DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
7/22/2011
“First they ignore it, then they laugh at it, then they say they knew it all along.” — Alexander Humbold
Such was what the Edsa III masa and their populist supporters witnessed when they said that cheating in the 2004 elections was massive and incontrovertible. They were ignored. They were taunted. Rival candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in trying to paint FPJ and his supporters as sour-grapes, even said, “Those who can’t protect their votes don’t have the right to run,” while others such as Akbayan’s Etta Rosales stood idly by to acclaim Gloria Arroyo’s stealth congressional proclamation in the dark, wee hours before dawn of June 23, 2004, as the nation slumbered.
FPJ supporters rallied and demonstrated. A memorable one was at the Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City, where we were dispersed after being cornered at the nearby McDonald’s outlet. A long chase ensued through the evening, ending up at Sto. Domingo Church, without any of us having an inkling that the next time we would converge there was to attend FPJ’s wake and kick-off the longest funeral queue in Philippine history.
Where are the notorious names we exposed in 2004? Where are Generals Esperon, Kyamko, Quevedo, Tolentino, Villanueva, Allaga, Pajarito, Habacon, Garcia; Rear Admiral De Leon; Colonels Ortiz, Baclayon, Gapay, Ardo, Lucero, Lactao, Pangilinan, Segovia, Gupana, Sumaylo, Capuyan; Majors Musngi, Masa, Nicolas, Sison; Garci wiretappers Col. Sumalo and Capuyan; Maj. Teofilo; SG Sage; and, of course, former Defense Secretaries (and retired generals) Hermogenes Ebdane and Eduardo Ermita, who went around military camps while using the military’s resources in campaigning against FPJ, telling soldiers, “Of course you will not vote for an actor… we should vote for the candidate who has the experience, appropriate academic background… etc.” in support of their patron Gloria?
At the same time, we also remember those servicemen with conscience who kept their integrity whole, such as Gen. Frank Gudani who faced court martial for being a so-called “erring personnel” as well as Col. Alex Balutan.
We also remember with disdain those civilians and politicians who were involved directly or indirectly, overtly or tacitly, in that dark episode by their silence. People should be reminded of the complicity of both the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), which didn’t do anything but cover-up for the massive electoral fraud. Same goes for others such as “Mr. Noted” Kiko Pangilinan, Cory Aquino, Frank Drilon, “Hyatt 10,” and other participants.
The cheating in 2004 didn’t just include the so-called “Arroyo Generals” but the whole system that was established in Edsa II to ensure the continuity of what was started in 2001, which was to keep President Estrada in continued detention while averting the scuttling of a fast-tracked era of globalization, privatization and the corporatization of the Philippines, as well as the consolidation of Epira and the privatization of TransCo, etc., with an FPJ sitting in Malacañang.
After all, they must have known that FPJ’s first act in signaling his candidacy was to attend the anti-globalization conference of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in UP.
But even as things didn’t go the nation’s way, FPJ supporters, including the most prominent of them all, President Joseph Estrada, who was working behind the scenes despite his incarceration at Tanay, still did not rest in their campaign to expose the truth.
Then, “Hello Garci” emerged.
The link to the sources back then was not yet timely to reveal, as security implications outweighed other considerations; but Samuel Ong and Sgt. Vidal Doble finally surfaced the tapes that provided incontrovertible proof of Arroyo’s direct hand in cheating operations. Subsequently, cellphone videos of some of the military’s cheating operations also emerged.
Scrambling to control the damage, GMA spokesman Ignacio Bunye obfuscated by producing a fake version of the tapes, before the issue went to Congress where, most significantly, then Rep. Noynoy Aquino voted not to play the real tapes.
The involvement of the military led to the Mayuga Commission which, to this day, has not been allowed to release its full report to the public (perhaps to allow Garcillano a chance to still preempt the Mayuga report?).
The Comelec at that time was perceive to be among the most guilty; and that was the root of the megalomania of Ben Abalos who allegedly said to the Chinese ZTE officials, “I am the most powerful man in the Philippines,” knowing that he could expose everything Gloria anytime did if he didn’t get his way.
How correct Greek dramatist Euripides was when he said, “Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.” It was a mad era. The post-2001 Edsa II power grab and the 2004 election cheating age was one when those in power believed they could manipulate everything and get away with it forever. It was a time when black became white, good became bad, and the cheats ruled the law. But one-by-one, the Mad Hatters fell… (who next after Angie Reyes?)
A history of the Mad Era of the Arroyo government obviously can’t be chronicled here in full. We don’t even have enough space for the complicity of mainstream media, including the iconic columnists of some major newspapers.
