BBM ENGAGES IN ‘DEEP FAKE’ TO WIN IN 2022

 By Ba Ipe

IT is no coincidence that 95% of the photographs, news and feature articles, and other texts that were checked and declared “fake” in big bold letters by fact check agencies have come from the BBM camp. It could be said it is the policy of the BBM camp to engage in lies, deception and what could be described as “deep fake.” No buts and if about it.

BBM is an underachiever. He has no sterling record to show off. He is lazy and, except for the public offices he occupied, he did not work in his entire life. Being the mediocre son of the infamous dictator bearing the same name, this underperformer wants to be the next president when the truth is he is unqualified.

Meanwhile, modern digital technology has improved dramatically, i.e. by leaps and bounds. Where before pictures don’t lie, now, they lie instead. They can be altered and manipulated to deceive people. Smartphones and other modern gadgets have modern applications that allow every conceivable fakery. The age of deception and big lies has dawned on us.

This is the era of the so-called “deep fake.”

Before the onset of digital technology, news and information usually come at specific hours of the day. Now, they come on the 24/7 cycle. The Information Revolution is churning fast, giving all kinds of information at any time of the day. There is hardly time for respite to examine closely the information that come before us. There is no time for reflection.

 We are all victims of the Information Revolution and its negative effects.

The BBM camp takes advantage of this negative side of the Information Revolution. Because it has wherewithal, largely stolen from the Filipino people, to spend and finance these insidious underground operations, it has come to engage in the deep fake mainly to deodorize the stinking  image of the late strongman and improve the his underachieving son’s.

His camp has photoshopped old and new pictures to present they have popular support. Public gatherings that have thin crowds have been altered to show big crowds instead. In instances, where the lazy BBM could not attend and was not around, they have changes to show BBM materializing from nowhere. What they know is to engage in despicable big-time deception of the most wicked kind. The BBM camp has no moral compunction to deceive and mislead the Filipino people. There is no nothing new about their operations.

Lately, the BBM camp has been floating the so–called "Tallano gold," which the Marcoses intend to give to the Filipino people. The reason the Marcoses are filthy rich is because they allegedly "found" the Tallano gold. This is fraud and fiction combined because the actual reason is that they stole between $5 billion to $10 billion in people’s money.

There is no end to the strings of deep fakes they have resorted and engaged. The BBM camp is a factory of fake news and everything fake. There is absolutely no basis to support his presidential bid unless we’re masochists and engaged in national and collective suicide.   

ANYBODY BUT BONGBONG MOVEMENT

 By Ba Ipe

IN the run-up for the 1995 midterm elections, intrepid political forces joined hand to launch what it was known the ABB Movement. No, it did not stand for the Alex Boncayao Brigade, a band of urban guerillas of the New People’s Army (NPA), the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). This group of guerillas was formed to honor Alex Boncayao, the labor leader who joined the New People’s Army (NPA) to pursue armed struggle.

The ABB in the 1995 elections was the Anybody But Bongbong Movement, or ABB for short, which was launch to derail the senatorial candidacy of BBM. It launched several negative campaigns against BBM and they were largely successful. BBM lost miserably in 1995, forcing him to go local for a while.

It was easy to derail his bid. The 1995 elections was only nine years away from the 1986 “snap” presidential elections, where the Marcoses did all tricks in the book to defeat Cory Aquino in the Comelec official count. Those days, many voters still remembered the fraudulent ways of dictator Ferdinand Marcos like ballot box snatching and switching, massive vote-buying, delisting of many voters in the official list of voters, triggering disenfranchisement of more than three million voters, and the presence of goons and guns that resulted in intimidation, fear, and failure to vote of many voters in areas where the opposition was strong.

Of course, nobody forgot the fateful 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, where the people revolted to protest the election fraud and topple the misrule of the Marcos dictatorship. BBM learned that many people knew and understood the misdeeds of the Marcos dictatorship, resulting in their misfortune.

