Broken Arrow

ABS-CBN has reported that the PEP Test Review Center has threatened to bolt the UAAP.

The De La Salle University (DLSU) administration on Thursday threatened to break away from the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) following the one-year suspension imposed on the school for fielding two ineligible basketball players, DZMM reported.

And I thought it would only be for one season. No more lining up for tickets, forever!

Incidentally, a regular poster on various internet fora, managed to dig up a CHED Memorandum Order from 2003 regarding "Precautionary Measures In Accepting/Enrolling Students with PEPT Documents." It was issued "in consonance with the advisory from the [DepEd], that a number of unscrupulous individuals were found submitting falsified documents to gain admission in college."

The signatory? A certain Rolando Ramos Dizon.

Hope Springs Eternal

When it rains, it pours. PDI has reported that the Supreme Court has declared Gloria's Calibrated Preemptive Response unconstitutional.

THE SUPREME Court has declared as unconstitutional the Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR) policy of the government but said that Batas Pambansa 88 or the Public Assembly Act was legal.

Voting 13-0, the high court ordered the Department of Interior and Local Government to strictly implement Section 15 of BP880.

The CPR bans street rallies without permits and gives the government the authority to deal with protesters accordingly.

Section 15 provides that: “Every city and municipality in the country shall within six months after the effectivity of this Act establish or designate at least one suitable ‘freedom park’ or mall in their respective jurisdictions which, as far as practicable, shall be centrally located within the poblacion where demonstrations and meetings may be held at any time without the need of any prior permit.”

The SC voted 13-0, barely a week after they voted 14-0 against EO 464. Wow. Basted na naman. At the rate Gloria is going, she is going to set a record of sorts for most number of manifestly unconstitutional orders and/or policies struck down unanimously by the Supreme Court.

I am sure that inspite of the unanimous vote, some moron from Malacañang is going to say that they are going to ask the high court to reconsider. Well, good luck to you.

Letters

What follows is a letter sent by a certain Dennis L. Reyes from Torrance, CA to the PDI. It is, by far, the best letter to the editor that I have ever read. I am publishing it here in toto.

I DON’T understand why people are afraid of Charter change. It offers the best opportunity for us to install the best and the brightest Filipino as our eternal leader.

In fact, instead of shifting to a parliamentary form of government, why don’t we just become a monarchy, with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the queen -- or the empress, if you will. This will fulfill the dreams of Apo Marcos about a Philippine Maharlika. This will also bring us back to the glorious years of kings and queens, of France’s Marie Antoniette, of Russia’s czars and czarinas during the Romanov dynasty.

Then we can grant the poor royal titles so that their lives will be uplifted. We can call them knights or dukes or duchesses and their shanties will be referred to as castles or manors. This way Charter change can solve the poverty of our people.

Another reason for us to support Charter change is that it has the support of Ms Arroyo, who talks to the “Lord” as she talked to Pope John Paul before he died. Ms Arroyo is the Philippines’ Joan of Arc. By giving us Ms Arroyo and her knights of traditional politicians, the Lord shows that he loves Filipinos. Ms Arroyo is the will of the Lord. Nobody should contest the will of the Lord.

So everyone should support Charter change. It’s our only salvation from all our problems. It’s the bullet that a man with brain cancer needs in his head.

Ms Arroyo said so. Has she lied to us before?

There's Always Next Year

By now, everybody should have already heard that those cheaters from the PEP Test Review Center along Taft have been suspended from participation in all events in the UAAP. From UBelt.com:

The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) has suspended De La Salle University for one year—in Season 69—for negligence as regards the spurious academic documents of two members of its men’s varsity basketball team.

“After due deliberation and in the interest of the league, the board with all the members present and in accordance with its rules and regulation[s] by a unanimous vote decided to suspend [the] De La Salle University,” the UAAP board ruled.

Furthermore: “By three fourths vote of its members qualified to vote in accordance with its rules[,] the board decided that [the] De La Salle University shall be suspended for a period of one year effective UAAP Season 69 and shall cover all sports events.”

This means that we all have to wait for one more season before we can unfurl any banner or poster, making any reference whatsoever to the government-administered PEP Test. Admittedly, there wouldn't be as much fun without those idiots, but at least, we can now be sure that we don't have to line up for hours for tickets next season.

Thank You. Try Again.

I am interrupting regular programming to happily announce to the world that Executive Order 464 has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

You might remember that Gloria issued EO 464 to bar officials from the executive, military, and police from appearing in legislative inquiries without her consent. While she has softened on her position and allowed officials to appear before confirmation hearings and those related to the passage of the 2006 budget bill, she has stubbornly withheld her consent in all inquiries on various illegal and criminal activities which tend to establish her complicity therein (see wiretapping scandal and the fertilizer fund scam).

Now that it has been declared unconstitutional, I can't wait to see the face of the first lucky bastard who gets invited to Congress for a little chit-chat.

Of Mice and Men

Change of plans. The Harry Roque Funfest did not push through last Saturday. Everybody was there waiting to undergo their final rites, only to be disappointed, because no proctor - and no exam - arrived. In local parlance, in-indian kami.

As always, when shit hits the fan, you blame the PC. Harry has apparently already sent the questions via email to his staff, who for one reason or another, was not able to receive it (fortuitous event perhaps?). That sound that you hear is the sound of all those years of believing that email is infinitely more dependable than the Philpost going down the drain. Of course, I am being sarcastic.

In other news, I have finally given in. I have resisted it for as long as I possibly could, but alas, I am but human. I now have a Friendster account.

Big Time

Gloria has finally made it.

No, she has not yet successfully proclaimed herself dictator-for-life. She has also not yet managed to tinker with the Constitution to make it suit her needs. Nor has she been able to finally stifle all forms of dissent, muzzle the press, or cow the opposition to submission.

She was, however, the subject of the New York Times' editorial yesterday entitled "Dark Days for Philippine Democracy." The New York Times.

Mrs. Arroyo is no Ferdinand Marcos, at least not yet. But this onetime reformer is reviving bad memories of crony corruption, presidential vote-rigging and intimidation of critical journalists. Unless the Philippine Congress and courts find ways to rein in her increasingly authoritarian tendencies, democracy itself may be in danger.

Yeah, baby!

I'm still waiting for Raul Gonzales to make some wiseass remark about the Times. I also can't wait to finally hear Gloria sing:

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today...

One L

This Saturday at 5PM, I would be saying goodbye to good ol' Malcolm Hall.

Hopefully, only for two months.

There will be one last mental torture session before we officially call it a semester - and a year. It's really hard to concentrate on what needs to be done at this point, when you are practically counting the days and hours down, before you finally find yourself mercifully emancipated, albeit temporarily, from all the horror and drudgery incident to this unique form of self-imposed struggle and hard labor.

I was, suprisingly, still able to find (though barely) the impetus to prepare for the upcoming weekend, in spite of the wretched Crim 2 finals that we all had to suffer last Saturday. For this weekend, I decided to just reread Jurado's reviewer, and let the chips fall where they may. It wouldn't be as comprehensive as rereading Tolentino, but fuck it, I am not going to read IV Tolentino again. I am also almost sure that it's a lot better than not reviewing at all.

So, on Saturday at 5PM, I will use everything in my power to find a way to celebrate this "momentous occasion." There's not really much to it when you look at the big picture, but when you survived the last year the way I did, by surviving it one recit, one case, one day at a time, every single day is a milestone. So, I will eat. I will drink. And I sure as hell will be merry.

Eloquence