OPINION: 'CHEAP JUSTICE', 'MONEY VILLAROYO'
MANILA, FEBRUARY 5, 2010 (MALAYA) LITO BANAYO (‘How appropriate. The Cheap Justice of the benighted republic.’)NOMINEES to the position of the "chief" of the highest tribunal have one after the other declined the honor. Associate justices Nachura and Velasco have said they are not interested in the post. Justice Conchita Carpio Morales, followed by Antonio Carpio, are willing to be appointed the "chief" but only if their names are submitted to the incoming president, the one duly elected on May 10, 2010, for appropriate and constitutional appointment. Not if the names are submitted to La Doña Gloria.
But not Associate Justice Renato Corona. A day before the deadline set by the Judicial and Bar Council, he wrote that he is accepting to be named SC Chief, "humbly submitting to its wisdom." No pre-conditions as to who the appointing authority should be. While everybody is awaiting the action of the Judicial and Bar Council to the legal conundrum posed by super-tuta Matias Defensor of Quezon City, who along with another ex-oficio member, DOJ Acting Secretary Agnes Devanadera, wants their Doña Gloria to appoint the next Chief Justice to prevent, they claim, a dangerous "hiatus" between May 17, 2010 when CJ Reynato Puno mandatorily retires and June 30, 2010 when a new president takes his oath of office, Mr. Justice Corona is willing to be appointed by his Doña.
Legal wags long disgusted at the praxis of their profession, where blindfolded Lady Justice has become a lady of the night, with judicial decisions for sale, and lawyers reduced to fixing the "honorable" men and women of the bench rather than outwitting their peers in the bar, are now saying that whoever accepts an appointment to head the tribunal from Doña Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in clear midnight fashion, sneaked in "like a thief in the night," should forthwith be addressed as "Mr. Cheap Justice."
How appropriate. The 'Cheap' Justice of the benighted republic.
***
My friend from Tondo, who grew up in San Rafael Village astride Balut, and who remembers Manny Villar’s younger siblings because they went to the same parochial school in the vicinity, chafes at the man-who-would-be-president for misrepresenting Tondo folks.
"Walang duwag sa Tondo," Villar declared before his peers on Tuesday, establishing his roots while denying Juan Ponce Enrile’s labelling him as a "coward".
"Pagkatapos, imbes na sumabak sa laban," my Tondo friend said, "nag-walkout…ayaw sumagot….ayaw lumaban…ayaw ng may katapat."
The following day, Villar orders his allies---Joker, the erstwhile oragon from Baao in Camarines Sur, Nene Pimentel, once jailed by Marcos for speaking up against the dictatorship, Alan Peter Cayetano, from the duck-lands of Pateros, Lady Miriam from Pototan even, and "machos" like "Leon Guerrero" Lito Lapid and "Panday" Bong Revilla to absent themselves from the session, thus preventing both quorum and vote on the C-5 scandal.
"Pati sila ginawang mga duwag", this guy from San Rafael in Balut says. Well, who said that if "courage can be contagious", cowardice cannot be bought?
***
Ping Lacson was also absent in last Wednesday’s Senate session, but not because he takes orders from Villar. He must be somewhere in the universe, trying to convince Michael Ray Aquino to issue a deposition which will tell the real, the whole truth about the Dacer-Corbito abduction, who ordered it, why it was ordered, and how it led to a double murder. If Agnes Devanadera and soon-to-be chief state prosecutor Peter Ong had only bothered to read Cezar Mancao’s flip-flopping affidavits well enough, and compared these to Glenn Dumlao’s forthright statements, while juxtaposing all these with testimonies adduced in court by the same witnesses, their "probable cause" would be shattered. But then again, clearly they are part of what Lacson calls "the evil conspiracy".
***
Ric, another "laking-Tondo," gives his take on Dolphy’s testimonial ad testificandum for Manuel Villar, which has been nauseating the airwaves repeatedly:
"Ganito ang pagkakilala ko kay Dolphy. Matapat na kaibigan ni Erap at Fernando Poe at iniwan na lang nang sukat ang kaibigan dahil sa pera. Laki rin ako sa Tondo tulad ni Villar pero wala man lang nagawa sa mahirap ngayon sikat na komedyante na ako. Tulad ko rin si Villar na ginagamit lang ang taga-Tondo sa panahon ng halalan Kaya ako ipinauubaya ko na ang kalagayan ng aking mga apo na hoodlum at drug addict kay Villar."
