MANILA, Philippines – President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said yesterday he would continue to reach out to incoming vice president JejomarBinay even if they were from different parties.
“I hope he joins the Cabinet,” Aquino said when asked if it was still possible for Binay to join his official family even if the vice president-elect had declined his offer to head the Department of Agrarian Reform, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), and the commission to be created for the prosecution of cases against President Arroyo.
Binay earlier said he turned down the positions to avoid being placed in an awkward situation in a Cabinet packed with members of the Liberal Party (LP).
The vice president-elect won under the PwersangMasangPilipino and the United Opposition with former President Joseph Estrada as standard-bearer.
However, contrary to reports that LP officials, particularly Aquino’s running mate, Sen. Manuel Roxas II, were against his appointment, the incoming president said that all Binay had to do was say yes.
“No one is blocking the VP’s appointment and all that is necessary is for him to accept,” he said.
Aquino earlier said that the commission to investigate Mrs. Arroyo seemed to fit Binay.
“I am hoping he will change his mind, I thought of something that would really fit him. He’s a lawyer and we are expecting a prosecution that we need to do. He has a long track record in human rights, not CHR (Commission on Human Rights). I want to make that clear. One of our platforms is judicial reform, specifically the commission that we will create to put closure on all issues that are pending. He will lead in that,” Aquino said.
“To me that would be a major achievement in our country. Sorry if I sound like a broken record. Our conviction rate is 18 percent, no big fish, the bigger the fish the harder to even investigate. If he comes in and manages to prove and send to jail those who are guilty, then that would be quite a big achievement, radical departure from the usual mold of operations in this country,” he added.
Comment:
That is the problem with creating a commission for the purpose of going after GMA and her corrupt cohorts. The present circumstances are not the same as the revolutionary circumstances following EDSA 1. Back then, a PCGG (Presidential Commission on Good Government) was necessary to untangle the sophisticated system of dummies and shell corporations that provided the conduit for two decades of the proceeds of corruption. Under the present circumstance, while corruption may have been as pervasive if not more so than during Marcos' time, the transfer of power was not revolutionary. It was revolutionary only in the sense that her minions were thrown out in a fashion that gave no kinder interpretation than that they were scalawags, and revolutionary also in the sense that GMA herself won election for Congress.
A commission at this time will not bode well for institutional stability. Shall we always create commissions for each and every instance of untrammelled official corruption? Look at the PCGG. 24 years after its creation, it is still there and there is no indication that its singular mission has been achieved considering that the Marcoses and their cronies are very much having a heyday and the PCGG is itself guilty of some of the most egeregious corrupt acts, save for some bright spots when our HaydeeYorac was at its helm.
I will agree with you that it should be the DOJ that should be leading the charge. If the P-Noy regime truly wants to be revolutionary, maybe it can throw out the Ombudsman as well who, while agreeing with the Supreme Court that a crime has been committed in the bidding for Comelec machines under Abalos, disagrees with the former in that there was no criminal to be indicted.
Sometimes we are losing sight of the forest for the trees if the big question of the day is that Jojo should accept a cabinet post when we should be more concerned with what exactly the governance policy is of the new administration. All the personalities in whatever post will only be secondary or at least clean enough to deserve their positions.
Canada also did not have greedy speculative paper traders who repackaged the toxic subprime assets and sold them to the world markets. Deregulation went too far under the Republicans starting the Clinton years when they controlled the Houses. (See, I shoot at the Republicans too).
firstly, they were allowed to do it. Secondly, someone in the Philippines picked up on it, ... money villar. Thirdly, despite of all evidence to convict, no one goes to jail (except the ponzi scheme greedy Bernie Madoff ... small fry compared to Goldman Sachs toxic packages) . But the US was very quick to convict a Canadian, Lord Conrad Black (some might argue he resigned his citizenship to get a British Lordship, but he was born
Canadian), who founded several companies, gave jobs to hundreds of thousands of Canadian and British nationals and was only his right as a company owner to pay himself unquestionable dividends, but the US declared the payments bordered on fraud yet the Enron top gun and all the Wall Street Goldman
Sucks got out of jail free.
" Please do not use US Quarters".
... I remember not too long ago, the TTC (Toronto Transit Commision) public transportation had to re-design its token ... the previous one was an aluminum the size of the once "new" Philippine one-centavo coin (0.000222067 CAD). The one centavo was same size, weight and dimension of the TTC token.
The same colour too. It's too eerie to be a coincidence. And when TTC counted the tokens, there were plenty of the one centavo coins in the till.
Such ingenuity!
BTW, did you hear?
