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Only Rudy Fernandez could have spoken those lines. I don’t even remember the movie in which he spoke those lines.

Yet, every aspiring Filipino macho quickly memorized that line and it was the talk of the town. That’s the influence of Rudy Fernandez, one of the most debonair actors (and I say, "actor," with respect, because Rudy knew how to act unlike all the other action stars who don’t).

His tough, on-screen image, however, belied a soft interior of a man who was in reality soft-spoken, and who loved his wife and kids with a passion. I guess this is what endeared him most to the movie-going public. We all knew he was a kind, generous man who wouldn’t deliberately hurt anyone.

So it’s sad to see such a man go. But, contrary to reports, he didn’t lose to cancer. Cancer may have ravaged his body, but Rudy Fernandez lives on. He lives on in his family’s hearts. He lives on in the hearts of millions of Filipinos. And, as Tirso Cruz III said, "He’s in a much better place. I’m sure of that!"

I agree. But, as a fan, I’ll miss him.

Paalam, Daboy! When I see you in the afterlife, I’ll finally get to shake your hand. Personalan.

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The nerve of Peking to chide the Philippines for its corruption scandal that has implicated China’s ZTE. ZTE officials have maintained they have not bribed any Philippine official. Yeah, right. Pontius Pilate must have been Chinese.

China sanctimoniously complains about the "political circus" in the Philippines, yet they violently disperse monks and other citizens of Tibet who merely want freedom from Chinese oppression. Our officials steal but theirs maim and kill.

So it is with satisfaction that we read of mass protests everywhere the Olympic torch is run. Indeed, politics should be kept out of the Olympics, but since the Olympics is a symbol of goodwill and unity among nations, those who host it must be exemplars of world peace. China hardly fits the bill.

Thus, the Olympic torch has come to symbolize Chinese arrogance, because China continues to oppress Tibetans. To applaud China’s hosting of the Olympics is to applaud violence and not goodwill. If they can’t get along with their neighbor, Tibet, why should we get along with China?

When China is holding the Torch, it should be snuffed out!

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Bravo! Kudos to the judges of the recently staged Bb. Pilipinas pageant for choosing a half-wit to represent the country in the coming Ms. World beauty pageant.

Sure, Janina San Miguel may be a beauty, but I thought beauty contests were also brain contests. Either the judges were more brainless than the winner or they were bribed. Since the whole world now knows that we’re the most corrupt nation in Asia, people will think of the latter when Janina walks up the Ms. World stage and starts to speak.

Her answer (or the lack of it) to Judge Vivienne Tan’s question was utterly appalling. She started incoherently and ended without sense. Her winning the crown after that blatant fiasco leaves one to question the judges’ intellect … or scruples.

In a TV news interview, former beauty queen Melanie Marquez (another brainless one) was asked about the flak she also received when she won Bb. Pilipinas. Her answer: "I dint chuckled."

Susmaryosep!

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Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol who, like Justice Secretary Raul Goanzalez, is quickly reaching senility if not there already, was caught with his foot in his mouth when he had to quickly apologize to the Filipino Chinese community for slurs he made in connection with Rodolfo Lozada’s expose about the shameful ZTE Broadband scandal.

Apostol suggested to reporters that Filipino-Chinese or popularly known as "Tsinoys," should be deported. This outraged the Tsinoys and text messages swarmed the country about it, so much so that Apostol had to quickly apologize in public.

Serves him right! Yet, Apostol merely revealed the kind of leadership this country has: insensitive, thoughtless and uncaring.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Abalos, in trying to expunge himself from Lozada’s damning testimony, says that 130 million dollars is an incredible figure for a kickback. If he was hearing Lozada correctly, this is the reason why Lozada was sent, to temper his greed. Abalos also questioned why Lozada didn’t seek protection for a year if he (Abalos) truly threatened him.

Question to the ex-chairman: Would you have carried out the threat? Perhaps you’re just unblievable and Lozada dismissed it as nothing. But a threat is a threat and should be mentioned, especially when it comes from a desperately corrupt person who’s facing the prospect of losing millions of dollars.

Abalos was trying to keep a low profile trying to enjoy the Chinese moolah already given him and memories of romps with Sino virgins when Lozada showed up and appeared before the Senate blue-ribbon committee. Now he wants to shut Lozada up with a multi-million libel suit.

