Press Secretary Jesus Dureza and newly-installed Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile were not together this morning.
But the two stalwarts of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave the news media morsels to buzz about.
Saying the invocation at this morning’s Cabinet meeting, Mr. Dureza blurted out a prayer that took everyone by surprise, his boss included.
Interviewed on radio, Mr. Enrile asserted that he’ll be independent and then without missing a beat revealed his agenda.
It is interesting for the press secretary to use the words forebearance and tolerance. I am left wondering what the people in Malacanang thought was the message in the Pulse Asia 3Q survey that showed a further dip in Mrs. Arroyo’s trust and popularity ratings.
Enrile has barely warmed his seat but is already pushing the Cha-Cha agenda. Enrile had in the past proposed that charter change be effected through an elected Constitutional Convention.
It surely is a valid mechaniusm.
But with JPE the one espousing it, I can’t help but remember the 1971 ConCon and how Enrile’s president then used one Miguel Quintero as one his delegate-bagmen to ‘customize’ the draft fundamental law in the strongman’s favor.
Who was it who said “those who do not learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it”?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Geoger Santayana daw.(history repeating itself )There goes the chacha train.
It was George Santayana mate!
Jesus Dureza just followed an ancient tradition of Prayers for the Queen. But the English Book of Common Prayer has this
O Lord our heavenly Father,
high and mighty, King of kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of princes,
who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth;
most heartily we beseech thee with thy favour
to behold our most gracious Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth;
and so replenish her with the grace of thy Holy Spirit,
that she may alway incline to thy will, and walk in thy way:
endue her plenteously with heavenly gifts;
grant her in health and wealth long to live;
strengthen her that she may vanquish and overcome all her enemies;
and finally, after this life, she may attain everlasting joy and felicity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
At least the Established Church of England recognises that there is an end to the life of their Queen!
Now do the Priests of our Glorious Church think our Queen can reign even beyond?(her political life as set by the Constitution!)
wrong spelling george ko.
Yes, dudes, Georgie Boy said those immortal words nga pala. Ang problema dyslexic mga lider natin. Ano, uulitin nga ba natin ang mga pagkakamali at mapapait na aral ng kasaysayan?
I can see that, yes, we have learned the lessons of history AND are condemned to repeat it. :-/
Jeg,
Kung ganoon, wika nga ng isang kaibigan kong taxi driver, “nahind’t na tayo.”
Public taunting of the poor Pinoy.Until when?
The thing is, Gloria Arroyo herself has learned the lessons of history and are using them to her advantage: the army, the Congress, and soon the High Court, are in her pocket. We are indeed hind’ted. All this was made possible by the abdication of our middle class of their traditional role as society’s moral compass and agents of change.
It makes me really wonder whether we are praying to the same God.
our basic flaw is that we cannot distinguish the villains from our heroes. or we keep reclassifying our heroes our villains then our villains as heroes.
looking at the EDSA one, we consider Ramos, Enrile and Honasan our heroes when they were the implementors of martial law. we elected them to high public offices and we have entirely forgotten their sins to the Filipino people.
we even return the marcoses to power.
oh boy, we are really screwed.. somehow the ding’s taxi driver friend’s comment was correct. :)
I was channel surfing and the first station i dropped by was NBN and Dureza’s press conference.
Q and A na Puro chacha at prayer ang topic.
nagpatawa pa;sinabihan pa ang press corps that maybe next time we should start with a prayer.
jcc
in reality, there’s no such thing as a pure villain and a pure hero.. people are a duality of vice and virtue.. neither being good nor evil but capable of being either at some point in time..
our role then is to identify the tendencies of a person and prevent or promote it depending on the necessity..
but there’s always the question of transcendence..
we did not facilitate the return of the Marcoses in power.. rather it was their supporters who allowed them to maintain their clout and gave them the leeway to influence Philippine politics..
even if a lot of people hate the Marcoses, the current state of politics proves that it is not a universally held point-of-view..
In fairness to Sec Dureza’s prayer, the sentence was actually followed by “in her personal and private capacity” and as he said was made in “jest”
but i have no objections either of the comments saying that the statement was made “as a trial balloon”
private citizen,
it is your position that Enrile, Honasan and Ramos were at the point in time of EDSA one were heroes and during the martial law period before EDSA one they were villains?
or they are simple opportunists who saw rightly the demise of Marcos era and had abandoned ship and had identified themselves “kunyari” with the interests of the people?
jcc,
One story from those heady days: Enrile and Honsasan were actually in the camps ahead of Ramos who had dilly-dallied about joining them, deliberating his fate if he turned his back on his counsin. When he finally did leave his home in Alabang, the die was cast.
It was a combination of opportunism and heroism, with the latter path buffeted by the response to Cardinal Sin call for the original massing of People Power.
you should read the account of the days of edsa in “closer than brothers,” al mccoy’s book on the pma. the mixture of ver’s military bungling, marcos’s operating in a medical haze, and fvr’s and enrile’s sheer good luck in many respects really points to fortune favoring the bold.
“…fortune favoring the bold.”
Spot on, mlq3. But you may want to amend the phrase to say “fortune favoring the bold and covetous of power in the absolute.”
dapat may background music:
The moment I wake up
Before I put on my makeup
I say a little prayer for you
While combing my hair, now,
And wondering what dress to wear, now,
I say a little prayer for you…..
Forever, forever, you’ll stay in my heart
and I will love you
Forever, forever we never will part
Oh, how I’ll love you
Together, together, that’s how it must be
To live without you
Would only be heartbreak for me.
(suits well for dureza and his boss)
LOL :)
Hey, Political Opportunism is the game played
by Filipino politicians.
Just remember: Tigers will never change their
stripes. Nor Leopards their spots.