A Business Graduate's Random Blog on History and Gossip

Today is Ninoy Aquino Day though the holiday has been moved to Friday. It's to promote the long weekend . I'm ashamed as some people continue to promote the idea that it's a "revisionist thing". Unlike Christmas, Ramadan, New Year, Chinese New Year, etc.--commemorating the death of the late Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" A. Aquino Jr. might be best called a political holiday . I would like to discuss what might remain as a mysterious murder case. There are times when crimes happen and the wrong person is caught. A crime can occur and most people will never know who masterminded it. It may be the case of Ninoy. Some day it was the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. and others say it was the late Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco. However, there hasn't been any empirical evidence to justify the claims.  I wouldn't claim to now who committed the murder. I remember growing up believing that Marcos Sr. was the one who ordered the assassination. Another person s...

People who are afraid of shifting to a parliamentary system tend to use the Marcos Years as proof. Fearmongers on Facebook are still up to their old tricks, using the Marcos Years to say, "No to cha-cha!" Never mind that a new constitution had to be written after 1986. If anything, Article XVII was inserted in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines because it was never meant to be set in stone. Also, the 1973 Constitution of the Philippines was illegal .  Here's a video of the late Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" A. Aquino Jr. and the late Salvador "Doy" Laurel. The words of Laurel here show the problem of Marcos' "parliament". Marcos' "parliament" lacked legitimacy . Where was the sporting chance of the Opposition? If it was a real parliamentary system, Ninoy would've been leading the Opposition in weekly debates against the Marcos-led government. That is if the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was the prime minister. If Cesar Vir...

  It's time to revisit one of the favorite people for people against constitutional amendments or reforms, namely Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (read here ). Yes, the same guy who was also related by marriage to Mrs. Thelma Jimenea-Chiong. Davide's school of thought is in the "uniqueness" of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines as if it's the "best constitution in the world". Davide would mention that the 1987 Constitution is the only one he knows would be the best. A shame really that Davide himself, like Kishore Mahbubani, was once a United Nations representative, and he's saying such stuff.  Article XI of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines writes this in Section 1: Section 1. Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives. Okay, I get it. However...

It's often said that the Philippines doesn't need a change in the form of governance but only a change of governance. It's really something to read the comments section of the GMA-7 Facebook page , concerning Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, where some Filipinos wish that Filipino politicians had that kind of accountability. However, they're also quick to say, "No to charter change! Only character change!" I can talk about why parliamentary systems are superior. However, some still insist that it would mean going back to reliving the horrors of the Marcos Years (all because the late dictator's son Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. is now the president from 2022 to 2024). Once again, do I need to remind people why the Marcos Years weren't under a real parliamentary? Their "proof" was in having a prime minister named Cesar Virata. However, the Philippines was still presidential, even as the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. admitted it...

The Vizconde Massacre looks like it's going to be in those cases, still Case Unclosed. Back in the 1990s, the Vizconde Massacre was one of the cases I heard while growing up. I once believed that Hubert Jeffry P. Webb was guilty. I actually wanted to see the man get the death penalty. What shocked me was that after many years, Hubert, along with Francisco Juan "Paco" G. Larrañaga, were both innocent of the crimes they were accused of! Since the crime happened in 1991, and the trial only began in 1995. Right now, it turns out that Jessica Alfaro, the "star witness" is living somewhere in Canada . The rumors of the Chiong Sisters living in Canada can't be proven. However, it's proven that Jessica is living in Canada. From the Asian Human Rights Commission , here's a summary of the Vizconde Case. Since I'm not writing this as a book report in middle school or high school, I'll paste the summary here: VIZCONDE MASSACRE CASE: This case is about th...

CDN Digital, for illustrative purposes only A weekend morning drive can be ruined by rude motorcycle drivers. I encountered two motorcycles and a helmet on the site. I was on my way to IT Park and I found them. A CCTO officer was there, doing some recording. The offenders were probably taken somewhere either for settlement or to the hospital. There was no sight of blood. However, after I hit a motorcycle making a slow turn or tend to be accident-prone, the latest scene still left me speechless. It's not the first time I've been into that but I always felt like, "We'd have fewer accidents if it wasn't for people like them!"  In 2019, I also remember driving home at 9:30 P.M. after attending an evening party at what used to be the JCentre Mall. I remember seeing a person with a dislocated leg from a motorcycle accident. Sure, it wasn't my fault but my blood froze in a figurative sense. It was because the incident happened after I accidentally hit two people ...

I could remember the controversial Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) controversy. The late Antonio L. Sanchez was supposedly qualified but that was later denied by former president Rodrigo R. Duterte. Right now, it creates a case of curiosity if Antonio is truly innocent or guilty. Some criminals can lie to the public about their non-involvement such as what the late Leo Echegaray did. However, others were wrongfully accused like Hubert Jeffry P. Webb and Francisco Juan "Paco" G. Larrañaga. In the case of Hubert and Paco, there were witnesses to back it up that they couldn't have done the crime. Criminal investigations can get really messy. As mentioned earlier, Hubert and Paco were both innocent . There are cases where a crime happens and the wrong people are caught. There are cases where a crime happens and the right people are caught. In the case of the late Eileen Sarmenta, her parents immediately recognized the body. Antonio alleged that Kit Alqueza, the former boyf...

  Today is the second death anniversary of the greatest president the Philippines had, the late Fidel V. Ramos. It's just fortunate that even if I was on one spectrum and some were called Dilawan--some of the Dilawans agreed with me on Ramos as a good leader, and the need to update the constitution. However, that wasn't the case back then. Having been born in 1985--that means that I passed through a Marcos presidency as an infant to one year old, and Ramos' reign lasted from June 30, 1992, up to June 30, 1998. That means I would be six years old by 1992. As a 1990s child, I grew up mostly under Ramos' presidency.  I have memories of studying Civics & Culture for the first three years in Tagalog. We were taught that the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. ruled the Philippines for 20 years and it was the darkest years of the Philippines. If I can recall correctly, Ramos began to call for the need for charter change when I was 9-10 years old. A lot of fearmongering came from...

  Some time ago, I wrote about Atty. Hilario Davide is considered a hero by diehard 1987 Constitution apologists . Now, it's time to dig into what I call the Monsodian dialectic. A dialectic is "the art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions". I'd like to remind people that just because I'm not an economist (which Winnie Monsod is) or I'm no lawyer (like Atty. Christian Monsod), doesn't mean that their mistakes are automatically right, and I can't write where I'm wrong. The stand of the Monsods, maybe even until death do they part, is that there's no need to need to amend the 1987 Constitution. Instead, the usual argument, according to the Monsodian Dialectic, is that we can never blame the charter for the Philippines' ills. If that's the case then how will the Monsodian Dialectic, even answer  Article XVII  which says: Section 1. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by: (1) The Congress, upo...