Coma

The impeachment cases against the President are now temporarily dead. The Justice Committee of the House of Representatives have effectively killed off the Lozano complaint and the two other complaints. The Lozano complaint have been found to “lacking in substance.” The two others, meanwhile, were shot down simply because it was supposedly submitted after the Lozano complaint.

So until the pro-impeachment congressmen gathers the magic 79 signatures. Or until the Supreme Court judges contrary to the Justice Committee’s findings, the impeachment cases are dead.

Teddy Boy Locsin’s Words

I was able to watch Teddy Boy Locsin being intervied by Karmina Constantino and David Celdran on ANC this afternoon. I was amazed by his eloquence and conviction in sharing his opinions.

On Rep. Ace Barbers challenging the adjournment of the Justice Committee Hearing which led to the opposition’s walk-out:

I was stopped (when he was making a speech some other time), why shouldn’t Ace Barbers be stopped? It’s not like he is an extraordinary congressman.

David Celdran asks him about the pending impeachment trial:

Celdran: The expectation is that this is going to be a fair trial?
Locsin: NO!

Rep. Locsin then proceeds to explain that ever since Impeachment was conceived in England many years ago, the goal or the trend has not been a fair trial to get to the truth. Rather, it provides an arena for political issues, an arena for politicians to be heard and let out their frustrations, accusations and defenses.

Hoopla at the Congress

Yesterday afternoon, former DSWD Sec. Dinky Soliman revealed a supposed conspiracy concocted by the administration to pre-empt possible impeachment cases against the president. President Arroyo, aided by Sec. Gabby Claudio, is said to have conspired with Atty. Oliver Lozano to file an unsatisfactory impeachment complaint against her so that it would negate any other succeeding complaints, for a year at least.
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The Fertilizer Fund

Yesterday, Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin did a privilege speech on the missing Fertilizer Funds based on the report of Che-Che Lazaro. Allegedly, 2.3 billion pesos (yes, BILLION not million) were put into the so-called fertilizer fund and distributed in different parts of the country through the members of the House of Representatives. The fund is from the Department of Agriculture’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program. A select number of legislators were allegedly given 3-5 million pesos from the fertilizer fund. Money from the fund was allegedly distributed a week before the presidential campaign period in 2004.
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Pirated Software

I ran across a HUGE ad by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) splashed in today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer offering a whopping P1,000,000 to anyone who could provide information about companies using pirated software. This is a wake-up for all companies and individuals who have been using these softwares for their business operations. However, some of the facts stated in their online version are somewhat overblown.
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The Government Offensive

Last Wednesday (August 17, 2005), government operatives raided the apartment being rented by Segundo Tabayoyong, the primary witness in the opposition’s election protest. For what reason? Allegedly, his landlady reported him for something. Does anybody really believe that?
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Deferment of the VAT

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has stated that deferring the implementation of the 10% VAT will “bring more pain to the people.”
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Wrong Move, Sec. Defensor

DENR Sec. Mike Defensor (aka President Arroyo’s numero uno defender) held a press conference last Friday to present an expert to debunk the authenticity of the “Hello Garci” tapes. The expert is Mr. Barry Dickey an American forensic sound expert, who was (allegedly) hired by Sec. Defensor himself to analyze the tapes.
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