But as this is only a gist, we will cap it off by acknowledging those who fought for FPJ’s vindication when certain quarters ignored and taunted them: The FPJ movements that are too many to mention; the FPJ voters; President Estrada; the Bagong Katipuneros (Magdalos) and the Para sa Bayan military groups; as well as those who still suffer injustice for standing up against Edsa II, such as lawyer Alan Paguia, still suspended by the Supreme Court when all that he stood up for are now being vindicated. While we are sad about FPJ’s daughter who apparently loves those who tormented her father more than those who supported him, we finally have to acknowledge the late FPJ’s courageous wife, Susan Roces, for continuing this fight, too.
(Tune in to Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m., and Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “DoST Expo 2011: Ignite the Mind”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio)
Friday, July 22, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
"Hello, Garci" - Revisited
Alan F. Paguia
Former Professor of Law
Ateneo Law School
University of Batangas
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
alanpaguia@yahoo.com
July 20, 2011
In the presidential elections of 2004, did Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) cheat and win over Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ) by more than ONE MILLION (1,000,000) votes, with the connivance of then Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano per the recorded or taped telephone conversation between GMA and Garcillano?
It is respectfully submitted the answer is YES.
MATERIAL FACTS
1. On June 8, 2005, Rep. Francis Escudero delivered a privilege speech before the House of Representatives citing recorded telephone conversations between respondent Garcillano and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, wherein the two (2) communicants talked about and agreed to ensure the electoral victory of Mrs. Arroyo by at least one million (1,000,000) votes over her closest rival, Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ).
2. On June 27, 2005, the recorded telephone conversations were publicly admitted and apologized for by Mrs. Arroyo in a speech aired over national radio and television. On the same date, a complaint for impeachment against Mrs. Arroyo was filed with the House of Representatives by Atty. Oliver O. Lozano.
3. On June 28, 2005, Atty. Lozano filed with the House of Representatives his Supplemental Complaint for Impeachment versus Mrs. Arroyo. Congressional records show Atty. Lozano’s complaint and supplemental complaint were endorsed by Rep. Rodante D. Marcoleta by way of an undated one-page Resolution of Endorsement, and another one-page verification of his endorsement subscribed and sworn to on June 29, 2005.
4. On June 30, 2005, the joint committee hearing of the House of Representatives (Committees on Public Information, on Public Order and Safety, on National Defense and Security, on Information Communications Technology, and on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms) officially played the compact disc (CD) of Alan F. Paguia which contained the recording of the aforementioned telephone conversations between Garcillano and Mrs. Arroyo.
5. On July 4, 2005, Paguia received a subpoena duces tecum, dated June 30, 2005, and a letter of invitation from the Committee on Public Information of the House of Representatives, dated July 4, 2004, which required him to testify and provide inputs to the joint committee hearings.
6. On July 18, 2005, Mrs. Arroyo duly filed her verified 13-page ANSWER EX ABUNDANTE AD CAUTELAM with the House of Representatives, with the following prayer for specific remedies:
“WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that the Complaint for Impeachment dated 27 June 2005 and the Supplemental Complaint for Impeachment dated 28 June 2005 filed by Atty. Oliver O. Lozano, and endorsed by Rep. Rodante D. Marcoleta of the Alagad Party List in his Resolution of Endorsement dated 29 June 2005, be dismissed.
Other reliefs just and equitable under the premises are likewise prayed for.”
7. The recorded voice of respondent Garcillano was positively identified: (a) by Rep. Jun Macarambon during the official House proceedings where he admitted having had telephone conversations during the same material period with respondent Garcillano whom he referred to several times as “Commissioner Garci;” and (b) by respondent Mrs. Arroyo herself who referred to Commissioner Garcillano as “Garci” in the taped conversation.
8. The recorded voice of respondent Mrs. Arroyo and her recorded conversation with respondent Garcillano was subsequently admitted by her in certain public statements.
9. The voices of both GMA and Garcillano are matters of public knowledge.
10. The voice of Garcillano is personally known to his former co-Commissioners in the Comelec. It is within the mandatory quasi-judicial or judicial notice of the Commission.
Sole Issue
11. WHETHER THE COMELEC, ON THE BASES OF THE RECORDED CONVERSATIONS AND PUBLIC STATEMENTS, SHOULD INVESTIGATE MRS. ARROYO AND GARCILLANO FOR ELECTION FRAUDS, OFFENSES AND MALPRACTICES IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITS DUTY UNDER SECTION 2, ARTICLE IX-C OF THE 1987 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION?
It is respectfully submitted the answer is YES.
