Salus presidente est suprema lex.

From declaring herself as "the State" in Presidential Proclamation 1017, here comes Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with a smile that could connect one ear to the other. The Supreme Court, through Neri vs. Senate Committee, ruled on the extent of the Executive Privilege the Philippine President and her cabinet secretaries could invoke. The resolution penned by Justice Teresita De Castro states that:

The context in which executive privilege is being invoked is that the information sought to be disclosed might impair our diplomatic as well as economic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Given the confidential nature in which these information were conveyed to the President, he cannot provide the Committee any further details of these conversations, without disclosing the very thing the privilege is designed to protect.

And what are these questions? These are as follows:

a) Whether the President followed up the (NBN) project?

b) Were you dictated to prioritize the ZTE?

c) Whether the President said to go ahead and approve the project after being told about the alleged bribe?

The Senate, according to the high tribunal, failed to show a compelling need for the answers to said questions. Thus, the court continued, the Senate cannot compel Neri to divulge information which are covered by the executive privilege.

Arroyo's smile further broadened when the Ombudsman also junked the motion to subpoena the president over the scandalous national broadband deal. This means she remains a privileged person far and above the law. This also means that the interests of the people -- their right to information, their right to a transparent, responsive and accountable government, and their right to have their welfare placed above anything else, is set aside.

Kung sabagay, bakit pa kailangang magtaka ang mga Pilipino? It is already made clear by the Freedom House that the Philippines is not a democratic country. Sa isang demokrasyang bansa kasi,the welfare of the people is the supreme law. In the case of the Philippines, it is the welfare of the President -- something similar to case of monarchs who rule under the benefit of the Divine Law, and the dictators.

Otherwise, puwede rin imbestigahan si Gloria Arroyo or i-subpoena tulad ni Bill Clinton when he had a sex scandal at tulad ni Richard Nixon during the Watergate Scandal. O di ba?

Little Red Riding Hood (lum)?

The words of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in a speech before signingthe P1.227-trillion 2008 national budget, are clear: To fix the corruption that still plagues our nation, we call on Congress, now that you have passed the budget, to work with us to pass a comprehensive anti-corruption reform act in 2008.

This reminds me of the wolf in the story of Little Red Riding Hood a scene of which goes:

Upon reaching the house of her grandma, Little Red Riding Hood knocked on the door so the wolf asked: Who's there?

Little Red Riding Hood, hearing the big voice of the wolf, was at first afraid; but believing her grandmother had a cold and was hoarse, answered, "It is your grandchild Little Red Riding Hood, who has brought you a cake and a little pot of butter mother sends you."

The wolf cried out to her, softening his voice as much as he could, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up."

Little Red Riding Hood pulled the bobbin, and the door opened.

The wolf, seeing her come in, said to her, hiding himself under the bedclothes, "Put the cake and the little pot of butter upon the stool, and come get into bed with me."

So a question for Arroyo goes: Bakit ngayon lang na naipasa na ang pinakamataas na budget appropriations? At bakit ngayon lang na meron na namang alingasngas? And to add: Why still pass anti-corruption laws eh andami na natin nun? In addition, we even have a Code of Ethical Standards for government employees and public officials?

The issue here is not that we do not have laws. The issue here is implementation. We do not need additional laws. Sumobra na nga eh kaya nga dahil sa sobrang laws like EO 464, hindi nakakausad ang mga investigations na ginagawa.

Likewise, what we need is not an additional number of anti-corruption laws. What we need is an accountable and transparent government. And we do not need laws to be accountable and transparent.

Sabagay, going back to Little Red Riding Hood story, kung transparent ang wolf, he could have not eaten the girl. Kung transparent din ang Arroyo Government, no one could have dipped in their hands in the lucrative government projects. Si sana maingay ang Spratly contract with China, o kaya ang ZTE Broadband Deal, ang North Rail Project, ang South Rail Project, etc., etc., and ad infinitum.

Dirty minds

On the idea that the joint activities with China to explore the Spratly Islands was only arrived at to secure loans for the Philippines, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales just said: Nothing, nothing. That is a lot of speculation by people who have dirty minds.

