Breaktime
Is it the economy, cupid?
By: Conrado BanalPhilippine Daily Inquirer
The camp of former—and now under hospital arrest—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is definitely trying to get back at the Aquino (Part II) administration.
Their attempt to weave some media spin are nevertheless too lame, amateurish, in a way, at least don’t have enough bite in them to turn a good portion of the public against our leader, Benigno Simeon (aka BS).
Recently, immediately after the Arroyo couple failed to escape the country despite that infamous TRO hurriedly issued by the Supreme Court, Ms. Arroyo released what her camp called an “economic paper,” the one lightheartedly entitled “It’s the economy, student.”
To me, that the title of the paper was a take-off from the campaign line of a presidential candidate in the United States—i.e. “it’s the economy, stupid”—was its one and only cupid highlight.
Based on media reports, as the paper was delivered in a press conference, and not in an academic setting, which could have given the “paper” some intellectual attention, Ms. Arroyo pointed out the economic “gains” of the cute administration.
Indeed, in the last full year of the cute administration of Gloriaetta in 2009, the country posted a GDP growth rate of 7.6 percent. The following year, as soon as the Aquino (Part II) administration took over, the GDP growth rate dropped to 4.2 percent.
Meaning, as the Arroyo camp would want us to believe, that the cute administration of Gloriaetta was much better in handling the economy than the Aquino (Part II) administration.
Unfortunately for BS, nobody in this army of information guys pointed out what has been obvious among business think-tanks all along: All the economies in the region, even including that of China, suffered setbacks in 2010. And I mean, ALL.
Yet the Arroyo camp was already crowing about the 7.6 percent GDP growth rate. The world economy actually peaked in 2009, and the cute administration of Gloriaetta was lucky enough to ride on the upswing in our part of the world. Our relatively high growth rate in 2009 did not indicate good governance.
The government policies were as bad at that time under the cute administration of Gloriaetta as they are now under the Aquino (Part II) administration. But the information boys of BS still have no clue whatsoever on how to return some of those curb balls thrown at them by the Arroyo camp.
* * *
This is true confession time: I also buy what they call “pirated” DVDs. Everybody in my family does, including my rich brother-in-law, and even my much richer cousins and cousins-in-law. The guys down here in my barangay do, too, without exception.
I just have one question: How do you tell that the DVD copy of an American television series is “pirated?” The series was already shown to the public in the United States—on free TV. I have been trying to wrack my brains thinking how, er, to “pirate” something that was already aired for free?
Also, how can you—as a trusting consumer—tell if the DVDs of copyrighted “movies” (versus TV series) that are sold in places known for selling “pirated” DVDs, are actually the “pirated” kind, particularly if they are exact replicas of the “original” DVD? For that matter, how can you tell a fake designer shirt from the real one?
I can only guess that you can only distinguish between the two by looking at the price. The “pirated” DVDs and fake goods are much cheaper than the “authentic.”
Thus, I guess we buy pirated DVDs out of economic reasons. They are available and they are cheap. So sue us.
If only those companies that produced those hit movies worth pirating could reduce the price of the DVD versions, say, to $1 per copy, then a lot of us would really not bother to go for inferior pirated copies. Look, the movies already raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in the cinemas. Money from the DVD version is just the gravy.
Well, to us, it is some damn expensive gravy!
* * *
Anyway, in another desperate attempt by the Arroyo camp to raise issues against the Aquino (Part II) administration, they are harping on the DVD-buying episode of one of the most trusted lieutenants of BS—his political adviser Secretary Ronald Llamas.
Somebody supposedly caught Llamas—in photo, at that—in the act of buying “pirated” DVDs. Was it pure chance that the photo taker was in the same area as Llamas? Maybe. Is it possible that some groups are stalking the secretary, following him around town? Now we are being paranoid.
Anyway, I like the comments of the lawyer of the government outfit Optical Media Board (OMB), which has jurisdiction over the issue of pirated DVDs. OMB legal division chief Coco Padilla reportedly said that individuals who purchase allegedly pirated DVDs for their own personal use would not face legal liability. Whew! Thank you, boss!
In turns out that the magic number is 5—which is the number of copies of the supposedly “pirated” DVD that you should buy to be liable under the law.
In another incident, some camps attempted to bring down Llamas over allegations of illegal possession of firearms. The staff of the secretary supposedly was caught with assault rifle in their vehicle that they used to bring Llamas to the airport for a trip abroad. Naturally he was no longer in the vehicle when the police flagged down the staff car. Some groups went to town with the issue, claiming that Llamas was armed to the teeth or something.
And now they are harping on the DVD-buying incident, trying to explode it into becoming a full-blown scandal, as if Llamas committed murder or stole millions from the fertilizer fund.
Really now, is this guy Llamas that big a threat to the enemies of the Aquino (Part II) administration?
The Aquino (Part II) administration surely is dealing with high-profile issues: the Corona impeachment, the peace process, our territorial claim in the West Philippine Sea, natural disasters, corruption and the sagging economy.
Perhaps Llamas has the ears of BS, particularly on the anti-corruption drive of the administration. Get rid of Llamas, and you can possibly weaken the drive.
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Tags: Benigno Aquino III , economy , Gloria Arroyo , Philippines , pirated DVDs , politics , Ronald Llamas
