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majority floor leader boyet gonzales “threatens” rep. kimi cojuangco to “keep your mouth shut” on rhbill
we are posting here the screen caps of representative kimi cojuangco’s tweets this morning as they were tweeted and in sequence. rep. conjuangco is one of the leaders of the pro #rhbill at the house of representatives. we are posting here the exact screen caps at nothing added, nothing taken away. readers can make their own conclusions by reading them.
“MFL” is majority floor leader neptali “boyet” gonzales
some points:
- MLF gonzales is aligned with president noynoy aquino and the president has given his support on the rhbill. in fact aquino has bravely taken flak from the catholic church for this support. at one point a bishop even threatened to ”excommunicate” aquino for his stand. does this mean gonzales has broken away from aquino?
- gonzales seem to be playing some “let-me-fool-you-let-me-fool-everybody” political game where he is saying two different things to the people and media, to speaker of the house gonzales, congress, congressman edcel lagman (main proponent of the rh bill) and representative cojuangco. and the things gonzales is saying cannot be described as “honest”.
- gonzales “threatens” rep. cojuangco to “shut your mouth”. we were not there when these words were said but we should accept it as its recipient, cojuangco saw it as a “threat”. cojuangco is quite a lady, she has her own mind that she speaks out very well. threatening someone like cojuangco is really a very bad idea.
- which begs some questions – how many more “threats” have been given by gonzales and to how many more congressmen other than cojuangco? what will come next if cojuangco’s threats are not heeded? the majority floor leader at the HOR gets things done or undone through “threats”?
- where is rep gonzales on the rh bill? he appears to be against it based on this tweets and his “threats” to cojuangco. he is then going against the stand of the party that he belongs to, that of president aquino who is pro rh bill. has he declared his position to belmonte and the president? or did he “shut up” on that too?
representative kimi cojuangco of the 5th district of pangasinan
- we have to admire congresswoman cojuangco for her tweets today. it may be a few days late (she said this happened some days ago) but revealing them today is good enough.
- she has the courage to go against the “boys club” (we hesitate to call it a “gentleman’s club” for its sleazy connotation and also, gonzales was no “gentleman” in this event. but then again, isn’t the HOR through this event is being very sleazy?) and spoke her mind and tell the twitter world what happened.
- it not only shows her courage, it shows her commitment to the cause of the rh bill and her strong and unwavering stand on principles and what is right.
- the rh bill we believe will benefit women, the poor, the pinoy family and the nation at large. cojuangco is standing up for those.
- courage as she is standing up against the majority floor leader who is also a seasoned politician and leader of the house.
- cojuangco will defend and uphold the principles she believes in and risk everything as a congresswoman. she knows the revelation can put her position in jeopardy but she is willing to put that on the table just so she defends what is right and what is principled.
kerry kennedy : sotto plagiarized words of my dad, offended at distortion of Robert F. Kennedy’s words
source: http://www.rappler.com/nation/15858-kennedy-to-sotto-this-is-a-clear-case-of-plagiarism
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makes me wonder what disappointed kerry kennedy – the plagiarism that senator sotto did or that senator sotto didn’t understanductivand misused the quoted text?
my son asked me about this when he saw the nes on tv. i explained to him kerry is the daughter of the great robert kennedy and that she sent out a letter regarding the plagiarism that senator sotto did on the kennedy speech. i told my son kerry is also the president of this group called Robert F. Kennedy Center For Justice & Human Rights.
i told my son kerry called out the sotto on two things – that senator sotto no doubt plagiarized the speech of her dad and that sotto used the words he plagiarized to stop the rh bill which among other things promote free and open choice for women on their reproductive option while the passage that was plagiarized was meant to promote freedom and human rights.
my son who is 15 years old looked at me and plainly said : “it’s the opposite!”.
this is a 15 year old son who reached the correct conclusion on what sotto did just a split second after i explained to him what happened. how can a 63 year old and a senator at that not get that?
the kennedy name and family is one of the icons of America and of freedom. they occupy a large part of what is right and good about america. for robert kennedy’s speech used the way sotto did must be the one that hurts the most for kerry.
i don’t think she would have minded so much if the speech was plagiarized for the same values and reasons their family stand for and have been known for. but the plagiarized parts were actually used for things the kennedy family have been against for generations.
in twitter i said that the tagalog translation of kerry’s letter on the sotto plagiarism is this “nangopya na, tanga pa”.
and yes, senator sotto, kerry writes in tagalog too.
