Yesterday Senators Enrile and Arroyo tag-teamed to try to shut down the Senate hearings and one can assume they did so, to prevent the emergence of new witnesses. They failed. And so, New witness tags Arroyo couple in NBN mess. See also ZTE advanced $41M to ‘greedy group’–witness: ‘Chinese, Filipino groups to half $200M overprice’ ‘The worms just keep wriggling out of the can. See Ellen Tordesillas for additional background. I do think this is an extremely valid point: New witness in NBN probe ‘too relaxed,’ says Pangilinan: He might be a ‘Trojan Horse’.
One can assume that it is the public pressure of the hearings that leads to the leaking of documents, such as ‘Copy for FG’ is marginal note on NBN document. It’s well to remember that those grousing over the “lack” of evidence deliberately overlook how the Palace clamped down on producing documents, for obvious reasons.
As Manuel Buencamino does, so will people continue doing: asking questions to which the official answers don’t make sense.
Last night, after an emergency meeting, the Catholic hierarchy released a pastoral exhortation, ‘Seeking the Truth, Restoring Integrity’ with six main recommendations:
1. Condemn the continuing culture of corruption from the top to the bottom of our social and political ladder;
2. Urge the President and all the branches of government to take the lead in combating corruption wherever it is found;
3. Recommend the abolition of EO 464 so that those who might have knowledge of any corruption in branches of government, may be free to testify before the appropriate investigating bodies;
4. Ask the President to allow her subordinates to reveal any corrupt acts, particularly about the ZTE-NBN deal, without being obstructed in their testimony no matter who is involved;
5. Appeal to our senators and the ombudsman to use their distinct and different powers of inquiry into alleged corruption cases not for their own interests but for the common good;
6. Call on media to be a positive resource of seeking the truth and combating corruption by objective reporting without bias and partiality, selective and tendentious reporting of facts.
It’s enough to make AlterNation101 happy because it rebukes the media (does that include government media?). While bloggers like Spank Me! and at wit’s end are furious, and Palace hails CBCP for ‘not succumbing to propaganda’ others, like Bobbie Reyes say the demand to revoke Executive Order 464 is “an extremely powerful statement.” barefoot calls it a wise tactical move. I have to heartily agree with Lunasandwich who points out,
While for sure the defenders of greed and corruption will be quick to use the bishop’s statement as leverage, people should still resist the urge to label the bishops as in cohorts with the enemy. People who believe that GMA must go should not be disheartened. Maybe this time there would be much more meaning when it is the people who convince the Church’s leadership when it is time for evil leaders to go than vice-versa.
People seem to be coming to a decision on their own, anyway.
In his blog, Mon Casiple seems to agree, too:
However, there is a tilt in the balance as it categorically called for the abolition of EO 464 so that “those who might have knowledge of any corruption in branches of government may be free to testify before the appropriate investigating bodies.” The CBCP asked President Arroyo to allow her subordinates to reveal any corrupt acts, particularly on the $329.48-million ZTE NBN deal without being obstructed in their testimony, “no matter who is involved.”
The thematic unity of the CBCP revolved around the search for truth — a formula that basically puts the onus for finding it on the broad opposition. In including President Macapagal-Arroyo as participant in the search for truth, the CBCP basically satisfied the bishops friendly to her. At the same time, it also opened the door for more testimony thereby satisfying those bishops who already made up their mind on the guilt of the President.
The CBCP put itself as the cart after the horse and sidestepped its possible moral leadership on the matter of addressing the key action of calling for GMA resignation. This sends the message that it will only act decisively when the people themselves — on their own — acted decisively towards this end.
There are other nuances to Casiple’s analysis, but on the open-ended demand being significant, I also agree (note: demand, not an ultimatum because, well, essentially the bishops give the President until Kingdom Come to comply: hence the Palace’s breezy “this deserves very serious consideration,” and Scrapping EO 464 requires ‘careful study’–DoJ chief, which is officialese for “wham bang thank you, bishops”) . See Jove Francisco for the Palace’s activities: none of them involving anything the bishops suggested.
