benign0's blog

[ Reviving this gem in commemoration of International Women's Day .] Rape cases often boil down to a her-word-against-his and a his-word-against-hers battle. As if that weren't enough, in the Philippines, the pervading primitivism brought about by our cultural baggage routinely adds a thick wrapper of moronic drama around rape, reducing the facts-and-logic component of most rape cases to an insignificant nucleus within a thick morass of "public scrutiny".

Why not bury former President Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Filipino Heroes' Cemetery)? That is the question that came to light recently in the wake of the burial there of former Secretary and retired General Angelo Reyes, who was in the middle of being implicated in a big-time corruption scandal at the time of his death on the 8th of February this year. Marcos's son, Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr today "reiterated his call for the burial of his father, the late former President Ferdinand Marcos, in the Libingan ng mga Bayani". Television personality Karen Davila was quoted by ANC 24/7 as having quoted Bongbong saying that "if Angelo Reyes was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, my late father should also be buried there".

The last several weeks had seen many high profile crimes make headline news, tweeted and re-tweeted on Twitter. From thence the characteristic teeth gnashing and talking-out-loud public introspection that modern "social media" had all but commoditised today pervades the national chatter. Much of the perception that we are now leading dangerous lives in a crime-gripped society runs counter to statistical data pointing to an actual reduction in the country's crime rate . However, as the Inquirer.net Editor himself observed , it's not facts, but perceptions that drive action...

So far, the Hong Kong government is holding three Filipino "assets" by the nuts -- (1) the thousands of Filipinos on whose jobs as servants in the territory depend the means to live of quinta-multiples of that number back in the islands, (2) political ascendancy over the search for the Truth on who is really accountable for the needless deaths of eight Hong Kong nationals resulting from a botched hostage rescue operation in Manila, and (3) Philippine Congressman Ronald Singson. For most people who are not beholden to the pleasantries of polite society, there is one word that best describes the Philippines...

The 4th of February 2011 will mark the fifth anniversary of that monumental tragedy that happened in the PhilSports "ULTRA" Stadium in Pasig, Metro Manila where 78 people died in a stampede for tickets to see ABS-CBN's hit television show Wowowee . It ranks up there along with the same sort of mass-casualty disasters that happen onli in da Pinas , except that unlike tragedies involving killer Sulpicio Line ships, homicidal mud slides that bury entire towns in Leyte, and murderous floods caused by storm drains clogged by human refuse, the Wowowee massacre happened on a nice sunny day.

As the famous saying goes. the winners get to write history . That, indeed, is what is happening as President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III launches The Inaugural -- a book about, what else, him and his family . Everything about the book has Kamaganak Inc written all over it. The book is published by Maria Montelibano, a cousin (surprised?) of Noynoy.

If there was anything that the final "resolution" of the Vizconde Massacre -- the "crime of the decade" -- achieved, it was casting the spotlight, yet again, on the astounding incompetence of the state's law enforcement, intelligence, and investigation services. Missing witnesses, tampered evidence, lack of control over crime scenes, and spineless management of the Media characterised the case then just as these characterised much of the more recent spectacles of the Philippines' keystonian police operations.

Mistress of Jolog Central , Ellen Tordesillas, called the occassion "Proof that good things can come out of Congress". The Philippine House of Representatives today approved President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's Proclamation 75 granting "amnesty" to rebel "soldiers" Antonio Trillanes and Danilo Lim. Funny how what can now be considered "the first initiative of President Aquino which has been passed by Congress" involves the cutting loose of a bunch of crooks even as he coddles personal cronies whose gross incompetence had contributed to the preventable deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists in a tragic hostage drama back in August 23.

Looks like it is turning out that "Senator" Antonio Trillanes, his pal Danilo Lim, and their band of rebel ex-soldiers were a lot better off in the hands of the justice system than coddled by the Second Aquino Administration. Hearings on Proclamation 75 have stalled due to another instance of the pwede-na-yan regard to work quality of Malacanang staff...

