Slow but not sure?

“You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. I'll ruin you.”

—Cornelius Vanderbilt

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WE wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it has become obvious and crystal clear the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) and the Office of the Ombudsman, Department of Justice (DoJ), including the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), are really slow as snails.

Pardon us, but aren’t they supposed to announce the indictment of those involved in the flood control project anomalies every week if they aim to lock the criminals in jail before Christmas Day or during the Yuletide season as promised?

It seems the just concluded Trillion Peso protest did not bother the ICI, Ombudsman, DPWH, DoJ, or the entire Marcos Jr. administration that promised the Filipino people to jail some of the big names (not just the small fries) two weeks from now.

Instead of expediting the indictment of the sharks and reptiles, the big fishes so-called, to catch up for the time wasted, nothing has been heard about the high-level arrest this week.

It’s been more than a week since they announced with a big bang the issuance of warrant of arrest by the Sandiganbayan against DPWH officials and Zaldy Co’s employees in Sunwest, a construction firm linked to various “ghost” and substandard flood control projects in Oriental Mindoro.

 

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So far, no follow up. No second batch whatsoever. People were expecting a second wave of arrest, this time involving prominent names in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

If they target “more or less” 200 flood control project criminals, one batch of accused per week is not enough if they want to satisfy the people’s expectations.

Each week, there must be at least a series of issuances of warrant of arrest if they plan to gather at least half of the “more or less” 200 targets.

We have reason to badger the Marcos Jr. administration because most of the solons and contractors have already been named and identified in the past Senate and ICI hearings.

These punks, especially the senate clowns, have even challenged the government to file a case against them as they maintained innocence.

They were listed in the affidavits of witnesses and even mentioned during those hearings. No need for authorities to find out who they are; all they needed to do was to make follow-ups using their investigative tentacles and other resources to nail the coffin.

The Sandiganbayan has issued arrest warrants against Co and 17 others. After that, the hemorrhage appeared to have stopped. What’s next?

 

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One of the biggest political stories that have been buzzing in Iloilo these past days was the reported split or forthcoming slip between the Biron political clan and Dumangas Vice Mayor Ronald “Onal” Golez.

Mayor Braeden John "BJ" Biron and Vice Mayor Golez were in tandem when they won their respective seats as members of the Nacionalista Party (NP) in the 2025 elections.

Biron is the son of the political clan’s patriarch, Iloilo 4th district Rep. Ferjenel.

The feud reportedly sparked after Golez questioned Biron’s 2026 budget proposal and called the P4 million recently spent for the Ben&Ben concert "extravagant or excessive."

This reportedly prompted the congressman, the mayor’s father, to announce: "𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘮𝘨𝘢 𝘬𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘸𝘢, 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 1 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘖𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘻” during the municipal government's regular flag-raising ceremony.

"𝘛𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘺𝘰, 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘬𝘴𝘺𝘶𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢 2028. 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘬𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘬𝘰𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘳.”

There were reports the genesis of the two camps’ misunderstanding did not erupt in Golez’s decision to question the P4 million budget for the concert, among other reasons reported earlier in the media.

“There is more than meets the eye,” a local political analyst sighed. “Let’s wait for the next episode.”

There are those who believe “the quarrel can still be saved since the next local election is still far away.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

 

Give me death or lock me in jail in Christmas

“When a person go to jail, what people don't realize is you're alive, but you're dead to the world. People forget about you. When you go to jail, you're a story.”

—Roddy Ricch

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

NOTHING can be worse than being tormented by the thought that before Christmas Day, someone will spend time inside the jail.

For several weeks now, this brutal threat by the government against perpetrators of the infuriating flood control project uproar has become their excruciating Sword of Damocles.

To be compulsorily taken away from family during the “most wonderful time of the year”is already a terrible mental and emotional anguish.

To be separated from family and brought behind bars in cuff during the Yuletide season, including New Year, without knowing whether someone can go home soon is adding insult to injury and agony.

Definitely there will be no homecoming in sight yet for many of those involved who face imminent arrest in the mess if they are slapped with malversation of public funds, a non-bailable offense, aside from plunder.

This was what the Department of Justice (DoJ), the Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), including President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. had promised the Filipino people.

 

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Many of the accused (they remain “suspects” until formal charges have been filed against them in the Sandiganbayan) may have started spending some sleepless nights; their families may have been worrying a lot like they are about to witness a funeral of loved ones.

But this is the price they have to pay. Justice and accountability have to be served regardless of who gets waylaid. It’s long overdue.

The taxpayers, including those who lost family members in the most recent floods when successive super typhoons ripped apart the peninsula and dry lands, have been waiting for moment where those responsible for stealing billions of pesos in flood control projects that resulted in horrific destruction and death are locked in the calaboose.

We also worry for family members of those who will be locked in jail in relation to the flood control project hullabaloo since most of them will have to suffer the stigma of shame and humiliation in public even if they have nothing to do whatsoever with the crime, but we are more worried if justice will elude the taxpayers—the Filipino people for that matter—if the flood control project thieves are allowed to get away with murder.

 

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The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is aware of what is happening in the Philippines nowadays.

Uncle Sam knows there are malcontents and destabilizers agitating to topple the Marcos Jr. administration with the support of China.

Even the most recent protest rally called by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) against corruption in government, Uncle Sam monitored and observed every move and speech delivered by haters and saboteurs of the three-year-old Marcos Jr. regime.

Sources said the INC hierarchy decided to shorten the supposed to be three-day protest rally at the Luneta in Manila after being “advised” by Big Brother.

This was after an unhinged presidential sister started to fiercely attack the president, her own younger brother, south of the border.

For Big Brother, it was a tipping point. INC had to oblige to the bigger voice.

