March to mayhem
It is November in Manila, days before the deadline for filing candidacies. On Monday, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada with 11 other senators signed Resolution 1472 absolving Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. of ethical charges in connection with the C-5 Road extension project, long before a committee report was officially released by the Senate.
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So sayeth the Comelec
Nicodemo T. Ferrer is a pillar of the community. Man of faith, Knight of Columbus, former dean of the Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation, Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister for Our Lady of the Purification Parish, a man whose 2006 appointment into the Commission on Elections came with his pledge to “restore and improve” the public image of the Commission on Elections—the same man of God whose bigoted morality has brought Manila back to the medieval.
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Chiz Escudero 2010
The popularity of Francis Joseph Guevara Escudero, now senator of the republic and possible presidential aspirant for 2010, has been attributed to many things. Some claim it is his eloquence. Many have marveled at his ability to stretch a single thought into a 20-minute social commentary, dripping with synonyms and similes, delivered with the same deadpan efficiency of a call center agent explaining to the 38th caller just why their electricity went off in the storm. Others claim it is his looks, this tall lean man in shirtsleeves surrounded by colleagues carting potbellies in embroidered pineapple silk shirts. According to his personal website, his “rise into the nation’s consciousness” is nothing less than “meteoric.” He is described as “consistently leading surveys as the most trusted official of the land,” and his various distinctions—including the recent “Most Admired TV Personality” in 2008—proves “he has not gone unnoticed.”
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Being Mikey Arroyo
There are many reasons why Pampanga Representative and one-time movie actor Juan Miguel Arroyo has suddenly become the poster boy for the iniquities of the Arroyo administration. That he has failed to disclose his United States property in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth along with campaign contributions is not a particularly stunning revelation, at least not in a country where billion-peso corruption allegations are daily fare. It is not even the fact that a congressman who happens to be the President’s son has been caught with millions more than he makes through his monthly government paycheck. It may be easiest to say the current national disgust for him—as compared with the usual indifferent acceptance of his family’s various shenanigans—is largely due to his self-satisfied grin as he gleefully perjured himself on national television.
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The Aquino son
WE ARE told to wear yellow for Benigno Aquino III. Tie a yellow ribbon, wear a yellow shirt, remember the woman in glasses, remember the man in the bloodied white suit. Show him that you are behind him, he says, and he will stand for you.
He is aware that some have raised issues of his inexperience. “Some said I’m not yet ripe for the picking.”
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The President’s men
Presidential spokesperson Cerge Remonde, after a long session with his teleprompter – his effort to smile pleasantly at regular intervals looked remarkably unpleasant – expressed his discontent over the persistent coverage of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s excessive travel spending. In his briefing, Remonde said that it no longer mattered whatever the administration said, because there are people who would persist in finding the holes in the government’s explanations. “Their objective is not to seek the truth, or to pursue good governance. It is simply to make issues political.”
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In the court of the crimson king
When the doors open, the chatter stops, and the people rise as a body. There is silence as he strides up to the dais, grave-faced and sober-eyed. In this temple he is high priest, his is the way, the truth, and the light. He does not understand, however, that they do not rise only because he is Reynato Puno, champion of human rights, hero of the press, the anointed son of Holy Mother Church. They stand because of the dark robe that falls in heavy folds to his feet, because of the gavel he carries, because of the soaring ceilings, because of the compulsion of decades of other men and women rising to the idea of a judge, the man of unimpeachable character who has risen above all men to preside as the Chief Justice.
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Sona 2009
My name is Melissa Roxas. I’m 31 years old. I was born in Manila, but my family immigrated to the United States when I was young, right after Ninoy was assassinated. My parents said there weren’t many economic opportunities available in the Philippines.
Growing up, I knew I was different from other American kids. When I was older and had a chance to return to the Philippines, I noticed I was different here too. I didn’t have a vivid memory of the Philippines, but I remember questioning why we had to be separated – why we had to leave and immigrate. I wanted to find out more about the world: why there was poverty, why there was inequality. If you asked me what I wanted to be then, I’ll say I knew I wanted to do something that would be important, that would make – not necessarily an impact – but something that would make me feel that I was doing something good in the world.
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David’s choice
In the valley of Elah, twicea day for 40 days, Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, challenged the Israelites to send out their champion and decide the battle in single combat. The Israelites were afraid – except for one boy. David, son of Jesse, who refused his brother Saul’s armor and took only a sling and five stones taken from a brook.
And so the battle: the towering Goliath, armor glinting in the sunlight, David with his staff and sling. There was taunting, and the names of gods were thrown as curses, and David struck Goliath with a stone from his sling. The Philistine fell, and young David cut off the Philistine’s head. At Goliath’s death, “the troops of Israel and Judah rose up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron.”
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Declaration of Independence
“WE ARE not pro-administration. WE are for anyone who is good for the country.”
So says Bessie Buencamino, of Mahal ko, Bayan ko.
(MKBK), an organization composed of “God-centered, enlightened, compassionate, nation-loving people” that “seeks to disseminate correct values.”
Their “anyone good for the country” appears to be solidly President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Buencamino is a classmate of President Arroyo, along with the group’s convenor, Doctor Evelyn Kilayko. These are the same women behind the 2005 advertisements splashed across national newspapers that announced “We prefer GMA to chaos” at the height of the Hello Garci scandal.
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