On one of his posts, Ricky Carandang expounded his theory on the possible connection of the NBN-ZTE Contract to the joint Philippine-China activities on the exploration of the Spratly Islands. And it looks there is a sense. For instance, bakit nga ba dumami ang loans ng China sa Pilipinas? At bakit sunod-sunod ang mga kontrata na kahit palpak pinipilit pa rin na isulong? Consider the Northrail project among others. At ngayon, ang ZTE Broadband deal. Does this prove Leuccipus who said that "Nothing exists at random but out of reason and out of necessity"?

Mukha nga. With the uncommon common sense of Ms. Gloria Arroyo, it is not impossible for her to sell even the whole Philippines. Consider the fact that she still signed a highly irregular and anomalous contract despite her knowledge about it.

A third evidence is provided by the 2004 presidential elections and the "Hello, Garci!" recordings. One, bakit atat manalo si Ms. Arroyo? At bakit di dapat bumaba sa 1 million ang gap ng boto nila ng second contender? Bakit di na lang iasa sa tunay na saloobin ng taumbayan? Will her loss mean a lot like life and death? Hindi kaya dahil me cash advance na sa China at kung hindi siya manalo baka mag-leak agad ang anti-Filipino Spratlys joint exploration ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas at China? At kung walang cash advance, san nga ba kumuha ng pera na ginasta? Tingin ni Aling Maria, tunay na pista ang 2004 elections. Surely, hindi lang yun dahil na-liquify ang fertilizer funds o iba pang government funds.

At any rate, Aling Maria and the others may just have dirty minds. But why is Ms. Arroyo hiding her hands with the invocation of the executive privilege? And why is she not pushing for the prosecution and incarceration of those who caused the flaws of the contracts she signed? Kala ko ba galit din siya sa katiwalian? Why, is her hands dirty that she is trying to hide them?

Corruption, a matter of executive privilege?

In Tuesday's hearing on the question of law filed by Romulo Neri with regards his attendance to the Senate probe on NBN-ZTE Scandal, an agreement was reached. According to the high tribunal, Neri should attend the hearing but could not answer the following questions:

• Did the President (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) ask him to approve the contract despite his report of bribery and kickbacks?
  
• Did the President order him to prioritize the project?
  
• Did the President follow up on the contract?

It is said that those are matters of executive privilege, questions that clearly give the clues as to whether or not Arroyo indeed took a dip in the honey of corruption.

Kung sabagay, the Senate probe is not about whether Arroyo is corrupt or straight but as to whether or not the NBN-ZTE Contract is indeed anomalous. Isa pa, di pa naman nagbibigay ng final na desisyon ang Korte Suprema defining particularly what executive privilege really is and what are its limits and boundaries. But given these developments, and if in the end the Supreme Court will sustain the result of the compromise agreement, magkakaroon na ng precedent ang mga susunod na administrasyon. Una, puwede palang mangurakot ng mangurakot and when probes like the one being done by the Senate is conducted, i-invoke lang ang executive privilege. Ikalawa, magiging "for display purposes" na lang talaga ang Sections 27 and 28 ng Constitution which we quote:

Section 27. The State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption.

Section 28. Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law, the State adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.

Similarly, useless na rin ang mga anti-graft laws natin at laws on the code of conduct of public officials and employees dahil sa pamamagitan lang ng executive privilege, free as a bird na ang mga nasa top positions covered by the executive privilege.

Pero di pa naman tapos ang lahat. We still believe that the Supreme Court is still independent and that it can end the crisis involving executive priveleges in the soonest possible time.

Can't a sinner become a saint?

In yesterday's Senate hearing on the ZTE Broadband Scandal, Miriam "I lied!" Santiago confronted Jun Lozada with documents on the latter's alleged irregularities. She even portrayed Lozada "as a self-dealing government executive with political ambitions who acted as an agent for Jose de Venecia III, the first whistle-blower on the broadband scandal."

According to Santiago, she was merely testing the credibility of Lozada. Lozada, though, did not deny and admitted Santiago's accusations, mea culpa. Which reminds me of her "I am sorry" speech during the elections for her "mistakes" in supporting Erap and the EDSA III. Just to aid Tikboy's memories, Santiago was the one who spoke during the EDSA III and called on the people to storm Malacanang. She was also famous for saying she will jump from the airplane if ever Erap will be ousted. But when her obligation to jump was due, she just said: I lied, hehehe.

