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ACRIMONIOUS was February, the month of hearts and love. The month
that ushered in the Year of the Rat also produced a brood of
vermin in and out of government.
After 12 years as speaker, Jose de Venecia was
ousted from office. Young, idealistic first-term congressmen joined
the ouster, some saying they were not getting their pork barrel in
time. Rep. Prospero Nograles took over.
JDV immediately renewed his call for moral
reform and asked Chief Justice Reynato Puno to head his Council for
Moral Revolution, who wisely turned it down. Instead, CJ Puno and
the Supremes allowed the airing of the “Hello Garci” tape.
GMA in command
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo survived two
big rallies asking for her resignation. She marched with
Cabinet members, governors and mayors on the Palace premises and
sang with visitor Richard Carpenter in Malacanang to
show she was in command.
Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and the Catholic
Bishops Conference of the Philippines said she could stay in office
but asked her to trash EO 464. Brother Mike Velarde stayed above the
fray while Bro. Eddie Villanueva called for a snap election.
Three former presidents ganged up on the CinC.
Cory Aquino urged GMA to resign, Erap Estrada offered himself as
alternative president and Fidel V. Ramos said greed and corruption
had followed EDSA 2.
The cause of it all was the $330-million
national broadband deal that implicated the first husband and
Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos. Both denied the accusation.
Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s
key witness, was the poster boy of the month. Among other things, he
made crying in public acceptable. He turned out to be a good
wordsmith and phrasemaker.
Among his contributions to the national
vocabulary were “bubukol iyan,” “patriotic money,” “I’m
just a probinsyanong Intsik” and “moderate your greed.”
“Political noise” was a favorite headline
and the catch-phrase of the month.
New kids on the block
Seeing the potential for stardom, two more
witnesses turned up at the Senate blue ribbon hearing: Dante
Madriaga and Erwin Santos, who proved he could cry as well as Lozada.
Former NEDA boss Romulo Neri stayed in his
office at CHED, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling, to finally focus
on his priority: matching tertiary education with the needs of
industry.
A good Samaritan was deputy executive secretary
Manuel Gaite, who informed the senators that he gave Lozada, while
vacationing in Hong Kong, P500,000 “out of pity.”
The flag was still there
At the EDSA 1 anniversary rites, the flag
refused to rise, the public-address system broke down and confetti
from an aircraft fell not in shreds but in boxes. “Murphy’s
Law,” executive secretary Eduardo Ermita muttered.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda dropped the “B” word
to describe his boss. The more civil Neri called her “evil.”
Vice President Noli de Castro’s dumb joke about killing a reporter
placed him on the defensive.
The Senate found time to enact some big bills,
including the Affordable Quality Medicine Act authored by Sen. Mar
Roxas. Senate President Manny Villar wondered why the police were
putting up TV cameras on Senate premises while there was hardly any
at the NAIA arrival area.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves could not get
confirmed at the Commission on Appointments after two years trying.
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said Teves’s underlings were running
circles around him.
Visits and departures
Ambassador Kristie Kenney dropped in on MILF
chief Murad at his hideout in Mindanao. The AFP cleared an army
battalion implicated in the killing of eight civilians in Maimbung,
Sulu. The NPA uncharacteristically apologized for the death of a
businessman in Davao City.
Supreme Court associate justice Angelina
Sandoval Gutierrez retired from the judiciary. Reynaldo Berroya
finally left the Land Transportation Office, but the job went to
Alberto Suansing, not to ex-PNP chief Arturo Lomibao, earlier
appointed to the same post by President Arroyo.
We lost the famous bon vivant and culinary
trailblazer Larry J. Cruz. Philippine journalism mourned the death
of Bert Castro. The great American conservative wit and writer
William Buckley died at 82.
The Philharmonic in Pyongyang
Fidel Castro finally hanged up his fatigues in
Havana. Sen. Barack Obama won 12 straight state primaries and
caucuses to threaten Sen. Hillary Clinton’s star for the
Democratic Party nomination. Sen. John McCain loomed as the
Republican nominee. The New York Philharmonic, the world’s oldest
orchestra, performed in Pyongyang. Delighted, North Korea said it
would invite rock guitarist Eric Clapton.
The UN Development Programme ranked the
Philippines 90th in its Human Development Index, behind Malaysia but
ahead of Indonesia. The index is a composite gauge of improvements
in education, health and income.
As February ended, Lozada had a fans
club big enough to launch his candidacy for 2010 or for sainthood.
The President hadn’t signed the 2008 national appropriations bill.
The peso closed at 40.48 to the dollar amid political jitters. Oil
hit a record high of $103 per barrel. The stock market closed higher
as cautious optimism outweighed political worries.
Now comes March—the Fire Prevention Month.
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