ARGUMENTS
12. When GMA and Garcillano came to an agreement and decided to ensure the electoral victory of Mrs. Arroyo by at least one million (1,000,000) votes over her closest rival presidential candidate, they conspired by misrepresenting the final result of the elections in her favor.
13. Mrs. Arroyo has publicly admitted the existence of the issue of the voice recordings.
14. She has officially admitted the public deserves an explanation from her.
15. She has admitted having telephone conversations during the election canvassing process with Garcillano whom she referred to in the recorded conversations as “Garci.”
16. Mrs. Arroyo has not denied it was her voice which was recorded conversing with Garcillano in the taped conversations in spite of so much opportunity to do so.
17. Her defense - to the effect that it was not her intent to influence the outcome of the election – is immaterial. Election offenses are covered by special laws which are mala prohibita. It is elementary in law that in mala prohibita offenses, intent is not an element.
18. Mrs. Arroyo has publicly admitted having committed the wrongful act of making a telephone call to Garcillano and discussing with him the protection of her votes and ensuring her margin by at least one million (1,000,000) votes over FPJ. She characterized her wrongful act as “a lapse in judgment” and publicly apologized as follows:
“Nagagambala ako. Maliwanag na may kakulangan sa wastong pagpapasya ang nangyaring pagtawag sa telepono. Pinagsisisihan ko ito ng lubos. Pinananagutan ko nang lubusan ang aking mga ginawa at humihingi ako ng tawad sa inyo, sa lahat ng mga butihing mamamayan na nabawasan ng tiwala dahil sa mga pangyayaring ito. …”
19. The verified Answer in the complaint for impeachment against her was signed jointly by Mrs. Arroyo and her legal counsel, Atty. Pedro Ferrer. In other words, she had:
(a) publicly joined issues with Atty. Lozano’s complaint/supplemental complaint; and
(b) voluntarily submitted herself to the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives.
She has thereby waived any legal immunity from investigation; and is further estopped from invoking any such immunity.
20. The playing of the recorded telephone conversation between GMA and Garcillano, in Congress constitutes an official act of the legislature, which is within the mandatory quasi-judicial notice of the Comelec.
21. The public interest over the subject recorded telephone conversations necessarily prevails over any private interest.
Complaint filed on March 6, 2007
22. On March 5, 2007, then Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra stated in a nationally televised interview that the Comelec has taken no action on the “Hello, Garci” controversy for the simple reason that no one has filed a corresponding complaint before the Commission.
23. On March 6, 2007, Paguia filed with the Comelec/Law Department, his Complaint-Affidavit bearing the same date, versus Garcillano and Mrs. Arroyo, praying for the Comelec to investigate the respondents in accordance with its duty under Section 2, Article IX-C of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, and Rule 34, Comelec Rules of Procedure.
The original complaint was duly accompanied by supporting evidence, namely:
LIST OF EXHIBITS
A - Rep. Francis Escudero’s privilege speech, dated June 8, 2005
B - GMA’s "I am sorry" speech, dated June 27, 2005
C - Atty. Lozano’s complaint, dated June 27, 2005
D - Supplemental Complaint, dated June 28, 2005
E - Resolution of Endorsement, undated
F - Verification of Endorsement, dated June 29, 2005
G - "Hello, Garci" Compact Disc (CD), 36-minute recording
H - Subpoena duces tecum, dated June 30, 2005
I - Letter of Invitation, dated July 4, 2005
J - GMA's “Answer ex abundante ad cautelam”, dated July 18, 2005
Epilogue
24. From March 6, 2007 up to this writing, or a period of more than FOUR (4) YEARS, the Comelec and its commissioners appear to have chosen to SIT and TAKE NO ACTION on the Complaint-Affidavit. Since the complaint has not been dismissed, it follows the controversy remains LEGALLY ALIVE.
25. How much more time will the Comelec take until it performs its constitutional duty to investigate Garcillano and Mrs. Arroyo?
The sovereign Filipino people are waiting.
Former Professor of Law
Ateneo Law School
University of Batangas
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
alanpaguia@yahoo.com
July 20, 2011
In the presidential elections of 2004, did Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) cheat and win over Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ) by more than ONE MILLION (1,000,000) votes, with the connivance of then Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano per the recorded or taped telephone conversation between GMA and Garcillano?
It is respectfully submitted the answer is YES.
MATERIAL FACTS
1. On June 8, 2005, Rep. Francis Escudero delivered a privilege speech before the House of Representatives citing recorded telephone conversations between respondent Garcillano and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, wherein the two (2) communicants talked about and agreed to ensure the electoral victory of Mrs. Arroyo by at least one million (1,000,000) votes over her closest rival, Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ).
