And just like that, the millions who participated in the 2001 ocho-ocho “revolution” are left high and dry like the bunch of chumps they’ve always been.
Thus the headlines of the Inquirer scream today the milestone that ends more than a decade of stupidity: Cory apologises to Erap for 2001:
Former president Corazon Aquino has apologized to deposed president Joseph Estrada for participating in his ouster in 2001.
Aquino said she is one of those who would plead “guilty” for her role in the military-backed popular uprising that removed Estrada from power and replaced him with his then vice president, now President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“Lahat tayo nagkakamali, patawarin mo na lang ako [All of us make mistakes, please forgive me],” she told Estrada.
Real classy lady, isn’t she?
As one of a small handful of elite thinkers who’ve for the last decade preached how ridiculous this fixation on the perversion called Pinoy-style “people power” and the laughable efforts many have put into making it an institution in our impoverished society has become, I step up to the podium and do one thing:
Gloat.
This highlights the simple reality that the displays of “freedom to express” that have been slapped the label of “people power” (in the Philippine setting) have always been a contrived perversion of the original — orchestrated by a handful of clever puppeteers who are driven first by their immediate agendas before any other real insightful vision. The genius of this all is that the circuses they’ve incited were taken up by a people who readily lended these credibility as genuine manifestations of the “people’s will”, all the while overlooking their OBVIOUS nature as political machinations with sorry chumps as participants.
Indeed, that I’d pay tribute to our tradition of ocho-ocho circuses with a line-up I slap with the title hall of shame attests to how simple and straightforward thinking never fails to enable one to see through the smoke and mirrors that Ding once lamented always clouds Pinoy politics.
To think that back in September of 2005 I had already wrote an epitaph to Pinoy-style “people power”:
[...] brings us to our final and most poignant Pinoy irony:
That the would-be “revolution” that failed the most miserably happens to be the one that was led by the lady who started it all!
Rest in peace Pinoy-style People Power. Congratulations Philippines!
With “heroes” like these, who needs tyrants?
Goes to show that in the Philippines, it is not only the meat that is double-dead. :D
[Breaking update: Cory now dresses in RED!]
=========
Join us on Facebook!
Popularity: 2% [?]
MLQ should be blogging this so people like me could gloat there. Erap was ousted because he was a thief. It was a matter of principle. This isn;t about the feelings and the mental vagaries of one woman
the hollow-headedness of this woman never ceases to amaze me. maybe, while she is in apologizing mood, she should ask forgiveness from the desperate people of the philippines who were taken advantage of in 1986 when she allowed herself to be used as a “dummy” president by leftists and dispossessed oligarchs trying to make a comeback. i agree with brianb. she should not act as if she caused erap’s ouster singlehandedly (a slap on the others who marched at edsa in 2001).
after several years of GMA and several issues that remain unanswered. issues which give us all a hint of the kind of administration the country has fallen into…it is also her right to express what she truly feels. after all, she is still perceived as an honorable leader in her own right despite her failures. somehow, her giving credence to the ’8-8′rev had a contributory effect of giving legitimacy to that movement.
“laging nasa huli and pagsisisi”
raj, at sino naman siya para pangunahan ang ibang nagmartsa sa edsa dahil sa tunay na dahilan – harapang pagnanakaw at mapagsamantalang pamamalakad sa gobierno? kung nagsisisi man siya, huwag naman sana niyang idamay ang karamihang naniniwala na ginawa lang nila ang nararapat, di ba?
dapat sarilinin na lang niya ang pagsisisi at huwag ng ipangalandakan sa publiko.
gma would have become president, cory or no cory.
it was not gma’s fault that she was next in line as a legitimately-elected vice president when erap run for his life.
malay natin baka nasa isip nya ‘lesser evil’ si erap.
let us say, natuloy and nbn-zte deal. comparing that with the ‘alledged money’ that erap received from ‘hueteng’.
at least, in that sense you don’t burden the filipino peeps with more foreign debt.
Watching from the other side of the world it was our impression that the ‘revolution’ didn’t really gain any traction until Cory showed up. Yes, there were lots of people but they weren’t really going anywhere with the whole thing up until that point, and then the arrival of the military brass. So while it’s true that Cory didn’t exactly put GMA in office, she was, at least from our outside view, a key to putting Erap out, and her influence at the time should not be dismissed.
I’m convinced she’s lost whatever mind she might have had. Her statements yesterday are hugely damaging to the image of this country. Here we have a former president who was reasonably well-regarded (if in a patronizing way), recanting what looked to the rest of the world as a significant part in the ouster of another president who was considered an uncooperative crook and an all-around boob. And she is doing so as a thinly-veiled call to oust yet another president, who, despite what you think of her, is generally well-regarded elsewhere. Not a good picture of the Philippines.
