Bob Ong Shirts-Abangan!

Noon At Ngayon

Let me take you back to the Good Ol' Days:

Ganito Sila Noon:

Pero katulad nga ng laging nangyayari, ika nga eh, walang permanente sa mundo, lalo na sa mundo nang pulitika.

Ganito na sila ngayon:

De Venecia: ‘Arroyo bribes total P100M'

Congressman Joe De Venecia (Former House Speaker and Former GMA Ally), accused President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of spending as much as P100 million in bribes in October 2007 to buy herself “legal protection” from moves to impeach her for at least a year.

Further more, concerning the NBN-ZTE Broadband deal, he recalled how the President invited him and his wife to a golf game which turned out to be a meeting with ZTE officials and former Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos in Shengzhen, China.

“Pray tell me, what is the President of the Philippines doing there? What is the husband of the President doing in the ZTE headquarters, a company that is bidding for a massive project in the Philippines? Pray tell me why the Comelec chair is there?”

-Joe De Venecia

Joe de V lying, says Mike A on ZTE rap

First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo Sunday called former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. “a liar” for claiming in a forthcoming book that he had suggested a formula that led to the awarding of the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project to China’s ZTE Corp.

“I never suggested anything, that JDV is a liar and you can tell him that to his face.”

-FG Mike Arroyo

But perhaps, the best conclusion for this fiasco came out of our notable senator Miriam Defensor Santiago during the Senate Hearing in 2007:

“Now, I want to place on record as a senator with the principal duty of passing good laws, to promote the national interest even long after I'm gone from the Senate, I resent being made part into this squabble. Pinag-aawayan niyo lang ang kickback ninyo. Inaaksaya nyo ang panahon ng Senado"

-Miriam

Need I elaborate more?

Mukhang Guilty

(Naalala ko dati, umentra din sa showbiz si Mikey. Ewan lang kung bakit hindi na nag-progress ang career nya. Anyway.....)


Inquirer.net's Nancy Carvajal reports a simple and casual encounter with the Arroyos in an interview at the St. Luke's Medical Center where FG Mike Arroyo has had an overnight stay for some treatments due to diarrhea.

FG, who is being interviewed on his reactions on JDV's statements about the business meetings in China concerning the ZTE deal, then said, "Enough with Politics".


Mikey, who was standing to the right of his father, bent over, suddenly grabbed Nancy Carvajal's (Inquirer reporter) right arm and with eyes glaring yelled: “Tama na, tama na! (Enough, enough!)”

Dato, who was standing to the left of his father, signaled to his older brother to stop. The First Gentleman appeared unaware of what Mikey was doing, continuing to answer questions by other reporters about his illness.

>>>>> So to speak, FG Mike Arroyo accused former speaker (and former GMA ally) Joe De Venecia of lying.

So sino sa kanila ang mukhang guilty?

A. De Venecia
B. the Arroyos
C. All of the Above

Sa Pula, Sa Puti

I thought I've had enough of political comedy for the week.

Hindi pa pala.

Just when I thought the Dureza Prayer will make it to the top of my favorites this week, biglang umentra naman sa eksena si Leon Guerrero.

Here's Inquirer.net's hot issue preceeding the coup in the Senate which brought down Manny Villar and installed Juan Ponce Enrile to the Senate Presidency.

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Lapid confused by Senate coup
He’s neither here nor there

Perhaps he thought he was responding to the roll call?

Sen. Lito Lapid, a known ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, appears to be quite confused by the sudden change in leadership and the subsequent alliances in the Senate.

In the four days since the coup that saw Manuel Villar being replaced by Juan Ponce Enrile as Senate president, Lapid had not only shifted sides but also managed to confuse his fellow senators.

At press time Thursday, both the majority and minority camps were claiming him as their own.

Lapid was not among the 12 senators who signed on Monday a resolution backing Enrile as Villar’s replacement. But the former action star surprised everyone, including the 12 senators who supported the coup, when he voted for Enrile on the floor.

Some reporters said they saw Lapid raising his hand in a thumbs-up sign when his name was called during the voting for Enrile.

On Tuesday, Lapid said on radio that he had not intended to vote for Enrile, but that he had not bothered anymore to correct the outcome.