MANILA, Philippines – Long is the saga of Sottogate, yet allegations against Senator Tito Sotto continue.
Now 4 US copyright holders have spoken out, including the president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights: RFK’s daughter, Kerry Kennedy.
All this began again the other day, when Sarah Pope, Janice Formichella, and Peter Engelman issued a joint statement alleging that Sotto had “infringed on our intellectual property rights and plagiarized.”
Their protest was swiftly dismissed by Sotto and his staff, who, according to GMA News, “questioned its authenticity, pointing out that it did not even have an official letterhead.”
read full article here: http://www.rappler.com/nation/15858-kennedy-to-sotto-this-is-a-clear-case-of-plagiarism
serial plagiarist Senator Tito Sotto plagiarizes AGAIN in his september 5 speech, this time robert f. kennedy #rhbill
this just exploded once again on twitter just a few hours after senator sotto delivered his 4th and last privilege speech at the senate floor just today. apparently senator sotto, the hero plagiarist of the anti rh bill advocates and the serial plagiarist in the philippine senate did it AGAIN today. this time he plagiarized the last part of his speech from a speech by the great Robert F. Kennedy, “Day of Affirmation Address” speech delivered on june 6, 1966.
abs-cbn’s TV Patrol reported tonight that senator said the english parts were just “texted to him by a friend”. also of interest was his answer to senator jinggoy estrada’s question to him if there was any part of his speech was plagiarized. sotto replied there was none and the way he made sure of that was he delivered the speech in filipino.
of course he lied. his speech did contain plagiarized parts.
sotto also probably thinks translating it to filipino is not plagiarim.
here is the side by side comparison of the speeches we got from here : https://twitter.com/ChiliMedley/status/243281155581935618
the above pic was posted by Michel Eldiy (@ChiliMedley)
senator sotto’s speech today: http://anc.abs-cbnnews.com/articles/605/sen-sottos-turno-en-contra-speech-on-rh-bill-parts-3-4-as-prepared-for-delivery/
speech of robert f kennedy here : http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/RFK-Speeches/Day-of-Affirmation-Address-news-release-text-version.aspx
the plagiarized parts of the kennedy speech is on paragraph #34 (at around the last 1/4 of the speech; the paragraph starts with: ”Give me a place to stand,” said Archimedes….“ ) of the kennedy speech while sotto said them on the second to the last paragraph of his speech (last paragraph is “Maraming salamat po.”)
PDI article, september 6:
Sotto does it again, channels Robert F. Kennedy in Filipino
By Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily InquirerDid Robert F. Kennedy know how to speak Filipino?
This appears to be the gist of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III’s defense amid new allegations of plagiarism after he delivered the fourth and last part of his “turno en contra” speech against the reproductive health bill.
It took bloggers less than two hours to find out that Sotto did it again.
A tweet from a certain Michel Eldiy at 5:30 p.m., more than an hour after the Sotto speech, triggered online discussions on the supposed intellectual dishonesty of the senator.
“Not true that last part of Sotto’s speech is original. See Day of Affirmation speech of Robert Kennedy in 1966 in South Africa,” said Eldiy, who goes by the Twitter handle, “ChiliMedley.”
She then tweeted a link to the Kennedy speech and later compared it with the speech of Sotto.
Sought for comment, the senator said: “It was texted to me by a friend.
“I found the idea good. I translated it into Tagalog [Filipino]. So what’s the problem?” Sotto told the Philippine Daily Inquirer when asked about his reaction to the fresh accusations.
“Ano? Marunong nang mag-Tagalog si Kennedy? (What now? Does Kennedy now know how to speak in Tagalog)?” he added.
In a separate text message, the senator lamented that proponents of the RH bill were nitpicking
news article from abs-cbn, september 5.
Sotto’s last speech copied from Kennedy?
by Jojo Malig, ABS-CBNnews.comPosted at 09/05/2012 6:57 PM | Updated as of 09/05/2012 6:59 PM
MANILA, Philippines – Did Senator Tito Sotto, who has been accused of plagiarism, copy yet again from someone else in the last part of his “turno en contra” privilege speech against the reproductive health (RH) bill on Wednesday?
