MIRON

Of Mice and Men

As the impeachment moves to a larger arena next week, to the Plenary or the Supreme Court if not the parliament of the streets, notice too how it's taken on a larger, literary, classical theme.

We've got Edmund Reyes recalling Troy's Achilles; Edwin Lacierda bemoaning the lack of Sir Galahads to lead and pick up the fight; and today's Inquirer editorial calling Wednesday a Pyrrhic victory, as illustrated by it's editorial cartoon of the Trojan Horse depicting the Lozano complaint.

To complete the picture, Teddyboy likens the justice committee hearing to a roman circus where, the lion inside the cage already poisoned, even the mouse that is sent to face the gladiators will be strangled.

Translation for non-literary types: It's Madagascar out there.

As PDI tried to explain Teddyboy today:

The tiger was the amended Lozano complaint, and the mouse, the original Lozano complaint.  The administration majority and its allies in the House ganged up on the mouse on Wednesday night and stomped it to death.

I don't know how it can get more descriptive and graphic than that. There's certainly no lack for words, fables, epics, barn and jungle animals to describe our predicament.

Although I can imagine the dense and disingenuous Oliver Lozano still managing to protest: What? MOUSE? Who are you calling a MOUSE?!!

On mice -- ahem -- men like these, all words are wasted.

Is there no one else?

"Is there no one else?...IS THERE NO ONE ELSE?!!"

Alas, yes, there is someone else.  There is Brad Pitt saying the very same lines as Achilles in the movie Troy.

No wonder the line sounded familiar and effectively galvanized the younger set. It was electrifying. It was heart stopping. It was... a movie!

Is it all fiction, my friends? Please tell me it isn't so.

Am All For Light

Guys --- am lighting my candle early as rehearsal for the real thing tonight at 6pm. I know many of us hardened uzis and mirons feel weird about performing such symbolic gestures and would rather watch while snickering and making snide remarks from the sidelines.
But if a cynical hardass like me can light a candle in open view of my snickering bros, so can and should you. I'm not lighting my candle alone, dammit.  To hell with it - this one's for the truth.
(am also lighting a small black candle for Garci to come out. This other ritual has voodoo elements and involves broken twigs, a fake passport and a few barnyard animals. The citizens for truth guys are totally in the dark about that one...)

An invitation.
SPREAD THE LIGHT. BANISH THE DARKNESS
August 20, 2005 at exactly 6:00 pm.

When an ordinary citizen steals, would an “I am sorry” be enough?When an ordinary citizen lies, would an “I am sorry” be enough? When an ordinary citizen cheats, would an “I am sorry” be enough?

Ask yourself: If you are an employee and your employer catches you cheating, lying and stealing — will an “I am sorry” be sufficient or a “lapse of judgment” be accepted? Or would you stand to lose your job?

What is our country coming to if we hold ordinary Filipinos to higher and stricter standards than we hold the highest official of the land?

This is not to say that the President of the Philippines is guilty of all that she is being accused of. It is only to say two different standards of rules - one for the powerful and one for the powerless — cannot exist if ours is to be a truly democratic and pluralistic society.

This is not the country we want. And so perhaps it is time we do something about it.

If you believe, as we do, that it is time for ordinary Filipinos to stand up and be counted in the fight for TRUTH — as well as for Transparency, for Responsibility, for Unity, for Trust and for Hope — then join us in a simple demonstration of our collective sentiments.

On August 20, Saturday, at exactly 6pm, take a few moments to light a candle in demonstration of our collective effort to take this country back from all who have not been true to it and to all of us ordinary citizens - and to be the first step in bringing about the light that will banish the darkness that hovers over our land!

Spread the light. Banish the darkness. August 20, 2005 at exactly 6:00pm.

CITIZENS FOR TRUTH
Transparency. Responsibility. Unity. Trust. Hope.

Bending Over Backwards

We are sensing this in the form of fewer hits in even the hottest news sites; the sparser and cooler exchanges in chatrooms and blogs; and the waning ratings of primetime news programs: Viewers are sick of this shit.

The thing with Filipinos is that we can't seem to stay angry for too long. It's the most difficult emotion to sustain, requiring tons of negative energy. Not us. Not the 4th Happiest People in the World.

We are talking about a people who took 300 years to put an end to Spanish colonial rule, 21 years to drive out the marcos dictatorship (and no time at all to elect the marcoses back into the fold).

We are the proverbial bamboo, just bending with the wind. Don't you wish, sometimes, that we could snap?

Amazing how we're bending over backwards to accomodate lies and obvious attempts to fool the public, such as this one caught by PCIJ.

             PCIJ source explains the “Anomalies” in Dickey’s analysis.

FROM the looks of it, the two tracks that environment secretary Michael Defensor submitted to American audio forensic expert Barry Dickey for analysis may not have come from the Paguia tape as he claims.

This was the conclusion of our source, an independent audio expert, after reading Dickey’s expert report on the said tracks.

Dickey’s preliminary findings have pointed to certain "anomalies," in particular the absence of start and stop signatures.

