Running out of options vs gov’t corruption!

Last week, I was amused that the political elite led by our Senators showed to the Filipino people their amended Statements of Assets & Liabilities (SALN). This is visible proof that what they originally filed to the Commission on Audit (COA) wasn’t really exactly as final as final could get. If you forgot to include something in your SALN… you could still correct it.

I recall that during the height of the impeachment trial of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, it was Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Sec. Florencio Abad who had to make those hasty corrections and the Filipino people became aware of the fact that one could still make such corrections.

Alas, all these pompous Senators except for the infamous three, notably, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and Sen. Joker Arroyo convicted CJ Corona for something that now everyone knows could still have been corrected. I recall that Teditorial host Teddy Locsin also expressed his opinion that the Senate should have just censured the Chief Justice and allowed him to make such corrections. But as they say, the die has been cast… or should I say… the money has been accepted and now karma has taken its revenge on these arrogant Senators.

As the evangelist St. Matthew wrote in Matt. 7:2 our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” But those Senators who already judged and convicted CJ Corona do not want to be measured by the measure they measured CJ Corona whose only mistake was to allow his bank account to be opened to public scrutiny even with the Bank Secrecy Act. It just makes me wonder; what if we also opened up the Bank accounts of all those Senators who convicted CJ Corona… we might just stir a hornet’s nest.

Even. Sen. Loren Legarda changed her SALN, which now included her New York condominium. Et tu Loren? At this point, many pundits strongly believe that our democratic processes are no longer working. Now, the Filipino people (We are supposed to be “The Boss”) know in their hearts that CJ Corona’s conviction was a sham and therefore he was subjected to a grave injustice and where there is injustice… it must be corrected. But how can we correct it when the very people who can impeach a President is the Legislative branch of the government whose leaders already publicly told the people that they do not find anything impeachable against Pres. Aquino?

Yet to our chagrin, the media circus continuous unabated, but where will this lead our nation? What is happening today is a political paralysis, thanks to the reality that President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has all the three supposedly independent branches ofgovernment in his pockets. This is why he so arrogantly dared all and sundry to impeach him! This leaves us Filipinos wondering what are our next options?

If you didn’t know… the social networking sites are now demanding for Snap elections. . . Reminiscent of the days when US ABC anchor Ted Koppel challenged then Pres. Ferdinand Marcos if he would agree to a Snap Elections… to which Marcos accepted challenge on international TV. Of course Pres. Marcos agreed to Snap elections because the supposedly constitutionally independent Comelec was also under his pockets.

The rest is history. After the February 1986 elections were over and during the counting at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) 35 computer programmers, led by a Linda Kapunan walked out of the PICC because they could no longer bear the manipulated tabulations. This walkout led to the EDSA Revolt. So the Snap elections in 1986 only exposed the massive election fraud, but unfortunately when Pres. Cory Aquino took over the reins of government, she didn’t care to investigate that massive cheating machinery. So now should we agree to that demand to hold a snap election? I say No!

We’re been writing the exposes of the Tanggulang Demokrasya (TanDem) that gave the nation proof that the Liberal Party (LP) benefited from the electronic Dagdag Bawas 60%-30%-10 count, which Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes merely snubbed. Well, last week Ms. Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco the aunt of Pres. Aquino published an expose that pinned the blame of this electronic electoral fraud right on the doorstep in Malacañang Palace complete with evidence.

Tingting Cojuangco even said that P-Noy’s regime is even spending P30 million to “fix” this mess and cover up the crime. These are serious accusations hurled by an Aquino close relative. So where do we go from here? Our fellow STAR columnist Ms. Carmen “Chit” Pedrosa came up with a suggestion for a Revolutionary Government. Is this our only option left?

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