Former President Fidel V. Ramos:

While the law may not require that she quit her post, Ramos said Mrs. Arroyo should step down in order to level the playing field in the congressional race in Pampanga’s 2nd district. “But can you imagine the fairness of it all?

You, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, chief executive with the power of appointment and removal; head of state, head of the government; director of the national budget, including the pork barrel, will run against this little lady here who is an ordinary engineer from Porac or a little mayor… or this guy here.

A sitting President running for a local elective position not only raises the question of “equal protection of the law” and “equal opportunity; it also diminishes the stature of the presidency.

You must be seen by the world, not just by the second district of Pampanga, as acting for the national interest of the republic,” he said, adding that Mrs. Arroyo’s running also erases the value of “unselfishness in public service.

I do not believe Mrs. Arroyo can campaign for her congressional bid and faithfully fulfill her duties as the country’s chief executive at the same time. The presidency is a “full-time job” and requires work for “25 hours a day and eight days a week. As president, maybe you are juggling at least 10 hot potatoes which are national problems and even international developments all at the same time like a juggler.”

Mrs. Arroyo’s  has made “50 visits in Pampanga” while ignoring other provinces, including Maguindanao.

The massacre could not have happened if the President had taken more seriously the situation in the southern province.

I think as President you must know how to focus on certain things, distribute your time, save your energy for the most important devastating problems that could infringe on our national society.

Quite predictably Malacanang through the lap-doggisd elecion lawyer named Romulo Malalintal is pooh-poohing FVR ’s call.

And I suspect even the rapibly anti GMA are muttering that they’ve hear Ramos’ song before.

So I ask FVR, have you had an epihany dear Sir?

Is your statement a nudge to certain elements of civil society and even the restive military, and police?

Pray tell us if your words  presage actiion?

Call me biased, jaded or simply stupid.

But reading the report from the COMELEC that  99 individuals have filed Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) to run for President comes like a slap on my sensibilities.

Don’t get me wrong.

I do not presume to have the ability to  peer into the hearts of the wannabes.

Now there is  the newly promulgate Supreme Court decision says appointed public officials do not have to resign if they file COCs.

In fact, even the honourable Secretary of Justice is taking advantage of the SC ruling.
But I cannot, fopr the life of me, banish the thought that not a few of the wannabees are running ‘just-for-the-fund –of-it.

Yes, no typo there: JUST-FOR THE-FUND-OF- IT.

I’m not saying those candidates holding public office will raid the public coffers or parlay their office to exert undue advantage over their rivals but that’s a distinctkt ominous po possibility, isn’t it?

JUST-FOR-THE-FUND-OF -IT.

Yes, by way of milking targeted campaign contributors in exchange for implied favors if and when with the wannabees to get elected.

Let’s not think about just those appointed public officials in the civilians agencies of government.
How about those in the military?

What grates is how even or court of last resort is the willing accomplice in this enterprise: RUNING FOR PUBLIC OFFICE JUST FOR THE FUND OF IT!!!

This is without doubt a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER.

I hate writing this, wasting space and bandwidth to condemn sycophants and their masters who think nothing of the widely known sentiments of Filipinos.

They must alternately think their God’s gift to the Philippines or that we’re dumb:

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo:

Mga kababayan, lubos na karangalan at pribilehiyo para sa akin ang maglingkod sa sa taumbayang Pilipino bilang pangulo. Gumawa ako ng malalaking pagtulong… sa ekonomiya, edukasyon, ugnayang pandaigdigan, at paglikha ng trabaho.

While I am very much looking forward to stepping down as president at the end of my term, I am mulling different ways to stay involved. Tiningnan ko ang pagbalik sa pagturo; I also studied working with nonprofit organizations on issues ranging from the environment to women’s issues. After much contemplation I realized I am not ready to step down completely from public service.

As you all know, I have been asked by the citizens of my home district in Pampanga to stay on in public life), so after much soul-searching, I have decided to respond affirmatively to their call.

To that end, I will file my candidacy for Congress in order to serve the hardworking people of my home province.

Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo:

I sacrificed”another term in Congress to yield to the clamor of his constituents who my mother to take my place. I was the one who insisted she run for Congress as we believe she is more [able] to serve better given her political expertise and technological know how.

Administration standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro Jr. :

I am focused on my own candidacy… her plan doesn’t mean anything to me because it’s a decision made by the President.

All I have left to say is this:

If GMA does become a member of Congress and then Speaker, the event will be such an abomination.