A major movie studio made a movie about Despicable Me ... yes, finally a movie so despicable it could only be about Me ;-)
... here's the link ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo9-bcbLn1Q
On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 3:59 AM, MrX wrote:
Brod Me,
Wanna make a quick buck if they have not done it yet? Several years ago when I crossed the border from Canada to Buffalo, NY a lot of the vending machines in the US side had signs,:"Please do not use Canadian Quarters", because they worked and the exchange rate was about 70 Cents US to 100 Cents Canadian.
Nowadays, it is probably the other way around. Get some of those signs printed and sell them to those border stores in Canada : " Please do not use US Quarters". JEjejeje.
Canada escaped the meltdown because their Banks stuck to conservative lending practices and did not have Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and community organizer like Jesse Jackson and allegedly, a guy named O' putting pressure on banks to lends money to underqualified people. Then they pressured the banks to use bail-out money to refinance those bad mortgages and the whole thing collapsed again because the owners just could not afford their loans even at the lower renegotiated rate,. These people just were not ready to take on any mortgages!DUH???
Canada also did not have greedy speculative paper traders who repackaged the toxic subprime assets and sold them to the world markets. Deregulation went too far under the Republicans starting the Clinton years when they controlled the Houses. (See, I shoot at the Republicans too).
It also helps that there are only around 30 million Canadians with a wealth of natural resources greater than USA including huge petroleum reserves.
Australia has the same predicament. Vast resources but not enough people to even exploit the same.
With the severe winters Canadians should be breeding like rabbits. Nothing to do in winter but .... all day! Just a side comment! No relation to above.
--- On *Sat, 6/26/10, Mr.Y *wrote:
Brod Yogs,
No matter how dissappointed you may be with Canada .. heck no, I'm not disappointed with Canada ... I'm disappointed with the current Prime Moron who also disappointed almost every Canadian for having $1.2B for 3-days security bill spent in Toronto. Canada is one of the best if not the best country to live in. It's sometimes the politicians that ruin it and that I cannot take. It's like in the US ... sometimes you don't like the likes of Obama and sometimes you like the likes of Bush (especially the ones you find between the legs of wahines :-).
On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 11:39 PM, Mr.X wrote:
Brod Me,
he total US Dollar holdings of China is actually about 3.8 Trillion. The are just IOUs which are* direct indebtedness*. The 3.8 Trillion (from memory, I read somewhere) is in US currency which can also be used to buy anything in USA. China had no choice but to buy the Securities because as far as they are concerned, we are too big to go bankrupt. (Same predicament USA had with AIG!). If they did not shore up our economy they can kiss their 4 trillion total stake in US of A (Or really, almost *US of C* already).
A wise investor would prefer real estate over stocks or bonds so in the long run Americans will be a nation of renters since most of the real estate will be owned by foreigners. And who will stop them from raising the rent all the time?
Think about it! Above is only China. The total US deficit is over 13 trillion and counting according to the National Debt Clock I checked 2 minutes ago. That was *$42,347 Per person* and *$118,713 per taxpayer*! 1.9 Trillion of that whole amount is what O' spent the last 18 months. Think about it, 1.9 of the total Debt was Obama's expenditure. That is *14%* of the total in just 18 months.
Politics aside, you can see where this is all headed. Many taxpayers will just go on welfare or better yet move to Canada!!!!Yeah! !! No matter how dissappointed you may be with Canada, they are rated the best economy. Why do you think they have the G20 there? Canada is the only one who can afford to host it!
Lucky for me, this will not go down during my lifetime but my 2 kids and 2 grandchildred will have to pay for me! Maybe I should move to Canada and bring them with me! Yes!!
You can view the National Debt Clock by just doing a search on Yahoo!
Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed.....
NAIROBI(AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa , officials said the hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26,2009 before wildlife rangers rescued him.
"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.
"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added.
"The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.
"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"
This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another.
We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures. "Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."
"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves."
Sa ika-112 taon ng Araw ng Kalayaan...Pinoy, mabuhay ka!!! Sa mga
bagong uupo sa ating pamahalaan, harinawa ay kanilang panindigan at
tuparin ang kanilang pinangako at tungkulin at ng maibsan ang
kahirapan ng mga nakakarami! Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa!?
Here is the longer (and more emotional) proclamation of Noynoy and Binay. Read JP's note below on the handshake (segment 2:03) and 'Sabling'. If you don't, even just a little, shed tears on watching the clip, bilib ako sa pusong bato ninyo. Eta ka ba? is the next question kung hindi naluha.
