended the meeting, said they would insist the deal was “a conditional contract.”
The report said the meeting was held Wednesday night in Malacañang.
While Mendoza refused to elaborate on the “conditions,” he said he is confident that they could establish the contract was clean and above-board.
Mendoza, Trade Secretary Peter Favila and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman Romulo Neri were among the Cabinet members President Arroyo allowed to attend the hearing.
The Senate hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
NOTE: I’ll do my best to liveblog what Me, Myself & Eileen has described as “the monkeys making kuto.” But not here. This time, I’ll be be liveblogging over at Inquirer Current.
(For the historical record, 9/21/07: see De Venecia assured anew of Speakership , which generally confirms that the meeting of congressmen and then a talk between the President and the Speaker took place)
Technorati Tags: House of Representatives, philippines, politics, president
The last few weeks the world has seen some very startling events.
In England they had a bank run after almost 140 years. The chief theologian who runs the Bank of England, Mervyn King turned heretic overnight and together with Gordon Brown “nationalized” all deposits in all banks in England. He might be forced to resign for his dogmatism and subsequent heresy. He has been summoned to Parliament.
Greenspan had to clarify his role in the Bush tax cuts after implicitly supporting it slams it now but more importantly admits that financial economics is truly not an exact science. Humans are too complex a creature to rely on for rational thought. Societies even more so.
All economic models and estimates on output and inflation are really that – guesstimates. The Gods are saying that they too are human and cannot predict what markets will do. I think that our prognosticators at NEDA, Malacanang, the BSP and our esteemed “economist” GMA should take note. She can no longer use the guesstimates on growth to trump her acumen in economic management. It truly is a limited gain mainly due to her failures and the failures of past Presidents.
“On the surface, Bernanke’s view seems intellectually unassailable. Central bankers cannot explain equity or housing prices and their movements any better than investors can. And Bernanke knows as well as anyone that none of the vast academic literature suggests a large role for asset prices in setting monetary policy, except in the face of extraordinary shocks that influence output and inflation, such as the Great Depression of the 1930’s.”
“In short, no central banker can be the Oracle of Delphi. Indeed, many academic economists believe that central bankers could perfectly well be replaced with a computer programmed to implement a simple rule that adjusts interest rates mechanically in response to output and inflation.”
“But, while Bernanke’s view is theoretically rigorous, reality is not. One problem is that academic models assume that central banks actually know what output and inflation are in real time. In fact, central banks typically only have very fuzzy measures. Just a month ago, for example, the US statistical authorities significantly downgraded their estimate of national output for 2004!”
“The problem is worse in most other countries. Brazil, for example, uses visits to doctors to measure health-sector output, regardless of what happens to the patient. China’s statistical agency is still mired in communist input-output accounting.” Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist, IMF
Bernanke had his baptism of fire and hard money monetarists (Austrian school) crumbled when faced with the threat of economic relapse that could have led to collapse. No wants to be at the wheel when the ship hits an iceberg. Hank Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury now wants the state apparatus to increase it’s coverage of mortgage guarantees. The theologians of the free markets are all running for cover to the Congress for help to save the economy from going into a dangerous tailspin.
Under the guise of protecting the treasury Big Mike and bunch of wise guys get involved in a purely governmental procurement deal to protect the “treasury.” His brilliant lawyer admitting that Big Mike had knowledge about the deal.
Here we have recently seen how loyalty to the constitution ends when loyalty to the family begins. The first family that is. Cabinet men, head of a constitutional body overseeing elections and former men in uniform that permeate the state bureaucracy.
Now we know the price of loyalty to the President is paid for by parceling out access to the treasury. They have institutionalized the rape of the treasury.
Marcos, Cory, Ramos, Erap and now GMA have utilized and turned technocrats and the men in uniform into plain and simple mercenaries and private armies on the public dime. They have organized a supply chain that will have to be continued. The Hyatt 10 is most noteworthy for first raising the alarm and disappearing in the woodwork to enable most of them to continue to milk the system for their personal gain. The next few weeks will be a bonanza for some PR men and some members of the media.
How do you flush this system of this rot? “Full faith and credit in Big Mike, GMA, Abalos, Garci, Bedol, Teves, JDV, FVR and the rest. Where have they brought this country?
tdc, the psychology of Gloria in a nutshell.
