Friday, December 30, 2011

ZTE, a Goon and a Goof


Charges have been filed against ex-President Arroyo for complicity in the ZTE internet scandal. The cost of the project ballooned from an original P 150 million to P 330 million as kickbacks were built into the project. The First Goon, Mr. Arroyo, was allegedly in line to receive P 70 million to make the deal happen. Ms. Arroyo blocked investigation into the affair by ordering her staff to refuse to give testimony to investigators.

This is all encouraging, and I hope the hunt for thieves continues deeper into the government employment roster.

For me, being an avid reader of mysteries, I'm inclined to try to put clues together to make an integrated whole. Sherlock Holmes is able to discover criminals by the mud on their shoes, as he can identify 42 different muds and what part of the country they occupy. Certainly, we can do something similar.

The clues we are working with are: (1) the two cases filed so far against Ms. Arroyo, (2) the midnight raid on the Constitution undertaken by the legislature late during Ms. Arroyo's reign, (3) the midnight appointment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and (3) the Supreme Court abetted run for Singapore by the medically challenged Arroyo family a few weeks ago.

Let's assume the charges are true, that Mr. Arroyo used his influence to try to steal P 70 million from the ordinary Filipino, the taxpayer. Let's assume that Ms. Arroyo knew full well what was taking place.

How did they expect to get away with so blatant a theft?  They had witnesses to the left and witnesses to the right.

The only way would be if they controlled the investigators and the judiciary.

With that understanding, the midnight raid on the Constitution and other shenanigans undertaken by Ms. Arroyo to try to stay in power, the midnight appointment of the Chief Justice, and the "flight of the fugitives" all fall neatly into place. Ms. Arroyo is apparently cut of the same cloth as Marcos. Extraordinarily self-serving and displaying a confidence that is beyond the rational.  But she proved to be a goof at it, the ignominy (look it up) running ripe in the scamper for the airport.

These conclusions may represent nothing particularly stunning, and many news reports will be written around these themes as the drama unfolds. Sherlock would probably yawn and mosey over to the easy chair in his library for another dose of cocaine.

Where I want to go with this is to suggest that it would be good to get a list of all current government officials who voted for the process of Constitutional revision in that midnight vote. At the max, their affairs should put under the spotlight (wealth vs. salary, bank account deposits around that time, and other oddities) with charges filed if the evidence supports collusion in overthrow of the government. At a minimum they should be identified so voters or supervisors can get them out of office, where they remain, as foxes in the henhouse, a huge risk. And an offense to higher sensibilities.

The impeachment of the Chief Justice is probably pretty much assured. Chief Justice Corona  seems to believe he walks above the law, or certainly above propriety, rather than being the law's primary defender and upholding the exquisite sense of propriety that ought to be attached to judgeships. He wears his robe as a wolf's skin.

There is a reason judges are called "Your Honor". Or we should be able to call them that without choking on our words.

I'd argue that the Aquino Administration should let the water run downhill on this. The water being Arroyo sweat and tears. Let them fall on others who were complicit in playing with the Philippines as if it were their own country to manipulate, over the public good. If the evidence is insufficient to file charges, at least let their names run prominently on the front page of the Inquirer prior to any election in which they are a candidate. Let voters make their own deductions as to the motives and allegiances of those who would redraft the Constitution for personal advantage.

10 comments:

  1. Joe,

    I am disappointed that you are easily fooled by Noynoy's witch hunt. President Arroyo was an honest, courageous, and great president. She gave her heart and soul and saved the country from the brink of disaster caused by the poor decisions of Cory/FVR/Erap. We should should show more appreciation for all the sacrifice she had made for the benefit of the common man. Do you not feel sorry for her as she now wears a neck brace and has to be carted around in a wheelchair? Her health deterioration was due to all the hard work and sleepless nights she put in serving all her constituents.

    The brilliant and most esteemed blogger benign0 sums it up really well: this is all really about Noynoy's low self esteem.

    Since the man cannot achieve anything to raise himself up, he would rather tear someone else down. Please do not be manipulated by this evil man. Many years later, historians will see this great injustice upon President Arroyo.

