THE SIZE OF OUR UNIVERSE

THE SABIO LETTER

July 26, 2008
HON. CONRADO M. VASQUEZ, JR.
Presiding Justice
Court of Appeals
Maria Orosa St., Ermita, Manila

RE: C.A. G.R. SP No. 103692
ROSETE et al vs. SEC et al

Dear Presiding Justice Vasquez:

The attendant circumstances, the manner by which the decision in the above case was arrived at, and how the decision was promulgated behooved me to write this urgent complaint. Unless immediate and thorough investigation thereon be undertaken by this Court, both the individual and institutional integrity of the justices and of this Court will undoubtedly be tarnished. If that happens, the public’s confidence in the judicial process will be irreparably undermined and damaged.

The genesis of this complaint:

The above case was raffled to Ponente, Justice Vicente Roxas, who at that time was its Senior member, with Justice Bienvenido Reyes, chairman and Justice Myrna Vidal, Junior member of the Ninth Division. Since Justice Reyes was on leave at that time and considering that a TRO was prayed for, a raffle was made for an acting Third Member, who happened to be Justice Jose Mendoza. However, because Justice Jose Mendoza was formerly connected with Petitioner MERALCO, another raffle was conducted and I took over and acted as chairman.

On May 30, 2008, convinced of the urgency of the matter, and the merit of the prayer for the issuance of a TRO, I signed the TRO prepared by Ponente Justice Roxas who surprisingly personally brought it to my office at that time. Justice Roxas was told that we should schedule the case for hearing on oral arguments which was to be done on June 23 and 24, 2008.

Sometime on June 16 or 17, 2008, Justice Bienvenido Reyes returned from vacation. To my puzzlement, on June 20, 2008, I received a copy of a letter sent by Justice Edgardo Cruz, addressed to Justice Bienvenido Reyes, with an opinion that Justice Reyes should take over the case and for me not to continue.

Thereupon, I called you up and told you that I found it strange that Justice Reyes never told me about the matter in spite of the fact that we were seated together several times on separate occasions. If you recall, I commented then that I smelled something fishy about the move. For one, the alleged opinion was a personal opinion of Justice Edgardo Cruz, who acted in his personal capacity. I conveyed to you that I wondered why the matter was not openly and deliberately discussed with you.

You were informed then that it was my considered opinion that I was still the proper party to hear the case. On the morning of July 23, 2008, just before the scheduled hearing, I went to Justice Martin Villarama Jr., a more senior, experienced and respected member of this Court for consultation and guidance. Justice Villarama advised me that my stand was correct and therefore I should remain in this case.

Thus, the hearing as scheduled on the morning of June 23 proceeded, where I presided and all parties joined in the spirited arguments on the pros and cons of the petition. After the oral arguments, the parties were directed to submit their respective memoranda simultaneously within fifteen (15) days from that date, addressing all the issues directed by the Court. Incidentally, before the hearing, Justice Roxas requested me if he could read a prepared paper. Finding it to be a kind of scripted speech, I told him it was restrictive and not proper for an open hearing.

Then sometime on July 1, 2008, a Makati businessman whom I knew way back then, called me up and requested for an urgent meeting. Since I had classes from 6 pm to 8 pm that said businessman waited to see me in the Law School after my class. It turned out that he was brokering for MERALCO. He started by explaining to me the problem between Justice Reyes and myself, and who should continue to handle the case. I was surprised why he came to know about this matter considering that it was an internal problem and that it only happened very recently. He then proceeded to explain to me that their lawyers wanted to directly challenge my stand but another lawyer advised them that it might become messy. So, they were talking of a win-win situation, which meant offering P10M for me to give way to Justice Reyes. I politely declined the offer and told the emissary that it was not only a matter of principle but that it will affect the integrity of the Court. Before he left, he told me that they were still hoping that I could see it their way. In their eagerness to succeed on that aspect, the emissary even called up a close family friend in Cagayan de Oro to help them convince me to accept the offer.

If you recall, the morning after, I went to see you in your office and informed you of the attempt to have me ousted from the case. Justice Villarama was likewise informed by me of the said disturbing incident.

