Court of Appeals wants Erap Docu rewriten before it gives TV airing approval

The 12th division of the Court of Appeals demanded a major rewrite in the Erap Documentary before it will the movie to be shown on tv:

There was the 12th Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) actually demanding a major rewrite of the Joseph Estrada bio-documentary, should it be shown on television, because as the court ruled, the producers of the bio pic Ang Mabuhay para sa Masa in documenting the Edsa ll revolt, which was definitely a coup d’ etat, does not show the “legality of the transfer of power” from Estrada to Gloria Arroyo in January 2001.

The CA said in its ruling that “petitioners are still mandated to recognize the legality of the transfer of power from former President Estrada to President Arroyo and reflect the same in the file” while upholding Malacañang’s position to include in the film the side of persons who were allegedly “defamed” by the documentary that states Estrada was illegally removed from office.

As the report went, the CA was quoted as having ruled that “the portion ‘Power-Grab,’ by its descriptive appellation, connotes the illegal seizure of power purportedly executed by the current president. It runs contrary to the Supreme Court (SC) ruling.”

Apart from this, the court also found objectionable the portion with “Conspiracy” emblazoned across pictures of Gloria, Mike Arroyo, Fidel Ramos, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Angelo Reyes, then Estrada’s chief of staff, Michael Defensor, Hernando Perez, Chavit Singson and other businessmen.

This said the court, “insinuates their unified action to overthrow President Estrada” and that “integration of said portion into the film tends to undermine the faith and confidence of the people in the government,” with the court even adding that the biopic can even be deemed “libelous and defamatory.”

More amazing, the court, acting like a lapdog of Gloria, ruled that “finding the subject film replete with defamatory remarks and scenes (it is) likely to impair faith in its government” and “imposition of limitation/condition on its exhibition appears in order.”

More: As the balancing factor in the form of replies of personalities defamed, “their replies should be integrated in the film as a part thereof,” the court said.

This is not only a clear infringement on the freedom of the press and of speech that the CA upholds, but worse, it even dictates what should and should not be included in a documentary.

Why should a court impose and mandate prior restraint on a documentary — because as sure as hell, the court, being a part of government has imposed prior restraint in getting that Erap documentary from being released in the electronic media and even dictates to the producers what should and should not be included in a documentary.

But it was a power grab. There was a conspiracy. And this is another attempt to censor political speech.


Armida Siguion Reyna:

I hear that the Court of Appeals (CA) wants Joseph Estrada’s biographical video documentary to first acknowledge the legitimacy of Gloria Arroyo’s presidency before it can be shown on television, and for a moment, I think, hey. Not even the CA bench is sure who the rightful leader of the country is, and that’s why it needs the Erap video to tell them!

Don’t think I’m being odd. Right now there’s nothing odder than the court requirement to edit into Ang Mabuhay Para sa Masa the recognition of “the legality of the power shift” that was Edsa Dos. The addition completely changes the tenor of the docu from when it was originally conceived and put together three years ago, at the time the subject was still in Tanay. It also tells us just how much this administration continues to be afraid of the man it kicked out of power in the name of morality, only to find out that — well, you all know what’s been found out about the one installed, no matter the times she and her cabal deny their thievery.

The value of Ang Mabuhay Para sa Masa as a historical document cannot be dismissed by even those who disagree with what it says. It was produced, written and directed from a point of view that is decidedly not Gloria Arroyo’s, nor that of any from her side of the fence, so it’s hard to understand why the CA and the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) want it redone as if it were produced, written and directed by Malacañang.

Government has access to media such as no one else has. In 2005, soon after then Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye made a fool of himself declaring which of the two CD’s in his hands was fake, the Pasig River Mafia threatened, through the National Telecommunications Commission, to close media outlets caught broadcasting the “Hello Garci” recordings. This is how powerful Mrs. Arroyo is, and still her men insist on re-editing the Erap video to remind all and sundry who the boss is?

The CA order for revision, says producer Rey David of Public Perception Management Asia (PublikAsia), is “a directive to rewrite not just a script but an entire portion of Philippine history,” because “everything in the newsreel can be verified in historical documents and even news reports. Therefore I find it odd that we are being compelled to revise certain portions of the film when there was nothing invented or fictional in it.”

