Abalos says Department of Justice is harboring criminals

 

Seriously. Fuck this guy.

Benjamin Abalos, former Commission on Elections chairman and paragon of integrity, has accused Justice Secretary Leila De Lima of harboring criminals.

By harboring criminals, of course, Abalos means putting two witnesses who tagged him in alleged poll fraud in 2007 under the Witness Protection Program. He says former Comelec election supervisors Lilian Suan-Radam and Yogie Martiriza were placed under witness protection prematurely.

The two lawyers came out this week saying Abalos gave them orders through Comelec regional director Michael Abas to make sure administration candidates won in their region. De Lima has put them in the Witness Protection Program while their testimonies are being evaluated.

Radam has been charged with electoral sabotage and Abalos said the Department of Justice has to ask for permission from the court before giving her witness protection.

“Hindi ko maintindihan what is happening. Itong dalawang ito ang sa ngayon ay inamin nilang nagkasala sila, inamin nilang tumanggap sila ng pera (I don’t understand ano ang nangyayari, these two have admitted breaking the law),” Abalos said.

Under the Witness Protection, Security, and Benefit Act, the DOJ has to petition the court to discharge an accused so can testify as a state witness. De Lima says she has already ordered the Witness Protection Program to do that.  The law says that once a petition is filed, “the Court shall order the discharge and exclusion of the said accused from the information.”

“Binabale-wala mo lang ang ating proseso (You are disregarding due process),” Abalos, who has repeatedly denied brokering shady multi-million peso deals in violation of bidding processes, said. He warned that De Lima will destroy the credibility of a joint DOJ-Comelec investigation into allegations of poll fraud while he was Comelec chairman.

(Thx, Indolent reader FreeSince09!)

A wild Senator Lapid Appears!

A rare sighting of Senator Manuel Lapid has him giving his views on the controversial Reproductive Health bill and basically giving proof of life. This interview with Lapid is “rare” not because the senator hates talking to people but because seeing him at the Senate is just as rare.

 

This photograph wasn’t even taken at the Senate. This was at Sofitel, the hotel outside the Senate, where he met with fellow mythical creatures the Sigbin, Loch Ness Monster, and the Baiji Chinese River Dolphin.

It was probably a pool party

Philippines to outlaw planking

Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo has filed a bill to penalize the stupid art of planking after students protesting oil price hikes this week planked on the roads during a transport strike.

 

“Parents and teachers have reason to be alarmed… The Filipino psyche of our young children in school is under attack—right here and now,” he said. The congressman  from the 2nd District of Quezon City, where rugby boys roam the streets and illegal motorcycle drag races are held at night, is right, the psyche of our young children are indeed under attack. By pesky things like poverty and hopelessness. And, to some extent, by Internet memes. But only to the same extent that watching mixed-martial arts on YouTube will make me a violent bloodthirsty man with killer muscles.

 

Help me! My psyche is being attacked!

 

Castelo warns “unbelieving bus drivers and law enforcement authorities might just ram through these warm and living bodies rolled out on highways.” Which, really, is the only way to deal with somebody who has suddenly decided to plop face down on the road.

"Okay...You can stop faking now..."

“Lest this picture, read in newspapers or posted on the Internet might evolve into a new mindset that just might go viral or very contagious, let it be nipped in the bud,” Castelo says, not knowing that he has nothing to worry about. He ought to know that by the time a fad comes to the Philippines, it is on its last legs. If it isn’t broken already, we’ll find a way to make it so. This is the Philippines, after all. This is where the Internet comes to die.

 

UPDATE 2: Planking will only be illegal during rallies and protest actions. Regular old planking is allowed and bus drivers are free to run them over.

 

UPDATE: Here is an actual quote from Rep. Castelo’s press release, a copy of which was forwarded to us:

“Parents and teachers have reason to be alarmed if these similar protest actions will have as a scheme and scene otherwise warm and living bodies laid down across street highways as though they were offerings to the gods.”

Ngai, n'gha'ghaa, bugg-shoggog, y'hah; Yog-Sothoth, Yog-Sothoth. . . .

 

 

Anti-Social Media: Gentleman of the Press

A veteran employee at one government office stands to lose his retirement benefits over a bullshit complaint by a reporter from a small (in size and circulation) paper.

The reporter is, himself, rather small.

The reporter has accused the employee, who works in the media division of that government office, of kicking him and cursing at him over some minor misunderstanding.

