Andrew Sullivan in theatlantic.com writes a lucid and thought-provoking article on why he blogs, and the reasons he sets forth hold true for all of us. Aside from the need for self-expression, the standard explanation, there’s the adrenaline rush of thinking on your feet, and trying to put your musings and ideas into words with the immediacy inherent in the medium. It is “the spontaneous expression of instant thought“. As such, blogging can be addictive. Read the rest of this entry »

Manny works out at the Wild Card gym.

The Golden Boy is predicting that he can knock out Manny Pacquiao in five rounds or less in their blockbuster fight on December 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Reacting to Pacquiao trainer Freddy Roach’s comments that Manny will put De La Hoya away by knockout in nine rounds, Oscar said:

We’ll catch him in five so we don’t go that far. I think whoever catches who first is going down.

De La Hoya was interviewed in his isolated training camp in in Big Bear, California where the high altitude is helping him build up his wind, critical in a drawn-out fight with a younger, aggressive fighter. In contrast, Pacquiao is at Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Gym, right in the heart of Hollywood. Not good, as Pacquiao is notoriously prone to distractions. With barely three weeks to go before fight day, he has to sustain his focus.

And while I’m rooting for Pacquiao, De La Hoya has a clear advantage over the smaller man, despite the age differential. Read the rest of this entry »

The much-anticipated testimony of Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee produced nothing which could pin down the culprits behind the P728 million fertilizer fund scam, to no one’s surprise. After all, he had two weeks in St. Luke’s to prepare for whatever line of questioning the senators might take. Bolante was clearly evasive and lying, as noted even by Malacanang allies like Senator Miriam Santiago, but the slime clinging to him allowed him to easily slip through the senators’ fingers. He was merely handed an opportunity to clear President Macapagal-Arroyo of any involvement in the irregularity and even asserted, to the incredulous reaction of Senator Pimentel who was then questioning him, that he did not know the political affiliations of the government officials who received millions from the purported fertilizer program.

To be fair, as pointed out by the committee chair Alan Cayetano in his opening statement, the Senate is not in a position to prove Bolante guilty but is only tasked to determine the truth. But the truth was the first casualty in yesterday’s farce. Read the rest of this entry »

An intrepid band of bloggers (and sundry interested citizens) filed a complaint for intervention seeking to include the thwarted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the charges in the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.

The text of the complaint itself, and the events which transpired this morning during the filing are set forth in revealing detail in Manolo Quezon’s blog. I especially enjoyed reading about the discomfiture of the House Secretary-General, Marilyn Yap, in dealing with the “unprecedented” complaint.

The intervention move seeks to include among the grounds for impeachment GMA’s complicity in the aborted MOA which would have established a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and effectively given away a significant chunk of the republic to the MILF. This can be viewed as treason. As pointed out in the complaint, the Supreme Court ruled on the unconstitutionality of the executive actions meant to conclude the agreement one day after the present impeachment complaint was filed in the house. The ruling by the High Court adds significant weight to the grounds for impeachment. And the intervention is timely as the original complaint has not yet been referred to the proper committee for evaluation. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: phiscout.org

Not as national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. He’s already that. As president of the Philippines.

Today is the birthday of the mayor of Makati, and he took the opportunity to announce before the assembled throng of well-wishers at the city hall his bid for national office. He has a countrywide network as head of the United Opposition (UNO) and believes that he has sufficient resources to launch a campaign for the presidency in 2010. Makati congressman and Binay stalwart Teddy Boy Locsin was present to give his buddy moral support, and jokingly said that in Binay the country may have found its own Barack. Read the rest of this entry »