By Gonzalo Duque

 

THE maiden edition of our podcast “The Punching Duo” with Ermin Garcia Jr. as my co-host kicked off without much fanfare last week.

From the reactions of those who watched our test broadcast, it was a stunning success.

I was informed that more than 1,500 watched us. This number, in my opinion, can already be called a measure of success.

We will continue to improve our podcast every week, hope to increase our followers, and aim to become a valuable alternative media in the province of Pangasinan.

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You see, traditional or mainstream media outlets in the United States have suffered a lot of backlash because they were used for political activities against comebacking U.S. President Donald Trump.

Now President-elect Trump tapped social media to send his message to the American voters. He obviously succeeded in this endeavor by winning the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Back here in the Philippines, traditional media are still lording it over social media.

Methinks that in due time, this will change.

Let us look intently at the approval of the 2025 national budget, done by both chambers of Congress through the bicameral conference committee, which passed what we can all refer to as “the most corrupt budget” in the history of the Philippines, denying PhilHealth its subsidy to implement the Universal Health Care and making the Education budget inferior to the DPWH budget.

But insofar as lining up the pockets of our legislators, the bicameral “kumita” este committee led by Grace Poe of the Senate and Zaldy Co of the House were believed to have used all kinds of justifications to promote their selfish interests.

Grace Poe’s party list “FPJ Ang Probinsyano” is running in the 2025 elections.

She may need all the money to win while the other legislators also have their respective party lists similarly situated with that of Grace Poe’s.

Only Senators Bong Go, Bato de la Rosa and a few others did not vote or ratify the bicameral committee report.

In the meantime, the presidential sister, Senator Imee Marcos, delivered a privilege speech criticizing and castigating those who ratified the bicameral report without involving the Senate committee members in the final promulgation of the same. 

How do these relate to social media? The free flow of information on that medium exposed the corrupt motives of our “tongressmen” and “senatongs”.

Without social media, the shenanigans in Congress would not have been exposed. This is because mainstream media in my opinion could easily be manipulated by the powers that be.

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The walkouts staged by the group of Honorable Councilor Celia Lim, which includes Honorable Councilors Librada Reyna, Alvin Coquia and Marilou Fernandez, have not done them any good.

I heard they are staging the walkout in protest over the determination of a quorum to transact business in the city council.

They even threatened to file cases in court against members of the new majority for conducting sessions without any quorum as they alleged.

Sadly for them, their contention has been debunked by DILG.

The DILG opined that the determination of a quorum does not include the three suspended councilors — Honorable Councilors Redford Erfe-Mejia, Alfie Fernandez and Irene Lim-Acosta.

Ang balito ko, magpa-file daw sila ng maraming kaso against Mayor Belen Fernandez, Vice Mayor Bryan Kua, and all the new majority councilors.

Bring it on, baby!

Merry Christmas to you all!

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