Abalos again!!!???

[oldblue]

This is supposed to be out-of-the-box thinking??

In my case, hindi naman lahat. Dun lang sa mga dapat na kamuhian, people like Fat B*astard, Abalos, Pandak, Anak ni Pandak, et al. There are politicians I respect and admire, like Sonny Belmonte and Jovito Salonga.

The highlighted text is a very scary statement, bad grammar notwithstanding. Kaya nga nagiging corrupt yung mga politiko eh gustong makabawi. Old school kasi ako. If you want to serve the public, then do so out of the goodness of your heart, and expect nothing in return. Vigilance is the key. May mga tao namang ganun, we just need more of their kind in public office.

Hindi pupuwede na makuntento na lang tayo sa mga pangyayari ngayon because graft & corruption will never be eliminated. Pero we can minimize it, and ensure na hindi garapalan ang kurakot. Eh kelan pa tayo magbabago? I cannot sit idly by while some crooked politician makes a lot of money in a dubious deal, wherein the result will be na pati anak at apo ko babayaran ang isang napakalaking utang na hindi naman pala kailangan. Ika nga, "The besy way for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing."

For those who think its just OK tutal nandyan na yan, then kayo kayo na lang magbayad nun. Wag na kayong mandamay ng iba.

that's double standard. you wish for a person or a leader na walang selfish inclinations, magseserbisyo out of the goodness of the heart regardless kung pro or against sa kanya.

tapos kami-kami na lang pag nakatsamba ng hindi ganun leader. out na kayo. isn't that being selfish too?

===

saka pls. tama na yun grammar grammar korek e kan. para naman may English terror teacher dito tapus na tayo sa term paper nun 16 yrs. old pa tayo

btw, there was this DLSU professor who once told me: walang problema kung bagsak ka sa English bec. that does not affect your intelligence quotient whatsoever. it's just a language.

tama sya, kung bago ka lang natututo mag-spanish at nagpunta kasa Spain. sigurado ang sasabihin din ng spanish mali-mali spanish grammar mo. but does that make you a lesser person?

I think not.

[jpdm]

--Any project or contract tainted with corruption must be condemned. Regardless, who the hell are they...The people behind this must be punished. Those who tolerate it must be punish too. As accessory to the crime.

--I agree, if the contract and the project has been perfected, sige we have no choice but to use them. But it doesnt erase the fact na galing sa nakaw at kurakot yun. Mayaman, mahirap, opisyal ng pamahalaan at pribadong mamamayan dapat sa kanila yung ginagawa ng Tsina--execute agad, barilin kaagad sa sentido. Para di pamarisan ng iba.

--Preventing this malpractice (graft and corruption) will save the government alot of money. IMF-WB say so. Transparency International sayS so. Public Finance says so.Corruption might not be totally eliminated but it can definitely be mininize.

--Somebody mentioned Singapore and indeed this island state has eliminated corruption (baka almost lang) in the government.

--OT. With all due respect, whoever is the author of that book that we are a damaged culture, baka sya ang may damaged culture. Who the hell is he that he can judge an entire race as having damaged culture? Anong scientific proof nya? Pina-check nya ba lahat ang kultura ng bawat Pinoy? Corruption is not unique in the Philippines, but it can be minimize. I totally reject his warped conclusion and generalization!

--As long as Pinoys will not tolerate it, it will not thrive. Ano man ang sbihin nila sa mga Senador. Tama yun. Para ma-expose ang mga kurakot sa pamahalaan.

--Pinatalsik nila si Erap dahil sa corruption sabi ni Gloria ay mukhang masahol pa ang administration nya. Dapat linisin ni Gloria ang puder nya bago siya umalis ng 2010 para may legacy sya.

--"THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE ITS STAYS THE SAME."

[Zeus]

