Wow! Pre-new year's fireworks display! Now, Ramos is really talking! Read all about it in the Inquirer!

Ramos said he had received minutes of the con-com's discussions until December 12. Apparently that was when the con-com has yet to take flights of fancy to propose a NO-EL and term limit extenders. But something mysterious happened within the last 12 hours after Tabako received his last report until it was hastily endorsed to Congress. A looney mystery, if I may add.

Yesterday at ANC, senator Frank Drilon was saying pretty much the same thisng as Ramos. Self-respecting legislators would have none of it. And I did not know that Gene Orejana could have said anything more well-pronounced than when he said "our politicians have lost all pretensions to morality..." braav-vo! I suppose Gene should put up his own blog.

A sidebar story to this is the ongoing sidewar between the Palace and the Lopez Empire over Meralco's unpaid refund to its commercial clients and the stick behind government's back threatening a possible takeover of the power firm. Whoah! And that side-by-side with the palace's dismantling of the Coujuangco Empire's Luisita estate. What an interesting time to live in...

Back to Ramos... he said he's not giving Gloria an ultimatum. He just wants her to announce in public before January 1, 2006 that she oppose any such move to extend her own term of office along with the wolves in congress who wants the same. I believe him. It's not an ulimatum. Just plain diversionary tactic.

What diversionary tactic? Lest we forget, the real issue is whether the public wants charter change in the first place. Now they've skillfully shortcircuited the apparatus of public debate so that the issue now becomes whether or not we want the NO-EL, thereby cementing public support for cha-cha.

Last I heard, about half of the population do not want cha-cha. And those who do want it are divided on the issue of whether they want it now or later, specifically after Gloria.

In fact I'm dead wrong. The real issue is not whether the public wants charter change in the first place. The real issue is whether Gloria's presidency is legitimate or not.

They almost had me there.