Social media users called out Sotto anew, accusing him of only translating parts of a speech originally delivered by the late US Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
senator sotto’s legacy- sotto makes it to New York Times on the rh bill
the honorable senator tito sotto has made it to the big apple, at least at the New York Times on the speeches he has been making on the rh bill at the senate floor. we think this piece by miguel syjuco is an excellent piece that gives very good snapshots of the legacy of the senator at the philippine senate.
sotto’s latest rant on the rh bill at the senate floor gave us these:
- sotto thinks he is immune from criticism and disagreement from social media netizens. sotto in his latest rant at the senate floor practically spent 99% of this speech complaining about how he has been criticized for his plagiarized speech.
- not only that, sotto has threatened to pass a bill to stop or control bloggers and netizens from social media.
- president noynoy aquino also makes speeches and he also gets criticized by social media netizens but we have not heard the president complain, much less threaten netizens of censorship. sotto apparently feels otherwise.
- he spent 99% of his speech complaining about the criticisms and disagreements thrown at him by social media netizens, the balance 1% he spent on one sentence, at the very end of his speech – he asked the senate to remove from the senate records the plagiarized parts of his speech that he delivered on the floor.
- to this date, sotto has not admitted he has plagiarized parts of his speech but now we wonder why he needed to ask the senate to remove parts of his speech from the senate record.
A Plagiarist’s Rant Against Birth Control
By MIGUEL SYJUCO Published: August 29, 2012
WHILE anatomically illiterate politicians in America babble about “legitimate rape,” a Filipino legislator opposed to birth control has been shedding crocodile tears in Parliament and plagiarizing speeches to bolster the case against reproductive rights.
On Aug. 13, the Senate majority leader, Tito Sotto, wept while addressing his assembled peers. The former actor told the Senate that birth-control pills, used by his wife in 1974, had led to the death of their newborn son a year later. The emotional scene shut down the day’s debate. It was the latest obstruction to passing a reproductive health law that has languished for 14 years.
Proponents of the reproductive health bill say it will address poverty, women’s rights, infant and maternal mortality, and overpopulation in a poor nation crowded with 94 million people. Though contraceptives are currently available, the general population can’t afford them. The bill seeks to offer natural and artificial birth-control options, reproductive health care and sex education in public schools.
Opponents, like Mr. Sotto and the powerful Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, saycontraception is akin to abortion. They claim the bill is an elitist and foreign conspiracy to corrupt a country in which 80 percent of the population is Catholic. They fear the erosion of family values, state intrusion on religious freedom, tacit approval of promiscuity and side effects of oral contraceptives.
Two days later, news that Mr. Sotto had plagiarized his speech spilled across blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Careful readers proved that he’d copied and pasted, without citation, large portions from as many as at least five online sources. Among them were the writings of Sarah Pope, who blogs as “the Healthy Home Economist”; a New York University Web site on the notable birth-control advocate Margaret Sanger; and an American activist named Janice Formichella, writing for Feminists for Choice. What’s more, the senator twisted their words for his own purposes.
Mr. Sotto forcefully denied responsibility rather than confessing and offering an apology. When Ms. Pope blogged her dismay at being plagiarized, the senator declared on Filipino TV: “Why would I quote from a blogger? She’s just a blogger.” His chief of staff, Hector Villacorta, told reporters that blogs aren’t copyrighted, governments are exempt from copyright laws, and parliamentary immunity protects the senator. Besides, the Philippines “plagiarized the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “Even our image was copied from God. We are all plagiarists.”
God, it seems, is also on Mr. Sotto’s side.
bishop wants pro rh bill Ateneo professors fired – hahahaha
the rhetoric on the rh bill and the ateneo de manila professors just got raised a few levels up with a bishop medroso saying the ateneo professors who are pro rh bill should be investigated and should be fired from their jobs if they are giving “instructions” contrary to the catholic church’s teachings, the rh bill in particular. the catholic church is against the rh bill.
good luck to the bishop on that one. the statements of the ateneo professors have been released on the basis of what they say there as their individual and personal view on the rh bill and not of the university nor does it say it is what they teach in the classrooms of the ateneo. the disclaimer is written on the first few paragraphs of the statement the professors released.