Ang sakit mo namang rumesbak, Ric. But seriously, as I asked in a previous article, which is more expensive, the "talent fee" of Dolphy, or that of Villar’s "choo-choo train" as Jamby Madrigal described these, in the Senate?
***
Thus a new group, which calls itself C-5, or "Coalition of Concerned Citizens against Corrupt Candidates", writes in this e-mail:
"Fact – Villar has a minimum of 40 TV spots a day at a cost of Ten Million Pesos every day (that’s with a volume discount, 250,000 per spot rather than some 430,000 per the rate card) for the past five months, for a total cost of P1.5 Billion. And that is not counting his expenses on radio and local TV, or Dolphy, Willie Revillame, etc., etc. Yet the official election campaign period had not even started!
"They say his budget is 20 billion and all for a job that pays 200 thousand a year!" (Wrong guys, officially it’s close to 600 million, minus income taxes).
"Question: He says he is a good businessman, and if he is, we wonder where he expects to get his return on investment (ROI) on his 20 billion investment."
Kayo naman. Kay dami pa diyang "public land". And with his vice-president, a certain Adriano, being the power behind DPWH (if not officially appointed as his public works secretary), expect infrastructure projects to boom. Yun nga lang, bawal ang diretsong kalsada. Dapat lahat zig-zag…daan dito…daan doon…may Camella diyan, may Adelfa rin, may Brittany, may Portofino, kaliwa’t kanang subdivision na sapat madaanan. He, he, he…Daang Hari para sa Bagong Hari.
***
And Manuel Villar y Bamba, hijo (kuno) de Iloilo y Bataan, nacio de Moriones en Tondo, marido en Las Piñas, is getting closer to that "dream" with his beautifully-crafted ads peddling a fake vision and propagandizing empty boasts.
With Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro’s "Galing at Talino" and now "Lipad" ads hardly making a dent in the public consciousness, thus keeping his numbers at 4 or 5, and despite good debate presence (I hesitate to say excellent, my friend Gibo, because I cannot for the life of me understand how a decent guy like you could willfully accept to be associated with low-life, and can only waffle at the prospect of justice for GMA), this column’s description of "Her Man" (Malaya, 07 January 2010), which is truly Manuel B. Villar, Jr., will come to fore and fruition.
Let me quote from that January 7 article:
"If creative advertising and a well-run because well-funded campaign pulls Villar up in the next three months, and a demolition job somehow pushes down Noynoy’s lead considerably (or so the evil are planning), then it’s game for Manny and goodbye for Gibo. Garci and the "operators" should be able to do the trick, with Smartmatic laying the predicate.
"But would Manny the new president be faithful to his "no me impune" assurances? Why not?
"They would need each other most after a certifiably controversial "election". She with her residual powers as "commander-in-chief" between May 10 and June 30 just might be able to quell the tumult of the rabble. That’s why Del Bangit and the Class of ’78 are in the "proper" places. And he would at least be able to recover his billions, while stopping prosecution for "smart" deals made as congressman, Speaker, senator and Senate President, charges with enough documentary evidence to prosecute, but parried successfully by "smart" propaganda so far. Never mind if he has to deal with "her" congressmen with her, (misma!) as Speaker. If he is off to wobbly start, he would not get his bearings composed, and she, as "Speaker" and alternate "power center" just might be able to pull off her parliamentary dreams of becoming the prime minister.
"There you are – "her" real man for the May elections. God save this country."
***
No wonder Malacañang’s other spokesman (after Lorelie Fajardo gracelessly faded, Anthony Golez went back to Bacolod, and octogenarian Charito Planas mercifully came to the rescue) erstwhile political activist Gary Olivar could not contain his sub-conscious ululations at Manny Villar’s ascent in the polls, which he ascribed to Manny’s being silent on issues against his Doña Gloria.
As my "stateside" friend, Greg Macabenta wrote in another business daily: "Those who have already registered should vote. And those who haven’t and can’t register should actively campaign for honest and competent candidates, and direct their friends and families in the Philippines to do likewise."
"Otherwise, heaven help the Philippines. We might end up with a new president named Money Villaroyo."
And to this scenario of her "real" man, Money Villaroyo, add the prospect of Mr. Cheap Justice. Ayos na ang butu-buto!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Haaa…le….luuu…yaaaah!
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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