Speak up, Kris

BY JOJO ROBLES         JANUARY 05, 2019

THE usually quick-on-the-draw Kris Aquino, erstwhile “Queen of All Media,” has been deathly silent lately, despite her name being dragged (without her initiating it, for once) in yet another controversy. Could it be because she’s being accused of un-queenly behavior, like funding a scurrilous, talent-deficient blogger who exists solely to attack the Duterte administration?

It apparently all started when Aquino, the once-omnipresent sister of President Noynoy Aquino, let go of Nicko Falcis, her financial adviser, for allegedly stealing from her. Falcis is a brother of Jesus Falcis, a lawyer and another blogger who apparently was attacking President Rodrigo Duterte out of a sincere belief in the Aquinos’ Yellow cause.

But it was not an amicable parting. As in all things involving Kris, she had to go public about her termination of Falcis, her adviser. The Falcis brothers plotted revenge, proving once again why you should never mess with your accountant — especially one who has a media-savvy lawyer for a brother.

Jesus Falcis exposed on social media how the Yellows’ most notorious attack dog, Jover Laurio of Pinoy Ako Blog, had been asking and receiving funds from him to pay for “boosting” her anti-Duterte attacks on Facebook. The lawyer-blogger also provided information about how his brother had been paying for Laurio’s boosted attacks on popular pro-Duterte bloggers Mocha Uson, RJ Nieto (Thinking Pinoy) and Sass Rogando Sasot and even other, non-partisan bloggers she suspects of supporting the administration, like motoring writer James Deakin.

The practice of boosting posts entails paying Facebook an amount that varies depending on the amount of prominence and exposure for a particular post one needs boosted. It is often identified as a “sponsored” post, in a tip of the hat to transparency by the social media behemoth.

So far, there has been no direct evidence that Aquino has been paying Laurio, although evidence provided by Falcis that the blogger has been asking boosting money from him and that, in the last revelations, Kris has been engaging in shop talk with Laurio on her work (including complimenting her on her graphic artist) make for a compelling case. The fact that Aquino has also publicly and repeatedly professed her love and admiration for Duterte flies in the face of the revelations of her apparent plotting against him by funding efforts to bring him down.

But of course, I said there is no direct evidence “so far” against Kris. Who knows what other juicy revelations are being withheld by her former financial adviser and his brother?

Perhaps this is why, despite the uproar on social media, the reliably voluble Aquino has been remarkably quiet. (And please don’t ask traditional media to take up the story, either, until Kris herself speaks; especially one newspaper that only recently gave Laurio a “Person of the Year” Award — or was that award boosted by some deep-pocketed Yellows, as well?)

I never thought I’d say this, but here goes: Speak up, Kris. For once, I want to hear what you have to say.

* * *

The sub-headline to this portion of the column should read: Print golfers do radio, have loads of fun.

This week, my esteemed colleague, golf partner and kuya-that-I-never-had Conrad Banal and I celebrated four years of hosting the long-running radio show ”Karambola sa DWIZ”.

It’s been a non-stop trip. And it just keeps getting better.

With RJ Nieto and Trixie Cruz-Angeles growing well into their roles as co-hosts the past year, and the unstinting support of management led by D. Edgard A. Cabangon, I just know 2019 will be even more exciting, informative and fun-filled for our listeners, our viewers on FB Live and Conrad and me.

Oh and let’s not forget the continued and much-appreciated participation of Jonathan “Jonat” de la Cruz, the only holdover from the original Karambola and the smartest political operative I have ever met.

I’m pretty sure the current Karambola can now measure up to the original show, which ran for a decade under the late Alvin Capino, the late Rep. Sonny Escudero, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddyboy Locsin, Boying Remulla and Jonat, of course.

Thanks to the late Ambassador Tony Cabangon Chua, one of the best media owners I have worked for and former Aliw Broadcasting Corp. president Josephine Reyes for bringing us in to head up Karambola version 2.0 at the end of 2014.

Thanks as well to our other golf buddy, Star columnist and University of the Philippines political science professor Alex Magno, for joining us for a year when Conrad and I began, before Alex decided that fighting Edsa traffic daily and skipping so many golf dates because of the show just wasn’t worth it.

Yes, even before we started doing radio, Conrad, Alex and I were already doing our three-person, profanity-laced version of Karambola, in between hitting little white balls on various fields of manicured green. Of course, we were also our own only audience back then – although we did wonder more than once if we could have a show where we could just talk like we do on the golf course.

Then the call from Ambassador Cabangon Chua came. And we just moved indoors to an actual radio studio.

Trixie and ThinkingPinoy were both added to ensure that Karambola continues even after Conrad and I decide to join Alex again as full-time golfers first and newspaper columnists second. But don’t count on them taking over just yet because Conrad and I are still having tons of fun.

And now we’re starting our fifth year and still going great guns. How time flies.

https://www.manilatimes.net/speak-up-kris/492019/