Day: July 29, 2009

Riddle of the day: What’s the difference between a fairytale and a state- of- the- nation address?

Answer, according a text message: A fairytale is fiction with dwarfs as characters.SONA has a dwarf relating fiction.

Gloria Arroyo was not even an engaging storyteller. Bitchy, catty and spiteful, she looked so ugly.

The Gloria Arroyo that skirted issues and threw broadsides on her critics at her SONA last Monday was reminiscent of the Arroyo at the beginning of her stolen power , mistaking arrogance and bitchiness with strength.

It betrayed her insecurity and nervousness as her descent from power nears.

Remember that “Isang bala ka lang” warning to the Abu Sayyaf when the bandits kidnapped guests of Dos Palmas Hotel in Palawan? Tons of bullets later and a number of soldiers’ lives lost, the Abus are still as active as ever.

Her so- called strong republic has brought millions of Filipinos to foreign lands as slaves, helpless even when they are raped and abused.

A blogger, Anna from Brussels, is appalled that Arroyo “has the gall to shamelessly trumpet ‘Pagpunta ko sa Saudi, pinatawad ni Haring Abdullah ang pitong daang OFW na nasa preso. Pinuno nila ang isang buong eroplano at umuwi kasama ko.’”

Anna said, “Does she not f…ing realise that if she and her horrid corrupt minions had been doing good governance, Filipinos would be tempted less to adventure in Saudi Arabia and subject themselves to misery, slavery, abuse, indignity, etc.? That if she weren’t corrupt and brazen liar, there perhaps would be jobs in Pinas to keep those women at home and work at home instead of adventuring in unchartered territories.

“Doesn’t this awful crap-faced midget doesn’t know that she is one of the prime human trafickers these last few years when she personally would go abroad to sell the services of Pinoys to foreign governments asking foreign leaders to accept Pinoys as toilette cleaners?

“What a goddamn walking baloney that woman is? That there are people, particularly in Congress who tolerate her presence is really beyond me.”

I’ve talked with a number of foreign affairs officers who agonize whenever they are asked to make representations for foreign governments to bend their law and be kind to Filipinos convicted of crimes.

“If we ask foreign governments to make us exception to their law, what if their nationals also commit a crime in the Philippines? Do we also exempt them? Where is the rule of law then?”

Rule of law, as we all know, was thrown out of the window the day Arroyo ascended to the presidency .Arthur Bariuad, formerly correspondent of Singapore Strait Times in Manila and now based in the United States, remarked on Facebook: “Indecent speech. What else can you expect from a power grabber?”

Nine years ago, on the first day of Arroyo in Malacanang, I remember Art making the same remark about Arroyo, “the power grabber” after our queries on the legitimacy of presidency were arrogantly dismissed by her then legal adviser, Renato Corona.

Art said the other day, “I felt ominous signs the moment she grabbed the presidency then. I haven’t wavered nine long years later.”

Phil Cruz said finds it amazing that Arroyo could deliver lies with such aplomb. “Such air of arrogance while delivering a litany of untruths, spins and under-achievements. She has perfected the art to the nth degree.

“And she has the gall to tout the increasing number of OFW deployment as an ‘achievement’, deftly dodging the real reason for this increasing trend during her term.

“I give her a triple A - arrogant, ambitious, abominable.”

As to her line “I never expressed my desire to extend myself beyond my term.”, blogger Mabini said, “Expressing her desire is different from having a desire.Just because you did not express it, it does not necessarily mean you don’t have it and you don’t intend to express it in the coming months “

Saxnviolins said, “Nice play of words. Failure to express does not indicate that there is no desire.

“She should fire her speech writer. Maybe she wrote it herself. Kaya pala economical with the truth, because it was written by a data doctoring economist.”

Elpidio Que saw through those spitefulness a frightened creature. “I believe that despite her tough talks, deep inside her is an extreme fear of the prospect of rotting in jail should she surrender her dubious power beyond 2010. She is likened to a little bad girl riding a tiger, that should she jump down to earth, the beast will devour her.”