‘Music, maestro P-Noy’

PERRYSCOPE
Perry Diaz

“President Benigno S. Aquino III wants original Filipino musical compositions played more often in radio stations, noting that they have been a big part of his life,” says news report. Yes, indeed.

His mom, the late prez Cory Aquino, issued Executive Order No. 255 in 1987 which mandated the playing of Original Pilipino Music (OPM) songs in radio stations. She required radio stations with musical programs to play a minimum of four OPMs every hour. Imagine, hearing “Bahay Kubo” and “Leron leron sinta” being played over and over again? That’s brainwashing! Well, it’s not really that bad. OPMs are better than “wang-wangs” which were being played 24/7 in the streets of Metro Manila before P-Noy stopped it. Now all that’s left in the streets are the “wang-bu.”

There is another form of OPM -- “Other People’s Money” -- that P-Noy needs to address. With the billions -- but I dare say, trillions! -- that were stolen from the people during the nine-year presidency of Exprezcong (ex-prez and congresswoman) Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Maestro P-Noy has a Herculean task of conducting the investigations of the anomalies of corruption and plunder during Gloria’s inglorious presidency.

The problem is that P-Noy appointed Gloria’s loyal friend, former chief justice Hilario Davide Jr., to head the newly-formed Truth Commission. Does P-Noy have any clue that Davide might end up vindicating Gloria instead? It’s no wonder Gloria’s son Mikey was jumping up and down when he heard about Davide’s appointment. “Davide will vindicate the Arroyo family,” he gleefully boasted.

Well, so much for digging out the truth cuz by doing so it could be buried deeper into the Earth’s core. P-Noy might just as well move on and try hard instead to keep his administration free from corruption. The people should just be happy now that there’s no more “wang-wang” and they can listen to “Bahay Kubo” and “Leron leron sinta” all day and all night long. Happy days are here again, folks!
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The other day, P-Noy decided to form a Cha-cha Commission to study amending the 1987 constitution. Gee, after all the troubles -- and disappointments -- that Gloria had to go through to get Charter change (Cha-cha) going, all P-Noy had to do was form another commission! And he’s only been in office 50 days!

The difference between Gloria and P-Noy is that Gloria was fond of appointing “czars” -- nakaka azar ano? -- while P-Noy is more inclined to appoint commissioners. Well, I hope that these commissioners are not the type of former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos. Yup, Benjie and his pals were “commissioners,” that is, they received commissions -- or “tongpats” --for peddling influence.

Now, Benjie and his golfing buddy Romulo Neri are facing graft and corruption charges to which they pled “not guilty.” Hey, these poor guys were just trying to make a living to support their high-flying lifestyles.

P-Noy said that he’ll have to fill up all the vacant posts in his administration first before appointing the Cha-cha commissioners. With at least 5,000 positions to fill up soon, P-Noy might ran out of classmates and their friends, friends and their “kamaganaks,” political allies and their loved ones, journalists and their relatives, and campaign donors and their cronies.

And by the time all the positions have been filled up, there’s probably only one person left standing -- La Gloria! Why not appoint her to head the Cha-cha Commission? After all, being the most avid and enthusiastic supporter of Cha-cha, Gloria would be the “best” qualified person to head it… just like Davide was the “best” qualified person to head the Truth Commission.

Hehehe… Tawa naman kayo diyan. Come to think about it, Davide and Gloria would make the perfect dancing partners. Yup, they can cha-cha their way back to power.

By the way, Davide and Gloria have two strong and proven qualities: loyalty and betrayal. Yup, they’re loyal to each other like kapit-tuko and they would betray anyone who’d get on their way. P-Noy, beware!
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If rumors are true, P-Noy would soon lose his “bachelorness.” Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda revealed that P-Noy jokingly told TV host and singer Herminie “Ogie” Alcasid Jr. and his bride-to-be Regine Velasquez to be his wedding godparents. At 50 years old, P-Noy is trying to catch the last train to “wonderland.” However, the following day, Malacañang clarified that there will be no wedding bells yet for P-Noy and his girlfriend Shalani Soledad, but it will… someday. It was only a “dyok” then. But I’m not sure if Shalani would be amused with that kind of “dyok.” Be careful Mr. President, the last “dyok” might be on you.
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Exprez Joseph “Erap” Estrada, after losing to P-Noy in the last presidential elections, said that he’s retiring from public life and will just be “Citizen Erap.” He said that he’s also happy with the appointments P-Noy made. Well, I’m not sure if he heard his son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, deliver a blistering privilege speech condemning the appointment of Davide as head of the Truth Commission.

Jinggoy said, “As as vice president, my father observed that there are hoodlums in robes; I will prove to you that Davide is precisely one.” Ugh! That hurts. Further, Jinggoy said: “The first question that comes to the minds of the public upon learning of Davide’s appointment as chairman of the Truth Commission is this: How can the very person who sealed the conspiracy to place Arroyo in power be the head of the body that will investigate her?” Gee, what’s going on, fellas? Isn’t that like appointing Don Vito Corleone to investigate the hoodlums of La Cosa Nostra?

Erap offered an unsolicited advice to P-Noy in choosing his Cabinet members. While he was prosecuted and jailed for the crime of plunder, Erap said he was “proud of his former Cabinet members who were never tainted with corruption. He also said that their reputation was above board.” I hope Erap was joking only.

Three of his appointees were Edgardo Angara as his Executive Secretary, Gen. Angelo Reyes as Armed Forces Chief of Staff, and Hilario Davide Jr. as Supreme Court Chief Justice. These were the three men who betrayed Erap and conspired with Gloria to oust him and install her as president in 2001. Yup, P-Noy should really heed Citizen Erap’s advice cuz this senior citizen speaks from experience.

At 73 years old, Citizen Erap said that he will not even play the role of a political kingmaker in future elections nor accept any government appointment. I think there would be two exceptions: (1) If Jinggoy runs for president, Erap will definitely campaign for his son, and (2) If P-Noy appoints him to replace Davide as head of the Truth Commission, Erap will accept it without any hesitation. The first is possible and the second is improbable. But who knows? It’s a crazy world we live in today. Let’s bring back the “wang-wang” and get rid of the “wang-bu.”
(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)