GMA’s Political Comeback as Speaker; A bold pole-vaulting move towards Federalism

GMA’s Political Comeback as Speaker; A bold pole-vaulting move towards FederalismThe election of GMA as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives the other day snatched the headlines which the Anti Duterte groups were prepared to plaster on TVs and mainstream broadsheets with their anti-government attacks and sentiments post the 3rd SONA of the President. To the yellows and the reds as well as their minions, particularly those coming from the church, this is one scary development which should have not happened and they readily blamed Duterte for causing this to transpire. Of course, out of desperation, Digong’s detractors always put the blame on him on anything detrimental to their own interests, with this one particularly threatening to strike right through their heart like a dagger coming from a person crying for vengeance with gnashing teeth.

GMA’s ascension to the Speakership was met with almost no resistance at all with a few no- votes from the Makabayan block whose explanations on their position were even declared out of order. Ouch! And where were the noisy Magnificent 7 of the Liberal Party? We saw them being shoved aside like hopeless idiots crying in the corner of the session hall being treated by the majority as “The Insignificant Hobbits” waiting to be noticed and laughed at. So if there is anyone to blame why GMA became the Speaker, it is not Duterte but his detractors, the yellows, the reds and all anti Dutertards for that matter, who can only blame themselves. We all know that the politics in Congress is being played with numbers. Obviously, GMA had the overwhelming number (nearly 200) of congressmen supporting her bid for the Speakership. The yellows and the reds barely have a dozen. In politics, if you don’t have the number, the implication is, nobody believes in you and ergo, you are not in the position to dictate how powers in congress are supposed to be used. The most that you can do is bark! bark! bark! And that’s what the yellows and the reds are doing now. But why are they in such miserable political quagmire?

When the yellows were in power, they connived with the reds in slaying GMAs political career to the extent of desecrating her human rights. They filed plunder cases against her, had her barred from traveling abroad for medical reasons in grave violation of her constitutional right, placed her in hospital and then house arrest for 5 years and denied her access of anything notwithstanding her election as congresswoman and most of all, she was ridiculed and pilloried before the public, painted her image as the epitome of corruption in the government service during her stint as President of the Republic based on their own propaganda narratives. And worst, they even ignored the call issued by the UN to release her as her human rights were gravely violated and they instead continued bludgeoning here mercilessly like a sadist whose maniacal thirst for her blood is unquenchable. All these pain she endured under the yellow’s hands and stood up to it and eventually emerged victorious. Recently, the Sandiganbayan acquitted her from all her plunder cases and no less than the Supreme Court declared that what then Sec. De Lima did to her (arresting her at the airport without a warrant and barring her from leaving for medical reasons sans any court order) was unconstitutional.

Ironically, those responsible in maligning her are now accused of the same abuses, corruption and plunder, and in fact, double the level than those they once threw at GMA’s face. De Lima is now in jail on drug related cases. PNoy and his former Cabinet members will soon face plunder cases aside from the ones (corruption) currently they are already facing once Ombudsman Morales steps down today. And seeing them all languish in jail is now everyone’s prayer especially those they have unjustly and inhumanely treated while in power. But the difference between the narratives on GMA and the yellows is that the former’s political destruction was done through deceit, fabrication, and a yellow-instigated hyped public clamor in condemning her. In the case of the yellows, it’s the people’s miserable situation, discontent and feeling of disgust at how the yellows scandalously run the government while systematically plundering the coffers of the country and sadistically persecuting their political opponents which prompted them to motu propio end their sufferings by unceremoniously ousting the yellows from power via a deafening voice of condemnation as manifested on the election results in 2016 which annihilated the yellows and their minions politically. Indeed, what goes around comes around. Yes folks, Karma is a bitch and we now have a “hobbit butcher” in the House of Representatives in possession of a huge axe specifically designed to whack the yellow asses in the guillotine of political oblivion.