Again, sometime on July 4, the emissary frantically tried calling me. To put an end to the pestering calls, I told the emissary that to accept the offer would not only bother my conscience forever, but also that I could not possibly face my wife, my two daughters—one a lawyer and the other a Bar candidate, as well as the rest of my family. I already discussed my stand with my family and to suddenly change my stand would have definitely affected them. Besides, I told him: “How can I reconcile my being a member of Philja’s Ethics and Judicial Conduct Department, being MCLE lecturer and Ateneo’s Pre-Bar reviewer in Legal and Judicial Ethics, if I accepted the offer?” His feeble answer was, “we are not doing anything illegal since we do not ask you to decide one way or the other.” I told him, “It is a matter of principle.”

Before we ended the conversation, the emissary said that they will be forced to resort to other means to have Justice Reyes assume the chairmanship. I countered that since that would involve the integrity and reputation of the Court, they will have to contend with me.

On July 4, 2008, Justice Roxas was frantically getting in touch with me to discuss the case while I was on official leave. I told Justice Roxas that I still needed ample time to read the memoranda of the parties to intelligently discuss the case with him. Justice Roxas told me that he will have the memoranda sent to me immediately.

Surprisingly, on Monday, July 7, 2008, an urgent motion for Justice B. Reyes to assume the chairmanship was filed by Petitioner MERALCO. If you again recall, we had a discussion on the matter and you finally advised me to discuss the matter with Justice B. Reyes.

Sometime in the afternoon of July 8, 2008, Justice B. Reyes came to see me in my office, to discuss, among others, the urgent motion. I told Justice Reyes that I found the motion rather strange and even referred to it as stupid. I further told Justice Reyes that in my more than nine years in the Court, I never came across such a kind of pleading; and that the proper pleading to file should have been a motion to have me recuse or inhibit myself.

I also told Justice B. Reyes of the P10M offer for me to give way to him. It was then that I confronted Justice B. Reyes with the following questions:

“If you will insist on assuming the chairmanship, after you have been told of the P10M offer, what will I think of you now? Why should MERALCO insist on you assuming the chairmanship and have me ousted?”

“Is it because they are certain of your loyalty and they are uncertain with mine?”

“Can you blame me now if I will think that you are a part of this whole scheme or shenanigan?”

“Does not the timing alone stink of corruption? After they failed to convince me of their offer, now they will use you to oust me?”

“Why did they (MERALCO) actively participate in the hearing on the 23rd and never raised any question regarding the supposed irregularity of my presiding over the hearing?”

“Why do you insist on assuming the case? Are you not aware that several days after the issuance of the TRO, respondents (GSIS) filed a motion for inhibition and motion to lift the TRO? Who then has the right to resolve such motions?” (Sad to say that up to this time, said motions have been left unresolved.)

“Under the circumstances do you expect me to give way to you?”

His feeble reply was “I am afraid that they will file a case of non-feasance against me.”

I told him that this was not a case of non-feasance and explained to him how that could not be possible, having taught the subject for some time.

The next day, Justice B. Reyes went to see Justice Villarama to seek his advice on the impasse. According to Justice Villarama, he advised Justice Reyes to lay off the case and allow me to continue and to resolve the urgent motion for assumption of Justice Reyes.

In the morning of July 11, I prepared a resolution referring the “Urgent Motion for Justice B. Reyes to Assume the Chairmanship” to the respondents for comment. I forwarded the resolution to the office of Justice Roxas who was in possession of the rollo. Again, sadly, the said resolution died a lonely death in the office of Justice Roxas, for it was never released.

Then on July 14, before the flag-raising ceremony, I requested Justice Roxas for a meeting regarding the case, since I had already read the memoranda submitted. Initially, Justice Roxas agreed, but after our snacks at about nine o’clock he advised me that he cannot attend the meeting because he had another matter to attend to. He also said he could not be available in the afternoon. Since that time, I had been trying to get in touch with Justice Roxas for a meeting, but he could not be reached in his office and neither did he answer my text messages for a meeting. Justice Vidal had also been eagerly awaiting this meeting.

I came to know later that as early as July 11, Justice Myrna Vidal already signed the ponencia only to be advised by Justice Roxas that he needed the decision back and could not forward it to me because he still had to incorporate some 10 pages which he forgot to include in the decision. I was disturbed by the fact that even if only few days have lapsed since the memoranda were submitted, Justice Roxas could already write and prepare a more than 50-page decision.