Neri was ready to talk about ZTE



By Juliet Labog-Javellana
Inquirer
Last updated 00:55am (Mla time) 09/30/2007






MANILA, Philippines--Behind closed doors, Romulo Neri was “on the verge” of telling senators the rest of his explosive story on the supposed lobbying and bribery in the $329-million telecommunications deal with China’s ZTE Corp. when an administration senator and a Cabinet member intervened, several Inquirer sources said Saturday.
The former secretary general of the National Economic and Development Authority reportedly told a friend before the executive (or closed-door) session that followed the Wednesday hearing at the Senate that what he knew could “possibly” lead to the “downfall” of his boss, President Macapagal-Arroyo.
According to the four sources of the Inquirer, Neri was ready to answer the senators’ questions when Sen. Joker Arroyo intervened. (The sources all declined to speak on the record in deference to the gag rule governing executive sessions.)
Arroyo reportedly made a motion to allow Neri to avail himself of the legal counsel of his choice.
“I think he tried to help” was how a source explained Arroyo’s purported move.
On the phone last night, Arroyo denied that he had intervened.
“I cannot talk [about it] because we have an agreement that nothing discussed in the executive session will come out. But to intervene for Neri, no [I did not],” he said.
Asked if he had tried to prevent Neri from talking, Arroyo said: “That’s terrible backbiting.”
Arroyo ran under the administration ticket in the 2001 and 2007 elections. In the previous Senate he chaired the blue ribbon committee, which was accused by opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson of sitting on his exposé about the secret “Jose Pidal” accounts of the President’s husband.
After Arroyo’s motion, Budget Secretary Rolando “Nonoy” Andaya Jr. entered the members-only Senators’ Lounge, according to the Inquirer sources.
Andaya, who succeeded Neri in the budget department, came in supposedly to act as the latter’s lawyer.
A source said the senators had an argument about the presence of Andaya, who, some insisted, should not be acting as Neri’s lawyer because he was also a member of the Cabinet.
“It’s hard to predict what he (Neri) was going to say, but he was about to talk. I think it’s the presence of Nonoy that stopped him,” one source said.
Neri could not be reached for comment. Calls and text messages to his phone went unanswered.
On Wednesday, at the third hearing of three Senate committees looking into the National Broadband Network (NBN) project, Neri testified that Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos had offered him P200 million in exchange for approving the project. Abalos vehemently denied this at the same hearing.
In his testimony, Neri said he reported Abalos’ bribe attempt to the President, who told him not to accept it.
But when the senators asked him one after the other what the President had instructed him to do about the project afterward, Neri invoked executive privilege.
The senators decided to invite him to an executive session.
Inside the Senators’ Lounge, Neri began to experience chills, and by one observer’s account, it might have been partly because he was afraid.
The sources could not explain how Andaya got into the picture, but he was seen arriving at the Senate a few hours before the senators decided to take Neri to the executive session.
“Basta dumating na lang, umupo doon (He just arrived and sat there),” a source said.
The sources said Andaya told the senators not to press Neri to talk because the latter was sick.
“Then kinalabit na niya si Neri,” a source said.
The Inquirer phoned Andaya six times yesterday, but he did not respond. Andaya, a fellow Bicolano, was Arroyo’s protégé in the House of Representatives.
But many senators also agreed that Neri should have been sent home because he was obviously sick, another source said.
The executive session was over in less than 30 minutes.
“There was no bombshell,” a source said, adding that Neri seemed to be wanting to tell the truth but “needs a little more prodding before he talks.”
The source expressed the belief that Neri could eventually be persuaded to spill the beans.
Asked if Neri knew something that was damaging to the President, the source said: “Why would he invoke executive privilege if it’s not damaging to the President?”
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. confirmed to the Inquirer that Neri said nothing during the executive session.
Pimentel said that was all he was going to say because he was bound by the rule prohibiting senators from disclosing any details about their executive sessions.
“I cannot describe what else happened [inside] but it was obvious to me that Neri was sick. We allowed him to go because he was really sick,” Pimentel said, adding:
“I think he was sick partly due to fear. It was obvious he was deathly afraid of what he was going to say; that’s why he was chilling.”
Pimentel said he did not hear Neri say that what he knew could lead to another people power revolt.
“This has nothing to do with our executive session, but just analyzing what happened during the entire hearing, it seems to me that he is deathly scared of saying something that might provide the smoking gun on the involvement of the President or some other people [in the ZTE deal]. But that is just my speculation,” Pimentel said.
Asked if he thought Neri would eventually talk, Pimentel said: “I think so. I have faith that he will talk.
“He is now an object of pity and scorn. He can resign, but I think he is more worried about his physical safety.”
Another source said Neri had no qualms about testifying on Abalos’ supposed bribe attempt.
“But his dilemma is whether he would talk about how he was pressured [by the President] to approve the contract,” the source said.
Yet another source said Neri was summoned to Malacañang in the wee hours of April 20 to endorse the ZTE deal because the President was to leave for China on the following day to witness the signing of the contract.
On April 21, Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and ZTE president Yu Yong signed the deal in China with the President as witness.
A source said Neri had told a friend that “what he will say will possibly cause the President’s downfall.”
The source said Neri, a hard-core technocrat, wanted reforms to result from his revelations: “He said that even if the NBN [deal] would be canceled, there are still many other projects [that can be the source of kickbacks].”


Masasabit daw si Pres. Arroyo pagnagsalita si Neri?

[A121]

--OT. With all due respect, whoever is the author of that book that we are a damaged culture, baka sya ang may damaged culture. Who the hell is he that he can judge an entire race as having damaged culture? Anong scientific proof nya? Pina-check nya ba lahat ang kultura ng bawat Pinoy? Corruption is not unique in the Philippines, but it can be minimize. I totally reject his warped conclusion and generalization!

