Skip to main content

The Chiong Sisters Case Muddled by the Philippines' RAMBUNCTIOUS PRESS?

Here's a clip of the late Carlos P. Celdran and Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. from Michael Collins' YouTube channel. Until now, I still wonder if the director of that awful film Animal (2004) namely Federico "Toto" Natividad Jr. was also there during the Cinemalaya premiere. The film Animal (2004) was once entitled Butakal: Sugapa sa Laman in 1999, meaning Male Pig: Drunkard in Body. This clip talks about just how the whole media frenzy caused a double miscarriage of justice.  

Celdran, a known reformist and vocal anti-Duterte critic, voiced out the unethical making of a Maalaala Mo Kaya episode. Did I miss something back in the 1990s? All I remember was broadcasting an episode in The Calvento Files. Until now, the ABS-CBN YouTube channel hasn't uploaded it. How both Marty Syjuco and Collins got some clips of the film isn't specifically said. I believe Marty and Michael went to the late Tony Calvento, asked for his permission, and were given permission. I believe that Calvento was even interviewed during the making of Give Up Tomorrow. Marty was a brother-in-law of Paco Larrañaga's older sister, Mimi Larrañaga-Syjuco. However, there was more objectivity in it than the awful film Jacqueline Comes Home. Do we forget that Thelma Jimenea-Chiong was also related to the presidential secretary Cheryl Jimenea, and to the wife of Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr.? 

Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. gives a totally different view here, from what was seen in Give Up Tomorrow (read updated here). Like many others, Locsin was misled to believe that Paco was guilty. Locsin gives what I believe is a heartfelt apology to Paco, the same thing that Niño Muhlach did years later. I wondered why Niño said sorry to Paco, many years later. It was because Niño portrayed Paco in that episode of The Calvento Files. I even learned that Paco was innocent several years after Give Up Tomorrow was released. I never even knew he was transferred to Spain or there was a run for him. It was all because I concluded that Paco was guilty, that's it.

The problem with Trial by Publicity reveals a lot of stuff. The late Lee Kuan Yew said this in his book From Third World to First:

Ramos knew well the difficulties of trying to govern with strict American-style separation of powers. The senate had already defeated Mrs. Aquino's proposal to retain the American bases. The Philippines had a rambunctious press but it did not check corruption. Individual press reporters could be bought, as could many judges.

LKY was still alive at that time. I'm afraid the book From Third World to First has been made unavailable because of sentiments towards the late Flor Contemplacion. It's upsetting how LKY is often mentioned against the Marcoses but the rest of his good advice is often ignored. LKY was right to call the Philippine press to be rambunctious. How can anti-reform people expect the media is "enough" to check on corruption--it can be easily bought as could many judges? LKY doesn't give advice from an ivory tower. LKY has given good economic advice. Two Communist countries took the advice and became richer. What's so sad is the Philippines didn't take LKY's advice. Not only did the economics not do much--the justice system was so badly done.

With the truth coming out all the more, it's only fair that the badly written movie called Jacqueline Comes Home flops. Not only did not give justice to the family of the bereaved (and please don't believe the claims that the two sisters are still alive)--it also continued to insist on the same narrative. The first four suspects already had their bad records. Paco and Josman Aznar admitted to being bad boys. James Anthony and James Andrew, the Uy brothers, were also known to be troublemakers. However, let's not give people a fault that isn't theirs. However, with the power of media, that's possible especially with a public crying out for justice too soon, without considering that, "There's still due process!" 