I also learned that a corrected decision where Justice Vidal was unceremoniously ousted was signed by a new member, Justice A. Bruselas, Jr. on July 17, although promulgated on July 23, when I was on official leave. Again, why was Justice Vidal unceremoniously removed when the case was with the Special Ninth Division of which she was a regular member? A case of one blunder after another.

But the worst was yet to happen in this case. On July 21, 2008, Justice Roxas filed with you, as Presiding Justice (PJ), an interpleader petition. Justice B. Reyes also wrote you a letter on July 22, 2008, requesting you to rule on the impasse. Without waiting for your ruling on the matter—which you did on July 24, 2008—they already promulgated the decision on the 23rd. Was it because they anticipated your opinion to be adverse to their stand that they disrespected your office by promulgating the decision earlier?

Above premises considered, I urge an investigation. At stake is not only the individual integrity of the justices but also the institutional integrity of the Court. Canon 2 of the New Code of Judicial Conduct clearly provides that “integrity is essential not only to the proper discharge of judicial office, but also the personal demeanor of judges.” Section I thereof provides: “Judges shall ensure that not only is their conduct above reproach, but that it is perceived to be so in the view of a reasonable observer.” In fact in one case, the Supreme Court said: “In the judiciary, moral integrity is more than a cardinal virtue. It is a necessity.” (Fernandez vs. Hamoy, 436 SCRA 186)

With the events that transpired as narrated, and in light of the high mandate imposed by the New Code of Judicial Conduct, as well as the pronouncements of the Supreme Court, there is a need for a no-nonsense investigation by this Court, if only to protect and defend its integrity and to encourage public confidence in the dispensation of justice.

Very respectfully yours,

JOSE L. SABIO, JR.

WORLD’S HIGHEST DENOMINATION BANK NOTES

The Economist: Hey, Big Spenders!

1946: Hungary’s Pengo 1,000,000,000,000,000,000!

QANTAS 747 EMERGENCY LANDING: AN INSIDE VIDEO

SEX IN THE MOVIES

Good thing about movie piracy, you get to watch obscure but outstanding pieces of work from equally obscure places. Nice break from regular numbing fares. Else, it’s all the usual Hollywood formula stuff and Mother Lily materials.

There’s a small shopping area where you find these things near the terminal where I take my bus ride home. At seventy bucks per DVD, stuffed with sixteen to more than twenty movies, it’s great bargain. Not high quality recording though. There’s also one back home in the public market deep in the interior selling them dirt cheap at P40, the quality though is correspondingly worse. The usual problem of bad, if not hilarious, subtitles remains, but you somehow learn to ignore them after a while. So there, I now have quite a modest collection in my cabinet containing more than a hundred movies some half of which I have yet to see.

Among them of course are sex movies from soft to hardcore. The hardcore ones are buried deep now hardly ever watched. See, if you want real porn, go look for them on the Web where there’s a good number of beautiful people who just love being watched in the raw act. But I won’t help you. Just beware: these sites are favorite hangouts of vicious malwares on the prowl for systems to infect.

These past few weeks, I went retrieving some from my stack looking for those I have missed and netted three I find good all in one DVD. If it had to do with my frame of mind at the time, I don’t know, but these were movies with lots of sex in them; and by sex , I mean, real stark naked sex: fucking, petting, oral sex, and all, in graphic realism. Beyond the sex part though, these are serious, well-crafted films, with fine actors giving it life– filmfest materials if you ask me. To be sure, while R-rated porns are not even this graphic, they do not strike you like porns do. Porn has an air of dark and malicious unreality to it. Here, there is a whiff of soft brutality in its frankness, like life stripped bare of all its covers.

Ken Park

Intimacy

Nine Songs

AMAZING CHINA

Be awed by the 10 Wonders In New China

When global audiences tune in to watch the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the world’s fastest and strongest athletes won’t be alone in striving for superlative achievements — a new generation of innovative architecture is rising in China. Fueled by a surging economy (the latest Chinese census, released on Dec. 20, says the country’s GDP is $1.93 trillion, or 16.8% higher than previously measured), China will soon be home to the world’s largest airport, the world’s first fully sustainable city, and the world’s highest outdoor observation deck, to name just a few of its innovative architectural feats.  More

MUSINGS OVER A BOTTLE OF BEER

I was having a bottle of Red Horse on a neighborhood store, must have been my second, when these thoughts just dropped by.  Funny how alcohol affects my brain sometimes.  It must have been provoked by debates over free-market economics over at MLQ3s comment thread but am not sure which one in particular.  I am taking it down in its raw form before it is lost.  Will revisit it one day.