Ateneo De Manila College Administration Building
there are few grey areas on the threat of the bishop.
professors and doctors who teach at the ateneo medical school will need to teach about modern methods of contraception. it is part and parcel of any lesson on reproductive health and obstetrics. all ob-gyn doctors should know this. will the doctor teachers covering the topic be fired from their jobs?
an economics professor for example can cover the topic of population as it relates to economic theories. population and family size is a key component of the rh bill discussion, will these professors be fired too?
when students bring up the topic of rh bill during class discussion, should the teacher refuse to discuss it?
read the statements of the ateneo professors here:
160 Ateneo De Manila University Professors declare support for the RH Bill - http://wp.me/pnw03-1Cy
Catholics Can Support The RH Bill In Good Conscience – Ateneo Professors’ Position Paper RH Bill 5043 - http://wp.me/Pnw03-2q
we think that as long as the professors say in class, to their students that the school as a whole is anti-rh bill, the professor and students can proceed to discuss everything and anything about the rh bill. college education is all about discourse on the two sides of any issue or topic.
the ateneo classroom in particular is known for such discourse. one of the cornerstones of an ateneo education is informed independent thinking. building independent thinkers is one of the most cherished goals of an ateneo education.
good luck to changing the very core of what the ateneo education is all about.
Catholic Church wants pro-RH bill Ateneo professors sacked
By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:20 pm | Monday, August 20th, 2012MANILA, Philippines—It’s not exactly an inquisition but 159 members of the Ateneo de Manila University faculty may face investigation, and sacked if found guilty.
Bishop Leandro Medroso, in an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas on Monday, called for an investigation of the Ateneo faculty members who signed a statement declaring support for the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill being pushed by the Aquino administration in Congress.
Medroso, the permanent council member of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Canon Law, said the university should make sure that the teachers who endorsed House Bill No. 4244 have not been teaching concepts against Church laws.
“That has to be investigated. The first principle of Canon law about this matter is that we don’t allow teaching that is against the official teachings of the Church. Now, if there is somebody who is giving instructions against the teachings of the Church, then they have to investigate immediately,” Medroso said.
the continuing saga of Sarah Pope, the blogger senator tito sotto plagiarized
we will be aggregating posts on the blogs of sarah, (the healthy home economist) on the alleged plagiarism charge on senator tito sotto. these posts are available on these sites :
this will make it easier for everyone to appreciate the posts made so far on her sites.
notice : these are actual screen caps from her blogs, nothing added, nothing removed. and senator sotto – everything here is properly referenced and acknowledged. (ahem)
sarah posted these comments on her facebook page:
sarah was referring to this post by a certain atty. hector villacorta who claims to be the chief of staff of senator sotto.
caution : we have no way of confirming if the person who posted that on her site is really from atty. villacorta nor do we know if the atty is senator sotto’s chief of staff.
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here is the latest:
Sotto’s office admits copying US blog
by Jojo Malig, ABS-CBNNews.comPosted at 08/16/2012 9:45 PM | Updated as of 08/16/2012 11:04 PMMANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Senator Tito Sotto’s chief of staff on Thursday night admitted that they copied the work of an American blogger in the lawmaker’s turno en contra speech on the reproductive health (RH) bill.Atty. Hector Villacorta, in a message posted on the Facebook page of Sarah Pope, said it was the senator’s staff who lifted the content of the blogger’s work without attributing it to her.