Because of her "mistakes", she lost the 2001 Senatorial elections. Fearing another failure, she asked for an apology over the media and sided with Gloria Arroyo. The people forgave her ... and won.

But with her reactions at Lozada, it appears that she forgot her past mistakes. And she forgot that the people also gave her another chance -- that is, by re-electing her. Or maybe she was not really forgiven and she doesn't think it that way. It could be that she also cheated her way to the Senate so why entertain the idea of the voters forgiving her? As she laughingly admitted that she lied, she can also laughingly admit that she cheated during the elections -- that is, if there are evidences shot at her face. So why, indeed, should she think of being forgiven and return the favor by also giving others another chance?

Kung sabagay, ang lohika ni Miriam ay "once a thief, always a thief". If this is the case, she remains to be a liar as a liar is a thief of truth. And her apology is nothing but a pure politically-motivated activity to boost her campaign. And if the logic is indeed "once a thief, always a thief", her boss, GMA, is also guilty for stealing people's votes as the "Hello, Garci!" remains undisputed to this day.

O di ba?

Mirriam's Logic

Mirriam Defensor-Santiago yesterday walked out of the National Broadband Network deal. Her reason: The senate is just being dragged into a case of 'kickbacks' double cross.

She also argued that the senate is just wasting its time for hearing those 'kickback' stories.

Teka, kala ko genius si Mirriam. Ba't di niya naiisip na tip of the iceberg lang ang kickback stories? Or medyo naiinis siya kasi million dollar kickbacks ang pinag-uusapan at ala pa ata sa kanyang nag-offer ng ganun?

Or masyadong matalino si Mirriam kaya ang mga simpleng bagay, di niya nabibigyang pansin. For this, let us count the ways why the Senate should continue investigating the NBN-ZTE deal:

1. NBN deal is a deal on corruption. Mantakin mo, million dollars ang pinag-uusapan. Si Neri, may 200. Si Abalos nag-offer sabi ni Neri. Ibig sabihin, mas malaki ang kay Abalos. At siyempre, mas malaki rin ang mga ibubulsa ng mga nasa likod ni Abalos. Si FG ba? Si Gloria?
   
2. NBN deal is a deal on the betrayal of public trust. Bakit ganun kabilis ang mga pangyayari? Bakit nabigla na lang tayo na meron palang ganun?Sabi ng mga taga-UP di naman daw masyado kailangan dahil kaya naman ng ating mga private companies. At bakit atat si Abalos? Si Gloria, pumunta pa ng China. Si Aling Tonya ni walang pamasahe papuntang Avenida. At bakit si Abalos na Chairman ng Comelec, mukhang nasa DOTC na? At si FG, while naglalaro sa Wack-wack, napasok pa sa eksena. Broker na rin ba? At bakit pa? Malinaw nmn sa Republic Act 3019, di ba?
3. NBN is a deal na kailangang pasanin ng mga mamamayan. Utang ba. At si Juan ang magpapasan. Eh ni wala ngang alam sa computer eh. Kahit nga ang anak niyang si Lilian, me subject ngang computer 101 eh hanggang tingin na lang sa keyboard dahil ang computer set sa school nila, pentium II na nga nag-iisa pa. At bilyong-bilyong piso ang pa ang babayaran.
4. At binabayaran ang mga senador na tulad ni Mirriam para siguraduhing bantayan ang kaban ng yaman at hindi lang ito basta malalaspag ng kung sino man. Kaya nga the power of the purse rests on the Congress di ba? At kilangan din siyempreng well-appraised ang mga tao sa mga ginagawa sa Senado, at ang mga batas tulad ng pakikipag-kontrata ng gobyerno. Kung walk-out lang ng walk-out, ba't di na lang kaya sila mag-walk out sa puwesto at ibalik ang pinangsahod sa kanila ng mga Pilipino?
   

So, di pa ba alam ni Mirriam kung bakit dapat siyang nakaupo din sa hearing? O inggit lang talaga siya sa million dollar kickbacks? Hmmmnnnn....