ANARCHY and FAMILIES

This is found on the front page of one of the blogs I regularly visit (http://donavictorina.blogspot.com/).

ANARCHY and FAMILIESNereo C.Lujan (Iloilo News)
THE RAGING controversy involving the Gucci Gang and Australian landscape designer Brian Gorrell continues to draw spectators from all walks of life. The personalities involved in this online drama are too sensational to be ignored. High-society devotees and lifestyle observers are glued to this hullabaloo minute by minute. As gleaned from the now very popular blog, the main target of the tirade is Delfin Justiniano “DJ” Montano II, whom Gorrell alleged to have duped him of US$70,000. Caught in the crossfire is Philippine Star lifestyle editor Celine Lopez, whom Gorrell accused of not only allowing her best friend to commit the rip-off but supporting him as well by covering up the con and striking back at him.The accusations against Montano and Lopez are simply sidelights to the intriguing story of their equally controversial families, which have become subjects of case studies on political bossism and the practice of rent-seeking – phenemenons which are watermarked all over the Gucci Gang controversy. Blog fanatics will surely be amazed over the titles of two chapters – Chapters 3 and 9 – in the book An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines edited by noted American historian Alfred McCoy. The book, which was conferred the 1995 National Book Award, examines how some families in the Philippines were able build their political and business empires in a manner replete with FRAUD, DECEPTIONS, TRICKERY and VIOLENCE.A now very familiar name is bannered in Chapter 3, Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man: Justiniano Montano and Failed Dynasty Building in Cavite, 1935-1972 by British scholar John Sidel (who wrote another book Capital, Coercion and Crime: Bossism in the Philippines that also has an interesting chapter on the Montanos and on politics in Cavite). Chapter 9, Rent-Seeking Families and the Philippine State: A History of the Lopez Family was written by McCoy and is a must-read for those who everyday turn on their TV (ABS-CBN and SkyCable), drink water (Maynilad), use electricity (FirstGen and Meralco), or make a call and surf the Internet (BayanTel), among other daily consumer activities.The rise and fall of former Congressman and Senator Justianiano Montano (DJ’s grandfather) is a story of political murders, warlordism, criminal activities, corruption and his “skillful exploitation and manipulation of the law.” Sidel described Montano as “a fearsome pugilist and an aggressive interloper who depended for his success not only on bluster, bravado and bullying but on the persistent threat and use of violence.” Montano, according to the author, made headlines by brawling with his rivals on the stairs of Cavite ’s Capitol Building and whipping out his .45 caliber revolver before fellow congressmen on the floor of the House of Representatives. To perpetuate himself in power, Montano endeared himself with political patrons in Manila , installed his sons in positions of political and economic prominence, and delegated powers to his municipal wards. He was alleged to have enlisted the services Cavite ’s most famous criminal, Leonardo Manecio alias Nardong Putik (remember the Ramon Revilla movie?) as his political assassin. Among the quotable quotes attributed to Montano include “I HAVE NO TACT!” and “I’ll KILL YOU, DAMN YOU!” Montano also managed to have his sons Delfin elected as governor of Cavite and Justiniano Jr. appointed as chair of the Games and Amusement Board (who was later implicated in match rigging, race fixing, toleration of illegal betting and the management of boxers through dummies for his personal profit). His other son, Ciriaco, was tasked to manage the family’s expanding real estate and construction investments, cornering juicy infrastructure contracts.But the rise of Ferdinand Marcos signaled the downfall of Montano, who was an ally of Diosdado Macapagal, the late dictator’s political nemesis. Montano himself got the ire of Marcos when the Cavite kingpin was tagged as mastermind in the smuggling of blue-seal cigarettes, thus threatening the Ilocos-based tobacco industry, the lifeblood of politicians in the north. When Marcos became president, he engineered the ouster of Montano from political power, which eventually led to his self-exile in the United States when Martial Law was declared. After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, Montano already found himself old, and his former grip of Cavite now in the hands of the Remullas, a