“If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?”—Will Rogers
St. Luke’s hospital gave Gloria Arroyo a clean bill of health. Her implants were not leaking. But that does not mean Gloria has no problem with her boobs. She does. Her boobs talk. And they say the most embarrassing and damning things.
There was too much speculation on whether Mrs. Arroyo was protecting the Ampatuans, so presidential spokesgirl Lorelei Fajardo decided to set the record straight.
“Just because they’re in this situation doesn’t mean we will already turn our backs on them. It doesn’t mean that they are no longer our friends, if ever they, indeed, committed the crime.”
That was the last statement Lorelei was ever going to make as deputy presidential spokesgirl. She was fired for telling the truth, for putting into context why Mrs. Arroyo had to send her presidential adviser on Mindanao to negotiate a voluntary surrender for the principal suspect in the massacre, to wait for days for the suspect to make up his mind, and to welcome him with a hug and a handshake when he finally gave himself up.
Justice Secretary-designate Agnes Devanadera claimed a rebellion in Maguindanao was preventing the courts from functioning but Rep. Didagen Dilangalen, congressman from Maguindanao and Arroyo ally, showed her up.
“For your information, Branch 15, vacant since death of judge, not filled by Office of the President; Branch 13, 14 it is not true there are no judges; they are on travel with approval of Supreme Court…the other judges are on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia with approval of Supreme Court. And Supreme Court spokesman belied your assertion justice system not functioning, SC had designated judge who issued commitment order.” (This and the following quotes are lifted from Manuel Quezon III’s live blog report.)
Meanwhile, Rep. Edcel Lagman, congressman from Bicol and staunch Arroyo ally, gave Devanadera a lecture on the law.
“Lagman: To my mind nonfunctioning of civil authorities would be indicative of sedition, not rebellion…. But sedition is not ground for declaring martial law.
“Devanadera: Sedition definitely, is different from rebellion….
“Lagman: My point is, preventing civil authorities from exercising their function is an element of sedition…. Review the report given to us by PNP Caro, there is no mention that prior to December 4 there was public uprising, an armed uprising against the government, so that would negate factual basis of declaration of martial law and suspension of writ.”
Devanadera gave a further demonstration of her expertise in constitutional law when she told Sen. Francis Pangilinan, “Neither arrest nor search warrants required during martial law.”
“Pangilinan: So martial law suspends other parts of Bill of Rights?
“Devanadera: Yes, for charge of rebellion.”
Devanadera’s interpretation of the Constitution is the “get-out-of-jail” card of the Ampatuans. That’s why Gloria’s loudest talking boob, Cerge Remonde, immediately laid the groundwork for finger-pointing in the likely event that the Ampatuans escape conviction.
“They [antimartial-law people] do not say it out loud, but a Supreme Court decision favorable to their cause could nullify the arrest of the suspects and may render the evidence against them inadmissible. So, are they now so concerned about the welfare and well-being of the suspects in this gruesome crime?”
So those opposed to martial law are to be held responsible, if the Supreme Court decides to throw out evidence gathered in search-and-seizure operations not allowed by the Constitution?
In retrospect, Lorelei’s statement must have pushed Gloria to declare martial law. She was forced to proclaim that there is actually something that even she could not tolerate. At the same time, the “mistakes” that would happen under martial law would prove to the Ampatuans that she was doing her damnedest best to help them beat the murder raps. And so everybody is happy.
Merry Christmas to all.
Popularity: 1% [?]
It has been a difficult month for Gloria Arroyo. I would not like to
be in her place.
If you have to lie. You must have a good common sense. To make it is believable. Too many people lying, at the same
time. That was the case. One lie did not fit the other lie. It became
a mess. Until she was forced to declare Martial Law in Maguindanao.
To prevent further damage. Moral Lesson: Lying is like a communicable
desease. It spreads. Especially if the source is a chronic liar.
Dear MB,
The name Lorelie is appropriately a combination of the words “Lore” and “Lie”. It’s the same chest that bears these two boobs. And just like boobs, both actually look alike (or mean the same).
In contrast, Arroyo has hers on her face. Again apropos.
Dean
Wow, you decoded it Sir! Now, I am trying to find where the word lie on Gloria’s name…
Not in her name, it’s plastered all over her face.
Dear Elmot,
It’s an anagram. Mix the G-L-O-R-I-A letters up and they might just fall in place and eventually spell GO LIAR.
Now it’s up to you on how to interpret the word GO. In one sense it can mean an admonition to continue doing what it is she is doing. Or, it can mean that you want her to go someplace else.
Granted that this exercise is neither analysis nor exposition. The analysis is in MB’s essay and the exposition is in the headlines behind the story.
Searching for the word LIE is in effect commentary. It is an abbreviated expression of what we think of MB’s essay and its subject.