Explains our source, "Mr. Dickey was expecting that the recording was done on a standard recording device. That’s why he was looking for ’start’/’stop’ clicks or signatures on both tracks. Obviously the tracks submitted were already edited and ‘pre-selected’ for analysis."

Since Jonathan Tiongco, Defensor’s local audio expert, did not submit the entire recording but only two tracks, including the one with the "yung dagdag" portion, Dickey concluded a lack of consistency with original recordings.

Iron Mike: taga-plantsa ni Gloria?

MLQ's post frightened me long enough to stop heckling and indulging in other such nonsense, to really think about this: Is this, as Manolo asks, a mock battle? Are we  just being taken for a ride?

It took a nanosecond for Mike Defensor's bombshell to bomb. The audio expert that Mike inexpertly presented to the media last Friday has a track record that is just screaming to be impeached. Jonathan Tiongco is the same guy who had filed murder and kidnapping charges against Interior Secretary Angie Reyes and accused anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang See of staging the kidnapping of Chinese Filipinos. 

He claims to have been recruited as a Deep Penetration Agent for an international agency fighting copyright violations. He said he was also "secretly trained in forensic examination of counterfeit audio material and was assigned on a few high-risk and confidential operations to infiltrate the Big Triad based in Hong Kong in Macau."

He had offered his expertise and testimony to the NBI, DOJ, and even the House committees investigating Gloriagate --- with no takers.

And, icing on this fruitcake, Tiongco campaigned for FPJ in the 2004 elections and said "I even sold my car to help his campaign."

Galing mo bro. You are one audio expert that no one will listen to.

Thanks Mike for bringing him to our attention. You truly deserve the title I now wish to confer upon you: IRON MIKE, TAGA-PLANTSA NI GLORIA. You neatly iron, fold and put away in palace closets the dirty laundry washed by Gloria Labandera. (don't look at me, Gloria Labandera is her image people's own bright idea)

And today, these 2 flash reports from the Inquirer:

Barry Dickey, the American forensic audio expert tapped by Environment Secretary Michael Defensor to examine portions of the “Hello Garci’’ tape has denied saying the tape was spliced. This was the report of dzXL radio station based on an interview conducted by Don Lino Selle, its anchor in RMN New York, with Dickey.

Selle quoted Dickey as saying he had no political agenda and no knowledge of the Filipino language to make a judgment on whether or not the tape could be used as evidence in Arroyo’s impeachment case.

Selle said Dickey confirmed having said that it was possible not just one device was used to record the two tracks sent to him for examination. But he said Dickey denied having said it was his opinion that the tape had been spliced or tampered with.

Also, this Flash Report: Sound engineer says Defensor press conference a set-up; Defensor apologizes. Jimmy Satthour, one of the foreign audio experts who showed up in the presscon of Defensor, cries foul. Says he was invited to go to a meeting to discuss an independent and non-partisan study of the hello Garci tapes.

Looks like he's been taken for a ride too -- one of many human shields being used by both camps in this mock battle.

Postscript: permanently in miron's sidebar is an invite to light a candle for truth on Aug 20. Do check it out.

Miron Uncovers Secret Code

What's up with these witnesses? Pagkatapos kumanta, nag-recant na. Now Richard Garcia and this guy Abraham Riva are singing a different tune. Wala pa sa tono. You can't tell if they are withdrawing any, some, or all of their statements.

According to Inq7, "Demosthenes Abraham Riva’s “I am sorry” to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before television cameras yesterday had a familiar confused ring to it.

It appeared to echo Richard Garcia’s mea culpa last week, seemingly recanting the latter’s testimony    before the Senate hearings on “jueteng” implicating the First Family in illegal gambling payoffs but at     the same time standing by it."

As confused as anyone else, I can only offer the following bizarre (and utterly useless) observation: Isn't it strange how the names of witnesses seem to suggest they are all using some kind of code?

The first whistleblower to sing and cause the ouster of a president is Governor Chavit Sing-son. Many thought the next Singson was going to NBI legal officer Samuel Ong or SOng. Instead, the more fearless witness turns out to be Sandra Cam or SCam. Michaelangelo Zuce is a Key witness. And he identified a fellow operative who must be heard in the inquiry named Butch Paquinggan.

Hmm, I think I am onto something... something really stupid.

Sen. Lito Lapid: Ben Tumbling Tumbles

A friend of both the Arroyos and the Pinedas, Senator Lito Lapid heroically tried to pin down Michaelangelo Zuce on the source of the money Lilia Pineda had allegedly handed out, but managed to pin down President Arroyo instead.

"You've been mentioning the Pinedas, Jun Dy but you have no proof. What if the money was just given to Baby (Lilia) Pineda? WHAT IF IT CAME FROM MADAM (Pres. Arroyo)?"

Stunned silence in the gallery as stupefied audience adjusts to idea that question could be this stupid.

Then, Ping Lacson with the punch(line): "Isn't it more serious if the money came from Madam?"

Failing to recover from his having knocked himself out, Lapid was last seen by reporters making a quick exit, "visibly blushing".