Yes, Oscar, APO will be a formidable force in Philippine politics. It now has an imprimatur from Jojo. Many others will follow. The 'system' is there to win elections. It is a matter of refining it to fit a particular candidate. Darna Mamasal and Chato and Presidents Mel A and Manny C, and Ernie H, Tom B, etc...are the brains behind the system They can make it work again for any APO candidate (siempre din, dapat magaling), and win elections.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSJ2WX3HMzs
Anyhow in the Proclamation, notice also that in a scale of 10 in the decibel of shouting for Binay, Binay, Binay....(ang ingay talaga ng APO, sabik na sabik!), shouts for Noynoy is only some 2.5. Nahihiya pa nga ang iba sigurong sumigaw ng Noynoy, but not for the Binay, Binay people in the gallery. Parang boxing sa Las Vegas, when people chanted Manny, Manny, Manny. We have the latter's counterpart in the Proclamation. ..Binay, Binay, Binay. I don't recall anything like that happening before in any proclamation. A Tour d Force of APO...yanig ang Lonsi and Tabets and Rhosigs.
VP lang yun, eh kung President Binay pa...ala eh, sa Araneta Coliseum dapat ang proclamation.
And towards the end of the Proclamation, it goes back again to 10 with Noybi, Noybi, Noybi... Clearly, the magic is there for the Team Noybi. Notice Noynoy, parang haping hapi. Sabi kasi ni Jojo in the interview two days after elections, "President Noynoy, with me as your Vice President, makakatulog ka nang mahimbing. Hindi kita aagawan ng puesto".
In the proclamation, para pa ngang mas colorful at makarisma si Jojo kaysa Noynoy. But of course, mas "colorful" talaga... he, he, he.. Nangawit din ang braso ng Bata natin kasi mas matangkad si Enrile and Noynoy sa kanya, kaya todo hila ang braso sa pag-raise ng hands niya. Buti na lang hindi napunit yung Barong ...otherwise, nabisto yung mas "colorful" kay Kabatch Jojo. Joke only...ha,.. .Ernie H, huwag mo akong isumbong.
By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files and YouthVotePhilippines
Whatever the final outcome of the tightly contested vice presidential race, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay has made history by being the first local official to be possibly catapulted to a top national position, just a breath away from the presidency. Unlike another former mayor, Joseph Estrada, Binay bypassed Congress in his quest for a top post.
But Binay’s journey from being a far third at the start of the campaign to becoming the frontrunner in the national canvassing does not surprise fellow mayors and other local executives who say he prepared for it long ago. The Makati mayor made smart use of vast resources and backed these up with an underground operation that included an in-your-face infiltration of a rival political organization.
The latest count by the Senate and House of Representatives acting as National Board of Canvassers shows the Liberal Party’s Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III with a commanding lead of 5.5 million over former president Joseph Estrada of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.
But the vice presidential race is still too close to call with the PMP’s Binay posting 14,084,879 votes against the 13,440,127 votes of LP’s Manuel “Mar” Roxas. Binay leads by 644,752 with some 1.4 million votes still to be canvassed.
This cliffhanger finale to the 2010 elections was unthinkable at the start of the campaign period when Aquino and Roxas topped the Social Weather Stations’ December 2009 survey with 40-percent respondents’ approval. Loren Legarda of the Nacionalista Party was a distant second with 32 percent, and Binay trailed far behind with 10 percent.
But interviews by VERA Files reveal Binay is now merely reaping the rewards of a nationwide network laid out nearly two decades ago when he launched a sister-city program linking Makati with other local government units.
With a P12 billion annual budget, Binay’s Makati could afford to be generous. Since the early 1990s, Makati has forged sisterhood ties with more than 200 municipalities and cities all over the country, advising them on public management, subsidizing computerization training of municipal government employees, providing computer equipment, giving scholarships to poor students from the provinces in Makati City schools, and making available the city’s modern medical facilities.
Binay is also known to be quick in giving at least P50 million in financial assistance to a sister municipality in need, such as in times of calamity.
In his visit to Catbalogan, Samar in March 2009, Binay told reporters that Makati’s sisterhood program had nothing to do with his announced plan to run for president. “Aside from extending assistance and goodwill to other cities and municipalities, the sisterhood is also a good way for LGUs to exchange ideas and best practices on governance,” he said.
Binay had initially aimed for the presidency, refusing invitations from the Liberal party to join its senatorial ticket, saying that his expertise is as an executive and not as a legislator. He only slid down to the vice-presidency when Estrada decided to run for president.
The Makati mayor gained valuable exposure to the masses in provincial sorties with the popular Estrada. Sources knowledgeable about the Estrada campaign said Binay underwrote the bulk of the PMP campaign expenses.
