Observa ius meum in tua sententia falli.

Joined January 2022
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No, Franco. BBM and Sara Duterte didn't have a falling out because of Martin Romualdez. The split happened when Sara saw how deeply corrupted the administration had become. You sound like a BBM PR hack. You can't pin everything on Romualdez. BBM signed the fucking budget.
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The more you pin everything on Martin Romualdez, the more it looks like you're shielding BBM from accountability. Martin may be a key cog in the machine, but he isn't the one turning the wheel. BBM said he read every page of the budget, and still signed it into law.
A Love Letter to Ferdinand Martin Romualdez | by Franco Mabanta @SpeakerMartinPH, this episode is for you. And for every Filipino who believes that accountability should never depend on wealth, influence or power. For years, the powerful have operated under the assumption that the truth can be bullied, that free speech can be intimidated, that justice can be bought, and that public attention eventually fades. PGMN rejects that idea entirely. Today, PGMN CEO and founder @FrancoMabanta makes his debut appearance on the Anchor Chair, in front of the camera owned by the company he built, for the most consequential statement of his life. In this deeply personal address, he touches the illegal extortion plot against him, the legal battle surrounding PGMN, the principles upon which the network was built, the multitude of untrue accusations, and the corruption issue that PGMN believes remains the single defining challenge facing the Philippines today. More than a response to recent events, it is a reflection on power, abuse, honesty, free speech, faith, and the future of a country still searching for justice from he who plundered what was not his. But before you watch, understand one thing. Do not judge this episode by the reactions of the bots. Do not judge it by the comment section swarmed by accounts created last week. Do not judge it by the trolls, the propaganda, the coordinated attacks, or the noise that inevitably surrounds any serious discussion about plunder, or the kind of greed that directly affects an entire generation, or WHY the Philippines cannot seem to rise above so many of its problems. Judge it by the facts.
Judge it by the histories of those involved. Judge it by the actual recorded sequence of events. Judge it by the most logical motives presented. Judge by who you think are the more honest persons speaking. Judge it by the evidence. Judge it by your own investigation. Because when the stakes are this high, we all know that the wealthiest voices are not always the most truthful ones. What follows is far bigger than PGMN. It is bigger than politics. It is bigger than any one person. At its core, this is about whether public officials—especially those instinctively capable of real evil—can still be held accountable when the questions become difficult, the scrutiny becomes dangerous, and the consequences become life-or-death. It is about whether facts still matter in an environment flooded with false and malicious narratives, and whether ordinary Filipinos like us still have the right to demand answers from those we entrusted with power. To Martin Romualdez, we are making PGMN's position crystal clear. We are not backing down. We are not looking away. We are not changing course. You can hope all you want, Martin, for the collective national attention to somehow focus entirely on the senate wars or the energy crisis or the impeachment proceedings—praying to your daily demons that the people of this country turn our heads away from your superabundance of heinous crimes—but the facts remain clear: The Office of the Ombudsman has already referenced you as the “Master Plunderer”; the Sandiganbayan has already said on record that you are the “Purported Mastermind” of Philippine corruption; @BoyingRemulla31 has already denied any and all desperate requests from you to flee the country; the government of US President @realDonaldTrump has already eviscerated your diplomatic and tourist visas; Mayor @lenirobredo and the Pinks are adamantly insisting on TRUE accountability; Vice President @indaysara and the DDS will never EVER forgive you for what you did to her and to them; and President @bongbongmarcos’ powerful/moral decision—not just to cut all ties with you—but to strictly forbid anyone at the Palace from speaking to you anymore, and in any capacity, has completed the metaphorical corruption kill-shot that the entire nation has long, long, long been waiting for. And now 120 million-strong demand to know, with the full weight of everything we are, what you did with OUR MONEY. Distract us all you want, but the questions remain clear. The public interest remains loud. And our commitment to pursuing justice remains explicit. PGMN was founded on the belief that no politician, no billionaire, no dynasty, and no public official should ever become so powerful that they are beyond scrutiny. That belief did not disappear when the pressure arrived. It did not disappear when the controversy intensified. And it will not disappear simply because the stakes are now at their highest. If anything, moments like these are the reason PGMN exists. It is the reason why the Peanut Gallery was built on the backs of real fighters. What follows is a story about accountability, government drama, insider secrets, censorship of the media, prison time, a renewed faith in Christ, resilience that became necessary, sincerity that hopefully cuts through the noise, and what it actually means to go to war for a beautiful idea called freedom of speech—all rolled up into one of the wildest David vs Goliath stories in modern Philippine politics, viewed from the lens of the most radical young media company that exists today. Above all, it is about the critical belief that the Filipino people deserve real justice—regardless of where the truth leads, regardless of who it makes uncomfortable, and regardless of whether or not the subject of that truth is a deeply powerful, historically treacherous man that goes by the name of Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. Watch until the end. Because not only is the conversation not over… The war between PGMN and the single most corrupt Flipino politician of the 21st century has only just begun.
