How’s this for some more vacuous irony:
A message from former President Joseph Estrada, read by his son, San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, said: “If we allow her minions to maneuver (Con-ass), it is like allowing her to steal the presidency for the third time.”
Estrada was referring to his ouster in 2001 and the 2004 presidential election allegedly stolen by Ms Arroyo.
It is important to note that this statement was made in today’s “protest rally” on behalf of former President Joseph Estrada by his son who stood there sharing an audience with former President Cory Aquino who for her part addressed the crowd with these words:
“But perhaps, there is nothing that causes me greater pain than to see our people betrayed again and again by those they have elected to lead and serve them. To those of us who fought long and hard to restore our democracy, the pain deepens at the thought that all our gains have so quickly been eroded.”
I don’t know how much of the “fights” she refers to now are covered by the above statement. But I do recall that there was one fight — a big one — which she was sorry she won. Hey wait! That was the one she was in that ousted Erap back in 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.
(as reported in by the Inquirer on 22 Dec 2008)
Mapapakamot ka nga naman talaga ng ulo.
If this whole rigodon of politicos and feudal lords and ladies speaking on the grandstands at every ocho-ocho rally does not yet come across as akin to a Tito Vic and Joey sketch, well, then maybe we shouldn’t really be too in awe of the lack of change we keep lamenting. The irony here is that this most recent of spectacles that some bozos liken to yet another ho-hum demonstration of the people’s “freedom” to dissent really produced only one sucker — The Filipino People.
The politicians win again. They got their audience and their media exposure.
Next “rally” please… Oh wait, we have to think of another “outrage” to “protest” first.
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Hey, she didn’t allegedly steal the 2004 elections. It’s politics in this country. You side with your former rivals to rally against your current for. Then after said foe is defeated the cycle starts over again. Intriguing side-note is their data showing how many votes are stolen each elction by DAGDAG-BAWAS?
If things are Wrong. You dont just accept them. You change them
to be Right. THIS IS THE RIGHT WAY, DUMMY.
Pero what is the right way to do the right way? Due process (with tunay na solid evidence) and constitutional process, o kangaroo kangaroo rebolusyon-rebolusyon?
Kangaroo revolution is not our weapon. We have the Wind of Change
weapon that removes Dictators. It is a proven weapon, I assure
you…
smells like malodorous “wind” to me.
The halls of Congress is not the only place to find bloviators.
The political side-switching here is very much like pro-wrestling mmmm?
Sometimes the “good” guy brings an American flag to the ring, waves it about and gets the crowd yelling “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” – with full awareness that the opponent is, well… American. At the end of it all, the histrionics lead to the same butt-grabbing cyclical storylines that run on pathetic excuses to throw a fit.
test
Dictators come and go. But, the WIND OF CHANGE swept them away.
This is the time for all Filipinos to STAND UP against Gloria
Arroyo and her conspirators. The Evil Unano is not as strong as
she protrays herself to be.
IF YOU DONT STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE. YOU WILL FALL on anything.
Hitler of Germany took away the Freedom and Rights of the German people. The Germans were afraid of him. Saddam Hussein of Iraq took away the Freedom and Rights of the Iraqui people. The Iraquis were afraid of Saddam Hussein. Marcos took away our Freedom and Rights. We were afraid of Marcos.
Here are the fallen Dictators swept by the WIND OF CHANGE.
1. Former Pres. Fujimori of Peru – sought sactuary in Bolivia. The
Bolivians expelled him. The Peruvians tried him on several charges.
Now he is serving jail sentence in a Peruvian jail.
2. Former Pres. Taylor of Liberia – overthrown by his own people.
In detention, for Human Rights charges in the International Court
at The Hague in Netherland.
3. Former Strongman Manuel Noriega of Panama – overthrown by U.S.
Forces and the Panamanian people. Now, serving jail in the U.S. for
Drug charges and money laundering.
