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... quarter kahapon na-post natin dito sa page natin. And I'm glad to say that mukhang the response has been good, interesting, minus the usual trolls and irrelevant people.

And, you know, some columnist and friends that I respect also seem to have appreciated the context of what I was saying.

And it looks like once again, we are the fool who bothers to, you know, to spell things out that have to be spelled out.

So ito po yung article natin.

Rizontiveros as singular struggles.

Kitanggalin ko nalang sarili ko.

Nakikita niyo naman ako parang, parang weird naman, di ba?

Andoon naman mga mukha ko, andoon naman.

Tapos naka-caption na naman yung mga trolls.

Wala na yung picture ko.

Okay.

That's it.

Alright. That's it.

Buya ka siya.

Pag-usapan natin yan.

Okay.

So doon sa article natin, I actually like how I started the article.

I said something like,

The pendulum of Philippine politics has often swung between two extreme poles.

Mediocrity and megalomania.

And then I connect that to the whole Maharlika Fund, the debate around it, etc.

The legislative branch, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And then enter Senator Rizontiveros, who once again was the only dissenting voice in the Senate.

Ewan ka na dyan doon sa mga nag-absent or pa-absent or pa, I don't know, what do you call it?

Abstain, yung mga ganyan.

Make your stance very clear.

When you have an extremely polarizing controversial issue, make your stance very clear.

Are you for it or against it?

In fairness to Senator Tulfo, even if he voted yes for it,

he was the one who really drew the line and said, sabi ni Senator Tulfo,

ay hindi pwede yung mga pensyon, yung mga ganyan, yung mga ganyan ipasok dyan.

Bawal ang kalukuan.

And in fairness to Senator Tulfo, dahil sa kanyang very strong intervention,

because Senator Tulfo is not opposition.

He has great communication channels with the President.

He's an extremely popular person.

I've described him as the rising star of Philippine politics in the past year.

Sorry na lang doon sa iba.

I'm not even talking about the opposition. I'm talking about you know who.

Speaking of this, mga kamay-ta, in fairness, I think Senator Rafi Tulfo has done a great job

as the kind of independent, quote-unquote, senator there.

At the same time, you have Rizal Indivera's here

who really made a strong argument for why

parang hindi ito yung tamang panahon at circumstances

to have the MIF, Maharlika Investment Fund, at all.

And this is not the first time that she did it, mga kamay-ta.

So ito yung sinabi niya.

So ayon kay Rizal Indivera's,

the fund is not what we need now, end of quote.

At ayon sa kanya, quote,

it does not pass the test of economic viability.

Ang balang kasiguraduhan na ito ay viable at sensible

sa kasalukuyan na investment and economic and fiscal conditions of the country

and the broader global investment landscape.

At ayon sa kanya,

we'll be watching intently

yung implementing rules and regulations once signed into law

to, quote, ensure that the prohibitions we put in place

and the wins we were able to secure during the plenary deliberations are not lost.

So in short, she's going to remain as a fiscalizer.

So I see a very interesting duo here

whereby Senator Tulfo on one side

as the independent, increasingly the star senator there,

or the facto star senator,

is saying, hey, yung mga iba dyan, malapit kay President Marcos,

okay, relax na ngayon dyan.

Ayusin natin ito. Imbawal lang ganyan.

So I mean, it's just fascinating that Senator Tulfo,

who had no background whatsoever in the legislative branch,

is kind of like the senior guy.

Obviously, it has something to do with the fact that he's the chair of the committee

na may direct jurisdiction sa issue na yan.

Yes, given na yan.

But we know historically, when it comes to economic investment issues,

marami mga ano dyan.

You know, technocrat or pateknocrat dyan.

I mean, let's not forget, mga kamayata,

that Senator Angara is actually like the econ guy there.

I mean, I think he's an LSE graduate, right, na mga others.

But I think Senator Tulfo has done a very good job to say,

okay, if we're going to get this passed,

these are the big red flags and no.

In fact, hindi pa ning batas ang Marica Investment Fund

because still there are many people in the Senate,

including Coco Pimentel, et cetera, saying,

eto yung hindi sila bumoto na no.

Nag-yes sila, but yes with a lot of conditions.

So they're still falling on that.

But Riza is the one who said, like, totally no.

No way. No way. No way.

No way highway.

And the other month,

siya rin yung only person who said no

sa Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

In fact, she cited Key Academic Works

to say that potentially maging net-loser ang Pilipinas

since co-trade balance would worsen by $264 million per year

and the Philippines would lose tariffs, revenues

of around $58 million a year.

Dollars, ha? Dollars, hindi pesos.

All right? Hindi Philippine pesos.

Mexican pesos. Whatever.

Now, so may mga asyo nga dyan ng comment na,

oh, bakit di mo na may explain.

Like, dude, I have 700 words in a single column, all right?

So if you want to really listen to my take,

check all of my Twitter tweets out there.

Check all of my articles out.

Ang dami natin sila. Wag tamad.

But anyways, in 700 words,

this is what I could put there, right?

So without a question, I mean, if it's not clear to you

what's the purpose of Antiveros and what she's doing,

then, you know, maybe you should check yourself again.

Okay, so my argument, mga kamay, is

without a question, Antiveros has been

the singular genuine opposition figure in the Senate,

no offense to the others, and more broadly,

the only nationally elected one in the government.

Important din yan.

She's the only one from the opposition is nationally elected.

There are, you know, there are a few smattering

of opposition or progressive folks in the legislature,

but, you know, I mean, they're not nationally elected,

you know, officials per se, right?

A lot of them are party-less, et cetera.

It's a different dynamic.

It's a different dynamic.

I mean, yes, you can say party-less is national,

but you get what I'm saying, right?

They're like kind of a tweet

to the Congressional representation.