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As if LandBank could simply refuse if Marcos Jr. instructed it to accept. LandBank remains a government institution under BBM. There may be plenty of recognition from various agencies, but the one recognition being ignored is the plain text of the 1987 Constitution itself.
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Masyado naman po yatang halata na gusto niyong matigil ang hearing sa June 11. Meron kasi darating na mga bagong witnesses against the corruption of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Masyado Pong obvious. Alam na alam na tuta kayo ng Malacañang. 😆
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Chairman of the Red Ribbon Committee. 🤡
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Dinogshow ka tuloy ngayon.
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Why does Risa Hontiveros still insist on calling herself part of the opposition? Hindi ba dapat ang tawag sa kanya parte ng administrasyon dahil parang never niya pinuna ang mga kababuyan ng Marcos Jr. administration?
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So paano magiging chairman ito kung para sa kanya, sinungaling na ang mga witnesses?
Kinondena ni Sen. Raffy Tulfo ang pagtawag ni Sen. Loren Legarda sa 18 bagmen ni Zaldy Co bilang "mga bayani."
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DOH should be investigated next for massive corruption. DPWH is just the tip of the iceberg. In DOH, even simple Brgy. Health Workers are stealing vaccines and selling them to private doctors.
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Hindi pa pala constituted ang committee ng Blue Ribbon ni Erwin Tulfo. LoL Tama lang na hindi aattend ang 18 marines!
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Atty. Levito D. Baligod and the Brave 18 are now at the Senate, currently at the office of Sen. Robin Padilla. These 18 men are brave. Imagine attending a hearing seemingly designed to discredit them, chaired by a hostile chairman and a Malacañang puppet.
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So the 18 former Marines are set to attend the hearing led by Erwin Tulfo. I'm curious how this will be handled, considering Tulfo himself was among the names mentioned in the controversy. Contempt nalang sila?
This Erwin Tulfo led Blue Ribbon is going to be a circus.
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Alex Bonifacio retweeted
Remember Chiz Escudero’s fiery privilege speech, where he accused Martin Romualdez of staging a political “sarswela” to deflect attention from the flood-control scandal and make senators the fall guys. That was arguably one of his finest moments. But his recent defection to the BBM-backed Gatchalian bloc may have lost that goodwill and drawn the ire of many who once applauded him.
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This Erwin Tulfo led Blue Ribbon is going to be a circus.
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What Escudero still doesn't understand, is how far Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is willing to go to protect his interests. If BBM could turn against Sara Duterte, the very person delivered him the presidency, what makes Escudero think he's indispensable?
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"LEGAL LUMINARIES" GCASH RECEIVED FROM MALACANANG.
A group of law deans, juridical scholars, and political theorists defended the validity of the controversial senate session, stating that “democracy is preserved not by rigid arithmetic, but by ensuring that public institutions remain functional, accountable, and capable of carrying out the people’s business. READ MORE: inqnews.net/13NotAMagicNumbe…
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Alex Bonifacio retweeted
2/2 And when a nation can no longer imagine a better future, it becomes incapable of building one. The downfall does not arrive as explosion. It arrives as erosion— slow, silent, invisible, psychological. A broken psychology produces a broken society. And a broken society becomes easy for the corrupt to rule indefinitely. THE FINAL CONSEQUENCE: A NATION THAT SURVIVES, BUT NEVER RISES If this psychological conditioning continues, the Filipino people will enter a fate worse than poverty: Perpetual stagnation. A country that never collapses enough to reform, and never rises enough to hope. A nation that functions just well enough to avoid rebellion, yet poorly enough that no generation escapes the cycle. A society where corruption is not an event— but an atmosphere. Where people breathe it without noticing. Where outrage becomes rare. Where the young are born tired. This is the true downfall: not war, not famine, not dictatorship— but a slow, collective forgetting of what it feels like to demand dignity. THE ONLY EXIT: A PSYCHOLOGICAL REVOLUTION We do not defeat corruption with laws alone. We defeat it by dismantling the psychology that protects it. A nation heals when: • honesty becomes normal, not heroic • competence becomes expectation, not exception • shame returns to public office • resignation replaces tolerance • memory overpowers propaganda • and citizens finally believe that corruption is not culture but a betrayal of their worth No system can survive once people refuse to think in the patterns that sustain it. The real revolution begins in the mind. Because no country is truly defeated until its people accept defeat. And WE HAVE NOT ACCEPTED IT YET! Sgd: Capt. Med Velasco Founder & Project Lead, Aviation & Public-Service Advocate .......... This is a well written piece that should go viral.