Read the whole thing. and read this report too from the inquirer.

Only Ten?

the indian government said that only 10 terrorists were involved in the Mumbai attack. kinda hard to believe since a lot of valued targets spanning a wide area were under attack on that day. i won't be surprised if half of the terrorists members managed to escape and "melted away" among the indian population after their successful operation.

No sense of delicadeza

Many of the Justice committee members that voted against the impeachment complaint were among those listed as recipients of the Jocjoc Bolante Fertilizer Fund.

"How does the country hold the president, any president, accountable?"

yan ang tanong ng INQUIRER.

The answer is: NOT through impeachment

Pinatunayan na yan ng militar, simbahan at civil society noong 2001 pa.

The only way to get rid of people like Arroyo, Erap, and Marcos is thru People Power.

Mumbai Attacks Highlight the Cancer that is Pakistan

a cancer to its neighbors in India and Afghanistan.

The Murder of the 2008 Impeachment

List of Justice Committee Members & How They Voted. I saw my congresswoman in that list.

DBP lost P4 Billion in Lehman Brothers collapse

From Ernesto Maceda:

A senior DBP governor confirmed to us that the government financial institution lost $80 million or P4 billion in investments in Lehman Brothers.

If only for that, president Rey David and the DBP Board of Governors should resign. But shouldn’t major foreign investments by government financial institutions be subject to approval by the Secretary of Finance?

Up to now, GSIS has not admitted how much it lost in investments in Credit Agricole and ING Barring.

NFA lost P72 billion in its operation while BSP lost over P100 billion in “foreign exchange trading losses.”

All these while GMA and Secretary Gary Teves are considering raising taxes and claiming lack of funds to support government programs.

Meanwhile, coffee shop and stock market lounge talk about how much a top administration personality lost in the Lehman bankruptcy. Estimates range from $300 to $700 million. Three Malacañang cronies and a Cabinet member are said to have lost millions of dollars in the financial meltdown from their stash of illegally acquired wealth.

So what were they saying again about our financial system and economy not being affected by the meltdown in Wall Street?

Or what about that "firewall" we keep hearing about? I think this administration has not even come close to telling the entire truth about the extent of our government losses due to the collapse of many financial institutions in the US.

From Marlen Ronquillo:

Investing in Lehman Brothers? I don’t think it is a priority in the investment portfolio of the DBP. Investing in Lehman Brothers, the collapsed investment bank that got sucked up in the whirlwind of greed-induced turmoil that rocked the financial system of the US (and many parts of the globe), was definitely one of the last things DBP, as per its sworn mandate, would engage in.

The news reports said otherwise.

The news reports tagged DBP as one of the Philippine investors in Lehman Brothers. A $90 million placement was made to Lehman by DBP. The story did not detail under whose leadership the $90 million investment was placed by DBP. What is clear is that the investment had vaporized, along with the money invested in Lehman from prominent and obscure places across the globe.

It was the only state-owned bank said to have invested in Lehman Brothers.

Pagmamayari ng gobierno ang DBP, so we taxpayers are on the hook again for the P4 billion lost to Lehman + the needed bailout.

UPDATE: Philstar columnist and GMA toady Alex Magno is a board member of the DBP. Maybe people should ask him about the Lehman Brothers deal.

China slashes interest rates as panic spreads

The People's Bank of China cut interest rates by more than 1pc point as the economy crumbles and millions of jobs are predicted to go ahead of Christmas.

AND: Workers riot at Chinese toy factory.

(via Drudge)

Instapundit: A harbinger of things to come?

Iran: A Nation of Bloggers (video)

Boyfriend ni Francine Prieto?

The guy on the right. Naka-jackpot ka manong.

Nani Perez walks

Why? Did you expect a different outcome? Lusot si MR. IMPSA.

From Ninez Cacho Olivares:

As predicted, the Sandiganbayan dismissed the case against former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, his wife, his brother-in-law and Gloria Arroyo’s fund-raiser, Ernest Escaler.

But get this: Sandiganbayan Justice Edilberto Sandoval, in dismissing the case, cited “inordinate delay” of the Ombudsman in charging Perez et al., as he claimed this to be a violation of Perez’ constitutional rights.