She’s been brought up in the corridors of power. All her life, she watched as Daddy “governed” and was “praised” or “criticized” for it. She watched, or tagged along, in ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings, banner unveilings of her dad’s “projects.” She thinks that’s all there is to it in governing.
You have to understand that this is a woman, who even as a girl has dreamed to make daddy “proud.” This is a woman, who when her dad died, never stopped dreaming of equaling or even surpassing dear old dad.
She has lusted for this idea so much she has sold her soul along the way just to step into office. Perhaps there’s a good person behind the woman. But she’s been so beholden to everyone who props her up, that she’s basically lost whatever scruples she had. And the men in her life are not exactly inspiring of change.
In a decade, and given enough rope to hang herself, Luli has all the pre requisites to become like her mom.
Bencard,
you forgot to mention Joey’s receding hairline…it’s part of the official Ad Hominem response of the First Family courtesy of Luliputian. For consistency, I suggest you follow the official line coming from the Palace. Try Emil Jurado, too.
also, remember that Chavit Singson was also the “sore loser” when he resented Erap’s favoring Atong Ang over the 2-ball business. Wait till JDV the Elder does a Chavit to save his son.
lastly, do you think your President’s husband, daughter and sons can get away with just blanket denials? He has to answer before the Senate and ultimately to the People.
Your president and your president’s husband’s plundering days will soon be over.
Now, it can be told–the reason why GMA and her ilk are so panicky is the existence of fresh plots to destabilize her administration. AFP Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon backed what Army Chief Yano announced some days ago, of the movements of a certain group recruiting soldiers for another stab at freedom. Well, as I said, expect fireworks here. The ZTE deal is the one who’ll break the camel’s back, so to speak. This ZTE controversy is more incendiary than Erap’s conviction.
JDV is dilly-dallying and it may cost him not only his speakership but much, much more. if he waits till next week, he won’t have any crumbs to salvage. Malacanang is laying the groundwork for father and son to be discredited in the background.
and if FVR is any lesson, JDV should heed what happened to him as well.
Whoever in his wildest dream that Marcos will get bundled up and shuttle to Hawaii after presiding over the Empire for more than 20 years? And whoever think that Estrada is now a convicted felon, after being a successful actor in the cinema and in Politics? Now visualize what will happen to these incumbent marauders of the country treasury that will put the more than 30 years of plundering by all Presidents and their men and (women) in just merely 7 years into shame.. Justice is Waiting, be patience….
Right you are Justice-in-waiting…
Sabi nga: Justice Delayed, pero Justice darating pa rin…
The ZTE affair could well be the “tipping point†that the enemies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had been praying for all along.
None other than a political heavyweight and an ally, in the person of House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., will serve as the counter-weight at the other end of the balance beam of power to cause the tipping point.
Neil,
Wait till she cancels the contract – all these posturings will go pffft… And then she’ll say, “Let’s move on.”
Bencard.
“is joey de venecia a credible witness?” YES. As the old pilipino saing goes – :Ang taong maliit ay hindi basta bastang titira sa mga malapit sa Diyos kung wala silang batayan
” an admitted “former†drug addict” who has not touched any drug or a drop of alcohol since 1984 and who sits on the board of a drug rehab center called Mew Beginnings and who set up a Narcotics Anonymous program COMPARE HIM to his detractor Iggy Arroyo who first brought up the drug issues. Iggy was a heroin and cocaine addict who never went to rehab who claims he does not do drugs anymore but who does not hide his heavy drinking.;,
“a loser with a motive to lie” but who has said unequivocally and under oath he will not, even if given a chance, participate in any NBN deal,
” a “businesman†trying to play in the major league on the strength of what?” And you were here you would have heard him list all the projects he has done and the names of his foreign investors who had committed $65M to his projecy
“connection and name, right? ” as you know old buddiy, those two things can get you throught the door but after that you are on your own
“why should i believe him just because solita monsod does?” No one is asking you to take Monsod’s word.
But Enrile tried to break him down but Joey stood his ground and Enrile ended his cross with his tail between his legs.
Bencard,
Did you see the entire hearing?
Bong,
“Don’t forget, he’s with the big league global think-tank, Carlyle.”
FVR was fired, ok, to be more politcally correct asked to leave Carlyle.
He’s gone – don’t depend on him anymore to dip his hand where it’s not wanted unnecessary.
