Pirated Political Adviser out due to buying pirated DVDs?

Presidential adviser on Political Concerns Ronald Llamas is trying to wiesel himself out of this new rut. He's being accused of buying pirated DVD. 


I met him last Thursday at Casa Roces and when I shook his hand, he immediately said " Bili ka ng DVD?". I laughed. 


Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte hinted that Malacanang will issue a decision on the fate of Llamas today. What? Because of that simple incident of buying a pirated DVD?


Let's be extremely frank. Llamas will get the rod because he spent close to 2,000 pesos buying those DVDs and for whom, I may reveal here? Just for himself. I dein expose it here.


Puno, when he bungled that Manila Hostage taking incident, was spared. Torres who bungled and continues to bungle her job as LTO chief was also spared the rod.


Graft and corruption continues unabated at the Bureau of Customs, and both Commissioners, Ruffy Biazon and General Danny Lim, are not being punished despite their very low revenue collections.


Several NBI agents have been caught with their pants down, trying to help drug syndicates and they are not being filed any criminal case?


Now, a Presidential adviser is being asked to leave because of a moment's lapse in personal judgment when he bought those pirated DVDs?


When Jesus confronted the Pharisee who tried to stone a prostitute to death, the Messiah asked them a very simple question: stone her, those who committed no sin.


Let me ask you---how many of us do not have an illegal or pirated material in our homes? Buying pirated material is still not a criminal act in this jurisdiction. We buy those pirated stuff because the price of the originals pale in comparison with the street peddled price of 30 or 50 pesos. 


The law punishing piracy is infirm. The role of other government agencies is simply ask those who sell original DVDs to lower their prices, and not be too greedy for profit. 


Example--I am simply not buying pirated DVDs anymore. Why? Because Astrovision sells some of their originals at prices lower than 100 pesos. A Blueray copy of a pirated movie sells at 100. Surely, why will I buy that pirated copy when there's another one, clearer and the original still, for only 100 pesos?


Don't fault Llamas for that masa impulse. Are we trying to punish someone who belonged once with the masa, and is expected to behave like a masa because, for all his life, he's been with them? 


Seriously, I don't condone what he did. But, let's forgive him for this personal lapse in judgment. 

500 Million Pesos for RPA-ABB

Presidential adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles allowed the release of several millions to the members of the RPP-ABB, or the Revolutionary Proletarian Party-Alex Boncayao Brigade, a splinter group of the Communist Party of the Philippines. 


The RPA-ABB has been waiting for the conclusion of their peace talks with the Government for more than ten years. One of the things they want is the release of about 500 million pesos to them to fund their livelihood projects.


Former president Joseph Estrada initiated talks with the group during his time, but cut the flow of funds to the rebels when, as Estrada said, the group started kidnapping operations in Bacolod.


Now, with Deles on board and members of the AKBAYAN, which is being led by Ronald Llamas inside the palace, the government allowed the release of the expected funds.


More than 30 million pesos were given to the rebel group as initial goodwill money to be followed by another tranche of funds.


These funds are allotted for the reintegration into society of these rebels, who, for several years already, have fought government forces in several towns.

The Llamas issue: Much ado about nothing

Presidential adviser on Political Concerns Ronald Llamas is under fire for two (2) reasons: One, he hired two nincoompoops as security aides and two, for keeping four licensed firearms. What?


The issue hounding Llamas is actually, a non-issue. The police already said that Llamas is entitled to keep those guns for himself. And these were not found outside his domicile. The guns, especially, the AK-47, was found inside his car, which is an extension of his home. No crime of possession can be charged against him.


But since he's a hot commodity, and one of only four who could make bulong to the President, some groups want his powers clipped. Llamas is doing a great job covering the asses of erring Cabinet members and building his own base inside the bureaucracy. He's Noynoy's Rasputin. He's the only ideological guy out there who keeps the President's heart in the right place. If Arroyo had her BertGon, Noynoy has his Llamas, a social democrat as well.


I find Mitos Magsaysay's rants as baseless as well as those of Tony Tinio (sorry comrade). What more do you want from the guy? You are asking for more transparency. Eh, the office of Llamas already said that they are open for investigation and they promised no whitewash. 


Of course, Mitos Magsaysay would not believe this simply because she was accustomed to the ways and wiles of the previous administration, the one she still clings on, which always white washes controversies against it. As far as Tinio and the rest of the Makabayan coalition, well, the CPP-NPA-NDF and the government are trying to hammer out a peace pact and surely, the CPP needs their legal fronts to pressure government. Instead of just concentrating on issues with strategic values such as gut issues, corruption, human rights, political prisoners and the like, Tinio etal want nothing more than rant against a man who committed no crime. Is that a violation of Llamas rights?

PLM Ka Sonny Melencio reacts on AKBAYAN's statement re Ronald Llamas appointment as Political Adviser of Noynoy Aquino

I am publishing here a response from Ka Sonny Melencio of the Partido Lakas ng Masa. Melencio reacts on the press statement given by the Akbayan on the recent appointment of Ronald Llamas as Noynoy Aquino's Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs. I will be publishing the AKBAYAN Statement in full and Melencio's response to this.

