February 21, 2008
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| Love: Justice | |||||||||||||||||||||
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you would be mistaken to believe otherwise! |
Maybe for those of us who always watch the news and waiting for another story to blow off the country’s headlines, we are already pissed off with the story of whistleblower Lozada or generally the scandal that the present administration is facing now, the NBN/ZTE Deal that stained the names of many people in the government from COMELEC, DENR, NEDA, PNP and many more. Of course I am not saying that it is becoming irrelevant. What am saying is its boring the people, or rather maybe they were just not interested.
What is my basis for this? Walk around the street of the metro and try to ask people of their knowledge of the present crisis in our country. Of course a lot were updated with the status quo, but also a lot were not informed. Some were saying that they have other more important thing to do in their lives rather than to be irate with the current dispute on politics. The message that you’ll always hear was that “mahirap ang buhay ngayon, kailangang kumayod (today’s life is intricate, we have to earn for a living).” Others were not interested because they have other interests that they were busy off. To some people, they’ve become numb of numerous scandals that stained the image of our country’s government.
Maybe I am already tired of hearing this same story (from reading the broadsheets, to watching ANC, and again watching late nigh news) but still it’s just sad that others seemed to be unresponsive of what is happening in our country. Are we really that passive enough to just let go of this things which affects us all in many ways. Are we waiting for the situation to be even worse than this? I think, at least we should be aware of what is happening and observe. We should not wait for a leader who will direct us of what we’re going to do because it could be you that this nation is waiting for. WHY NOT? You don’t have to be a well know politician to be able to move the people of this country. Look at Nanay Mameng, she’s just a plain, simple, old woman representing poor people who dares to speak. What is next after this? May be we just have to be sincere in helping each other. After all, in the end, we are all Filipinos.
The rallyist including activists from PUP
Ma’am Che Che Lazaro of PROBE, talking to an activist
Here’s my full account of what happened at February 15, 2008 rally held at Paseo de Roxas, Makati City. The rally was organized by different opposition groups calling for the ousting of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I was there as a production crew of PROBE TEAM.
Here’s a photo taken by me during the February 15 rally at Makati
We arrived at the scene 1 hour before the program started. Atty. Adel Tamano, spokesperson of United Opposition (UNO) approached members of the media to greet them and brief them of what’s going to happen that afternoon. Large numbers of media personalities were there to cover the said event. Julius Babao was one of he early broadcaster there. ABS-CBN crew as usual was led by Rupert Ambil. GMA 7 wasn’t able to out up a crane for camera, but otherwise they position their crew at the left side of ABS-CBN’s OB Vans.
Then at around 3:30 p.m. some leader of activist group took the stage, calling for people at Makati business buildings to come down and join the rally. According to them, there are groups of rallyist that were blocked by police and military personnel at South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). They even accused the Palace of conducting a cloud seeding (it was very cloudy that day, though fortunately it didn’t rain).
At around 3:35 p.m. were the arrival of different activist group. It was then that people were crowding the street of Paseo de Roxas. Groups that were present that day were as follows:
Concern Citizen Movement, Promotion of Church and People Response, Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), Be Not Afraid Movement, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, November 29 Movement, EDSA 3 Coalition, Gloria Stepdown Movment, Alab Katipunan, Bayan Muna, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, SANLAKAS, Gabriela, ANAKBAYAN, Anak Pawis, League of the Filipino Students (LFS), people from San Juan, people from Makati, different student organizations from UP, PUP, De La Salle, Ateneo, Maryknoll, Assumption and the United Opposition (UNO).
At 3:56, the program started by singing of the Philippine National Anthem, followed by seminarians playing gong as prayer ritual. Also, an Imam lead a prayer in behalf of the Muslims. Fr. Joe Dizon of Solidarity Philippines were one of the members of the church who speak at the stage. He said that it is the job of church people to support the people in their quest for the truth and justice. He also reiterated that Bishop Lagdameyo’s (Head, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) call for communal action doesn’t only mean as praying but also includes going into streets for mass action. Fr. Robert Reyes stressed that Jun Lozada, the whistleblower on the ZTE/NBN scandal that Arroyo’s administration was dragged into, was the one telling the truth and that Malacañang was feeding the public of nothing but pure lies.
Present personalities on that event were Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, former House Speaker Jose De Venecia, his son Joey De Venecia, JV Ejercito, Pen Medina, Armida Sigeon Reyna, Carlitos Sigeon Reyna, Rep. Liza Masa, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Rep. Satur Ocampo, Bibeth Ortesa, Atty. Harry Roque etc.