Exacting revenge is GMA’s business and for the yellows to deal and contend with. And this explains why they are dismayed at her political come back. They are afraid that henceforth, series of house committee hearings investigating corruptions during the previous administration will be done using the once much abused phrase during the Aquino regime “in aid of legislation”, a euphemism of political persecution. But I trust that if the yellows did it savagely to her, GMA will never stoop down to that level. She will do it of course, “with finesse”. Sanamagan!

But more than the vengeance issue, GMA’s leadership in the house can be seen as one bold move in paving the way for the country’s smooth journey towards federalism, thus shoving aside Alvarez, the loose cannon threatening to mess up that journey. We now have the Senate under the leadership of Senator Sotto who is from Manila supporting the legislative agenda of Duterte and the Speaker of the house coming from the balance Luzon areas who is a PDP Laban member. This now precludes speculation that Federalism is only designed to serve the interest of Mindanao. With the draft federal constitution now in the hands of congress, the debate on the matter will now shift to more substantives issues, e.g. the number of federal states which we hope to be reduced to only five states or even the form of government to be adopted, be it parliamentary or Presidential federal form. We trust our representatives to craft something which would serve best the country’s interest and the well-being of the Filipino people.

As expected, Anti Dutertards have positioned themselves against the shift to Federalism for the sheer reason that it is being pushed by Duterte. So anything Duterte does, they are against regardless of the benefits it may generate to the people. These are pure Anti Dutertards by reason of either stupidity or idiocy nothing less than either of the words. How can they convince people on their position if they advance arguments like that of VP Robredo’s “if Federalism is the answer, what is the question (with smile and blinking eye); or the senile argument of Ex CJ Davide’s “Federalism is anti-poor” just because he said so without presenting any argument to support his idiotic declaration; or that of Ex CJ Sereno’s “Federalism is a prelude to martial law” perhaps as she can see in her “bolang kristal” or on her voodoo magic; or that of Trillanes’ argument against 2 taxes under Federalism which shows his ignorance of the fact that even under the current unitary system, the same is already done as both LGU and National government have already imposed taxes. I do not wish to include more preposterous arguments particularly those coming from the reds as this piece might smell filthy as everything they throw to the public are purely rubbish propaganda.

The most ridiculous argument which the Anti Dutertards posited on federalism is the result of the surveys indicating the lukewarm support of the people on the shift to federal form of government, ergo, the government should stop from pursuing it. This is why I love laughing at the logic of these people. It’s defiant to any norms, level of intelligence and reason, simply put, engot! How can you use and indicative sentiment from a survey conducted to only 1,300 people as basis to decide on a matter that will affect the lives of more than 100 Million people? - Sanamagan! That is the very reason why the draft new federal constitution will be presented to the people on a plebiscite for them to decide by themselves and not through their representatives on whether or not the Filipino people will embrace a Federal system of government. This is one of the campaign promises of Duterte during the last Presidential election and the fact that the people voted for him simply presupposes that mandate for Digong to pursue with that promise otherwise, his inaction thereon will be deemed a betrayal of the people’s trust.

Of course, it is expected that at this juncture, the level of consciousness among the people is still very low insofar as federalism is concerned. But once the draft constitution is finally out after Congress convenes into a constituent assembly, the entire government machinery will swoop down to the level of the barangays to educate the people about the new constitution. This will be complemented by the efforts of the politicians under the leadership of GMA (which explains why she is now the Speaker for the influence she wields over politicians) to launch a vigorous campaign for yes vote in the plebiscite from congressmen all the way down to the municipal mayors and councilors. And more importantly, when Digong, with his trust and approval rating of 88 percent will start visiting the regions and the people in the countryside, wooing them for their support to the new constitution, only a miracle can prevent Federalism from happening in this country.

To the yellows and the reds, look at your strength. You only managed to muster a combined forces of 30K warm bodies (bloated number in fact) during the last SONA of PRRD which is supposed to be an opportune time to show your real number and strength. But what was supposed to be an explosive show of force turned out to be a dud. We saw a dwindling number of people supporting your cause against the government. Your two million computer generated trolls operating in the social media, sadly, cannot vote against federalism, but the warm bodies of DDS deployed in every corner of the world can. This should give you an indication on the futility of your destabilizing efforts.