My undergrad Economics tells me there are two extremes: free-market economy and command economy. In real life, all economies fall in between; some tending to the other end, others to the opposite. In a free market, manipulating powers congregate to influence the market forces. In a command economy, manipulating forces congregate to influence the ‘commanders’. In a free market, the market forces adjust to the influences by finding their equilibrium over time, sometimes over long periods. In a command economy, ‘commanders’ adjust to influences by acquiring commensurate powers to parry them. Now, what did they say about power again? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is a truism we often forget: that power carries with it its own corrosive influence on its wielders. To ask for an economic system therefore tending more to ‘command economy’ is to doom the leader into collecting more and more power over time to ward off undue influences, the same power that would destroy him in the end by the corrupting opportunities they make available to himself at the same time. The right approach therefore should be a wise balance between exploiting the market forces and careful tweaking of these along the way. The beauty of free market is that if something goes wrong, you blame these impersonal forces. The trouble with command economy is that if anything goes wrong all the blame will fall on the ‘commanders’, a heavy burden that could become unbearable.

ERASERHEADS REUNION?!

Eraserheads reunion??!!

It’s in the level of rumor yet.  I won’t bet my ass on it.

But if it ever happens, boy, bless the beast and the children.

THIS MADE ME SORT OF LAUGH

If atheists were like christians…

GMA’S RATINGS AND LESSONS IN POWER PLAY

How low can low ever get for a President? President Arroyo is seem destined to go down in history as the president to garner the lowest popularity rating ever. To compare her with Ferdinand Marcos is perhaps even inappropriate because at his lowest Marcos was a prime suspect as mastermind in the assassination of his political arch-nemesis, the popular Ninoy Aquino. There is yet no crime of that proportion to tarnish her image, so you can just imagine the depths to which she is plunged. (Oh, but she loves deep-sea diving, doesn’t she?)

Does she care? She does; who is the person who would not be disturbed that a good percentage of the people he leads wants him lynched, another wants him slapped, another wants him cursed? But she seems to have imbibed desensitizing agents in great dosages. That, in combination with her faith, or delusion, that God put her there for a reason, should be enough to hold back any cares and concerns about public opinion most of the day, in the meantime at least. In her mind, it’s probably this: ” is popularity even of any necessity at all?” Indeed, do you need the people’s mandate to hold on to power? For if her popularity be any gauge, she should have been a goner a long time ago, but look, the ‘lucky bitch’ as her favorite adviser lovingly describes her, is still there.

If you are one of those who believe that all is fair in love and politics, she will certainly earn your praises. Look back how institutions were sacrificed to dump a drunkard and a high school dropout for her to make it to the highest office of the land, she, the prim and proper, churchgoing PhD graduate from a pedigreed family. If institutions could be demolished and ignored for reasons of Estrada and FPJ surely there is more reason to do her in now with scandals of unprecedented proportions breaking out into the open with amazing regularity. Yet look closely how she has cleverly pushed back all opposition including even her fiercest critics into going back to the institutions— to cut her down if they want, if they can. Well, the fact is she needed only ride on the growing sentiment that tweaking social institutions does worse than good in the end. Funny, she also has herself to prove that argument.

So what’s next in her game plan? Capture the institutions. Partly finished. She has done most of the finishings there already in masterful strokes and in cold-blooded fashion over the years fighting attempts to kick her out of power. It should be ‘expand and strengthen capture of institutions’.

The recent rulings of the Supreme Court are ready hints where this institution is headed. Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s dissenting opinions no matter how enlightening will forever be weighed down by his disjointed “constructive resignation” conjecture on Joseph Estrada to ever exert any moral influence on his colleagues. Who would listen to you when not so long ago you penned an atrocious decision whose illogic they could not possibly surpass anytime soon?

The Lower House is easy. Pera lang yan.

