Facts Filipinos never wanted to know about the Aquinos and Cojuangcos

Those who went out and did point-by-point “rebuttals” of the now famous gone-viral YouTube video AQUINO COJUANGCO: FACTS THEY DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW HD miss the point. The point, in my opinion, is that there is a whole swath of information and history that is not routinely highlighted by mainstream media. Yet, blogger Marck Ronald Rimorin makes it sound as if the mega-wealthy Aquinos and Cojuangcos are the hapless victims in this situation…

But in peddling a lie, the video misrepresents itself as fact with people gobbling it up: while it fails in its function as a historical resource, it more than succeeds in its function as a cog in the machine of anti-Aquino, Marcos-apologetic, self-mortifying propaganda.

…and calls up the scary spectre of a possible “misrepresentation” of the cherished “identity” of the Filipino (an “identity” the coming to terms with I might remind, is in itself a headscratcher of an exercise)…

The fact that the video is untrue brings our history to imbalance, and along with it our identity, our connection with our past, and our visions of the future. The fact that the video has less historical rigor than expected and demanded should have consequences in the way we see ourselves, and effects in how we build our nation. Oh, how easy it would be to divide the world between “evil oligarchs” and “good intellectuals.” The world is more complex — much more complex — than that.

We might recall that it was the Aquinos (like any other Filipino political dynasty on a mission to grab power) that bulldozed over sensible evaluation of political candidates with a presidential campaign that heavily-leveraged pedigree over platform and emotionalism over logical rigour.

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Rimorin who describes his day job as being “in advertising” should talk. Advertising is all about creating emotional hooks that don’t necessarily have direct moorings in the facts of the product being pitched. That part of the job is left to the ability of the average consumer to grapple with an abundance of choice, while advertisers are left free to apply the creative license that gets them paid the big bucks. Tough luck for Da Pinoy in that cognitive department.

Consider how the Philippine presidential campaign of 2010 offered the political equivalent of a supermarket of choice to the average Filipino voter. Lots of publicists — a.k.a. “media consultants” — made a lot of money off that one. Thus it is no surprise that the candidate who pound-for-pound, fact-for-fact was the most unqualified among the lot for the job of President of the Republic of the Philippines was chosen. That says a lot about the power of advertising.

So who is really the “victim” here?

Even by the longest stretch of the imagination can we not picture the Aquinos and the Cojuangcos — with their deep and extensive network of lieutenants permeating Philippine Media (and even some so-called “research” firms) — as the underdogs in a “contest” of influence. My colleague Ben Kritz was one of the first to highlight the fundamental con underlying the Aquino campaign of 2009 in his seminal piece The Non-Platform of Noynoy Aquino published back in August of 2009 where he summarises the (non)essence of then candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s pitch to the Filipino voter…

Aquino states that “attempts to weaken our democracy,” “government excesses and misgovernance,” “attempts to impose a repressive government,” and “lack of access of the powerless and the oppressed” are the problems he wishes to address. This is simply grim rhetoric in search of definitions or examples, not a valid statement of the problems or issues. Likewise his plan of action is devoid of, well, action — instead, Aquino vows to “continue to hold government to account,” “oppose attempts to impose a repressive government,” and “be the voice of” a certain vaguely-defined constituency. And why will he pursue these meaningless “objectives?” Who knows? Aquino doesn’t trouble himself or the electorate with a rationale.

Indeed, one of the more pompous and self-righteous “promises” in the pseudo-platform that, at the time, was published on Noynoy’s campaign site comes across as a bit quaint today…

Be the voice of the powerless and the oppressed, those who do not have access to our government and are, thus, victims of injustice.”

This sounds not too different from the way we supposedly “simplify the complexities of our history to the cleave of Rich Against Poor, Landed Against Unlanded, we no longer tell history: we tell history the way we want to because it entertains, because it evokes emotion, because it looks good” — evvvillll things that Rimorin the self-described Ad Man accuses the producers of AQUINO COJUANGCO: FACTS THEY DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW HD of doing.

And, as history had revealed since, Aquino’s spectacular win at the polls was pulled off on the back of the very “propaganda” that our Mr Ad Man now puts up as our society’s greatest evil.

