GRPundit

Fittingly, a benighted nation is mired with an issue of heroism even as it continues to struggle to change... But who is to say if one is indeed a hero when somebody else disputes it? Ever since we seemed to be cursed with this dilemma. Lapu lapu is supposed to be a liberator but in the eyes of our spanish colonizers, he is nothing but a murderer of a great navigator. Our national hero Dr Jose Rizal is a genius. However, if FB and instagram were in place in the 1800s, all we might be talking about is his womanizing and fetish even for relatives. Today we celebrate the legacy of Andres Bonifacio, our great plebeian. Unfortunately, his standing in history is shockingly diminished no less courtesy of another supposedly hero, the first president of our republic Emilio Aguinaldo. This Bonifacio-Aguinaldo tiff, I believe is the precursor of our horrible politics, wherein respect and magnanimity are all thrown out the window, and losing a mandate is simply a reason to build a ne...

When a group of us DLSU faculty members signed a manifesto on RH, we made it clear that we were acting as individual faculty members. We did not carry the name of the University. When bodies like Universities, Colleges or Academic Departments make institutional statements declaring their political positions, it is assumed that it is a product of consensus.  For when an academic unit makes a stand, every member of that unit is implicated. One can justify a stand when it is taken by a majority, but for me this is only tenable if the minority is allowed to issue its position of dissent side-by-side with the majority's stand. But what is surely improper is when a minority decision is made to appear as if it is the institutional stand of the whole University, College or Department. I am happy to note that DLSU rarely takes an institutional stand, even as the Brothers, or some of its units, express their positions. UP, as far as I remember, do not have an institutional stan...

Many are saying that Duterte is destroying the country, causing destruction to the Philippines,  destabilizing his own government. Most of them are the rich people in Manila protected by the bubble of their own self-existence and craves for a status quo. After all, Duterte has caused them only discomfort. Gone are the days when most of them can get away with anything. If you live in the bubble of Metro Manila and you are affluent, everything is just a phone call away. Chances are, you know someone who knows someone and you just let money talk. Believe me, I know it. The rich can no longer party with the choice of ecstacy fit for the happening because it is no longer easy to find. The opulent can no longer do business banking only on connections and befriending politicians. The oligarchs can no longer oppress with the same precision it was used to. So I get it. You hate him. Many of you, the opportunists that you are, just made the grave mistake of supporting the wrong can...

I am sharing this picture to shame this person. And do not give me the crap that I am bullying her. I am not calling her names. I am not demeaning her appearance or anatomy. She had the audacity to go to a public rally, carry this despicable placard that bears her politics of personal attacks, and had her picture taken with it, even proudly. She has become public property in this act. Shame on her. I am tolerant of "putang ina" but not in a placard in a political rally. And it is not even "putang ina mo" but "puki ng ina mo" in Ilokano. That is where I draw the line. ------------------- Antonio Contreras as posted on Facebook .

The woman who does nothing but: 1) Campaign even when elections are done; 2) Pose for magazine covers and photo-ops when someone else does her housing responsibilities (props to Presidential Assistant Michael Dino for completing in only 3 months the job Leni's supposed to do); 3) Plot with anti-Duterte people here and abroad while remaining in the President's cabinet; 4) Criticize and openly disagree with the President's policy statements while remaining in his cabinet; 5) Hold press conferences to give populist soundbites; 6) Hold press conferences to defend De Lima and her drug links; 7) Attack Bongbong Marcos, the true winner for vice president; 8) Attack the dead Ferdinand Marcos and show so much passion and hatred against him and his burial while showing no interest whatsoever in getting to the bottom of her husband's death, obviously an assassination masterminded by powerful officials of the previous administration (now her party mates) he was ...

When I and other UP students took part in the rally that removed President Estrada in 2001, I felt proud for what I thought then was standing up for what was right, which was to remove an errant and corrupt leader. Idealism was at an all time high back then. Add the UP pride too. Years later, I realized that joining that rally was a mistake. Our idealism as youths was taken advantage of by the politicians and the oligarchs. Our gullibility and idealism as youths, especially by us from UP, were used to violate the rule of law and satisfy the caprices of a few. Almost 16 years since that happened, I can't help but feel sorry and enraged on how the youths are being used again by the opportunists. (Credit goes to the owner of this photograph) -------------------- Benedict Exconde as posted on Facebook .