Re: “another source says 120 congressmen”
That’s almost half of Congress… Gloria is a lil lil busy bee.
pagka iognoramus ko di ko alam fwiw=for what its worth
rofl lmao=rolling on the floor laughing,laughing my ass off
yung lol matagal ko nang alam na ulol yun
joke only.(sa lol,d rest d ko talaga alam)
Btw, what you said over at Quezon’s blog to Bencard about having the contacts and even the name, etc getting you through the door but at the end of the day, you’re on your own – very true. (Joey’s uncle Roberto found that very difficult that in spite of his being a half brother to JdV, it was never smooth sailing for him doing business with govt.)
Must admit this young Joey is very brave. You don’t go against the establishment just like that, not even if you are the Sepeaker’s son, more so because YOU are the speaker’s son…
In the end, he will win even business wise and support from bona fide business investors – precisely because he’s got the courage to do the right thing.
Also, from a purely intl PR perspective, can tell you now that he’s on the watch list (good list) of embassy trade and economic posts that wll now be drafting circulars, memoes, etc. about Joey to be checked out, his business credentials, etc.
Ooops, that was for Manuel Buencamino: “Btw, what you said over at Quezon’s blog to Bencard about having the contacts and even the name, etc getting you through the door but at the end of the day, you’re on your own – very true.”
mlq3, i really thought of sitting this one out because of its utter uselessness ( same shit) but i was just wondering how another mere possibility of “corruption” could consume the entire energy of the opposition rather than a proven, actual, plunder beyond reasonable doubt. is this a part of the design to deflect the outrage? what kind of values we have as a society? you are all so engrossed condemning pgma and her family for “gossips” and innuendos, but lukewarm in condemning the estradas to the point of virtually putting them in a political pedestal. no wonder, estrada and his bootlickers have the temerity of imposing “conditions” on an imagined “pardon” that themselves concocted to save face with their mindless followers.
devils, thanks for the compliment. i just happened to believe in the thinking of the thoughful “minority” in this blog. btw, the administration line is not necessarily worst than the opposition’s.
Bencard,
Let’s see before the plunder was proven it was just a possibility wasn’t it? Now are we going to crow about the verdict, rest on our laurels or do we move on?
You know the old saying, you’re only as good as your last victory don;t you?
So corruption exists. We have to get the corrupt. Here’s a deal that smells to high heavens. You want us to remain focused on Estrada?
Man, this is getting to be ridiculous!
bencard, i dunno, to me it’s rather simple. the estrada revelations followed a similar process. it’s the only process open to the citizenry so that things end up not only in court, but moving in the courts.
Dear Tito Bencard:
Hi!Thanks!!!!
The greater the gulf between the opposition and reality, the more successful we shall become!
Stay vigilant, my agents – in time, the opposition, for all intents and purposes, will BE the Luli Arroyo Internet Brigade!
Love and kisses,
LULI A. (My Mommy right or wrong!)
Karl Garcia :
pagka iognoramus ko di ko alam fwiw=for what its worth
rofl lmao=rolling on the floor laughing,laughing my ass off
yung lol matagal ko nang alam na ulol yun
joke only.(sa lol,d rest d ko talaga alam)
—————————————————–
we are on the same situtaion. I actually did not get until you I read your translation.
Sus ginoo dugay na kita sa blogsphere…..
And finally nabuhay uli ang Luli Internet Brigade na yan.
This scene is really really getting so familiar. I wont be surprise to hear a song with title “Hey Joey, Back-off in the near future
Full swing ang pagtataas ng ihi ng mga Pathetic Losers Crowds over the Move On crowds. MMMM…Kunsabagay The Pathetic Loser can never be a bida of the limelight with out picking a fight with the move on crowds and make them contrabida. oh sooo Genius!!!
And so the Kiddie Battle Royale is on! Pathetic Loser Crowd vs Move On Crowds. MASAYA!
Kaya lang feeling ko this will have a very predictable ending. Shaman will come out whining ” Oh we did not get help from the Move On crowds after we push them really hard out of the whole soap opera”!
And hey CVJ,
Why dont you go to the Patent Office and have the ” Let Us.. ” phrase used by Austero patented? That way only and only the Pathetic Loser Crowd can use it. Sama mo na yung “Philippine Morality” , ” The Truth”, “the Right to cricticize Gloria” and “Gloria Scandals”. Isama mo na lahat yung phrases, term and the Genius Ideas na dapat ay sole propriety lang ng Pathetic Loser Crowd. Even better, isaksak nyo sa mga baga nyo para kahit kelan di talaga magamit ng Move One Crowds. Over my dead body, baga.
