DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / May 14, 2014 / Daily Tribune
Mike Whitney, writing in Counterpunch, an independent US political Web site, on May 12 spoke of how “US Media Ignores Putin’s Peace Plan” because they “(do not) want people to know that Putin is not the ghoulish, authoritarian caricature he’s portrayed to be, but a levelheaded pragmatist who wants a swift and peaceful resolution to the (Ukrainian) crisis.”
Whitney further wrote: “Putin is a plain-speaking guy who shoots from the hip and says what he means. He’s not a bullsh*tter…”
That reminded me of a Filipino political leader, President-Mayor Joseph Estrada, who last Monday showed the Philippine media and public that he means what he says; such that wherever he is becomes a “no-bullsh*t zone.”
That occasion marked the City of Manila opening its doors to its “Command Center,” showing on a video wall the size of a fourth of a volleyball court actual, real-time scenes captured by closed-circuit television cameras across Manila’s critical areas of traffic, security, and sanitation concerns. When Estrada launched his candidacy for the mayorship of Manila, he pledged to clear up traffic and clean up the fiscal, governance, and sanitation situations. There were many skeptics. Now the video wall that a horde of media reporters and cameramen witnessed gave evidence to Estrada’s accomplishment of that pledge. No bullshi*t. It was right there: Divisoria, T.M. Kalaw, Adriatico, and a dozen other scenes — clear of traffic jams and mess.
Manila Mayor Estrada, with his Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, reported other details such as the R-10 expansion to an all eight-lane road to decongest the port area. Sixteen thousand “urban poor” houses and 32,000 families (squatter houses usually house two families) have been removed and relocated to sites in Batangas, Laguna, and some in on-site developments — with titles to their new homes. Manila raised revenues which should have resolved the City’s fiscal woes. Then something came from out from left field — city hall employees’ withholding taxes of over P680 million due to the Bureau of Internal Revenue from 2007 to 2011 were never remitted by the previous administration; but Estrada is confident it will be overcome.
Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson to “Honorable President Mayor” Estrada in his agency’s request for the “moratorium on the truck ban… from May 13 to 20 (noontime), 2014 for 8 days in preparation for the World Economic Forum to be hosted by the Philippines from May 21 to 23, 2014.” The addition of “honorable” is apropos, as speaking in a clear tongue as Estrada does, is such a rarity in Philippine politics today. Plain talking reflects the integrity of word and deed, and a mark of honor — in contrast to the bullsh*t the public is getting today on the Napoles list and most everything else. I digress because the hypocritical, forked-tongues playing on the Napoles list need commenting.
Their hypocrisy is in direct contrast to the praise in this piece for integrity in talk and deed. On the issue of corruption, the self-righteous shams from stripteasing De Lima to Aquino to Lacson portray them as if they are immaculately white when their obscene Napoles striptease are but one of the many acts on the stage of the anti-corruption zarzuela being played out. In belaboring their immaculateness they believe they have no need to perform in real life, no requisite to deliver improvements in lives of the people and the nation that can be felt, enjoyed, and believed in. These people have made the entire country a Bullsh*t Zone. Now, BS Aquino has gotten in on the act to obfuscate the List.
Back to Manila, the city is bending backward to accommodate 6,000 trucks in batches of 200 trucks per hour for eight days — for the World Economic Forum. Local and foreign chambers of commerce shrilly protested the truck ban, accusing it of hurting the economy (Inquirer, “Manila truck ban pits Estrada vs business org,” Feb. 5).
The truck ban began February. At the Command Center press conference, Estrada held up a copy of one of the business sector’s favorite papers with the Inquirer’s May 10 headline, “S&P gives Philippine another credit upgrade,” to belie the business sector’s claim. The Big Business sector is just as self-serving as BS Aquino is too willing to sacrifice the public for their business bottomline.
Ironically, the World Economic Forum (WEF), established in 1971, will convene in Estrada’s “No-BS Zone” on May 21 while the organization presides over a world economy where, Oxfam says, “85 people now own 50 percent of world’s wealth,” and the Philippines, which this 23rd WEF describes as “poised to be the strongest performing economy in Southeast Asia,” was reported May 13 by local papers to be where “More self-rated poor went hungry.”