He then went on to quash the Ombudsman’s information against Perez et al. on graft charges.

The current Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez never took the case seriously, kahit na noong in charge pa siya sa DOJ (after boss Nani was forced to resign from his post.)

Anthony Golez is a dum dum

from a malacanang press release:

Golez scoffed at the claim of ousted House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. in his auto-biography regarding the cancelled National Broadcasting Network-ZTE deal.

A portion of De Venecia’s autobiography, which was printed by a Philippine national daily today, touched on an alleged meeting at the ZTE headquarters in Shenzhen, China in which the President and the First Gentleman were present.

But Golez dismissed the former speaker’s claim, saying it “will not hold water.” “Madali pong gumawa ng auto-biography ng kahit na sinong tao.” He added.

In his autobiography, De Venecia said that “as always, the First Gentleman said hardly a word.”

Golez said that if De Venecia’s autobiography is “going to be used as evidence for any intention or motivation, it will not hold water. It is hearsay, dahil ito ay isang kwento lang.

“It has to be appreciated by the courts. Only then can we call it a biography of the truth — otherwise it would be mere science fiction,” he said.

Manuel Buencamino: "The first thing the physician cum spokesman has to learn is how to use a dictionary. Any dictionary will tell Golez that De Venecia’s account is only hearsay if he had heard it from another person and then told it to someone else. Eyewitness account ito ni De Venecia. He was there, he saw, he heard. So it is not hearsay."

A few things you might find interesting about the Bubby Dacer case

Since Cesar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao have been arrested, bumalik na naman sa balita ang kaso ni Salvador "Bubby" Dacer. Naglabasan na naman ang mga insinuations at innuendos na may kinalaman si Ping Lacson dito (This is the same Lacson that has a "Billion dollar" hidden account sa US, hindi nyo alam?)

Pero in Ping Lacson's defense, I will post here a few exculpatory items that was pretty much ignored by the then pro-Arroyo, pro-edsa dos mainstream media, but point to others as the suspects in the dacer-corbito murder case.

Here's article one:

DACERS ASKED TO COMMENT ON PRIEST'S EXPOSE

Manila, April 9, 2001 - The family of public relations man Salvador "Bubby" Dacer was asked yesterday to comment on the statements of a Parañaque priest over the possible knowledge of former President Ramos and his national security adviser Jose Almonte in Dacer's disappearance.

The opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino said yesterday: "We appeal to the Dacer family to come out and confirm or deny Fr. (Gabriel) Baldostamon's statement. We understand the pain they must feel at the continued disappearance of their father, but they must come out in order to help shed light on this matter. Don't be afraid of Ramos and Almonte."

Fr. Baldostamon is the parish priest of the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary church in Sun Valley Subd. where the Dacer family lives.

He claimed to have heard Almonte "consoling" the Dacer family that should they recover or "arrange" for Dacer's release, they would spirit him out to the United States and make it appear that he was still missing.

Baldostamon said Almonte made the statement in a breakfast meeting with the Dacer family about 10 days after his disappearance.

"Did Almonte really say that?" the LDP asked. "If he did, he must explain his intentions for doing so and why did he sound as if he had contact with Dacer's abductors?"

The LDP said it is a "surprise" that Almonte has not even reacted to Baldostamon's claims.

Almonte earlier came out with a letter in which Dacer wrote apprehensions over drawing the ire of Joseph Estrada and former PNP chief Panfilo Lacson.

The LDP said the parish priest had no reason to lie when he bared his story, which was first brought public by Bishop Teodoro Bacani in his Today newspaper column last Thursday. The following day, Baldostamon confirmed the contents of Bacani's column.

It was also Bacani who first questioned Almonte's motive for coming up such statements before the Dacer family. Bacani also asked probers looking into the Dacer case to dig deeper into Baldostamon's statements.

Article two from Herman Tiu Laurel:

Investigate Almonte

by Herman Tiu Laurel

Two weeks ago, news of the explosive revelation from the Dacer parish priest hit the newspapers. Fr. Baldestamon of the Sun Valley parish church came forward to make public overtures he heard from Ramos henchman Joe Almonte to the Dacer children a short time after their father disappeared—that he could negotiate for his release provided Dacer is immediately shipped to the US and the family continues to mourn like he had never been found. Why has NBI chief Reynaldo Wycoco not called in Almonte to find out more about this crucial angle?