Unlike those of us who are accused of “re-writing” history to suit our preferred views of the world, Aquino and his team of publicists have extensive histories of simply erasing evidence. Shortly after Kritz’s piece (and a few more that followed it) invited scrutiny into Noynoy’s claims of a “platform” he plans to run on, the information simply disappeared, leaving behind this quaint error message:

In my brilliant investigative reporting piece Noynoy’s platform: HTTP 404 — File not found, I wrote…

I can’t help but highlight yet another irony that escapes the collective mind of the Philippine political establishement and its cadre of “expert” analysts.

Aquino’s glossing up of his website and the disappearance of the only section in it that would have housed the only semblance of substance underpinning his candidacy is symbollic of our society.

YouTube publisher PinoyMonkeyPride who produced the video only evens the score and scored one big for the real underdogs in this game. Tit for tat. One world view is presented and another to counter it is tabled as well. That’s when debate begins. Is either side up to the task of teasing out The Truth? That remains to be seen. Filipinos after all have an extensive track record of keeping The Truth under wraps. As I said earlier, those who cry “foul” over what is nothing more than a presentation of alternative views completely miss the point. The point is that there is an alternative take on history.

Everyone was aware of what was going on. We just chose not to know.

I’m no fan of the Aquinos or Cojuangcos but, to be fair to them, I can’t really say that there is anything in their history that they did that warrants their being made out to be any more villainous than the average oligarch. After all, vast tracts of land and fabulous amounts of wealth aren’t acquired by being nice guys. All we need is a big bunch of suckers who are willing to sell and a handful of savvies who are wanting to buy. And that pretty much sums up Philippine history. We are, ultimately, a society of sellouts ruled by an elite cadre of investors.

As I once quipped:

Great nations were not built on good intentions. They were built on business sense. Real change in Pinoy society will never be achieved through the “sacrifice” of altruistic “heroes”. True change will be driven by people who find no shame in expecting a buck for their trouble.

Perhaps if the Aquinos and Cojuangcos just lose the whole bullshit about their being God’s prayerful gift to the Filipino and just take a more real perspective with regard to their true place in our society — as the shrewd landowners and cutthroat capitalists that make modern economies out of substistence societies imprisoned by their heritage of smallness — then perhaps we’d all get along and stop fooling ourselves.

Then again, is it really a case of the Aquinos and Cojuangcos not wanting us to know certain “facts”? If you ask me, I think Filipinos prefer to simply remain comfy in the bliss of their ignorance, look up to the sky, open their mouths wide, and pray.

79 Replies to “Facts Filipinos never wanted to know about the Aquinos and Cojuangcos”

      1. Yes! Finally!

        How can this be hearsay while yours is all hearsay and LOL evil Marcos and Arroyo?

        Now he’s going to order a brutal massacre just like his idol Tito Noy, a murderer of farmers. 😛

      2. Who among the paid, evil-loving, corrupt-to-the-bone, hacks did it, dude? Do you consort with such people enough to know them? Or you just go at it like a farting demagogue?

  1. benign0s title is much better than the Pinoymonkeypride (PMP) video title. Coincidentally, are PMP (pinoymonkeypride) and the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino related? LOL.

    This sums it up for me:

    “Then again, is it really a case of the Aquinos and Cojuangcos not wanting us to know certain “facts”? If you ask me, I think Filipinos prefer to simply remain comfy in the bliss of their ignorance…”

    Oligarchy schmoligarchy. I like this:

    “Perhaps if the Aquinos and Cojuangcos just lose the whole bullshit about their being God’s prayerful gift to the Filipino and just take a more real perspective with regard to their true place in our society — as the shrewd landowners and cutthroat capitalists that make modern economies out of substistence societies imprisoned by their heritage of smallness — then perhaps we’d all get along and stop fooling ourselves.”

      1. He’s not doing it for the money. Baka ikaw iyun.

        Just like your Tita Cory who is busy paying her media friends to make things look good in her term. Ikaw ang bulag sa katotohanan, gunggomg. 😀

  2. my first thought is why are there not more people like you and ilda who have the insight intellect and commonsense to see what is wrong, propose practical solutions for change and dont have greed as a motive.
    is the system too well entrenched to change.
    are the people too apathetic to care

    intellectual discourse must also pursue positive achievement

    1. Wla naman gnwa mga yan kundi magsulat lang ng mgsulat tpus traBaho n ult. In short,part time j0b lang. May perang ngagawa bwat artikulo.

  3. Hinihintay ko ang AbNoynoy propagandist na si Vincenzio na ipagkaila itong mga exposé at patotoo ng YouTube video na yan. Nasaan na sya?

