GRPundit

Coming on the heels of her disastrous radio/TV interview with Ted Failon, the honorable dumbass Vice-President has said she has accepted the dinner invitation of the President. The invitation was made at the graduation rites of the PNPA which both of them attended. [In reference to the Manila Times article So, you want Robredo to be President .] Much to the consternation of his detractors and political enemies, Duterte's first 9 months in office has been relatively successful compared to his predecessor. A German Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) hostage and a Korean businessman were killed but Duterte apologized pronto. He doused the flame with water before it could even emit smoke. This is an improvement over his predecessor who wouldn't even take the calls of Hong Kong's administrator then over the Luneta Hostage Crisis. The independent foreign policy strategy he has crafted is paying off. China and Japan has committed to billions of pesos of official development assis...

Impulsive reactions don't have a place in government specially if you're an appointee. [DSWD Assistant Secretary Lorraine Marie Badoy] has been one of the most rabid defenders of the President but her retort at the EU Parliament members definitely leaves a bad taste in the mouth. [In reference to the Manila Times article Loose cannon at the DSWD .] Should Badoy go or stay is the prerogative of the President who appointed her. That is not for her critics to decide. The Yellowtards on Twitter have been feasting on Badoy's faux pas as if they haven't been guilty of letting loose more profane epithets against the President. The President's appointees and supporters should be more cautious in the performance of their duties and the expression of their personal opinions over issues which can cause a diplomatic row. They must remember that while they are alter egos of the President, they are not the President and do not speak for him. ---------------------...

In view of the upcoming Lenten Season, here's a thought (don't take me seriously). Christianity condemns suicide as, it claims, our lives are not our own. Hence, committing suicide earns one a special place in hell as, in the eyes of God, it is equal to committing murder. However, it is a little known fact (or maybe it just went unnoticed) that the so-called "greatest act of love" professed by Christian scripture is a form of suicide. In Christian dogma, God is one being existing in 3 forms: the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Jesus (the Son) was sacrificed by Yahweh (the Father), to be crucified and to descend to hell, just to "save" mankind from its sins. So if we go by the logic of all given information so far, then it would follow that God basically committed suicide to save his creations. So... this means... you guys (Christians) are so awful that you drove your own god to kill itself. Think of that while you're away "meditating...

Leadership journey Madame Vice-President? Why not make good on your threat to sue your critics and detractors on social media? But in the interest of fair play, maybe you can also ask your supporters to stop using dummy and fake accounts? Also for the page administrators of your supporters to make their identities known instead of hiding behind the protection of anonymity. [In reference to the Inquirer article Robredo says people still spreading lies about her .] You said dissent is not destabilization. We don't aim to destabilize the government by criticizing you. We want you to step down for the good of the country considering you have been pursuing nothing but your own agenda in lieu of the national interest, particularly those whom you claim, voted for you. You have done nothing to advance the cause of the country and your countrymen in the 8 months you have been in office. Six years is too long a wait for a dumbass like you. We don't have the same kind of patien...

There was a commenter here on GRP who said Pinoys hate Leni Robredo more than they love Duterte. This is a very important point that I think Duterte himself doesn’t understand. The anger against Leni Robredo is not about Duterte. Rather, it is a burning, overflowing rage against a clueless but ambitious puppet who has become the biggest, most shameful symbol of fraud, hypocrisy, injustice, and impunity in the Philippines. Robredo’s continued illegal occupancy of the office of the vice president reminds Filipinos every day that: – It is okay to steal government funds and rig an election to install an incompetent non-entity into the second-highest government position in the land. – It is okay for said non-entity to fraudulently peddle herself to the public as an accomplished “lawyer” and bureaucrat. (Robredo may have passed the bar after three tries, but when you listen to her talk, it’s obvious she didn’t actually practice her profession to a reasonable degree. The yellows...

Hoy, Boba ! Haven't you learned yet that the Marcos card doesn't work on the Filipino people anymore? Besides, Bongbong's case against you in the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) is advancing as it should and he doesn't need you to be impeached. You being impeached is immaterial to his case, it has no bearing whatsoever to PET. [In reference to the ABS-CBN News report Robredo tags Marcos as hand behind impeachment bid .] And if you're impeached, according to Article 7 Section 9 of the Philippine Constitution, the President will have to appoint a Vice-President from current members of either the lower or upper house. ("Whenever there is a vacancy in the Office of the Vice-President during the term for which he was elected, the President shall nominate a Vice-President from among the Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives who shall assume office upon confirmation by a majority vote of all the Members of both Houses of the Congress, v...