It satisfies the Jesuit conditions that things should not escalate until all the i’s have been dotted and all the t’s are crossed. By all means, do so. I am confident this proposal will go the way of that other Jesuit brainchild, the Truth Commission that bamboozled the Solita Monsods of this world into giving the President a free pass in 2005. So they’ve done it again, may their tribe increase. I’ve mentioned before that we have to consider that the real fight may only begin in 2010 when the President’s collaborators run out of rationalizations.
As Tony Abaya puts it,
Edsa 1 can be said to have taken two years and six months — Aug. 21, 1983 to Feb. 25, 1986 — to reach flashpoint of sufficient heat and energy to force Marcos and his family out of Malacanang.
If the putative Edsa 3 (or 4) were to be superimposed on this timeline, and the trigger were the revelations of Jun Lozada on Feb. 5, 2008, flashpoint would not be reached until about August 2010…
By August 2010, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would be on her first months as prime minister or as president on a third term, the Constitution having been amended in 2009 to enable her to remain in power legally and constitutionally beyond June 30, 2010, by the Kampi-Lakas dominated Congress, as is the ill-disguised aim of the ChaCha Road Show inaugurated last Feb. 12 by Albay Gov. Joey “Bitch” Salceda.
Using EO 464 as one more bridge to cross, is fine with me for that reason.
Can the President dispense with Executive Order 464? Only if:
1. She replaces it with another executive issuance that has the same effect as EO 464, or;
2. She puts the squeeze on executive officials to lie, and destroys documents that everyone knows exists.
Method 1 is what Marcos adopted with his infamous Amendment 6 to the Constitution which rendered meaningless his lifting of martial law in 1981. I’m sure some legal sleuthing in the Administrative Code and other places might dig up useful pretexts to block Senate subpoenas.
But method 2 is the easier thing to do, However, in the long run, the least effective because too much has already been said and too many trails lead straight back to her.
Easiest of all, of course, is not to budge on E.O. 464 and keep applying it, saying there are pending cases in the Supreme Court, that it requires proper study, that a special committee has been appointed to look into it and that in the fullness of time it will issue non-binding recommendations for further discussion…
Or, the President could revoke it and throw caution to the winds in which case the bishops could honestly claim paternity for a full-blown miracle.
But what has been happening is that the Catholic bishops and the moderate critics of the President as well as the collaborators, have all come to focus on E.O. 464 as the first line of the President’s defense.
And a means for piercing that defense is actively proposed by today’s Inquirer editorial, Strike for the truth: a nationwide stay-home strike (the editorial responded to this particular about-face by the Palace: Arroyo on ‘flawed’ NBN deal ‘lost in translation’–Palace). No one can say a strike is incompatible with democracy, the Constitution or the so-called government “rule of law.”
Proposing a day to stay home instead of going into the streets should be vigorously discussed (see Amando Doronila’s Arroyo’s work ethic and the Mafia for some particulars on how businessmen are tackling the question of economic costs); to ignore the proposal merely limits the already narrowing options available to the public.
Returning to the CBCP Statement, bear in mind it’s the product of a collegial body and that the immediate objective of the leading bishops was to forge a united stand. The pastoral exhortation was at least, approved unanimously. No one can complain. It may also represent the last service Archbishops Capalla and Talamayan, the President’s point men within the hierarchy, can provide the President.
So, sorry to disappoint Philippine Commentary, but I’m happy with the statement. It can only help tighten the noose and it can only further clarify the battle lines.
In the blogosphere, smoke takes a nihilist look at ongoing events, an antidote, I suppose, to the passion of Etcetera, Etcetera (heartily applauded by Manila Bay Watch). love hurts… but sometimes it’s a good hurt… and it feels like i’m alive… has some photos: see B[email protected] for Cory Aquino’s speech. Philippine Politics 04 responds to a mother’s concerns over rallies.