He then declared that he wanted to join the minority with Villar.

Thursday, both Enrile and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Lapid was now with the majority.

“I thought Senator Lapid was going to join us, but I understand he changed his mind,” Pimentel, who is likely to be named minority leader, told reporters at the weekly Senate forum.

“Better check with him so there will be no confusion,” Pimentel said.

Enrile said Lapid voted for him when he was nominated Senate president. He said he had been told that Lapid wanted to join the majority, and that he had not convinced the latter to do so.

“When I talked to [Lapid], I said, ‘You’re welcome. Everybody is welcome to join the majority.’ If they want to join us, why not? Who am I to say no?” Enrile told reporters.

Asked whether Lapid would then retain the chairmanship of the committee on games, amusement and sports, Enrile replied in the affirmative with a chuckle:

“Yes, he wants to play games. I’ll give him the games and amusement [committee] … He wants to be amused.”

++++++++++

Para tuloy kapag ganito na yung mga nakikita o nababasa ko, minsan, iniisip ko, ba't di na lang kaya i-abolish ang Senado?

I Say A Little Prayer

The moment I wake up
Before I put on my makeup
I say a little prayer for you
While combing my hair, now,
And wondering what dress to wear, now,
I say a little prayer for you.....




Let's take a little comedy out of our favorite topic politics.



During an opening prayer at the Cabinet meeting held at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room in Malacañang, Press Secretary Jesus G. Dureza asked that the President be given the strength to lead until 2010 or even beyond.

"Bless the President so we will have forbearance, good health, the tolerance to lead this nation up to 2010, and perhaps, who knows, even beyond "









Photographers then simultaneously took photos of the President who appeared uneasy as the prayer ended.



Visibly embarrassed, Mrs. Arroyo, who was in good mood when she entered the room, immediately blurted out "Oh my God!" and covered her face with her hands.



Putting on a smile, the President told the media covering the meeting not to publish or air the prayer, an order that drew laughs and murmurs from those in the room.


"That prayer was off the record... So why don’t we [Cabinet] get everybody seated. Please tama na, tama na [enough, enough]," she said.


After the media were asked to leave the meeting area, the Press Secretary reportedly asked TV cameramen not to release the video files containing the opening prayer

In a press conference after the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Dureza clarified he referred to the President’s capability of serving the nation "in her personal and private capacity."

He added the prayer was spontaneous as he left the text he had prepared.

"I’d like to do a light prayer... I’m sure the Lord also has a lot of sense of humor and my prayer was in that context. I said something about the hope that the President would have the tolerance to serve the nation even beyond 2010," he said.

"What was grounded off was my statement that she will perform beyond 2010 in her personal and private capacity. Everybody thought it was a slip on my part but it was intentional in a sense it was a light prayer... but some people did not get it right maybe they did not have that much sense of humor."

He denied that the President is interested in a term extension.

When asked if he was reprimanded by Mrs. Arroyo, Mr. Dureza said:

"No, I was not... She had a good laugh after."

source: GMANews.TV



Forever, forever, you'll stay in my heart
and I will love you
Forever, forever we never will part
Oh, how I'll love you
Together, together, that's how it must be
To live without you
Would only be heartbreak for me.

(na-missed ko tuloy bigla si Secretary Bunye)

Villar Out; Enrile In

On Monday, November 17, Senator Manny Villar formally tendered his resignation as Senate President of the Philippines.


++++++++++

“The tenure of the Senate president, as everyone knows, depends on the number of members that supports him or her. I've been informed this afternoon that I no longer have the support of the majority members. I now, therefore tender my resignation.”

++++++++++

Inquirer.net reports:

The plot to oust Villar, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said, had been “a work in progress since the C-5 controversy,” was said to have been hatched over the weekend and was finalized at noon Monday, with 13 senators signing a resolution to oust Villar.

The C-5 controversy refers to Lacson’s accusation that Villar had initiated the double entry in the national budget for the extension of the C-5 road in the cities of Parañaque and Las Piñas.
Villar has been accused of benefiting from the C-5 extension project as this passed through property owned by his real estate firms.




