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In Conrado de Quiroz’s column today at the Inquirer entiled, "Footnote to a False Note," he lauds Martin Nievera’s rendition of Lupang Hinirang sang at the Pacquiao-Hatton fight.

His arguments are weak if not downright wrong. For one thing he states that, although Nievera didn’t sing it traditionally, he did not disrespect it. Duh… So, singing our national anthem without respect to THE LAW is not being disrespectful. At the very least, Nievera disrespected the composer, Julian Felipe.

De Quiroz also argues that Americans have been singing their national anthem, The Star-spangled Banner, in different renditions because they’re "secure in their patriotism," even citing Jimi Hendricks’ now iconic version played in Woodstock. Americans aren’t secure in their patriotism. The truth is they don’t really give a rat’s ass about anything and that’s why Jimi Hendricks played The Star-spangled Banner the way he did because Americans were being indifferent to the Vietnam War.

De Quiroz then wonders why historian Ambeth Ocampo disapproves of Nievera’s rendition when Ocampo teaches a "pop" version of history to make it more appealing to present-day listeners. Here’s where de Quiroz shows his naivete. Certainly history should be taught in a way that today’s listeners (i.e. the youth) can understand it, for it is merely a story of our past. Our national anthem, on the other hand, brings honor to those of our past who died that we in the present may enjoy our freedom. To sing it any other way than how it should be sang dishonors our history.

If we were to allow people to sing Lupang Hinirang any which way they want, then what’s next? Would we also approve of Martin Nievera using the Philippine flag as a beach towel because he wants to connect tradition with post-modernity?

But here’s my take on why Nievera sang the anthem the way he did: He wanted worldwide attention. Nievera doesn’t hide his burning ambition to be an international star. He tried singing in the Las Vegas strip, but he was a curtain raiser to a magician. Thus, the Pacquiao-Hatton fight was an opportunity to be on a worldwide stage. Notice that he sang the anthem first in a low pitch and then ended in a high note that was designed to elicit oohs and aahs. He also sang in different beats. The problem was his singing just didn’t hit the mark. He had pitch problems as he ended and the entire performance was just ghastly.

Never mind if he sang the Anthem rightly but in a bad way. But he sang the Anthem in a wrong way badly. And it backfired on him.

Did Nievera sing with thoughts of the youth? I doubt it. Did he sing it wrong albeit with a patriotic heart? Yeah, right. He’s an American, for crying out loud!

I believe Nievera used the National Anthem for his own agenda at the expense of Filpino pride and honor. Maybe, Conrad, he should have sang "Ang Himig Natin" instead.

In national TV commenting about ZTE-NBN deal whistle blower Jun Lozada’s arrest for perjury, Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez commented that the next thing that Lozada can do is apply for sainthood at the Vatican. He said this, of course, sarcastically because Lozada refused to make bail as a sign of protest at this latest government harassment.

In trying to be cute and witty, Gonzalez only manages to look senile. For a Justice Secretary, the least he could do is show impartiality. At best he should try to dispense wisdom and not sound stupid. After all, he is supposedly more mature than many Filipinos. Wouldn’t he do well if our youth can look up to him?

But, alas, what can we expect from a GMA appointee? The President’s men are chosen mostly for their loyalty, especially in a delicate position such as Justice secretary.

So we just need to grin and bear it whenever Gonzalez opens his mouth. Looking at the bright side, however, Gonzalez is another solid reason why GMA nor any of her lackeys shouldn’t be given another term.

Mike Defensor, former clone …er… chief of staff of GMA, in a statement released to the press asked Sr. Mary John Mananzan and her religious group, the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), to give him "a fair chance" in pursuing the perjury case against Jun Lozada.

"I write to appeal on behalf of my family, especially my (four) children who are presently studying in their elementary years," Defensor said.

"If you (Mananzan’s group) feel that the courts may not be the proper venue then tell me where I can seek the justice that all of us speak of," he said. "I am also a Catholic and I pray together with my family. Am I now refused justice or the support of the religious because I served this administration?$quot;

My answer to that is a resounding, YES! In case Defensor is naive or downright stupid, when one supports an administration that lies to its people and steals from them, then that one is guilty of incredibility. When one remains silent and does not expose the administration he serves and benefits from, then that one is guilty also of conspiracy.