Marcos crony who had switched to the camp of Cory Aquino shortly after the people power revolt.Like the Montanos, the Lopezes were also victims of Martial Law. But unlike the Montanos, they were able to stage a political and economic comeback after the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship, using the practice of rent-seeking. Rent-seeking, according to McCoy, is characterized by the political manipulation of the regulatory powers of the state over businesses to favor a few, paving the way for installation of business empires. A classic example of this, added McCoy, was how the Lopezes were able to establish (before the Martial Law) and reestablish (after Edsa) their conglomerates by exacting favors from the powers-that-be whom the family had earlier helped to gain political might. It’s patronage politics on the national scale.This brilliant idea was perfected by Eugenio Lopez Sr., a rich sugar planter, who launched himself as a power broker in Iloilo City in 1929 by publishing a successful Spanish newspaper El Tiempo together with his brother Fernando (Celine’s grandfather who became mayor of Iloilo City, Senator and Vice President from three times). Fashioned as a crusading media, El Tiempo’s rigid campaign against illegal gambling even caused the removal from office of Mariano Arroyo (the First Gentleman’s grandfather) as governor of Iloilo after he was accused of receiving funds from jueteng operators. Three years after El Tiempo’s maiden issue, he also came out with the only English newspaper in Iloilo City then, The Times. “With these newspapers, and later a Hiligaynon edition, Ang Panahon, Eugenio Lopez maneuvered to establish himself as the city’s most powerful and professional media voice,” wrote McCoy. Endearing himself to President Manuel Quezon, Eugenio used the compadre system and factional alliance to gain access to executive power, expanding their business to sea, land and air transportation, and eventually monopolizing land transportation in Panay .But the growth of the Lopez business empire was also marred with trickery and maneuverings, and their employment of violence to forward their interests. Wrote McCoy: “After the war, when they joined the national economic elite, the Lopez brothers moved into a world of corporate connections remote from the provincial violence that marred postwar democracy. But before the war, they had engaged in provincial struggles, with clear territorial manifestations over bus routes, waterfronts, precincts and congressional districts. The territorial specificity of local politics created a zero-sum game, a win-or-lose situation, that made violence a necessary instrument for every player.”As “kingmakers” before the war, they wielded strong influence over Iloilo City through Mayor Oscar Ledesma and over Bacolod City through Mayor Alfredo Montelibano whom Quezon had both appointed to office upon the intercession of the Lopez brothers. During the war, while the Lopez brothers befriended the Japanese by publishing the pro-Japanese daily Panay Shu-Ho, they remained in close contact with the guerillas. Fernando, for his part, operated a gambling casino under the protection of the Japanese army. When the war was over, the Lopez brothers were accused of collaborating with the enemy, but they successfully parried all charges with the help of their associates. In 1945, Fernando became mayor of Iloilo City and senator two years later, with their businesses growing all the more.Moving to Manila – Eugenio as media mogul and Fernando as politician — the brothers used ABS-CBN and Manila Chronicle to their advantage. They either took over or established several profitable ventures, one of which is Meralco. But little did they know that the man – Marcos – whom they made President would also the same man that would destroy them. When the dictatorship was toppled down, the Lopezes regained their wealth and political influence, with Eugenio “Geny” Lopez Jr. at the helm.Concluding his essay, McCoy wrote: “By skewing investments and regulations to favor its allies, the Philippine executive has, as an institution, compromised the integrity of the bureaucracy and allowed the privatization of public resources. Over the long term, then, we can conclude that such policies weaken the state and empower elite families, ultimately limiting the capacity of the bureaucracy to direct entrepreneurs and lead the country’s development.”After these brief lessons in history and politics, we go back to the GUCCI GANG to learn, as what an anonymous author aptly wrote, that “children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners.”