As always, Mabini’s prayer continues to resound down the ages:
To sum it up, the Revolution failed because it was badly led; because its leader won his post by reprehensible rather than meritorious acts; because instead of supporting the men most useful to the people, he made them useless out of jealousy. Identifying the aggrandizement of the people with his own, he judged the worth of men not by their ability, character and patriotism but rather by their degree of friendship and kinship with him; and anxious to secure the readiness of his favorites to sacrifice themselves for him, he was tolerant even of their transgressions. Because he thus neglected the people forsook him; and forsaken by the people, he was bound to fall like a waxen idol melting in the heat of adversity. God grant we do not forget such a terrible lesson, learnt at the cost of untold suffering.
This is a cool bit o’ video: How cops come up with crowd estimates.
mang isko,
I know you as well as the other bloggers here care, though we have different ways of showing it, yes, even benigno’s sick tough love approach. The mere thought of us taking time to blog (when we could be doing something else) shows it.
I get your point re relationship with US but it will take a strong political will form us and most especially our leaders to assert ourselves in the presence of a super power. Unfortunately, as Equalizer has pointed out, we are continously being pimped by someone for money.
ang tanong nakulong lang ba sila dahil lang sa conduct unbecoming?
wala ba silang nagawang kaguluhan?
magmuni-muni po tayo mga kaibigan.
NASH:Darfur.
China has been criticised for not doing enough to stop widespread killing in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
One reason Beijing stands behind Sudanashir is oil. China is trying to diversify its oil sources beyond the crisis- prone Middle East, and Africa is one obvious alternative. Already, 7 percent of China’s imported oil comes from Sudan.
ang sa akin lang kung sa china na lang tayo magpapagawa ng broadband na alam naman natin na tuso ang china, dapat eh, sa U.S. na lang sana ang gumawa.
@equalizer,
not just sudan, every african state you would not touch with a 10 foot pole, china has a big economic presence (ie, building the airport in zimbabwe…etc…)
“Some would say it was a sell-out on the part of the Philippines,†says Mark Valencia, an independent expert on the South China Sea. The designated zone, a vast swathe of ocean off Palawan in the southern Philippines, thrusts into the Spratlys and abuts Malampaya, a Philippine producing gas field. About one-sixth of the entire area, closest to the Philippine coastline, is outside the claims by China and Vietnam.
sir Ramrod:
Walang Maka Tao,Maka Pilipino sa administration.It’s all about the megabucks!
mang isko,
The case filed is Conduct Unbecoming, take time to look at it, go to the hearings, read the charge sheet, if there is one its not signed even. They are there because someone just wants them there, period, no legal basis, perhaps if its martial law its okay.
Then again, we can only hope for some changes…for the better I mean…
I don’t believe you go to jail for more than two years for making “kaguluhan?” If that were the case, the people involved in bar fights would be in big trouble.
“we are continuously being pimped by someone for money.”
The Philippines for sale! (or garage sale)
To be honest,the pimping has been unprecendented under the Pidal couple.They are on the verge of making the Marcoses look like amateurs!
mag_isko: there is a specific law in the US against giving bribes (even if the bribes are to foreign officials or whoever and even if the competition for the contract gives bribes)
Spratlys, is it worth the effort? It’s an uninhabitable outcrop between 6 countries.
Options:
1. Maintain the status quo with all countries putting up a shanty on every rock they can lay their boots on – No economic gains for everyone, but it will cost everyone money and only the people who sell weapons will be happy
2. Spread the love – exclude it and make it an international wildlife sanctuary with zero commercial exploration so that our fish stocks are replenished
3. Military solution – annexe the entire chain of rocks by force because we want the supposed “oil” buried under the reefs. Zero sum game. Who do we pick a fight with first? The Malaysians? Brunei? Taiwan? Vietnam (remember, these guys beat the French and the USA, so what are our chances..) Hmmm, maybe the Chinese? In my humble opinion, I think a good military general will not send ill-equipped soldiers to their deaths.
Nah, I think I will settle for number 2.
just thinking out loud…
Anyway, we all do what we need to do just as long as we do something…I still believe in the Pinoy. Given the opportunity, anywhere, anytime, we have this propensity to work hard, work smart, and overcome…
nash: Dubya wants to send US troops into Darfur.
nash,
No. 2 is the proactive choice I believe.
