benign0's blog

Poor Manuel Buencamino. The title of his latest article on ProPinoy.net alone already sufficiently describes the sort of attitude that apologists of Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III tend to take. In " A clear message. Period ", Buencamino makes his appeal to the public on how they should regard Noynoy's recently concluded State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered to joint sessions of Congress -- the message is clear, basta it is! End of conversation, right gramps?

Seems like self-described political expert Manuel Buencamino focused on the form rather than the substance of what "Senator" Juan Miguel Zubiri had to say about President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's non-performance over the last nine months of his presidency. Quoting Zubiri, thus...

It's been eight months and there have been soooo many complaints about the performance of Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. From his dud of an inaugural speech , his misinformed State of the Nation Addresss , the litany of gaffes and debacles in his handling of relations with erstwhile friendly foreign governments, his oft-exhibited bratty politicians' son behaviour, his broken promises, etcetera, etcetera ... -- the list of things to complain about with regard to Noynoy's administration is long, and getting longer by the week. Perhaps there will come a time when a critical mass of gaffes and no-results outcomes is reached and a tipping point crossed. When that happens, talk of impeachment will surely come or, worse, winds of fiesta revolution .

Of late, there is the issue of (1) "the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill" and (2) President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino's backflip on his earlier promise to prioritise it. Without having to get off my armchair and just from browsing the little niche of the Net that I inhabit, it seems the "advocates of the RH Bill" have been up at arms over the above two challenges -- getting the Bill passed in Congress and overcoming the hurdle of Noynoy's backflip on his promise. What is wrong with this picture? It often helps when one is merely a bemused outside observer. Because for me, the issue remains quite simple.

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 Inquirer today crowned President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III " our Filipino of the Year ". This honour was bestowed on the incumbent Philippine president supposedly for being "the living Filipino who made the most positive impact in 2010". And, it seems, on the basis of a November 2010 Social Weather Station survey that showed "seven out of 10 Filipinos were satisfied with President Aquino’s administration" and on a Pulse Asia "trust rating" of 80 percent.

When the President of the Philippines buys himself a Porsche , his spokesman needs to emphasize that "personal funds [were used] for the purchase". That's the sort of society that the Philippines is -- a society where presumption of thieving intent always trumps benefit of the doubt . It seems that even the squeaky clean image of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III fails to break a mindset forged in the furnace of banal thievery of Philippine society.

My colleague Orion had acted on a brilliant idea and posted on AntiPinoy.com an excerpt from Singapore's Elder Statesman, Lee Kuan Yew's (LKY) great book: From Third World to First: The Singapore Story . We take it for granted that material and accounts like these are so readily available for all to learn from but forget (1) how books are prohibitively expensive to most Filipinos and (2) how most Filipinos lack any inclination to read books to begin with. So kudos to Orion for making the next best thing available on line. Check out LKY's revealing insights on the character of Philippine society on AntiPinoy.com .

In a toast to a "better 2011", Philippine President Benigno "Nonoy" Aquino III referred to a "noisy minority" as one of two challenges faced by the country in the months ahead. According to Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigal Valte, this was made as "a statement of fact". This she said in defense of her boss who made the glib statement in front of "members of the diplomatic corps, Cabinet, judiciary, Congress, bureaucracy, and civil society representatives and several members of minority group in the House of Representatives".

It is now quite generally established that the administration of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is being held up by the Philippine Media as one that is "trusted" by the people. The question is: Does the Noynoy administration deserve the trust of the Filipino?

I noticed a few things in the latest "report" Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III issued to the Filipino public. " Gains are now being felt " was his "report" to reporters given after officiating Rizal Day rites in Manila. And what are these "gains"? He counts (1) a "budget surplus" registered now after a forecast of a P6 billion "deficit" when he first took office and (2) an "improved employment picture" mostly propped up by the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. From all that he was supposedly given a thumbs up by certain interesting sectors of Philippine society which I will go into in the third point I make.

Rate of growth in the take up of social networking among Filipinos is among the highest in the world. From just 160,000 in July 2008, the number of Facebook users in the Philippines grew by huge leaps to 2.7 million in 2009 and then 14.6 million in 2010. The rate at which Filipinos are infesting Facebook is astounding, indeed. And while our immense numbers go on to pad Mark Zuckerberg's score card, the question remains: Are we adding intellectual, social, or cultural capital to the community?

Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III continues to be beleaguered by a Supreme Court that is "'singling out' his administration". Trouble is, it's all in his mind -- a mind conditioned to squeeze every drop of equity off the victim card that is. Poor guy. He can't seem to move on and focus on next steps . According to a PhilStar.com report , Noynoy almost three weeks since the Philippine Supreme Court junked his precious "Truth" Commission remains "disappointed" with that outcome. He further laments ...

It's safe to say that it is every unlikely that Willie Revillame will ever be a Supreme Court justice. But can we be just as certain with regard to the prospect of Revillame possibly making a bid for a seat in Congress or even the Presidency someday? Among the three branches of the Philippine government, it is only the judiciary that requires specialist expertise in the officers who serve within it. Compare that to the executive and legislative branches where actors, boozers, retards, rapists, has-been comedians, and other losers and misguided mutineers all have a better-than-average shot at a lucrative seat within them.

The Supreme Court was probably right in shooting down President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's pet project, the "Truth Commission". If you are going to define an entire term of office by a "reform" agenda directed against past improprieties, then you should go the whole nine yards. This means covering all cases of such that transpired over the entire period the current Constitution (the legal framework within which the "Truth Commission" will supposedly work) was in effect. That means all cases that came up from 1986 to 2010 as well as all people involved .

Crows the Inquirer.net at its top headline: " Aquino's rating hits 79% "! It is indeed a celebration of the rise of a president who truly reflects the character of the people he leads. But what exactly does being popular among Filipinos prove? Let me count the ways. Being popular among Filipinos proves...

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 venerable Economist makes this terse assessment of Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's first 100 days in office in a 14th October report : Since taking office in June, he has proposed scant new legislation and promised little. His speeches are filled with platitudes and swipes at his unpopular predecessor, Gloria Arroyo-Macapagal. Nor is Mr Aquino obviously interested in foreign affairs; he is a reluctant flyer and has cancelled several trips abroad. "He's not a statesman," sniffs one Asian diplomat. They make other pointed observations...

The venerable Sassy Lawyer Connie Veneracion finally weighs in on all the moronic happenings that have been transpiring in recent weeks. Great insight and clear positions articulated coming from a truly insightful mind (unlike some lawyers ). Here are my key takeaways from that great piece...

In his latest piece, the Inquirer.net Editor has gone back to picking up where the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III left off -- blaming the previous administration . Indeed, the first 90 percent of today's Inquirer.net editorial is nothing more than a litany of gripes that itemises former President Gloria Arroyo's overspending -- a big drumroll, suffice to say, that ends with this crash of the cymbals at the very end of Mr Editor's quaint treatise of forced outrage...