President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had spent P2.7 billion for her foreign trips since 2001, or P1.6 billion more than the P1.1 billion budgeted for the period.

[Source: Inquirer.net]

Wow. The number keeps getting bigger and bigger. If this trend continues, the next big reveal concerning GMA’s corruption will make a lot more expletives fly.

To Mrs. Arroyo, do learn how to use the phone. If someone from another country invites you over for a chat, just call them up and say, “we’re too poor right now. Just say anything you have to say over the phone. It’s also more economical and more environment-friendly, noh!” then do that freakish laugh of yours to warm their hearts. If they ask if the line’s secure, just tell them that wire-tapping is a part of a lot of Filipinos’ lives.

Hello, Garci?

Spent two solid hours of my life trying to make my knock-off Stratocaster sound better than it ought to sound. Alas! I now have a knock-off Stratocaster that sounds way worse than it did before…

It’s really a case of it-looked-so-easy-on-the-video-sitis.

Anyway, I’m currently figuring out how to adjust the intonation, action, and truss knobs to get that professional sound – “professional” being any sound other than what my guitar is currently making. But seriously, my guitar’s neck has too much relief and I’m afraid that I might end up breaking it if I turn the truss rod some more.

Moral of the story is: Invest in an original Stratocaster next time.

After rewarding him with cash and a promotion, the PNP will try to get worldwide recognition for Police Officer 2 Danilo Malab Jr. for his service as an honor guard during last week’s funeral march for former President Corazon Aquino.

The PNP has asked the Guinness Book of World Records to cite Malab’s feat of standing still for almost nine hours without food or rest on the adorned truck that brought Aquino’s casket to the cemetery on Aug. 5.

Though I admire Cory’s honor guards for doing their duties well, I do not believe that a place in Guinness record books is really that necessary or essential. They did their job well, they got recognition from the Filipino people, they got rewarded, and they got promoted – let that be enough.

I think holding a record for standing still for 9 hours is rather degrading for the honor guards. Why? Because they did something more than that – they did their obligation and they did it well. Being remembered for being the dudes that merely stood there would be an insult.

[from ABS-CBN News Online]

Mrs. Arroyo, how did you do it? You managed to increase your net worth by 40% just before the global economic crisis bore down on all of us. Insider trading? Lotto jackpot?

Though I don’t completely grasp all the data presented in the ABS-CBN article, I do get this – the rich continues to get richer while the poor gets poorer, and that GMA got way richer than the other rich bastards (sorry, Cory) before her.

There’s nothing wrong with gaining wealth as long as it’s done right.

“Not a single centavo of taxpayers’ money was spent for that dinner,” an angry Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Sunday, referring to the dinner at Le Cirque restaurant on Aug. 2 during Ms Arroyo’s visit to the United States.

“The report was grossly exaggerated, really exaggerated,” Remonde said in his weekly media forum on state-run Radyo ng Bayan. “That’s what you call agitation propaganda to anger the people.”

Seriously?

Mr. Remonde, it was Mrs. Arroyo’s rather impressive string of controversies over the years (e.g. the Hello Garci scandal, ZTE controversy) that agitated the people. The Filipino people were already furious long before this million peso dinner scandal came. This latest incident, true or not, is basically just icing on GMA’s multi-tier cake of shame. If you are searching for that someone who started this whole “agitation propaganda”, you need not look further than your dear president.

Our president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and her associates spent $20,000 (almost a million Philippine pesos) for a hopefully delectable and exquisite dinner in the US. I would like to think this is her way of showing the world that the Philippines is doing pretty well despite the global economic crisis. But we all know that’s batshit-crazy talk.

The Philippine government is known for… *drum roll*… corruption. Whenever a public official goes on a mad spending spree, we, the people of the Philippines, almost always let out a collective howl of dismay. We’ve been robbed. Again. By the same people we elected. Again. Sure, GMA and her henchmen could’ve paid for their highly extravagant dinner using “clean” money. But with this administration’s track record, it’s kinda hard to imagine.

To Mrs. Arroyo and her goons, I hope you bagged your shit after that dinner. It’s a good souvenir of that million-peso dinner you guys had.

“Macapagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000.“

Dear Mrs. Arroyo,

There are many reasons why people say bad words in very public places. You are one of them.

Tang’namo, men.

Though I would have a hard time enumerating Cory Aquino’s achievements during her term, I can’t deny that fact that she continued to be fairly influential in our society long after she left her office. She became the symbol for two of things that a lot of Filipinos hold dear – unwavering faith in God and democracy. Now that she’s gone, what happens now? Life goes on, of course. I just hope that Kris doesn’t run this coming election… or any other election in the future.

“Our critics claim that President Arroyo is out to stay in power, but she just reiterated tonight that her term ends on June 30 next year,” he [Mike Arroyo] said.

Yo, Mike! The same President Arroyo (aka your wife)  that you are defending also said that she won’t run for presidency again last 2003. She did run again, Mike. She said she wasn’t part of the Garci scandal but she then admitted, and publicly apologized, for her involvement. She also said she was confined for flu and there was nothing done with her breast. Guess what? She had something done with her breasts and she also admitted that. Pretty hard to defend someone without credibility, huh?

Plus, your family isn’t what we can call “honorable”. When your wife goes out of office next year, tell her to bring her sons and other relatives with her. Oh, and toss yourself out while you’re at it.

Seriously, an hour’s worth of bragging about one’s achievements, imaginary or real, is not enough to change a nation’s mind regarding how shitty they were led by their government.

Statistical data, mention of successful projects (with accompanying mascots), and petty potshots against one’s detractors will not clean one’s image. A piece of tissue, no matter how clean and absorbent it is, will not be enough to clean a shit-filled bathroom.

Mrs. Arroyo, your time’s almost up. You were given a chance to lead this country and you wasted it. Hopefully, you’ll vacate your position when your term ends.