Bravo! Gloria Arroyo doesn’t need an opposition to make her look bad. She already has Apostol and Abalos!

Now let’s watch with glee as the other presidential defenders contract foot-in-mouth disease as they try to squelch the truth.

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Take a good look at the two photos below. Who looks more corrupt?

Mike Arroyo

Rodolfo Lozada

Make your choice known by clicking the appropriate button on the poll at the right. Remember, the question is, Who LOOKS more corrupt?

Be sure to tell others about this poll!

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One calls itself, “Kapamilya.” The other calls itself, “Kapuso.” Yet, they’re fighting each other tooth and nail for viewership, going to such lengths as going to court and maligning each other on air.

That’s what we’re seeing with the two giant networks of ABS-CBN and GMA. To this we can only call as disgustingly embarrassing.

There’s no better example of irony than what we’re viewing as these two networks publicly go for each other’s throats while calling themselves endearing names such as “Kapamilya” and “Kapuso.”

ABS-CBN is the most hypocritical of the two by stating in its defense that it’s not about ratings, but honesty towards advertisers and viewers.

This is, of course, 100% hi-grade bull. The only way to get advertisers and viewership is to rate high.

But, really, what sort of programs are competing with each other for ratings?

During noontime for instance, you have an ABS-CBN show that features a creep known to be a womanizer, who likes to show-off driving in an allegedly smuggled Ferrari, and tried to cheat his fellow Filipinos in a defunct segment called, “Wilyonaryo.”

GMA, on the other hand, features has-beens surrounded by a slew of young entertainers who are definitively boring. An ex-senator shows up on occasion, but he’s funnier as a senator than as a comedian.

Prime time presents no improvement. Both networks feature shows that are just clones of each other. They both have a few fantasy series productions with special effects that are at best comical and at worst sophomoric. The soaps are the same tearjerkers that offer nothing new in terms of plot.

The Internet offers much better entertainment.

So here’s unsolicited advice for both ABS-CBN and GMA. If you’re going to war in front of the viewing public, pleaaazzze, let it be something worth fighting for.

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There is strong evidence that the “Wilyonaryo” segment in the show, Wowowee, of Aug. 20, last year, was rigged.

Check out this video:

So, what else is new from a show that is responsible for the deaths of 70 people in a stampede that Wowowee continues to try to blame on others but themselves?

What’s new from a show that proclaims to the world it is a family-oriented program but continues to feature skimpily-clad women obscenely gyrating on the dance floor? So what, you may ask?

Well, just this: Last Sunday, in the children’s show, “Going Bulilit,” they had a segment that mimicked Wowowee. There was a boy impersonating Willie Revillame. Then there were girls acting as the dancers who were, get this, skimpily clothed! All these children were less than 10 years old!

Welcome to the Kapamilya channel where we teach your daughters to be nightclub dancers!

What else is new from a noontime show that promotes mendicancy and then makes fun of Filipinos who join its contests and have no choice but to be mocked for cash that won’t even be able to feed them for a month?

If Wowowee is found out to have cheated that day, will ABS-CBN shut it down? I doubt it. When money is your god, you don’t know the meaning of shame.

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Here are the also-rans for the 2007 Philippine Twerp of the Year (see previous post to get the full story). In other words, here are those who might have garnered the title.

* Antonio Trillanes IV
He could have used his stature as a senator to effect change in the governance of the country. Yet, he squandered this opportunity and trashed the millions of votes that made him a senator when he chose to try to lead an uprising against the government. Many believe in his cause to discredit the Arroyo regime, but not his methods which always carry the specter of violence. Now, he may spend his time, not on the Senate floor, but mopping a prison floor.

* Teofisto Guingona
He showed his mettle when he was a Senator. He was highly respected during the impeachment of former President Joseph Estrada. He was widely cheered when he bravely withstood water cannons trying to stop a peace rally he was leading that was passing through Mendiola. Yet, when he joined Trillanes at the ill-fated stand-off at the Manila Peninsula hotel, people merely shook their heads. Many felt that Guingona should have long retired from politics, remained a statesman and done something more meaningful to uplift the plight of Filipinos. His misadventure with Trillanes was seen as an ambitious albeit subtle move to be President of the country should Trillanes’ coup succeed.