president noynoy aquino’s miscommunication on the rh billl during SONA 2012 – is he anti-children? #rhbill
yes, president aquino in his 2012 SONA did mention the rh bill but phrased it as “responsible parenthood” (read more om this one from here: http://wp.me/pnw03-1Bm)
this was what aquino said in his SONA:
aquino:
Matibay po ang pananalig natin kay Secretary Luistro: Bago matapos ang susunod na taon, ubos na ang minana nating 66,800 na kakulangan sa silid-aralan. [Applause] Ulitin ko po, next year pa po ‘yan; 40,000 pa lang this year. Ang minana po nating 2,573,212 na backlog sa upuan, tuluyan na rin nating matutugunan bago matapos ang 2012. [Applause] Sa taon din pong ito, masisimot na rin ang 61.7 million na backlog sa textbook upang maabot na, sa wakas, ang one is to one ratio ng aklat sa mag-aaral. [Applause]
Sana nga po, ngayong paubos na ang backlog sa edukasyon, sikapin nating huwag uling magka-backlog dahil sa dami ng estudyante. Sa tingin ko po, Responsible Parenthood ang sagot dito. [Applause]
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english:
I have great faith in Secretary Luistro: Before the next year ends, we will have built the 66,800 classrooms needed to fill up the shortage we inherited. The 2,573,212 backlog in chairs that we were bequeathed will be addressed before 2012 ends. This year, too, will see the eradication of the backlog of 61.7 million textbooks—and we will finally achieve the one-to-one ratio of books to students.
We are ending the backlogs in the education sector, but the potential for shortages remains as our student population continues to increase. Perhaps Responsible Parenthood can help address this.
aquino mentioned in his SONA within the context of the potential risk of an increasing number of the student population overwhelming or negating the education department’s efforts at filling up the backlog needs of students. the education sector has been plagued for decades of a lack of schools, classrooms, chairs and even books. aquino in this SONA said the education secretary is now on an aggressive move to erase the backlog. aquino was warning that population growth, the number of new entrants or children into the education system need to be kept at a lower growth rate, otherwise the education agency will not be able to erase the backlog.
this is population control. and one can argue it is being anti-children.
population control is not necessarily a bad thing. reducing birth rates is population control. families deciding to have less number of children or the married couple agreeing to a specific number of children is population control on a family level. we all do it, why shouldn’t the state encourage it?
population control becomes bad when the state dictates on its citizens to a certain number of children couples will have , or when citizens are forced into it like the way china does it which has a 1 child policy per family.
the rh bill has no such provision. number of children a couple will have is left to the couple’s discretion. the state in the rhbill will simply provide couples the means and information on how the couple can achieve their desired family size.
but there is the risk of interpreting aquino’s statement on the rh bill within the context he said it as being “anti-children”, that aquino does not want couples to have too many children that will have the effect of overwhelming the state’s efforts on the zero backlog on education.
the rh bill is not anti-children. in fact the rh bill is from the perspective of the parents, the married couple not children. the rh bill empowers the woman, the couple and the family into giving them the tools, education and service to enable them to successfully meet their desired number of children and age spacing of their children.
rh bill advocates knew what aquino meant. to a large extent the anti rh bill groups also knew what the president meant. they know it so well that they have reacted badly to the mention of the rh bill in the SONA. in fact CBCP has already launched an attack on aquino one day after the SONA.
malacanang apparently also knew what aquino said, actually what aquino failed to say and that is the reason why they felt compelled to clarify what aquino said during the SONA.
PNoy backing same RH Bill in Congress
By Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN NewsPosted at 07/24/2012 4:07 PM | Updated as of 07/24/2012 10:48 PMMANILA, Philippines – Malacañang said President Aquino was referring to the same consolidated bill on reproductive health (RH) now pending in Congress when he made a pitch for the passage of the responsible parenthood bill in his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the draft bill submitted by the Palace has been consolidated with the version being pushed by advocates of reproductive health in Congress.
It has the title “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and for other purposes.”
The Palace, however, prefers to use the shorthand “Responsible Parenthood bill” in referring to it.
The measure was included in the list of the administration’s priority bills during the meeting of the LEDAC.
“Ang punto po ‘non, ang dulo po ‘non, na-consolidate na po ‘yung anim na pending (bills) in Congress sponsored by Representatives (Edcel) Lagman, (Janette) Garin, (Arlene) Bag-Ao, (Walden) Bello, (Rodolfo) Biazon, (Augusto) Syjuco, (Luz) Ilagan, and (Emmi) De Jesus… into House Bill 4244. Ang title po nito, ‘An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and for other purposes.’ So ‘yun na po ‘yon. It has been consolidated with the pending bills,” Valte said.
“The bill submitted by the Palace took into consideration the dialogues that our officials had with members of the Church and also with members of pro-RH advocacy groups. So ‘yun na po ‘yung dulo niya. It’s House Bill 4244.” She added.