The heat is on.

Not only on the kingpin political clan of the Ampatuans of Maguindanao but on the waning regime of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The government of the day has long had the Ampatuans as its not-so-secret weapon for its dagdag-bawas/ zero-ang- kalaban electoral ‘victories’ dating back to 2004, plus it’s anti-MILF/anti Abu Sayyaf all-pupose private army requirements down South.

For so long the Ampatuans have held and controlled the so-called balance of power-cum-terror in the Autonomous region of Muslim Mindanao.

Yesterday, the Ampatuans rallied thousands of their supporters at their stronghold town of  Sharik Aguak, as the Associated Press reported:

Thousands of followers rallied outside while Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of a Muslim autonomous region, told reporters his family has hired a battery of lawyers to defend his brother, who has been detained as the main suspect in the Nov. 23 massacre.

Ampatuan said he and his father, who have also been linked to the savage killings condemned worldwide, were innocent.

He appealed to the public to respect the law and not prejudge his brother, adding he will resist a plan by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s interior secretary to suspend him and other officials of the vast autonomous region that he heads.

“We have been prejudged,” Ampatuan told more than a dozen journalists in his family’s mansion in Shariff Aguak township, capital of the predominantly Muslim province of Maguindanao, about 545 miles (880 kilometers) south of Manila.

In a demonstration of support, about 30 town mayors from the region trooped to the Ampatuans’ heavily fortified residence to stand with the beleaguered clan. About 2,000 followers, many of them young people, held a noisy rally outside, chanting “long live the Ampatuans.”

The event is portentious for Manila.

Will the Ampatuaans lie protrate aas they are now pummeled political?

Or will shortly be forced to ‘tell all’ about the wholesale electoral cheating actotovities they are suspected of being involved in for the Arroyo regime?

But the equation is changing with the Amptuans embroiled neck deep in the November  23 massacre that left 64 dead in the worst case of mass murder in Philippine political history.

It its best to leave to our court system (no matter how imperfect) the task of determining determine of the guilt or innocence of the suspects.

But what is troubling to this writer and other quarters, is how indeed the political landscape in changing down South as the elections draw  near.

This is because of the fact that if the Ampatuans are now too hot to handle for the Arroyo regime, in whose hands will the job of ‘operating  the cheat machine’ go?

In  his private citizen capacity, the former defense secretary and now administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential bet Gilbert Teodoro made a show of personally escorting the still-grieving Bunuan, Maguindanao vice mayor Ismael Mangudadatu in filing his candidacy bid, in direct challenge to the re-election bid of Andal Ampatuan Senior.

Nothing wrong there, right?

But we must not forget that in the 3 years that he was defense secretary Mr. Teodoto himself did nothing to disarm the warlorda of Mindanao: the Ampatuans, the Dimaporos, Sinsuats, and yes, the Mangudadatus.

Why now after his own negligence and indifference is Mr. Teodoro seemingly riding on the Filipino public’s anguish and anger over the massacre of the innocents???

Why is it that the Arroyo regime after reaping the benefits from the vaunted Ampatuans’ ‘command vote power in the South are now dumping the clan and replacing them with new warlords eager to become the preeminent kingpins in both Sultan Kudarat and M aguindanao?

The honorable Pax Mangudadatu is the lone congressman of Sultan Kudarat after    being its governor for 9 years.

He was succeeded by son Teng Mangudadatu.

Now their relatives in Maguindanao want to take over from the Ampatuans
Curiously people remember Teng Mangudadatu was himself mentioned by Commissioer Virggilio Garcillano in the infamous ‘Hello Garci’ tapes as being involved in his poll cheating operations.

Sources requesting anonymity have shared this further tale:

Allegedly at around midnight on June 19, 2009 Mayor Sajid Gaguil Mangudadatu of Pandag, Maguindanao intruded into a “peaceful meeting at the home of his vice mayor Piang Adam, Jr.

“For no apparent reason, the Adam household was peppered with automatic weapons fire and rifle-launched grenades, resulting in the death of vice mayor Adam’s brother in law Rogelio Tano and the burning of the Adam home.”

The incident has been blamed, my sources said, on the group ‘Buaya sa Lanao’ allegedly headed by Mayor Mangudadatu.

“Even the local police were unable to respond because Mayor Sajid Mangudadatu and hius men went to the police station and disarmed the station commander,” my sources recount.

Does Mr. Gilbert Teodoro know this and is he now party to the shift in the balance of power in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, as his ally, DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno holds court in the region as empowered by their Commander In Chief?