To schools and universities that encourage their students to fight for what is right, I ask you then to also respect their rights by: 1.  Respecting their rights to express freely by supporting, and not strictly regulating, student governments, student political parties, student organizations including not banning fraternities and sororities, and campus publications. 2.  Respecting their rights to express their identities, by not imposing school uniforms, and dress codes, and by allowing transgender and cross-dressers to dress according to their preferences, and by not regulating in any way their freedom to express their identities. 3.  By allowing them to smoke if with parental consent, and by allowing them to drink during field trips outside the official academic activities, again if with parental consent for those below 21 years of age. 4.  By strengthening the grievance procedures in which students can file complaints against faculty and school admini...

Dear Nathania Chua: My professor in "Global Poverty, Local Solutions" did field work in poverty stricken areas in the Philippines. During our first day, when I introduced myself as a Filipino, he told me this immediately: "One of the major problems in your country is that the elite in your country is so full of themselves." The Ateneo de Manila University is one of the schools where the elite are educated. I noticed that you are an Assistant Instructor there. I fear for the future of our country with you as the teacher of our future elite. What a horrifying future for our motherland! So when I worry about how hard it is for the laylayan in our lipunan to advance in our society, I'll always think of you and imagine how you have connived in perpetuating a system that constantly rewards matapobres.  A University that doesn't see any problem with a DOJ Secretary fncking her subordinate, her married subordinate, is a university doomed to produce the sam...

Here is the next move of a group opposed to the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. [Source: Carol P Araullo .] * * * Re Marcos burial case: For the record: 1. Nov 8: Decision announcing 9-5-1 vote dismissing petitions to stop Marcos burial & lifting status quo ante order earlier extended twice. No copy of Decision received, only a media briefer from SC PIO & summary of opinions. There is no indication that the Decision is immediately executory. 2. Nov 11: Petitioners filed "EXTREMELY URGENT Motion to Hold in Abeyance (execution of the decision) and/or Issuance of new Status Quo Ante" pending receipt of Decision, Filing of Motion for Reconsideration, and Final Resolution. Same was copy furnished respondents Marcos family and AFP. 3. Nov. 13: We learned that an official copy of the Decision was received on Nov. 11, giving us the mandatory 15 days to file a Motion for Reconsideration (or until Nov 26), which we wer...

Put a caption on this please...

It's not fair daw to blame Duterte supporters for the Marcos burial at LNMB. Many of them are anti-Marcos, but they voted for Duterte because they want "peace and order" and/or believe in the "war on drugs" and/or are just fed up with the status quo and want "change". Here's there thing though. You voted for Duterte knowing full well the esteem in which he held the Marcos family, and he spoke plainly about his intentions to bury Marcos at LNMB. And you said, ok, we can accept that. It's like American voters who voted for Trump who say but we're not sexist/homophobic/racist/xenophobic! Yes, but they knew he represented all those things, and they said, ok, we can accept that. To me, that is unacceptable. Your vote has consequences, and you need to accept THAT. There is plenty of blame to go around. We as a society have failed to learn the lessons from Martial Law and we are all partly at fault. I only point out the complicity of Duter...

Where the fuck have you all been? Where the fuck was all the outcry when Imelda Marcos became a Leyte congresswoman in 1995 after the SC ruled in her favor in a disqualification case? Where the fuck was all the outcry when she was cleared of all charges of taking money out of the country in 2008 due to "reasonable doubt"? Where the fuck was all the outcry when the Aquinos, after taking power when the Marcoses fled the country after the People Power revolution, decided to divvy up many of the confiscated lands and properties among their own cronies, further perpetuating the abuse of power they claim to be correcting and depriving farmers of the chance to earn a decent livelihood? Dahil ba na si Cory yung manok nyo noon? Where was the outcry when ALL OF YOU MORONS KNEW that the Marcoses wanted to bury him at the Libingan ng mga Bayani , yet enacted no laws to prevent this during the long, long, LONG years when lawmakers had the opportunity to do so. Where was the ...

TAMA NA, SOBRA NA. There will never be closure if those responsible for illegal detention, torture, disappearances, murder and other human rights violations associated with martial law are not held accountable. They should be investigated, charged, brought to trial and punished if guilty.  Censure or pardon them if need be but make them accountable.  The same goes for the killing of Ninoy Aquino.  Why his family and their supporters prefer not to know the truth should make you suspicious.   Do the same for those who aided and abetted plunder. Otherwise, we will have this endless national litany of the same never again, no to martial law, no justice without repentance mantra.  People are sick and tired of this.   Martial Law was not just one man.  Marcos is dead.  Patay na po.  Matagal na. It does not matter where he is buried.  You can run over his body with a steam roller over and over, you will still have no closure.  You ...