The military establishment, after the super loyal General Hermogenes Esperon, is harder to fathom. But the remains of General Angelo Reyes’ act in 2001 persist. The noble motives that inspired his mutiny inflicted upon the establishment cracks that to this day are visible and unrepaired. The fear that another extra-constitutional act could make it worse is a powerful deterrent. More, it must be safe to say that GMA enjoys the support of a die-hard faction in the military who would die and kill for her. That faction would be in unwitting alliance with the same conservative groups who frown on EDSA type uprisings. So there’s a lot of guessing game at play there. On the other hand, while there is so much grumbling among the idealists in the corps they need a leader, but their leaders have been either neutralized or compromised.

As for the Senate, she has shown how to castrate it without too much blood. An EO here and an AO there, or an invocation of executive privilege that will be questioned and defended in the SC for months on end… they give time to let issues die down. Accompanied by a barrage of “let’s move on”, the opposition will get frittered down little by little, inch by inch, as usual.

As for the Church, hahaha pera lang din yan couched in harmless names.

There. What’s her problem? You have opponents who respect institutions. All you need now is have those institutions marching in trance to your every command. Game is yours. Easy.

As for public opinion, it seems all she needs is thorough convincing not to stage or support an uprising because the institutions must be respected, else, things will get worse. They can hate you all they want, so what?! Just don’t let it develop into a massive movement that could not be controlled like EDSA 1 and 2.  Massive dole-outs could help.

That hatred too shall pass if she could yet do something to carve out for herself a nice place in history… if only there is at least six more years to do it.

The only thing left to do is convince the elites she is yet the best bet to do their bidding.

Oh, the other option is just unimaginable. A life in prison or exile as wife of Jose Pidal,… and as a sad footnote in history? Yuck!

TAP WATER OR BOTTLED WATER?

Heck, I used to drink straight from the faucet and never got sick of anything related to water-borne diseases. In those days, it never occurred in my mind I would be buying bottled water, ever; why should one for something that should be free? I thought the pioneers of the business were fools and their customers snotty, overacting health-conscious freaks. Then one day, water coming out from the MWSS taps smelled rotten, within two days yellowish, then brackish the next day. They began as rare accidents of busted pipes before they became more and more frequent. Bottled water businesses took their cue and what a boom followed. Confidence on public water systems never recovered since, assuming MWSS and their kind ever intended to recover it, by the way. I suspected a conspiracy between MWSS and the bottled water companies. I still feel that way. If anything though, it generated jobs for thousands.

On a lighter vein, there’s the story of young kids on hiking stopping by a house in the middle of a remote farm. Thirsty, they asked for water. The woman there dutifully scooped water from an old well in the backyard. When they saw where the water was coming from, they said goodbye frantically. The woman wondered why.

THE ECONOMIST: Bottled or tap?

HUNGER: TWO PERSPECTIVES

Two contrasting faces of hunger:

“I Am So Starved vs I Am So Starved”

via Wired

RAIN, RAIN, AND MORE RAIN

It’s been pouring hard and furious since yesterday.

I woke up with a bad hangover. Last night, a friend dropped by to celebrate the rains as they were niggardly since the onset of the season. I wonder: that was just a fraction of my usual dosage and here I was feeling all used up.

Downstairs, water was almost knee-deep this morning but It’s all drained now after the downpour eased down a bit at four. I was afraid it was going to be as bad as Aklan where water was neck-deep.

Another friend stopped by awhile on his van an hour ago now. He was having a tour of the place . He said up north the roads were impassable because of flooding. This is the worst flooding I have experienced since arriving in this place ten years ago.

The winds are starting to blow now. It has been windless until this time.

I LOVE THIS SONG

I like this song for no reason.  I got to hear it over the radio from years past without knowing the title and the singer then encountered it again after so long by accident on internet radio a year ago.

YOUTUBE’S MOST VIEWED

Most watched youtube videos. The top is an amateur video by a comedian, with 92M+viewers.

PRESIDENT GMA’S SECRET SECURITY WEAPON IS AN UMBRELLA

See those umbrellas carried by PGMAs security escorts?  Beware!  Those are secret weapons!

The entourage of the Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has an unusual secret weapon. Her security team defends the head of the government with umbrellas. Not ordinary umbrellas, but unbreakable fighting umbrellas.  Link.