    Sa kanyang pagsamba sa kulto ni AbNoynoy, ako’y natatakot na hindi sya magdadalawang isip na ipaslang ang mga kontra sa kanyang diyos-diyosang Benigno Simeon (or BS) Aquino III

    Ako’y ‘di nagtataka na masmalalim na kadilimang nakakikilabot ang itinatago ng angkan nila Aquino-Cojuangco.

    Hindi na kailangan magnakaw si AbNoy. Ang kanyang pakay ay ipagtanggol lang ang mga nakapagnakaw o tuluyang nagnanakaw para sa kanya. (Thank you Aquino-Cojuangco family for doing all the dirty work for me, so that I don’t need to be accused of stealing. I just need to have power in order to protect you in exchange for all your “support”.)

  4. 10 families run the country and just like many industries, i am sure that this will become ‘the big 5’ in time.
    Then you can say goodbye, if not already, to freedom of info/expression, open competition, anti-trust, consumer choice, innovation, progress and prosperity etc.
    Feudalism and federalism will rule under the pretence of democracy.
    The 1% do not have empathy with,or a social conscience for, the serfs.
    Low labour rates and an uneducated and politically apathetic populace is good for the status quo and for failed actors, and inbred children of politicians to maintain their lifestyles.
    Anyone who expects change is deluding themselves.
    The solutions are not rocket science but without the political will, then it is pissing in the wind.
    Show me an honest, intelligent, committed politician and i would make him president. I have not found one yet.
    Campaign promises are always followed by smoke and mirrors.
    Integrity, honesty, community service are alien concepts to people who get rich through corruption and simply want more whilst the masses survive on a pittance and make do with videoke and rice, and a population explosion.
    And anyone who thinks that things have changed under the aquino administration clearly does not deal with these cockroaches every day or run a large business.

    1. So, what do you want to happen? For that matter, what does everyone else want to happen? Like what you said, everyone’s pissing against the wind at this point.

      Your bottom line is that the oligarchy controls everything. If that is the case, what use are elections then? Chances are, they will steer the outcome to favor their candidate.

      1. first and foremost i want a few honest men.
        many can supply the money, experience and most importantly in 2013/2016 technological expertise way above what anyone here knows.

        there are principled people who want a new order without personal benefit. hard to believe i know , but not everyone is greedy chinese communists.

        some of us have worked for a living and become wealthy through honest endeavours

    2. DOnt worRy, Tito Noy is working with it with the intelligence of his father and faith of his m0ther. Wag bsta magpaniwala sa mga bidyo n yan,parang tae lang sa daAn

      1. Ikaw nga e tae sa daan because all of your comments are conspiracy theories.

        In short, ALL ARE CRAP. Naapakan ko na ang mga tae.

  5. that’s the whole deal with marketing (and advertising under that umbrella): the best mousetrap won’t necessarily sell the most among a large selection of mousetraps varying in quality from excellent to the worst piece of shit. marketed “properly,” the absolute shittiest mousetrap can dominate the market. thus, we have our president.

      1. Hindi nga makatakas si Gloria because she wanted to face the charges against her.

        You’re so wrong again, deluded trollfag. 😛 Noynoy became president because of his last name. Because only fools are gullible enough to believe Aquino magic and hype, much like everyone with a last name has a label to them. If you want someone who has political will, it’s Gordon and Bayani due to their achievements. Si Noynoy? WALA!

  6. Just like the revillas you are prepared to murder your own for power, money and greed.
    Cojuangco is as guilty as ramona, but money and family ambition rules over principles and integrity in these warped incestuous families.
    Trailer trash with no class.
    Lazy bastards with no brains.
    Aquino follows the family trait.
    And the money cojuangco has stolen from the olympic fund whilst destroying any chance of sport for the country/masses is so low it is beyond words or my comprehension.

  7. I’m happy for PinoyMonkeyPride, he has really shaken the foundation of the Yellow Bias.

    Some bloggers state that dispelling ignorance is not the solution and is beginning to use criticize him personally, if his ways are not really the solution then why do they feel threatened?

    1. It’s not only now. Many people including myself have been writing about the “truth” even before the election. The people just didn’t want to listen.

    2. Its all about money, need of importance and bitterness. Kapag nawala si Tito Noy, e sino? Si Gordon, npakayabang. Si Gibo, kakampi ni GMA. Si Villar, bbwiin mga gnastos sa eleksyon. Si Erap,pwd p siguro pero mas mrmi prin ang ngmamahal kay Tito Noy. Bongbong? Parang bnastos m ang EDSA1. Theres n0 other ch0ice.