But just to tickle your ass a bit so we can see an autistic smile (we haven’t seen for sometime now) on your idiotic face, what if by twist of luck, the plebiscite for Federalism does not push through in 2019 elections? Will it improve your lot? Well, Digong will still remain President until 2022 and with his continued soaring trust rating in contrast to your dwindling numbers and coupled by the persistent clamor of the public, it will surely be included in the elections in 2022. By then, he might change his mind and will agree to the call for him to become the Transition President. Isn’t this just prolonging your agony and double the level of pain you have to endure?

Or let’s say, he is generous enough to keep his word and will retire for good post 2022 elections. It is with certainty that with almost 90 percent of the people trusting him and looking up to him with respect, they will certainly support anyone he will anoint as his successor. What if he anoints BBM? Or GMA under the new constitution? Or the more feasible scenario which I love to imagine – Sarah Duterte as his successor? Will this not make you scream under an excruciating pain?

The point I am making here is that in the worst case scenario that one can think of, Anti Dutertards are still at the losing end. And the reason is simple – they don’t have the number needed to turn the tide against the administration, much less to grab power again. And at the rate things are going, they are gradually losing stream with their dwindling numbers and most likely, resources too. Of course, you can never get the support of the people by destabilizing the government they helped establish. The more you attack it, the more you alienate yourself from the people who support it. You can never convince them to believe you when you accuse this government of being corrupt, plunderer, much less murderer of its own people when you yourselves have been convicted of committing the same horrendous atrocities when you were in power. It is called moral ascendancy which, in this whole story, you obviously do not have.

So the yellows and the reds will have to go back to square 1 and come up with a strategy on how to improve your numbers to put up a good and decent fight. Or better yet, bury your colors and come up with a new one which doesn’t have the stigma of that filthy yellow and red which may not be forgotten in this generation. Go for the image of the real opposition and offer alternative programs for the people to appreciate better than what Duterte is doing. After all, we need the real opposition to thrive and hold this government in constant check for better governance in a democratic society such as ours. But oppositionists are not destabilizers. The former operates in parallel with the established government as a partner in nation building albeit critical in some respects while the latter is there as a destructive force motivated by greed and lust for power.

For the real oppositionists, it is high time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Cleanse your ranks and you might win some of us to your side. For the destabilizers, you have been launching your demonic machinations for the last 2 years with no success and there is no indication whatsoever that very soon, you will see even a ray of light at the end of the dungeon where you are in right now. Please stay where you are and keep safe bearing in mind that under the Duterte government, one’s right to be perpetually stupid and idiot is fully respected. – Jun Avelino

(Please share if you like – Jun Avelino)

Duterte on a roll as he starts his third year

BY RIGOBERTO D. TIGLAO ON JULY 25, 2018

IF the Philippine presidents’ State of the Nation Address (SONA) is of any use to us, it is as a marker when we pause to assess: “How is this president doing?”

President Duterte’s aura in his SONA the other day was of supreme confidence, even as he uncharacteristically stuck to reading his prepared speech, in a few instances apparently resisting the temptation to move to his default attitude, which is to say what he feels at the moment, no matter who his audience is.

The Liberal Party and the Yellow Cult are in retreat, with its head, former President Benigno Aquino 3rd, so lacking in confidence he again refused to attend the event, yet saying nothing about it — probably deathly afraid that any criticism of Duterte from him now would accelerate the criminal charges being brought against him, foremost of which is the colossal Dengvaxia scam that has claimed more than 70 children’s lives so far.

The party’s president Sen. Francis Pangilinan was dressed up as some unwashed farmer among the demonstrators that included the Southern Tagalog mass base of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which the CPP in desperation had ordered fully mobilized for the anti-SONA rally. As with Pangilinan, the rallyists hardly paid any attention to the other anti-Duterte senator, Antonio Trillanes 4th, coming to join them, and simply tolerated these opportunistic politicians.

The media may have gotten tired of them and their silly tirades, but hardly anything was heard of the other Liberal Party stalwarts on what they thought of Duterte’s SONA.

