Piercing Pens

I’ve been receiving several interesting reactions from friends regarding President Arroyo’s infamous display of contriteness. Most were over the top amusing.

One of our editors said that she’s going to violate a law and say sorry, just to see if she could get away with it.

The Comelec en banc convened yesterday to announce an investigation on the Comelec officers implicated in the wiretapped conversations. Most of them were from Mindanao and they were prohibited from partaking in the coming ARMM elections. They are now deciding on the administrative and criminal charges to be filed against these people. Meanwhile, the president remains impervious to resignation and ouster calls.

In these times, only the president is above the law.

Here is President Arroyo’s statement on the Gloriagate scandal that she read on TV tonight. The full text is from OPS website and is also posted at INQ7.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Statement on the Issue of the Tape Recordings
Study Room, Malacañang
(27 June 2005)

Mga Minamahal kong Kababayan,
For the last several weeks, the issue of the tape recordings has spun out of control. Tonight, I want to set the record straight.

You deserve an explanation from me, because you are the people I was elected to serve.

Continue reading “President Arroyo’s Statement on Gloriagate”

Below is the statement of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication professors on Gloriagate scandal and the controversial National Telecommunications Commission press release, discouraging the media from airing the supposedly wiretapped tapes.

This statement was signed by 18 faculty members of theUP CMC led by Dean Nicanor G. Tiongson. For verification, please call Prof. Danilo A. Arao (Chair, Department of Journalism) at 920-6852 or (0917) 833-ARAO.

Looks like the Gloriagate scandal is spawning a cyberspace revolution. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism blog, Inside PCIJ, was the first to upload the entire Gloriagate tapes. It has become the premier site for the coverage of this scandal rocking the presidentcy.

Meanwhile, consumer group TXTPower’s site has been enjoying massive traffic since it started to offer Hello Garci ringtones for download. It has since uploaded different Hello Garci versions. Now, there’s even a new site called HelloGARCI.com. The domain name means “Hello! Greatest Archive of Ringtones in Cellphone Industry.” Creative, huh?!

Our kababayan Robert Tarongoy is now free. He was abducted by armed men in Iraq November last year.

The President herself announced this good news earlier today. She was very happy, and as we’ve learned later on, was really telling the truth.

This was the first of the 10 Commandments I have learned as a kid. I can say that for myself. I just don’t know about the Press Secretary.

Really now, does Sec. Ignacio Bunye, renowned apologist of President Arroyo, honestly think he could get away with everything thru lies?

Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop Emeritus of Manila, passed away this morning. He was 76.

“The Cardinal, who had been confined at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center since Sunday (June 19), succumbed to multiple organ failure secondary to sepsis at 6:15 a.m.,” a news release from the Archdiocesan Office of Communications said.

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines President Archbishop Fernando Capalla expressed the bishops’ sadness over the death of Sin, whom he described as a friend and brother.