2. On June 27, 2005, the recorded telephone conversations were publicly admitted and apologized for by Mrs. Arroyo in a speech aired over national radio and television. On the same date, a complaint for impeachment against Mrs. Arroyo was filed with the House of Representatives by Atty. Oliver O. Lozano.
3. On June 28, 2005, Atty. Lozano filed with the House of Representatives his Supplemental Complaint for Impeachment versus Mrs. Arroyo. Congressional records show Atty. Lozano’s complaint and supplemental complaint were endorsed by Rep. Rodante D. Marcoleta by way of an undated one-page Resolution of Endorsement, and another one-page verification of his endorsement subscribed and sworn to on June 29, 2005.
4. On June 30, 2005, the joint committee hearing of the House of Representatives (Committees on Public Information, on Public Order and Safety, on National Defense and Security, on Information Communications Technology, and on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms) officially played the compact disc (CD) of Alan F. Paguia which contained the recording of the aforementioned telephone conversations between Garcillano and Mrs. Arroyo.
5. On July 4, 2005, Paguia received a subpoena duces tecum, dated June 30, 2005, and a letter of invitation from the Committee on Public Information of the House of Representatives, dated July 4, 2004, which required him to testify and provide inputs to the joint committee hearings.
6. On July 18, 2005, Mrs. Arroyo duly filed her verified 13-page ANSWER EX ABUNDANTE AD CAUTELAM with the House of Representatives, with the following prayer for specific remedies:
“WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that the Complaint for Impeachment dated 27 June 2005 and the Supplemental Complaint for Impeachment dated 28 June 2005 filed by Atty. Oliver O. Lozano, and endorsed by Rep. Rodante D. Marcoleta of the Alagad Party List in his Resolution of Endorsement dated 29 June 2005, be dismissed.
Other reliefs just and equitable under the premises are likewise prayed for.”
7. The recorded voice of respondent Garcillano was positively identified: (a) by Rep. Jun Macarambon during the official House proceedings where he admitted having had telephone conversations during the same material period with respondent Garcillano whom he referred to several times as “Commissioner Garci;” and (b) by respondent Mrs. Arroyo herself who referred to Commissioner Garcillano as “Garci” in the taped conversation.
8. The recorded voice of respondent Mrs. Arroyo and her recorded conversation with respondent Garcillano was subsequently admitted by her in certain public statements.
9. The voices of both GMA and Garcillano are matters of public knowledge.
10. The voice of Garcillano is personally known to his former co-Commissioners in the Comelec. It is within the mandatory quasi-judicial or judicial notice of the Commission.
Sole Issue
11. WHETHER THE COMELEC, ON THE BASES OF THE RECORDED CONVERSATIONS AND PUBLIC STATEMENTS, SHOULD INVESTIGATE MRS. ARROYO AND GARCILLANO FOR ELECTION FRAUDS, OFFENSES AND MALPRACTICES IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITS DUTY UNDER SECTION 2, ARTICLE IX-C OF THE 1987 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION?
It is respectfully submitted the answer is YES.
ARGUMENTS
12. When GMA and Garcillano came to an agreement and decided to ensure the electoral victory of Mrs. Arroyo by at least one million (1,000,000) votes over her closest rival presidential candidate, they conspired by misrepresenting the final result of the elections in her favor.
13. Mrs. Arroyo has publicly admitted the existence of the issue of the voice recordings.
14. She has officially admitted the public deserves an explanation from her.
15. She has admitted having telephone conversations during the election canvassing process with Garcillano whom she referred to in the recorded conversations as “Garci.”
16. Mrs. Arroyo has not denied it was her voice which was recorded conversing with Garcillano in the taped conversations in spite of so much opportunity to do so.
17. Her defense - to the effect that it was not her intent to influence the outcome of the election – is immaterial. Election offenses are covered by special laws which are mala prohibita. It is elementary in law that in mala prohibita offenses, intent is not an element.
18. Mrs. Arroyo has publicly admitted having committed the wrongful act of making a telephone call to Garcillano and discussing with him the protection of her votes and ensuring her margin by at least one million (1,000,000) votes over FPJ. She characterized her wrongful act as “a lapse in judgment” and publicly apologized as follows:
“Nagagambala ako. Maliwanag na may kakulangan sa wastong pagpapasya ang nangyaring pagtawag sa telepono. Pinagsisisihan ko ito ng lubos. Pinananagutan ko nang lubusan ang aking mga ginawa at humihingi ako ng tawad sa inyo, sa lahat ng mga butihing mamamayan na nabawasan ng tiwala dahil sa mga pangyayaring ito. …”
19. The verified Answer in the complaint for impeachment against her was signed jointly by Mrs. Arroyo and her legal counsel, Atty. Pedro Ferrer. In other words, she had:
(a) publicly joined issues with Atty. Lozano’s complaint/supplemental complaint; and
(b) voluntarily submitted herself to the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives.