The Supreme Court just a month ago affirmed the legality of the arrest and detention of the Aquino administration’s political assassin, detained Sen. Leila de Lima, whose Liberal Party-mates seem to have forgotten or simply didn’t bother to ask the courts to allow her to attend the SONA since after all she is still a senator.

Yellow vestige
Whether Duterte had a hand in it or not, the Supreme Court also removed just two months ago another vestige of the Yellow Cult’s rule, the fake Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno. Because of her eccentricity bordering on lunacy and political amateurishness, she is receding to political oblivion so fast she should worry now if she could even make a living as a notary public. Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, who by all indications acted as Aquino’s political assassin and protector, steps down today, with mostly good-riddance comments.

With in all probability a Duterte San Beda buddy, a very competent yet street-smart lawyer, likely to become Ombudsman starting tomorrow, the Yellows in the past government are having sleepless nights worrying if they had hidden their corruption well and thinking how to tell Duterte they are now in all-out support of his administration.

Bucking dire predictions that the Dirty Harry mayor from Davao is an ignoramus in terms of economic management, the economy under Duterte grew 6.7 percent in 2017 and is forecast to expand by between 7 to 8 percent this year. Foreign direct investments in Duterte’s first 21 months in office (July 2016 to March 2018), totaled $16 billion. This is four times the $4 billion investments during a similar period (July 2010 to March 2012) under Aquino.

Duterte even planned for the long term, pushing for the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law (widely known as Train Law) which, as has been true of nearly all tax-reform programs, is unpopular and disliked in the short term, but which in the long run will put the economy — as in the case of President Arroyo’s Expanded Vat Law passed in 2008 — on a more solid footing.

Many have realized as fake the reports that “tens of thousands of Filipinos were murdered by government” in its anti-drug war, regarding them as the handiwork of unpatriotic Filipinos working in foreign media, or of Yellow cultists like Chito Gascon.

There has been a sea change in perception. The shrill anti-Duterte broadsheet the Philippine Daily Inquirer, even with its owners unchanged, and even the website-only Rappler have ceased to be the strident, biased media outfits. The Yellows can now rely only on the New York Times, taken care of by a Filipino-American billionairess in that city, as their anti-Duterte media outlet.

Indeed, I was surprised when an eager-beaver kind of academic-turned-columnist critic, who wrote in his 100-page “book” that Aquino was “the best president this country ever had” and who was seemingly so mad at Duterte he disseminated lies disguised as government data, in a piece published in a broadsheet the other day, wriggled to explain why Duterte is on a roll. While I don’t entirely agree with his explanation, I am quoting it at length to show that I am not alone in my optimism about Duterte, as even his former vitriolic critics are in fact now of the same opinion, with the facts staring them in the face.

Excerpts from that piece:
“As he enters his third year in office, the question is: What has he got right? What explains his enduring charisma and popularity among Filipinos?

In my view, the President got at least four things right in his first two years in office.

The first was to place the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in charge of his war on drugs. From the very beginning, I and countless other experts have emphasized the necessity for a methodical, surgical and calibrated response to the drug menace in this country.

The Philippine National Police was not designed for a Duterte-style drug war. And, gladly, the Armed Forces of the Philippines kept a healthy distance form the whole affair, instead focusing on its primary duty of protecting our territorial integrity.

Once the PDEA took the lead in the drug war in late 2017, there was an immediate and massive decline in the number of reported extrajudicial killings. Crucially, the efficacy of the counter-narcotics operations seemingly improved under the less lethal approach….

Second, paradoxically, it took the Duterte administration to pass the historic Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the supposed signature national security accomplishment of the previous administration. The President rightly certified the bill as urgent, leveraging his political capital to hammer out differences and nudge Congress and the bill’s stakeholders toward a mutually satisfactory compromise.

Thanks to the BBL, there is now a roadmap toward lasting peace in Mindanao. For sure, it will take more than just a legal framework to address the profound grievances that have driven the decades-long conflict in the South. But, at least, Mr. Duterte oversaw the nation taking a leap of faith in the right direction.