Now to find a sponsor in the House for the impeachment of the Vice-President and another 100 or so Congressmen to vote on it in the affirmative for transmittal to the Senate. [In reference to Manila Standard article Not Digong, but Leni by Jojo Robles.] But these are the realities of impeachment. It's not a cut and dry process like filling out a form. There is a certain amount of wheeling and dealing involved and ultimately needs the backing of those in power. At the Senate, there is the matter of 17 votes to convict. You're talking about Senators who won't be easily swayed given that seven of them will be solidly behind the Vice-President which means there is very little wiggle room and the 2/3 majority vote required to convict should be solid. There is also then matter of the political capital to be expended on such an exercise. The work of legislation will grind to a halt and the nation will again be glued to their televisions and radios to watch and listen...

The Philippines reminds you of an oligarchy because it is an oligarchy. Whether all this has anything to do with colonialism is irrelevant: whatever happened in distant history cannot be changed, and besides the actors involved are long dead and gone. The only thing that Filipinos can change is their present and future, and they seem extraordinarily reluctant to do this. Tax money, broadly speaking, is just wasted. I believe this happens because Filipinos in general are absolutely hopeless with money. They have no idea how to use what they have to full advantage, preferring instead to whine endlessly that they don’t have enough. Give a 50 million peso budget to someone with that mindset, and he’ll just blow it on rubbish, since the uppermost thought in his mind is that it’s not enough to do whatever pie-in-the-sky project he really wants, so he might as well spend it on hookers and Johnny Walker. As for the submissiveness: I rarely, if ever, encounter this, but I’m aware that...

Simply put, if the Yellowtards didn't throw out the transport study done by JICA in 1976 which resulted in LRT 1 being built and operational in 1983, there would be more than 9 light rail lines running across the Metro by now. [In reference to PhilStar article Bus Rapid Transit ] But with Yellowtards being the prime example of dumb and dumber, flyovers were built instead which took out the capability to build light rail or bus rapid transit lines along the major thoroughfares in the Metro. Just look at how MRT 3 resembles a rollercoaster ride along EDSA from Pasay to Quezon City. The absence of a national land use plan also contributed to the present situation along with local government heads not implementing zoning rules strictly. The airport and seaports need to be moved out of the Metro. Jeepneys need to be phased out as they only contribute to traffic congestion. It will be a miracle if we see any improvements in six years given how the DOTr under Tugade hasn'...

The statement of support sounds more like damage control. I guess they were surprised at the ferocity of the anger of the public to the video recorded by the Vice-President for DRCNet. Whatever Kaya Natin does, at this point, will it serve any purpose other than its own and that of Robredo's. Leni is beyond redemption. So is Jesse. The fact that she continues to harp about fake news and vitriol on social media targeted at her without calling out the anonymous pages and individuals using pseudonyms who suport her and her allies calls into question her values as a public official. The President is subject to the same but he has never threatened to sue the likes of Raissa Robles, Alan Robles and the other "journalists" who continue to be critical of his administration and subject him and members of his family to ridicule. Kaya Natin doesn't practice what it preaches. Just look at the actuations of its members who are currently holding elective posts. There ...

The message is superficially more coherent than her usual fatuous statements. But then it all dissolves into Leni’s familiar vagueness and generalities. Referring to DU30, she declared: In a public statement, we asked him to direct the nation toward respect for rule of law, instead of blatant disregard for it. We ask him to uphold basic human rights enshrined in our Constitution, instead of encouraging its abuse.  We asked him to be the leader he promised to be, and evoke in our people hope and inspiration, instead of fear. We told him: Do not allow the lies to distort the truth. [Refer to the  Manila Times  article  Leni Robredo: A successor of dubious legitimacy and gravitas  by Yen Makabenta.] The message indicts itself. It will not be construed by anyone as the words of a leader who bids to become the next President of the Philippines. No one will take her seriously. The reality of the situation became apparent when Robredo spokesperson, Geo...

