I was saddened by the news at the passing of Cerge Remonde, GMA’s press secretary, shortly before noon today.

Although Cerge was vituperated by many for his staunch support and loyalty for GMA’s policies, he was the kind of man who wouldn’t allow power to get to his head.

I met Cerge when I worked for Sun-Star Daily and he had a ready smile for everyone. We were not that close, but he would always say hello or wave at me when we’d bump into each other during the times he was in Cebu.

He was a media man true and through and I suspect, hadn’t he died, he would have gone back to his job in Cebu as commentator after his Malacañang stint.

It would have been good to hear his voice again.

Goodbye, Cerge. It was a privilege to meet you.

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* 2005 Jeep Wrangler – dark green, 2-door top down, lifted to 4 inches; Php1.750M
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* 2003 Volvo S60 Turbo – red; Php1.250M
* 2000 Ford F150 – metallic dark green; Php650T
* 2002 Chevrolet Suburban – metallic black; Php1.550M
* 2003 Chevrolet Silverado – maroon; Php950T

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I’m one of those mortified by the approval of our government for Paco Larrañaga to serve time in a Spanish prison instead of our state penitentiary.

To recall, Larrañaga was one of 7 men convicted of raping and killing two sisters, Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong. Their death sentence, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court, was commuted to a life sentence when President Arroyo abolished the death penalty in 2006.

In November 2007, the Senate ratified a prisoners exchange treaty with Spain. The treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons provides for the return home of the convicted citizens of each other’s country.

Larrañaga being half-Spanish will benefit from this Treaty and the Dept. of Justice has allowed his transfer to a Spanish prison. However, if you believe Larrañaga will truly serve the rest of his term in a Spanish prison, you were born yesterday.

His mother couldn’t contain her glee at this latest development. She tried to reason out that she was happy because her son would be able to continue his studies even in prison. Personally, I believe she was ecstatic because, once Paco sets foot in Spain, he’ll just be able to blend with the crowd and be free forever.

A heinous crime was committed here in the Philippines. Thus, the prison sentence should be served in the Philippines. If this were reversed and a Filipino was convicted of such a crime in Spain, I doubt if the Spanish government would afford the privilege of the Filipino criminal to serve time in his country.

But that’s our government. We kowtow to other countries and serve them our sovereign rights in a silver platter. For what? Favors and investments that don’t even reach the ordinary Filipino.

In the case of Paco Larrañaga being able to fly to Spain and thus the coop, the government just raped justice along with every Filipino.

We deeply condole with the Aquino family and the whole Philippine nation at the passing of former President Corazon Aquino.

Her courage, her simplicity, her strength will forever be etched in the hearts of her fellow Filipinos. We will miss you dearly, President Cory!

He asked, "Who’s Afraid of Con-Ass?" and called the nationwide protest actions as "overreactions."

He went on to further state that that the Con-Ass can later be scrapped if the Senate doesn’t endorse it or if the people don’t ratify a constitutional change.

The columnist obviously does not know the pulse of his fellow Filipinos. Filipinos are not rallying against the Con-Ass because they fear it. They’re rallying against it because they’re angry.

Filipinos are angry because of this brazen act of allies of PGMA in the Lower House. Costitutional change may be good. It’s the timing that sucks as it’s less than a year before nationwide elections.

Filipinos are angry because Con-Ass congressmen are toying with the sensibilities of Filipinos. They’re counting on the complacency and, hopefully, the stupidity of Filipinos.

Filipinos are angry because the Con-Ass move can only point to machinations by PGMA. Otherwise, she could have told her allies not to proceed with it. This can only mean that PGMA wants to extend her term.

Besides, if the Con-Ass can be killed later, why wait for that time? Just like an unwanted weed in your garden, you’d like to nip it in the bud and not wait for it to grow and choke your good plants.

Alas, for some people, weeds apparently grow in their brains.