Popular posts from this blog

Hilario Davide Jr.'s Still Quoted by Anti-Constitutional Reform Fools on Social Media

  People can falsely accuse me of colonial mentality because I've been quoting Kishore Mahbuban over Hilario G. Davide. I'm really sorry to say but I'm seeing various Facebook posts like La Verite (and the Pinocchio really fits it ), the Rule of Law Sentinel, Silent No More PH, and many more anti-reform Facebook pages (and very ironic too) quote Davide Jr. a lot. It's straightforward to say that Davide Jr. has been the favorite source of such people. An old man with a toga (who blocked me) also often quoted Davide Jr. Also, Davide Jr. turned 88 years old last December 20. I wish I had written this earlier but sometimes it's better late than never. In my case, it's better never late.  Davide Jr. also mentioned that the 1987 Constitution is "the best in the world". It's easy to spew out words but can he defend his claims? One of his old statements went like this: It’s not change of structures, [whether] it would be federalism or parliamentary. It is...

Mahatma Gandhi's Use of Tax Evasion, as a Form of Protest?

The 40th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA Revolution came last month. Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" A. Aquino Jr. said these words: "According to Gandhi, the willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful answer to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God and man." Basically, EDSA 1986 can't claim to be all too unique. Ninoy had made Gandhi an inspiration. The dictatorship of the First Marcos Administration may be over . However, the Philippines is still stuck in another dictatorship called the dictatorship of the Filipino First Policy . It does sound stupid, but even without Marcos or foreign colonization (please stop mistaking foreign investment with foreign invasion ), there's still some oppression to fight. You can think about decades of overly high taxes and restrictions on foreign investments.  Now, we need to look at the historical context in which Gandhi's "tax evasion" occurred. According to a Jagran Josh   article written by ...

Facts vs. Gossip: The "Chona Mae" Incident is Proof You NEED to Verify What You Hear

It was in 2012 when the Chona Mae incident happened. I remember the panic when people were running the opposite direction while I was working at Downtown, Cebu. The traffic was bad. People were panikcing. But the real twist? It was actually a father looking for his daughter, whose identity we may never know.  The Cebu Daily News   said this last 2022, which was before entering the post-COVID world: CEBU CITY, Philippines — It has been a decade since the famous “Chona Mae” line was uttered by a father looking for her daughter after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Cebu, February 6, 2012 .  From what was a simple call of a father to his daughter turned out to be the biggest tsunami scare in Cebu City.  “Ang tubig naa na sa Colon!” ("The Water is already in Colon!") was the line that has gotten everyone running on the street of Cebu looking for shelters up in the mountain parts of Cebu.  Today, we remember that frightful yet somehow funny day that w...

The EDSA Revolution of 1986 Would've Never Happened if People were Stuck in Nostalgia

  It's something that I read crybaby comments online where people are saying, "Making EDSA a special working day is making us forget the glory of EDSA." Please, let me remind people that even 10 years later , neither the late Lee Kuan Yew's birthday nor his death anniversary has become a national holiday in Singapore! Singapore simply honored LKY's birthday by working on that day. I was laughing at the toxic Facebook page called We Are Millennials. What truly made me think that these people are stuck in nostalgia is that EDSA 1986 would never have been possible if the Filipinos were stuck in nostalgia . I remember talks about how the first Marcos administration was built on these two pillars. The first pillar was information control . The other pillar was toxic positivity. I remember back in 1995 when the social studies teacher talked about how he thought that Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was a "good president" due to the long holidays. However, the holidays ...

BRUTAL Truth: Stop HOPING for Another "PNoy-Like President" Because the Parliamentary System will Produce MUCH BETTER Leaders

Let me get this straight, I'm not here to totally dismiss the good that the late Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" C. Aquino III did. I'll try to be least biased  when I'm writing this to "give a shock" to those who tend to treat his term as a "magical time". However, I'm going to have to warn people about the problem of looking for "another Messiah leader". Yesterday was the would've been 66th birthday of Noynoy if he were alive. One can talk good about Noynoy's legacy. However, we need to realize that relying on Noynoy's term is a violation of the Mahathir Mohamad principle of "Never stop learning."  We need to think that there's only one Noynoy and when he died, he died . TV-5 reveals that Rep. Edgar Erice, a long-time friend of the late leader, also said the following: Caloocan City 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice made the remark in a social media post marking Aquino’s 66th birth anniversary.  In the post, he co...