Better a Robredo than a Marcos as Vice-President. That's like saying that there weren't that many choices when in fact there was. Marcos, Cayetano, Trillanes, Escudero and Robredo. [Refers to Kat Stuart Santiago's Manila Times piece Losing Leni .] To say that between Robredo and Marcos that the former is the hands down choice is being an absolute moron in the context of the history of the past 30 years. The Liberal Yellowtard Party versus the achievements of BBM at the local and national level? That is a heaven and hell comparison even with a toe to toe comparison including corruption. If Marcos had been proclaimed the winner of the Vice-Presidential race would the country find itself in this situation at present? Highly unlikely. The Yellowtards would still be kicking and screaming but there would be no destabilization attempts. I am quite sure that BBM will defer to the President and support his policies or if ever there are points of disagreement, he would b...

When I saw Leni Robredo’s video to the UN, my first reaction was, did she accidentally swallow a bottle of glutathione? Why is her face so white all of a sudden? If you look at pictures of her from a year ago, you’ll see that she looks so different now. Different hair color, different skin color, different way of dressing, different way of speaking. I never bought her “ laylayan ng lipunan ” story when she was campaigning, but even I didn’t anticipate that she would succumb to the lure of fame and fortune so quickly and absolutely. She has sold her soul to the devil, and there’s no coming back. Some people who used to support her are now sighing about how sayang she is, how they thought she would be a good VP because she was “modest”, or how they tried to give her a chance even if they knew she didn’t really win the elections, because they thought she could “balance” out Duterte, and they’d rather have her than Bongbong Marcos. When will these people ever learn that their irra...

“Now, they don’t know where to turn. OUR PEOPLE feel both hopeless and helpless” – Leni. Yes Leni, YOUR PEOPLE ( yung mga kampon ng kadilawan ) should really feel hopeless and helpless with no where to turn to, because you yourself are too incompetent to save your sinking stinking Yellow submarine. How many more jobs can Filipinos afford to lose with this loose cannon selling this country as the EJK capital of the world? Look at the economic impact (trade/tourism/investments) of such careless statements ... The European Parliament recently adopted a resolution urging the EU to persuade the Philippines to stop the extrajudicial killings related to the anti-drug campaign.  "In the absence of any substantive improvements in the next few months, procedural steps with a view to the possible removal of GSP+ preferences," the adopted resolution read.  The GSP+ or the Generalized System of Preferences Plus mean full removal of tariffs on two thirds of all product categ...

It’s not just Leni Robredo’s video to the UN that makes her guilty of betrayal of public trust. She also gave an interview to Time magazine that was published around the same time as the release of her UN video, the filing of the impeachment against President Duterte, and the announcement of the EU Parliament’s resolution. You still want us to believe this is all just a coincidence, Leni? Maybe your masters left you out of the planning because you are just a puppet, but they were definitely coordinating their moves. Note that in the Time interview, Leni makes the Philippines sound like a chaotic, dangerous place with a total breakdown of law and order, such that international organizations need to intervene. She also undermines the integrity of the Philippine judiciary by telling the world that Leila de Lima’s arrest (which was ordered by the court) was politically motivated and basically illegal. She conveniently fails to mention that the national penitentiary becam...

Leni Robredo is like a cancerous tumor who needs to be removed as soon as possible. As long as she’s occupying the VP post, our country won’t be able to move forward. The drug lords, the gambling lords, illegal miners, police scalawags etc. will keep defying President Duterte for as long as Leni is there, waiting in the wings. They’ll keep destabilizing the country and trying to oust President Duterte, because they know they have a dummy ready to take over. But if Leni is out, they won’t have any incentive anymore to keep destabilizing the country. There won’t be any point, because they won’t be able to control the successor. They’ll be forced to behave. There’s no doubt that Leni was acting in bad faith when she did that UN video. Anyone in President Duterte’s team who says otherwise, or tries to make excuses for her by saying she’s just being “used” or “misled”, needs to have his brain and his loyalty checked. Just watch this interview of Leni’s spokesperson, Georgina He...