Brian Gorrell vs. DJ Montano

I think here's a more objective detail on the war (although the Brian Gorrell phenomena must have died down, I think his blog is already 'laos')

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view/20080413-130037/Blogger-Brian-ex-lover-DJ-A-case-of-he-saidhe-said

Blogger Brian, ex-lover DJ: A case of he said/he said
By Juliet Labog-Javellana, Bayani San Diego Jr.Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 02:49:00 04/13/2008
MANILA, Philippines—The last time Delfin Justiniano “DJ” Montano saw ex-boyfriend Brian Gorrell was at a Makati police station in October last year, where Montano had filed a complaint of “slight physical injuries and unjust vexation” against Gorrell.
That acrimonious split, he said, led Gorrell to set up the now infamous blog about Montano and his high-society friends dubbed the “Gucci Gang.”
But before things came to a head at the police station, Montano told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, on Friday that “there were certain things which I didn’t like anymore so I told him I didn’t want to be in this relationship anymore.”
On Friday, Montano visited the Inquirer for an interview, accompanied by his lawyer Jose Oliveros, godfather Benjie Laurel and mother Aurora Montano.
“He started throwing himself into a wild rage. He hit me with his fist. He threw me against the wall. He pushed me so hard, my head hit the leg of a chair and the floor,” he said, recalling the incident in a hotel in Makati.
When he recovered consciousness, Gorrell was looking down at him.
“I knew he wouldn’t let me go,” Montano said, recalling what Gorrell told him: “If you break up with me, I will ruin your family.”
“He made all sorts of threats,” he added.
After the altercation, Gorrell went to the gym and Montano fled from the hotel room and went straight to the Makati Medical Center to have his bruises treated.
Montano also went to the Makati police to report the incident. He later filed a case of slight physical injuries and unjust vexation against Gorrell.
‘Caught lying’
When the police invited Gorrell to the police station, Gorrell accused Montano of taking his passport. But when the police went back to the hotel, they found Gorrell’s passport hidden in a drawer.
“They caught him lying,” Montano said.
Since then, Gorrell has being sending him threats and lewd messages.
In his blog, Gorrell said he would only stop his “smear campaign” when Montano paid the 70,000 Australian dollars he took from Gorrell. (Gorrell claims the alleged debt is in American dollars.)
Montano said Gorrell dragged the name of the former’s high-society friends and stoked rumors, like on the death of Rustan scion Joel Tantoco, to make his blog controversial.
‘Why should I pay?’
“My family and friends have nothing to do with this. He just started bringing in celebrities to attract attention to his blog and he is even making money from it now,” Montano said.
“But it all boils down to this—he wants money from me. He said ‘You pay me and I will stop this.’ But why should I give him money?” Montano said.
He said even if his legal fight costs him more than 70,000 Australian dollars, he would pursue his fight to the end.
Messages from his friends keep him strong. His mother, Aurora Montano, sent him this message: “Anak (Son), we will triumph over this. This will just make you stronger. Justice will prevail. I love you very much.”
‘Love never goes away’
After reading Montano’s denials published in the Inquirer on Saturday, Gorrell said he felt “completely victimized.”
In a phone interview with the Inquirer, he said: “I still feel as if I am being intimidated and threatened by DJ and his family.”
Yet, upon seeing Montano’s picture on the front page of the Inquirer on Saturday, Gorrell said: “My heart sank. I wanted to hug him. Love never goes away even if your lover hurts you. You will never forget the reason why you fell in love in the first place.”
In the middle of the phone interview, Gorrell sounded as if he was crying. “It was very difficult for me ... you must realize that the last time I saw him was in the hotel (where they had a fight in October). The last time I saw him I was still in love. Then, the next time I see him, it’s in the media. That’s a big psychological leap for me.”
Gorrell did not deny that an altercation took place, and that Montano fell after their arguments became slightly physical.
In his radio interview and in his blog, Gorrell said Montano planned the confrontation and that he was “passive-aggressive. He pretends to be meek and soft-spoken, but [he] can be toxic.”
HIV positive
Gorrell, who is HIV positive, acknowledged that he was being emotional “because I’m not prepared [for the media scrutiny]. Prior to this, I lived a simple life in my farm. I’m not used to this.”
Later, Gorrell explained via e-mail: “What I meant was that I wasn’t prepared to see his face. A minute later, however, I wanted to strangle him. So many lies. He has turned my life into a soap opera. I’m hurting so much.”
When Montano finally decided to break his month-long silence with an interview published in the Inquirer Saturday, he denied all of Gorrell’s statements in his blog—he didn’t owe Gorrell money, he never used drugs, he didn’t know the truth about the untimely death of high-society personality Joel Tantoco.
In his phone interview Saturday with the Inquirer, Gorrell pointed out that he was not inclined to start a “war of words” with his former lover in the media.
Point by point
For the Inquirer, however, he consented to answer, point by point, some of Montano’s pronouncements.
Gorrell said that he didn’t live like a king on Boracay, contrary to what Montano had said in the Inquirer interview.
“I spent only $5,000 the entire time I was in Boracay. From the expensive two-bedroom beachfront home DJ had chosen, I moved to a single room with no hot water. The rent was P5,000 a month. I also had a yaya who prepared my food. Her salary was P4,000 a month. I lived simply.”