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  2. Mr. I, no I don't feel sorry for Ms. Arroyo. I hope she recovers, however. I tend to agree that President Aquino benefits if he tears down President Arroyo, and view Benigno as somewhat of a tear-down artist himself. I agree that history will allow us to see who was wearing dirty linen, and who clean.

    The rest I've already said here and there. As we are polar opposites on this, I suspect there isn't much to discuss, really.

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  3. There are also those who still admire Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Bin Laden etal so it's no wonder there are still those who believe that Gloria Arroyo was the greatest thing since sliced bread...and rigged contracts.

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  4. ZTE is difficult to prove. Again, they do not have evidences but witness accounts from fellow crooks. Crooks whose credibility are in question and cannot pass muster.

    ZTE is also a show of festive ignorance of the Philippine Media which is professionally practiced to an art form.

    Imagine this, insider Joey de Venecia ran to the Philippine Media with story that they ran without vetting or requiring insider Joey to cart evidences.

    When the story came out in the papers, goofy ignoramuses, instead of keeping their mouth shut, stumbled, tripped and fell on each other to clear their names "incriminating" themselves and to think these are foreign-educated-ivy-school graduates and cannot know when to shut up.

    To this day, ZTE is just a mere gossip, many thanks to irresponsible Philippine Media.

    Prosecutors wanted to subpoena ZTE which Aquino allowed them to bid again for the NBN. ZTE, which has learned from thick faced clueless Filipinos, said in their face "tough luck!"

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  5. What is soooo kooky about ZTE is the witnesses accounts is soooo incredible. One witness saw some Filipino hotshot in talks with ZTE officials in a room and that was enough to convict that there was bribery ...

    Another witness also saw a San Miguel receiving an envelope in Wack-Wack golf course ! WoW!

    If these were to be tried in AMerica and above is their reason for knowing that there was money exchanged ... envelope (without them knowing what was inside) ... meetings (without them knowing what was talked about) ... a whistleblower with no documents to support but just mere conjecture and fairy tale stories ... they'd be laughed off at the courtroom in discovery phase.

    And these people are considered "intelligent" foreign-educated-ivy-school graduates and cannot know simple protocol of what is acceptable evidence.

    ZTE is screwed from the very beginning. ZTE will be laughing at them. But Filipino judges are not because they believe that Jesus Christ cadaver was nowhere to be found not because of grave robbers but rose from the dead in a pall of mist to heaven.

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  6. "The brilliant and most esteemed blogger benign0 sums it up really well: this is all really about Noynoy's low self esteem." - MR. IGNACIO

    WoW! benign0 sure is brilliant. He writes extremely well crafted stories but HE IS ALSO an instant psychologist. "low self esteem"! Brilliant ! Genius !

    benign0 can know how benign0-the-Tard is feeling like benign0-the-Tard can know and pick the mind the basis of crowned Cheap Justice Corona's collegial decisions of issuing TRO, striking down Truth Commission that led up to giving Hacienda Luisita to their slaves.

    It is another Lexi versus Lexus.

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  7. Manuel,

    I cannot say Gloria is guilty or not. Or, benign0-the-Tard right or wrong. Because my basis of "conclusion" would be coming from unreliable, biased, ignorant Philippine Media.

    It is like saying, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and the proof and only proof because it was written in the questionable bible ... and the only basis is the questionable bible.

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  8. Manuel,

    Lozada, a crook along with his wife, will be testifying. I received a text message from Malacanang that I have to be happy about crooked Lozada testifying because finding an honest witness is like looking for a needle in a haystack. :)

    Well, it is happening. All the crooks are stumbling upon themselves to come out clean and their witnesses are fellow crooks.

    Gosh, American justices must be loving this judicial entertainment. Reality Show: Filipinos Trying out Justice.

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  9. mariano,



    Since you love to cite the american justice system as an example, you should be aware that the most useful witnesses for federal prosecutors against mafia dons are crooks who turn into witnesses for the prosecution. It is not judicial entertainment in america. It is not judicial entertainment here.

    there was bribery in the zte-nbn case. The eyewitness accounts are credible and GMA's behavior prior to the contract signing and after the bribery was exposed add even more credibility to the testimonies of witnesses.

    Arroyo's publicists have been promoting the line that you are mouthing now ever since the zte-nbn deal was exposed. They could not make the propaganda fly then, neither will you now.

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