Oh, B, according to my mom the nurse red is a good color for cancer patients, makes one look as though she have a little color, whereas yellow tends to make one look even more pallid. For what it’s worth (not much, probably), it might be a sign the woman is in pretty bad shape.
better say something good while you can still say it…every moment in life is uncertain. we may never have the chance to say it if we wait for the next moment.
ben kritz, i was watching “from the other side of the world” and that’s not how i saw it. as far as i saw, cory was just another “warm body” riding the bandwagon for something or other. i guess to each his own impressions, huh?
can cory say that she was sorry too for deposing marcos?
I’m sure Ninoy has been facepalming himself for quite a while now.
Regardless of whether the person is sick in the head or in the body, the thing I want to highlight is the nature of these “people power” circuses as orchestrated events in contrast with the spontaneous coming together of the real deals.
When they are orchestrated and contrived, they become vulnerable to being discredited by the human foibles of their ringleaders. This was the whole point I was trying to bring across to Abe and MLQ3 a while back (I also got a nice fuck you there for my trouble :D ).
I highlight this point specifically:
As with most dogma it takes immense convolusions of one’s language faculties to backward-engineer some sense out of it. The outcome of such convulsions is, not surprisingly pompously verbose as we see in Abe Margallo’s own attempt here (excerpt below):
Looks like what we are seeing today is an abuse of power outside of Government that about equals the abuse of power within Government. The latter tends to attract the greater or shall we say more popular form of public “indignation”. But the earlier takes a bit of brain to spot or anticipate. Fortunately for us this latest public spectacle makes it a bit more slapstick and therefore more palatable to mass consumption.
Firstly on Edsa I there were a lot of events that could have transpired during the Edsa I event that could have made it a real bloody revolution.
In ousting Marcos the left was ascendant.
People in the know who were more involved in the actual behind the scenes maneuvering to prevent the extreme left from taking a firm hold on many areas of the country that served as the pretext for the eventual split in the left are cognizant of the very near blowup of the country in an open bloody revolution.
Edsa II was always a farce.
The country is still waiting for a real revolution and not simply a changing of the guard at Malacanang. It could still happen. We have a got a real crooked President who seems to be obvious to the historical forces gathering.
Hard to predict a perfect storm much more the severity or direction of the same.
There has to be a cleansing to change culture.
Just look at the massive change in consumption culture caused by the banking collapse. Now free money is being offerred.
Ay mga badette, Nakakatawa talaga pag ang mga trapo na tumatambling at talo pa ang mga guwapo na lalakwe sa circo de Araw. Aminin.
Sabagay kung ang kano napapatawad si Nixon.
Khever. Entertainment value la la lang.
The trouble with Pinoys is our patawa mentality. No matter how hard some vicissitude, crisis, or disaster bears upon da Pinoy, we always cope by flashing our stupid toothy grin (ngiting-aso kung baga). So where there is no hard serious reflection (and instead an act to look like the whole thing is a laughable setback), guess what, there is no learning.
I saw on Bandila this morning the video footage of Cory saying what the Inquirer reported in text last night. True enough, along with Erap, the thing looked like it was said in that typically-Pinoy jocular manner. As if some kind of patawa can absolve her of her role — and leadership — in a street circus in which millions followed and gawked.
Who are the real chumps here? The Filipino people — because we give these people (and those who lionise them) the time of day instead of thinking for ourselves.
Mga Badette,
Nagtataka lang ako. Marami dito mag may I-Post and may I-comment. Pero maliban sa pagtatalak meron bang may-I do?
Nagtataka lang ang Badette. Madali kasetch mag-bitter ocampo and ma khainez veneracion. Oh so easy pero pag wa gawa luzviminda pa rin.
Yun lang.
apologizing to another corrupt is sick but it is acceptable to the people. only in da pilipins.
Mass actions, marches, and demonstrations are planned events. We can ascribe the spontaneous coming together of a multitude as a “success” outcome, e.g. Solidarity and 1986 EDSA.
In fairness, Mrs. Cory Aquino was the symbol of a popular uprising against a hated dictatorship. The whole world gave her recognition and she was even named Time’s Person of the Year.
But anything carried to the extreme becomes unfavorable. It’s a pity Filipinos had to repeat EDSA. Cory got involved again and she had to apologize for that.
Now, that is “failed” outcome. Tsk tsk.
Ok, now I feel REALLY bad since Cory’s apology has given Benigs more reason to gloat.
I already felt offended at the apology because it was like spitting on everyone who were genuinely against everything Erap was doing to the country and the Presidency all those years ago. As someone who participated in the RIO, I felt like Cory threw water on my face after slapping it soundly.
Its also really sad because now Erap can gloat to all of us that, see, he’s right and we were wrong, because Cory apologized.
He might even use this apology for his appeal of the Sandiganbayan ruling. See, o, CORY APOLOGIZED! I WAS RIGHT AND YOU WERE ALL WRONG!!!
*sigh*
I won’t debate with those who think PP2 was wrong for whatever reasons. That’s your opinion.
But as someone who was there, who saw and felt why my fellow young were as indignant as we were, especially that evening of the so-called Second Envelope, pardon me if Aquino’s apology made me feel really, REALLY horrible and offended.
