Buencamino is a fellow of and writes political commentary for Action for Economic Reforms. This piece was published in the April 15, 2009 edition of the Business Mirror, page A10.
“If you think that the Arroyo administration has been insincere in its fight against graft and corruption, take note: Records would show that this administration has the most number of anti-corruption initiatives that this country has ever seen before, during, and after the Marcos regime,” wrote Press Secretary Cerge Remonde in a March edition of his weekly column??
I checked out Remonde’s claims by time traveling through Arroyo’s campaign against graft and corruption.
It’s July 23, 2001. Gloria Arroyo is delivering her first SONA…
“To reduce corruption in the Executive branch, Cabinet Secretaries will have to deliver tangible results within 12 months in fighting graft…And I gave the reinforced Presidential Anti-graft Commission added teeth to investigate and prosecute moto propio corruption in high places…
“To reduce corruption among elective officials, we will help honest people get elected by financing the full computerization of elections…Let us make the polls of May 14, 2001 the last National Elections that use primitive methods of Voter Identification and Ballot Tabulation.”
It’s July 1, 2003. Presidential spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye is already reminding the public…
“From day one of her administration, the President has come out strongly against corruption in government.”
It’s Jan. 13, 2005. Gloria is addressing the 60th anniversary celebration of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC)…
“I will exert executive authority to fire unscrupulous government officials who rob the nation.”
She announces the appointment of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Merceditas Gutierrez as her new “anti-corruption czar” and the hiring of more investigators by the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission.
It’s April 12, 2007. It’s three days after Gloria’s husband underwent a heart by-pass and one week before she left for Boao, China to witness the signing of the $329M NBN-ZTE deal…
Gloria revives the Committee of Peers – “a three-man panel composed of Cabinet officials that would investigate allegations and charges against their colleagues and make recommendations to her” – and appoints Romulo Neri, the reluctant witness in the NBN-ZTE scandal, as committee member. Chutzpah comes to mind but I’ll settle for ironic.
And so here I am April 13, 2009 reading a four-month old story about Oprah Winfrey falling off the fat wagon again…
“I’m embarrassed … I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, ‘How did I let this happen again?’ ”
In 1991, back to 14-and-over dress size, a mere three years after she had slimmed down to a size 10, Oprah revealed she had been battling fat for over 30 years.
“I’ve been dieting since 1977, and the reason I failed is that diets don’t work. I tell people, if you’re underweight, go on a diet and you’ll gain everything you lost plus more. Now I’m trying to find a way to live in a world with food without being controlled by it, without being a compulsive eater. That’s why I say I will never diet again.”
It looks like “never” doesn’t last forever for Oprah because she’s been on and off the fat wagon since she said she uttered those famous last words.
Listening to Oprah say she will lose weight and stay slim is like this administration saying it will stop stealing and stay clean. You know it’s just addicts talking – Oprah to over-eating and this regime to theft.
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