 The Marcos dictatorship was characterized by three major points:

1.     Centralized corruption, where fat under-the-table commissions were given directly to Marcos in exchange for big state projects and it has been estimated officially that Marcos earned between $5 billion to $10 billion, an amount that was stashed mostly abroad by his trusted lieutenants;

2.    Crony capitalism, where Marcos and his stable of cronies and friends cornered a big chunk of the Philippine economy by creating agricultural monopolies in sugar and coconut and waterfront services, among others, and fat contracts with the government; and

3.    Massive human rights violations, where tens of thousands of student activists, labor leaders, Church and civil society workers, peasant leaders, among others were arrested and jailed without charges, tortured, and fell victims to involuntary disappearances, making Marcos a global name in human rights violation.     

BBM was closely associated with these abuses in power. He did nothing to counteract those unsavory recollections on what his father's martial law did to the Filipino people. He did nothing to explain the Marcos’s side of the overall misery, suffering, and difficulties the people  experienced under his father’s infamous regime. He did not have the heart to face those political realities.

Instead, BBM focused on local politics in the home province of his father-dictator in Ilocos Norte. Even though BBM is notorious for his poor command of the Ilocano dialect,he did not lose. He run again for senator in 2010 and he won as landed 8th. His six-year term in the Senate was described as mediocre and uneventful. He did not have a single enacted bill to be proud. His Senate seat was almost vacant.

He won in 2010 senatorial elections because the nation’s demographics had changed drastically. The voters’ profile showed an increased number of young voters, who hardly knew and understood what took place in 1986. The BBM camp merely took advantage of the overall ignorance of many voters of the Marcos dictatorship.

Knowing the voters’ profile would further change due to the influx of many young voters, who either possess do not have recollections of the  martial law years, or distorted views for those who have knowledge (some young people even think we had our “golden era” under Marcos, which is just bull), BBM took his chances in 2016 by running for vice president.

BBM lost to Leni Robredo, who was a political newcomer those days. He lodged at least two electoral protests before Presidential Electoral Tribunal but lost miserably, as Leni was declared the true winner.

This mediocre underachiever son of the infamous dictator, with nothing to show except the Marcos loot, is running for president in 2022. He is seeking the country’s top political post even though has no coherent political platform or program of government, no political ideology or belief system , or any alternative to offer to the Filipino people.

He has nothing but motherhood statements to which nobody would deny or oppose. He has nothing but his exaggerated estimate of himself and limited understanding of the many global and local issues which a president has to address.

(More to follow tomorrow, including details of the campaign of the ABB Movement)

THE MARCOSES HAVEN'T CHANGED; THEY ALWAYS GO FOR AN OVERKILL

WHAT happened yesterday at Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City showed that the Marcoses have not changed a bit and are still basically the same. They like to go for the dramatic or even for an overkill just to stress a point even if it violates basic human decency and reveals nothing but their callousness and insensitivity.

The huge traffic jam created by their callous supporters, who occupied the entire 10-lane “killer highway” on the one side, reminds me of what the Marcoses did during the political campaign of the 1986 “snap” presidential elections that pitted dictator Ferdinand Marcos against Cory Aquino, widow of the martyr Ninoy Aquino Jr.

We took the early morning flight of the PAL plane to go to San Jose City in Occidental Mindoro. I was employed in a Japanese news agency; it was job to cover either candidates on any given day of the political campaign. It was normal for me to swing from part of the country to another to cover their campaign sorties in different parts of the country.

On that day sometime in January, 1986, I was assigned to cover the KBL rally in San Jose City, Occidental Mindoro. It took place in the morning and lasted until noontime. I was in a group of journalists happily taking our lunch in a restaurant there when somebody from the KBL campaign team told us that we could not possibly go back to Manila on the same day because Imelda Marcos diverted the PAL plane for her use. There was no further explanation on the diversion.

What compounded the injury was that we were told that the next flight would be three days after the political event. In brief, we had to stay for three more days to go back to Manila. This was unacceptable because we did not want to get marooned in Mindoro doing nothing. Moreover, ours was a paid trip. We booked officially our flight to go to San Jose City and return trip on the same day. The diversion was a violation of our contracted flight. But the KBL people would not care of any contractual obligation.

