Piercing Pens

Senator Panfilo Lacson last week delivered his own version of the “true” state of the nation address (TSONA). Conrado De Quiros shares his own version today, and here’s a excert from his true state of the nation piece:

Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci… Hello Garci…

Meanwhile, Prof. Luis Teodoro, former dean of the UP College of MassComm, writes that Gloria Arroyo has former President Fidel Ramos to thank for that she’s still able to deliver her SONA today.

Here are two versions of “Why did the chicken cross the road?” I got the Gloriagate version on the mail today, while the Erap Juetengate version here.

President GMA: Hello Garci. Alamin mo nga kung bakit tumawid ang chicken.

Sec Gonzales – That Chicken is a an aberration and belongs to a ranting widow. She (the chicken) is too beautiful to be run over as it crosses the road.

Former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano: Sige po ma’am. Gagawan natin ng paraan. Ipapakidnap ko ang mga sisiw.

Kris Aquino may have had problems with her choice of men and in her oftern careless remarks, but the girl knows how to fight back at those who insult her mother.

Last week, after former President Aquino called for Arroyo’s resignation, Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez said Aquino should first take care of Kris before trying to fix the country’s problems. Gonzalez was obviously refering to Kris’s often problematic lovelife that must have broken the former president’s heart many times.

Kris was shown on TV last night saying that Mrs. Arroyo had indeed called her to apologize for what her attorney, err, secretary of justice pala, had said. Kris also revealed that Gonzalez recently visited Mrs. Aquino’s office to ask for a favor regarding his big problem at the Commission on Appointments.

A TXTPower forum member, who’s obviously interested in anagrams, posted this:

“Kapag kinarambola mo ang pangalan GLORIA may mabubuo kang salita at ito : GO LIAR”

Meanwhile, below is a rehashed George W. Bush joke sent to me by a friend. Insted of Bush, the new “bida” is Gloria:

The PCIJ Blog yesterday featured an interesting addendum to the Hello Garci: the voice believed to be that of the President muttering “Namfrel does not tally…pero yun nga, yung dagdag, yung dagdag” in one of her phone conversations with Garci.

What could that “dagdag” be?

Here’s a link to PCIJ’s MP3 file of the “dagdag” conversation.

Police arrested without warrant this morning an organizer for the leftist Bayan Muna party-list organization, according to the office of Rep. Joel Virador.

Jesi Carandang was in a jeep with residents of Onyx in Sta. Ana, Manila to join the rally in Ayala when he was arrested. No case was filed against him but he was detained at Dagonoy Precint 1 in Onyx, Sta. Ana. He was only released when Virador insisted that the arrest has no basis. Virador described the incident as a harassment of anti-Arroyo protest organizers.

Yesterday, we were expecting a “Gloria Resign” call from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). But while they asked the Arroyo to think things over, they did not join Cory Aquino, the opposition, the Makati Business Club, and the Left, as well as the netizens in their call for Arroyo to step down.

The biggest issue they had to speak about was Mrs. Arroyo’s alleged rigging of the results of last year’s presidential election. In the past, the CBCP strongly condemned election fraud. Its statement after the 1986 snap elections –which was heavily manipulated by the Marcos administration–said:

According to moral principles, a government that assumes or retains power through fraudulent means has no moral basis. For such an access to power is tantamount to a forcible seizure and cannot command the allegiance of the citizenry. The most we can say then, about such a government, is that it is a government in possession of power. But admitting that, we hasten to add: Because of that very fact, that same government itself has the obligation to right the wrong it is founded on. It must respect the mandate of the people. This is precondition for any reconciliation.