Rego,
Parang galit galit ka na naiipit ngayong si FG.
Pero huling huli ang tatay ni luli kahit ano pa ang sabihin mp.
Who gives a shit about the Move On crowd They are now the Silent Crowd.
At sina Luli at ang tiyo niyang basag ay walang masabi na makaka-convince sa tao ng sinungaling si Joey. Hanggang ngayon kumakapa pa ang malacanan kung papaano patayin ang issue.
No choice but to cancel and cry no harm no foul let’s move on, Hindi na pwedeng pagpilitan ni Gloria kasi pati si Gordon at si Zubiri contra sa NBN deal. Si Lukaret at si Enrile na lang ang banat ng banat kay Joey at kanina nag nukhang gago si Enrile ning hindi siya inatrasahn ni Joey. Ni Lecturan pa siya ni Joey sa batas! Hahaha.
Problema na lang ngayon kung sino ang magrefund ng “advances” ng ZTE eh nukhang madami ng nagastos hehehe
So just watch and enjoy the game if you don;t want to play.
mlq3, we have to investigate all possibilities of corruption from the lowest to the highest echelon of our government. but, when it comes to the first family, every haka-haka is a conviction. look at the comments of your disciples, talking and celebrating as though pgma has already been proven guilty of corruption on the sole basis of vague innuendos from a bidding loser with questionable credibility. talk is cheap, especially in the philippines. i think the media, and journalists like you, should be a little more thoughtful and discriminating in publicizing and using propaganda lest you reduce yourself to being mere cheap propagandists. part of the reason there is so much problems and discontent in the philippines is because of irresponsible agitators in the media who thrive on sensationalism and oneupmanship over the administration. every gossip is treated as gospel truth regardless of the source, and the utter lack of substantiation.
buencamino, keep on nosing around. maybe, someday you may hit pay dirt. meanwhile, tell your fiends to hold their horses, and put the jubilation ‘on hold”. but also keep the rags handy to wipe your faces, just in case. (lol)
btw, buencamiono, the big difference between chavit singson and joey is that the former’s whistle blowing was supported by admitted documents and other testimonies, not to mention admissions against interest by estrada himself and others in his camp. on the other hand, what has joey got? his words about seeing, and having some conversation ( including alleged “finger pointing” by arroyo), with mike arroyo in wack wack? did he accuse mike or the president of corruption, or of any act constituting corruption? i don’t think so. is there any document or picture of the incident? No. is there any other eyewitness to the “chance” meeting testifying as to any improper or illegal act committed by the FG? No.
a mediocre testimony from a mediocre witness coached by mediocre senators. for crying out loud!
Manuel,
Im not really mad that FG is being investigated I even like it. And when the proper charges if filed and he is found guilty, I woudl be very happy to see in teh company of Erap.
What I really don’t like is the picking up of fight by the Pathetic Loser Crowd on the Move on Crowd. Is your group really that evil who always wanted to so sow hatred and division to further your advocay? Do your really want to institutionalized your dirty tricks and and the division of the people? For what?
After all these years, are your really that bitter on Austero and his Dear Cory Letter? Is it because that letter get tremendous response and none of your blog entry can surpass the public attention of that particular letter in his blog? Is it envy ? Crab Mentality? Immaturity? Or you just cannot accept the fact not all people share your views and feeling. And everytime you find people who doesn’t share your values your automatic evil response is to gang up on that particular person?
What really is the issue of the Pathetic Loser Crowd with the Move On crowd? Are you really that insecure that when all these crisis of the country has settled the pathetic loser crowd will not be recognized as THE HERO? What really has the Move on Crowds did to Pathetic Loser crowd that everytime you take a stand on a particular issue you always have to watch out condescendingly on the Move On crowd? Paranoid that they steal the credit from you?
Finally what is the Move On Crowd got to do with the current investigations in the senate? Is the current envistigations a product of hard work by Pathetic Loser Crowd only? And that they should they have the monopoly of giving opinions, and raise concerns? Isn’t this current investiagtion just came out without any effort from the Pathetic Loser Crowd? The person raisning teh issue is not even coming from the opposition….