NASH
President Arroyo’s agreement with China for a joint seismic study was controversial in several respects. By NOT consulting other Asean members beforehand, the Philippines abandoned the collective stance that was key to the group’s success with China over the South China Sea.
alam mo ramrod, kung ang isang sundalo ay may hinaing laban sa isang gobyerno at magdadala ng kanyang armas at makikipagpatayan sa mga kinauukulan, tatawa lang ba ang gobyerno?
kung gusto mo talagang isambulat ang katiwalian ng pamahalan, lumabas sa pagiging sundalo at ituloy ang iyong advocacy.
sa mga panahon ngayon meron ba tayong naririnig at nakikita sa western civilization na isang sundalo nag-alsa dala ang armas penagre-resign ang leader ng country?
only in the phils.
UP n student,
Its another racket, someone gets a certain percentage of the budget for these soldiers (in Usd) everytime we have something like this. The net for the soldiers is still substantial though, most save enough during sorties like these to put up a small business in Pinas after.
mang isko,
I will not expect you to see their point of view, but to put it simply, their actions were commensurate to the degree of threat posed by this government as the recent events have shown. For every action there is an equal opposite reaction – that is, if you are designed to react at all? Kung “wala lang” , “k lang, here na me,wer n u?” ka lang, there’s nothing much I can do…
@equalizer
thanks for pointing that out. so ibig bang sabihin ay nag-tag team tayo with China?
oh well, trust GMA to break the peace.
Hmmm, parang I change my mind…we can beat the other countries into submission…(just joking)
I still go for the love everyone approach…I’d rather have good neighbours (especially that our fishing areas nearly overlap with them). You can’t put a price tag on that.
@UP n,
maniniwala lang ako pag andun na. they had chances to stop the genocide ages ago…ibag klasing ‘world police’ kasi sila, selective…
mang isko,
“Only in the Phils” buti nga ganyan lang. In some countries they bomb their leaders, snipe them pa, some hang them, poison them, and some even worst, pati families nila pinapatay.
If facing your enemy head on and saying to him (or her) waht you really felt isn’t palatable to you, so what? The question of the hour is, what can you do for the good of humanity? If you have an answer, just do it…
With the CBCP taken aback by the eruption of the public sentiment, either for or against the administration, one begins to wonder what else is not new within the past four years or so. At least it’s a consolation to have that sense of irony, that this nation is becoming more naive and more outraged both at the same time. But at the most, one cannot easily disregard the mounting public outcry for the ouster of GMA. And the reasons why can never be something highly commendable for GMA, or something in which the administration can pin to themselves as a badge of honor.
To begin with, GMA’s infamous appeal to finish her term until 2010 is off the point precisely because she’s not even the president of this country. Whatever happened to “Hello, Garci”, it’s something our history can never be proud of.
And so we have those who seek refuge in the midst of uncertainty, those who take the ‘neutral’ side, perhaps not knowing where to go, or perhaps not knowing anything at all. Even more so, some are balancing the good and bad sides of things when the good is knowingly the side to take.
And so you have an illegitimate president with the wanton disregard for transparency, with the fear for China since God or Allah must have made the world and the rest is made in China, with the callous preference for the economy when you have an economy which cannot even account for the moral bankruptcy.
To say the least, we cannot just choose the middle road and embrace a decision that falls nowhere between the good of GMA and the good of the nation. GMA’s purported economic gains are presumed to be glaring and stares us right in the face, yet I could not even taste it. You assume the credit for the economic gains of this nation, you take away the credit from the OFWs who toil for the benefit of their families at the least and of the nation at the most. It’s more than evil. It’s grotesquely horrendous beyond moral salvation.
@ramrod
siguro you are also familiar with the fact that the bullets and armaments of the bandits in the south are the same as that of the soldiers…
nash,
But no 2 only works if there is mutual respect for everyone concerned. How do you gain respect from a bully then? You must always have an ace up your sleeve…
“siguro you are also familiar with the fact that the bullets and armaments of the bandits in the south are the same as that of the soldiers…” – nash
Yes. Shamefully, sold to them by soldiers…
Gotta go guys, early day tomorrow again!!!Watch yourselves!