He also contradicted Montano’s statement that the money he sent was in Australian dollars.
“It was all in American dollars. And why does he care? He claims he owes me nothing,” Gorrell said.
Shy guy
In the Inquirer interview, Montano recalled that Gorrell had approached him and introduced himself when they first met in a Makati hotel in February 2007.
Gorrell denied this account: “He approached me at the pool. I am too shy to approach anyone. I do not approach; I am approached.”
Gorrell reiterated that he had never criticized Filipinos in his blog. “I love Filipinos. I adore Filipinos.”
In the Inquirer interview, Montano categorically denied the allegations of drug use in Gorrell’s blog.
His godfather Laurel told the Inquirer that Montano was willing to take a drug test to prove it.
“I am not a drug user,” said Montano.
The truth
In an e-mail, Gorrell told the Inquirer: “DJ is addicted to cocaine. We discussed treatment for him. I was going to pay for him to go to the United States, to [an] Arizona [rehabilitation center].”
Montano emphatically denied that he knew the “truth” about Tantoco’s death.
“He died of hemorrhagic pancreatitis,” Montano said, adding that Gorrell had never met the deceased.
This was again contradicted by Gorrell. “I met Joel many times. I know everything about him.”
Court case
Montano presented to the Inquirer documents pertaining to the case he had filed against Gorrell for “slight physical injuries and unjust vexation.”
In a resolution dated March 24, it was stated that it was “Gorrell who owed Montano money.”
In a subpoena dated April 1, Gorrell was “ordered” to appear in court, for an arraignment in the sala of Judge Henry E. Laron of the Makati Metropolitan Trial Court.
Gorrell dismissed Montano’s case against him as insignificant. “Fat chance of me ever appearing there!”
He said he would rather that Montano file a case against him in Australia.
Covering his tracks
“Bring it on,” Gorrell said. “I’m not afraid. I don’t have anything to lose because DJ has taken everything from me.”
Gorrell stressed that he was building a case against Montano: “I’m in contact with the fraud department of the Western Union and the Philippines’ tax agency [Bureau of Internal Revenue]. He would have to explain what he did to the money I sent to him through Western Union.”
Gorrell said that he had sent money to Montano, his bank and his sister from March to October last year. “DJ made sure that I’d send it to him through different methods so that it would be difficult to pin him down later. He was covering his tracks from day one.”
Western Union receipts as proof
Gorrell reiterated that he had all the pertinent documents from Western Union to prove his claims.
“I have all nine receipts,” he said. “The money was meant for our [planned] restaurant and travel agency. He said the money was for my immigration papers, working permit and other business documents.”
But when he confronted Montano about the progress of their business ventures, it sparked the altercation that eventually led to the Makati court case.
In turn, the split led Gorrell to set up the blog.
3.6 million hits
“A Filipino friend suggested that I put up a blog,” he recounted.
The blog of this self-confessed “non-techie” has generated 3.6 million hits since its launch on March 4.
On Friday, after Gorrell posted Montano’s interview, he received the most number of hits on a single day: 112,000. His source for the figures is Site Meter, an online tracking tool.
Even Montano and his family never expected that the blog would grow this big.
Montano admitted: “At first, we thought it would die a natural death.”
This was seconded by his lawyer Oliveros: “My advice was: If you answer, it will only add fuel to the fire.”
Out of control
When Montano first got in touch with the Inquirer a month ago, he said he would rather not issue a formal statement until Gorrell filed “a case in the proper forum.”
On Friday, Montano explained that he was breaking his silence because “things have gotten out of control.”
What they thought would blow over after a while has been reported, Montano conceded, “in all forms of media—on TV and radio and in newspapers.”
Blog gives back
Gorrell said that he’s now planning to redirect “all this media attention” to a cause he feels strongly about: An HIV information and awareness campaign.
“We launched it last week. Every week, I will write about it. I want to turn something negative into a positive,” he quipped. “After all, I’m positive myself. It’s an issue I know well.”
He recalled that he received 3,000 e-mails after he posted his plans to pursue this advocacy.
On a personal note, he said he was inspired to take up this cause after encountering prejudice first-hand.
“While I was still in Boracay last year, DJ’s mother called me up to tell me that she would have me deported because of my ailment,” Gorrell recalled. “At that time, I didn’t know if it were true or not. I was trembling after that call.”
In an earlier phone interview, however, Gorrell pointed out that he had learned to ignore the threats from Montano and his family. “If I allow them to affect me, I would only empower their threats.”
He said, he said
Gorrell, however, noted that he still had a lot of bombshells in his online arsenal—particularly about Montano and his “high”-society friends. “I’m not going to give up. My blog will speak for itself. That’s my message to the world.”
A TV news executive described the Gorrell-Montano controversy as a case of “He said ... she said”—a tale of a lovers’ quarrel that has reached various media platforms.
From the blog setup by Gorrell on March 4, the scandal has jumped to the print and broadcast media.
To be accurate, however, it’s a case of “He said ... he said.”