Binay solidified his linkages with LGUs with his friendship with 78 other city mayors who compose the League of Cities of the Philippines. This is best shown in Metro Manila’s results where the winning team was Aquino-Binay.
The SWS exit poll showed Binay’s support cutting across party lines. Majority of supporters of NP’s Manuel Villar, Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s Gilbert Teodoro and other presidential candidates had him as vice president.
A source close to one of the Metro Manila mayors said Binay campaigned only for himself with his fellow city mayors, telling them he understood their commitment to another presidential candidate. Estrada showed his displeasure by leaving blank the slot for vice president in his ballot, which was captured on camera on May 10.
Another national organization that Binay cultivated through the years was the Boys Scouts of the Philippines and its allied fraternity, the Alpha Phi Omega.
People made fun of the diminutive mayor looking like an overaged boy in his Boy Scout uniform. But what many didn’t realize was that whenever Binay donned those khaki shorts, he was re-affirming his ties with the 3.5 million members of the organization and establishing a connection with their parents and other family members.
While Binay’s low-key building of national networks would make a good study of effective campaign strategy, his masterstroke was the infiltration of Aquino’s campaign organization.
“There’s no way that Mar (Roxas) could have won with the betrayal from within their campaign organization,” a veteran journalist remarked, sharing his conversation with Aquino’s campaign manager Florencio “Butch” Abad, who was concerned about the activities of the NoyNoy Aquino for President Movement.
NAPM is headed by Ed Roces, son of the late Joaquin “Chino” Roces, founder and publisher of The Manila Times who was responsible for convincing the late Cory Aquino to challenge Ferdinand Marcos for the presidency in 1986.
Abad, the journalist source said, was disturbed that NAPM was campaigning for a Noynoy-Binay ticket from its campaign headquarters in Parc House Building along EDSA, just two floors above the LP office.
It was not only NAPM that was campaigning for a Noy-Bi ticket among Aquino’s supporters. There was the “Yellow Force” reportedly headed by Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, daughter of Aquino’s brother Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, the gay organization “Ang Ladlad,” the People’s Patriotic Movement, and Council for Philippine Affairs.
Friends of COPA leader Pastor “Boy” Saycon speak of a roomful of Noy-Bi materials when visiting his Makati office. COPA includes Peping Cojuangco and his wife, Margarita, and Philippine Star columnist Billy Esposo.
Other Aquino relatives campaigning for Noy-Bi were Jose Maria “Boy” Montelibano and his wife Maria, who headed Radio TV Malacanang when Cory Aquino was president and who was active in Noynoy’s presidential campaign.
Boy Montelibano, in his column in Inquirer online, said Roxas has only himself to blame for his defeat: “It (a Binay victory) has caused allegedly well-bred people to cross lines of decency and engage in gutter behavior in blaming others for what cannot be but a serious error of the core of Mar Roxas’s campaign. For a candidate to lose a lead of over 30 percent in three months without realizing it until the last moment is a classic case of political ineptness. The inept, therefore, have to point the blame on others, a usual human tendency.”
Campaign strategist Malou Tiquia of Publicus, who helped Roxas’ senatorial campaign in 2004, has a similar observation, although put in gentler terms. “Mar was too complacent. This is not the Mar of 2004 who was well-prepared with a good message, an organized ground troop and an air war with a storyline strategy.”
“My reading of him was he was too burned-out after sliding down to number two, and my sense was he was banking on the ‘sacrifice’ to get the home run,” Tiquia added. Roxas, who had been nurturing his own presidential ambition for years, gave way so that Noynoy could become LP standard-bearer, amid public clamor in the weeks after Cory’s death in August.
Tiquia noted that Roxas’s ads did not “embrace” Aquino’s anti-corruption theme and that he was not able to communicate what a vice president can do. “He was more of Mr. Palengke than a partner of Noy,” she said.
Since sliding down to vice president, Roxas had consistently maintained a commanding lead against his then closest rival, Legarda, until polls showed Binay catching up in April.
And then there was Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero who withdrew from the presidential race in November 2009 and then announced he would be supporting Binay for vice president. Escudero and Binay worked together as part of Fernando Poe Jr.’s presidential campaign in 2004. Escudero did not immediately announce who he was supporting for president.
In April, Escudero, while managing the Aquino campaign’s media operations, came out with TV ads endorsing Binay for vice president. The next surveys after the endorsement had Binay slightly ahead of Roxas.
Tiquia does not credit Binay’s surge to Escuderos’ endorsement. “Binay was already on the rise when it came out,” she said. “What it perhaps did was to raise the ante. The timing of the endorsement created that kick to the end game.”