If you read the rest of Defensor’s statement, it seeks to ooze with sincerity. He even invokes the future of his children. But how about the future of our children who will take up the cudgels of debt, if not at least the global embarrassment, that this administration has wrought from unabated corruption?

Now Defensor asks to be believed. He says that his perjury suit against Lozada is a personal quest and not backed up by the administration. If Defensor is truly seeking justice, then he should loudly bang at the doors of the Ombudsman and demand its findings on Joc-joc Bolante and the fertilizer scam or the other government scams that the Ombudsman is being silent about. If Defensor is worried about the future of his children, then he should expose the shenanigans of the administration he is so proud to say he served.

Otherwise, he should just withdraw his suit, cower in the darkness and let his children and his children’s children bear the sin and stigma of their father.

Again we are treated to a media spectacle in the mysterious death of the wife of ABS-CBN news anchor Ted Failon. The problem with events like this is that everybody wants to show boat.

There’s Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) Chief Persida Acosta, perhaps starved for media attention, wanting to get into the act by publicly announcing that her office is ready to defend Failon. Then there’s DOJ Sec. Raul Gonzalez telling Acosta to back off since Failon can pay for his own lawyers.

Because of the high profile nature of this case, TV cameras are all over the place. So, the QCPD, perhaps wanting to show it means business even if a situation involved media celebrities, goes overboard. They seem to want to arrest everybody, including Failon, his three househelp and even the siblings of the wife, Trinidad Etong (Ted Failon’s real name is Theodoro Failon Etong). TV cameras showed how they roughly handcuffed and shoved the brother-in-law into the police car as if he was the perpetrator of the crime. If Failon had a pet dog, they would have arrested it as well.

The police decried obstruction of justice as they made the arrests. Yet they looked like thugs as they hauled in suspects for questioning. No doubt the Human Rights Commission would have a field day looking into this.

For the next several days we can be sure that news programs will be devoted much to whether Ted Failon shot his wife or she committed suicide. We will be bombarded with analysis, interviews and what not to satisfy the Filipino’s feeding frenzy for sensational news. And then we’ll wonder why other nations make jokes about us.

Maybe Wowowee isn’t that bad after all.

When I first heard about the passing away of Francis Magalona, I wept. He was 44 years old. He had yet so much to offer his country.

I admired him because he strove to elevate Pinoy rap from novelty to a musical expression. Most of all, he truly loved his country and was proud to be a Filipino. And cancer took his life just like that.

Thinking about this brought me from sadness to anger. Francis didn’t deserve to die. Yet, there are those who grow old doing nothing but steal from our country. There are senile twerps who even defend an American serviceman convicted of raping a Filipina. There are those over 50 years old who use their political positions to lord it over their Filipino fellowmen.

Alas, not only the good die young, but the despicable live on.

The funniest joke so far this year comes from dermatologist Dra. Vicki Belo. In an interview in a showbiz program, she said: "If you want to look like Boy Abunda, go to Dr. Calayan. If you want to look like Piolo Pascual or Dingdong Dantes, come to me."

I couldn’t stop laughing. But this got Boy Abunda fuming mad. I wonder why.

It wasn’t he who was insulted. It was Dr. Calayan.

DOJ Sec. Raul Gonzalez, whose senility is getting the better of him as each day passes, must want to be no. 1 Twerp of the Year for 2009 (he holds no. 6).

He’s now advocating that top officials of the PDEA also go on leave after his own prosecutors went on leave. Let’s see now, why should the PDEA officials go on leave? It was the PDEA that busted the so-called "Alabang Boys." It was the PDEA that blew the whistle on bribery attempts. It was the PDEA, particularly Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, who received a call from justice undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor following-up on the release of the Alabang Boys, when he’s not even involved whatsoever in the case.

Now let’s see why the prosecutors went on leave? They resolved that the case against the Alabang Boys be dropped without further investigation. Someone gave one of the defense lawyers a blank official letterhead of the DOJ secretary so he could type in a release order that Gonzalez would merely sign. Incidentally, there have been arguments whether this was ethical or not. I want to squash these arguments with one word. Read my lips: D-E-L-I-C-A-D-E-Z-A! And, of course, there’s the meddling of Blancaflor.

