JOKER KNOWS HIS POKER

News: "Senator Joker Arroyo to skip today's SONA." Joker indeed knows his poker. There can NEVER be two JOKERS in a full HOUSE.

(Image from http://article.wn.com/)

JOKER VS JOECON

As a steady observer in the past feud between former Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo and NAMFREL big cheese and former DTI Secretary Jose 'Joecon' Concepcion wherein Malacanang decided in favor of the latter, I had suspected then that Aquino officials feared that one simple statement from JoeCon could have blown the entire Aquino government to smithereens. It was also at this time when Joker launched his tirades against JoeCon and his alleged involvement in the PetroScam.

The statement? "President Marcos really won the elections."

The NAMFREL, then headed by JoeCon, suddenly stopped its tabulations when a deluge of Marcos votes began arriving from the Ilocos and Eastern Visayas regions. This raised a howl of protests from the Marcos camp and only the EDSA revolt rendered the controversy moot and academic. Unless of course JoeCon suddenly revives it.

Remember also that the controversial NAMFREL was boiling in a mess over charges that it had manipulated the tabulation of election returns in favor of President Corazon Aquino. These charges earned credence when, immediately after the Aquino victory, many of NAMFREL'S ranking officials were gifted with high government posts, enabling them to boost their political and economic fortunes. Hence, the new meaning of NAMFREL should be 'Never Again Manipulate Free Elections."

(Image from http://www.pcij.org/)

JOKER-FACED

Over at the Senate hearing today on the ZTE-NBN deal (February 26), Senator Joker Arroyo wanted to establish the credibility of his fellow-Bicolano, Deputy Executive Secretary Manny Gaite by saying that Gaite has a nun for a sister, a parish priest for a brother, and that Gaite himself was a seminarian before joining government. What Joker was trying to say is that we should all believe Gaite instead of Jun Lozada because of his relatives wearing halos and carrying Rosaries. Will someone please remind Joker Arroyo that just because Mr. Gaite has a nun for a sister and a parish priest for a brother does not automatically make him even a bit credible than the next person. But, a deck of cards with a Joker in it may help in a game called "Bluff."

(Image from http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/)