Incontrovertible Stupidity
"Shit floats to the top."
- Latin Proverb
As if Vice-President Leni Robredo's recent troubles weren't enough, here comes a damning exposé that just might send whatever remaining prospects she has of snatching the presidency flying out of the window. Aptly dubbed by social media influencers Sass Rogando Sasot and Thinking Pinoy as #lenileaks, the publicly exposed web correspondence of a certain group called Global Filipino Diaspora Council (GFDC) gives us a glimpse of the inner workings of a conspiracy relentlessly working to effect the ouster of President Rodrigo Duterte in order to put VP Leni in his place.
The GFDC, which counts among its eminent members the notoriously insufferable Loida Nicolas-Lewis, puts to rest any doubt that there is indeed a conspiracy, and that the conspirators are a hodgepodge of wealthy foreign-based dual citizens and Pinoys who hold influential positions in business, overseas grassroots organizations, government and mass media. You can click here [TP] and on the above links to Sass Sasot's and TP's Facebook page to get a complete picture of what these incriminating group messages contain.
#lenileaks not only gives us incontrovertible proof of this conspiracy, it likewise shows us indisputable evidence of stupidity, as can be gleaned from the manner by which the messages were exposed. Instead of working deep in the shadows and speaking in code, as most conspirators should, these boneheads chose to exchange seditious messages via an antiquated and unsecured forum called Yahoo! Groups and forgot to adjust their settings to private. Their group is restricted to "members only" yet their conversations are out there for everyone to see. If there ever was a collection of the world's dumbest conspirators, this group just might make it on top of the list.
According to Sass Sasot who exposed the controversial discussion board in her Facebook page, she got a tip from an anonymous snitch who claims to have accidentally accessed the pages (for all we know, this snitch might have been just a disgruntled member of the group, since I find it far-fetched that an outsider could just stumble upon this "restricted" forum by accident).
While doubts have been raised with regard to its 'authenticity,' with former DILG Secretary Raffy Alunan raising the observation that the tone of the messages are "dubious" and do not seem like the tone of an insider [TP], it defies logic as to how somebody can possibly fabricate these messages and attribute them to GFDC, perhaps in an attempt to deliberately implicate Loida and Leni as the masterminds of Duterte's ouster plot. If this were the case, then this would be the product of an extremely elaborate fabrication - with a number of messages dating several years back aside from active phone numbers and email addresses that can be directly traced to the culprits.
Furthermore, the incriminating nature of its contents would only drive one to conclude that if the messages were indeed authentic, no member of the GFDC would purposely intend to have these discussions exposed to the public. It's like committing suicide while broadcasting the act on YouTube for everyone to see.
Nevertheless, the leaked messages, if channeled and sustained properly through social media, could indeed spell political suicide for the embattled Vice-President. As the old Russian proverb would say, "The morning sun never lasts a day." Leni's repeated denials and repudiations would now be rendered meaningless as #lenileaks represent incontrovertible proof of her complicity, along with equally undeniable evidence of the stupidity that triggered her downfall.