Third, Mr. Duterte has come under fire, and rightly so, for his acquiescent posturing toward China… (But) as one senior Western military official told me, ‘We can’t want to fight for Scarborough Shoal more than your own president.’ This isn’t provincial politics anymore.

Yet, it was under this administration, and particularly thanks to patriots such as Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, that we are finally upgrading our decrepit facilities in Pag-asa and other features in the Kalayaan Group of Islands.

Lastly, the Duterte administration should be credited for its ambitious infrastructure vision which, even if only partly successful, will redefine the country’s economic future. From the accelerated completion of Mactan-Cebu International Airport to the launch of other big-ticket projects in Clark (airport expansion) and Metro Manila (subway), there are reasons to be optimistic about the coming infrastructure landscape of the country.

Years from now, we may also thank Mr. Duterte for temporarily shutting down Boracay, though his timing and methods were definitely far from optimal. How I wish he would also pay attention to the impending environmental disaster in other places, including in my hometown of Baguio.”

Email: tiglao.manilatimes@gmail.com
Facebook: Rigoberto Tiglao
Twitter: @bobitiglao
Archives at: www.rigobertotiglao.com

http://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-on-a-roll-as-he-starts-his-third-year/423112/

July 25th, 2018 – Called to be Servants

July 25th, 2018 – Called to be Servants

Feast of Saint James, Apostle

Father Alex Yeung, LC [Matthew 20: 20-28]

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, in spite of my many failures, I know you continue to call me. Your Spirit continues to guide me. I trust in you, love you and praise you for all your gifts to me. Amen.

Petition: Lord Jesus, grant me a renewed sensitivity to the deepest needs of others. 

1. Called to Serve: In an era of Catholicism in which catch-phrases such as “called to serve” have been overused to the point of becoming clichés, we risk forgetting how central service is to the Christian life. The minutes of our lives are consumed in an incessant cascade of apparently important and urgent things to do. Doesn’t it happen, however, that in the midst of all this we actually miss any number of opportunities to serve? Called to serve, yes, but we miss the call! And our service gets sidelined. If service to my brothers and sisters is not an ordinary element of my daily life as a Christian, I can be sure that I have succumbed to self-deception or taken a critically wrong turn somewhere.
2. A Continuation of Christ: We are called to give ourselves unreservedly to others as a continuation of Christ. “A continuation of Christ”: now, wouldn’t that make a wonderful epitaph?! For truly, if our Christian service is not a prolongation, an extension of Jesus’ love, if we are not giving him to others, if those whom we serve are not discovering him in us, then our service is simply not service. It might be philanthropy, it might be empathy, but it falls short of genuine Christian service if those whom we serve do not discover Christ in us. Like John the Baptist, we must become less so that Jesus can become more in us, so that our brothers and sisters are not cheated out of encountering that Christ whom they secretly long to discover in each of us.
3. What Service Means: Here it will be helpful simply to examine ourselves on some of the essentials of Christian service. Is my daily life characterized by a concern for the genuine good of others and by a readiness to do all the good I can for my brothers and sisters? Do I actually engage in daily acts of service, whether big or small? Do I examine myself frequently on the sin of omission? Do I strive, in carrying on the ordinary service required by my state in life, to do so with extraordinary deliberateness and full, conscious self-giving?

Conversation with Christ: Father, you call me to serve, and I know that service also means suffering at times. If suffering is to be a part of your plan for me, give me the grace to collaborate with Christ your son in the salvation of souls by offering that suffering generously to you. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Resolution: Out of love for Christ, present in the least of my brothers and sisters, I will examine myself on what genuine Christian service means to me in practice, and what place it usually has in my daily life.

ANG PAAWA AT DRAMA NIYA KAHAPON, WALA SIYANG NARINIG SA SONA NA PATAMA SA KANYA! Dante Maravillas

The Opposition lost the Philippines in 2016 and then lost it again in 2018 after #SONA2018

As expected, the Philippine Opposition under the leadership of the Liberal Party (a.k.a. the Yellowtards) are screeching over the return of certain “evil” characters — former president now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for one. It’s déjà vu, they say — as if that, by itself, is an argument that supports the “evilness” they believe characterises the situation today. They are now throwing a monumental tantrum over what is, essentially, a failure on their part to stay on top of their political game. Instead of being good chess players, they’ve allowed themselves to be outmaneuvered by the “enemy”.