No heads have rolled yet in the aftermath of a botched hostage rescue that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead and we are already seeing a bunch of bandits led by "rebel" leaders Antonio Trillanes and Danilo Lim who needlessly endangered civilian lives in a misguided "mutiny" all set to be set loose back into society. Already the Hong Kong government had initiated its own public inquest into the handling of the hostage drama that left eight of their citizens dead.

The bid for amnesty of mutiny plotters Antonio Trillanes and Danilo Lim now hinges on the politics that surround their case -- the childish whims of an adolescent President and the brownie-points-sniffing people's "representatives" in Congress. Isn't this ironic? These are the very sorts of Pinoy-style politics upon which Trillanes and Lim justified the banditry they exhibited in the Peninsula and Oakwood.

The whole evaluation being made around whether Antonio Trillanes, Danilo Lim and their band of morons deserve to be granted amnesty misses the whole point. The whole point is in how they, with reckless impunity, endangered civilian life using weapons that were entrusted to them by the state. Perhaps it makes it easy for people like "Father" Joaquin Bernas to see this now as just a question of what the intent was and how much remorse is being expressed today, because no one was hurt or killed ...

Just saw the photo below making the rounds on Facebook. The album from which it was lifted was posted by the Animal Welfare Coalition (see also AnimalWelfare.com.ph ). The caption of the album indicated that the photos were "proudly posted" by a certain Bigleng Arcilla on "November 8" and whose friends include "Jeff Pecson, Jannella Cruz, Ar Tubaces Jr., Arian Canlas, Jhenypher Sison, Aljon Masiclat, Jerome Cabuso, Aldwin Arcilla, Darwin Delos Reyes, Emanuel Dane Sevilla, Al Mungcal, Aw Arcilla".

Philippine President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) is turning into the very sort of person that he says he despises. For all the accusations of misconduct and transgression he hurls at former President Gloria Arroyo, there is now enough evidence for Filipinos to say that he is acting in the same way he is describing GMA and those associated with her – with complete impunity on all misbehavior and mismanagement in dispensing their duties as public servants.

According to Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, the fallout resulting from a crass Tweet of a member of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's entourage as he was graciously hosted by the government of Vietnam is just a "learning experience" . In the offending Tweet, Assistant Secretary Carmen "Mai" Mislang made a personal observation of how the wine served to them by their hosts "sucks". Apparently, this astounding display of lack of breeding did not seem to be something that Malacanang officials found disturbing enough to crack down on as severely as many people would have wanted them to...

So now there's this new hate site dedicated to wine connoisseur Carmen Mislang that was put up on Facebook . I first learned of it from a friend who emailed me the link to a news report on the GMA News TV site featuring that Facebook page. So off I went to check it out. One of the first things I found was this photo (Ms Mislang is the lady on the left with the tilted head). [Facebook photo location here ]

Eminent Inquirer.net columnist John Nery today published a quaint attempt to diffuse some of the flames burning through the blogosphere over the latest gaffe of a member of the Yellow Horde . This of course, has to do with the venerable speech writer and erstwhile rocker Carmen Mislang who, upon sampling some of the local wines of the excellent Socialist Republic of Vietnam (officially Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam ), promptly posted on Twitter: "Wine sucks", and went further to criticise the facial qualities of Vietnamese malehood. Here are some of his "arguments"...

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is fast becoming the leader of a no-consequences administration. One can drop the ball and cause unspeakable tragedies and gaffes that turn the entire nation into a laughing stock and still get away scott free . The latest gaffe that turns up the laughs on the already butt-of-jokes nation that is the Philippines is a Twitter post from Aquino speech writer Carmen Mislang who described in her post how the wine served to her at a dinner hosted by Vietnam officials "sucks". And yet the pa-cool culprit in an otherwise fireable offense gets a free pass ...

According to the empress of Jolog Central in her recent published "insight" on the cutting loose of mutineer "Senator" Antonio Trillanes and his mob , "Trillanes and company never stole a single centavo from the government". I say perhaps . But in my book Trillanes and his band of bandits did something worse. His actions contributed to undermining the stability of the state and perception overseas of the Philippines as a viable market to invest in and do business with.

These men are smiling because they are beneficiaries of the renowned Culture of Impunity of the Filipino.