Apathy

I’ve learned to practice apathy. Why so? If I won’t, I’d go insane.
Look at the world around us (or our country for that matter). Look at the people living in poverty. The jeepneys using the steets as their terminal. The men drinking on the streets on a work night. The people videoke-ing (is that a word?) in the streets on work nights. The colleagues at work who always run out of money having to support their parents who are fit enough to work.
And then we have Legarda, Cayetano, Escudero, Erap, Binay & all the other trash in public office.
And then not having a true & honest media & news.
I could go on & on.
I could blog on & on like the other bloggers like Gorrell, Dona Victorina, the Professional Heckler, but nothing will change.
I am very close to someone who is close to a personality mentioned in Gorrell’s blog. I asked how he was. My friend said, “there’s nothing wrong with him, whatever they say about him, they’re used to it, they come from a political family, nothing is new.”
So there, everyone can blog all they want but these people in power (& with the money) really wouldn’t care.
It is really interesting to read blogs dishing out the dirt of people from high society. But don’t hope that it will affect them or that the bloggers’ so-called ‘crusade’ is going to achieve anything, because it’s not! These people are there for one reason alone. They are impervious. So why should we care?
We have all the clamour to have these personalities removed from television & print, but it’s not going anywhere. Tim Yap can be seen more & more on tv. Shrek will not go anywhere because she just has the connections (or the knowledge of people’s dirt).
Just don’t care is my advise.
Don’t watch their shows.
Don’t buy their newspapers.
Don’t even vote anymore because the rest of the country is dumb to elect these officials.
Just look at the the winners (& topnotchers) of the last senatorial elections.
Do not watch from the network you do not like. There are so many things you can do with your life. Watch the other networks, they have better (& more real) shows.
Surf the net. Watch free tv series, they are far better.
Go out & have fun.
In the end, the bloggers are not the losers. It is the stupid people. People who believe these blood-sucking lesser version of us.
In the end, when we get to have another president like Erap the ‘country’ will again suffer in poverty. No one will be lucky anymore, to get decent-paying jobs anywhere, jump from one company to another. Then the ‘thinking’ & ‘working’ people will be the ones left. The ones left to be able to buy high-class brands. The ones left dining in Serendra, Boni High St., Greenbelt. People will get what they deserve. The people who blaim everything else (& the government) & never themselves for their fate, always rallying in the streets, believing self-serving politicans & media personalities, will be thrown again in the streets, where they belong.
In the end, people will get what they deserve. In the end, the bloggers will survive.

Image from this url: http://aboutmyrecovery.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/interfaith_rally_makati.jpg

Embassy Forever!

I was quite surprised to find out that embassy is open again. But I am more surprised that Brian Gorrell kept mum about this. Is Brian fooling everyone??? Is he just a publicity rep for Embassy (& Tim, for that matter)?