Shortly after a popular uprising in 2001, Philippine President Joseph “Erap” Estrada was removed from his position and replaced by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who before that point was the Vice President. Under pursuit by Arroyo and the Supreme Court, Estrada was arrested for government plunder and found guilty after a lengthy trial, though Arroyo eventually pardoned him afterwards, enabling him to run in 2010 for the same position he lost.
When President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino was elected President in 2010, one of his priority goals was to have Arroyo arrested, again for plunder during her 9-year term, and indirectly due to a 2004 bribery scandal when she ran for reelection (the charges for the latter were eventually junked by the Supreme Court). To date, though Arroyo has not been in jail, she remains confined under hospital arrest due to numerous physical ailments.
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During his term, BS Aquino’s greatest and most memorable scandal as President has again to do with public funds, this time in the form of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (or PDAF, which is Philippine legalese for “pork barrel”), which he ordered eliminated on the eve of a massive popular protest against him in August 2013. There remained, however, the President’s own form of earmarked funds in the form of the Disbursement Acceleration Fund (DAP), of which parts of the Aquino-appointed Supreme Court have declared unconstitutional. Just as Estrada and Arroyo before him, Aquino now faces criminal charges once he steps out of office in 2016 on possible malversation of funds.
Then there’s the infamous massacre of the 44 Special Actions Forces policemen by still-unidentified Islamist radicals in Maguindanao Province. Aquino has taken full responsibility for his actions (or lack of them) for the unfortunate incident, especially since he chose as director of the operations someone who he had suspended from office in the previous year. An independent bloc in Congress has found both of them accountable.
The question here is: if the two previous presidents were successful in landing their predecessors in court, is the next president open to having BS Aquino charged for his tight hold on the DAP and his “leadership” over the Mamasapano clash? Five months before the May 2016 elections, there has been a lot of tough talk from various candidates about how their possible presidency would be about “change” and “reforms” — shallow platitudes, as has been experienced after 2010, that might not really hold anything at all in the long run.
Are any of them willing to hold Aquino accountable for his own misdeeds during his ridiculously ballyhooed “Straight Path” presidency?
[Photo courtesy of The Philippine Star]
But enough about me.
At this point I’m inclined to say, “who gives a fuck?”
What a question, LOL !
the answer is: NONE OF THEM, just like GMA,who is not inprison,never was and never will be.Just like E-RAP,the current Mayor of that stink-hole Manila.
@ Midway-Haven: Exactly what court did GMA land in? I may have missed that one.BUT She did not land anywhere but in a fake ass Hospital room that she is never in. Has anyone seen her there lately?
“SHE’s NOT THERE”,period. LOL !!!!
No proof of that, though.
@ CF, Proof that she is not there? Well, why not go up there and make some inquiries, u kno, see what happens? Ask if you can verify that she is actually in that hospital room and say that you are an investigative journalist, see how you are treated. I’d say that you will be treated badly, would you consider doing that?
Just like the Amputuans that were seen in Macau at the roulette wheels, I’d bet she is not in that hospital room.
@ CF, you really would seem a bit brighter if you looked at this situation from an historical prospective,eh? How many of these thieving weasels,over the last 50 years, have been prosecuted? How many of them, over the last 50 years, have been to jail after being convicted of stealing money from the tax-payers?
Take into consideration the fact that an International news journal has labelled the Philippine government as the biggest criminal syndicate in South East Asia. Consider that the Constitution of the country has been written in such a way as to protect these criminal scumbags and that Dollar denominated accounts are not viewable and may not be disclosed to anyone: and then tell us:
HOW MUCH PROOF DO YOU REALLY NEED? You see, these sleazy-ass scumbags are counting on people like you to say exactly what you just said, ‘prove it’ OR where is your source? They know that the court system is soooooo fuckin slow that even if they are accused of anything it will be years before they ever have to appear in a courtroom.
MAYBE, wise up and realize that these people are crooks, plain and simple. Every single one of them.
This is a vital question to any of the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates. Aquino has grossly misbehaved in office. He is a big thief. He protected his Hacienda Luisita. Supported the NPA. And , he was trying to finance the MILF/ISIS/Al Queda. He never did anything, as China annexed territories. He cover up the 44SAF Police massacre and other soldiers’ massacre by the MILF.He ignored the Hacienda Luisita massacre. He collaborated with the enemies of the state.