(Tune in to “Sulo ng Pilipino” on 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; catch GNN’s Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on “Power blackmail in Mindanao;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)
Mike Whitney, writing in Counterpunch, an independent US political Web site, on May 12 spoke of how “US Media Ignores Putin’s Peace Plan” because they “(do not) want people to know that Putin is not the ghoulish, authoritarian caricature he’s portrayed to be, but a levelheaded pragmatist who wants a swift and peaceful resolution to the (Ukrainian) crisis.”
Whitney further wrote: “Putin is a plain-speaking guy who shoots from the hip and says what he means. He’s not a bullsh*tter…”
That reminded me of a Filipino political leader, President-Mayor Joseph Estrada, who last Monday showed the Philippine media and public that he means what he says; such that wherever he is becomes a “no-bullsh*t zone.”
That occasion marked the City of Manila opening its doors to its “Command Center,” showing on a video wall the size of a fourth of a volleyball court actual, real-time scenes captured by closed-circuit television cameras across Manila’s critical areas of traffic, security, and sanitation concerns. When Estrada launched his candidacy for the mayorship of Manila, he pledged to clear up traffic and clean up the fiscal, governance, and sanitation situations. There were many skeptics. Now the video wall that a horde of media reporters and cameramen witnessed gave evidence to Estrada’s accomplishment of that pledge. No bullshi*t. It was right there: Divisoria, T.M. Kalaw, Adriatico, and a dozen other scenes — clear of traffic jams and mess.
Manila Mayor Estrada, with his Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, reported other details such as the R-10 expansion to an all eight-lane road to decongest the port area. Sixteen thousand “urban poor” houses and 32,000 families (squatter houses usually house two families) have been removed and relocated to sites in Batangas, Laguna, and some in on-site developments — with titles to their new homes. Manila raised revenues which should have resolved the City’s fiscal woes. Then something came from out from left field — city hall employees’ withholding taxes of over P680 million due to the Bureau of Internal Revenue from 2007 to 2011 were never remitted by the previous administration; but Estrada is confident it will be overcome.
Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson to “Honorable President Mayor” Estrada in his agency’s request for the “moratorium on the truck ban… from May 13 to 20 (noontime), 2014 for 8 days in preparation for the World Economic Forum to be hosted by the Philippines from May 21 to 23, 2014.” The addition of “honorable” is apropos, as speaking in a clear tongue as Estrada does, is such a rarity in Philippine politics today. Plain talking reflects the integrity of word and deed, and a mark of honor — in contrast to the bullsh*t the public is getting today on the Napoles list and most everything else. I digress because the hypocritical, forked-tongues playing on the Napoles list need commenting.
Their hypocrisy is in direct contrast to the praise in this piece for integrity in talk and deed. On the issue of corruption, the self-righteous shams from stripteasing De Lima to Aquino to Lacson portray them as if they are immaculately white when their obscene Napoles striptease are but one of the many acts on the stage of the anti-corruption zarzuela being played out. In belaboring their immaculateness they believe they have no need to perform in real life, no requisite to deliver improvements in lives of the people and the nation that can be felt, enjoyed, and believed in. These people have made the entire country a Bullsh*t Zone. Now, BS Aquino has gotten in on the act to obfuscate the List.
Back to Manila, the city is bending backward to accommodate 6,000 trucks in batches of 200 trucks per hour for eight days — for the World Economic Forum. Local and foreign chambers of commerce shrilly protested the truck ban, accusing it of hurting the economy (Inquirer, “Manila truck ban pits Estrada vs business org,” Feb. 5).
The truck ban began February. At the Command Center press conference, Estrada held up a copy of one of the business sector’s favorite papers with the Inquirer’s May 10 headline, “S&P gives Philippine another credit upgrade,” to belie the business sector’s claim. The Big Business sector is just as self-serving as BS Aquino is too willing to sacrifice the public for their business bottomline.
Ironically, the World Economic Forum (WEF), established in 1971, will convene in Estrada’s “No-BS Zone” on May 21 while the organization presides over a world economy where, Oxfam says, “85 people now own 50 percent of world’s wealth,” and the Philippines, which this 23rd WEF describes as “poised to be the strongest performing economy in Southeast Asia,” was reported May 13 by local papers to be where “More self-rated poor went hungry.”
(Tune in to “Sulo ng Pilipino” on 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; catch GNN’s Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on “Power blackmail in Mindanao;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)
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