Jack The Scribbler

Some are smarter than others

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:24:50 +0000

Estimates vary of course. But when the Marcoses, their close relatives, associates, and assistants left Malacañang in 1986, the amount that they reportedly stole was estimated at $10 billion.

Guy walks into a bar

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:36:03 +0000

He takes another pull at his bottle of beer. It's cold and crisp, just about every bottle of beer he's had since he started drinking regularly at the age of 20.

Kindness of strangers

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:19:55 +0000

At some point in our lives, when everything seems hopeless, when despair and desperation seems to be the order of the day, when pessimism pervades even the depths of our very souls, we are occasionally forced, in the words of Blanche DuBois, to rely on the kindness of strangers.

With a little help from my friends

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:59:33 +0000

From all over, I have received various forms of assistance — unfortunately, none of them financial — but most of them unexpected. (Good enough.) And to them, my benefactors, I dedicate this blog entry. Meanwhile, friends who have decided to risk their reputations by sticking with me through thick and thin all these years (i.e., long-term friends, [...]

What Cory can teach Noynoy about truth commissions (and what we can learn from elsewhere too)

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:28:15 +0000

(The following is written by Ruben Carranza, who once served as one of the commissioners of the Philippines’ Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) — the body tasked to recover the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth — under Haydee Yorac. He is now with the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice. This website (mainly, me) decided [...]

Mars-Jones on terms of endearment

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:48:57 +0000

Pie stuck to a number of phrases, private ones at first and then sentences of ordinary conversation, by slip of the tongue to start with and afterwards defiantly, mixing embarrassment and the refusal to be embarassed. Pie functions as pet name (dear one), as interrogative (are you awake?), as exclamation (how could you say [...]

Dinner at breakfast

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:03:54 +0000

Almost half a decade later, I was it again: eating a huge meal for free. I knew that there was a lesson there somewhere, an epiphany of sorts, if you will. Except that I was too busy chewing my steak to notice.

Dunne on being sedated

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:39:41 +0000

‘I don’t think I’ve been this stoned since 1968.’ ‘Few of us have, Mr. Dunne,’ he said, ‘few of us have.’

Risks of Aquino’s straight path

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:00:51 +0000

In a press conference held shortly after Congress proclaimed him the Philippines’ 15th president, Benigno Aquino 3rd made a slip-up that would haunt his leadership for the next six years. President Aquino said that unemployment data understated reality because they excluded people not seeking work.

Pardon the mess, friends, I fouled up

Robert JA Basilio Jr. — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:21:15 +0000

Yes, I did. And it took me one whole night to transform a website that’s somehow easy on the eyes into what it is now — cheap and ugly. It’s like British Petroleum’s oil mess, only smaller and fairly more manageable. I promise to fix this soon, together with another update. Another thing: I don’t think I’ll be able [...]