Immediately after Villar's speech, Lacson moved to declare the top senate post vacant and nominated Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who garnered 14 votes to become the next Senate President. Senator Gregorio Honasan stood up and swore Enrile into his new office.


[I find it noteworthy to say that Enrile was one of Ferdinand Marcos' allies when Marcos declared the Martial in 1972. Thereafter, Enrile became one of the leaders of a military revolt in 1986 that led to the Edsa People Power Revolution and the ouster of Marcos. During the revolt, Enrile gathered much support from Honasan, then a young military officer.]


++++++++++

“With sincere gratitude and in all humility, I accept the responsibility and trust that the majority of you, my peers, has entrusted and reposed upon me today.




Allow me this opportunity to ask you, my colleagues, to forgive my shortcomings.


I am an old man who has acquired some bad habits of sometimes being arrogant, rude, harsh with my words, insensitive and impatient.



Yet, you have so kindly overlooked these shortcomings, and generously chose me to be your leader.”

++++++++++


The rumors behind Villar's ouster (and Enrile's rose to the top post) and other stories:

1. Bayad-utang?
JPE’s rise to senate presidency 'reward' for Transco 'sale'

2. Para sa 2010?
Estrada hand in coup seen


3. Parang artista lang pag sumagot. "We're just friends, you know."
Villar on ouster: It's purely politics

4. Sabagay, yung mga mas matatanda ang nakaka-appreciate sa cha-cha.
Enrile says he won't use post to amend Charter

Teachers' Board Exam Results: November 2008

Congratulations!

We've got a whole new fresh batch of licensed teachers!

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has announced today that 17,816 elementary teachers out of 58,471 examinees and 18,801 secondary teachers out of 53,195 examinees have successfully passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers given by the Board of Professional Teachers last September 2008.

Please click on the links below to view the successful examinees who made it:

Elementary Teachers' Exam Result (17,816 board passers)

Secondary Teachers' Exam Result (18,801 board passers)

/////source: Philippine Daily Inquirer/////

May God invest in you the power to educate the Filipino youth who are the hope of our Fatherland.

Mabuhay, and again, Congratulations to our newly licensed Elementary and Secondary Teachers!!!!

(blow out naman jan :D)

Miniminimaynimu

In less than two months, we are entering into 2009 and as I have tackled in a previous blog, the Presidential race fiasco is becoming a hit on the news lately.

The latest SWS Survey , conducted on September 2008, puts VP Noli De Castro ahead of the pack at 29% while Senators Manny Villar (28%), and Loren Legarda (26%) closely followed.

Malacañang palace issued a statement recently enumerating their choices for the 2010 elections-which includes- De Castro, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Senator Richard Gordon, Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte.

Earlier, Villar and Fernando signified their intention to run for the Top post. Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay also recently informed the media that he is also eyeing for the post. (Now, wouldn't that be a match?- Binay vs. BF in another arena).

With a lot to choose from, and a lot more days to go before the 2010, we will yet to see a lot more changes on who will finally submit their Certificates of Candidacy for the Presidential race (needless to say, there will also be a lot more ober-da-bakods in play).

However, there is this post from Cocoy in Filipino Voices.com which actually struck my attention:

++++++++++
Paano Kung Wala?
Written on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 7:29 pm by cocoy

Filipino Voices is asking, Who are YOU Supporting for 2010?

Oh yeah, you should go there and cast.

I’ll wait. Done?

Great!

As I was saying, what if… we hold an election and nobody came? Or everyone did but everyone abstained for lack of choices? I mean, seriously.

It isn’t like we have a huge pool to make a choice from. Do we choose the lesser evil of the bunch– like we have the last 20 years or so? Do we make a stand here and now and say, you want us to vote— give us better choices. We don’t want plain vanilla. we don’t want chocolate! we want coffee mint walnut ice cream!

Are we prepared to draw a line in the sand and say— we want better?

What do you think?
++++++++++

I must admit I am an advocate of exercising the right to suffrage-encouraging a lot of the people, especially the young, to register and vote, however, the question is still bugging my mind: Am I prepared to draw the line and say I want a better choice?

Do I vote and choose the "lesser evil" among those vying for the post?
Or do I stand and say: "I don't want any of those. I want better."?

Now, I'm thinking.