The plot has thickened.

1st Update:

9 days after the maccrre, authorities filed not 7 but 25 counyts of murder against Ampatuan Jr.

But it may just be that a stage is unfolding for justice to be waylaid.

Even Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera says she’s receive death threats while state prosecutors in Cotabato City have gome on leave, fearing their safety.

ABS-CBN is also repoting:

The Ampatuans are asking the Supreme Court to stop “warrantless arrests” that could be conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against any member of their family in connection with the Ampatuan massacre.
Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, his son Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and six other Ampatuans filed a petition before the SC seeking the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining government authorities from arresting them without a warrant considering that no preliminary investigation had been afforded them for their “supposed complicity” in the Maguindao massacre.
Other petitioners in the case are Norodin “Nord Ampatuan” Datumanong, Akmad Ampatuan, Saudi Ampatuan, Jr., Bahnarin Ampatuan, Jr., Sajid Islam Ampatuan, and Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan, Sr.

This must be the biggest ‘smoking gun’: the backhoe of the Maguindanao provincial government that was used in the most gruesome crime this country has ever witnessed.

Quite surrealistically, it was also this backhoe that crime scene investigators had to use last week to dig out the corpus delicti: the very bodies of the massacre victims, along with several of their crumpled ‘death vehicles’.

I am far away here in Manila but my stomach still turned when these images of mutilated bodies mechanically fished out by the back hoe came to light!

The names of two men top the list of witnesses-cum-suspects police investigators still have not found: Hanid Delayudin and Efren Macanas.

They have been variously tagged as ‘duty back hoe operators on the day of the Satanic crime, November 23, 2009.

But are they still alive or in hiding.

ABS-CBN reported Friday that the relatives of Macanas had received a text message from him, but no one really knows for sure if this is authentic.

The backhoe undoubtedly is the most material piece of evidence in this case.

It surely won’t fit in any court room soon, but this one key to resolving that insane crime.

It’s a slow news day so you can probably forgive the COMELEC  for allowing the survey leading Liberal Party to literally take over the offices of the constitutional elections regulatory body.

No matter, too, that the only ‘ competing’ event on cable TV was the live Mrs. World beauty pageant from Vietnam.

But this ho hum Saturday saw the LP  Tandem of Senators Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas formally become candidates for the land’s highest elective offices, with 7 of their 8 senatorial candidates in tow, beaming widely for the news cams for their Kodak moments.

Don’t scoff.

You could very well be witnessing messrs Aquino and Roxas taking over from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her corruption-prone team Filipinos are so itching to bid good riddance to.

I guess it must only be coincidental that as I write this, the lead story on ABS-CBN News Online recaps Sen. Aquino’s denial on TV Patrol of that still undead canard of his being autism.

I consider that issue as the cheapest shot black prop operators have thrown in the path of the leading presidential aspirant.

What we must now seem hear, and understand from Mr. Aquino is how he does intend to bring us real change drawing from his parents’ heroic legacy.

He must, for his sake and ours, unconvinced doubters that the emerging trapo-style deal-making and campaign tactics of his handlers in the LP will be a preview of a Noynoy Aquino presidency.

What this writer is actually getting excited, and inspired about, is the likelihood of Mar Roxas becoming Vice President.

This is one act that will bring us an active vice president, one who’s not just going to be a compliant ‘yes’ man beside an unexciting President.

Never mind the other vice presidential wannabees.

Mar Roxas is it, in my book.

In fairness to the entire LP ticket, Sen. Aquino’s blog now carries the LP ‘Credo’:

Our Common Credo
A government, based on core values of transparency, personal and institutional integrity, honesty, and good governance, is a goal we must all share. To achieve this goal, we must unite based on shared principles.
We therefore present this Credo to the Filipino People so that our basis for unity is clear and unequivocal. These are our guiding principles in approaching the perils and problems of our society as elected officials, and we hold ourselves accountable to each other and the public to uphold these principles in the campaign and in office.
We believe that our democracy is best maintained, as it was restored, by the ways of democracy.
We believe that true change can be achieved only through peaceful means.
We believe that the first step towards prosperity and progress for all is for all sectors and classes to discuss our differences reasonably and with goodwill.
We believe that grievances that cause rebellion will not be solved by purely military solutions; and furthermore only a more equitable distribution of power and opportunity will enable peace to reign in our hearts and homes.
We therefore believe we must strive for a genuine national reconciliation founded on justice, even at the cost of our individual political self-interest.
We strongly believe that Social Justice is our common birthright: the working person must be given his just and rightful share of the fruits of his labor, and that to the owners and managers must be restored a regime of laws that are fair and not discriminatory.
We believe true national unity is possible if we commit ourselves to the rights and freedoms enshrined in our Bill of Rights.
We believe that if we Filipinos are secure in our rights and freedoms, we will all be motivated to live up to our duties and obligations as citizens.
We believe that a President, in order to be able to inspire and to lead, must possess the fundamental requirement of a genuine mandate from the people.
We believe that the presidency is an institution that only works, if both the president and those affiliated with the administration recognize they only hold that office temporarily.
This means, too, that we must lead by example; insisting on integrity not only for ourselves but all our appointees; upholding meritocracy in the bureaucracy; and believing in, and insisting on, the supremacy of the civilian over the military always.
We shall not hide from debate, suppress the mechanisms for the redress of grievances, or thwart the participation of the public in the formulation of policy.
We believe cynicism corrupts and corrodes our ability to dream and work for a better nation for ourselves and for our children.
We believe we must maintain at all times an unshakeable faith in the Filipino.
For these reasons, we commit to this Credo. We have each taken different roads to reach this point; but henceforth, we will be together because we are confident that we will be in lock step with the Filipino People.

http://noypipol.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/noynoy-aquino-and-mar-roxas-credo/

For the first time in 4-and-a-half days it appears there could be responsible handling of that Satanic incident in Maguindanao that claimed 64 innocent civilian lives, including up to 18 working journalists.

In credible fashion, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno revealed that four Maguindanao policemen holding senior ranks are under arrest for the massacre .

He also declared that “there is no appeasement” for the implicated senior members of the politically-powerful, including Andal Ampatuan Jr. who submitted himself to the custody of presidential troubleshooter Jesus Dureza before noon Thursday, November 26.

(Ampatuan as he surrendered to Sec. Dureza in Sharif Aguak)

Ampatuan is being flown to Gen. Santos City to be turned over to Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera and will be brought to the national police headquarters in Cam Crame where, according to Puno, “he will be subjected to inquest proceedings.”

Following police procedure this would mean that the case or cases against Ampatuan in connection with the massacre will be handled by the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) whose high-security detention facilities are at Camp Crame.

I am hoping no one drops the ball from hereon as military and police forces continue disarming the nearly 400 Ampatuan militiamen and implement de facto military-police rule in the capitol ol Maguindanao in Sharif Aguak town.

Update:

This horrible week is ending with uneasy peace returning to Maguindanao after the funeral of the seven female members Mangudadatatu clan slainin Monday’s massacre.

The man tagged as prime suspect, Datu Unday mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.,is maintying his innocence while 7 murder raps are poised to be filed against him.

He’s detained at the NBI  in Manila instead of Camp Crame while Al Jazeera TV surfaced a hooded man called ‘Boy’ claiming he and the other killers were paid and directly ordered by Ampatuan to carry out the Satanic crime:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/11/2009112654959580381.html

Four days since that carnage in Maguindanao that snuffed out the lives of innocent journalists, women, and supporters of the Mangudadatu clan( 57 and counting), government is finally trying it match its hollow words of assurance with some glimmer of positive action.

Malacanang says that before that day is out, the man fingered as possibly the ‘architect’ of the outrage, Andal Ampatuan Jr., will surrender himself to authorities.

Police and troops have “taken over” the capitol grounds of Maguindanao while looking for the back hoe operator, the one who buried both the 57 known massacre victims, along with their vehicles on the morning of Monday, November 23, 2009.

Last night the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD political combine did officially “expel” the Ampatuans but this does not necessarily mean their ‘command-and-control’ of how elections in Maguindanao and a wide swath of Muslim Mindanao has vanished overnight.

Up and until the wheels of the criminal justice system really move, what we may witness is simply a cooling-off period but not any dramatic shift in what Mindanao watchers call the ‘balance of terror’ so long as private armies freely roam, moving at their warlord masters’ beck and call.

We’ve simply been told that two Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) believed under the Ampatuans’ control “are being disbanded.”

But glaringly, no firearms have been seized and ordered subjected to ballistics tests and no CAFGU trooper restricted to barracks!

What I think really will happen is that the political deal-making in Maguindanao will continue with the Ampatuans’ lieutenants working for them still.

Pres. Arroyo’s political debts to those warlords date back to 2004.

Do the math.