Mocha Uson is a phenomenon. Here’s one woman who is single-handedly slaying the mainstream media and keeping President Duterte’s base of supporters active and engaged. She’s doing a much better job than Duterte’s official communications group and she’s doing it with very little resources. Mocha puts Martin Andanar and Ernie Abella to shame, quite frankly. I don’t know why those two still can’t get their sh*t together despite having multi-million budgets and full-time staff. I just cringed when I read Abella’s statement on the EU parliament’s meddling yesterday. It was badly written as usual, with too many unnecessary words and grammatical errors and no clear focus, but the worst thing is he addressed the EU not the EU Parliament (they’re not the same, it wasn’t the whole EU that came out with the resolution, just one group). No one expects Abella to know everything. We know he was just a pastor before he became presidential spokesperson. But he should at least have enough sense...

It’s a big irony in the Philippines that the rich and educated actually suffer more from colonial mentality than the middle and lower classes. Saw this Bloomberg Philippines video and I was struck by the attitude of the Pinoy anchor person while he was interviewing Agnes Callamard about the situation in the Philippines. I think the Pinoy anchor’s name is JP Ong. He looks like your typical sheltered, upper middle class Starbucks type. Listen to his line of questioning. He’s so starstruck with Callamard and the UN that he thinks they should just step over the head of the Philippine President. Ong should be reminded that Callamard has not conducted a single investigation herself in the Philippines since Duterte became President. Callamard acts like she’s such an expert on what’s going on with the drug war, yet all she really knows is what’s been fed to her by local journalists and human rights groups who have vested interests. Ong should also be reminded that a UN rapporteur...

“Taglish is cute?” Taglish is cute? Taglish is cute only if you’re under 16 years old. Leni Robredo is over 50 years old. She’s a fricking lola! And yet she insists on acting like a schoolgirl who only got her period yesterday. The video she sent to the UN was really creepy. She was like a psychopath, smiling and batting her eyelashes and making pa-cute-cute gestures with her lips while talking about thousands of people dying. Umeffort pa ng todo para magbihis at magmakeup . To talk about summary killings! She had no idea what she was saying. She was just reading everything off an idiot board. It didn’t even look like she’d seen the script before. And it didn’t look like she cared. She just looked super kilig to have another chance to play dress-up and perform for the cameras. This is why I get so mad when her apologists say that maybe she’s just being misled or misguided. Hello? How does that excuse her? An over-50 woman, who claims to be a lawyer (yet doesn’t know that p...

I agree that holding a rally now is a waste of time. Mocha Uson and Jimmy Bondoc need to calm down and use their heads. Congress is in recess until May. Alejano’s joke of an impeachment complaint can’t even be acted upon. Stop calling for rallies every time the yellows do something. You’ll wear people out. Rallies should be done only when there are specific results that can be achieved. The crowds will start thinning out if you keep holding rallies every month. It’s more useful at this point to start a validated signature campaign calling for a recount or rematch, as the other commenter suggested. Special elections in the contested areas is very doable. I’m sure the Comelec can easily arrange that. Question is, can the Comelec be trusted? The Liberal Party lackey Andres Bautista is still there. So it should be special elections supervised by the PET, not the Comelec. Know this, Leni Robredo: you will be removed. It’s only a question of when and how. And once you’re out of y...

The separate election of the VP and President was another one of those well-intentioned but poorly thought out policies implemented by the Cory administration as an over-reaction against the authoritarian regime of Marcos. The thinking was, if the President and VP came from different parties, it would weaken the Presidency and reduce the chances of a dictatorship returning to the country. The flaw in this thinking is this: the VP is supposed to be the "spare tire" to the President in the event of his demise. As such the VP is supposed to continue the platform and direction of the President she replaced. It's literally supposed to be like the spare tire in your car, which normally should be the same make and model as the existing tires. Imagine if the spare tire in a Hummer was not the normal H2 Tires but a standard goodyear tire for a Honda Civic: and that's the set-up the Philippines inherited as Cory's legacy. We have a VP who wants to replace the Presid...