Watch how it works:

via gadgetlab

ARTEMIO PANGANIBAN AND THE ROAD TO HELL

Who said “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”?

It’s the exact line I keyed in on google search. The closest answer I could find is this: “1855 H. G. Bohn Hand-Book of Proverbs 514″. It seems debatable though . Strange that such a popular saying finds no concrete attribution.

In any case, my searching was triggered by this article written by former Chief Justice of the Philippines Artemio Panganiban on the Philippine Daily Inquirer: Reactions to ‘Most Corrupt’. A week ago he wrote ‘Most Corrupt’ where he said very nicely to President GMA:

Madam President, you can still redeem our country and yourself. Please get rid of the horrible “most corrupt” tag immediately. Take the high road now.

As if it’s just a tag wrongly stamped.

About ten days before that, the news was the Philippines had been tagged the most corrupt country in this part of the world, displacing perennial cellar-dweller Indonesia, by no less than the World Bank. It inspired me, by the way, to write my own lamentation: so much moralizing that led to this fucking wickedness. Remember that EDSA 2, the people uprising that kicked out Joseph Estrada on allegations of corruption, was inspired by good intentions to rid the highest office of the land of a drunkard, womanizer, and corrupt. And remember too that election cheating was knowingly abetted to deny a school dropout of the position and ensure that a prim and proper church-going PhD degree holder will be the President.

My beef is this: where’s the wrathful, mouth-frothing indignation that was when Estrada was chased out of office?

Panganiban, of course, is the bible-cutting associate justice of the Supreme Court, later Chief Justice who in February 19, 2002 related proudly:

…let me articulate my faith that EDSA 2 was indeed a confluence of events planned in heaven. I do not have the time to relate all these events. Let me just say that, frankly, I am still wondering up to now how I had summoned the courage to propose the oath-taking of Mrs. Arroyo even when she had not yet requested it, and even when President Estrada was still in Malacañang, and why Chief Justice Davide immediately agreed to it, even prior to consultation with the other justices. The Chief Justice and I both knew that the Supreme Court was a passive institution and that, ordinarily, justices did not take active part in political events. The Court’s extraordinary action to resolve an extraordinary situation can only be explained as the work of the Holy Spirit on both of us and, in fact, on all the key players of EDSA 2. It was the same Spirit that animated us to do what we did, not because of conventional human wisdom, but because of faith instilled by the Lord. Let me add that the Chief Justice and I have thesame habit of reading Scriptures as the source of God’s daily instructions on how we should do our work. In my case, I take my bearings from the daily Mass readings. But in the case of Chief Justice Davide, he cuts the Bible and reflects on the page that opens. On that fateful morning of January 20, he woke up as usual at 3:30 a.m., prayed, cut his Bible and reflected. On that morning, the Holy Book opened to Isaiah 62, which spoke of the “Restoration of Zion”. As he prayed and meditated, he was struck by the unmistakable impression that he should act to restore Zion, that is, to bring normalcy to the country. Hence, when I called himup at 5:30 a.m., he was spiritually and psychologically ready for my then “weird sounding” proposal. Finally, you may want to be reminded that the gospel reading for January 20, 2001 was taken from Mark 3:20-21, in which our Lord was accused by his own relatives of being “out of his mind’” and in Verse 22, by the scribes, of being “possessed by Beelzebub, the prince of demons”, because the crowds were so mesmerized by his teachings that they refused to eat. Indeed, in our community—whether it be of people who are supposed to love us like our relatives, or of those who hate us, like our never-satisfied critics—we could be misunderstood, even thought of as insane, when we espouse unorthodox ideas and actions. But we should always stand fast and take courage especially when our eccentricity is born of faith that transcends human wisdom.

(Hahaha I must be wicked; why do I love this?)

So there, when once you proudly claim major role in the ascendancy of a president, now is it your wish to bury your head in shame? Or is it to make up for a long season of stony silence? Still, the tone should be much angrier, Sir. It’s much too tame. So lacking in righteous outrage. Walang apoy. So parang Joker, you know, yung nangangalaiti at nag-uumapoy na galit abot hanggang  kataastaasang langit kung si Marcos at Estrada, pero oh so mild, oh so tenderly repectful kay Glo maski na mas oversuperduper nakakalula.

