GMA and her spokespersons

Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was released from her hospital detention yesterday after the Court granted her petition for bail. The decision said the evidence against her in the electoral sabotage case was not strong enough to merit her continued detention, but the case has not been dropped and will continue. Her co-accused, election officer Lintang Bedol and Ampatuan governor Andal Ampatuan have not been given the privilege, however. They will have to stay in jail.

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Maybe it was fortunate that the former president was suffering from that neck ailment at the time of her arrest. That provided the reason for her “imprisonment” in a hospital, the government-owned Veterans Memorial Medical Center – all these eight months when the case, and her plea for bail were being heard. That ailment was also supposed to be the justification for her trip abroad which was foiled by the Justice Department at the very last moment, when she was already at the airport.

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Naturally, the media made a big to-do over the departure from the hospital yesterday, but none of those covering the incident were able to talk to her personally. A few were able to talk to her daughter, Luli Arroyo Bernas, but not to her or to the first gentleman who, surprisingly was never seen in all the footages on the departure from the VMCC, or even during her convoy’s arrival at her La Vista residence.

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But they had mouthfuls from her talkative lawyer, the one who had offered his precious body part as security to ensure her return, if she had been allowed to leave the country, and the former Land Transportation official, who had been silent for a long time, but will undoubtedly be all over the media now that her boss is in circulation again. I still can’t understand why Elena Horn had been picked to be GMA’s spokesperson, I don’t think she can be as effective as her former ones like Ignacio Bunye of the Hello Garci controversy, or even now Congressman Anthony Golez. Maybe she should call them back again or ask them to give tips to Horn and Topacio?

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The Philippine National Police is planning to file charges against the protestors who went on a rampage near the Batasan Complex when President Noynoy Aquino delivered his State of the Nation Address. Indeed, they should file the charges, because some of the protestors were really uncontrollable, and this we all saw clearly on TV. They were hitting out at the police, and striking the windshields of police vehicles wildly. The faces of those who did these were clearly shown on TV, so there should be no difficulty in identifying them. One can only wonder why they had to be so destructive when they had been allowed to hold their protest. The cops should really enforce the law here, or they will lose face and never be respected.

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I have not been a fan of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, but after listening to the interviews of more than half of the aspirants for the post of Chief Justice so far, I think she is the most qualified and deserves to get the recommendation of the Judicial and Bar Council. Let’s not name names, but some of those who presented themselves as contenders should probably not be chosen even as judges for barangay races. Some are too different, others too pushy and over-confident, one wonders how they will act as head of the highest court of the land.

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Let’s not comment on the interviews with the contenders who are already associate justices. They are said to be candidates for the position by virtue of their present position, and will still be justices, no matter who gets chosen in the end. But I hope some new face will be picked, instead of them. One could not even answer when confronted with statistics on the performance of the High Court, and admitted that he did not know about it.

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Meanwhile, I’m no longer surprised why the fans of TV personality Willie Revillame are so devoted to him. As I was waiting for my luggage to clear Customs at the NAIA recently, I sat beside an elderly woman who was impatiently calling out to her porter to hurry and mentioning Revillame. Later she told me that she had won in a contest held by Revillame and the trip to the United States was her prize. Not only that, she said, “He also gave me $1,000 pocket money and my ticket was business class pa. And his people also took care of me here and in San Francisco. And sure enough, a man came rushing into the arrival area and asked her, “Are you Mrs. Francisca Palma?” He was a member of Revillame’s staff assigned to fetch her! And take her home to Batangas, too.*

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