Same as Tranquil’s comment. Her face says it all.
Dean
Dean de la Paz,
If elmot, can’t come up with a retort, here’s one for you!
GO, is a word can be use contemptuously, and would be best describe as, well, I’ll let you take a look and see for yourself. That also reminds me, that I need to use the restroom. Excuse me.
Let me remind you, it (used without object). As a -verb See (#38) [here]
cheap name-calling..
when i was young i missed the real moral lesson in the story about the boy who cries wolf more often… it is the truism that even a liar can tell the truth and i found that lesson when i have matured. there are people here at FV who still refused to find that other moral lesson in the story and its quite pitiful. though one has a hardened and wicked soul, no one can absolutely deny him/her right to seek for deliverance and for the truth. our right to disbelieve anyone who had been lying to us all these years would not detract from the fact that this time, she could be telling the truth.
The legal environment in the Philippines is a classic hoot. High mucks argue the language of sedition versus rebellion as if the delineation would decide if the killers actually slaughtered 57 innocents. Or as if the determination would decide who is “right” about martial law, and that would determine if the killers walk free. Meanwhile, judges galavant about the globe in Ms Arroyo’s style, the lady herself twists between heady forces, namely bedrest with the Ampatuans and public condemnation of a mindless, gruesome slaughter, seeking desperately to end her reign on an upper, even if the upper is just words she uses to paint reality a rosy shade of red, when the proper tint is blood, blood, blood, and the public twists slowly slowly in the wind of poppycock utterances from all the aforementioned.
Meanwhile, Ampatuan, Jr., sits in his plush jail cell laughing.
Friends, he is laughing at you. At the Philippines. At the legal system.
He is flicking a few wayward drops of blood in your eyes. In mine. In the eyes of human dignity.
I apologize for the twistings in that first paragraph. When one is angry at the indecency of it all, one gets carried away.
Ms. Arroyo and her minions should shut up and get the law enforcement and legal systems on a track of real justice, not Alice in Wonderland wordplay. The legislators should shut up and focus on building a nation of real laws, not nitter natter bullshit aimed mainly at greed and re-election.
Joe
This is one of the downside of blogging, anyone who has a computer and an internet can churn a half-baked article, take out one snippet of official’s statement in one issue and connect it in another government position in another and then made a conclusion that the Maguindanao Martial Law was meant to favor the Ampatuans. I could not also comprehend the leaking “boobs” of GMA being related to the gaffe of Ms. Lorelie about the Ampatuans their being friends. The fact that she was “kicked out” from her job shows the sensitivity of the matter to Malacanang and any hint of Malacanang coddling these criminals deserved an instantaneous rebuke.
The Ampatuans and their cohorts are being tried now in Quezon City for murders. Had not martial law been declared in Mindanao, the government prosecutors in that war-torn area would be eating dust from 40 or some lawyers hired by these criminals to fight for their rights which they had peremptorily denied of their victims.
Martial law provided a shortcut to put them behind bars. Now they find it convenient to raise denial of their procedural and constitutional right against unreasonable restraint and search while they would not even give their victims their day in court. What a hypocritical posturing!!
But this one is even graver. Bloggers have the tendency to discuss the constitution and the law with their scant background of the law.
If martial law was declared without basis, the arrest and the evidence gathered made pursuant to such state of emergency do not ipso facto become meaningless. The arrest even if illegal when made will be mooted once a case is filed in court. This is so in the instant case. The Ampatuans and their cohorts were already charged with murders.
As to the evidence gathered, they will be scrutinized for their admissibility and relevancy. If tainted by the “poison tree doctrine” they shall be inadmissible. This is the general rule, but there are exceptions. Search without warrant is justified if the officer making the search has a reasonable or articulable suspicion that a person being searched is in possession of the contraband or the evidence used in the crime (murder weapons), or he is the criminal himself.
Most evidence though in the case of the Ampatuans were not gathered from their abode and therefore they cannot raise the issue of warrantless search. Unreasonable search can only be invoked by the person who has a reasonable privacy expectation of the place being searched. The cache of arms and ammunitions were found in a lot allegedly owned by the Ampatuans and the lot was open and visible from the public as it was never fenced, therefore the “warrantless search” was valid.
The other evidence were the corpses, live and spent bullets, firearms, backhoe, press badges, crimped vehicles near a barrio road. The Ampatuans do not have privacy expectation on these grave sites and therefore everything gathered in that sites are admissible to prove that 57 people died and were buried in that grave sites.
Bloggers sometimes identified themselves as press people but they could not even show their outrage over the death of 30 of their comrades.
Next time members of Congress open their mouth about the law, its time for you to open your mouth wide and say heee- haaw, and take a fast nap.