@ramrod
“But no 2 only works if there is mutual respect for everyone concerned. How do you gain respect from a bully then? You must always have an ace up your sleeve…”
Ah yes…that big white elephant in the room eventually sneezes..
It will be a tough diplomatic struggle, no doubt. Still, it’s better to try hard on this aspect than send our children to their deaths over a silly piece of real estate…
nash,
I agree, I don’t believe in needless deaths. Life is too precious and too short to waste…
BrianB
If the law says that…then the book should not be thrown only at her but to all candidates who have spoken with the commissioners. Di puede selected lang. Yun actually ang problema ko sa mga anti GMA….dapat kung lahat may kasalanan, including GMA, lahat tanggal.
Uunahan ko na po ang mga rah-rah boys/girls ni GMA
“The Philippines gained slightly in the Human Development Index, but went below several notches in ranking among other nations, according to the United Nations Development Program. In its 2007-2008 report, the UNDP said the HDI value of the Philippines is 0.771 up from the 2006 level of 0.763.”
Hip hip hurray! GMA’s economic gains are trickling to the masses!
@tambay,
patay na yung isang nandaya at tumawag kay garci so hindi na siya pwidi kasuhan (barbers sr.)
Nash, the Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite of four variables: Life Expectancy, Adult Literacy Rate, Enrollment Ratio and per capit GDP. Comparing the latest report (which covers 2005) with the previous year’s (which covers 2004):
Life expectancy at birth increased slightly from 70.7 in the previous report to 71 years (+3.6 months).
Adult literacy rate stayed the same at 92.6% for both the previous and latest reports.
Entrollment ratio deteriorated from 82% in the previous report to 81.1%.
Per Capita GDP increased from 4,614 US Dollars (PPP) to 5,137 US Dollars.
The above means that the bulk of the increase of the HDI is because of increase in GDP per capita since the other variables had minimal change. However, we also know that per Capita GDP increase is the variable that is most questionable because the FIES presents contradictory data. So i would take that increase in HDI with a grain of salt.
@cvj
I wonder how they will spin it tomorrow?
1. HDI increased, wohoo!
2. But ranking decreased, bleh!
Hmm, dong puno must be having sleepless nights….
Civilization requires the forum for resolving all forms of disputes. Sometimes these institutions break down and they become the cause of the instability. Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and brought his army into Rome. Worse he brought Cleopatra into the picture. They killed him right in the Senate.
Today there are assertions of fact by certain people that our Queen and her husband are thieves. The political institutions have the right to delve into the issue as for them these are simply allegations. It is but natural thatanyone angling to become the next King or Queen will jump on this issue. That is what checks and balances mean.
If the executive shoots itself on the foot what do you expect the people who wish to succeed the Queen do? But when this starts resonating with more people then the general public will be drawn in and demand an inquiry.
Probable Cause has been established. We have not yet gotten to the standards point of beyond a reasonable doubt. That belongs to the trail itself.
However these allegations have become more serious. The Queen and her husband now are saying that it is time to stop these legal forums outside her jurisdiction and let the institutions under her take over the inquiry.
Unfortunately the independent constitutional authorities under the law, the COMELEC, the Ombudsman and even the COA have been co-opted and overpowered by her power over the dispensation of state largesses. Include in that the Lower House. No matter what we think of the individual senators that is the what country has right now standing over almost total control of the executive. Hence the targets of the government is the Senate itself. Read through all the blogs and see the intensity of the attacks on the Senate and the almost rabid attacks on the left. In spite of the almost Popish control of the extreme left by Joma, his message is politically correct as far as the root causes of the problems of the country. His group has lost all authority to be the messengers.
In this age of mass communication and instant messaging controlling the message has become the main game. The Church’s message on the media is meant for both sides.
Three TV channels are under government control. Only two papers have some sort of independent editorial board. The Inquirer and the Business World. The rest play the game with whomever is in power. The government has deep pockets. Remember that our financial system is simply a subsidiary of the U.S. state. Uncle Sam controls the gold and the guns that control the Philippines. As long as the dollar is the primary reserve of the Philippines, even our transactions with China is denominated in dollars comes under the purviews of the Federal Reserve. Citibank is our unofficial central bank. All dollar transactions are cleared though Citi.