We are now being bombarded on a daily basis by headlines on “killers” of Dacer having surfaced and confessed.

However, when read, the full story identifies them only as “suspects.” Before this, an Inquirer headline tagged Estrada as the culprit behind Dacer’s disappearance and presumed murder. Department of Justice Secretary Nani Perez had to clarify later that there was no factual basis at all for the headline. The “uncivil Society” media has really been going amuck. I suspect it is to deflect attention from the Fr. Baldestamon bombshell involving Almonte—and Ramos.

Fr. Baldestamon’s revelation was brought to the surface in one of the newspaper columns of Bishop Ted Bacani. Last week, I read a letter-to-the-editor from Ramos to Bacani, outlining his response to the Bacani column. It was a very lame letter recalling his expressions of concern for Dacer’s disappearance, citing such inane publications as Customsweek. Readers will recall that it was precisely Ramos’ dubiously premature and hammed up concern, when Dacer’s disappearance was not even an established fact yet, that triggered suspicions about a Ramos hand in the abduction.

The story is now told to close friends by the Dacer children, Ampy and Sabina, that the Ramos visit to Dacer’s office on that fateful day of the disappearance was very uncharacteristic. In the many years of Dacer and Ramos’ professional dealings, never once did Ramos visit Dacer’s office. But on the day of Dacer’s kidnapping Ramos did, and after only an hour of waiting he started making it too obvious he was concerned—by calling media about his alarm over Dacer’s disappearance.

It could have just been traffic, a flat tire or engine trouble, a sudden family emergency, a bum stomach, an extended breakfast meeting, or a hundred other small possibilities that delayed Dacer for an hour. With cell phone service the way it is today, and service providers undermining each other by delaying interconnections or with cell sites jammed or down, an hour’s wait to get a cell phone connection happens quite frequently. So, delayed cell phone contact is not sufficient reason to panic and call media.

The scenario is too much like a no-smoking room with a tell-tale tobacco stick.

The government has produced one suspect after another. Each time they bring up these suspects, more questions come up. The original duo, who were alleged to have disposed of the bodies, were themselves blocked from seeing their lawyer, Atty. Ric Valmonte. The subsequent “confessed” participants in the Dacer case have, according to newspaper reports, reportedly been arrested without warrant and “subjected to physical torture.” All these alleged violations of the suspects’ rights, which will have serious bearing on the credibility of the investigations, must be looked into.

The NBI, which is assigned to the Dacer case, must preserve and protect its integrity and credibility at all times. Unfortunately, former general Wycoco is not delivering on this fundamental duty he has to the organization. He is leaving too many stones, nay, boulders, unturned on the trail of the Dacer case—lying so in plain sight of everyone who cares to see. But he is apparently deliberately turning his eyes to where there are no rocks and boulders, content to follow the trail where red herrings are being tossed farther and farther away.

Now that the Almonte angle has been raised by Fr. Baldestamon, Gen. Wycoco is obliged to invite both to be interviewed. The story must be officially verified, and Almonte’s side should be looked closely into. The Dacer children must also be asked, to crosscheck the parish priest’s story. But foremost among these actions is this—send a summon to Almonte. This Rasputin of Ramos has some explaining to do. If he gets himself off cleanly, we won’t raise the issue again. While he avoids the Almonte matter, nothing he does will be credible.

And from Ninez Cacho Olivares:

NINEZ CACHO-OLIVARES
Too strange,too rushed
Apr 16, 2001

The case of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer is a strange one indeed.

First, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announces to the public that the case has been solved, as its officials presented before the media, two eyewitnesses and a bag of charred bones plus dentures that they claimed were Dacer's and his driver Emmanuel Corbito's but which still had to undergo DNA testing for positive verification.

Then one witness showed the media a pair of brown loafers which he claimed belonged to Dacer and which the killers gave him for his own use. He even went to the extent of claiming that the pair of shoes used to be white, but that they were brown today because he had dyed the pair brown.