She has thereby waived any legal immunity from investigation; and is further estopped from invoking any such immunity.
20. The playing of the recorded telephone conversation between GMA and Garcillano, in Congress constitutes an official act of the legislature, which is within the mandatory quasi-judicial notice of the Comelec.
21. The public interest over the subject recorded telephone conversations necessarily prevails over any private interest.
Complaint filed on March 6, 2007
22. On March 5, 2007, then Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra stated in a nationally televised interview that the Comelec has taken no action on the “Hello, Garci” controversy for the simple reason that no one has filed a corresponding complaint before the Commission.
23. On March 6, 2007, Paguia filed with the Comelec/Law Department, his Complaint-Affidavit bearing the same date, versus Garcillano and Mrs. Arroyo, praying for the Comelec to investigate the respondents in accordance with its duty under Section 2, Article IX-C of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, and Rule 34, Comelec Rules of Procedure.
The original complaint was duly accompanied by supporting evidence, namely:
LIST OF EXHIBITS
A - Rep. Francis Escudero’s privilege speech, dated June 8, 2005
B - GMA’s "I am sorry" speech, dated June 27, 2005
C - Atty. Lozano’s complaint, dated June 27, 2005
D - Supplemental Complaint, dated June 28, 2005
E - Resolution of Endorsement, undated
F - Verification of Endorsement, dated June 29, 2005
G - "Hello, Garci" Compact Disc (CD), 36-minute recording
H - Subpoena duces tecum, dated June 30, 2005
I - Letter of Invitation, dated July 4, 2005
J - GMA's “Answer ex abundante ad cautelam”, dated July 18, 2005
Epilogue
24. From March 6, 2007 up to this writing, or a period of more than FOUR (4) YEARS, the Comelec and its commissioners appear to have chosen to SIT and TAKE NO ACTION on the Complaint-Affidavit. Since the complaint has not been dismissed, it follows the controversy remains LEGALLY ALIVE.
25. How much more time will the Comelec take until it performs its constitutional duty to investigate Garcillano and Mrs. Arroyo?
The sovereign Filipino people are waiting.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Politics, PCSO & Zubiri: The Philippine Disease
YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
Linggoy Alcuaz
7/18-24/2011
Walang pagbabago! Ganoon pa rin! Walang patutunguan!
When I was five years old, my mother, Rosa Zaragosa Araneta Alcuaz, brought me to Nacionalista and Landsdale presidential candidate, Ramon Magsaysay, in his Sta. Mesa home. He sat me on his lap and put on a campaign pin on my shirt.
I believed in him as the savior of the Philippines.
I believed the CIA propaganda.
I believed that President Elpidio Syquia Quirino from Vigan, Ilocos Sur was the Filipino devil-incarnate. He was guilty of a trilogy of sins. He had a Golden Urinola under his bed. The bed was big and expensive while he was already a widower. The third and last sin had something to do with the Tambobong Estate.
In late March 1957, when the news broke that the presidential plane, Mt. Pinatubo, had crashed soon after taking off from Cebu’s Lapu-Lapu Airport, that moment was forever engraved in my memory.
I was in the same part of our dining room where I usually type both my English and Pilipino columns. It was early evening. We did not have a TV yet. We got the news from a table top AM/FM radio.
In a flash, our hopes were extinguished.
Do Gooders!
The reformist Magsaysay boys split from the Nacionalista Party and organized their own party.
And so, for the next decade, my mother’s family supported the PPP (1957 & 1965), Grand Alliance (1959), and the United Opposition Party (1961). We lost three of the four elections. We only won in 1961 because we were coalesced with 1957-1961 Vice President Diosdado Macapagal.
However, our unity with him did not last long. He was suspected and accused of graft and corruption. However, he lost his hidden wealth when his Secretary of Finance and suspected moneybags, Feny Hechanova, died from gas suffocation in Europe.
In 1965, then Senate President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos jumped from the Liberal Party to the Nacionalista Party. He beat the native aspirants as well as another import, 1961-1965 Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez, in the party convention.
Marcos won the November 1965 elections partly because of the backlash to Macapagal caused by the suppression of the movie version of FM’s biography, “For Every Tear a Victory!”
