It is GMA's birthday today and of course, we wish her a happy birthday. Birthdays are a good time to reflect too, about the things we have accomplished and on the direction that we will take.
It is a known fact that a lot of people and sectors in Philippine society have been asking GMA to step down since some years back. Given this scenario, I was quite surprised to see the write-up about her in the Philippine Star today were I found the following portions which were taken from GMA's own websites.
"...more fondly known as GMA..."
"...one of the most popularly elected officials since her debut in politics in 1992..."
"...she won the Presidential elections for a fresh mandate..."
You have got to hand it to her publicists. They continue with their positive statements even when they know that more and more people are expressing greater dissatisfaction with how things are in the country now. Some people, for example, just call her GMA (instead of PGMA) as they do not recognize her as the legitimate president. One of the most popularly elected officials and winning the elections for a fresh mandate? Hello Garci remains unresolved and continues to haunt her to this very day.
Well, to each his own. If the publicists don't write such positive and glowing articles, then they might be out of a job by now. The trouble begins when they all start to believe what they have been writing all along.
Showing posts with label Philippines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philippines. Show all posts
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
The Taxman Leaveth
I read the following article title in today's Manila Bulletin: "Hefti takes over from Bunag at BIR." I found it kind of funny. What's in a name? Or what's in names?
First, let's talk about the actual news. Mario Bunag (pronounced as bunyag as it is actually spelled with an enye), BIR commissioner, has been replaced by Lilian Hefti as head of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Bunag was said to have been let go of by the current administration due to the dismal collection performance of the agency.
News reports, however, also state that Bunag is being used as a scapegoat for the poor revenue performance of the government. It doesn't help his case too, that he is said not to see eye to eye with Teves who heads the Department of Finance.
And I thought the Philippine economy was on a roll. Back to the names though. Bunyag, which sounds like the ex-BIR chief's last name, is a Filipino word which means "to reveal" or "to squeal." Hefti, the incoming head's name, on the other hand sounds like an English word which means huge or substantial. Nakakatawa naman. Maybe the government hopes that with Hefti at the helm of BIR, tax collections will be heftier. As for the former commissioner, will he reveal more things in the coming days?
Abangan.
First, let's talk about the actual news. Mario Bunag (pronounced as bunyag as it is actually spelled with an enye), BIR commissioner, has been replaced by Lilian Hefti as head of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Bunag was said to have been let go of by the current administration due to the dismal collection performance of the agency.
News reports, however, also state that Bunag is being used as a scapegoat for the poor revenue performance of the government. It doesn't help his case too, that he is said not to see eye to eye with Teves who heads the Department of Finance.
And I thought the Philippine economy was on a roll. Back to the names though. Bunyag, which sounds like the ex-BIR chief's last name, is a Filipino word which means "to reveal" or "to squeal." Hefti, the incoming head's name, on the other hand sounds like an English word which means huge or substantial. Nakakatawa naman. Maybe the government hopes that with Hefti at the helm of BIR, tax collections will be heftier. As for the former commissioner, will he reveal more things in the coming days?
Abangan.
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