ABS-CBN is somewhat independent. But if anyone has money to spend on any issue there are PR companies that will facilitate your message getting across with some newscasters and commentators in ABS-CBN.
The line between journalistic integrity is hard to define. Money talks and ethical standards sometimes have to match ones standards of living. The Monsods are typical of this problem. They used their closeness to the state to get to where they are today. The back room channeling at all levels of the institutions of the State are all well known.
Even former Chief Justice Panganiban admitted that when there are controversial issues before the court, they a receive pressure. It is common ethical practice that all ex-parte representations to a judge that this be made public to the parties involved in the conflict. U.S. Justice Scalia who went hunting with VP Cheney was asked to recuse himself from an issue concerning the VP. He refused since it was obvious that it was public knowledge.
The Church is demanding that people be more discerning and start to use their rational coconuts and not the rantings and ravings of simians.
Nash, the admin can spin by saying that the previous report had only 159 countries while the present report has 177. That means that in terms of percentage ranking, there was an improvement from 52.5% in the previous report to 50.5% in the current one.
Nevertheless, no matter how they spin it, the fact is that the component that is mainly responsible for such an increase, i.e. per capita GDP, is itself suspect. The unreliability of the per capita GDP figure has directly contaminated the HDI.
nash, to answer your questions, a sitting president cannot be removed, or prosecuted, except through impeachment. he/she cannot be indicted for a criminal offense while in office.
as far as i can see, there has been no allegation, much less admissible evidence, tending to show direct culpability of the president for any crime, either as principal or accomplice. on the basis of current allegations against her, i doubt very much that any vindictive prosecution after she finished her term would be successful. any talk, or attempt, to file a criminal complaint now against her is, i believe, nothing more than a cheap political charade designed to inflame the gullible in society.
btw, lynching is out of the question unless the anarchists (from both sides of the ideological world) have their day.
“probable cause has been established”. hvrds.
really? then where’s the indictment? and who “established” it? not the senate, i hope. i don’t think the senators are fit to determine “probable cause”.
“roadmapâ€Â
Why not put the pressure on De Castro? He is more vulnerable. No one will rescue him. Not even GMA.
The next in line is Villar. That guy is playing safe. He should step down as Senate President.
supreme, and what, may i ask, do you mean by “pressure”? fabricate some scandal; have it investigated by the senate; parade false witnesses; put la salle nuns and “brothers” in the gallery; have abs-cbn t.v. patrol crow about it day in and day out – until he resigns?
mindanaoan: “the CBCP statement just straightened the bishops who like to talk as if they represent the church. now we know how the majority of the bishops think. which, i guess, is also how the majority of the filipinos think.”
I beg to disagree. There’s no + correlation between how the bishops think and the masa thought. If a correlation does exist, it could be zero or insignificant.
You must be from Mindanao, right? You must know Bishop Capalla and Fr. Quiboloy who think the same way with respect to Gloria.
But have you ever heard Bishop Tony Ledesma speak? Have you heard how the ulama and the whole bishopry take the situation, as compared to how Mindanaoans do?
Don’t invoke the national, just the region where you supposedly come from or live. Maybe you got something interesting to say?
“nash, to answer your questions, a sitting president cannot be removed, or prosecuted, except through impeachment. he/she cannot be indicted for a criminal offense while in office.”
Every child knows that the political process of impeachment must be followed. Back to the process which is in the hands of a questionable institution.
The wham bang thank you ma’m form of lovemaking is simply fucking. Not the process of lovemaking. However extensive foreplay and the process of give and take is lovemaking.
The political process of removing the protective mantle over the President is a political process. Erap was removed by a political process affirmed by the SC. In that respect the minority spoke for the multitudes as the multitudes kept silent and thus affirmed the acts of the minority. That minority was the chain of command of the AFP and the police.
Everyone can stroke himself or try desperately to fellate himself to make himself feel good about what transpired.