Full-time Activist
In November 1965, when I assumed command of the Ateneo de Manila High School Pre-Military Training Corps of Cadets, I quoted Marcos’s favorite slogan, ”This Nation can be Great Again”.
When Marcos and Vice President Fernando Lopez were re-elected and defeated Serging Osmeňa, Jr. and Genaro Magsaysay in November 1969, I dropped out of my last semester in college in order to become a full-time activist.
I had been recruited in my first year by Jesuit Fr. Jose Blanco and Ateneo History Professor Rolando Quintos to be a cadre in the moderate, as opposed to radical, wing of student and youth activism.
We were very successful in our politicalizing, organizing, mobilizing, and protesting.
Martial Law
When Marcos, Enrile, et al. implemented Proclamation 1081 declaring Martial Law, on a Friday evening, September 1972, we were meeting overnight. We were planning our strategy for the November 1973 national elections.
A pragmatic group among the reformists was pushing to coalesce again with the Liberal Party.
This time around, we were negotiating with LP President and Senator Gerardo Roxas.
With just one stroke of the pen, Marcos dashed all our dreams, hopes and visions for our country and people.
He stole thirteen and a half years from all those who were into activism and politics.
Hope and Expectations
There were occasions that gave us back our faith, our hopes, and our love of country and people.
There was the night of April 6, 1978.
On the eve of the 1978 region-wide Interim Batasan Pambansa elections, a whisper and word-of-mouth campaign brought the greater part of Metro Manila’s residents out in the streets to show their real feelings about the Marcos regime by making noise.
What was planned to be a few minutes of defiance turned into an overnight overflow of suppressed emotions.
Then again, there were the four nights and three days of EDSA Uno (February 22-25, 1986).
For those who hate Trapos and traditional campaigns and elections, the May 1992 elections gave two options to hope and work for victory.
One was Lakas’ FVR, who won. The other was PRP’s MDS (Miriam Defensor Santiago), who believed she won but was cheated out of her victory.
In 1998, the masses had their chance to hope and win a short-lived victory.
A Sorry History
Then, depending on which side you were, there was EDSA Dos (January 16-20) or Tres (April 25-May 1).
In 2004, the masses again dared to aspire, expect and hope in a FPJ.
However, GMA grabbed that hope from the masses a second time, a second time around in 2004.
In 2001, she tried to plant hope among the elite.
All of these turned sour, all these past hopes were dashed in one way or other.
Then, on August 1, 2009, Fate or God Himself set us up both for the biggest expectation and disappointment of our lives – Noynoy/P-Noy.
What is it in Philippine politics that condemns us to a never-ending cycle of false hope and real despair?
It is the Philippine disease.
Today, we see variations of it.
One is the sorry history of the PCSO.
The other is the electoral protest of Koko Pimentel against Juan Miguel Zubiri before the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
Bad Spending Habits Die Hard!
The PCSO is perceived by both the rich and the poor as one big milking cow.
Its charter mandates fixed percentages of the income to go to prizes (55 %), charity (30 %), and administrative and operational expenses (15 %).
However, both the PCSO Board and its management have been lax in preserving the 30 % share for charity.
When I was appointed as a director in March 2001, Admin & Operations had already borrowed a billion from Charity. By the time I exposed this in January 2003, the deficit had doubled.
Eight years later, Bayan Party List Rep. Neri Colmenares exposed this in a privilege speech as having reached P6.9 billion.
Oh! If only they listened to me then.
Another recurring controversy is the monstrous advertising budget of the PCSO.
When I was a director from March 2001 to January 2004, it ranged from P300 to P350 million. In 2006, it was almost a billion pesos.
Been There, Heard That
After the Robert Rivero controversy in 2001, GMA publicly instructed us to economize and reduce the advertising budget.
Instead, we managed to increase it.
In October 2001, we were investigated by the Senate Committee on Constitutional Reform and Revision of Laws chaired by Senator Edgardo Angara.
The Majority/Administration side tried to prevent the hearing. The Minority/Opposition pushed through and nine Minority Senators attended. Nothing came out of it.
These last two weeks, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has held four hearings on several aspects, anomalies, charges and controversies.
I have been religiously attending them and will attend today’s (Monday, July 18) fifth hearing.
At the end of each day, I have an uneasy feeling of “been there, heard that”.
Could this be another whitewash?
Not Once but Twice
Certainly, the thing that really takes the cake is the Koko Pimentel vs. Migs Zubiri electoral protest before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).
Koko has been cheated not once but twice.
First of all, Koko was leading Zubiri by about 110,000 votes in the COMELEC’s national canvass.
Then, the Maguindanao votes came in. Zubiri had 195,823 against Koko’s 67,111. The difference of 128,712 votes made Zubiri the 12th and Koko the 13th in the Senatorial seats.