Other speakers were one from the UP Student Regent who brought the issue of the government abandoning the education by allotting small part of the budget for it. Another speaker was National Artist for Literature, Prof. Bienvenido Lumbera who gave a 100% grade for the people of Malacañang in the subject Malikhaing Pagsulat, due to the fact that they were really good in inventing stories that would cover up for their crimes. Actor Rex Cortez also gave a short but meaningful message that earned shouts and cries from the crowd calling for Arroyo’s resignation. Also speaker that afternoon, representing the Chinese community was Nixon Cua, a Filipino-Chinese depending Jun Lozada. This is in accordance to Atty. Apostol’s malicious message before that Jun Lozada was “probinsyanong Intsik” and that he has to be deported. This earned negative reactions from the Filipino-Chinese community. Speakers from Women sector like Gabriela also expressed their fury with the current administration telling Gloria that she is “kahihiyan sa mga babae” (disgrace to women). One of the highlights of the afternoon’s event was the arrival of Joey De Venecia who exposed the scum on the ZTE Broadband Deal that dragged the Arroyo’s government into jeopardy. He delivered his speech at around 6:48 and recounted his experience on the corruption in the government. He also confessed that after his exposé, he received a number of death threats. In response to FG’s message on him (Back Off!) he retaliated saying “Back Off First Gentleman.” He also admitted that at first his relationship with his father, former House Speaker Jose De Venecia was also affected by his revelations.
Atty. Adel Tamano, spokesperson of the United Opposition delivered a nice short speech saying that Malacañang’s strategy was to divide the people like tagging others as “left and right, Muslim and Christian, EDSA 2 and EDSA 3 etc.”, but he said that people now gathered proving that Filipinos were united in their call for a better government “rich and poor, Muslim and Christian, left and right.” Nanay Mameng’s speech was one of the one who received enormous applause and reaction from the crowd.
Bands also uplift the spirits of participants of that afternoon’s event. Present were Brownman Revival and The Jerks singing political songs. The crowd chanted songs like “Gloria, Gloria magnanakaw… magnanakaw si Gloria (to the tune of Gloria Labandera) and “We will, we will oust you… (to the tune of We Will Rock You).
The rally ended with a dramatic singing of Bayan Ko as people raised their fists while singing. Afterwards, people dispersed and leave the area with trash of plastics and placards used by rallysists scattered around including confettis that was thrown to the crowd from Makati business buildings.
HERE’S A SYNOPSIS OF COFFEE PRINCE THAT I’VE GOT,
PLEASE DO WATCH IT EVERY WEEKDAYS AFTER MARIMAR
(just skip this telenovela, please just an advise) at GMA7
With a foolish mother and the need to look after her younger sister, “pretty boy” Go Eun Chan has to give up her feminine image to help support the family with multiple jobs. Because of her previous experience with Tae Kwon Do, Eun Chan has quite the bold and opinionated personality. Choi Han Kyul seems to know women well and thinks of himself as a great guy.
After accidentally being mistaken for a man by Han Kyul’s older brother, Choi Han Seong, she starts working at Coffee Prince, and falls in love with the hot-tempered owner Choi Han Kyul. Han Kyul hires Eun Chan to avoid an arranged marrage by pretending to be romantically linked to a “gay” Eun Chan. But Choi Han Kyul slowly starts to develop feelings for her, but still doesn’t believe in love. Eun Chan also starts to have feelings for Han Kyul but can’t confess that she’s a woman, Han Kyul, continues thinking that the agonized Go Eun Chan is a man. Choi Han Kyul thinks he’s experiencing feelings of homosexuality towards her, and gets heartsick. This side of him was drawn in a risky but fun way.
The part when he discovers that Go Eun Chan is a woman is shown in an undemanding way, and the story doesn’t concentrate on just these two people, but also on the other people who frequent Coffee Prince. These people are shown one by one in a natural way, and since the story isn’t just about romance but about the natural conflicts of all the characters.
I was task here at PROBE TEAM to research on when was Lozada’s name was first dragged on this political issue. Unfortunately all I can manage to research was that the Senate first demand on Lozada’s attendance on the Senate Probe for the ZTE/NBN anomalies on September year 2007.
Anyway, here’s a timeline on when this controversial issue started way back last year:
April 2007: The Philippine government and ZTE Corp. of China entered into a US$ 329.5 million contract for a national broadband network (NBN) that will improve government communications capabilities.
August 29, 2007: A congressman disclosed in a privilege speech that Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos met with ZTE officials in China weeks before April 2007, apparently to broker for the NBN project
August 30, 2007: Abalos denied brokering for the National Broadband Network project despite admitting he knows some officials in ZTE Corp. He admitted making four trips to China and playing golf there, but denied reports that he lobbied for the ZTE deal in exchange for money and sex.
September 10, 2007: In an affidavit, Jose “Joey” De Venecia III claimed that he was with Abalos in China when the latter met with ZTE officials. He claimed he heard Abalos demand for money from the ZTE officials. Joey is a majority shareholder of a company which lost to ZTE in the bidding for the NBN contract. He is also the son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.
September 11, 2007: The Supreme Court en banc issued a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the controversial NBN contract between the Philippines and Chinese firm ZTE Corp.
September 18, 2007: In a Senate hearing, Joey said First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo personally told him six months ago to “back off” from pursuing the multi-million dollar national broadband network project.
Source: http://www.globalvoiceonline.org
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