Rego,
“We are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward.” – Bong Austero
That’s my issue with Austero. That and nothing else.
Bencard,
Your characterization Joey leads me to suspect that you didn’t watch the Senate hearings yesterday and that your impressions come from second hand sources. True or not?
buencamino, if there’s anything earthshaking about your joey’s testimony, don’t you think manolo wouldn’t highlight it in his “live blog” transcript of the proceedings? it may be “second hand source” (i don’t have the time to waste on grandstanding acts and ‘vaudevilles’) but i can trust manolo’s avowed dislike for the first family. no way he would miss any incriminating testimony from joey. as far as i can see, there is NONE.
btw, in my 2:03 a.m. (edt) post, i meant to write “friends”, not fiends. on second thought, the latter word fits like a glove, so let’s just leave it at that. o.k.?
The only convictions that will count against anyone alleged to have committed corruption against the treasury of the nation will be the one once their off the power and brought before the courts by the power that be, justice as played in the country. Thus happened to Marcos, to Estrada and pray will happen to those that still on the waiting list. Until then, Today’s Raiders will continue to raid the the Treasury with Impunity, Lie to their teeth when accused (now tell me why these don’t happen in 90% of other countries) but Justice will somehow catch up with them, maybe later, but it will…still waiting..
“We are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward.†– Bong Austero
That’s my issue with Austero. That and nothing else.
——————————————————
OK Manuel, so now I understand. But why do you have to take it so bitterly. And how does the rest of people who doesn’t share your stand become all Austeros?
But that is his conviction and
JDV III a junkie on drugs ? LOL on whoever came up with this
moronic suggestion 🙂 Anyone else on steroids… pain killers?
In the end, I’d be interested to see if ANYONE WILL BE PROSECUTED in this scandalous imbroglio that stinks of economic sabotage, that bled the country with several hundred millions of dollars 🙁
bencard, the reason i liveblog is to let people get an ideaof what’s going on, you can conclude what you will from the totality of the proceedings. it’s in commentary that i can focus on what i want. specially since, watching, digesting, transcribing the gist of things for several hours at a stretch is, to put it midly, not very easy to do.
jdv3 did very well in his appearance yesterday. not mediocre at all. he stumped jpe. jpe then mumbled something about letting the law speak for itself just to have the last word but he clearly was napahiya. you should listen in or watch these hearings when you can.
mar roxas did well too. gearing for his run in 2010.
pangilinan is an emabrassment to his malcolm hall roots. ate shawie could probably ask better questions.
Kiko Pangilinan’s wife is definitely smarter than him. as sharon’s lifeline in ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’, he gave her the wrong answer. It’s a good thing she answered differently.
Rego,
Why shouldn’t I be angered by that ? People who believe that basic rights are alienable are enemies of freedom and humanity. I will fight against people who subscribe to Austero’s philosophy. One dictatorship in a lifetime is too much for me.
Bencard,
I recall telling you that people like you who are thousands of miles away cannot really know what’s going on despite today’s technology. Your comments are based on second hand sources. Spins actually. Get someone to record those hearings for you. Watch them and then speak, You are not even a miron. You are a miron of the mirons.
buencamino, i don’t know about you but for me, mlq3 and inquirer .net are good enough sources when it comes to this possible “scandal”. as i recall telling you also, these sources, including the very “balanced” abs-cbn will not miss anything that suggests culpability of fg and his family, including the president, and plaster it all over the place. of all the vociferous commenters here, how many do you think have actually watched the senate “show”? its a good thing its not covered en toto a la c-span here. else, half-wit senators and presidential wannabes would expose to the nation their intellectual limitations and cluelessness and the self-righteous “revelations” of joeydv. one thing is sure, the hair dying and grooming salons would have a brisk business
Bencard,
It was covered live. And those who didn’t watch, like you, are basing their conclusions based on second hand sources. Or as you lawyers say, HEARSAY!
buencamino, in case you don’t know it, hearsay only applies to witness’ testimony, not to lawyer’s argument. a lawyer cannot be a witness and advocate at the same time. gets?
“is joey de venecia a credible witness? an admitted “former†drug addict, a loser with a motive to lie, a “businesman†trying to play in the major league on the strength of what? connection and name, right? why should i believe him just because solita monsod does?”
and the son of speaker jdv.