Wow JCC You got the Palace talking points down pat. You should take Lorelie’s job. Imagine you, Cerge, and wats her name? aah Gary. Mayber with your help Gloria can save some of her reputation
But seriously,
“The fact that she was “kicked out” from her job shows the sensitivity of the matter to Malacanang and any hint of Malacanang coddling these criminals deserved an instantaneous rebuke.”
She gave the context why the Ampatuans were treated with kid gloves the first three days after the massacre that’s why she was fired. Gloria could not make up her mind and Lorelie made it up for her.
Had not martial law been declared in Mindanao, the government prosecutors in that war-torn area would be eating dust from 40 or some lawyers hired by these criminals to fight for their rights which they had peremptorily denied of their victims.
what is your basis for saying this?
Martial law provided a shortcut to put them behind bars. Now they find it convenient to raise denial of their procedural and constitutional right against unreasonable restraint and search while they would not even give their victims their day in court. What a hypocritical posturing!!
It’s called legal defense not hypocritical posturing.
As to the evidence gathered, they will be scrutinized for their admissibility and relevancy. If tainted by the “poison tree doctrine” they shall be inadmissible. This is the general rule, but there are exceptions. Search without warrant is justified if the officer making the search has a reasonable or articulable suspicion that a person being searched is in possession of the contraband or the evidence used in the crime (murder weapons), or he is the criminal himself.
And so once the poison tree doctrine is raised Devanaders must prove the exception to the poison tree doctrine?
Most evidence though in the case of the Ampatuans were not gathered from their abode and therefore they cannot raise the issue of warrantless search. Unreasonable search can only be invoked by the person who has a reasonable privacy expectation of the place being searched. The cache of arms and ammunitions were found in a lot allegedly owned by the Ampatuans and the lot was open and visible from the public as it was never fenced, therefore the “warrantless search” was valid.
again Devanadera must prove the warrantless searches were permissible,
The other evidence were the corpses, live and spent bullets, firearms, backhoe, press badges, crimped vehicles near a barrio road. The Ampatuans do not have privacy expectation on these grave sites and therefore everything gathered in that sites are admissible to prove that 57 people died and were buried in that grave sites.
there were corpses and they looked like they were murdered. Now you have to find the murder weapons and put them in the hands of the Ampatuans. And if the mirder weapon was illegally siezed, what happens then?
And so my dear friend wouldn’t it have been better for the prosectution if no shortcuts were taken and the law on arrests, seizures, and searches was followed?
buencamano, (pun intended)
As usual you are not doing justice to my name. Talk about facts and not hypothetical situations. the cache of arms and ammo were found hidden in a vacant lot allegedly owned by the Ampatuans. Where is the “illegal search” in that situation?
(These are reported to be the murder weapons, the next thing you do is to subject them to forensic analysis. Were these weapons fired prior to their being confiscated? Then fired each of them and and get the slugs from these weapons and compare the striations of the slugs to those slugs found in the bodies).
You do not have to put the murder weapons in the hands of the Ampatuans or their cohorts. Witnessess in the custody of the government have already fingered one Ampatuan as leader of the massacre who shot some of the victims.
That devanadera has to prove the exception – what is so difficult in that? Thats what lawyers do.
Take it from someone who had been there. money, influence, and power, three potent factors that can tilt the scale of justice. You should be glad GMA brought in full measure the force of the law to to put the suspects behind bars. They would not be there now had the government simply waited for the law to take its own course. In the case of Maguindao, the law is the Ampatuans.
And please do not downplay my point by arguing that I could be a Malacanang press relation man for the other truism could be true. You could be a paid hack masquerading as a legit purveyor of truth for the Filipino people.
Jaysissy,(pun Intended)
And so my dear friend wouldn’t it have been better for the prosectution if no shortcuts were taken and the law on arrests, seizures, and searches was followed?
“That devanadera has to prove the exception – what is so difficult in that? Thats what lawyers do.”
That’s what prosecutors avoid, having to prove that search and seizure followed the rules. Why would a prosecutor want to expose himself to procedural questions when he can avoid it?
“They would not be there now had the government simply waited for the law to take its own course. In the case of Maguindao, the law is the Ampatuans.”
Last I heard Maguindanao was a province in the Philippines and it is under the jurisdiction of Philippine laws. The law never takes its own course. It needs someone to enforce it, to make it more than just letters on a piece of paper.
The truth, my dear lawyer, is martial law was just a show. Gloria used it laid landmines for the prosecution.
The case will be heard and decided long after Gloria and Devanadera are gone so an acquittal because of poisoned fruits will be blamed not on them but on their successors.
By the way, I am not a hack for anybody. Are you?
I reported what is on public record. I didn’t make anything up. I formed an opinion, based on what I heard from Lorelei and the joint congressional session.
