One flew over the coup-coup’s nest

The irrepressible Filipino sense of humor can only be matched by their passion for Friday night gimmicks. The following words were overheard by our ear-spies when rebel troops started changing their clothes to leave Oakwood a few hours before the president’s five o’clock ultimatum: "Rebel leaders who studied in La Salle Greenhills were picking off clothes and shoes from Prada, Versace, Armani, Lacoste, Paul Smith, & Gucci." On the other hand, enlisted men allegedly looted Shoemart’s Pour Homme. And speaking of top gear, our eye-spy who mingled with the Magdalo troops at Oakwood last Sunday couldn’t help but notice their handheld communications equipment. He described SPYBIZ their radios and cellular phones as brand new and state-of-the-art. Definitely, these are accouterments are not included in the AFP inventory. Not only was this an intimation that a moneyed and powerful person (or group) was behind last Sunday’s rebellion, but it was also undeniable proof that Filipinos in general would rather have a Nokia 7650 than all-out reform.

State-Of-The-Art Miscommunication

Very reliable ear-spies have gathered that the Opposition and the rebel troops suffered gravely from miscommunication despite the brand new hand-held communications equipment the rebels had. This resulted in a premature ìcoup attempt." While there was support from some key politicians from some time, the rebellion was originally scheduled for October 2003. But Magdalo had to cancel the Sunday "coup" because the Opposition was planning a rally march last Sunday. They did not want to drag the rallyists as part of the rebellion plot. Eventually, the rebels changed their minds and wanted to go ahead with it last Tuesday, but they failed to inform the Opposition rallyists, that’s why it did not materialize again. Finally, they went ahead with the Sunday takeover of Oakwood, but it seemed, most of the civilian component did not appear on the streets on time. Between the covert meetings and the actual takeover of Oakwood, for sure there was an unanswered miss call somewhere.

Business Jitters

Our ear-spies got hold of news that the international business community is seriously concerned about the graft and corruption accusations leveled on the government by the young mutineers. A very reliable source within one of the foreign embassies told our ear-spy that business entities are right now working closely and quietly with their respective governments to convince the Arroyo administration to work proactively in solving the issues that were raised. It seems even the international business community knows the Oakwood incident is not all politics.

Non De Scam

According to our ear-spies, a huge finance corporation and its directors and principal officers are now wedged in a P900-million-peso estafa case filed by the company’s creditors. More specifically, a case of "syndicated plunder" was allegedly filed by the creditors of the company after they supposedly failed to arrive at a judicial settlement of their money claims against the said finance corporation. As expected, a counter suit of libel and slander was filed by the finance company against the creditors with the hope of pushing back the plunder case against it. What is noteworthy in this legal and counter-legal uproar is the supposed name of one of the directress of the company - who allegedly used her maiden name than her married name in her counter-suit. Our ear-spies overheard that she used her maiden name so that the judiciary would know that a "very powerful family" is behind the said counter-suit. Not only that, the directors of the corporation filed a countersuit even after the foreign investors allegedly gifted them with a sale for P1.00 of their P300 million shares and P300 million loan. It just goes to show that some people are never content with what they already have.

Spy Tidbiz

Our eye-spies stationed in New York City just spotted 2004 presidential candidate Raul Roco in a luncheon meeting with some of the Filipino-American communities located in the Tri-State area. Our eye-spies said Roco is moving around and trying to feel his way among the Fil-Am communities to secure a favorable turnout for the Absentee Voting Bill. There are also rumors circulating that Roco is presently in the United States for a check up and possible treatment.

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