 

Apparently, the reporter was lying on a couch in a room where government media hang out. Incidentally, he was also getting in the way of people trying to do their jobs.

 

When the government employee, a veteran photojournalist who has covered wars in Vietnam and Mindanao, tapped the reporter with his foot to ask him to get out of the way, the reporter got offended.

 

He immediately got on the phone to complain to the media division head saying he had been kicked. The cursing came after, and actually has basis. Pissed off at the fuss, the veteran photojournalist did say “Putang ina.”

 

Which, come on, doesn’t even mean anything anymore. Not when, as a source says, you’re a tabloid reporter who makes jokes about anal sex and sex in general. Besides, anyone who has worked with that government employee knows he’s cranky, half-deaf, and curses like a pirate all the time.

 

“Putang ina. Kung sinipa ko siya, e di putok mukha nga (If I kicked him, his face would be busted),”  the government employee reportedly said in his defense. And, to be fair, the tabloid reporter’s face is. But that is from years ago and only the scars remain.

 

In an ideal world, journalists watch out for excesses and abuses in government. And it seems this tabloid reporter has taken that to heart, seeing the encounter as an affront to press freedom (or something similar).

 

This is not the first time, either. Sources say the tabloid reporter has previously raised hell after policemen guarding the government office he covers refused to let a taxi he was riding in enter the complex without leaving an ID. Incensed that the policeman did not know who he was and had the gall to do his job, our reporter had him summoned to the press office and gave him a dressing down until the cop apologized. For doing his job.

 

He may get his way again this time. We have been told that the media division is leaning on its employee to apologize just to get the bullshit complaint out of the way. Reportedly, he has already been suspended pending a decision on the complaint.

 

No word, though, on whether the tabloid reporter will ever apologize using the government agency’s name when he got arrested over something. Just when his press credentials would have come in handy (but unethically), our reporter took the moral high road and just claimed to be on the staff of a government official.

The reporter has been trying to make the career shift to political operator and has curried a lot of favor with government officials. He has been known to brag about his connections and his ability to get the government to pay for food and medicine for his friends.

You can call him “Bata” because he is child-like and because, as our tipster says, “bata siya ng mga politiko.” His family name is an island somewhere in the Visayas. Boracay, maybe?

"Puwede."

(Thx for the tip, Indolent reader Payanig Sa Pa-Astig!)

Mr. Pacquiao To Go From Congress

"You have the floor, Mr. Speaker."

 

Little more than a year into a three-year term, Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao has already had enough of the House of Representatives and wants to move to the Sarangani provincial capitol in 2013.

The professional boxer and part-time congressman is reportedly “[dismayed] over the slow pace of how changes for the country are made within the compounds of Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.”

“I want to experience serving in the executive. And I prefer making decisions when to implement the laws and I want these laws implemented immediately. But here in Congress, if you want to file (a bill), you have to wait for several months (before implementing it),” Pacquiao said.

And although Pacquiao is right, he may have considered that before running for Congress in the first place. His 2010 bid for a House seat in Sarangani province was not his first. He ran, but lost, in 2007. And that gave him three years to think about what Congress is, what it does, and how long it takes to do it, before deciding to run again.

And it’s not like he has had to twiddle his thumbs while the slow wheels of legislation grind exceedingly slow. He’s off boxing, or training to box, or having dinner with Paris Hilton most of the time, anyway.

Of course, things were different during the run up to the elections. According to a report on Japan Times:

“I want to help them because I know what they feel right now. It is not easy to help other people. That is a big responsibility. I will focus on that for the meantime,” he said.

And he did. Right until he won and had to train for another fight.

But, if nothing else, at least Pacquiao’s decision to run for governor is good news for the people of Sarangani. With his political plans made public this soon, Pacquiao can spend the time crafting legislation that he, as a potential governor, thinks will help his province. He can work with the Sarangani provincial board to create a legislative agenda that they can use when he moves to the capital. He can–

“Pacquiao also said he would rather concentrate on boxing first instead of politics, especially in view of his upcoming rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico.”

Oh.

Anti-Media Social: Our Lady of Pangasinan

Here’s a nice reversal on things.

Sectoral group Bayan Muna filed a plunder case against Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Thursday over the failed ZTE National Broadband Network deal. Reporters scrambled to cover it and got the story.