But really, really national lang, zain niyo.

Diba?

It's a nationally elected institution,

and yung mga people nandun are, you know,

considered to be potentially the next presidents

or presidentiables, all right?

So, and this is where the bone of contention comes in,

mga kamayt, I keep on mentioning it.

I'm surprised I'm not seeing a lot of other people

noticing this or, you know, brave enough to mention this.

For some reason, mukhang yung hindi very substantive

and principle-based interventions are not getting

sufficiently covered by the mainstream media,

nor wholeheartedly backed by social media accounts

of those associated with the opposition.

Yung mga sobrang active to, you know, share about

the latest travel blog from, I don't know, Lenny,

the latest, I don't know, from Bam Aquino,

the latest this and that.

Maybe you wanna, you know, give a bit airtime also

to what Risa is doing, including her visit to Taiwan,

meeting Tsai Ing-wen, talking about Taiwan,

talking about democracy, talking about geopolitics.

Maybe some other people there were super busy

about, you know, the non-political stuff

of former opposition political figures.

Maybe you wanna help also Risa Antiverse, right?

I mean, since you say that you're fighting for opposition,

for democracy, human rights, all of that,

then my question is, are you helping Risa Antiverse?

Because she's really the only, you know,

real opposition nationally elected official

we got out there, and didn't, you know,

Lenny kind of passed down the baton to her

and supposed to be like that?

Okay, why am I talking like Romulus

ng HBO succession series?

But you get what I'm saying, right?

You get what I'm saying, right?

So as far as opposition affiliated thought leaders

are concerned, yung parang bulk of focus nila

is still zeroed in on either the former vice president

or Maria Ressa or, but of course,

yung kay Leila de Lima, 100%, 100%,

dapat she gets all the focus and attention and support.

100%, and we're gonna have a separate blog

on Leila de Lima.

For me, Leila de Lima is the Nobel Peace Prize person

of the Philippines of our, you know,

of the past five years or so at least, right?

Okay, let's just be very clear about that, you know?

And all due respect, I think Lenny has done a great job.

Maria Ressa's done a good job.

They deserve recognition, all of support,

whatever they're getting, but what I'm saying is that,

you know, there are other people out there,

including Rizal Hondiveros who's having

kind of a singular fight there on the front.

Like, what's up, right?

So, you know, that's what I'm saying.

So, lest we forget, Hondiveros is now the

de facto leader of the opposition,

and against all odds, okay, yan.

Yan yung mga mahilig mag-denialism,

blame ng voters, ayan, ganyan, ganyan, ganyan.

Andami na naman dyan na kay Rita sa Twitter

na hihirin na naman itong mga pabok,

tapos mag-voter blaming, bago nga ganyan.

But against all odds, actually,

she was the one who managed to win re-election

in the hotly contested Senate,

and over the years, she overcame a torrent

of misogyny, red tagging,

because she's really a progressive, unlike, you know,

and a whole host of challenges from which

many conventional liberal figures were insulated, right?

For some, not only is Hondiveros

the sole opposition figure in the upper chamber,

but arguably also the only true progressive

to have made it to national office in recent memory.

Boom, that's it, we said it.

Okay, so this is how I end my article.

Hers, meaning Rita Hondiveros,

has been a singular struggle.

And singular struggle, you can see,

literally singular, at the same time singular

in the sense that it's unprecedented,

it's historic, it's special, it's important,

but it doesn't have to be lonified for far too long.

It doesn't have to be lonified for far too long.

And that's why I felt, Malcolm,

that it's important that I write that article

and make this intervention.

I've said it over and over again, in passing,

kind of not in passing,

but this time I made it core and center.

I haven't talked to Lenny,

I haven't talked to Rita Hondiveros

since ever or something like that,

I mean, like, when was the last time

I talked to any of these people?

So I don't know their personal point of view,

but I'm just saying,

maybe Rita deserves a little bit more love,

a little bit more respect and support

from people who claim to support

the opposition and all.

All right?

Because so far, her fight has been

a very singular, literally singular,

and sometimes also singular

in terms of historic, conviction-based politics.

All right?

On that note, thank you very much,

Mga Kameta.

I have to habol sa my other work, et cetera,

but I felt I have to do this vlog,

I have to catch up on this.

So maraming salamat.

Thank you very much.

I really, really appreciate, Mga Kameta,

sa lahat ng mga sumusuporta sa atin.

Kayo po ang nagbibigay ng lakas sa atin.

Literally, like, nakikita na medyo

may lagnat pa rin tayo.

Actually, I was almost okay yesterday

and then inabuso ko naman sa sarili ko.

I mean, 6 a.m. pa lang,

nag-interviews na tayo all the way

to like 10 p.m.,

may mga debates, discussion.

We met some friends with the diplomatic corps.

We had three episodes taping kanina, whatever.

So kayo po ang nagbibigay ng lakas sa atin.

So I really appreciate that.

And kayo po ang nagbibigay ng inspiration sa atin.

At maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

Maraming salamat sa Diyos

dito sa mga platforms na meron tayo,

dito sa bosses na meron tayo.

And I'm just doing my best

to make sure that we use that voice

for the good cause.

And we use this voice, Mga Kameta,

to call things out

and to do what other people don't have the courage

or the wisdom to recognize and to highlight

in public fora.

Alright?

Yes, important talk about Maharlika Fun.

Yes, it's important talk about...

But maybe, you know,

I just want to talk more about Rizal and Diverse

and di lang mga travel vlogs, ganun-ganun.

Alright? Okay.

Fantastic. Thank you very much, guys.

And talk to you soon.

God bless.

Maraming salamat.

God bless the Philippines.

Mahal na natin ang bayan natin.

Alright?

God bless.

Talk to you soon.

Bye.