Koko’s protest was focused on Maguindanao and a few more mainly Muslim areas. Based on the SET’s normal procedures, Koko should already be sitting as the last and twelfth senator.
However, Zubiri employed delaying tactics that can take until 2013 to resolve.
Claiming massive fraud, he filed a counter protest covering many precincts in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.
However, the SET’s procedures are designed so that a counter-protest based on imaginary fraud will not be allowed.
The protested as well as the counter-protested precincts are divided into the first 25 % and the subsequent 75 %. Each side chooses the 25 % that will give it the best advantage. Based on the revision of the ballots in the first 25 %, the SET will decide whether to proceed with the balance of 75 %.
Starting with protestant Koko’s 25 %, the SET found reason to continue with his 75 %. These, together with Migs’ first 25 %, were already finished before the May 10, 2010 elections.
Based on the minimal effects of Zubiri’s first 25 %, the SET should have declared Koko the winner.
This was where Koko was cheated a second time.
The SET by a vote of 9 – 3, allowed the opening and revision of the balance of 75 % of the counter protested precincts. Thus, Koko is condemned to wait it out till beyond the 2013 elections. Only in the Philippines!
Linggoy Alcuaz
7/18-24/2011
Walang pagbabago! Ganoon pa rin! Walang patutunguan!
When I was five years old, my mother, Rosa Zaragosa Araneta Alcuaz, brought me to Nacionalista and Landsdale presidential candidate, Ramon Magsaysay, in his Sta. Mesa home. He sat me on his lap and put on a campaign pin on my shirt.
I believed in him as the savior of the Philippines.
I believed the CIA propaganda.
I believed that President Elpidio Syquia Quirino from Vigan, Ilocos Sur was the Filipino devil-incarnate. He was guilty of a trilogy of sins. He had a Golden Urinola under his bed. The bed was big and expensive while he was already a widower. The third and last sin had something to do with the Tambobong Estate.
In late March 1957, when the news broke that the presidential plane, Mt. Pinatubo, had crashed soon after taking off from Cebu’s Lapu-Lapu Airport, that moment was forever engraved in my memory.
I was in the same part of our dining room where I usually type both my English and Pilipino columns. It was early evening. We did not have a TV yet. We got the news from a table top AM/FM radio.
In a flash, our hopes were extinguished.
Do Gooders!
The reformist Magsaysay boys split from the Nacionalista Party and organized their own party.
And so, for the next decade, my mother’s family supported the PPP (1957 & 1965), Grand Alliance (1959), and the United Opposition Party (1961). We lost three of the four elections. We only won in 1961 because we were coalesced with 1957-1961 Vice President Diosdado Macapagal.
However, our unity with him did not last long. He was suspected and accused of graft and corruption. However, he lost his hidden wealth when his Secretary of Finance and suspected moneybags, Feny Hechanova, died from gas suffocation in Europe.
In 1965, then Senate President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos jumped from the Liberal Party to the Nacionalista Party. He beat the native aspirants as well as another import, 1961-1965 Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez, in the party convention.
Marcos won the November 1965 elections partly because of the backlash to Macapagal caused by the suppression of the movie version of FM’s biography, “For Every Tear a Victory!”
Full-time Activist
In November 1965, when I assumed command of the Ateneo de Manila High School Pre-Military Training Corps of Cadets, I quoted Marcos’s favorite slogan, ”This Nation can be Great Again”.
When Marcos and Vice President Fernando Lopez were re-elected and defeated Serging Osmeňa, Jr. and Genaro Magsaysay in November 1969, I dropped out of my last semester in college in order to become a full-time activist.
I had been recruited in my first year by Jesuit Fr. Jose Blanco and Ateneo History Professor Rolando Quintos to be a cadre in the moderate, as opposed to radical, wing of student and youth activism.
We were very successful in our politicalizing, organizing, mobilizing, and protesting.
Martial Law
When Marcos, Enrile, et al. implemented Proclamation 1081 declaring Martial Law, on a Friday evening, September 1972, we were meeting overnight. We were planning our strategy for the November 1973 national elections.
A pragmatic group among the reformists was pushing to coalesce again with the Liberal Party.
This time around, we were negotiating with LP President and Senator Gerardo Roxas.
With just one stroke of the pen, Marcos dashed all our dreams, hopes and visions for our country and people.
He stole thirteen and a half years from all those who were into activism and politics.
Hope and Expectations
There were occasions that gave us back our faith, our hopes, and our love of country and people.
There was the night of April 6, 1978.
