Do you see the look on Gloria’s face as she swears in her chief justice? She seems to be saying “Bwahaha! Naisahan ko kayo! Jejeje!”

I was pleased to hear this news as it I think it is just fair that the CA presiding justice should be promoted to the High Court before anyone else. I was about to say maybe the President is becoming more prudent in appointing people–then I remembered that Lito Atienza took his oath as environment secretary just this week.

He should try telling that to the relatives of the more than 800 extrajudicial killing victims, who are mostly critics of the government.

The reports quoted Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera –a former Government Corporate Counsel–as saying that the “the government decided to file an appeal to the High Court to bring back the stability of the justice system.”

Devanadera has a point there. The SC sided nga naman with the “destabilizers.” Hehe.

Devanadera also said, according to the reports, that the justice department was “dismayed and saddened” with the decision. Her reason: it would have a negative impact on the country’s judicial system. Isn’t Raul Gonzalez’s continued stay at the DOJ already doing the same?

But the Manila Bulletin, quoting “Malacanang insiders” reported that the invitation “may run in conflict with her earlier designation of Vice President Noli de Castro as alternate chairman of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Presidential Adviser on OFWs, and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chairman.”

This doesn’t surprise us anymore. Arroyo just shugged her shoulders when Guingona left the administration. If she really wanted the help of the former Vice President, she should have listened to his concerns and prevented him from leaving the adminstration. She should have asked her to be her running mate. Instead, she tried her best and succeeded in getting Noli De Castro–a popular but inexperienced media straddler who could boost her chances of getting elected–as her running mate.

A certified user-friendly trapo, she is now paying her political debt to De Castro and wants to use Guingona to create a semblance of “unity” between her administration and the opposition.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel, who is with the opposition and a Mindanaoan like Guingona, believes that Arroyo’s gesture was done “only a sop to Mindanao’s ruffled feelings because we have no member in the Cabinet.”

Franchise tax for telecoms, P2 per liter oil excise tax, sin taxes (the latter one I approve of), these are just some proposals to remedy our growing budget deficit. I could imagine my brother saying, “Anlaki-laki ng tax na binabayaran mo, saan naman napupunta?!” As if the unequal distribution of wealth in the country isn’t worse enough. What’s next? Television watching tax?

Presidential spokesperson (apologist?) Ignacio Bunye explains, “We are all in this together and let us not make this another stage for national division and political strife.” Oh no, Mr. Spokesperson. This is not another stage for national division. We have already been divided not by tax measures but by our social classes.

My take is that our lawmakers should concentrate on tax measures that may not be fair for the wealthy but “just” for the common tao. But then what would you expect from lawmakers who drive Jaguars and live in posh condos with their big-boobed escort ladies?

I know of someone who owns more than 10 luxury cars and lives in the plush village of Forbes but I see more of those hardworking and honest taxpayers, struggling to make ends meet.

After being proclaimed, Arroyo called for unity: “This is the time for forgiveness and letting-go-of-the-past,” she said.

But how could she call on the people to forgive and forget when doubts on the credibility of the recent elections that made her remain in power persist?