We talked to the people there, who told that if we wanted to go back to Manila on the same day, we could take the late afternoon flight in Mamburao, the capital town of Occidental Mindoro. Going there was a problem, they told us because San Jose City is about 80 kilometers away from Mamburao. To make the long story short, our group composed of the late Mark Finemann of the Philadelphia Inquirer, JP Fenix of the nascent Phil. Daily Inquirer, Cecil Morella of Agence France Press and me, decided to take the matter on our hands. We hirer a jeepney for a special trip to Mamburao. We all shared the cost.

We caught the late afternoon and returned to Manila but the experience was worth recalling. During those days, the road between San Jose City and Mamburao was not well developed. It was dirt road, plain and simple. The road was hardly passable and dusty too. Because it was special trip, we reached our destination.

Imelda Marcos did not care if the diversion of the PAL plane to its return flight to Manila would have terrible consequences. Since it was the era of Marcos dictatorship, the conjugal couple could just do what pleased them. Never mind the people.

Yesterday, we saw how unmindful, insensitive, and callous were the Marcoses to the people. The 12.5-kilometer Commonwealth Avenue is the major thoroughfare that serves millions of people in Quezon City, North Caloocan, and even the southern part of Bulacan. They use that stretch to go to their places of work in the Makati City, Manila, or elsewhere and return home.

The horrendous traffic jam caused by the insensitive and callous followers of that mediocre son of the infamous dictator was something very revolting because it reminded us of their unmindful ways and abuses of the Marcoses. They have not changed a bit. They are all irresponsible, callous, and insensitive after all those years they are out of power.  

PIPITSUGIN SI BBM

 Ni Ba Ipe

SPOILED brat si BBM. Lumaki na may kutsarang pilak sa bibig. Isang batang paslit si BBM nang nahalal ang ama na si Ferdinand noong 1965. Nang nagbinata, isang diktador ang ama na nagpahirap sa bansa. Walang pakialam si BBM sa mga ginawang pahirap sa bansa ng ama. Hindi niya alintana kung anuman ang sapitin na bansa sa kamay ng abusadong ama.

Dahil sa labis na kapangyarihan ng amang diktador, hindi naging isang responsableng tao si BBM. Hindi siya nagbayad ng buwis mula 1982 hanggang 1985. Ito ang mga panahon na pabagsak na ang diktadura ng kanyang ama. Hinabol siya ng sumunod na gobyerno at kinasuhan ng tax evasion. Napatunayan siyang nagkasala sa batas at inobliga na byaran ang back taxes kasama ang interes.

Ipinangalandakan kamakailan ng kanyang kampo na binayaran ni BBM ang buwis kasama ang interes. Ito ang tangi nilang ganting katwiran sa mga batikos at puna.

Pinilit niyang linisin ang kanyang pangalan. Sa kanyang apela sa Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), hindi pinagbigyan si BBM. Kabaligtaran ang nangyari. Kinumpirma ng CTA ang kasong tax evasion na unang ibinaba ng mababang hukuman. May presidential decree ang kanyang ama na dahilan ng diskuwalipikasyon ang hindi pagbabayad ng buwis ng mga kandidato sa anumang puwesto sa gobyerno.

Pinipilit ng kanyang kampo na walang ginawang krimen si BBM dahil binayaran niya umano ang buwis na naging dahilan upang kasuhan siya ng tax evasion. Ngunit hindi nila napigil ang mga petisyon na kanselahin ang kanyang inihain na certificate of candidacy (CoC) sa panguluhan sa  Commission Elections. May nagpeyisyon na tuluyan ng diskuwalipikahin ng Comelec si BBM.

Kapag nangyari ang kanselasyon o diskuwalipikasyon, tuluyang hindi makakatakbo si BBM sa panguluhan. Buburahin ang kanyang pangalan sa balota. Hindi siya magiging pangulo ng bansa na may populasyon na 110 milyon.

Ipinangangalandakan ng kampo ni BBM na hindi crime on moral turpitude ang kasong tax evasion ni BBM. Imposibl sapagkat paano niya pamumunuan ang mahigit 110 milyon na Filipino kung hindi siya huwaran sa pagbabayad ng buwis?

Buwis ang buhay ng kahit anong bansa. Hindi mapapatakbo ng maayos ang bansa kung walang sapat na nakolektang buwis.