The body count is now 52 but 72 hours since Ampatuan Maguindanao was used by Satan’s work men as a killing field, no suspects are in police custody and the accursed government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is simply running in place.

Correction. It is downplaying the massacre as a quarrel between two families and has irnored calls for the Ampatuans and pother seemingly untouchatable primate armies to be disarmed and dismantled now.

Not

Sure Pres. Arroyo declared Thursday a national day of Mourning.

But all that Jesus Dureza, her crisis man on the ground in Cotabato, has done is quietly hold a photo-opp session with the father and son Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. at which he “appealed to them to cooperate with probers.”

We’ve even to a 2008 photo by Malacanang showing her with tht Apamatuans!

While Pres. Arroyo hes put a state of emergency edict over Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabatato she has held back from ordering  that private armies of the powrfual Ampatuans now be disarmed.

And here are the official lame statements:

Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman:

We are still collating evidence against anybody liable for this horrible act, but we will not invite the Ampatuans for questioning over the gruesome killings of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu’s wife, his sisters, two lawyers, and at least 13 journalists last Monday.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde :

We have due process to be observed also, so let us allow the investigators on the ground to come up with [a case] through their investigation.
The relief and arrest of Ampatuan Jr. will come only after the police have found sufficient evidence that would link him to the murder of more than 50 people in Ampatuan town. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself has repeatedly assured the Mangudadatu family of impartial investigation. It’s a very big embarrassment not only to the government, but also to the entire nation. The government will not rest until the people responsible in the massacre are charged and arrested.

The possibly strongest statement thus far has come e from resigned defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro:

A meeting of Lakas-Kampi-CMP party elders tonight might consider expelling the Ampatuans.

Sadly for Teodoro, his assertiong is non-binding.

Commission on Human Rights chairperson Leila De Lima is the only public official of note who is telling it like it is:

The government’s “unsual treatment” of Ampatuan Jr. is disturbing. At this stage and with the statement from the Mangudadatus, the police should have already invited Ampatuan Jr. for questioning or at least to get his side. I also observed that there is an unusual treatment. If you’re an ordinary suspect and there is a lead and information [of your supposed involvement] you will be immediately invited.. The government should heed to the public’s clamor of swift and decisive action against the killers and the masterminds in the massacre.
Sec. Dureza’s meeting with the supposed primary suspect in the brutal killings was unusual. The suspects should be invited to present themselves to the police to explain their side, not visited.
“Go to our precinct. Explain your side, execute a statement if you want to. But to be visited just get an assurance [of your cooperation]?”

What we have before us is a powder keg of violence with a lit fuse waiting to explode.

For the second time in a month, Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’  Escudero unburderned himself about his misgivings of the current despoiled state of Philippine politics and his hopes…

And this time Escudero, while saying his dream of new change (bagong pagbabago) remains burning passionately, said the dream will have to wait after the 2010 elections.

Escudero’s words:

Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat, magsi-upo po tayo. Maikli lamang ito.

Simula noong umalis ako sa NPC noong ika-28 ng Oktubre, ginawa ko yun upang Malaya akong Makita at matanaw ang  dapat kong gawin kaugnay ng 2010 elections. Ginawa ko ‘yun upang hindi nakapiring at hindi nakatali ang aking mga mata’t mga kamay para malaman kung ano ang dapat kong magawa sa ating sambayanan sa darating na panahon. Mula sa aking Malaya na pagkakatayo, tunay namang mas nakita ko ang dapat nating gawin bilang isang bansa at bilang isang lahi. Kabilang na ang pag-amin at pag-ako ng aniuman kakayanan o kawalan nito kaugnay sa mga mithiin, pangarap at layunin   natin para sa ating bansa.