Question is, who’s the boss of the prosecutors and Blancaflor?

At present, ask the average Filipino who’s more credible, Gonzalez or Maj. Marcelino?

Conclusion: Raul Gonzalez should go on leave along with his lackeys, not the PDEA officials. Unless he’s gunning to be Top Twerp of the Year. Well, this early in the game, he’s neck and neck with an early front runner: Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr. If you don’t know why, click here.

Cebutimes.com tells us of Cong. Raul del Mar’s name emblazoned at the new Banilad-Talamban flyover in Cebu city and questions if it’s vandalism. (Read it at http://cebutimes.com/congressman-del-mar-a-vandal/.)

Actually it’s glorified graffiti or, to put it bluntly, early campaigning.

But that’s Philippine politics for you.

Incidentally, del Mar is one of the congressmen who proudly raised their hands in voting to quash the latest impeachment complaint against PGMA, stating that the complaint had no substance. Thus, he is one of the elite mentioned, albeit collectively, in Philiblogs.com’s Top Ten Twerps of 2008 (see previous post).

Congressman del Mar has no substance and likes to write graffiti on public property. Atenista pa naman.

Here it is again. The writers of philiblogs.com have once again pooled their nonsensical heads together to come up with the Philippines’ Top Ten Twerps of 2008:

10. GMA-7 - for publicly feuding with rival ABS-CBN, going as far as suing each other, when they should be using their influence to show Filipinos that there are more benefits in unity and working together.

9. ABS-CBN - See no. 10

8. Citibank - for their sheer arrogance as they harass Citibank credit card holders by calling them on the phone and disrespectfully demand payment.

7. Globe Broadband - for their piss-poor customer service even as they spend hundreds of thousands to acquire new customers.

6. Justice Sec. Raul Gonzales - for being consistently obnoxious while believing he is being witty and snazzy. One example: when reporters asked if there’s anyone the Hultman family can go to to stop the executive clemency given to Maureen Hultman’s killer, Sec. Gonzales sarcastically answered, “jesus Christ.” He should have exhibited a little more compassion, the twerp!

5. Kentucky Fried Chicken - for arrogantly defying our senior citizens laws and shamelessly mistreating our lolos and lolas (read Ramon Farolan’s series of columns about this in the Daily Inquirer).

4. The top 3 petroleum companies –Shell, Caltex, Petro - for being incredibly insensitive (translation: greedy) to the plight of Filipinos by not lowering oil prices even when world prices are plunging. These are the thick-faced twerps!

3. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo - she’s in no. 3 simply because we’re tired of seeing her in no. 1.

2. The Congressmen in the Justice committee who voted to throw out the latest impeachment complaint against President Arroyo - for claiming the complaint had “no substance,” thereby revealing that it is them who have no substance.

And our no. 1 … drum roll please …

1. Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante - for lying through his teeth to the Filipino people and not disclosing who his benefactor is, which brings us to the question: What hold does his benefactor have on him or is he just stupidly loyal a la Fabian Ver was to Ferdinand Marcos?

Agree or disagree? Anyone else that should have made it?

When prices of oil steeply climbed early this year, the big 3 oil players –SHELL, PETRON, CALTEX– steadily raised pump prices as well, declaring it necessary as they were losing money.

Now that oil prices are diving, the three –SHELL, PETRON, CALTEX– have been slow to bring down pump prices, declaring that they were still losing money.

Duh …

The three –SHELL, PETRON, CALTEX– should place the sign you see on the right of this article at the entrance of each of their stations all over the Philippines. Because this is in effect what they’re showing to the Filipinos. They really don’t care what Filipinos are going through. Call them whatever you want: unFilipino, unpatriotic, greedy, swapang, thick-faced (makapal ang mukha); they don’t really care.

SHELL, PETRON, CALTEX serve mammon and that’s that!

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes threatened to have SHELL, PETRON, CALTEX audited. They responded: “Go ahead!” They called his bluff. So, what now, Angie?

SHELL, PETRON, CALTEX know very well they can’t be touched by the government. They’ve been deregulated, remember?

So what every Filipino has left is the hope that SHELL, PETRON, CALTEX will lower their pump prices out of conscience. But do they have one?

What SHELL, PETRON, CALTEX do have is a middle finger. And it’s pointed at you!