The Palace reiterated the President’s position on responsible parenthood. Valte said:
“First, the President is against abortion. This is a reiteration of the President’s position that he has, time and again, enunciated even from the campaign when he was running for president.
“Second, the President is in favor of giving couples the right to choose how best to manage their families so that in the end their welfare and that of their children are best served…
“Thirdly, the President is of the position that the state must respect each individual’s right to follow his or his conscience and religious convictions on matters and issues pertaining to the unity of the family and the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death.
“Fourth, in a situation where couples especially the poor and the disadvantaged ones are in no position to make an informed judgment, the state has the responsibility to so provide.
“And, lastly, in the range of options and information provided to couples, natural family planning and modern methods shall be presented as equally available.”
Asked if the President’s mention of the bill serves an endorsement for its passage, Valte said, “The members of Congress are free certainly to have their own interpretation of what was said by the President. But the President did mention Responsible Parenthood and that refers to the version that the Palace submitted during the LEDAC and to the one that was consolidated.”
Valte said there are no discussions yet if the Palace wants to certify the bill as “urgent.”
this incident demonstrates the importance of good communication and specificity specially on speeches of national importance by the president of the country.
chief justice corona’s approval rating suffers a catastrophic meltdown – Pulse Asia Poll
source Pulse Asia : http://pulseasia.com.ph/pulseasia/story.asp?ID=748
- chief justice corona’s approval rating plunges to 14% from previous 38% and his disapproval rating took an upward sizzle from 24% to 58%. those can only be described as a catastrophic meltdown all due to the impeachment case t oust him being held at the senate. there is no other way to describe in approval rating by more than half and a more than doubling of number of responding disapproving of corona.’s performance.
- results on corona in this poll is highly consistent with the other Pulse Asia that showed a high 47% of the respondent found corona guilty versus only a 5% of the respondents found him innocent of the charges filed at the impeachment court.
- this is the court of public opinion, not the impeachment court so many things can come into play on this resulting approval/disapproval rating of corona by the respondents.
- over at twitter, we had said corona should form his own professional Crisis Management Team very early during the impeachment case. we had called out for this need almost on the first day the case was filed at the house of representatives. we figured the prosecution team obviously had their own team operating prior to day 1 of the whole process. the actions and messages of the prosecution team was so well crafted and well planned that there was a strategy in play and that can only come from a professional team of PR practitioners or media managers.
- the need for corona to have his own Crisis Management Team was not only necessary because of their adversary, but also this was obviously a very major development in the chief justice’s career. something as major as an impeachment case needed major efforts to protect his interests. the impeachment case was something very public, live tv coverage has been announced and that meant corona needed professionals to manage the media aspect of it.
- the need for a professional Crisis Management Team to handle corona’s affairs was highlighted when he decided to deliver a speech in front of the Supreme Court premises attacking President Noynoy Aquino. corona with that speech decided to be a politician and effectively declared a media war and opened the court of public opinion. moves like that should not be done without careful thinking and professional handling.
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prosecution in corona trial needs a superman to do the closing to win the case
the corona impeachment trial has become a telenovela played out on national tv like an afternoon soap but unlike the telenovelas, this one has stopped taking twists and turns, it has in fact been on a single track – a daily watch of what new blunder the prosecution has been up to this time and who among the senator jurors will be giving the prosecution a lecture on their errors and shortcomings. the usual suspects are senator juan pnce enrile and senator miriam defensor santiago and on occasion the defense lead counsel, serafin cuevas.
this took a bizarre, almost cataclysmic proportion when senator jinggoy estrada calls out private 
prosecutor vitaliano aguirre for covering his ears the whole time senator santiago was giving a first class lecture on the prosecuti0n’s latest blunder of the day.
this could have been just another day for the prosecution but senator santiago was particularly volcanic on this day that we were glued to our seat, with cell phone on hand ready to dial emergency 911 to call for an ambulance to go to the senate just in case senator santiago had a heart attack.
the irony of it all was on this day the prosecution has rested it’s case. in other words senator santiago’s near heart attack volcanic anger and attorney aguirre’s comic or is it cosmic cover-the-ears antic will be the last image, audio and memory the prosecution will be leaving not only in the minds of the public but more importantly in the senator jurors’.
