Erap and GMA as detainees

Is she, or isn’t she? Yesterday former first gentleman Mike Arroyo was shown on TV saying that his wife, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was still very sick and in pain. I think this came out when there was talk about moving her to a regular detention center, from the Veterans Hospital where she has been staying since the charges were filed against her.

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It seems very confusing, because, even if the former president has lately been shown with an even bigger neck brace than before, there had also been reports that she wants to get out and play golf. That does not seem to jibe with her husband’s claim that she is still in pain, and should stay in the hospital. I recall that there was also a move to request for house arrest for her. Why not? That was also granted to former President Joseph Estrada, after GMA had seized the presidency from him. As they say, what’s sauce for the gander should also be sauce for the goose.

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Maybe President Noynoy Aquino will agree to the bid for house arrest. I understand that it is the Philippine government that is footing the bills of the former president at the Veterans Hospital. How many millions have those months cost the country already? And if the case drag on for years and years, the bills alone might impoverish the country. Of course the house arrest, if granted, should not take as long as that of Burma’s “Lady” who was imprisoned in her own house for almost two decades.

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Basketball fans all over the country, and probably all over the world will be anxiously watching the NBA game between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma Thunder today. This is going to be a make-or-break game for the Heat, who have already chalked up three wins, and need only to clinch one more to grab the season’s crown. The Thunder gave them a good fight the other day, but were unlucky.

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I sympathize with the Thunder team because, I understand, they have never won an NBA championship yet. But the odds against them today are great, since the game is to be held at the home court of Miami. One of the things that can make the Oklahomans hope is the fact that the top gun of the Heat, Lebron James, had bouts of leg cramps in their latest game, and was disabled for a while. If that happens today, then the Thunder boys could hope more. By the way, former Lebron James fans in Cleveland must be rooting for the Thunder this time. They felt so bad when he left the Cavaliers, that one of them even said he resorted to Black Magic against Lebron James. Could it still be working?

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But the best news yesterday was the announcement from Nevada that the five independent judges picked to review and rate the Pacquiao-Bradley fight came to a UNANIMOUS decision that Pacquiao had really won that fight. The new judges were from different places – one a Puerto Rican, the others from Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. At least they come from as diverse a selection as you could find, unlike the “Three Blind Mice” of Bob Arum who all came from Nevada.

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Sadly, though, the rating of the five is not likely to overturn the decision of the blind mice, and that will forever be a blot on the record of Manny Pacquiao. That’s too bad, because, when the descendants of Bradley brag about his record someday, nobody will remember that it was as tainted as tainted can be. By the way, I would never consent to a rematch with Bradley, because who knows how his “victory” had come about? What if the same elements are still around, and have some other tricks up their sleeves?

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I do agree with Oscar de la Hoya, though. Shortly after that travesty of a boxing match, the former U.S. champion, who had also been dominated by Pacquiao in an earlier fight, said that the right thing for Bradley to have done was to return the belt to Manny. But Bradley and his cohorts must be so greedy for it that have convinced themselves that he had really won. You can’t argue with that kind of mentality.*

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