Leni Robredo is the linchpin of the Liberal Party. If you take her out, all their plans fall apart. The only reason why the Liberal Party refuses to die is because they have a puppet in the line of succession. If that puppet is knocked out, it will be game over for them. Robredo’s removal should therefore be the top priority. De Lima and Trillanes can be ignored for now. The Liberal Party is starting to raise Robredo’s profile abroad as insurance in case she’s removed. They know Robredo’s local base is very weak, so they’re trying to build up foreign support for her. Don’t wait until they reach a tipping point. Deal with her now. She just gave the government more rope to hang her with in the form of that palit ulo video. That, and the other pending cases against her, should be more than enough valid means to eliminate her. I am so frustrated with the government’s inaction on Robredo because our country already lost a lot in the last 8 months while the yellows keep all three ...

A lot of Pinoys are screaming for Leni Robredo’s blood on Twitter right now, but getting rid of this woman requires calm, rational thought. Demanding her resignation is not going to work. Robredo is thick-faced enough to occupy a position that she neither won nor has the qualifications for, and she has the gall to keep criticizing a President who is infinitely more popular and skilled than her. Do you think someone as shameless as her will resign voluntarily? Of course not. Impeaching Robredo is also not practical. It will take too long, and cost too much political capital. She’s not worth the trouble. A recount of votes is one possible option. However, there are signs that the yellow holdouts in the Comelec have tampered with the election records. A recount should only be done if the results will be credible. Another practical solution is a rematch. Declare the position of VP vacant, then schedule special elections as soon as possible in the areas covered by the pending el...

The fake vice-president is spreading fake information about fake “7,000” summary killings supposedly committed by police, at a fake “UN” plenary. Leni Robredo’s “ palit ulo ” video is not being endorsed by the UN. It is only being aired at a side session organized by an NGO called DRCNet Foundation during the UN conference on narcotics. You wouldn’t know that though, from the way the mainstream media is reporting this as if the UN itself is endorsing Robredo’s harebrained video. The Liberal Party and their accomplices in the mainstream media like to namedrop ICC, EU, and UN to create the illusion that they’re supported by these international organizations. They do this so they can convince people in government, military, and business to turn against the President. For example, the UN rapporteur who keeps tweeting about the drug war, Agnes Callamard, is portrayed in Philippine media as a high-ranking UN official. But UN rapporteurs don’t speak in behalf of the UN. They’re not ...

There’s healthy nationalism and there’s out of control nationalism. I agree with the previous posters that it does no good to place people and situations in neat little labelled boxes called “nationalism” and “openness”. In reality, nations can be both nationalist and open! When people cite extreme examples of “nationalism” such as Nazism or even Trumpism they expose the danger in painting ideas with broad strokes. What happened in Germany wasn’t really nationalism because what Hitler did was create divisions within his own nation, creating not a united German nation but a divided nation within a nation. He made persons who were Germans from birth into an out-group based simply on ethnicity (jewishness). It’s therefore more accurate to call Nazism as Ethno-Centrism dressed up as a nationalist movement. Frequently the two are confused and thought of as being the same thing, precisely because Hitler popularized the fusion of these separate ideologies. That does not mean to say that...

Guess who has taken over Leila de Lima’s place on the anti-Duterte international speaking circuit? Watch this video that Leni Robredo made for an international NGO event in Vienna tomorrow. Warning: this will REALLY make your blood boil. If you have vertigo, sit down and take a deep breath before watching. You know what’s really sickening about this video? It’s not even the lies and exaggerations that Robredo is saying about what’s going on in the Philippines and how Pinoys feel about it (as if she’s in any position to speak for the Filipino people, who mostly hate her guts). It’s the hollowness and emptiness of the way she mechanically reads from a script that obviously someone else wrote. She’s making huge claims about thousands of people being summarily killed by police, but her eyes and voice are absolutely empty of emotion or conviction. She’s just a puppet playing a role, who doesn’t even understand what she’s doing or saying, she’s just mindlessly following her owner’...

Facebook is the chosen forum of We Are Collective , (WAC) and Facebook is a free space. Let the readers judge for themselves whether or not WAC's information is true. Sass Rogando Sasot and Thinking Pinoy should not have disrupted the flow of WAC's releases, because the only way we readers can judge the quality of the info is if we see everything. Sass is usually on the right track, but this time she's acting like a gatekeeper of the truth, like Maria "take back the internet" Ressa. She shouldn't be saying "I don't want pro-Duterte bloggers to be used" as if she owns them. The other bloggers have the right to decide for themselves. They knew WAC's info still needed to be proven, in fact, they put disclaimers on their posts. Had they not been interrupted, we would know more by now. Facebook is not a court room. You don't get to the truth by presenting witnesses and evidence first. You get to it by firing up the wisdom of the crowds...