      1. In reality, nothing ever happened after EDSA. Mas lalong lumala ang bansa natin and Cory and her allies find Marcos to blame for.

        Gordon? Hindi siya mayabang because he spoke the truth and he can do a Lee Kuan Yew. Gibo is not like Noynoy because he’s for charter change.

        All about the money? That wasn’t theirs either. That’s the typical Pinoy mindset. Always on the money, not on the progress. They’ll take their 100,000 pesos sitting on a shitty shanty if it meant movie stars and politiko family members can take political seats on a 2-6 year basis. Just like what happened to Cory and her family. 😛

      2. “Si Erap pwede pa” Hibang ka ba? You’re local media spoon-fed. Si Gordon straightforward. Mayabang siya para sayo kasi balat sibuyas ka, you refuse to know your flaws because you have someone else backing you up and you look at him as a hero by doing so. You have no choice because you refuse to look for other choices.

  8. It’s worth reading. 🙂
    Di ako pinasa ng professor ko sa group thesis. Lahat ng members ko nakapasa except ako. I didn’t sleep for a weeks for the sake of that effin Thesis. Mga members ko tumutulong lang sakin. Before ko makuha grades ko nakipag away pa sakin professor ko kasi maka Pnoy sya. Ako maka GIBO. I was actually stating my opinion in facebook and he took it seriously. What’s the use of freedom of speech? dahil dun di ako nakapasa. I didn’t regret it. Parehas sila mag isip ni Mr. President. Childish. ~_~

      1. Daang BALUKTOT iyan. Only idiots like you will say that because Noynoy is an incompetent, childish trash. 😛 And he’s not acting like an authority figure.

    1. Ganyan talaga mga yellow supporters. Tignan mo, they will go through great lengths to twist the truth. Pumapatay pa mga alipores nyan (nakakatakot). Iba talaga ang maraming pera, impluwensya, at kapangyarihan—nasusunod lahat ng kanilang luho sa katawan.

      Ang pagkalas ng pilipinas sa angkan ng mga Aquino-Cojuangco at ang mga oligarchy ang magiging simula ng masaganang pilipinas. End this Aquino-Cojuangco reign and the Philippines will finally have a real chance for a new beginning.

      Wealth amassed through questionable means like that of the Aquino-Cojuangco clan should already reveal to you where their main interests lie—and it’s not in the sustained improvement of our less fortunate brethren. Why would they wish another Pinoy to be independently better and wealthy than they are?—They would not want to lose their control and holdings. They want every humble Pinoy to be dependent on their clan.

    1. Bilib ako sa PinoyMonkeyPride (PMP). They reject bribes—mga tunay na walang corruption unlike AbNoynoy who protects only his KKK—kasi nakikinabang siya. Pawang katotohanan lamang ang gusto ng PMP.

      Notice how Vincenzo tries to deceive others with his yellow ignorance.

      Ayaw ng Aquino-Cojuangco maging matalino ang Pinoy, dahil hindi nila makokontrol ang mga Pinoy kung ganun. PMP would truly give back to the people their true freedom! Thank you PinoyMonkeyPride for standing up against all forms of oppression and control over Filipino minds by the Aquino-Cojuangco clan and the oligarchy (the rule of the super-rich privileged few)!

      1. Ure wr0ng, the supporters of Tito Noy are also smart! Eh kayo? Smart load lang ang kailangan nyo kaya gumagawa kayo ng katarantaduhan, panggugulo at pagpapapansin na ito.

        1. It’s really ironic how this yellowtard calls himself smart when in reality he really isn’t putting a good image for his group by posting retarded propaganda.

      2. If they are smart then they would never put Noynoy in office due to his inablity to lead.

        And the second sentence? It applies more to YOU since IKAW ang naggugulo. So GIVE UP. 😛

    2. You are desperate, you cannot answer others well. You tell us to give up and “sumama sa daang matuwid”? No, YOU give up.

      1. Tgnan m0h naman! Binagsak sya dhil sa kaguluhan ng isip nya. E kung isa lang ang direksy0n na pupuntahan m0, hnd sana sya nabagsak. At iy0n ang daAng maTuwid kung saAn papunta ang bAnsa

      2. Sorry, pero ang daang tatahakin natin ay daang baluktot. The path of MEDIOCRITY.

        That is what Vincenzo wants us. To be MEDIOCRE.