The Opposition played really badly. They accepted every gambit dangled before them by the government of President Rodrigo Duterte, swarming around and biting at every one of the outrage fads that “trend” on social media and quibbling over every spelling error and every blooper that blips on the radar they use to track the movements of their low-value targets. All the while, the political “maneuverings” they now brattily stomp their feet about in infantile anger went on right under their noses.

What is remarkable is that every one of the “sinister” maneuvers the Yellowtards whine about today were conceived, planned, and implemented where they should be — within the framework of the law and within the offices that house legitimate democratic institutions (i.e. in courts and the halls of Congress, among others). Democracy and its processes were actually at work and these were used shrewdly by the camp of Duterte and its circle of allies to outplay the Yellowtards.

The trouble with the Yellowtards is they had spent an inordinate amount of time and effort plotting extrajudicial and even criminal approaches to re-acquiring power. They continued to rely on their tired old “people power revolutions” that are essentially just garden-variety coup d’état disguised as prayer meetings. Rather than work with their duly-elected representatives in Congress, they deferred to the Cold War relic of a notion they call the “parliament of the streets” as a source of legitimacy. They relied on slander, lies, and good old-fashioned appeal to emotion, styles that their chosen “leaders” were all cut from the same mold to exhibit: “vice president” Leni Robredo, never-had-been-chief-justice Lourdes Sereno, convicted mutineer Antonio Trillanes, and accused drug lord coddler Leila De Lima. The irony that flies over the pointed heads of the Yellowtards is that they are now the first to dismiss use of due process to get things done in favour of antics that are actually destructive to Philippine democracy.

What the Yellowtards had neglected over two years of wasting time on 1980s-era political relics was the important task of winning elections and accumulating legitimate political capital on a 21st Century landscape. Rather than use social media as a platform for constructive discourse, they used it to keep the discourse stunted at infantile levels. This can be seen in how their most revered political bloggers found very few intelligent words to fill the commentary they issued before, while, and after Duterte delivered his SONA. Instead of working on forming strong coalitions amongst already-elected officials within Congress, they undermined the institution itself and dismissed it as a lost cause. Rather than recognise real achievements delivered by the government and contributing to enhancing these achievements and proposing additional innovative ideas to produce more and better results, they engaged in economic sabotage.

This is not an Opposition Filipinos deserve. This Yellowtard-led sorry excuse of an “Opposition” is nothing more than a den of carpetbaggers loosely unified by no more than a hollow-headed hatred for Duterte. They have latched on to a lowest-common-denominator approach to seizing power — through dishonesty, inciting anarchy, and even through terrorism. This is a thuggish Opposition hungry for power and will not think twice to implement methods that could unravel the very fabric of Philippine society just to achieve their insidious ends.

Under such a dysfunctional Opposition, Philippine democracy can neither evolve nor mature further. Those who do the right thing and work within its institutional frame are the ones who deserve to be lauded today. Filipinos no longer need those so-called “heroes” the Yellowtards keep pining about. This is because there is no longer any of that “fight” the Yellowtards imagine still exists. There is only work to be done to build a country. And for that sort of work, “heroes”, “martyrs”, priests, nuns, failed CEOs, and “professional activists” need not apply.

About benign0

benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.

http://www.getrealphilippines.com/blog/2018/07/the-opposition-lost-the-philippines-in-2016-and-then-lost-it-again-in-2018-after-sona2018/

NINO MAY MENSAHE SA MGA ANTI-DUTERTE 'Mag-rally kayo,kunin nyo ang bayad! DUTERTE pa rin ang pangulo'

'SONA NI DUTERTE NA $ABOTAHE?; ALVAREZ TINANGGAL, ARROYO BAGONG HOUSE SPEAKER' - Contreras |#SONA2018