Based on the eyewitness account, certain cops identified with former Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson, were implicated in the "murder" of Dacer and Corbito.

It was later discovered that the pair of shoes shown by the witness could not have belonged to Dacer or Corbito. And forensics still had not determined whether the charred bones were human bones.

It was much too evident that the so-called eyewitnesses were lying through their teeth and the NBI certainly knew it. But NBI chief Reynaldo Wycoco continued to peddle the story and came up with the ridiculous claim that in the case of Dacer, the corpus delicti was not the body but the killing itself. Duh!

It was clear that the Arroyo government, its Justice department and the NBI were more than willing to frame their foes with a murder rap, which does not speak too well of the Arroyo government.

Other questions arise: Why was the skull never found? Why weren't other pieces of jewelry, which Dacer normally wears, found in the site where he and his driver were said to have been burned to a crisp four months ago?

A priest suddenly surfaced and claimed he had overheard Fidel Ramos' man, Jose Almonte, talking to the Dacer children and telling them to keep on mourning for their father as if he were really dead while Almonte communicates with the kidnappers.

The same priest also went to the "murder" site and concluded that given the report that Dacer and his driver were burned to a crisp, the site would have shown a bigger burnt area.

Not too long after, the children of Dacer suddenly called a press conference claiming they have accepted the fact that their father is dead, as they had the bones and dentures checked by a private physician. They also claimed that found in the same murder site were the dentures as well as pieces of jewelry that belonged to their father.

This development raises more questions than answers. How is it possible for the family to have gotten another set of dentures and bones after the NBI had already been through the site with its "evidence"? More to the point, did the NBI surrender the "evidence" to the Dacer family for a private test? Why couldn't the NBI find the jewelry and the denture which the family suddenly found long after the NBI had combed the place? How could a private physician positively identify the dentures and bones when they were presumably with the NBI forensics unless there were of course two sets of dentures and bones, both belonging to Dacer, which would be too incredulous.

Then too, what does this make of those eyewitnesses, who claimed they saw Dacer and his driver murdered and burned to a crisp?

What does this make too, of the Dacer children who claim to have found the jewelry in the same murder site, a development which doesn't quite jibe with the eyewitness' account. If the murderers were generous enough to give away a pair of shoes, wouldn't they also have taken the jewelry Dacer was wearing?

Even more strange is that Fidel Ramos who first tipped off the cops that Dacer was missing after the publicist was late for an hour for his meeting, didn't quite say why he didn't bother to call back Dacer, who had a mobile phone with him, to first check out if he was indeed missing.

And wonder of wonders. The day the Dacer children claimed that their father was indeed dead, Ramos had, in the newspapers, a condolence note, claiming too, that Dacer was dead.

It's the strangest case yet, and what seems clear is that too many people want the case closed, with the conclusion that Dacer is dead.

One wonders why there is that rush to declare Dacer dead.

Eto yung reaction ko dati.

It was ramos who called the attention of the police re dacer's kidnapping because na late lang ng isang oras si dacer. Makes you go hmmm....... (ah!~ siguro malakas ang ESP ni FVR na kinidnap si dacer kaya tinawag nya kaagad ang mga pulis.)

Teddy Locsin's email to MLQ3 re impeachment

“I must clarify my indifference to the impeachment complaint. I am here and not there. That’s one. Attending a conference on aid effectiveness in Africa. The House sent Rufus Rodriguez and I, I wonder why.

“Two, I will not be used by the traitors who excluded what even Joey de V insisted on including as the strongest ground for impeachment: the MOA BJE, which I recall you favored when you did not share my enthusiasm for the emergence of Christian self defense units to give the MILF as good as they are dishing out. ‘Viva la muerta’, I said, artillery is the only language these ragheads understand. You said, ‘viva la mierda’. That was un-Christian of you. And for a student of history unhistorical. You know that armed Christians kept our Republic intact in the 70s.

“Satur and the other left and center left endorsers of an impeachment for aborted business deals—except Joc-joc’s fertilizer scam cannot have their cake and eat it too: attend the christening, of all things, of a pro-American independent and antidemocratic sultanate torn from the side of our Republic with the US and Japan as midwives and exclude that treason from the impeachment just to maintain a communist-Bangsa-Moro alliance and then expect those of us who fought it tooth and nail to support their truncated impeachment. Now that is hypocrisy to which I will not lend my not inconsiderable intelligence.