I've been staunchly anti Marcos all my life. All my pro Marcos friends and family know that. I got offended when I was told--during the day itself--that the person who would be awarding me for some Yolanda achievement/award was Rep. Martin Romualdez. Had I known I would not have turned up at the ceremony. My hatred for Marcos extended to hatred of all Romualdezes running for office. I campaigned against them.  And it's not easy for somebody who grew up Waray in Leyte, and daughter of an Ilokano. But apparently, I cannot mourn and I cannot grieve for the Marcos burial. I have no right, because I support Duterte. Because my support for Duterte is apparently reduced to one platform only: His support of the Marcoses. It doesn't matter to these self righteous people that Duterte to me is the Duterte who went to Tacloban only a day after Yolanda. It doesn't matter to them that to me Duterte represents hope after a corrupt and inefficient Aquino government. It doesn'...

If you want President Duterte to follow the rule of law in his drug war, can you just please be consistent and respect the rule of law on every other issue, whether palatable to you or not, be it consistent with your advocacy or not. And the rule of law is found in the tradition of the Courts. You went to the Court for it to adjudicate.  It did, and a decision was made. You had in your legal arsenal a remedy of filing an MR, you failed to do so promptly (a good lawyer always anticipate the worst, and would always prepare for an MR). And you had at least the option of filing an urgent motion for the court to issue an order to prevent the Marcoses from acting so that your MR will not be mooted, and yet you did not do anything. I respect your rage.  I respect your right. But there are more than 100 million Filipinos with different perspectives.  In the end, the rule of law is the one that will have to reign supreme. --------------------- Antonio Contreras...

Macoy is no hero. So are Aguinaldo, Ninoy, Cory, Gloria, and Noynoy. They're no saints, either. Even the beloved Digong is no exception. None of them are perfect. None of them are God. Some may be more good than bad, but all of them are neither totally evil or absolutely noble. As Lemony Snicket's aptly put it: They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things -- chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict. The sooner we put an end to these delusions and stop acting like 'disciples', the higher our chances of truly addressing our greatest challenge: alleviating the people from poverty and hunger -- in all its shapes and shades. The sooner we put an end to our political insanity, the better and faster for people to work together and rebuild our nation. History has many versions. There are conflicting interpretations and narratives of people and past events. What is worse is to now let this confusion sow furth...

[Source: Antonio Contreras .]

Again, I did not make a stand if I am agreeing or disagreeing to Marcos' burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB). I was portraying my sadness to my fellow youth who cannot perform a rally without being barbaric in action and in words. Go, rally lang kayo diyan for as long as you want, pero sana make it a time for mourning for your losses as well, make it a time to cry for justice for your lost loved ones. Do not let hate poison your minds. Instead of saying hateful words, cry instead, cry because you disagree. Cry because you have lost a loved one when marcos was the president/dictator. Cry because you are paying for something that you didn't even borrow. Please, have courage to stand for your beliefs without removing your values. Please take time to read my opinion before commenting. This is not about the burial people, wake up! This is me crying for the death of your values. This is me crying for your parents who taught you night by night sleeplessly ...

Bam Aquino says this is on Digong, Digong who was transparent about his position from the very start. You see, just because we disagree with some people's views doesn't necessarily make theirs wrong. Our positions are shaped by a number of factors: our capacity to forgive, our intent to forget, our desire to move on, or our ability to see the bigger picture cognizant of the facts, past and present. The appreciation of the foregoing varies from one individual to another. Choosing not to forgive or forget is a choice, and it is not a wrong choice. And the same can be said of the opposite. Digong has his reasons and he's made them clear. And you are free to vehemently oppose it. But thing is, he campaigned on a platform of 1) War on Drugs; 2) A shift to a parliamentary-federal form of government; 3) The burial of President Marcos at the Libingan; etc. And he received an overwhelming mandate in spite (or even because) of that. So what more do you want? Some senators...

We in the Soup are trying to wrap our heads around this. Vice President Leni Robredo, in her statement on the Marcos swift burial in Libingan ng mga Bayani : "They obviously flouted the law where the decision does not become final and executory until 15 days or the resolution of the MR. [Motion for Reconsideration at the Supreme Court] We are disturbed that this happened in coordination with AFP and PNP demonstrating further that the judicial process has been thoroughly disregarded." Yet, as ABS-CBN News reports, according to SC spokesman Theodore Te there is no order prohibiting the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on Friday. "There is no order prohibiting it because the status quo ante (order) was lifted," Te told  ABS-CBN News  in a text message. "Even if there is a 15 day period, there was no order restraining the act," Te added. What say you? ---------------------- Social Media Soup as posted on Facebook .