From: Emmanuel Hizon <sashaninel@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 3:23 PM
Subject: [FOA Forum] On President Aquino’s choice of Akbayan Leader Ronald Llamas as Presidential Adviser
To: akbayanforum@googlegroups.com, friends_of_akbayan_forum@googlegroups.com

January 20, 2011

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Contact Person:

Percival Cendana, Akbayan Chairperson @ 0917 828 1030

On President Aquino’s choice of Akbayan Leader Ronald Llamas as Presidential Adviser

We, from Akbayan welcome the announcement of President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III concerning the naming of our very own, Akbayan President Ronald Llamas as one of his Presidential Advisers. We are honored by this pronouncement as it proves once more the sincerity, intensity and expertise of our leaders and of our political party in working towards the fulfillment of our people’s aspiration of a democratic and people-oriented government committed to reforms.

But beyond this, we warmly receive the announcement, as it is politically extraordinary if not refreshing in many ways.

First, Presidential advisers are usually party mates of the incumbent President to guarantee that political policies are aligned with his/her principles and vision. The decision of President Aquino to name a presidential adviser from its coalition partner attests to the government’s pluralist and democratic character of governing. It demonstrates the Aquino government’s willingness to democratize and empower the field of governance unlike the previous administration, which greedily consolidated power among themselves, greatly putting the people in the fringes of state governance.

Second, the choice of a reputed progressive leader hailing from the democratic left shows that President Aquino can actually go beyond partisan ideological politics and extend its hand of solidarity to forces of change willing and fully committed in meaningfully contributing in the deepening of democracy, the eradication of corruption and the fulfillment of indispensable reforms.

More so, it also displays that the democratic left is a serious and relevant political actor capable of making its mark on the political process and in becoming a significant force of change, contributing towards and firmly establishing the hegemony of the people’s interest through participatory democracy and governance.  

As such, we fully support President Aquino’s choice of Akbayan President Ronald Llamas as one of his presidential advisers. We vouch for the integrity, leadership and competence of this person, who for the last thirteen years has been one of the major pillars of our party and an acknowledged leader of the broad democratic left.

Definitely, with his eventual appointment to government, our party will suffer the absence of a seasonedpolitical leader. Yet, the struggle for reforms is more important and bigger than all of us.

Thus, in this just struggle, we offer one of our “best and brightest.” We look forward that with Ronald llamas’ absence from our party and his entry to government, it will greatly strengthen the resolve of the new dispensation to fulfill its promise of change to the Filipino People. ### 

HERE IS KA SONNY'S REACTION

Dear Patricio,

When we read the press statement issued by Akbayan on the appointment of Ronald Llamas as Presidential Adviser (see below),  I raised the following comments.  I think the PLM statement can be based on these comments which we already circulated at the PLM and the Laban ng Masa e-groups:

n      Akbayan seems to have found its final resting place. Welcome to the new social democrats. Its fortunes are now completely tied to the rise and fall of President Noynoy.

n      Instead of the fawning and servile tone of the press statement (purportedly written by Akbayan’s Communications Head Emmanuel Hizon), a major concern that should be raised is the problem of cooptation.  The left should have learnt its lesson. Wasn’t it not too long ago when too many left leaders had joined the Cory government and got coopted (if not later booted out from their posts) in the process?

n      The entry of Akbayan leaders Joel Rocamora (secretary of NAPC) and Ronald Llamas into the P-Noy cabinet raises the following underlying and related questions: (i) How should the left view the Aquino government (is it still correct to use the framework of a “lesser evil” (i.e., still comparing it with the GMA regime) when it is now the chief administrator of an unabashedly pro-capitalist neoliberal program? (ii) Should the left entertain the possibility of changing the system from within the capitalist government (of Noynoy) or from without?

n      Akbayan and the many groups that had coalesced under the former Laban ng Masa constituted the left spectrum during the campaign to oust the GMA regime and replace it with a TRG (transitional revolutionary government).  But given that the political crisis of the elite during that time was already resolved not through the TRG but through the election of the Aquino presidency, a regime that is nonetheless an elite-dominated pro-capitalist regime, the left spectrum that is Laban ng Masa has now practically collapsed. Akbayan and some other groups in the Noynoy electoral coalition are expected to move towards the right of the political spectrum as they continue to prop up P-Noy and its pro-capitalist, anti-masa policy regimes.

n      The left should understand that, irrespective of the personal character of Noynoy himself (a “Mr. Clean”) and his commitment against corruption in government, his government is still anelite-dominated pro-capitalist government. The left should not participate in this government, especially at the executive level, as it means bearing the responsibility for implementing a pro-capitalist program. 

n       Having said this, the true dilemma is that we have to go beyond being mere oppositionists, or only good on the issues. We must have the perspective of presenting a genuine alternative -- not only political -- but also social, cultural and economic, to the system, especially when it faces such a deep and irreconcilable crisis.  This is the challenge that we face to be relevant today. Such an alternative -- a truly social, socialist alternative -- can best (and only)  be developed today from without the system, including the “Aquino system,” rather than from within.  (underscore mine--Pat)

Sonny