President Noy’s televised address to the nation Wednesday night in defense of the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) was a superb way of reaching the people.
Whoever thought of it was a genius.
The President’s speech reached a large number of the population as it was made on prime time, when almost everyone watches television.
The speech was well written and suited P-Noy’s populist style.
It was quite convincing, much like the fireside chat with the American people by Franklin Delano Roosevelt from the White House during the dark days of the Great Depression.
Methinks the President was able to convey the message that his release of the DAP was aboveboard and made to boost the nation’s economy.
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Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has filed charges of malversation against Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., the first time President Noy’s uncle was charged with a crime.
During the time of the President’s mother, Cory Cojuangco-Aquino, when Peping held sway, such a thing was unthinkable.
Nobody in government would have dared file a case against Peping Cojuangco.
Cojuangco is out of the loop in the Second Aquino Administration.
Rumors have it the President didn’t like what Peping and his wife, Tingting, did during his mother’s watch.
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Janet Lim-Napoles, alleged pork barrel scam artist, lost her star lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, because she didn’t follow the latter’s advice.
When Napoles appeared before the Inquirer editors who grilled her and extracted so much information from her, it was against the advice of Kapunan.
Kapunan, a brilliant trial lawyer, could have pulled her hair (figuratively, of course) as she read the series of articles on the Inquirer’s front page on the results of her client’s interview with this newspaper.
That was apparently followed by other pieces of advice from Kapunan which Napoles ignored in favor of the advice coming from her other lawyers.
Too many lawyers will eventually spoil Napoles’ chances of being acquitted.
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I heard rumors Napoles went to the Inquirer editorial office to try to persuade editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc to stop further publication of the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
She thought she could have a woman-to-woman talk with Magsanoc—if you know what I mean—and didn’t expect that other editors, reporters and columnists were waiting for her.
Napoles got herself into a trap and couldn’t get out.
The interview with the editors, columnists and reporters turned into an investigation that extracted information damaging to Napoles.
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During the siege in Zamboanga City by the Moro National Liberation Front, government soldiers entered the American Career Training Institute on Veterans Avenue to set up a command center in the school.
The school, which trains students for accreditation with the government’s Tesda (Technical, Education and Skills Development Authority), is on the third floor of the Safaya Building.
After the siege, the school administration found the school ransacked and vandalized.
The school’s owners, Kenneth Michael and Norida Patrick, want the Armed Forces to pay for the damage and loss of equipment.