for the record, we had called for the replacement of the prosecution team in this trial almost from the very start. although we began calling for the replacement of congressman neil tupas as lead prosecutor, it became clear to us that most of the members of the prosecution team were also showing incompetence. this incident with aguirre is just an exclamation point to the many that we have seen in the course of the trial.
the prosecution has closed their presentation. unfortunately, they were not able to close on a high note but on a note of infamy with the image of attorney aguirre’s hands covering his ears.
is it all lost for the prosecution? well, legally speaking, no not yet. the defense still has to present their evidence and counter evidence. even before that step, the prosecution still has to make a formal offer on the evidence that will be accepted by the court. so far what has been done was the evidence has been marked only. there will of course be a legal battle royal when the prosecution does this. it is expected that the defense will obeject to each and every evidence that has been marked.
we do not how this will go and equally important how the defense will do when it is their thing on the court. for all we know it could be as horrible or wosrt for the defense.
while these questions are still to be answered, it is prudent for the prosecution to assume the worst for themselves. based on current trends in the court, the prosecution need to assume they will be at a great disadvantage by closing time.
we think the prosecution’s closing will be most crucial for them., the closing argument is in essence the summary of their case against corona. not only is it the summary but the closing is supposed to be the most persuasive for them. the idea is that this closing will be the last push to get senator jurors to see the guilt of corona and for them to vote to impeach corona.
for this closing, we think the prosecution need to do the following:
- they don;t just need a lawyer who will do the closing, they need superman to do it for them.. not even clark kent will do, they need superman himself, in his tights, a letter “S” on his chest and a red cape doing the closing.
- they need attorney superman in his most persuasive and in his clearest and sharpest because the prosecution attorneys on their own have muddled the issues in the case.
- the prosecution attorneys have drawn so much attention to everything and anything not related to the case or the evidence needed to convict corona that attorney superman will need to blind the senator jurors to these and get them to just focus on the real evidence that they have presented and just convict corona.
- attorney superman must deliver superhuman logic, superhuman persuasiveness and superhuman clarity.
- we do not know how the tights and cape will do but this attorney superman need to be well respected by the senator jurors, someone the senator jurors see as at least equal to them in stature if not greater. if they can get john f kennedy or ronald reagan to wear a superman costume, that will do it for sure.
- the closing speech of the prosecution SHOULD NOT mention the word and the thought “technicality”. mentioning this will just be whining and will not sit well with the senator jurors. sure, the defense has used technicalities every half step of the way, but it is what defense lawyers do, complaining about technicalities will only insult the intelligence fo the senator jurors.
- the prosecution closing should completely ignore their stupidity and errors and not mention any of it. they should all be in denial and hope the senator juroirs do not remember any of it.
- the closing speech should overcome and actually exploit and turn the lead defense attorney serafin cuevas’ obsession with lectures to their advantage and a negative for the defense. for sure, attorney cuevas will deliver a lecture in his closing. a lecture is in his DNA, it is unavoidable for him. knowing cuevas will go into a lecture should be turned into an advantage by the prosecution.
- as peg, the prosecution team should frame the quality of the closing speech and the attorney superman as convincing senator miriam defensor santiago. the speech writer should write the speech thinking that this is his goal – to write a speech that will convince santiago. discovering the magic formula on that will make them win the case.
is it impossible? no, we do not think so. we have defined here very specific goals and needs. all that the prosecution need to do is deliver on these. they have a lot of time to get it right, around 4 to 5 weeks. but they should start preparing for the close now.
what the prosecution team needs to do is to be more creative and be very goal obsessed. here is a suggestion on the creativity part – they can stay closer to home and just get ninoy aquino or ferdinand marcos to deliver the closing speech, they are two of the country’s top orators and communicators. that is easy-peasy.
philippine department of tourism’s #1forFun – what is it? it is not original, plagiarized from amazon.com? again?
tonight, twitter was awash with “#1forFun” tweets that came from the country’s department of tourism (@DOTPhilippines) and re-tweeted by many pinoys. based on the tweets, the line seem to be the theme for the country’s new tourism ad campaign. these twitter activities is a teaser campaign for the launch of the country’s tourism ad campaign today at 10 am.
