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Justice Sec. Raul Gonzales may be forgiven if he was just being tactless. But he was being obnoxiously tactless when he blamed the death of Julia Campbell, a US Peace Corp volunteer, on Julia herself.

In trying to sound cocky or perhaps intellectual, he only managed to insult the sensibilities of both Americans and Filipinos, not to mention the loved ones and friends of Julia Campbell. He should have tried to bring comfort to those who were aggrieved by Julia’s death. Instead, he insinuated that she was irresponsible and careless in making a trek to the Banaue terraces alone.

At the very least he should have assured all and sundry that everything posible was being done in investigating the circumstances around the death of Ms. Campbell. But what can you expect from a man who has been bumbling his way all throughout his career as the Justice Secretary?

The man should resign and not heap his senility on the Philippines he has sworn to serve. But, for once, I enjoyed what United Opposition campaign manager JV Ejercito said about him: “Let him stay on. He’s a big help in our campaign.”

Technorati Tags: Raul Gonzales, Julia Campbell, US Peace Corps, JV Ejercito, United Opposition

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Fuel prices are spiralling upwards unabated. This means that life for Filipinos will become harder and more desperate. The result? An upsurge of crime.

So what will the Arroyo government do about it? Nothing.

Gloria the Liar will pay lip service to finding alternative fuel and continue to rake up funds to keep herself in power. What’s more, instead of focusing the Justice Dept. on anticipating crime and apprehending criminals, she’ll have her lap dog, Sec. Raul Gonzalez –who dabbles as defense lawyer for American crime suspects, by the way– intimidate instead heckling students and congressmen suspected of rebellion.

Gloria the Liar is doing nothing to ease the effect of rising oil prices. Yet she easily bribes those who are in opposition to her governance. She could care less about her countrymen. Her burning desire first and foremost is to stay in power no matter the cost. The only problem is Filipinos are the ones paying the cost.

Gloria the Liar is not a leader. Neither is she a visionary. All she sees is her fat ass and that it’s seated on the throne of Malacañang Palace, even if her feet are not planted firmly on the ground (literally speaking).

If only her governance were true and compassionate, then she wouldn’t have to worry about staying in power, because Filipinos would have let her. But at the onset it seems she already had her hidden agenda and, like the proverbial bad tree, it bore bad fruit.

At present, one compelling reason why Filipinos are not going out to the streets to oust her is that there is no one to replace her. Pretty soon, however, the battle cry will be “Anyone But Gloria!”

When that happens, Gloria will find herself short (pun definitely intended) of support and supporters to keep herself in power. The frightening thing is that it might just get bloody.

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Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez is really turning out to be Malacañang’s biggest joke!

There he was on national TV somberly relating how he directed the NBI to investigate events surrounding Maria Theresa Pangilinan. If you had never heard of Pangilinan, you’d think she was involved in a major plot to overthrow the Arroyo government.

So what was Pangilinan’s crime? She heckled the President as she (Gloria) gave a Commencement Address at the Cavite State University. She shouted in the vernacular, "Oust Arroyo," and then brandished a poster that read, "No to Cha-cha." Other students then joined in. They were briskly ushered out by cops and the presidential bodyguards but were later allowed to receive their diplomas.

Gonzalez lost no time in ordering an investigation, even insinuating that school officials might be involved. Can you see the absurdity of Gonzalez’s action? Can you imagine school officials would actually call for secret meetings to plot out a heckle? Perhaps they gave it a name: "Operation Heckle and Jeckle."

Come to think of it, it’s really no wonder how Gonzalez can act so …well… stupidly. He’s in a government that no longer can discern right from wrong, cheating from honesty, lies from truth. They would rather make deals with plunderers like the Marcoses and Danding Cojuanco and then file charges against disgruntled youth such as Maria Theresa Pangilinan, who has done nothing but exercise her freedom of speech.

Yet, in trying to make Pangilinan look bad, Gonzalez only managed to elevate her into heroine status and cause the Arroyo government to look vindictive and scornful over a mere triviality. Bravo, Raul! In this case, I soundly advice Gloria the Liar: "Send in the clowns!"

As for Maria Theresa Pangilinan, I give her a standing ovation!

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During the impeachment of Joseph Estrada, Raul Gonzalez was one of the heroes who stood tall and righteous against an immoral president. Now, however, Gonzalez as Secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is fast turning into a heel. He’s becoming as abhorrent as the President he ousted and the President he now serves.

When people testify in a court of law, they are required to take an oath to tell "the truth and nothing but the truth." So it follows that the top honcho of the Justice Department should be the very defender of truth. Yet, it seems Gonzalez would rather hide or twist the truth.

For instance he acts more like the defense lawyer of the American servicemen accused of raping a Filipina, a countryman of his. Certainly he shouldn’t side with the victim, but his actions are telling Filipinos he’s making it difficult to prosecute the accused. Perhaps a green card for him or his relatives is in the back of his mind, thereby befuddling his reasoning.