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Alex Bonifacio retweeted
1/2 The PHILIPPINES: Soon a FAILED-STATE? Corruption destroys money, institutions, and infrastructure. But its most devastating casualty is the mind of a people. A nation does not fall the moment its treasury is looted. It falls the moment its citizens begin to adapt to being looted. The slow death is psychological. THE FIRST WOUND: LEARNING TO LOWER EXPECTATIONS Decades of bribery, fake audits, ghost projects, political dynasties, and theatrical elections teach Filipinos a quiet lesson: “Don’t expect too much.” And so the Filipino mind bends. We lower our standards until a functioning government office feels like a miracle. We clap for politicians who merely show up. We celebrate roads that took decades to finish. We treat honesty like sainthood. When a nation lowers its expectations, corruption no longer needs to hide. It thrives in broad daylight. A people who stop expecting better will stop demanding better. And a nation that stops demanding better is already halfway to collapse. THE SECOND WOUND: CONFUSING SURVIVAL WITH VIRTUE Filipinos are endlessly praised for resilience. But resilience has a dark twin: tolerance. We learn diskarte. We learn pasuway. We learn backdoor channels, pakiusap, padrino, kilala-ko, lagay. We convince ourselves that bending rules is “creative.” That cheating the system is “just how you survive.” That following the law is a luxury for the naive. We turn coping mechanisms into character traits. We begin mistaking brokenness for cleverness. This is how corruption wins psychologically: not by forcing dishonesty on the people, but by making dishonesty feel normal. THE THIRD WOUND: GLORIFYING THE VERY PEOPLE WHO ROB US In countries with healthy political psychology, corrupt leaders are exiled, shamed, imprisoned, or erased from memory. In the Philippines, they get sequels. A dynasty dies; its sibling resurrects. A thief retires; his son campaigns. A dictator falls; his heirs return as influencers. And the people cheer. Or shrug. Or say, “Wala naman magbabago.” This is not stupidity. This is trauma. When a population is repeatedly betrayed, abandoned, or punished for speaking out, the mind learns a protective mechanism: we stop believing powerful people can ever be accountable. So we vote based on entertainment. We choose leaders who amuse us. We cling to strongmen because they look decisive. We excuse plunderers because “lahat naman sila magnanakaw.” Psychologically, this is surrender wearing the mask of cynicism. THE FOURTH WOUND: INTERNALIZED HELPLESSNESS The most frightening consequence of normalized corruption is learned helplessness— a condition where the citizen believes nothing they do will matter. Why file a complaint if no one will read it? Why expose a scandal if the whistleblower will be destroyed? Why vote carefully if the dynasties always win? Hopelessness becomes a national reflex. The people stop resisting not because they agree… but because they believe they are powerless. A nation collapses the moment its citizens outsource their own future to fate. THE FIFTH WOUND: MORAL EXHAUSTION Corruption creates a moral climate where people are forced to choose between: • being honest and getting left behind • being dishonest and getting ahead This psychological tension erodes the spirit. Good people burn out. Hardworking people give up. Brave people get tired. Dreamers leave the country. The talented disappear abroad. The nation slowly loses its best minds and is left with those who have adapted to mediocrity, manipulation, and survival-level thinking. A country does not die because its enemies are strong. A country dies because its good people become too tired to fight. THE SIXTH WOUND: THE NORMALIZATION OF DECAY When generations grow up seeing corruption as tradition, the brain begins to adjust reality around it. We stop imagining clean governance. We stop imagining honest institutions. We stop imagining a Philippines that works.
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I'm beginning to wonder: is what the Gatchalian bloc is doing now meant to set a precedent for the impeachment of Sara Duterte? Conviction requires a two-thirds vote of all senators, or 16 votes. At the moment, it appears they don't have the numbers.
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If BBM were able to remove Marcoleta, Robin, and Allan under this precedent, the Senate would effectively be reduced to 19 members. Under that setup, a 2/3 vote would drop to just 12, which would significantly lower the threshold needed to convict Duterte in an impeachment trial.
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It sounds almost impossible under normal democratic processes and within a constitutional republic. But Marcos Jr. has been treating constitutional norms like a doormat, and the Philippines is no longer operating strictly within the boundaries of “normal” political processes.
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