we could not figure out what the line is – is it a theme? a tagline? some branding? or just a hash tag for twitter? we wanted to find out, so we googled it and this is what we saw (click to see what we saw: http://bit.ly/xdX0Xr)
we went further and clicked the amazon.com link, and this is what is there (click: http://amzn.to/yh9VJS)
based on how we interpreted #1forFUN at amazon, it calls it a ”storefront” or what we think means it is like a store within amazon that sell certain low priced “fun” items.
regardless of what it is in amazon, the line #1forFUN” is not an original. will the DOT run into trouble again with coming out a “copied” advertising component from another source? this already happened before, is it happening again?
let’s wait and see what the launch will be tomorrow.
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plagiarism has been an issue with the DOT before, this one on the logo :
“Pilipinas Kay Ganda” logo plagiarized from Poland?
click here : http://bit.ly/y2AOR5
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“Pilipinas Kay Ganda” fiasco – how to tie a rope around your neck and pull it
catholic bishops’ dirty words against RH Bill supporters – unchristian accusations
the gloves are off! the catholic bishops are bullying pro-RH Bill supporters with the most unchristian words one can invent. now, a bishop is calling RH Bill supporters as terrorists. this is not the first time catholic bishops have used dirty words, the most unchristian words to subdue and conquer their opponents on the RH Bill. they have been doing this for a very long time.
the good news is that it seems to point to a strengthening of the support for the RH BIll. these dirty words are being used by the bishops in panic. they probably feel theirs is a lost cause. and when desperation sets in, they think doing the ways of the unchristian might instill fear among RH Bill supporters and back down.
this reminds me of the friars during the spanish era in philippine history when the friars landed in the country and went on to subdue and conquer the indios. the friars then used everything and anything to conquer the indios, including the unkind use of threats of burning in hell if the indios did not agree to convert to their ways.
this whole thing feels it is the second coming of the friars.
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MANILA, Philippines—Advocates of the reproductive health (RH) bill are no better than terrorists because the measure could lead to the death of innocents, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said Tuesday.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, CBCP vice president, said condoms and abortion were tantamount to killing the innocent.
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gloria macapagal arroyo charged with plunder, stole funds from OFW to election campaign
we have heard this before – Philhealth cards were distributed hundreds of thousands of people for the purpose of securing an election win for arroyo during her prediential 
election fight with fernando poe jr. this issue has been hanging in the air for many years. it is not the only corruption scandal tattooed on the legacy of arroyo, but it is one of the more brazen.
we have also heard it before , the people waiting for charges of plunder to be filed in a philippine court against arroyo. legtal eagle frank chavez is the man who has finally done what many have been waiting for.
we will not lose sleep over this court case. what we will lose sleep on is on getting updates and the latest on this case.
will the truth set arroyo free or to jail?
Arroyo’s plunder raps based on her notes
‘Charge to OWWA,’ Arroyo ordered; P550M misused
By Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:33:00 04/27/2011MANILA, Philippines—For allegedly dipping her fingers into a cookie jar reserved for overseas Filipino workers, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo so disgusted at least three Malacañang insiders that they helped put
together plunder charges that she is now facing.
Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez Tuesday filed a 23-page complaint claiming that Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, misused more than P550 million from the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) from March 2003 to February 2004.
“This was all very well-orchestrated because in all the recommendations made by the respondents, there was always the handwritten notation made by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ‘OK, charge to OWWA funds.’ But the OWWA funds are funds held in trust by the government and they cannot dip their fingers into the cookie jar that exclusively belongs to the overseas Filipino workers,” Chavez told reporters.
Chavez said three mid-level officials photocopied the documents for him, which was why all these he had submitted as bases for his plunder complaint bear Malacañang bar codes.
Chavez’s sources said they pitied the OFWs whose funds were being misused. He said this was in February 2004 before the presidential elections.
He said the original documents could be ordered produced in court and his sources, some of whom remained in government, need not come out in the open. The justice department can verify the documents’ authenticity through the bar codes.
“They are kind-hearted, highly conscienticized Filipinos who could no longer stomach the quagmire of corruption spewed by Malacañang,” he said.
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