Nitong mga nagdaang araw, nagnilay-nilay ako, kumausap sa maraming malalapit na kaibigan at gayundin pamilya, kinausap ang ilan sa ating mga kababayan at pinagpasyahan ang aking papel na gagampanan sa darating na halalan. Akala ko magiging madaling desisyon pero hindi pala. Akala ko napakadali ang magiging pasya pero hindi pala. I’ve always said that for me, it’s the presidency but not at all cost. Not at the cost of losing my soul, not at the cost of losing myself, not at the cost by being eaten up by the system and the process and certainly not at the cost of not being able to do the things that I was and set out to do. Para sa akin panguluhan lamang ang aking nasa isip subalit hindi ko ito hahanapin at kukunin kung sa proseso ng pagkuha nito mawawala po ang aking sarili’t kaluluwa. Hindi ko rin kayang gawin ang dapat at gusto kong gawin at kung makakain lamang ako ng sistema. Para sa akin, hamon itong dapat tingnan ng lahat na ng unang nagdeklara, sila ba’y nakain na ng sistema o hindi pa, sa daan tungo sa panguluhan. Sila ba ay kaya pa ring gawin ang lahat ng pinangako sa atin na magaganda at matatamis habang nangangampanya. Hindi ko makokonsensyang sabihin ‘yan kung hindi ko rin lang kayang gawin kung ako ay pagtitiwalaan niyo. Dahil po sa lahat ng nabanggit ko, akala ko’y madali pero hindi. Napagpasyahan ko, na hindi tumakbo bilang pangulo sa darating na halalan. Napagpasyahan ko na hindi man bilang kandidato, ako’y may papel na pwedeng gampanan bilang Pilipino at ordinaryong botante sa panahong ito. Napagpasyahan ko na hindi lang ngayon ang panahon para matupad ang pinanghahawakan kong pangarap at layunin kong panguluhan nang hindi nakatali. Patuloy kang panghahawakan ang pangarap at pangakong iyan. Hindi man ngayon kundi sa darating na panahon.

Nais kong gamitin ang pagkakataong ito para magpasalamat sa lahat nang mga naniwala at nagtiwala; sa lahat ng gumalaw at kumilos maski na walang salapi o pera; sa lahat ng nagsalita at naniwala, sumigaw at nakiisa sa aking pangarap ng walang katumbas at kapalit.

Kaninang umaga, bago ako umalis binisita ko yung dalawang anak ko na kambal at yun lang ang nagbigay sa akin ng lakas humarap sa inyo ngayon dahil maraming nagsasabing kung hindi ka rin lang naman tatakbo Chiz bakit kapa magpepress-con? Mag press release ka na lamang. Buong tapang at buo ang loob kong nais sabihin ito sa harap ninyo. Dahil hindi ko kinakahiya anumang salitang binigkas ko ngayon.

Kasabay ng inyong kalungkutan, marahil ganun din ang aking kalungkutan.

Pero kasabay ng kalungkutang yan, ang pagnanais at pangarap at pangakong nais kong hawakan pa rin natin matapos nating lumisan ng silid na ito. Ang pangako ng isang bagong Pilipinas; ang  pangako ng isang bagong pagbabago; ang pangako ng isang Pilipinas na hindi tulad ngayon, na kung hindi man natin makakamtan ngayon at sa pamamagitan ko san a magampanan ito nang mga nagpapakilala sa ating reresolba sa lahat ng ating problema.

Kaisa ninyo ako at kaisa ako nang sinumang pagtitiwalaan ng sambayanan sa mga darating na araw.

At bilang botante, bilang Pilipino, bilang senador patuloy akong mananalig sa kakayanan ng Pilipino at ng ating bansa na malampasan ang mga hamon at pagsubok na ito. Salamat po sa inyong pagtitiwala nitong mga nagdaang araw. At salamat din po sa inyong pagtitiwala sa akin sa aming grupo at sa aming lahat, sa adhikaing aming pinanghawakan.

Makakaasa kayo na patuloy namin itong gagawin at gagampanan sa mga susunod pong araw. Sa muli po, taos pusong pagbati, salamat sa pagbisita at isa pong maganda at pinagpalang umaga.

This writer was not really at all surprised.

When the 40-year-old opposition firebrand bolted his own Nationalist People’s Coalition last month he appeared to have laid out an inspiring truly people-focused, even noble, vision of independent, principle leadership, something Philippine society (long in the stranglehold of Mafiosi-type party politics) is stranger to.

But as Escudero spoke today with the political campaign set to unfold, it was apparent to most everyone that the past month has montH been enough for Escudero to cobble together his own independent run, one that could go up against the efforts of the Liberal Party, the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD on May 10, 2020.

So Chiz Escudero  is rolling up his political campaign tarps intent on seeing how the electoral wars of 2010 will play out.

In the interim, Escudero could very well emerge in the vanguard for responsible and accountable government in the post Gloria Arroyo dispensation and whether our society will indeed witness the return of good government, or slide back to oligarchic politics or the more virulent strain.

2016 will come in the aftermath of either  a Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, a Gibo Teodoro, or even a second Estrada presidency.

However else Philippine society fares in these next six years, for good or bad, we’ll be here.

Bagong Pagbabago could yet have its day.