Headline News

There should be People Power because Arroyo sold out the Philippines to China on Spratlys in order to get money from deals such as the NBN, North Railways and the Cyber Education projects.

In a nutshell, this is what the Inquirer headline news today is all about. The plot thickens. The reasons behind all the corruption are now unraveling. The President is doomed!

Arroyo hit on Spratlys deal (Drilon: Her lawyer worried pact basis to impeach)

Of course, the Inquirer wouldn’t say it as such. They had the angle coming from Drillon, who says he was told by Gutierrez that he was being “pressured” by De Venecia to give her imprimatur on a Chinese contract that in her opinion could get the President impeached. Well, er, don’t lose me… let’s have it again…. Drillon, Gutierrez, DeVenecia, Chinese Contract, President, Impeach. Got it?

And believe it of not, on this funny premise, Drillon said he is willing to testify (presumably, testify that Gutierrez told her that). And with all the high journalistic standard the Inquirer supposedly have, they forgot to ask Drillon why, of all people, Gutierrez asked for “his help”. Could it be that Drillon is good friends with De Venecia and he could ask the latter to stop pressuring Gutierrez?

“I’m willing to state this under oath wherever they will call me,” Drilon told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

And as if funny is not enough, Drillon said that he is not sure if the contract signed was the same contract that Gutierrez is concerned about. Per the Inquirer: He (Drillon) said he did not know whether the agreement that was eventually signed contained the same provisions over which Gutierrez had expressed reservations. Hello, Inquirer? If Drillon is not sure, then why is he in the news?

Not content yet on downgrading its frontpage with the ultimate in trash based on a funny premise, the Inquirer also quoted a “highly-placed source privy to the deal” to say that “the Philippines gave up its natural resources when it signed the agreement…”. And, the highly placed source cannot be named because of “security reasons”.

Hilarious! Why do you need a “highly-placed source” give an opinion? You need only a “highly-placed source” when you get facts! That “highly-placed source” can even be Drillon himself or DeVenecia and it doesn’t matter because that is the natural although unfounded conclusion from the news. We know of course that the reason the Inquirer used a “highly-placed source” is to add credibility. In short, the Inquirer is plainly saying: This news is true (even if it is unfounded). It came from a “highly-placed” source.

Last week, a highly placed source privy to the deal told the Inquirer that the Philippines gave up its natural resources when it signed the agreement allowing China to gather seismic data off Palawan province in an area mostly within Philippine territorial waters. The source, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said the agreement might have been forged to provide a “political solution” to the long-standing struggle among six nations for ownership of the Spratly group of islands, which is said to be rich in gas and oil deposits, and which the Philippines is claiming in part.

If I go on word for word on the news that come out today from the Inquirer, I could give endless examples of what the paper is actually trying to say which runs something like these: You do not believe our headline news? Well, look up the article of Barry Wain from the Far East Economic Review. You do not have access? Well, there it is comfortably seating on someone’s blog. Yes, we are a very embarrassing news organization that we need to read it first from Wain, but hey, forget that…, we have a highly-placed source and Drillon is willing to testify. Isn’t that juicy enough to start the ball-rolling for another scandal?

But whatever the news is, by the end of the day, we will all conclude that PGMA is corrupt: Yes, that same conclusion which we all have already the first day she sat in office. And wherever all this is going, some things remain sure: The Philippines remains poor, the government remains corrupt, our media remains to be a joke, and that poor fellow under the bridge remains poor and dying (if not already dead).