He violated the Constitution, by allowing U.S. soldiers to stay in the country.
DAP, PDAF, Pork Barrel Bribery, etc…are massive Plunder of Public Funds.
We have to make Aquino accountable for these enormous and tremendous criminalities.
@ TORO, YEAH RIGHT, just like GMA was going to be prosecuted and E-RAP before her and Marcos and all the rest of these fuckin thieving scoundrels, HA. If u think anyone of these crooks is going to jail you are greatly mistaken.
I have never seen a Big Crook in the government go too Jail. They are elected back in office, after plundering the country’s national treasury.
OK, stop fuckin around. IF any of you want a real change, WELL, you best not ‘BEG TO DIFFER’, you ‘BETTER FUCKIN DEMAND IT’. Pick up 400,000 of your fellow Filipino’s and all of your weapons and go surround the Senate and HOR bldgs.and the Palais and tell them they better all resign and leave the country,RIGHT NOW ! OR BE thrown in fuckin jail OR have the mob set on their asses.Half measures will avail you NOTHING !
LIKE IT OR NOT:
THAT is the only way anything in the Philippines is going to change.
Smart money says nothing will change and that the country will be even more fucked 20 years from now than it is today.WHY? because no one has the balls to do what is necessary.
Oh and BTW, being nice about will not work !!!
WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU, FILIPINOS!
I THOUGHT YOU HAVE LEARNED YOUR LESSON SINCE YOU DEPOSED THE ONLY PRESIDENT WHO DID SOMETHING FOR OUR COUNTRY!
Former President Estrada was thrown in prison by or during his Vice-President’s (Arroyo) term.
At present, President Aquino wants former Arroyo incarcerated.
Then, you want to know now which Presidential candidate can lock up the incumbent President Aquino in jail.
Don’t you see what’s wrong here? You people are the stupid ones. Why?
Here’s why:
You elected an actor with a landslide victory.
Then, you replaced him with his Vice-President, an Economists because you feel that he’s inept, when in the first place, it was you people who elected him there.
In 2010, you urged Aquino to run even if he wasn’t a candidate merely because he’s another Aquino and for his dead mother. And now, you’re thinking as to who will have the audacity to prosecute and detain him.
Can’t you see what’s wrong with you! You do not have a clue with what you’re doing AT ALL!!!
You have sent a President in prison, is in the process of sending the next one in and is planning to put the next one in again as well once his term is up.
What’s wrong with you people!
You have the habit of appointing someone to be President. And then locking them up after their term is up just because you found out that he or she actually isn’t the right one or clearly, was corrupt! YOU’RE FORGETTING THE FACT THAT IT WAS YOU PEOPLE WHO ELECTED THEM THERE. YOU HAVE NO UNITY NOR DO YOU HAVE THE BRAINS!
“It’s not the stupid officials that are elected. It’s the stupid voters that elects them.!
To be accountable means that we are willing to be responsible to another person for our behavior and it implies a level of submission to another’s opinions and viewpoints.
Have you heard about the term: “Command Responsibility”? In Aquino’s case, he is the biggest crook and criminal. He is the worst criminal perpetrator.
We contradict all for which we stand for, we all stand for the lie the whole lie and nothing but the lie so help save our lying asses.
Let us send Aquino and his cahoots to jail, for his/their crimes. Let us Land Reform his Hacienda Luisita. Compensate the families of his serfs, that he murdered.
Aquino and his cahoots are the worse criminals, who ever held public offices in the Philippines.
Miriam Defensor Santiago.
The President and Mesdames Quintos-Deles and Coronel-Ferrer are dilettantes who unilaterally decided to conceptualize and apply their ideas to real life situations. Sadly, though not oddly enough, they fell short and have caused earth-shaking and tragic consequences to the Republic. This situation is not unlike video-game enthusiasts who dabble in ‘nuts-and-bolts’ negotiating and even in military strategy and tactics..as in taking charge of a real-time, live ammunition military mission. The results, of course, were both horrendous but predictable. People died and we ended up with the short and dirty end of the stick.
The long-running and still burning questions now are..”Is there anybody capable and serious enough.. in this administration.. who could lead, and who would be willing to be held to account for his/her actions?” And.. “Is there a mechanism.. a court procedure perhaps.. that might undertake a revue to assess the legality of the systems and methods employed by this administration over the years of its existence”? There should be such a system.. which should not include the media, by the way, who all have their biases and agenda.