“On the other hand, Abigail Binay is correct. The intellectual mendacity of the truncated impeachment complaint is not a ground for outright dismissing the impeachment without hearing out the evidence and the witnesses even to rehashed charges. It is as if the House is bound to take a species of judicial notice of the antics in the Senate, which I refuse to do as the senators, by and large, are not an intelligent bunch let alone noted for integrity. I upbraided the House leadership for exposing a pro-administration House to public contempt… by refusing to hear out what everybody has already heard, to wit, the testimonies on the NBN-ZTE deal and the documentary evidence on the fertilizer scam whose investigation by a committee of the House poses a prejudicial question that bars a summary disposal of the impeachment until that investigation is terminated.

“I said that we deserve to get our own showing of Jun Lozada crying… Is he that good? And why should the senators be the only ones to get media mileage on him? I also think the CA decision dismissing the kidnapping charge was pure crap and unworthy of the mind that wrote it. What could the Palace be scared of?

“The charges and the evidence are second run and double feature... Since the Palace survived the first run, it should have no problem with the second run. And it would restore some credibility to the only institution still defending the President on what are charges related to an aborted deal where there was ultimately no damage to the public—except the kidnapping of Lozada—and material benefit only to 120 congressmen who pocketed and may not have shared the fertilizer scam with the President’s campaign.

“A congressman and his bribe are not soon parted. But, it appears the House leaders have not listened to their better judgment and want to make it an early Christmas for the Palace. I guess because none of them is running for a national position in 2010.

“On the other hand, Mat Defensor is right, the insertion of the MOA at this late stage is a separate complaint and thus fourth in the rank of complaints. Remember that this is not a real intervention because it is not included in the subject of the current one. There is no such thing as an impeachment for violating generically anything in the entire Constitution; it must be for specific violations. Interventions are allowed only for matters related to those specific violations or grounds for impeachment. That your intervention is unrelated is proved by Satur’s deliberate exclusion of the MOA from the current complaint. To allow it now is to present a moving target to the object of the impeachment.

“… I alerted Satur in the brilliant radio talk show ‘Karambola.’ But he would not and could not listen because the Left was working hand in glove with the US and Japan to … set up an independent, anti-democratic, misogynist but pro American sultanate in Mindanao.

“Well, too bad for him. If you had joined the descendants of conquistadors, as Celso Lobregat and I were so absurdly accused of being, and a veteran conquistador, Pabling Garcia, you could sound more convincing to me. ‘Somos o no somos,’ I said. If you were not with us successfully defending the walls ‘contra los Moros en la costa’, if you shared the party-list sympathy for these traitors to the Republic, can you really upbraid us for not laying down our arms to rest and instead taking the fight to the Fifth Column that almost opened the gates to the city? Especially on an impeachment crafted and filed by parts of that Fifth Column. I am referring to Satur and company.

“I am sorry to disappoint you but I cannot put a premium on treason even if the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But keep it up, your columns cover uncharted intellectual ground. But law is best left to the lawyers. Though I exclude the Ateneo lawyers who collaborated in the treason of the government and the Left.”

From Manuel L. Quezon III's latest column.

Nail in the Coffin for the Pidals?

Former Speaker Jose De Venecia confirms bribery, corruption in Arroyo Government.

High Gas Prices killed the US economy

OPEC's gift to GWBush. And it worked.

So Obama's plans to re-impose the ban on off shore drilling via an executive order once he assumes office is completely wrongheaded.

Hollywood's decline, TV's rise

By 2020, the movie industry in the US will be on life support because of movie piracy and torrents. I say this because movie piracy and the internets have already killed the movie industry here in the Philippines. But TV shows will survive because it is free. Most American movie stars of today will make the transition to TV in the near future, just like what is happening here. For example, while moviestars like Sharon Cuneta and Vilma Santos are in decline, TV stars like Bea Alonzo, Willie Revillame and Kris Aquino are replacing them as the biggest and most influential celebrities in RP today.