On the eve of the 1978 region-wide Interim Batasan Pambansa elections, a whisper and word-of-mouth campaign brought the greater part of Metro Manila’s residents out in the streets to show their real feelings about the Marcos regime by making noise.
What was planned to be a few minutes of defiance turned into an overnight overflow of suppressed emotions.
Then again, there were the four nights and three days of EDSA Uno (February 22-25, 1986).
For those who hate Trapos and traditional campaigns and elections, the May 1992 elections gave two options to hope and work for victory.
One was Lakas’ FVR, who won. The other was PRP’s MDS (Miriam Defensor Santiago), who believed she won but was cheated out of her victory.
In 1998, the masses had their chance to hope and win a short-lived victory.
A Sorry History
Then, depending on which side you were, there was EDSA Dos (January 16-20) or Tres (April 25-May 1).
In 2004, the masses again dared to aspire, expect and hope in a FPJ.
However, GMA grabbed that hope from the masses a second time, a second time around in 2004.
In 2001, she tried to plant hope among the elite.
All of these turned sour, all these past hopes were dashed in one way or other.
Then, on August 1, 2009, Fate or God Himself set us up both for the biggest expectation and disappointment of our lives – Noynoy/P-Noy.
What is it in Philippine politics that condemns us to a never-ending cycle of false hope and real despair?
It is the Philippine disease.
Today, we see variations of it.
One is the sorry history of the PCSO.
The other is the electoral protest of Koko Pimentel against Juan Miguel Zubiri before the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
Bad Spending Habits Die Hard!
The PCSO is perceived by both the rich and the poor as one big milking cow.
Its charter mandates fixed percentages of the income to go to prizes (55 %), charity (30 %), and administrative and operational expenses (15 %).
However, both the PCSO Board and its management have been lax in preserving the 30 % share for charity.
When I was appointed as a director in March 2001, Admin & Operations had already borrowed a billion from Charity. By the time I exposed this in January 2003, the deficit had doubled.
Eight years later, Bayan Party List Rep. Neri Colmenares exposed this in a privilege speech as having reached P6.9 billion.
Oh! If only they listened to me then.
Another recurring controversy is the monstrous advertising budget of the PCSO.
When I was a director from March 2001 to January 2004, it ranged from P300 to P350 million. In 2006, it was almost a billion pesos.
Been There, Heard That
After the Robert Rivero controversy in 2001, GMA publicly instructed us to economize and reduce the advertising budget.
Instead, we managed to increase it.
In October 2001, we were investigated by the Senate Committee on Constitutional Reform and Revision of Laws chaired by Senator Edgardo Angara.
The Majority/Administration side tried to prevent the hearing. The Minority/Opposition pushed through and nine Minority Senators attended. Nothing came out of it.
These last two weeks, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has held four hearings on several aspects, anomalies, charges and controversies.
I have been religiously attending them and will attend today’s (Monday, July 18) fifth hearing.
At the end of each day, I have an uneasy feeling of “been there, heard that”.
Could this be another whitewash?
Not Once but Twice
Certainly, the thing that really takes the cake is the Koko Pimentel vs. Migs Zubiri electoral protest before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).
Koko has been cheated not once but twice.
First of all, Koko was leading Zubiri by about 110,000 votes in the COMELEC’s national canvass.
Then, the Maguindanao votes came in. Zubiri had 195,823 against Koko’s 67,111. The difference of 128,712 votes made Zubiri the 12th and Koko the 13th in the Senatorial seats.
Koko’s protest was focused on Maguindanao and a few more mainly Muslim areas. Based on the SET’s normal procedures, Koko should already be sitting as the last and twelfth senator.
However, Zubiri employed delaying tactics that can take until 2013 to resolve.
Claiming massive fraud, he filed a counter protest covering many precincts in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.
However, the SET’s procedures are designed so that a counter-protest based on imaginary fraud will not be allowed.
The protested as well as the counter-protested precincts are divided into the first 25 % and the subsequent 75 %. Each side chooses the 25 % that will give it the best advantage. Based on the revision of the ballots in the first 25 %, the SET will decide whether to proceed with the balance of 75 %.
Starting with protestant Koko’s 25 %, the SET found reason to continue with his 75 %. These, together with Migs’ first 25 %, were already finished before the May 10, 2010 elections.
Based on the minimal effects of Zubiri’s first 25 %, the SET should have declared Koko the winner.
This was where Koko was cheated a second time.
The SET by a vote of 9 – 3, allowed the opening and revision of the balance of 75 % of the counter protested precincts. Thus, Koko is condemned to wait it out till beyond the 2013 elections. Only in the Philippines!
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