TITILLATING

By REY O. ARCILLA  
MALAYA

(As one of his bosses, I feel like he is taking us for fools. Bad ‘yun, di ba?!)

There he goes again… titillating his bosses about his plan for the 2016 presidential election.

Claiming that he still gets messages that “it is my duty to look for who will replace me”, President Noynoy Aquino quipped “I hope it’s not me”, or words to that effect.

He needn’t worry. It ain’t gonna happen, as my 9-year old granddaughter, Sabrina, would say. His bosses will never allow it… not when he himself has strayed from his daang matuwid.

How? Look at the deadwood, the inept, the corrupt (DIC) in his official family that he insists on retaining instead of firing and that now litter his daang matuwid. Take a hard look as well at some of his political allies and KKKKKKs (kaibigan, kaklase, kabarilan, kaeskwela, kamaganak, kapartido). A lot of them do not even know what or where daang matuwid is! Yet, he keeps on defending and protecting them! Nasaan ang daang matuwid duon? As one of his bosses, I feel like he is taking us for fools. Bad ‘yun, di ba?!

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And now, he has added another bad egg in his basket of DICs, Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima, under whose watch criminality in the country has spiked dramatically. The fellow is also charged with plunder over a P100 million license delivery deal.

Questions are also being asked about the P25 million renovation of his residence inside Camp Crame. This was before the “hulidap” by some of his men at EDSA recently that triggered a near-universal outcry for Purisima to resign or be kicked out by Noynoy. Neither one happened.

Instead, Noynoy defended Purisima by saying that there have always been scalawags in the police force and “wasn’t it the police who caught and arrested the rogue cops in the EDSA “hulidap”? Pray tell, who else could have possibly arrested them, firemen? But that’s not the point.

Could the police have possibly arrested those bad cops were it not for an alert citizen who managed to take a photo of the incident and posted it on the internet? How many similar crimes have those bastards perpetrated before now? How many more of their kind are in the police force?

Frankly, I just can’t fathom how Noynoy’s mind works. At times, he says one thing and does another. But I guess someone like him who allegedly is quite different from the average individual would really be difficult to understand.

Now, if he really is dead set on extending his term because he honestly thinks there is no one in his stable who could replace him, I think he is going about it in the wrong way.

He should show the people he is sincere about daang matuwid by getting rid, forthwith, of the members of his official family who are actually dragging his administration down. The list I have is by no means exhaustive but it will do for now: Abad, Abaya, Alcala, Del Rosario, Deles, Lacierda, Ochoa, Paje, Petilla, Roxas and Soliman. Heads of government agencies who do not deserve to remain in office, like Robert “Pretty Boy” Vergara of GSIS, the highest paid civil servant with a monthly income of over P1 million and allegedly a Kaklase of Noynoy, should be booted out too. Cristino Naguiat of PAGCOR and Jose Honrado of NAIA as well. And, of course, Purisima of PNP.

And, equally important, ditch all forms of pork barrel as demanded by his bosses.

As I’ve said before, who knows, if he does this, a critical mass of his bosses just might want him to stay on, that is, if no one acceptable to the people emerges before then.

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Last week, I stated the reasons why I think the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the US is unconstitutional. But I did not mention the reasons why I think it is not mutually beneficial. That is pretty obvious through a reading of the agreement alone.

There is one thing, however, that I would like to stress here and now. EDCA will serve as magnet for an attack against us by a country hostile to the US. Senator Claro Recto said the same thing in the 1950’s about Clark and Subic.

Both the PH and US authorities claim that EDCA is intended to afford us a credible defense posture, in particular vis-à-vis China, because of our territorial dispute with her in the West Philippine Sea.

As I’ve said before, I believe EDCA is intended more to give the US a credible defense posture against China in these parts in case her vital national interests are threatened by the Asian behemoth.

Should the Chinese and American rivalry turn to armed hostilities, it is not only conceivable but probable that China would strike first at US military forces and installations here in the Philippines (courtesy of EDCA), instead of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles or jet bombers toward the US mainland. Without EDCA, that possibility is virtually nil.

Will the US be able to prevent or stop such an attack against her troops and facilities on our soil by the Chinese? Maybe, but not likely.

So there… Think about that, Mr. President.

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La Union to Honor 300 Honest Trike Drivers – Headline.

How about honoring honest members of our Congress?

No? Why not? There are more than 300 members of both houses. Surely, some of them must be honest.

No? Alright… Just a thought.

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More reactions to the Smiley of Foreign Secretary Albert “Super Amboy” del Rosario:

1 1) “Kadiri to death.”

2 2) “Parang department store.”

3) “Dapat sa playground o recreational park.”

I am told that Del Rosario has desisted from taking down the abomination most probably because he just wants to, for lack of a better term, irritate me. I doubt that, but the display does irritate me, not his refusal to remove it. That’s a reflection on his lack of good taste and sophistication, not mine.