OT: Read "The Philippines, a Century Hence" by Jose Rizal before you make any comments. I have given a link in my previous post. It's better you understand such things and compare what really is happening.

[carscout]

OT: Nice site there. I think that the Pinoys have a damaged culture. It seems that it must've been better if we became the 51st state of the US. Just take a look at our names, it's too Americanized. Parang hilaw na Kano tayo Well, that's what our prof says. Try reading "The Philippines, a Century Hence" by Jose Rizal. It's best explained there. It's a very good read.

OT:
Thanks It took me several hrs of reading the blogs and i haven't even finished half of it. I took particular focus on the "Rizal, Anti-Hero. Truth is I didn't paid too much attention on my History 1 subject during my college years; though I find it fascinating now that I am starting to read it again.

[carscout]

Originally Posted by oldblue
"if half of pinoys think like me, then we are a singapore or a hongkong. "

"ngaun lang naman naging worth ang SF dito bec. very vocal ako sa quality nito since aug 2006. I'm one of those who made the Sta FE popular here in tsikot."

OT: Hmmm now, now..Aren't we being egocentric here...

gusto nyo balik tayo kay Erap eh, siya ang example na nag-put to waste ng 200M Cetennial Village sa Pampanga dahil sa intrigahan. pinalabas niya na overpriced, mahal, may anomalya si Ramos, naninwala ang taung-bayan. hayun that's 200M pesos worth of taxpayers money down the drain.
ginagamit ba' to ngaun. no man's land

Balato lang ni Abalos kay Neri yan

I tell you if the broadband network gets installed, siguro naman masasabi it's worth it, kasi tenfold or hundredfold ang mga tao/sistema matutulungan nito.

And I tell you, we will put up a broadband network...It is indeed a good Project.. But do we have to sacrifice peoples millions to go down the pocket of Abalos, FG, Mendoza et al? Diba mas maganda kung yung over sa priced ng project eh mapunta sa other services na makakatulong sa taong bayan?

is this so hard to comprehend? at kinekelagan i-disprove nyo ko. I have been giving you real-time examples already, for god's sake.

Yes, I have been beating my head trying to comprehend how in the hell can you tolerate corruption in its purest form

gusto nyo pa, lahat ng pinatayo ng mag-asawang Marcos. the Sarimanok ampli-Theatre (imagine during the 70's mayroon na pala tayo state of the art theatre) in UP Los Banos, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Yun Palace in the Sky sa Tagaytay, and of course, yun mga art bldgs (CCP, PICC, Coconut Palace etc.) sa unang reclamation. dahil branded as corrupt ang mga Marcoses, kasama bumagsak etong mga 'to na sana naging symbolo ng inspiration sa mga kabataan as well as pride natin sa mundo noon.

I would agree on your argument on this one..Although only those who succeeded Marcos are to be blamed, dahil pinabayaan nila. Or shall we say they have no interest in continuing anything that is not worth their time and pockets.

[carscout]

OT: Read "The Philippines, a Century Hence" by Jose Rizal before you make any comments. I have given a link in my previous post. It's better you understand such things and compare what really is happening.

Agree.. General sweeping statement without backing up with credible source is worthless. I would suggest a little reading is in order, wouldn't you think jpdm

[Hero]

pero ating sariwain na iyang mga proyektong na nabanggit are the ones that made us sadlak sa dusa?.. ang pera na pinanggawa diyan ay inutang lahat isama na rin ang kickback..that's why precisely naging sick man of asia tayo ngayon...

[metatron]

I tell you if the broadband network gets installed, siguro naman masasabi it's worth it, kasi tenfold or hundredfold ang mga tao/sistema matutulungan nito.

no, it's more like a handful of corrupt officials lang ang matutulungan nito in its current iteration.

we spend more for international communications than for domestic interdepartmental and interagency interconnectivity. heck we don't even have computers to connect to the interwebnets tapos the government is clamoring for an NBN?

paano tayo makakasave e hindi naman BOT ang deal na gusto ng malacanang?

it's just like the Php 1B+ Macapagal Road, lagi dati sinisigaw sa radyo sa media overpriced, mahal, hindi worth. pero ngaun, isa na sa pinagmamalaki natin sa buong mundo. dun na ginaganap ang world pyro olympics, intl. and local trade shows, plus it's one of the Philippines very promising future financial district.

hindi ba puwedeng mabuo yung DMB without it being so severely overpriced? di ba mas maganda para sa taxpayers kung mura na ang pagkakagwa sa DMB tapos maipagmamalaki pa natin yung area as a promising financial district?