A nun conscripts minors to her anti-Marcos street protest at St Scholastica's College, Manila on the day of former President Ferdinand Marcos's burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. ----------------------- Photo posted by Lee Seung Yeon on Facebook .

49,000 buried at Libingan, and you protest the burial of a former President, and A CONFIRMED participant of the Bataan death march of soldiers who tried to defend the country against Japanese aggressio.   Ok I hear your point re human rights abuses, but has there been a single case proven that Marcos personally ORDERED somebody killed? A document or just eyewitness affidavit that Marcos adopted a state policy of killing and torturing those who were against his dictatorship, and ordered the PC to implement his order?   Will you protest the burial when the time comes for another president who had command responsibility over the Philippine Constabulary  that is accused of all these human rights abuses?  Should the government review  the record of each and every military man buried there to determine if he participated in some human rights abuses or killed an NPA, and if he did, order the exhumation of the  body? OK. Swiss bank accounts were traced to be ...

Hey yellows. I know it is difficult. You have been smacked in succession. The SC Ruling. Then Duterte's very good net satisfaction rafings. Kerwin Espinosa in town ready to spill the beans. And now the Marcoses legally blindsiding not only you but all of us. Can you take a deep breath. Count 1 to 10. No. Make it up to 100. Get a massage. Go and detoxify. Just stop ranting in the net since you end up making illogical statements. You say the Marcoses undermined the Court but Ted Te already said not so. You claim it was a secret burial. And then you look up the meaning of secret and you realize that it was not a hush hush. Only sudden but not a secret. You use thief in the night as a pejorative yet you forgot that its a biblical phrase referring to the Lord. So stop before you dig yourself even deeper. Anger and frustration can make you do stupid and illogical things. -------------------- Antonio Contreras as posted on Facebook .

Reported by the Philippine Star on the 6th October 2016 ... De Lima said she only has a friendly relationship with him, but refused to elaborate on the matter. And now as reported on ABS-CBN News ... Senator Leila de Lima has confirmed the long-running rumor that she was once in a romantic relationship with her former driver, Ronnie Dayan.  Asked why she fell in love with a driver like Dayan given her status, De Lima said in an interview with Winnie Monsod, which aired Monday night on GMA, that it was part of her “frailties as a woman.” The same ABS-CBN News report, however, noted that " Up until her admission, De Lima had never denied that she had a relationship with Dayan ..."

We suffer Inferiority complex on a national scale. Why else would we develop an irritating sense of "Pinoy Pride" whenever someone of at least 1/16th Filipino descent is an international achiever? We are so hungry for validation in the international scene that even the most insipid and shallow achievement is celebrated as long as it is connected or associated with our national identity, no matter how vague or inconsequential that association may be. In Adlerian psychology, inferiority complex is a lack of self-worth, a doubt and uncertainty, and feelings of not measuring up to standards. It is a subconscious phenomenon where individuals are prone to overcompensate through flamboyant achievements or extreme asocial behavior. It can stem from childhood. It is often caused in a household where children were constantly criticized or did not live up to parents' expectations OR when children were raised in families where everything is done for them, who have developed w...

For 30 years we have written history according to a view that demonized the Marcoses.  We have a Constitution that even its framers admit to be an indictment of Marcos. Ninoy Aquino's widow and son became President. And yet the Marcoses are back not only to power but in good standing in the electorate and in the Court. Marcos Jr. had to be cheated to prevent him from assuming the Vice Presidency. And we say we have failed to teach our children the correct history. I beg to disagree. If there is a failure, it is not because we have not taught our children the horrors of Martial Law. It is because our post-Marcos governments failed, thereby enabling people to look at the sins of the Marcoses in the context of the sins of the thirty years that we have to endure. People are not stupid. They are wiser enough to know that regimes have good and bad sides, and in their calculations, the Marcos era was more bearable than the post-Marcos years. And we should take notice tha...

This is a rant by Alan Robles aimed at Ronnie Nathanielsz. How can someone be so heartless to say this to someone at the time his family and friends were mourning his passing away? [ Editor's note : Click here to see original post from which above screen cap was taken.] ------------------------ Antonio Contreras as posted on Facebook .