Lastly, I think Rep. Lagman made a good point – the elements of rebellion were not present. It was sedition if anything. What does your fine legal mind say about Lagman’s opinion?
my friend, you’re out on fantasyland. you follow the rules in Maguindanao by doing it the regular way, your witnessess, and prosecutors could be dead your evidence had evaporated.
you keep on harping on illegaly seized evidence but you have not provided which of those evidence were illegally seized?
the shortcuts were done to enforce the full majesty of the law but despite the shortcuts, the prosecution had, in my mind a pretty good case against the Ampatuans and had not botched any major procedural law that will derail their case.
as to your landmines, it is early to predict that, but the powerful Ampatuans, may not that powerful after all if their equally powerful patrons would drop them like hot potatoes and send them to the gallows. I would.
so what if there was no rebellion and the executive department made an erroneous appreciation of the facts that rebellion existed when in fact there was none? does that finding of the senate supplants the decision made by the executive department?
Does it derail the case against the suspects if the president made an erroneous determination of the existence of Rebellion?
No sir…. With or without martial law, the crime levelled against the Ampatuans will be scrutinized according to the rules of court and the constitutional precept that no person is guilty unless proven otherwise. The findings of the Senate of the non-existence of rebellion does not even come into the picture. The basis or non-basis of martial will not be determinative of whether the evidence gathered were made during the existence of actual rebellion or not but whether those evidence pass the test of “legally acquired evidence”.
I submit that those evidence, firearms hidden underground, if these were the ones used after making forensic examination on them and those gathered from the instant grave sites, are all admissible evidence because the Ampatuans have no reasonable expectation of privacy on those places. Illegal search protects only one’s privacy in his home. Accused had no protected rights on the land they own because it was open and visible from the public eye.
Observe carefully our Congressmen and Senators when they are on the floor and be discerning enough if they were talking to protect your right or simply talking for mileage and soundbites.
jcc,
It seems that Malacanan does not totally agree with your legal opinion.
“They [antimartial-law people] do not say it out loud, but a Supreme Court decision favorable to their cause could nullify the arrest of the suspects and may render the evidence against them inadmissible. So, are they now so concerned about the welfare and well-being of the suspects in this gruesome crime?” – Cerge Remonde
Miss Fajardo told the truth. This is the reason she was kicked
out. Tell a good lie. You will keep your job. Tell the truth.
You are fired!
On the subject of stupidity I have this to say. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Wonder what The Pandak is doing in Hongkong. Maybe coordinating the flow of their loot. She usually spends Christmas in Baguio but there are no international money launderers in Baguio.
Dear Mr. JCC,
The upside of blogging is that the whole must be taken and not just the parts that comprise a blog. The value of the post is that it incites and compels commentary, all of which, yours as well as those who agree and disagree, become integral parts of the blog.
If a post is abbreviated but incites and compels, then it has done its job. If it does that in just a few words, those are not half-baked but rather, those are eloquent and concise.
This is the difference between a newspaper column and a blog where the former is the totality of the analysis, while the latter necessitates strings and feedback to be complete.
That MB’s post generated your criticism, however anonymous, shows its true value.
As to the accusation of name-calling, when those are used, they represent commentary that wastes no space in exposition where exposition is not necessary. As TRANQUIL says somewhere in this string, “it’s in her face”. That’s not name-calling. That’s an abbreviation of the truth as TRANQUIL sees it.
Merry Christmas,
Dean
dean,
when did you come to be the overseer of what is the truth?
and where did Pandak and leaking boobs come as a legitimate area in search for the truth?
BTW, Manuel Buencamano,
Special Greetings of Merry XMas To You and your family.
wink!!!
Good and clear explanation, Sir. I have seen Blogsites from other countries . Including the U.S. Huffington Blog. FV Blogs are on par; if not better. Writers and Bloggers are mostly good. They give good and sensible opinions. Although, others need improvements.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
talking boobs…
that’s what bosom buddies are for.
batcas,
so they can tit a tit.
Happy Holidays to all!
—–
jcc,
palamig muna…
here’s poetry in snow:
SNOWY SCENES
Baycas,
I am glad you are back.. Merry Christmas!!!!
PASKO NA!
manuel,baycas, Manoy Jose, Hyden, Dean, tranquil, darwin25, mario, elmot…Christmas truce muna.
MERRY CHRISTMAS SA INYONG LAHAT!
Merry Christmas too!
Merry XMas to everyone…
Have a joyous Merry Christmas everyone!
Manuel, happy christmas to you and yours!
to one and all…merry xmas!!!
talking boobs hahaha…this is really nice. walang boobs sa saudi. puro bigote at putok.
Dear JCC,
Merry Christmas partner! Touche, or should I say tit for tat lang naman ang mga sagutan sa blog.
Or better still….Tit for Tit, para ayon sa topic ni MB.
Merry Christmas uli and touche.
Dean
Happy New Year! May we have Peace on the Blog Site…