Now we don't expect fireworks from Senator Lito Lapid, but we do expect the former action star to be lighter on his feet and faster with those counter punches. Was his situation hopeless, afterall? It's not as if he actually said "Madam President."

He could have said he meant Madam Auring, Madam Imelda, Madam Butterfly, Madam X... Madaming Madam dyan, ser!!!

The trouble with hello is goodbye

It's disturbing how the cynicism and political fatigue have gotten so bad that there's a general unwillingness to go much further than "Hello Garci" and to dwell much longer on the depths and implications of what the President euphemistically referred to as a "lapse in judgment."

If you make the rounds of the blogs now, the general response to Zuce is: not again; sick and tired of this; don't trust any one any more; and federalism-parliamentary-unicameral-bicameral-those-words-are-all- sounding-more-and-more-sexy. (told ya that sona would set the agenda)

I'm sick of too much politics, too. But I'd like to think we have the political will to see things through. Whether or not "Hello Garci" leads to "Goodbye Gloria" --- i'd like to see this story end, dont' you?

We've always had trouble with our goodbyes.

Thank God PCIJ has begun to follow the Zuci paper trail, cross checking facts against his sworn affidavit, in its quest to see this story to its bitter end.

Propaganda versus Puropaganda

President Arroyo lashed back at opponents for producing "witnesses for sale" and asked the public not to believe the black propaganda against her. She said, "A lot of my opponents have been waging a black propaganda against me, saying I am this and I am that, especially those who are angry, those who are in need of money and whose testimonies are for sale."

She made this comment to the media during the launching of a breastfeeding program. That is so "ina ng bayan."

The palace on the offensive has also fielded Sec. Rigoberto Tiglao who told ANC that Zuce was fired on June 16 after being absent for more than 2 months. He also noted that Isah Red was in the press conference of Zuce, referring to Red as their "image handler."

"These people are expert at using media," warned Tiglao.

I don't think Tiglao and President Arroyo need to worry about whom the public is going to believe. In case they haven't heard, the public has long decided to believe in no one. Which is why they are not in the streets and have left the fate of the nation to the fruits (& nuts?) in congress and talk shows like Debate where lahat ng guest, di bati!

God, we in media had better step up to the plate. Amidst all this propaganda na puro paganda, never has the country needed it more to do its job of seeking the truth.

Witness to La Vista Payoff Speaks. This is what he says...

This just in from ANC and DZMM, about 10:30 am:

Michael Angelo "Louie" Zuce presidential staff handling special project in Mindanao claims to have personally witnessed the La Vista meeting where President Gloria Arroyo personally solicited the help of comelec officials and where the wife of Bong Pineda Baby Pineda handed 30,000 pesos in cash to each of the attendees to ensure the victory of PGMA in Mindanao.

In a  press conference just a few minutes ago, Zuce said he has come out because the fraud and cheating he witnessed "had put him and family in danger since tape came out" and that Ebdane has been looking for him.

Zuce said he knows that Arroyo was not only a beneficiary of the fraud and cheating but "she had knowledge and direct participation in it."

During the dinner in La Vista, PGMA appealed for the help of the comelec officials after which Baby Pineda handed out the enevelopes containing 30,000 pesos.

Zuce revealed more details when he was interviewed over DZMM just seconds before press conference. He said more than 20 comelec officials from Mindanao were invited to have dinner with the President in her home in La Vista. The comelec officials came to Manila and were billeted in a Malate Hotel. They rode a coaster going to La Vista in Quezon City and even stopped over at a McDo in Katipunan for 1 hour to kill time because the President was not yet at home. They were still too early when they arrived in La Vista and had to hang around the pool. The President finally arrived in La Vista at 9pm and she immediately had dinner with the officials where she appealed for their help. Baby Pineda handed the cash envelopes, Zuce said. And Governor Dy was also present at the dinner.

Zuce said the conspiracy dates back to 2002 when Garcillano was still in charge of region 10 and assigned the task of ensuring victory of Arroyo. So even when PGMA announced she wasn't runnng, Garcillano did not believe this because his special project in mindanao wasn't stopped.

Describing his job, Zuce said he met with regional directors and provincial election supervisors. He was given funds for this project by Bong Pineda. He went around Mindanao to deliver funds, cordinate with elections supervisors to make sure she wins.

He has executed a sworn statement where he appealed to the President Arroyo, Sec Rufino and Garcillano to "please tell the truth, confess and repent" as he has done.

His lawyer Liwayway Vinzons Chato says Zuce who is better known as "Louie" is related to Garcillano who is now in London. Before he left, Garcillano spoke to Louie and told him "bahala ka". Louie is also the Louie referred to in the Garci tapes, she said.

Chato says Louie fears for his life and appeals to the media not to follow him around.

Press Undersecretary Reymundo Roquero confirms Zuce worked for Malacanang, the office of Joey Rufino, but also says Zuce's allegations are "blatant lies".

Secretary Gabriel Claudio says Joey Rufino has been on leave and "bedridden with cancer". He describes Zuce's claims as "incredible,"  saying it is hard to believe that no high ranking malacanang official had attended such an important meeting.

Here's the latest from abs cbn interactive and from inq7.