I also don’t think he should take my criticism and those of others personally. We mean well. And if he really cares about the image of the premier department of the government, he would take down that highly inappropriate display forthwith.

Incidentally, I am not critical of Del Rosario solely because of Smiley. The truth is that I substantially disagree with his so-called principled foreign policy, particularly his subservience to the US and his lousy handling of our relations with China.

The ultimate responsibility, of course, rests with Noynoy.

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In case it hasn’t come to the attention of Del Rosario and his boys and girls, they might be interested in the following news item I found in the internet and think of its implications on our foreign policy stance:

China offers Russia ‘helping hand’

September 12, 2014 7:05 pm

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping called for Beijing and Moscow to offer each other a “helping hand” in the face of external challenges, at talks with his counterpart Vladimir Putin in Tajikistan on Thursday, state media reported. The two leaders met in the Central Asian nation’s capital Dushanbe ahead of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a six-nation regional security group that also includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. It was the pair’s fourth meeting this year, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.

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I have just been informed that employees of the GSIS under Robert “Pretty Boy” Vergara have not received any increase in salary since 2010!

And to think that Vergara is the highest paid government official at more than P1 million a month! Geeez! Hindi na nahiya! Pati na ang mga miembro ng Board of Trustees who also get gargantuan compensation a month!

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Reminders (for Noynoy):

1) Filing of charges against officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) during Arroyo’s illegitimate regime. Noynoy himself said on several occasions that there is documentary evidence to prove the venalities in the past in that agency. That was four long years ago.

(Ironically, one of the biggest scandals to hit Noynoy’s administration is the alleged corruption in the NFA and the pork barrel scam in the Department of Agriculture headed by Proceso Alcala who is still sticking like a leech to his post notwithstanding the appointment of former senator Francis “Mr. Noted” Pangilinan as his virtual replacement. Noynoy’s first appointee to head the NFA, Lito Banayo, has been charged, along with others, for alleged graft and corruption during his tenure in the agency. Banayo’s successor, Orlan Calayag is now under investigation for allegedly granting a P1.08-billion rice cargo-handling contract to a trucking company without a bidding being conducted. That’s not all… Calayag, who resigned earlier, had been replaced by Arthur Juan who, in turn, is now accused of extortion by rice trader Jomerito Soliman. NFA accursed?)

2) Investigation of reported anomalies in the GSIS during the watch of Winston Garcia and order his successor, Robert “Pretty Boy” Vergara, to file the proper charges, if warranted, against the former.

Noynoy should also order Vergara to report to him on COA’s findings that:

(a) He received the obscenely excessive compensation of P16.36 million in 2012 making him the highest paid government servant then. The latest COA report also has Vergara as the highest paid for 2013 with P12.09 million; and

(b) That over a year ago, at least P4.13 billion in contributions and loan payments made by 12 government offices to the GSIS had not been credited to the offices as of Dec. 31, 2011.

COA also said at the time that the amount of unrecorded remittances could go much higher because only 36 agencies have so far responded out of the 186 that were sent confirmation requests by government auditors. Of the 36, 27 confirmed “discrepancies” in their premium and loan payments ledgers when compared with those of the GSIS.

There are three questions being raised when remittances, or parts thereof, of government agencies are not recorded by the GSIS on time: a) Where are these huge sums “parked” in the meantime?; b) Do they earn interest?; and c) To where (whom?) does the interest, if any, go?

Pray tell, Mr. Vergara, what is the present status of these funds, including those that may have been remitted since and not yet recorded by the GSIS? How long do you think you can “dedma” these questions?

I believe it is time for COA to follow up on what Vergara has done on the above findings so that affected GSIS members would know the status of their contributions!

In this connection, I would like to address this question to Mesdames Grace Pulido Tan and Heidi Mendoza of COA: “Is Vergara one of the sacred cows in Noynoy’s coterie whom you are afraid to investigate?”

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Today is the 144th day of the eighth year of Jonas Burgos’ disappearance.

Twenty weeks ago, Jonas’ mother, Edita, reminded Noynoy in a letter of his promise to conduct a “dedicated and exhaustive investigation” on her son’s enforced disappearance.

“Our hope was anchored on your promise to do what you could ‘on the basis of evidence’ when I personally pleaded for your help. This was almost four years ago, May 2010,” she wrote.

Mr. President, Sir?

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From an internet friend:

An older couple were lying in bed one night. The husband was falling asleep but the wife was in a romantic mood and wanted to talk.
She said: “You used to hold my hand when we were courting. ” Wearily he reached across, held her hand for a second and tried to get back to sleep.
A few moments later she said: “Then you used to kiss me.”
Mildly irritated, he reached across, gave her a peck on the cheek and settled down to sleep.
Thirty seconds later she said: “Then you used to bite my neck.”
Angrily, he threw back the bed sheet and got out of bed.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To get my teeth!”

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16 September 2014

Email: roacrosshairs@outlook.com

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