Foot in Mouth Disease, Part 2

"First of all, our President is ahead of Obama and probably, I would think that if there's anything to be learned, it should be President Obama learning from President Arroyo."

These words came from Eduardo Ermita, the Executive Secretary to Gloria Arroyo (to push the analogy a little further, the country's Rahm Emmanuel).

I had to replay it quickly in my mind when I heard it because I couldn't believe it. Did Ermita really say that? And did he really say it that way?

Much later on, going through the online reports and hearing Mike Enriquez looping the sound bite almost every ten minutes over his radio show over DZBB, I confirmed that Ermita actually said it.

What is it about Gloria's subalterns that they all have this uncanny knack of putting their foot in their mouth, so to speak--especially when they're trying to curry favor from the Empress (the Filipino word for "curry favor" is so much more concise, direct to the point and pejorative--sip sip).

Recall Raul Gonzales, who apparently wakes up each morning and rehearses one-sentence insults to specific persons he plans to pan for the day, who called Philip Alston, only the UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial Killings, a mere "muchacho."

Recall Reli Fajardo, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson, whose main job apparently is to obscure and not clarify, who claimed Executive Privilege would be invoked over an investigation yet to be called and which merited a "stupid" from the administration's own Joker Arroyo.

Recall Jesus Dureza, now Gloria's Chief Legal Counsel, who prayed aloud, when he was Press Secretary, for an unconstitutional term extension for his boss (now in the book of James, it is said that the prayers of the righteous reach heaven--hopefully one part of that verse doesn't apply to Dureza, otherwise we are in deep trouble). For his efforts, he has now been kept out of the limelight and shunted into obscurity--bad for a politico like Dureza.

Now you have Ermita, as high up as you can get, with this ungrammatical but nonetheless hilarious gem.

Can't wait for the next FMD episode.