    3. Ayan na. Desperado na si Vincenz Ara Ulul!

      Baka ikaw ata iyon. Certainly not Cory considering she was too busy paying off her media friends to make things look good in her term when it was just as tumultuous so asshats like you will believe everything that comes from the Cory Hype machine. And try sound intelligent trying to defend her family name.

    4. The yellow nazi zombie totoy is getting hostile again! If you watched PMP’s videos, have you read the disclaimer? Because that one is honest unlike your precious president making lies. Kawawa ka naman kung mamamatay ka lang sa pagiging bulag-bulaganag desperado.

  9. The Facts were removed, and we were fed with propagandas, that the best money can buy. You cannot see in any Philippine History Book. How Benigno Aquino, Sr.; founded the KALIBAPI Party, during the Japanese Militarist occupation. The goal of the party was to incorporate the Philippines to the Empire of Japan. The members of the party were Japanese Secret Police spies…which were the cause of the death and tortures of Filipino Freedom fighters. The Fall of Bataan; the Liberation of the Philippines, etc…regarding Japanese occupation are not the in the Philippine Hisitory Books.

    Benigno Aquino, Sr. escaped to Japan, during the American liberation. He was arrested in Japan. He was sentenced to death by the Philippine Court for High Treason. But, was pardoned by the request of U.S. Gen. McArthur…I wish they should had hanged him like the Japanese Gen. Yamashita; who was hanged in Los Banos, Laguna…
    Truth in history can be twisted, to cater the evil goals of politician. Why did the Lopez Conglomerate of Media sold these lies to the Filipinos? Because, they have billions and billions of pesos of gevernment contracts…in their contracting companies…

  10. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/90211/youtube-video-slams-aquino-kin-over-hacienda-luisita

    The 15-minute video titled “Aquino-Cojuangcos: Facts They Don’t Want You To Know,” was uploaded on October 21 by “PinoyMonkeyPride Productions” and at presstime has gotten nearly 232,000 views.

    Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said he suspected the video was “possibly meant to distract attention from controversies like the departure bid of former President Arroyo.”

    There we go again, a distraction daw to ‘serious’ matters 😀

    1. LOL @Abad

      Distracted? The allegations against the mighty midget are pretty hard to ignore.

      It’s a good thing that people get distracted,imho. Do they want the people to focus on their failure to pin down GMA?

      1. Hey… don’t forget. PresiNoynoy promised to Foreign Correspondents — that in November 2011 Pilipinas will “make sampa” the court cases against GuMacArroyo.

        Apparently he also promised GuMacArroyo will be in jail in December-2011. (**Plus during the elections he promised strong support for “Freedom-of-Information”… at marami pang iba. )

    1. like his idol aquino, he is a gift from the comedy gods.
      no-one takes him seriously but good for a laugh.
      some people are just too simple.

  11. Mr. Manoling Morató was right in saying in his anti-Noynoy campaign pamphlet that “ang hindi dapat maungkat ay mauungkat”, especially now that we have another Aquino as President.

    1. ang hindi nau-ungkat was F. Sionil Jose’s words from last year… for a formal 2010-2011 Truth Commission so that the Pilipinas citizens can have finality to… si Ver nga ba? Iyong nga bang mga sundalo lang?

      “…. Who masterminded the assasination of Ninoy Aquino?”

  12. I am looking forward to buy Cecilio Arillo books. These books were recommended with focus critique on the state of oligarchy Philippines.

  13. Had that “Aquino Cojuangco : Facts they…” Youtube video come out during the election-campaign, there would be Lila Shahani and a few “YellowArmy”-flagwavers that will threaten to get anti-Noy blogsites knocked out of the internet.

    Noynoy now owns Malakanyang… YellowArmy may make noise feigning that they have been maltreated by the MonkeyPride youtube video, but in their hearts they are grinning because they know they have a few more years to implement the adage —- “To the victor goes the spoils!!!”

  14. What I see here in the comments field are fellow countrymen missing the point of these informative videos, pointing fingers and dragging each other down. . . What I see here are emotion driven supporters who have lost logic and insight and are very eager to defend their egos. . .

  15. Even the Cardinal of the Revolution himself, Jaime Cardinal Sin, realized too late the mistake of calling the masa to EDSA. A few months after the deed was done, he said “We thought corruption would end with the fleeing of the ousted dictator Ali Baba, and yet the forty thieves are still here.” Another quote from him, given on EDSA’s 2nd anniversary: “Tayo ang problema – it is we who are the problem!”

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