4. Former Pres. Milosevitch of Serbia – died in detention in the
International Court in the Hague in Netherland. Overthrown by his
people. His body was shipped back to Serbia like a common cargo.
After the Dictators fell from power. Their myths which they built for themselves were gone. They look just like any ordinary people in the street.
As a warning to Gloria Arroyo and her conspirators. Do not overestimate yourselves. The Wind of Change factor is an unknown factor. These countries have no oil, nor wealth. Yet, the Wind
of Change swept them.
Dear Benign0, I fear that your simplicity and sarcasm will lead to you being a very shriveled, grouchy old man by the time you are 50. Go climb the rocks of Kakadu, take a deep breath, and let the energy of the aborigine gods fill your soul with joy.
Everyone is playing their greedy games, the House, the protest leaders, the sensationalist media, pushing their self-interest.
Do they have bumper cars in amusement parks where you hang your floppy hat? They are powered by electric poles that spark loudly against the metal ceiling of the arena as the cars, with big rubber bumpers, careen around under the control of adolescents and teens and an occasional 6’4” elderly American, smashing each other this way and that.
The name of the game is momentum, and angle.
The real-life game that plays out in every country, the Philippines, US, Australia, under slightly varying rules, perhaps, is similar; self-interest is the electricity that powers the cars. The cars endlessly go ’round and ’round bumping into one another.
The question is how to get “consideration of my fellow man” at the forefront of self-interest. Compassion, rather than greed. Progress rather than stagnation.
It happens in wartime, when people die to protect their mates. They are motivated.
It will happen in peacetime when enough people WITH POWER say . . . I’m tired of this. And I SEE a better way. The way is for me to accept responsibility and start working . . . for the well-being of all. And to encourage that in others.
(Presidentially speaking, Mr. Gordon seems to come closest to that mentality for me, demonstrated in Olongapo, Subic, and his work with the Red Cross.)
It won’t start in the barrios, the provinces, the large cities. It will start in Manila. The leaders – priests, educators, businessmen, even Congressmen – will decide there is a better way. I think it is futile to blame the people or characterize them unkindly. They are just busy driving their bumper cars; they have a very narrow view, trying to figure out who, with angle and momentum, is going to whack them next.
Joe
I’ll say it again Benigno, Cory Aquino is still a class act (as a person, as an inspirational leader). She may have failed as politician and I for one thinks that she failed as a politician; she participated in the mistake that was Edsa dos but what matters now is that she is on the right side of history!
You don’t get it. She apologized to Erap, not the person, but Erap the rightful, duly elected President of the Filipino people, of the masses circa 1998, who was ousted by the upper classes in 2001. She was in effect apologizing to the Filipino people who voted Erap into office. Now, that’s a class act.
and how can we even say she is a failed politician when she was not even a politician in the first place…She is JUST a housewife who srved her country well till she died…She was truly a class act…she made herself to be used to bring down the marcos regime…she didn’t ask for it….please remember she didn’t ask…recent leaders have clung to their posts and look what they done to the country?….we are bunch of ingratos…Cory deserves to be TOTALLY respected…
i dont know, i still believe that erap is a saint compare to gloria.
assholes will always lead whether she/he won or cheat.
not a saint but lesser evil compared to gloria…
Last time I checked Erap has not been tried and found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of these “alleged” acts.
Are we not innocent until proven guilty.
Therefore, assuming that Erap is indeed innocent then would that not make him a superior choice over GMA?
“Last time I checked Erap has not been tried and found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of these ‘alleged’ acts.”
He was convicted after a lengthy trial. The proof was overwhelming. Guilty beyond doubt.
Am I missing something?
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That said, I can agree with those who think the impeachment failed and that Erap should not have been removed without due process.
On the other hand, I sure wish now (and then) that he had never been elected in the first place.