THE AMAZING ROMULO NERI

Quote of the day:

I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.– Jonathan Swift

Lito Banayo says of Romulo Neri:

Romulo Neri will soon assume his new posting, as administrator of the Social Security System, which husbands some 250 billion pesos of the blood, sweat, and tears of the working class and their private employers.

To make certain he is classified as cabinet rank, his president created a new cabinet cluster, and made him chair the “national social welfare program” of the Boss Woman. Being in cabinet, he can always and ever invoke executive privilege.

And true to form, Romulo Neri tells the country that “executive privilege will stay with me for the rest of my life”. Their secrets (his and hers) till the grave he shall carry. Till death do them part. Married to each other’s prevarications – Romulo and Gloria.

In defending himself against accusations that he is out to use the workers’ fund as his Boss Woman would order, he claims that when he was appointed to the Department of Budget and Management, they likened him to “Dracula” sent to the blood bank. But there was, Neri maintains, no such “Dracula phenomenon” under his watch.

Yet this guy, over wine and fine cheeses and pica-pica, used to regale his close friends with stories of how his cell phone kept ringing during those stressful days of the impeachment case of 2005. His Boss Woman was besieged by those blood-sucking congressmen, he used to tell, with unlimited requests for funding here and funding there. And her Boss Woman, counting every vote of every crocodile, would call him (a la Garci), to release this and release that to whomever. Exasperated at the incessant ringing of his phone, he decided to go to her palace, and sit beside her, calculator in hand, so his responses, which trigger the SARO’s and the NCA’s, would be direct.

… He may be no Dracula, but he certainly was Dracula’s valet and faithful gofer. He would open the casket dutifully each night, and close it as soon as the blood-sucking spree was over. And he would make certain the heavy drapes of secrecy are closed, lest the rays of truth permeate and set his bosses’ victims free again.

A VERY DANGEROUS FUTURE AHEAD?

Why the future

doesn’t need us.

Our most powerful 21st-century technologies – robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans an endangered species.

By Bill Joy

It’s a very bleak look into the future of mankind. Continue here.

THIS IS HILARIOUS!

Truly an honest to goodness ROFL experience.

ELY BUENDIA’S PUPIL AND A WINNING VIDEO

Pupil wins Best Music Video award in NY.

AN ARGUMENT FOR THE LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS

How long does an experiment need to continue before it’s declared a failure?

For alcohol prohibition, our US version, it was about 13 years. Between mafia crime, poisonings from adulterated beverages, and the dropping age at which people were becoming alcoholics, Americans decided that the “Noble Experiment” — whether it should actually be regarded as noble or not — was a bad idea. And they ended it. New York State did its part 75 years ago today, ratifying the 21st amendment to repeal the 18th amendment, bringing the Constitution one state closer to being restored. It took another half a year, until December 5th, to get the 36 states on the board that were needed at the time to get the job done. But Americans of the ’30s recognized the failure of the prohibition experiment, and they took action by enacting legalization of alcohol. Industrialist John D. Rockefeller described the evolution of his thinking that led to the recognition of prohibition’s failure, in a famous 1932 letter:

“When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.” Link

The “experiment” with drugs, it appears anywhere you look, is headed for the same devastating failure. In the United States, the trend is going opposite the intended direction: addiction is worsening and the industry is flourishing. This despite the billions of dollars poured into the effort, not to mention thousand deaths and executions littering the path. And surprisingly, figures show higher percentage of users in countries where draconian measures are on employ, like the US.

To be clear, the above article comes from a pro-drugs site likely maintained by drug addicts. Yet, while the idea is unpopular, its pitch for legalization makes sense. For ultimately, the economics of the market will force the issue. Prohibition does not and cannot eliminate the twin forces of supply and demand. That much is clear, notwithstanding the nobility of the mission to shield people from the perceived evils of drugs. It can for a time stand in the way but like water seeking its own level the forces of supply and demand eventually adjust to find their equilibrium. Basic economics, pure and simple. Price goes up sky high to reflect the deadly risks involved in the equation. Indeed, the business maxim that risk and profitability are in direct proportion to each other, is just as true here. Which means a more dogged enforcement coupled with laws made more severe would only jack up the price of drugs even more. With a margin of profit two-arm lengths wide, you have an extremely lucrative business opportunity in your midst openly luring all sorts of risk-takers from far and wide, from high and low, from every nook and cranny to cash in quickly real big time. And as it is prohibited by law, business go nowhere but underground, naturally— into the hands of shady characters that very well belong there, people whose reason for being is to kill and die for every piece of action. Over time, wealth overflowing in limitless abundance accumulates in the wrong territory. You have a fountainhead of great power in the hands of Darth Vader. That which has had a humble start paying off and threatening lowly cops, moving gradually up, eventually graduates into bankrolling a presidential campaign. Then they take decisive control of society, these shady characters and their troops of gangsters, with a president as their front.