Let's not play with semantics here, people. The only viable, not to mention loud, argument protesters have against his burial is that he is no hero, and as such he does not deserve to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani . It's called " Libingan ng mga Bayani " for that purpose, right? Wrong. Burying Marcos on LNMB is in no way meant to insult those who died during the Martial Law era, but to simply uphold the law. That same law, incidentally, did not say that he cannot be buried there nor did it define the word "hero" the way you wanted it to. The guidelines on who can be buried there stated that the following are eligible: -Medal of Valor awardees -Presidents or commander-in-chief, AFP -Secretaries of national defense -AFP chiefs of staff -Generals/flag officers of the AFP -Active and retired military personnel of the AFP (including active draftees and trainees who died in line of duty, and active reservists and CAFGU Active Auxiliary w...

Dear losers, Tough day, huh? It must be pretty shocking to realize that your rights-based-liberal-progressive-whatever worldview isn't shared by the majority. I hate to interrupt your circle-jerk of a pity party, but here's some unsolicited advice. Get over yourselves. The world hasn't failed you. Disabuse yourself of that entitlement. Your worldview is just one among many - and this may surprise you - your absolute certainty that you are alone are right (and your opponents are dead wrong) is something everyone believes. The world will not adjust itself to suit your worldview. You will have to adjust to the world, or make efforts to change it. To change the world, you need to change hearts and minds. You can't do that by derisively dismissing people on the other side as ignorant, racist bigots. These people, like you do, believed they are making the best decision for the country they love, and the families. The people you dismiss as uneducated racist xen...

I'm glad for the Marcoses. Finally they can lay their beloved father to rest.  People don't consider what they have suffered for more than 30 years.  That's because the Marcoses don't whine or complain about all the ways they have been demonized or excluded or attacked by the Yellows.  And the attacks against them have been so very fierce. The Yellows blame Marcos for Martial Law tortures and killings when the POLICY that he espoused was not the same as what was wrought, as what was executed by his Secretary of Defense and his generals. I agree Marcos overstayed his welcome.  But Marcos was right to proclaim Martial Law. If he did not, the nation might have been another Vietnam, and we'd still be deep in the poverty and slavery of communism. He may not be a hero but for a good long season he did a lot of good for the nation.  Ironically, the very people who demonize him reap the benefits of his work every day.  Many of us who lived in that era exper...

THE ANGER GAMES I am already sated and inundated with anything that has got to do with Leila de Lima. To my mind she is already kaput, and her jailing is but a mere formality. And I have it on good authority that her arrest and incarceration is just a matter of time... What bothers me more are the forces behind her. Looking at her presscon yesterday reminds me of the LP miting de avance held last May 7 at the Quezon Memorial Circle. She is surrounded by the same coterie that has campaigned hard for Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo. Foremost is Karina Constantino David, who is the chief strategist of the " disente " slogan of RoRo. Obviously, these people are not fighting for truth, justice or the perceived harassment and shaming of de Lima. These people are working to bring down a legitimate government with a clear mandate. Why? Because they are the ones affected by the cleansing and purging that the present administration is valiantly pursuing. Because they are the ...

You might say it explains why the Philippines is the way it is, and why Filipinos as a society—are the way they are:  a perplexing and paradoxical, if screwed up, bunch. The Social Weather Stations poll conducted in September on Filipinos’ trust in the US and China clearly illustrated this.  That poll of 1,200 people revealed  76% had “much trust” in the United States, with only 22% feeling the same way about China.  It went on to say 55% had “little trust” in China, with only 11% in the US. What’s shocking is a Pew Research Center report in 2014 showed Filipinos have a more “favorable” view of Americans and US presidents than Americans themselves.  That’s insane!  Talk about suckers who believe virtually everything Hollywood throws at them.  Of course, family ties in the US do help that perception. But if you ask me, Filipinos should feel more comfortable dealing with the Chinese than Americans from a cultural and historical perspective. Why...

So, the Constitutional prohibition on foreign ownership of media is being skirted around by Rappler, ABS-CBN and GMA-7 through the issuance of Phillipine Depositary Receipts or PDRs to foreign investors like Omidyar, considering that PDRs are not considered as certificates of ownership. Omidyar invested a substantial amount in Rappler through this scheme. But a closer look at the Omidyar investment suggests a possible active role of this US based company. More significantly, Omidyar is implicated in political intervention that led to the revolution in the Ukraine last year. I reiterate my call for a full congressional investigation in aid of legislation to look into how Rappler could have exploited loopholes in the law to undermine the Constitution and have an active partnership with an investor that has a track record in aiding and abetting regime change. --------------------- Antonio Contreras as posted on Facebook .