Pundits should be careful about labeling Duterte “far right”, “populist”, “extreme left”, “communist”, etc because the man really does not fit any existing definition or category. Duterte is creating his own model using his own common sense and what he believes will work or not work based on his experience as a prosecutor and mayor. I don’t agree with everything Duterte does, but I like how he’s totally comfortable with being out of the box, and he’s open to experimentation. He has leftists in his Cabinet, and he’s anti-contractualization, but at the same time, he’s very pro-foreign investment. He embraces LGBT rights and he let sex workers ply their trade freely in Davao as long as they’re being safe and professional, but he’s not above making sexist jokes. He’s firm and decisive, but he has no qualms about changing his mind if his previous methods don’t work. Why? Because Duterte is not trapped by academic/religious doctrines and social conventions. He’s just a practical ...

Duterte will be criticized by the mainstream media because he is a nationalist. Globalist media (propaganda)outlets (like CNN) hate nationalists because they believe in a one-world government. The UN is an example of this and they have supported regimes with horrible records. The UN also has one of the world’s worst human rights violators on its commission. In the U.S. Trump also gets hammered by the media because he is the most nationalistic U.S. President in a long time. He is called racist and Hitler for trying to actually enforce U.S. law. Many Americans hate America and think illegal aliens ought to be allowed in and not punished. These anti-American types are globalists who don’t believe in the rule of law. The Republicans and Democrats are generally the same corrupt parties. Both favor big government and endless wars for profit. Both favor bankruptcy. The Republicans do not favor a free market. They love killing babies by bombing foreign countries – but want to ban abort...

VP Leni Robredo was not the reason why the “ We Are Collective ” FB page was taken down; Jim Paredes did not talk to FB Ph head Digs Dimagiba to remove the WAC page (the picture of Jim and Digs was taken a long time ago when Digs was still with Samsung);  and  It was not taken down because of the so called mass reporting by the Yellow Army.  The WAC FB page was taken down because FB believes it has violated something in their community standards. In a recent interview with Monika Bickert FB Head of Global Policy management, she said: Removing a page for a violation of our standards does not have to do with the number of reports. In fact, there is no difference in our review system whether a piece of content has been reported one time or 500 times. When a content is reported to us, we review it again to our community standards, and if it violates we remove it. If it doesn't, we leave it up on the site. Somebody reported the WAC page for hate speech yes, and it w...

Taking a utilitarian approach, the implementation of the death penalty is actually a viable solution to a society's woes -- especially when taking into consideration that of the Philippines. It is, in the long run, for the greater good and beneficial for the many as maintaining a prison complex is costly, making it a heavy burden placed upon the taxpayers. Doing a simple math: More execution of death row inmates = less population of prisoners, and less population of prisoners means that more of our tax money can be allocated to better use. No need for the nonsensical and pricey rehabilitation efforts for prisoners which are only additional expenses most of the time. Basically, it is a lose-lose situation for a nation's economy (more so for taxpayers) to keep alive prisoners, especially those who have committed heinous crimes: They don't have a stable job and earn money nor do they pay taxes. They are simply mouths being fed with whatever our taxes can afford and are...

I’m pro-death penalty for economic reasons. We’re talking extreme types of criminals here, the ones who pose a serious threat to society, the ones who are impossible to reform. The ones who rape three-month-old babies or hack their fathers to death and eat their internal organs because they’re high on shabu. Why should a poor country like the Philippines waste government funds to house, feed, and guard monsters like these, when that money can be used to help poor young children instead, who can still be molded into responsible and productive members of society? When the debates on the death penalty start at the Senate, I hope someone (maybe Manny Pacquiao) will show data on how much the government spends each year on the prison system, and compute how many children can be fed and sent to school with that amount of money. Our taxes should be used to benefit law-abiding citizens, not to keep inhuman criminals alive. I also hope the senate gives a voice to survivors of heinous cri...