Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 09-18-2013 WED
The Yellow faction of the ruling class is laying the premise for the conviction by publicity of some of the leading lights of the political opposition. Consider these headlines: "3 senators amassed P581M in kickbacks" and "Exclusive: Napoles partied, joined Estrada family affairs," the latter of which unjustifiably drags the entire family into the picture.
The oligarchy's controlled mainstream and online media--from the Oink-quirer to Rap-purge--are blatantly sidestepping the main stories of the preeminent role of administration porkers (e.g., the Angaras and the Abads) in the entire pork system. While an administration ally like Ruffy Biazon has been included in the plunder case with Janet Lim-Napoles, the consensus is that such a move is mere tokenism.
Moreover, even if it has been repeatedly claimed that other administration allies will eventually be charged, the administration's operators are merely hoping that time and other issues will overtake the public's interest, allowing the Palace's protected species an easier exit.
This administration's complicity in the pork scams is as rooted to the system that has prevailed since 1986. As the inception of the pork barrel was made possible by the mother of the Yellow movement, Cory Aquino, how can we expect the son to be any different?
Former Senator and Marcos Press secretary Kit Tatad, who has reinforced his statesman stature several times over since retiring from elective politics, has written an exposé that has gone viral on the Internet of BS Aquino's day-long session with Napoles in Malacañang before the latter "surrendered."
Tatad exposed the secret August 28 closeting of Napoles with Lacierda and company in Malacañang before her publicized surrender, with BS Aquino joining them intermittently while attending to various events within the Palace grounds. Malacañang tries to belie the exposé by showing BS Aquino's engagement on that day, yet none of his scheduled activities negate Tatad's revelation about the closeting of Napoles in Malacañang.
But even without it, the general public had already believed that the suspicious behaviors of BS Aquino, Malacañang officials, and Cabinet members (e.g., calling Napoles "Ma'am," BS Aquino's deference to her, etc.) indicated long ties between the administration and Napoles.
Continuing with the Yellows' grand zarzuela, the other premise being laid that's farthest from the truth is that the "system" will now be cleansed with these plunder charges.
Truth is, the system will not change because the most fundamental cause of the corruption in our society persists and will become even stronger. The Tribune report of Charlie Manalo at the start of the week is more than enough proof: "'Epira flaws more costly than pork barrel scam – lawmaker'… The chairman of the House committee on energy wants a thorough review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), saying Filipinos may be losing more in high power rates compared to the alleged irregularities in the pork barrel funds involving businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles." Kudos to Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali for raising this issue and Manalo for reporting it.
Manalo's report points to one of the root causes of the disproportionate concentration of wealth in our society and how these powerful economic interests play the most dominant role in a "system" that will continue to corrupt politicians of all stripes through other means than pork to get the legislation they want in order to feed their greedy schemes.
These economic powers who control mainstream media and finance much of the organized PR within social media are also directing the selective campaign on pork and will likely call off their attack dogs only when the right time comes--which is just before they completely suck in the administration "sow-lons."
Rep. Umali will, thus, have to watch out from hereon as he will be a target of these oligarchs, given his comment on the public's losses from Epira dwarfing the cost of legislative pork.
On the international front, the premise being laid by Western media on Syria's chemical weapons use is that the evidence from the United Nations investigation points to Bashar al-Assad's government--that is, that the chemical canisters bearing Cyrillic (Russian) markings point to chemical weapons supplied to the Syrian government during the Soviet era; that the quantities were huge (350 liters) and fired by rockets, etc.
The problem is Western media had already been projecting these conclusions long before the UN investigators had submitted their official findings and before the voluminous report can even be read through by the UN Security Council.
As always, the game is propaganda--setting the premise even before audiences can get the facts straight. Citizens of the world, beware.
(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., also on www.gnntv-asia.com; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 09234095739)
The Yellow faction of the ruling class is laying the premise for the conviction by publicity of some of the leading lights of the political opposition. Consider these headlines: "3 senators amassed P581M in kickbacks" and "Exclusive: Napoles partied, joined Estrada family affairs," the latter of which unjustifiably drags the entire family into the picture.
The oligarchy's controlled mainstream and online media--from the Oink-quirer to Rap-purge--are blatantly sidestepping the main stories of the preeminent role of administration porkers (e.g., the Angaras and the Abads) in the entire pork system. While an administration ally like Ruffy Biazon has been included in the plunder case with Janet Lim-Napoles, the consensus is that such a move is mere tokenism.
Moreover, even if it has been repeatedly claimed that other administration allies will eventually be charged, the administration's operators are merely hoping that time and other issues will overtake the public's interest, allowing the Palace's protected species an easier exit.
This administration's complicity in the pork scams is as rooted to the system that has prevailed since 1986. As the inception of the pork barrel was made possible by the mother of the Yellow movement, Cory Aquino, how can we expect the son to be any different?
Former Senator and Marcos Press secretary Kit Tatad, who has reinforced his statesman stature several times over since retiring from elective politics, has written an exposé that has gone viral on the Internet of BS Aquino's day-long session with Napoles in Malacañang before the latter "surrendered."
Tatad exposed the secret August 28 closeting of Napoles with Lacierda and company in Malacañang before her publicized surrender, with BS Aquino joining them intermittently while attending to various events within the Palace grounds. Malacañang tries to belie the exposé by showing BS Aquino's engagement on that day, yet none of his scheduled activities negate Tatad's revelation about the closeting of Napoles in Malacañang.
But even without it, the general public had already believed that the suspicious behaviors of BS Aquino, Malacañang officials, and Cabinet members (e.g., calling Napoles "Ma'am," BS Aquino's deference to her, etc.) indicated long ties between the administration and Napoles.
Continuing with the Yellows' grand zarzuela, the other premise being laid that's farthest from the truth is that the "system" will now be cleansed with these plunder charges.
Truth is, the system will not change because the most fundamental cause of the corruption in our society persists and will become even stronger. The Tribune report of Charlie Manalo at the start of the week is more than enough proof: "'Epira flaws more costly than pork barrel scam – lawmaker'… The chairman of the House committee on energy wants a thorough review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), saying Filipinos may be losing more in high power rates compared to the alleged irregularities in the pork barrel funds involving businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles." Kudos to Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali for raising this issue and Manalo for reporting it.
Manalo's report points to one of the root causes of the disproportionate concentration of wealth in our society and how these powerful economic interests play the most dominant role in a "system" that will continue to corrupt politicians of all stripes through other means than pork to get the legislation they want in order to feed their greedy schemes.
These economic powers who control mainstream media and finance much of the organized PR within social media are also directing the selective campaign on pork and will likely call off their attack dogs only when the right time comes--which is just before they completely suck in the administration "sow-lons."
Rep. Umali will, thus, have to watch out from hereon as he will be a target of these oligarchs, given his comment on the public's losses from Epira dwarfing the cost of legislative pork.
On the international front, the premise being laid by Western media on Syria's chemical weapons use is that the evidence from the United Nations investigation points to Bashar al-Assad's government--that is, that the chemical canisters bearing Cyrillic (Russian) markings point to chemical weapons supplied to the Syrian government during the Soviet era; that the quantities were huge (350 liters) and fired by rockets, etc.
The problem is Western media had already been projecting these conclusions long before the UN investigators had submitted their official findings and before the voluminous report can even be read through by the UN Security Council.
As always, the game is propaganda--setting the premise even before audiences can get the facts straight. Citizens of the world, beware.
(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., also on www.gnntv-asia.com; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 09234095739)
