Tag Archives: Corruption

Marcos Jr ditches cousin to deflect flood control mess

Opinion, , , ,

Pundits say no one becomes Speaker of the House without the blessing of the President, so when Marcos Jr practically scolded both Houses of Congress in his last SONA with his now infamous “Mahiya naman kayo!“, what he meant was ‘WTF gentlemen, first you fucked up the impeachment, then you didn’t exactly gave me a complete victory despite all of the ayudas even though we all knew the 2025 budget was for the election, now the people are getting wild ideas from the Indonesians because the monsoon has exposed how you all got so greedy with these shitty flood control projects!

So…some would have to be thrown under the bus, it will be somebody, not me. No, definitely not me. But surely it will be some of you.’

A little over a week ago, it was Chiz Escudero who was the first to fall after being ousted as Senate President.

Now, it’s Martin Romualdez as he will be resigning as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Duterte propaganda machine will spin this as ‘their’ victory, but it was all on Romualdez as he brought this upon himself. He fucked up so bad, being a cousin of the President is not enough to save him. And no, all that meow meow was just a silly distraction.

That Romualdez will be replaced by Faustino Dy III, another trapo from the Dy dynasty that has lorded over the province of Isabela for decades, means the change is just cosmetic.

How this ‘adjustment’ to the current dispensation will affect or factor in the Marcos camp’s design to convert their Restoration into a continuation come 2028 remains to be seen, they have demonstrated to be able players of the long game and there’s still some time before Marcos Jr becomes a complete lame duck and the factions of the political class would have packed up and hitched their wagon to the next possible contender aside from, and if, Daughterte makes it there unscathed.

Coming back to the present, our task has become much more obvious: we must continue to demand accountability from our officials and the bureaucracy. Leadership reshuffles in Congress is not enough. Having a handful of private contractors and expendable bureaucrats facing charges are not enough. They could not have cheated and robbed the public coffers alone. It started with the preparation and deliberation of the national budget, so Congressmen and Senators are definitely involved, it would not even be a surprise if the proper investigations would lead to the President and his cabinet.

Keep following the investigations in the Senate and House of Representatives, even though we know they’re meant to distract, obfuscate, or would not reveal the complete truth, it would keep our politicians honest enough to know we are watching. Demand for the passage of the Freedom of Information bill. Demand that SALNs be made public again.

Support journalists that are really doing their job of asking the hard questions, digging deeper and providing more context beyond mere quote cards, reporting on facts rather than innuendos and gossip.

If you can spare the time, join the protests on September 21 either at Luneta or EDSA Shrine or even both. Everyone who wants a clean, honest and accountable government is welcome.

#PulisAngTerorista

Opinion, , , ,

Once more #PulisAngTerorista is trending on Twitter because of the most recent incident of road rage, assault and even cocking a gun involving a retired police officer who was driving on the bike lane.

Last night, the Quezon City PNP had a press conference to ‘address the matter’ where a couple of things smack of further impunity by authorities and their former members – only the retired police officer who pulled out a gun was present, the bike rider was not present, out of fear for his safety and that of his family, and the QC PNP once more acting like a spokesperson for their erring comrade.

From the posts of lawyer Raymond Fortun, who is now taking on a crusade to make the retired police officer accountable, it’s clear that the victim had already been silenced by fear as he has refused to file charges and pursue the matter altogether. Adding insult to injury, the police officials at the press conference had the audacity to declare that “anyone is free to file charges” like a veiled threat to anyone who would go up against their authority.

All this after 17-year-old Jherod Jemboy Baltazar was gunned down by incompetent and trigger-happy policemen. Another minor, a 15-year-old kid ended up with bruises and injuries after being beaten up by the Navotas Maritime Police.

Remember all these when you consider that the public is paying for the pension fund of police officers with no contribution from them when they were still on active duty. You’d think that abusive and corrupt police are only present in the US hence the outcry “ACAB”, in the Philippines, #PulisAngTerorista

In shutting down PCSO, Duterte has helped promote jueteng

Daily dose, , , , , ,

without giving details or offering any evidence of the alleged corruption in PCSO, the public headed into the weekend surprised and puzzled with the sudden shutdown of Lotto, Keno, STL and other gaming activities by PCSO.

All the Palace could say was that details will be given “in due time.” No one from the top brass of PCSO has resigned nor has given any statement to Duterte’s shutdown order, only that they will make an appeal to the President’s office.

Recall that one of PCSO’s offerings is the Small-town lottery or STL which was meant to compete and help get rid of the illegal numbers game ‘jueteng’. Now that STL has been shuttered, one would expect an increase of jueteng’s popularity as people will turn to it for their gambling fix or livelihood.

With one stroke, Duterte has indirectly boosted the illegal numbers game. He was even able to mobilize the PNP in closing down the thousands of Lotto stalls nationwide under generous media coverage.

Then there was this speech the President gave last June during an oath-taking ceremony of newly elected officials in Malacanang:

May mga jueteng na activity…Maski sinong Presidente ilagay mo dito, for as long as the economy does not really provide food on the table for so many families, hayaan mo na lang ‘yan. At least ang pera doon [There are jueteng activities. Regardless who the President is, for as long as the economy does not provide really food on the table for so many families, you just let it be. At least the money is there]

Kasi hindi ko talaga rin kaya. At pagka sinira ko ‘yan, ang papalit sa apparatus niyan, droga. So choose between the lesser evil [Because I also can not do it. And if I order the closure of jueteng, it will be replaced by the drug apparatus. So choose between the lesser evil]

So it seems that Duterte has really chosen the ‘lesser evil’ and gave jueteng a Presidential boost by shutting down its competitor. Until Duterte reveals more details or progress of his so-called investigation into the alleged corruption in PCSO, the public will just have to wait and wonder.