Follow closely how the P4B shabu haul in Subic will eventually disappear from view. It is instructive. Law enforcement finds its limits where this is said: “take this fortune and get out of the way or you and all the people you love will perish”. Show me one who will dare cross the line and I will show you a fool.

IT’S A MACHINE GUN AND IT FITS NICELY IN YOUR BACKPOCKET!

Take a look at the future of weaponry: a collapsible Magpul FMG9. A harmless-looking flashlight unfolds into a deadly assault weapon in seconds.  Still in prototype.

EIGHT YEARS SINCE AND WE’RE DOWN AT ROCK BOTTOM

2001, The promise of a moral transformation…

I am certain that Filipinos of unborn generations will look back with pride to EDSA 2001 just as we look back with pride to Mactan, the Katipunan, and other revolts, Bataan, Corregidor and EDSA ’86. I am certain that pride will reign supreme as Filipinos recall the heroism and sacrifices and prayers of Jaime Cardinal Sin, Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos, Chief Justice Davide, the legislators… the leaders… the witnesses… the youth and students… the generals…

(Excerpts from PGMA’s Inaugural Speech as the 14th President of the Philippines, EDSA Shrine)

2008, Hey, whatever happened?

WB: THE PHILIPPINES IS THE MOST CORRUPT IN EAST ASIA

MANILA, Philippines — Corruption in the Philippines is perceived to be the worst among East Asia’s leading economies and the country has sunk even lower among those seen to be lagging in governance reforms, a World Bank study suggested.

The bank’s 2008 Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), based on new research released Tuesday, showed that many developing countries were making important gains in controlling corruption, and some even matched rich-country performance in overall governance measures.

The Philippines, however, was not among them.

The country is now at the bottom of the list of East Asia’s 10 largest economies when it comes to control of corruption, edged out by Indonesia which scored the worst in the region in the previous year’s survey.

Now, whenever the issue of graft and corruption surfaces, I can’t help but remember this man.

SENATOR TRILLANES, PRISONER

Condemn a righteous man, and you exalt him as you condemn yourself. Jail a just man and every day in prison is an added luster to his glory in the same manner that every whip lashing on an upright man’s flesh leaves on him a mark of honor which is to his tormentor an ugly scar of shame in his soul.

When the people elected Trillanes to office as senator, Your Honors, they wanted him to serve as senator. That is as straightforward as it could get. How do you give meaning to the principle that sovereignty resides in the people by casual disregard of that mandate, a mandate made even more stark clear by his trouncing of the likes of Defensor, Pichay or Zubiri, they with an oozing cash supply, and the administration-backed open campaign against him? The issue here is not just about him, for he could very well be anybody, but more importantly the due respect for the people’s vote. How could you miss that, Your Honors? You have aligned yourself with his tormentors and in the process made a martyr of him who would otherwise be embarrassing himself in the Senate floor of his immaturity and amateurishness.

Anyhow, perhaps he’s better off in jail just yet. Prison builds character in ways we do not understand but he will. Time, a resource we “free” men take for granted, he has plenty of. Books are great company. Solitude and silence purify the soul. It would cure him of moral arrogance idealists like himself are prone to, for example. Ask the great men and women in history who spent time behind bars and earned wisdom in the process. You do not earn that with a doctorate degree. He’ll probably be our president one day, who knows? A doctorate in economics or a degree in law are perhaps the last things a leader needs to lead this nation. Innate leadership skill, commitment to some ideals, tempered with wisdom earned in quiet suffering inside a cold prison cell are perhaps more suitable to the times.

(image from static.sky.com)