To me, erap is guilty indeed….letting him go without serving his jail term is simply the kind of politics we have in this benighted land…
im not really into things lyk this but if i would hav to comment about it, Gloria is really a viscious mind. so manipulative more than ever. she’s got almost everyone tied up tru her whips she’s really a politic mind. no wonder those dumbass puppet leaders who are so stupid and greedy that couldnt just resist her. i predict that her conquest will most likely to prolong, well, im sure she had thot she’s stil young to accept a stepdown, so i guess more revolutions blah blah to come and she’s becoming unstoppable and i personally hate her. that’s all
1) Cory Aquino is a hypocrite and as corrupt as everyone else in the Philippine government institutions. She stole land when she became the president and finagled loopholes so that her family did not have to turn over land to agrarian reform programs. If you think Cory is any better than GMA, you’re naive.
2) You CAN blame the Filipino people. We have stupidly short memories. How else is it possible that the children of Marcos have political influence, nevermind political careers, TODAY?
3) There’s no point in replacing the leadership if your replacement is just as corrupt. The only real difference between Marcos and all the post revolution leaders of the Philippines is that there is *SOME* press freedom today, whereas during Marcos times, saying the wrong thing got you in trouble.
4) Democracy is not working the Philippines because of a lack of education. In working democracies, when people know that a politician is corrupt, the system works because that individual is not re-elected or that individual’s party loses seats. Here, the clueless mob is manipulated into supporting corrupt politicians over and over, or multiple politicians that have different names and different faces but who are essentially the same sort of greedy person.
5) Every time there’s a revolution, that’s not democracy in action, that’s a demonstration of a FAILURE in democracy. That shows that the system has fallen so far that only an extra-systemic action can remedy it. Democracy is a system where people enact their will through voting – anything else involving the people on the streets is mob action, or the manipulation of demagogues.
We don’t need more revolutions. We need the population to REMEMBER and to STOP voting for all these corrupt people and to replace them with fresh blood.
sturm drang
Here is my top-of-mind reaction to your five points:
1)Interesting . . . I didn’t know that.
2)Yes. But most have excuses. They have given up on caring all that much. They have to go work in the morning at jobs where they sweat a lot and earn virtually nothing.
3)Agree.
4)Seems right on target to me, qualified with my point 2 above.
5)Excellent, excellent point.
Is Teodoro old blood too, do you think? I think so. I wonder if he could break out. WHO is the young opportunity?
Joe
Joe,
You are coming around. You are a quick learner, yet an independent thinker.
I’m glad you acknowledged point 5).
Reality,
I am a veritable sponge for good arguments and logic. . . and facts. Never forget the facts . . .
Joe
I gotta say this exchange of thoughts and insights is extraordinary, special thanks to Joe America and sturm drang. I can’t agree with you more.
For
1.) I totally don’t agree with you, Cory is not a hypocrite. She is the most decent person ever been to malacanang after Magsaysay. Hacienda Luisita is her waterloo. There is a good chance she was prevailed or dupe by her kamag-anak …i really don’t know but to call her hypocrite ithink is too much because she was fighting for the good of the pinoys when she was be ridden till she died…God bless her soul…
2.) Agree, we don’t know the meaning of justice…most of us are inherently corrupt
3.) When Erap was removed from Malacanang, do we know that Gloria can do what she has done? Even Cory was shock of the ‘hello garci’..
4.) You are right, we need education, not just how to read and write, but education founded in high moral values, right conduct, love for country, nationalism…how i wish we have only one language…in a country with 52 dialects and 7000 islands (as they say), kinda hard to beat crab mentality and regionalistic attitude…it also defeats the act of ‘being one’
5.) If only filipinos are truly principled, patriots and nationalists..i think revolution, bloody it maybe, can be a meaningful one…acts written in blood leaves lasting impression
nice point about bringing the issue of democracy. its true that we have a free press that become so powerful that they like to destroy small fry like lowly civil servant, mmda traffic aide, and barangay tanods via their xxxclusive, di namin kayo tatantanan pag di nio ako bingyan ng gro or the powerful and pa macho tulfo brothers, they are the ones who benefited in this democracy.