The enigma that is Fidel Ramos

Now, what? Senator Rodolfo Biazon has come out and announced that he, too, has some more versions of those election-related tapes, indicating that there had been what he called massive wiretapping operations that spared no one during the May 2004 election. It looks as if we will never hear the end of that Garci tape, or Hello Garci mess.

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This time, Biazon, who had run under the slate of President Arroyo, also claims to have a blockbuster of a witness, who will not only be a whistle-blower, but will also explode a more damning blast. But he has conceded that National Bureau of Investigation man Samuel Ong still has the distinction of having the "Mother of all Tapes", while he, Biazon, only has the "children". He says he will make his revelations on January 19, and that will be another event that will have the country holding its breath again.

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In the meantime, whistleblower after whistleblower seems to be the order of the day, especially in the military. We have the case of General Carlos Garcia, whose shenanigans as comptroller of the Armed Forces, had shocked the country. Then there was also the scandal involving the retirement kitty of officers and enlisted men. Just lately, Col. Efren Daquil also came up with his own exposé against the Air Force. Now there is another one, a military doctor, who also has some goods on the medicine scam in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

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But, like the wolf attacking the house of the little pigs in the nursery rhyme, they may blow and blow and blow, but the minute they are called by the House or the Senate to testify, their mouths will be stuffed with Executive Order No. 464, and there will be silence there and nothing more. There is already the case of former General Francisco Gunadi to use as an example to any potential whistleblower.

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"Those who do not want to change will be changed". The ominous words came from former President Fidel Ramos and and are unmistakably meant for the ears of the Malacañang occupant. Aren't those words indicative of a growing impatience against La Presidenta? Before saying that, Steady Eddie also declared that the President should make a sacrifice and agree to a shortening of her term. This, he said, is to pave the way for the setting up of a parliamentary system.

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Aside from that, FVR also said that, if the President does not set a date for the parliamentary election, "Other forces may decide" on it. Curiouser and curiouser, that's what I think. I have always known FVR to be alternately mischievous and enigmatic, but this time, his meaning seems to be getting clearer, that is, he is disappointed with GMA for ignoring his advice, or just using it to buy time when she was swamped by the fall-out from the Hello Garci controversy.

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But you'd never know that, if you were watching them during the traditional cocktail party hosted by the President for the diplomatic corps yesterday. Aside from the fact that she was wearing blue again (they say a psychic has advised her that it is her saving color), the lady looked unconcerned as she recited before them all her plans for 2006. Of course she did not go beyond that year, but she also said nothing about whether she liked or did not like No-El. And FVR was right there, listening to her.

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Now it is the turn of the people of Turkey to panic because of confirmed cases of the fearful bird flu in that country. As of last night, reports were saying that there have been two deaths of children from the same family, and that 100 sick people are still being tested. It seems an irony that the disease called "bird flu" would hit what is probably the only country in the world named after a bird.*

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