* Benjamin Abalos
Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman, found himself smack at the center of two controversies. One, elections fraud in Mindanao; the other, a bribery scandal which also involved stories of romps with Chinese maidens. Because of the latter, he was forced to give up his Comelec Chair. Yet, he loudly vowed to fight for his innocence no matter where it took him. However, to this day he remains deafly silent. Better to just fade away spending those millions and having memories of Chinese virgins.

* Joseph Estrada
He remained defiant about his innocence even if he was found guilty of plunder which meted him life imprisonment. He at first refused a Presidential pardon because he professed that the Arroyo government was illegitimate. To accept a pardon would thus admit to its legitimacy. Later, however, faced with the reality of spending the rest of his life in a stinky, overcrowded, prison cell, he changed his mind and accepted the pardon. Perhaps someone along the way whispered to him that he would be able to do more to try to topple the government if he’s free.

And our all-time favorite,
* Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Should we really explain why?

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Every year-end the writers of philiblogs.com put their heads together and compile a list of the Top Ten Twerps of the year in the Philippines. Since we’re all getting lazier each year, we’ve decided, starting this year-end, to just name a single Philippine Twerp of the Year. So, without much ado (don’t you just hate that phrase?), philiblogs.com gives you the 2007 Philippine Twerp of the Year:

GLOBE BROADBAND

And here’s why:

Globe Broadband’s service has been, to say the least, erratic for months now, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. They not only have been giving their subscribers slow connections, but at times no connections at all and even lasting for more than a day.

When you call up support, you’re immediately fed with a recorded message weakly explaining that network restoration is ongoing and that the system will normalize "in the soonest possible time" (which actually can be from now until Armageddon). Because you’ve been hearing that same recording for months now, you’re thought is, "How long is this restoration going to take?"

So you’d rather speak to a real human voice to get the real score. However, when a live techie goes on the line, guess what? He/she merely reads the transcribed form of the recorded explanation!

When you try to delve deeper into what the cause of the problem is, they don’t know. When you ask when can you hope for the connection to return, they also don’t know. You feel like you’re a senator in an inquiry interrogating Iggy Arroyo. You’re just not getting any answers!

Thus, instead of being comforted, you get infuriated. Having nothing else to say, all the techie will utter is, "We’re really sorry for the inconvenience," like a broken record (I refuse to say anything that would incriminate me, senator).

The least Globe Broadband could do is to somehow let someone from higher management communicate with subscribers and detail what is the cause of the problem, what they’re doing about it and when is the estimate time of complete restoration.

They can do this through a print ad, through snail mail, e-mail or even telephone. But they choose to scrimp on expenses, remain quiet and leave the subscriber in the dark. Instead, they would rather feed a recorded message or techies reading the script of the recorded message.

Then you start to see all these slick advertisements on TV on how wonderful Globe Broadband is, plus marketing tents cropping up all over the place where sales reps talk about the technology of Globe Broadband; and you just know the costs of these can run up to hundreds of thousands of pesos a month.

Yet, they do little to satisfy the demands of their current customers.

Globe Broadband gives new meaning to the term, "customer service."

For this it is given the distinguished title of "2007 Philippine Twerp of the Year!"

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In a previous blog I had hoped that Antonio Trillanes’ idealism would make him a good senator in spite of my doubts that he was merely a pawn. Read it here.

Now, I’m convinced, without a shadow of doubt, he’s a pawn. His latest misadventure establishes that.

His financiers probably used him like a guinea pig. Told that "People Power" would follow his latest "uprising," he and Gen. Lim trooped to the Manila Peninsula hotel and held siege. No "People Power" came. A political has-been came, by the name of Teofisto Guingona, but hardly anyone noticed him.

Before this, in the aftermath of the Glorietta explosion, someone whispered to him that the explosion was caused by a bomb planted by the government. Immediately, he went public with this sans any evidence, saying that the informers were being kept in a safehouse.

After police came out with the results that it was a gas tank explosion, nothing came out again from Trillanes.

Trillanes could have used his idealism to effect a senatorial presence and use senatorial power to reach out to disenfranchised Filipinos and establish a political base through which he can legally challenge the administration.

Many, I believe, would follow and support him.

His election into the Senate was no small feat. Yet, he threw this in the garbege can of obscurity with his latest fiasco.

Now he’ll be spending many years in prison and the name, Antonio Trillanes IV, will be a mere speck in the history of the Philippines, known as a man whose idealism fizzled out even before it had sparked.

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