Chief Justice Puno ruled the political action was an intra-constitutional act of removing the President under constructive resignation. A glaring piece of re-constructionist re-writing of the constitution.
In the course of the Watergate hearings Alexander Butterfield blurted out what no one expected to hear. Nixon had taped his conversations in the oval office.
Down the road Leon Jaworski subpoenaed the tapes. Jaworski was working under the Justice department. The SC ruled that Nixon had to release the tapes to confirm the allegations of then John Dean. They were in the process of the legal investigation based almost entirely on the John Dean testimony. The executive department under Justice working with the SC forced the truth out of the Nixon White House. Was Nixon ever impeached , No. Was he ever indicted No. He resigned. Everyone later heard his voice ordering his men to cover up the crime by ordering the FBI to stop the inquiry under a cloak of national security.
Even before he was indicted as was and is legal in the States he was pardoned.
All through out the hearings of Sam Earvin everything was what did he know and when did he know it. All allegations and assertions. (depending on which side of the fence one is)The trial itself was to be the impeachment trial to come to hear the triable issues.
One is hard pressed to put back the toothpaste back in the tube once it is released. Unless off course the parties involved could be persuaded between now and the date for filing a new impeachment complaint to migrate to Canada or Australia under the reverse witness protection problem.
Just ask Senator Lacson about that process. it is not about the Senate hearings per se. It is the information that has come out of it.
The standard for case filing in the U.S. is not knowledge to form a belief but information to from a belief.
As for impeachment it is totally different. Case in point: Libertarians in the U.S. believe that the establishment of the Federal Reserve is un-constitutional.
Civil Libertarians and contitutionalists beleive that the case for W’s impeachment for abuse of his war powers act is there. There is however no political outcry for it.
I wonder if everyone knows the basic difference between fucking and lovemaking? Even the Church promotes lovemaking.
Huwag lang kalimutan si Luisa Dominado at si Jay-Jay Burgos.
hvrds: you been fucked lately?
If the Senate really wants to find out the truth as well as present a credible and fair hearing, form and substance must go hand-in-hand. Calling the aides of Senator Jamby Madrigal and other non-performing solons! Please brief and prep your principals properly! Nakakahiya.
cvj,
Solita Monsod had a say in the formulation of HDI, and partly influenced the computation of GDP.
Am still doing research on Solita’s contribution to the GDP stuff. What’s clear so far is that she proposed the inclusion of unpaid women labor in the “income approach” to calculating GDP. And Romulo Virola recognized it and wrote a paper in Oct 2007.
I think you’re right. If GDP is proved to lack the desired validity, then we can also question the validity of HDI because it incorporates GDP as a component.
Besides law school and poli sci, where else is parliamentary procedures/rules of order taught? Is it even required reading for our distinguished and honorables?
the bishops, apparently, proposed the president voluntarily lift all claims to executive privilege, period:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=110574
The bishops will never take a stand against GMA. She is their ally vs. modern contraception. That is why they are so tolerant of all her government’s sleaze.
So basically GMA’s hands off approach to family planning pays off in terms of the bishops taking a less than assertive zero tolerance stance vs. all the sickening corruption of this administration.
Thanks Hawaiianguy. I came across this draft paper by Monsod on her proposal that you mentioned:
http://www.casablanca-dream.net/initiative/monsod_goa.html
As far as i know, her recommendation is not yet included in our GDP computations. I doubt the feasibility of what she’s proposing since unpaid household work is hard to quantify and pegging a value (on something that is not supported by an explicit buyer-seller exchange) may lead to absurd situations where women entering the labor force will result in a net reduction of GDP.
Also, going by her line of reasoning why stop at household work? Why not assign value to lovemaking (or fucking as the case may be) between couples in a household? For now, our economic authorities should just focus on getting the current measurements right.
cvj,
I concur with you there. Just because some countries like Canada have included unpaid women labor in their calculation of national accounts RP should also follow suit.
Besides, that makes current GDP even more unique and grossly incomparable to previous estimates. Right now, NCSB already admitted that current GDP (which goes back ot 2000) can’t be linked with the 1945-1999 series because of differences in methodology and content.