Then there is his veiled threat to go after "seditious" journalists. He particularly mentioned the PCIJ. Yet, when the PCIJ published its investigations of the various mansions Estrada owned, no one complained about it, much less labeled the reports seditious. However, when the PCIJ came out with its investigations on the Garci tapes, they’re warned as bordering on sedition. Duh!

So now we get the notion that the government is the sole judge of what is seditious or not. This is highly dangerous! This means if a journalist, for example, reports that GMA wears 4-inch heels to look tall, this could be regarded as seditious. The journalist can then be arrested and hauled into court.

The objective is not to ferret out truth or expose sedition, but to intimidate and make it difficult for media to work freely so they would instead toe the line of government and whatever propaganda it dishes out through clones like Bunye and Defensor.

Control the press and you control civil liberties. Control civil liberties and you have a dictatorship.

And that’s the truth, your honors!

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I don’t like Niñez Cacho-Olivares. She’s not only a bad writer, but she’s nasty as well when she writes. She can be cruel, vindictive and insulting.

Still, those aren’t reasons enough to raid her newspaper, The Daily Tribune! Even if she calls outright for civil disturbance to oust Arroyo, it is still no reason to clamp down on media. Then we hear Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Arturo Lomibao state that the police are there to ensure that certain guidelines are being met by the Press.

The nerve of him! The police can’t even get their act together in curtailing crime. Now they want to step into the purview of journalism and watch over editors, reporters and columnists.

It’s easy to see the reason why the Tribune was singled out: Vengeance. Gloria was simply irked by the tirades of Olivares. The Tribune does not have a big circulation like the Philippine Star or the Daily Inquirer, so what is she worried about, if indeed the Tribune was being seditious? Does the Tribune have the power to bring a majority of people -or the military for that matter- to attack Malacañang and forcibly take power?

There are many legitimate fora through which we can air complaints against media practitioners who we may feel are abusing their influence. Gloria should have gone to any of them. To order a raid on a member of the press is no different than assassinating journalists. The latter snuffs out a person’s life; the former snuffs out the life of freedom of speech.

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Revenues generated by the VAT increase will significantly help put the fiscal house in order, which will benefit most the poor because this means having a government that can help its constituents, especially the poor, an economy everybody — particularly the unemployed and the low-income earner — can depend on and look up to for a better life. -Rep. Raul V. Del Mar [North District, Cebu City] on his vote for the increase of the VAT

Benefit the poor? How? It’s like crucifying Juan de la Cruz and saying, “Let’s drive a nail into his head so he doesn’t have to suffer so much.”

What our congressmen fail to see is whether the average Filipino has the capacity to pay for the extra burden. For the VAT will just be passed down to the consumer. That’s me and millions of others who are already overtaken by rising costs of oil (and, not to mention, the luxury cars driven by oil executives).

But what do the majority of our representatives know than to please Gloria the Liar? Moreover, they certainly won’t be affected by the VAT increase since they belong to the upper crust of society.

So we look to the Senate to kill the VAT bill. “Kill Bill” should be the rallying cry. Perhaps the influx of brainless actors will help. Hopefully their lack of intellect will cause them to thumb down the tax measure.

Maybe if we ask Lito Lapid if he’s for the VAT increase, he’ll answer, “Hindi! Masyado na maraming paniki sa Pilipinas!”

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On whose lap should the blame fall for the hundreds killed from landslides in Quezon province?

Who else but the lying President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo!

She has done nothing against rampant illegal logging, which erodes our mountains and lays bare the low lands to landslides, especially during the rainy season. Then here comes her wimpy Secretary of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources claiming before national TV that they had been monitoring illegal logging for several years now.

And what has been done about it? Absolutely nothing! Mike Defensor should have lied like his boss instead of sounding stupid. Maybe some of that brain damage from that other incredulous Defensor has rubbed off on him.

Santa Santita Anunsyo de Sta. Barbara! Apparently this government also believes that every Filipino is stupid. It will start looking busy by making it seem it is running after illegal loggers by arresting small fry. It will make all sorts of sound bytes and go on photo ops. Then it will simmer down because Filipinos quickly forget. Media will also tire of it as it is interested only in what it can sensationalize.

The illegal loggers will just hunker down until the controversy blows over and then they’ll be back with a vengeance. Everything returns to status quo until the next landslide or flash flood.

Don’t expect our congressmen and senators to do anything either. Many of them cuddle illeal loggers or are themselves illegal loggers. And every Filipino and his askal knows that our lawmakers won’t go against each other. It’s their brand of omerta.

Until Filipinos will become more intelligent in their vote and more bold in their decry of inept government officials, GMA will continue to backslide and we’ll have more landslides.

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