Here is a sidebar to the whole thing:

While this was going on, politician sent out a text message to reporters on different beats. His subtle message? “XXX can be asked for comments on the sixth plunder complaint against ex-PGMA.” While some politicians would have been content with releasing a written statement to the press, this one wanted to be interviewed even though nobody was asking.

Our baby mouse tells us that journalists who took the bait and called him up to ask questions were then told (politely) to wait because the politician was busy.

Although he is new in politics and cannot be expected to know how to deal with the press yet, he will gave to learn quickly or never have to deal with the press again.

A clue: Like his once prominent father, this politician can be referred to by his initials, one of which is J. His father used to be influential but the family’s fortunes have taken a turn since a falling out with Malacanang.

Anti-Social Media: Network wars escalate

Congressional hearings do not have a monopoly on flaring tempers and drama. The action can spill over into the sidelines as journalists covering the Congress beat found last week when two reporters from rival networks almost came to blows.

Hard-hitting journalism at its best

Witnesses say the fight started when one veteran reporter lady, let’s call her Long Time, tried to cut off younger lady reporter, let’s call her Ingenue, who was getting an exclusive* interview with a resource person at one Congressional hearing.

Ingenue had waited for Long Time to finish her interview with the resource person, a former accountant for a shady company, out of respect. After all, Ingenue was just there as back up, and Long Time was both older and bigger.

When it was her turn, though, Long Time cut her off and told her to wrap up. One source says Long Time did it because a separate press conference was about to start and she didn’t want to offend members of Congress. Another source says, however, that it was so Long Time coud claim her interview was truly exclusive.

Long Time later texted another reporter, from the same network as Ingenue, to complain. Our baby mouse says Long Time called Ingenue an “epal,” a Tagalog slang word for someone annoying and who butts in where she is not wanted.

Now, in kindergartens and elementary schools across the land, that is a fighting word, and that is exactly what happened. When Ingenue found out, she confronted Long Time and threatened to beat her up. According to a witness, Ingenue told Long Time that although, as a TV reporter, she dresses well, she was also ready to throw down and “mambasag ng mukha (break your face).” This earned her muted applause from everyone else from the press office. After all, everybody loves a good sound bite.

Long Time, probably shocked that someone actually stepped up to her, was speechless.

She later allegedly explained on her Facebook** wall why she didn’t fight: her mother told her to pick her fights. To which Ingenue replied with a post on her own Facebook wall that she pitied Long Time’s mother “for having a daughter like you.”

Meanwhile, a clue. Both reporters are from channels with prime numbers but debatable prime time shows. Ingenue shares a name with a Spanish fashion house while Long Time might be related to a former city police chief who hated hoodlums and whose life was made into a movie starring either Eddie Garcia or Eddie Gutierrez (or both).

—

*Those exclusive interviews you see on TV are often not such unless big shots like Jessica Soho and Lynda Jumilla are involved. Reporters take turns asking questions and having their cameramen shoot them doing apparently one-on-one interviews.

**Facebook has become the weapon of choice for reporters now, apparently. At another beat, a reporter for a business newspaper has reportedly taken swipes at two younger reporters for wearing dresses to a fundraiser for a colleague fighting cancer.

He supposedly called them whores for dressing nice. Which is a really classy thing to do when you are old enough to be the father of both younger reporters. For context, the back story is here.

[Edited third and fourth paragraphs because they made no sense.]

Come home, Filipino Catholics!

Oh, my saints and moral guardians! The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has ordered the remaining Filipino delegates to the World Youth Day in Spain to come home or risk becoming illegal aliens.

Of 427 delegates to the World Youth Day, 128 have yet to return to the Philippines and have one more day before their Schengen visas expire in September.

Viva El Papa! No vivos extranjeros illegales! (or something)

“(CBCP executive director Father Conegondo) Garganta admitted that in the past, there had been instances when WYD delegates sent by the CBCP failed to return to the country but these comprised only one percent of the delegation,” reports ABS-CBN News.

“They were endorsed by their parish priest and they were chosen because they saw their intentions to join the WYD. They were interviewed, selected and they also had to pass the scrutiny of the diocese,” he added. It was not clear whether the delegates were also asked if they have ever dreamed of a better life in Europe.

Fighting Words

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III has refused to engage in a debate with Akbayan on the Reproductive Health bill. He said the Senate has already begun floor debates on the bill, so there would be “no point in debating it outside.” He is right.

