Congressman Jose de Venecia was ousted as Speaker of the House just after midnight today, Tuesday, February 5, 2008, and Congressman Prospero Nograles was elected Speaker in his place. What makes this ironic is that, in an earlier (failed) attempt to unseat JDV and install another Prospero (this one a lettuce, er, Pichay, what's with the Shakespearean names anyway?!?) in his place, Nograles reportedly claimed that JDV was his friend and that he would not "do a Brutus" on his friend.

Huh.


"Et tu, Brute?" Caesar gasped after being stabbed by the person he considered his friend in the Roman Senate.

What makes me snort (as in smoke coming out of my nose) is that on Monday morning, on my way to work, I heard over the radio (I think it was DZRH), one of the commentators in one of those "tambalan" programs say that JDV's goose was cooked since there already had been a celebratory dinner at the Arroyo house in QC the night before, complete with everybody slapping everybody else on the back and offering toasts all round. Wow. Talk of being sure of yourself. Well, they must've been pretty sure of their 174 votes if they were celebrating as early as Sunday evening. The commentator went on to speculate how much money changed hands and where it was from (kalahating milyon na naman?). Wow naman. Buti pa sila, ang lalaki na nga ng suweldo, marami pang perks of the job, tapos binibigyan pa ng kalahating milyon. Samantalang ang taong bayan, kumakayod ng kumakayod, halos kulang pa nga pambuhay ng pamilya, kinakaltasan pa ng kung gaano kalaking buwis. I wouldn't be so bitter about the taxes if it went to something tangible for the people. The problem is, we already know that most of the taxes we pay go into somebody's pocket and we get only the dregs as government services! Hello! Then I see that half-assed advertisement that mars my enjoyment of Channel 9's C/S shows-- "umunlad ang aking buhay" daw, pwe. So are we supposed to be grateful for government services? Hello ulit! Binayaran namin yan sa buwis na kinakaltas n'yo sa amin kada buwan! Wala kaming dapat na utang na loob sa inyo para sa serbisyo na binibigay ninyo dahil karapatan namin yan bilang mamamayan ng Pilipinas! Pwede tama na tong hacendero mentality na to?

That's what I call this sort of thing: hacendero mentality. I think historians and sociologists would also call it the "datu" system. You know, parang peon sa asyenda, kumakayod ng kumakayod para gumanda ang buhay ng hacendero, tapos kailangan pang mangutang sa hacendero at tanawin pa na utang ng loob yun, samantalang kung tutuusin yung serbisyong naibigay na nila ay hamak na mas mataas na ang halaga kaysa "utang" na yun. We Pinoys should've had enough of thinking that we are worthless, or that we are worth less than those whatevers that we often see on TV yelling at one another in Congress over who's going to get what. Kaya nga popular representation tawag dun eh. They are just our delegates! We put them there! So when we need something from them, we shouldn't think that they're going to do us a favor, because we are entitled to their services, damn it!

Anyway, ranting again. It's the result of reading Katherine Mayo's book "Isles of Fear: The Truth About the Philippines" on top of the ouster in the House. This book (published 1924) will be available on Filipiniana.net soon, so watch for it. Maaasar kang matatawang maiiyak. Tapos mapapaisip ka, is there a difference between what is depicted in the book and what is happening nowadays? Granted, exag ang book, not to mention the decidedly biased American viewpoint of the author, but if you disregard the pontification on how America is better and look at the facts and incidents as depicted, baka masabi mong nangyayari pa rin hanggang sa ngayon. Ang tanong: bakit walang nagbago? Ang sagot: aba, ewan. Tanong mo kaya sa mga unnamables sa Kongreso?

Where was I? Ah yes, the ouster. Nag-abstain si Darlene (Congresswoman namin) kaya no comment na rin ako sa mga nangyayari. Dog-eat-dog ang labanan --- so what's new? Bakit ako kakampi sa isa sa kanila, eh pare-pareho lang naman ang mga lintok, pinag-agawan na naman ang liderato para kung may gusto silang ipasa o ilusot, may backer na naman sila. Para malakas ang kapit. Oy, mahiya naman kayo sa mga taong bayan na naglagak sa inyo sa puwesto, gumawa naman kayo ng para sa kanila at yung hindi para sa mga sarili nyo! Kundi, mas gugustuhin na lang namin na mag-ubusan na kayo at ng mapalitan na! Peste!

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