University of the Philippines political science professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer agreed with Tiquia. “The vaunted appeal of ‘NoyBi’ is a myth. Let’s not give too much credit to Chiz Escudero, Ang Ladlad, and the faction of the Coryistas who supported Binay,” she said.
Ferrer did an analysis of votes based on figures from the electronic data maps prepared by Cybersoft GeoInfomatics for the Philippine Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting. The running tallies were computed from about 90 percent of election returns.
“Aquino and Roxas dominated all other tandems in terms of sheer number of votes,” said Ferrer. “NoyBi is leading in eight or majority of the regions, but contrary to what most people think, Binay benefitted primarily from being Estrada’s running mate and only in a small way from the NoyBi vote configuration.”
Ferrer pointed out that Aquino and Roxas led the race in Western and Central Visayas and the Caraga regions, while Estrada and Binay prevailed in Cagayan Valley, Northern Mindanao, Davao and Soccsksargen.
“Assuming all Erap supporters also voted for Binay, about 8.7 million of his votes can be accounted for. But he has about five million more votes than Erap,” she said.
Ferrer said the gap between the votes of Teodoro and his running mate, Eduardo Manzano, was a possible source for about 2.9 million votes for Binay. “A secondary source is the 1.2 million more people who voted for Villar but not for Loren,” she said.
“Binay should thank Gibo’s and Villar’s supporters instead,” Ferrer said.
What makes this year’s intrigue-ridden vice presidential race interesting, however, goes beyond the results of this election. It could be a preview of the 2016 presidential contest.
I read from another thread that VPBinay had a similar plan for the GH pero hindi lang natutukan ng residents sa UP Admin. Siguro nga kung i-offer sa UP ulit ang plano na ang mga APO ang mag-aayos ng Greenhouse, siguro papayag sila. Siguro din kailangan ng konting push from the "top" (parang
pulutan yan ... kailangan ng konting panulak).
While we're on quotations, here's some of my thoughts with the help from 007 ...
*... on Mar Roxas' defeat ...*
. . . Magda: "He suggests a trade. The egg for your life."
Bond: "Well, I heard the price of eggs was up, but isn't that a little
high?"
*... on Manny Villar's failed candidacy after shelling out billions*
. . . (A villain chases Bond and skis into a snow-blower, which then
sprays red snow.)
Bond: "He had a lot of guts!"
*... on Legarda's failed candidacy while thinking she had a chance in hell to win*
. . . (While placing Fiona Volpe's body in a chair after she is shot on he dance floor.)
Bond: "Do you mind if my friend sits this one out? She's just dead."
*... on Erap's failure to speak coherently which led to billions of Eraptions*
. . . (While Bond is in bed with his Scandinavian language tutor.)
Bond: "I always enjoyed learning a new tongue."
*... on Noynoy's thoughts to Gloria Macapagal's reluctant departure from Malacanang*
. . . As Le Chiffre tortures Bond by striking his testicles with a carpet beater.)
Bond: "Now the whole world will know that you died scratching my balls."
*... on Manzano with exVilma and exMaricel*
. . . Bond: "Miss Anders. I didn't recognize you with your clothes on."
*... on Comelec's constant dragging of election returns*
Tiffany Case: "I'll finish dressing."
James Bond as Peter Franks: "Oh please don't, not on my account."
* on Erap for not conceding his presidential bid loss*
Bond: "Who are you?"
Pussy: "My name is Pussy Galore."
Bond: "I must be dreaming."
*... on Chizcudero to Legarda ... trying to outdo each other prior to elections
* . . . Tiger Tanaka: "Rule number two; in Japan, men come first, women come second."
Bond: "I just might retire here."
*... on VP-elect Jejomar Binay's "dark horse" surprise win in the last elections
*. . . (After dropping a lamp into a bathtub to electrocute a henchman.)
Bond: "Shocking! Positively shocking!" (you'll have to say it with Connery's accent ;-)
Kung nasa Seattle kayo this weekend, the largest cultural festival in Washington State commemorating Philippine Independence will be held June 5 and 6. GWAPO will be at the forefront. Thank you all for your support.
Just a reminder, come to pagdiriwang this weekend at the Seattle Center!!! Visit our FB page for events....some are listed below @ the main center house stage!
Saturday June 5th
Variety show!! -- 2-5 PM - singing, traditional folk dancing, pageant
Summer HYPE- 5-6:30 local upcoming artists such as rocky sandoval, agnes ingarra as well as Hip hop Group RNG, and much more!
Sunday June 6th - Ethnic fashion show 2-3PM
Also come out to enjoy yummy food and learn about our culture.