I’ve been in Edsa 1. I don’t think anyone can claim to really know what a REAL “people power” circus is like until you’ve been to the real deal.
Edsa 1 takes its place alongside the crumbling of the Berlin wall and the Solidarity movement in Poland.
The ones that followed are quaint perversions of the original in the way that only Pinoys are capable of perverting. :D
Question benigs on the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDSA_Revolution_of_2001
question did you write the whole wiki article,because most of the external links lead to getrealphilippines?
There was nothing to crow about in that Second Envelope, it was a dude. It was opposed simply for reason of technicality.
And Marrisa Ocampo was rewarded accordingly for her efforts.
I agree with benignO on this.
Blaming herself is like a loved one blaming oneself for the suicide of another even though the decision to kill oneself lies solely with the deceased.
As far as the Supreme Court is concerned; ex-Pres. Estrada resigned.
As long as Former Pres. Aquino doesn’t drag anyone else, then let her blame herself.
And LOL, Benigno, gloating on Cory’s apology makes the pathetic carcass of elitist-led Philippine politics TRIPLE DEAD!!!! Should be buried na ASAP. Please lang.
Erap is nothing but a pig — a likeable pig for most Pinoys. GMA is just a pig — whom nobody likes.
Cory is still hands-down a class act, and can cavort with pigs like Erap, without herself getting stained. Now, that’s what you could call a saint.
LOL, Merry Christmas everybody.
OT:
Lol, the fiesty madonna from MLQ3 has finally graced FV..
leytenian- beware another lol
madonna, are you kris? you have same style – obnoxious.
Bencard,
I’m sure my impression was different than yours, because at that time I and the people around me had only a very general knowledge of the who’s and what’s of Philippine politics — in other words, I was still part of the rest of the world, getting news about a place I didn’t understand from my own country’s or international third-party media. Pardon me if I’m making a poor assumption, but I assume you’re a native, and had a much different and deeper insight.
I got a big problem with her still thinking herself a mere housewife. Housewives do not have to watch what they are saying.
bert@ 3:26pm, let’s not open that old can of worms about the “second envelope”, etc. the issue in this discussion is did cory make a “mistake”? maybe, personally, she did because she did not get the quid pro quo she was expecting. at any rate, how come it took her almost 9 years to publicly confess her “mistake”?
btw, if it was a change of heart or mind, how come those kindred souls who vociferously call pgma’s change of mind, about running for president in 2004, immoral so deafeningly quiet on this matter?
Of course she is. Because you said so, right?
Indeed Arroyo is The Lucky President as Cory’s latest snafu caused even more chaos, finger-pointing, and ass-covering among the chattering classes of our sad society. The latest news report on the Inquirer reads out like a who’s who of clowns issuing all sorts of “statements” on the matter.
Sayaw, Pinoy, sayaw. :D
Sorry Madame, even if as you say it is “jok onli”, Erap “The-Empire-Strikes-Back” Estrada begs to differ:
And here’s the insightful response from Kris Aquino’s mom:
Ang labo.
Said in jest, but not taking it back.
Oxymoronic to say the least.
Take a break from the stupidity of da Pinoy lanscape and check out this video to get an insightful take on the wonderful world of Cory Aquino and ocho-ocho politics:
A message to Cory Aquino
Happy viewing! :D
Bencard, Merry Christmas! Ewww, for your edification, I so do not like the Krissy’s style. So it kinda hurts my feelings there. Pero ok lang, sabihin mong obnox akesh (sounds familiar from last year).
Benigs, Merry Christmas!
Badette, hahahaha, I like your style!
Merry Christmas, Madonna.
Glad to see you hangin’ out here, really. ;)
@benign0 on December 24th, 2008 5:16 am
actually it makes perfect sense.
You cannot take back when you didn’t say. IF she takes it back (the apology), this implies she in fact apologized, which is inconsistent with what she said, that she did NOT apologize.
having said that, the whole thing is disappointing. Ironically, she was so disappointed in kris for being too loose with her words. Alas, she can’t change the past…
Merry Christmas everybody!
Merry Christmas, Bencard, Merry Christmas all!
Btw, t’was not me who opened that can of worm, me just responding to Rob (Dec. 23, 1:38 p.m.) who mentioned it. Cheers.
You guys really hate the common man erap you are venting your ire on the lady, heheh. Poor lady.
Cheers.
merry Christmas to you too, madonna, bert, and all the inhabitants and visitors of FV. may we all have good health, good fortune, peace and happiness all throughout the coming year.
Merry x mas!
Wishy washy, she didn’t really caught who was behind her husband’s death. She had a bad administration. She’s a weakling who needs the Catholic Church ran by Sin to back up anything she does.
I do not apologize for EDSA2. I was there. The Filipino people got rid of a thief.
So we have another thief as a president, smarter than Cory and Erap put together that’s why they can’t get her off the throne. But that doesn’t change the fact that Erap, a womanizing kick-out was a thief.