His critics have called him gutless for turning down thechallenge hurled at him by the Ateneo Debate Society, and he may very well be wary of tangling with the best debate team in the country. But Sotto is no slouch when it comes to fighting with words.

His arsenal of rhetoric has weapons that not even the ADS is ready for. Like a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face, for example. He has tangled with Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, author of the RH bill, and was able to give as much as he got. He was able to silence Santiago, for example, with the ultimate debate combo breaker of “Well, that is your opinion.”

Santiago, expecting a counter-argument that made sense, was speechless.

In an earlier tussle, Sotto tried to trap Santiago into agreeing that passage of the RH bill would mean millions in profits for contraceptive manufacturers and dealers. “So! The RH bill is about money, and not health!,” he said, hoping to catch the feisty senator unawares.

And that, she was. “Oh, that is unfair,” she sighed wearily, realizing that it would be easier to squeeze blood from a stone than to get Sotto, who has promised to expose the contraceptive-industry lobby backing the bill, to agree to the need for a reproductive health bill.

And that, no matter how silver-tongued debaters are, will be how any debate with Sotto, or indeed most of the Pro-Life camp, will end. To be fair, it is just as unlikely for Santiago or for Senator Pia Cayetano to abandon the bill after a debate with the University of Santo Tomas Debate Team (whom we assume with no basis are against the RH bill).

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who has yet to be sold on the bill, has said that the bill will be subject to long and heated debates at the Senate. In the end, however, each senator will have to vote according to their conscience, he said.

And there lies the problem. Consicence is a funny thing. It isn’t always logical and is not always informed. One might even argue that it doesn’t exist. But one cannot argue against conscience. Not even within the Church.

“Conscience is inviolable, and the individual Catholic has a right to follow her own conscience, even when it is erroneous,” Santiago said in one of her sponsorship speeches for the bill. It was to argue that individual Catholics can dodge dogma on this one, but it can also apply to Sotto.

Should we keep discussing the RH bill? Definitely. But there is little that can be gained from giving Sotto, or any other lawmaker, a public drubbing from university students trained to argue either side of a debate.

If anything, it will only further alienate the masses and the fundamentalists that Sotto stands with. If the middle class was offended by James Soriano’s elitist column on the English language last week, imagine how TVJ fans would feel seeing their TitoSen being mocked and baited in an actual debate. They might just riot.

Passing a law, as with running a nation, is about building a consensus. Pro-RH bill groups should continue to engage with lawmakers and to lobby for its passage. But this should be done through dialogue and not debate. Anybody who has seen any university debate team in action knows that when they talk, there is no room for dialogue.

[EMBARRASSING ERRATUM: We read it wrong. The ADS will host the debate, while Akbayan will do the actual debating. Akbayan’s Leloy Claudio who challenged Sotto is from ADS. So we are half right!]

No more free mail for Philippine courts

Philippine courts might have to start paying for their mail next January because it has become too expensive for the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) to shoulder postage for court documents.

Acting postmaster general Antonio De Guzman has written the Supreme Court to ask it to review franking privileges granted to the courts by two Presidential decrees. He said that the rise of e-mail and text messaging has robbed Philpost of people willing to wait two weeks for a letter to get to a city less than an hour away by air.

Obsolescence, it seems, has been chipping away at what was once the leading postal service in Asia (according to renowned History professor and philatelist Wikipedia).

What is surprising is there is no real postal service to speak of anymore.

According to a letter De Guzman sent the Supreme Court:

“Except mail posted and for delivery in Metro Manila, the transport of mail is outsourced to private transport companies since Philpost cannot sustain its operation due to dilapidated condition of its vehicles and the high cost of providing the service.”

So that mailman in the Batibot video you saw growing up is just a myth now,  apparently.  Except for a ceremonial corps of postmen in the capital, our mail has been put in the hands of mercenaries who have not made an oath to let “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

That's not even the real Pagsanjan Falls! That's Vernal Falls in California.

To be fair, PhilPost postmen may not have made that oath either considering the pre-climate change glacial pace that our mail has been getting delivered.

Having to pay for their postage may give the courts more reason to deny us justice. At P6 per piece of air mail, and P4 for each piece of surface mail, the courts may soon have to shut down from lack of funds. I mean, everyone knows our honorable judges are poor as church mice.