 

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BLOOD IN SEMEN. One in 100 men experience this condition known as "hematospermia", and it's usually nothing to worry about as it's a routine plumbing problem. Ejaculating at least once a week improves our urologic health, decreasing the chances of prostate cancer and hematospermia. (Source: Dr. Judd Moul, Duke University Medical Center)

GOOD SEX EDUCATION is safe sex education. Helping kids to be aware of their bodies and of their feelings about sexuality can only make them better able to practice safe and egalitarian sex in what could be history's most honest chapter of sexual relations.

Charles Dickens once said, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” We say, “With or without Christmas, we should live a decent life; love our friends and don't hate our enemies. Respect for our parents should be inviolable. Kindness should be our mantra. Most of all, our faith in God should be unshakable!

 

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OUR BONES. There are 206 bones in the adult human body, but 300 in children (some of the bones fuse together as a child grows).

The Roman Emperor Nero used to dress up young boys in his dead wife's clothes and make love to them.

WHAT IS THE SECRET BEHIND A SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIP? 91 percent of those surveyed said it was still finding your partner attractive after being together for several years. If I may add, being "attractive" does not mean only physically. We can be attractive because of our values, intelligence, and the way we treat others, especially the lowly people.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

 

Pygmy sharks

“A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

―Theodore Roosevelt

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

The names recommended by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure’s (ICI) to face plunder and criminal charges in relation to the multi-billion pesos flood control project anomalies are peanuts.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada, Senator Joel Villanueva, resigned Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, Commission on Audit Commissioner Mario Lipana, former Caloocan Rep. Mitch Cajayon-Uy can be considered as “big fishes”, but they are merely dwarf lanternsharks (the world's smallest) or spined pygmy sharks.

The taxpayers were expecting for the whale sharks, great hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks and the basking sharks.

We thought at least 200 public officials, DPWH employees and contractors, among other flood control project wrongdoers, were expected to be charged, arrested, and jailed in the Quezon City jail as advertised by DILG chief Juanito Victor “Junvic” Remulla?

By the way, where are the names of Chiz Escudero, Bong Revilla, Martin Romualdez, and all the greedy congresspeople earlier mentioned by witnesses in the Senate committee hearing chaired by Senator Ping Lacson?

 

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As of this writing, the US government shutdown continued, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress no closer to ending their budget standoff.

A shutdown meant any—but not all—US government services were temporarily suspended, and around 1.4 million federal employees were on unpaid leave or working without pay.

This latest shutdown was especially tense because President Donald Trump began drastically reducing the size of the national government as soon as he returned to office in January, and has threatened to use the current impasse to make further cuts. Budget confrontations are common in US politics.

Republicans and Democrats could not agree to pass a bill funding government services past 1 October, when the previous federal budget expired.

In the US system, Congress must agree a spending plan to send to the president to be signed into law.

The Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress. But in the Senate—or upper chamber—they are short of the 60 votes needed to pass the spending bill, which gives opposition Democrats some negotiating power.

Democrats want the bill to include an extension of expiring tax credits that make health insurance cheaper for millions of Americans and a reversal of Trump's cuts to Medicaid, a government healthcare programme used by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income people.

Democrats also oppose spending cuts to government health agencies.

A stopgap bill designed to avoid the shutdown was passed in the House, or lower chamber, but did not clear the Senate.

And so, at 00:01 EDT on 1 October (04:01 GMT), the US government shut down for the first time in nearly seven years.

Ending the shutdown requires the two parties in the Senate to find a compromise that Trump will sign. Several votes aimed at reopening the government have failed.

 

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Below is the email I received from New York Governor Kathy Hochul which she also probably sent to fellow New Yorkers:

Alex, Donald Trump and Washington Republicans are waging an all-out war on working families. Their goal is simple: Take from the poor and give to the rich.

First, they rammed through legislation that kicks nearly two million New Yorkers off their health care and slashes food assistance — all while giving tax breaks to their billionaire friends. New York’s seven GOP representatives could have stopped it. Instead, they chose to sell out their constituents.

Then, Washington Republicans chose to shut down the federal government instead of protecting access to affordable health care. They’re turning their backs on their constituents, and as a result, 140,000 New Yorkers will see their insurance premiums skyrocket by nearly 40% next year.

But that’s not all. Now, they’re deliberately preventing New York families from putting food on their tables. With Trump refusing to release federal funding for food assistance and Washington Republicans refusing to reopen the government, starting November 1, nearly three million New Yorkers will lose their benefits and could soon be scrambling to find their next meal.

From ripping away affordable health care to gutting access to healthy food, Washington Republicans are making life harder for hardworking Americans.

In the face of Washington Republicans’ cruelty, I’m doing everything in my power to get assistance to our families, and the small businesses, local farmers, and food pantries that keep New York’s food system strong, but we know that the real solution is for Republicans to end their shutdown and release our SNAP funding.

As Washington continues their relentless attack on New Yorkers, I’m going to continue to fight back and stand up for our families.

We will not cower to these injustices. That's not the spirit of New Yorkers. It's not who we've ever been. I want you to know that I'm going to keep standing with you, shoulder to shoulder, and fighting for your families, for your friends, and for your communities. Ever Upward, Gov. Kathy Hochul

 

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Cosmopolitan has uncovered some surprisingly sensitive parts of the body; touching them will get us both insanely turned on. And no, none rhyme with shmenis or shmagina: Sweet Spot 1. The Ultrasensitive Border Around the Lips 2. That Sexy Dip Where Neck Meets Chest 3. The Erotic Pathways on the Sides of the Torso 4. The Pleasure Mound on the Lower Back 5. The Teasing Trail on the Thighs.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)