====

gusto nyo balik tayo kay Erap eh, siya ang example na nag-put to waste ng 200M Cetennial Village sa Pampanga dahil sa intrigahan. pinalabas niya na overpriced, mahal, may anomalya si Ramos, naninwala ang taung-bayan. hayun that's 200M pesos worth of taxpayers money down the drain.
ginagamit ba' to ngaun. no man's land

6 months after the completion of the project nagpunta kami dun, may areas kung saan butas butas na at kinakalawang na yung bubong, may cracks na rin yung mga cement walls. sabi ng mga stall owners dun substandard ang pagkakagawa. if ramos had been really serious about the project e sana naman tumagal yung facade nya for at least a year. the centennial village was ramos' last hurrah pagdating sa graft. ramos didn't even build up the social, economic and infrastructure backbone on the surrounding areas for the project. nagtayo sya ng no-name mall sa gitna ng kawalan. the project was doomed from the start.

gusto nyo pa, lahat ng pinatayo ng mag-asawang Marcos. the Sarimanok ampli-Theatre (imagine during the 70's mayroon na pala tayo state of the art theatre) in UP Los Banos, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Yun Palace in the Sky sa Tagaytay, and of course, yun mga art bldgs (CCP, PICC, Coconut Palace etc.) sa unang reclamation. dahil branded as corrupt ang mga Marcoses, kasama bumagsak etong mga 'to na sana naging symbolo ng inspiration sa mga kabataan as well as pride natin sa mundo noon.

The sarimanok ampitheater, palace in the sky and coconut palace didn't fall into disrepair because we overthrew marcos. the buildings are currently in shambles because the subsequent governments couldn't afford the steep upkeep. Napunta na kasi yung funds para sa NBN.

Last time I checked ok pa naman PICC and CCP. We just couldn't afford to hold that many cultural/art shows kasi the masa is still hooked on wowowee, EB and the telenovelas, the middle class is off watching in the theaters of US, Canada, Europe, KSA or wherever else they chose to migrate to and the elite just couldn't care less.

Hindi pumalpak ang Bataan Nuclear Power plant dahil bumagsak ang mga marcos. we chose not to use the plant because consequent investigations found thousands of inherent defects. the structure was also built on a seismicly active and near a volcanically active area. the chernobyl accident that happened just 2 years after the BNPP was finished certainly didn't help much with the perception of public safety either.

Where do you get your facts? Is there a wikipedia spin doctor version we should know about?

just think of this, mabuti nga naiisipan ng gobyerno ngaun na mag-broadband eh. that alone can be considered a milestone achievement on their part kase they are trying initiate change from within.

I'd personally rather have no change than change for the worse. Parang yung parating sinasabi ni gloria na 'let's move on'. Move on where? Di pa nga natin alam kung anong nangyari sa kapalpakan na nagawa niya e move on na agad? Wala tayong natutunan sa mga pagkakamali. We're just moving on from one anomaly to the next.

bakit naman gagawa ng hakbang si Abalos o si FG or even si GMA na i-computerize/i-network ang gobyerno, eh di nawalan din sila ng racket after this project and at this early sa term nya. ang sarap sarap ng dino-age bureaucracy eh lalo na sa mga matatanda saka mga computer illiterate.

Masyado mo namang minaliit ang capacity ng mga arroyo, et. al. for irregularities. Wala sa computerization at NBN ang solusyon sa anomalously jurassic bureaucracy natin. Na sa operators. Kung corrupt pa rin ang nasa likod ng pc, mabagal pa rin ang serbisyo, di pa rin matatanggal ang red tape, busog pa rin ang mga buwaya.

Mas gaganda pa nga ang excuse nila for inefficiency pag computerized at naka NBN na ang pinas. they'll always be able to lay the blame on 'bumabagal yung computer kasi di namin pinapatay, kulang sa RAM, na-virus, di gumagana bluetooth etc.' or pag nag-down ang network, sasabihin lang nila na 'sorry, we can't address your concern as of this moment. we're still waiting for our senior network engineer from china.'

[metatron]

btw, there was this DLSU professor who once told me: walang problema kung bagsak ka sa English bec. that does not affect your intelligence quotient whatsoever. it's just a language.

OT pero

pakipost naman yung name ng prof mo para masabihan namin yung mga kamaganak namin na nag-aaral para di na lang mag-enroll sa kanya. mali ang itinuro nya na inyo.

saang standard IQ test di kasama ang language? Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale? Cattell? Raven's? Stanford-Binet?

e ang mga IQ test na kung saan di kasama ang language e yung Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test at yung Primary Test of Nonverbal Intelligence. These are non standard matrices given to those who have motor or sensory dysfunctions, or to those who belong to the other side of the language divide.