Hindi susunod ang mga tao sa pangulo kung ang pangulo ay iresponsable, lumalabag sa batas, at hindi nagbabayad ng buwis. Isa itong problema ni BBM dahi hindi niya naipaliwanag sa sambayanan ang pagiging iresponsable. Hindi marunong magsalita si BBM sa harap ng madla.

Mahihirapan si BBM na lusuta ang mga petisyon na inihain laban sa kanya sa Comelec. Mabigat ang paratang at hindi nasasagot ni BBM ng maayos ang mga bintang na hindi siya karapat-dapat na maging pangulo dahil iresponsable siya.     

Maari siyang lumaban hanggang gusto niya ngunit hindi nangangahulugan na basta mawawala na lang ang bntang na hindi siya nagbabayad ng buwis. Minsan siyang nagkasala sa lipunan sa hindi pagbabyad ng buwis at pagtalikod sa bansa. #

DID BBM COMMIT CRIME OF MORAL TURPITUDE BY NOT PAYING HIS TAXES?

ACCORDING to Google, moral turpitude is “a phrase that describes wicked, deviant behavior constituting an immoral, unethical, or unjust departure from ordinary social standards such that it would shock a community. In criminal law, the law sorts criminal activity into categories of crime either involving or not involving moral turpitude.”

Google says: “Crimes involving moral turpitude have an inherent quality of baseness, vileness, or depravity with respect to a person's duty to another or to society in general.  Examples: rape, forgery, robbery, and solicitation by prostitutes.”

Although crimes of moral turpitude are non-specific in character since they do not involve black and white definition, they possess a criteria of classification involving fraud, or base, vile, and depraved conduct that shocks the conscience.

It could be said that seeking to become the next president of a nation of 110 million people on the basis of the submitted certificate of candidacy (CoC) containing material misrepresentation, or false information, is something that could shock the conscience for its vileness and inherent evil character.

This is now being raised against BBM, who has filed his CoC for president although it was alleged to contain material misrepresentation. BBM did not disclose he was convicted in 1997 by  the Court of Tax Appeals for tax evasion covering the 1982-1985 and that he was asked to pay the deficiency taxes and their surcharges. This CA decision has made him ineligible to hold any public office.

At least two petitions have been filed seeking cancellation of his CoC because he allegedly failed to disclose his conviction of tax evasion. Another petition is asking Comelec to declare him a nuisance candidate, while another petition wants Comelec to disqualify him.

Artemio Panganiban, a magistrate, who rose to become the chief justice of the Supreme Court, aptly raised the main issues to oust BBMs from the 2022  presidential race : first issue, did BBM commit false material representations in his COC; second issue, did his conviction by the Court of Tax Appeals (CA) involve moral turpitude?

BBM’s lawyer Estelito Mendoza, in his seven-page answer to the Comelec said the petitions either to cancel his CoC or disqualify him did not have specific allegation of false material representation. Besides, BBM is qualified to become president, as the Court of Tax Appeals did not convict of a crime of moral turpitude and that the Comelec allowed him to run for senator in 1995  and vice president in 2016.

Meanwhile, the BBM camp has flooded social media with photographs of the alleged receipts to show he had paid his back taxes. There were no issues to settle – this seemed to be their message to the public.

Under the 1987 Constitution, Comelec is not just the watchog that conducts elections on specific period, but also a quasi-judicial body that hears and decides elections issues brought to its attention for adjudication.

Panganiban did not answer the questions he earlier raised because he obviously did not want to preempt Comelec from deciding those petitions.

But in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper, Panganiban mentioned the  precedent-setting decision in the Ty-Delgado v HRET case, where the Supreme Court reversed in 2015 an earlier decision of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) that allowed Philip Pichay to sit as the elected representative of the first district of Surigao del Sur. It High Court declared the petitioner Mary Elizabeth as winner over Pichay in the 2013 congressional elections.

The Supreme Court rules that the HRET committed a grave abuse of discretion by failing to see that Pichay committed libel, which is one of the crimes on moral turpitude. It said: “In the present case, Pichay misrepresented his eligibility in his certificate of candidacy because he knew that he had been convicted by final judgment for a crime involving moral turpitude. Thus, his representation that he was eligible for elective public office constitutes false material representation as to his qualification or eligibility for the office.”#