The Ong Incident

So if I’m understanding the current situation in the Philippines correctly, here was the strategy, from my own paranoid musings:

The Marcos/Erap-funded underground opposition attempted to pass off a new round of [faked / illegal] wiretap recordings as “proof” of the Arroyo family’s involvement in jueteng kickbacks and election fraud, via martyr whistleblower Samuel Ong’s highly dramatized public exposé to the media. “Warm bodies” intimidation was provided by by the crowd of easily manipulated Erap/FPJ fans on “vigil” outside Ong’s sanctuary, San Carlos Seminary in Guadalupe. When the authorities came in to arrest Ong, the crowd, enraged by the perceived attempt to suppress evidence of the First Family’s corruption, would form the nucleus of another EDSA rally. The resulting uprising would sweep Gloria from office — by resignation or by surrender to “people power” — and reseat Erap, in a dramatic power grab similar to the same one which ousted him four years ago.

The plot does not seem to have worked.

Like “Edsa III,” none of this seems to have been very well-planned. Divisiveness within the opposition, coupled with “people power fatigue” and a hungry, unmotivated, exhausted lower class, has doomed every one of the loyalist power-grab attempts to failure. So far.

From here on, I will forever associate the Toyota Altis with Samuel Ong and the NBI.

Does someone have a list of attempted power grabs and destabilization plots by the Erap/Marcos underground from “Edsa III” to the “Ong Incident?”

More from Dan Mariano, PCIJ, Sassy Lawyer, Willie Galang, ExpectoRANTS, Pinoy Press, By Jove, and Manuel Quezon III.

BTW, Arroyo and her family need to resign ASAP, IMHO. LOL.

Book Meme

Meme via Aelki.

(I bought this bamboo-and-rattan folding bookcase for $10 from a moving sale on Capitol Hill. It was only a year later that I found the “Made in the Philippines” sticker on its side, though I should have figured it out from the quality craftwork.)

Number of books I own:

About 75, I think, not counting the couple of dozen novels I left back in Manila. Most of those were old Star Trek novels, though, which I no longer really care much for. My comics are also not counted.

Last purchased book(s):

Since my “to-read” list in recent years has been growing faster than my reading rate, I’ve been holding myself back, and haven’t actually purchased any books for several months — though I occasionally do grab interesting stuff from the “for free” tables at bazaars and yard sales. The last book I bought (re-bought, actually; to replace a lost copy) was Bruce Sterling’s Involution Ocean. The last two free books were: John Toland’s biography of Adolf Hitler and The Complete Pelican Shakespeare. (I assume “Pelican” was William’s odd brother or something.) Both books were stacked on the table in the laundry room, where the apartment people usually leave free stuff.

Last re-read:

The aforementioned Involution Ocean.

Five books for a desert island:

Bible, English Standard Version. Complete Chronicles of Narnia, paperback. Any compilation of the complete works of Shakespeare. A traditional Baptist Hymnal. Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook (preferably Desert Island Edition).

Book I’d thwack someone on the head with:

Conquering Your Migraine.

Book I’d like to burn:

L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics.

Book that is overrated:

The Da Vinci Code.

Fun classics:

Far From the Madding Crowd, Under The Greenwood Tree, From The Earth to the Moon and a Trip Around It, Gulliver’s Travels.

Last book read:

Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation (which I got cheap secondhand from Beth).

Five people that I tag to answer these and (optionally) take a photo of their bookcase:

Gideon, Valerie, Sara, Rowie, and Wyclif. (Yeah, that’s right: Wyclif. I call thee back out of the mists of time. ARISE!)

Addendum: Oh fine, if not Wyclif, my backup tag-ee is Sparticus.

Addendum to the Addendum: Valerie has her hands full too, so I’m passing this along to Mike-E instead.

Gloria Resign?

Remember the days of “Erap Resign?” Those days are back, as the “Gloria Resign” cries approach their peak, with the Philippines facing yet another classic case of “Meet the new leader, same as the old.” Embroiled in accusations of electoral fraud, low approval ratings, shaky public support, and with family members implicated in illegal gambling rackets, the office of the Philippine President once again exemplifies the cliché: “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.”

If Gloria actually does resign, and snap elections are called, I fully expect the following to immediately declare their candidacy: Nene, Ping, Miriam, and of course, Imelda.

Nothing changes.

Update, 07/08/2004: “Gloria Resign” Calls Intensifying. Nothing changes.

Hillsong United/Reuben Morgan Spam

Why no, “Ultradust,” I’d never heard of Hillsong United or Reuben Morgan (note: nofollow applied to link) before, until you pasted your unsolicited promotion into my comments (now deleted and blacklisted), for tickets to a concert I can’t even go to since it’s in the Philippines and I’m in Washington, DC. What did you do: just google for Filipino Christian blogs which you assumed would all be in Metro Manila? Thanks a lot; now whenever someone mentions Hillsong United, and Reuben Morgan to me, I’ll think of clueless weblog comment spam before anything else. What a great mental association to form.

Also see Spamhuntress on “Christian” spam. More in this entry’s comments.

RIP Teddy Benigno

Filipino journalism lost a venerable institution last week, with the death of Teddy Benigno, most recently known as the Philstar columnist, but also AFP Manila Bureau Chief from 1962 to 1987, and Cory Aquino’s Press Secretary from 1987 to 1989. I’ve quoted from Teddy Benigno heavily when commenting on current events in the Philippines, and though I would later be at odds with his constantly dire “social volcano” predictions, I still respected him as a wonderfully accomplished and eloquent journalist. He will be missed.

More from Pinay New Yorker, Amando Doronilla, Neal H. Cruz, and Max Soliven via Pinoypress.net

Deep Throat

Deep What? What Throat? I hadn’t been born yet when Watergate happened; I grew up in the Philippines, and the only reason I knew about Nixon when I was a kid was from seeing Rich Little’s Nixon-as-Jacob-Marley parody of him in Rich Little’s Christmas Carol. My whole experience of those days has been limited to just: (1) the looming sense of shadowy history whenever I walk by the Watergate Hotel, (2) that short scene in Forrest Gump when he calls in about the people in the office with their flashlights, and now, of course, (3) all the Deep Throat news coverage from W. Mark Felt’s recent revelation that he was the informant.

I guess I’ll need to read up on the Watergate Scandal in Wikipedia and rent a copy of All the President’s Men to keep up with the times. Other people appear to have had the same idea.

Lightning over DC

Thunderstorm (7 June 2005)

Really nasty storm tonight: at times the lightning flashes were so frequent that the night was more filled with a continuous electric strobe than it was with darkness, and the thunder was a continuous rumble. I sat by the window with my camera, taking videos and stills. At one point, an especially bright arc was followed by puffs of smoke from where the Capitol Dome would be if I could see it.

My camera, unfortunately, was rarely fast enough to catch the closest, most beautiful strokes. Still, it was worth watching the show. Here were the best lightning photos I managed to snap:

Lightning over DC
Lightning over DC